Chapter Fourteen: Forgiveness and Reunion
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! I was writing other stories... this starts from Zero's POV and here is a warning for some sappiness... not the whole chapter though! ~=)

Our welcome home was a solemn event, and it really hurt the both of us when Doctor Light saw Rock... okay, the man began crying his eyes out. Not that I blamed him... Rock was like another son to him, and his reaction to this was much worse than when Sierra was taken away... but then, we knew we had a chance to save her... and it was too late to save Rock...

But when I saw the old man's gentle face contort into that much pain I couldn't take it anymore. This was too much for a robot... so I retreated to my room to be alone. I left the lights off to complement my dark and brooding mood, but I switched off my armor. I didn't want to think about what had happened back at Skull Fortress... I felt the pain of my injuries that screamed for repair, but I ignored it...

I really don't know how long I just stood there in the darkness, but at some point I heard a knock on my door. Refusing to answer I remained silent, causing the intruder to call out.

"Zero... I know you're in there... can I come in? Please?"

Sierra... the one I had risked it all to save... and look at what it cost me... my best friend's life...

"It's open!" I snapped, but regretted it when I heard her gasp. Nevertheless she entered, but left the lights off to leave a dim glow where the door was cracked. She approached soundlessly, but didn't come close to me. I was happy for that... for I wasn't in great shape right then...

"Zero..." she said softly, the vocal strains from her crying still audible. "I'm so sorry... I know that saying it's not enough... and I'm sure that you hate me for it all... God... nothing I can do will ever bring him back... I couldn't save him, just like I couldn't save..." she trailed off, "...my parents..." Those last words were the merest of whispers, barely heard by even my keen hearing.

I heard a faint thump a few feet away; followed by the torn sobs of a broken heart. I tried to ignore them...but I knew that I could not forget what happened, no matter what my mind was telling me. She was an innocent girl, caught up in the war between two scientists... one with a desire to take over the world-- the other a pacifist trying to save it. She was a pawn, something to be used... and cast aside as Wily had done.

No... she was more than that. She was more to me than just a pawn in a war of brains...

'Take care of Sierra...'

'It was all worth it to see you two together again...'

'I knew I wasn't going to make it...'

Rock... you knew... didn't you? You knew everything that was happening... you knew I'd try to blame her... but it's not her fault, is it Rock? You forgave her... but why can't I?

He had loved her enough to forgive her... he had loved us both enough to make sure we were together...

'You're so damn naïve, Rock...' I thought to myself, allowing a cold grin to yank at my mouth. 'But you were right...' He risked it all for us, and he didn't regret it at all. I wasn't going to let his sacrifice be for nothing... I wasn't going to let my Sierra waste away from her guilt and self-hate...

I searched the darkness and pulled Sierra into my arms, trying to comfort her sobbing and shaking form. She buried her face in my shirt as she clung to me, then I wrapped my arms around her to calm her.
***

I didn't deserve his kindness... I didn't deserve his attention at all! I killed Rock... I killed his best friend... and I wanted to die! These and other phrases from the darkness of my mind pummeled me endlessly, backed by the remaining pain from Wily's chip that he had implanted in me...

I felt so safe with Zero; he was warm and inviting to my barren soul. These past few weeks, though I barely remembered them now, had been so cold and empty... I had soiled my hands so much as I had built Bass... and helped Wily...

Wily... he would forever haunt me! Why... why did it have to be me? More than anything I wanted to die... to let myself be forgotten forever among everyone... I didn't want to hurt anybody else, especially the one holding me close to him now.

"Zero..." I cried into his shirt. "He's gone... they're all gone... it's my fault, Zero..."

"Shh... no it's not, Sierra," he said quietly in my ear as strands of his golden hair brushed against my face. "It's not your fault... Wily's the one who killed them... not you..."

"But I didn't do anything to help them... I'm no better than Wily... I don't deserve anything... even my life..."

"Stop it," he said coldly. I froze and tried to pull away, turning my face from him in shame.

"I would NEVER," he began, "...place you on the same level as that... monster masquerading as a man! Don't you dare tell me you're just like him! And don't even think that you shouldn't live... dammit, Rock gave his life for you! Do you understand how much he loved you? How much he wanted you to live?"

"I don't deserve his love..."

"It didn't matter to him! He loved you anyway... just like I do."

I turned my head back to stare deep into his glittering emerald eyes that were brimming with tears again.

"Do you know how hard I worked to get you back? I nearly killed myself a few times in the training room! Everything wasn't enough... because I had lost you, and I never want to again... It hurt me so much that I had failed to protect you, and I would have done anything to get you back... and I guess I blame Rock right now, because he was really the one who saved you... I was the idiot who thought I could beat Bass, and ended up unable to help Rock... he saved me, too... And I blame myself. He always was the hero, while I was just the wannabe..." he trailed off into silence, averting his gaze from me.

I never realized that he had felt that way... and I mentally beat myself for it. All I had thought about was myself... how had I become so selfish!? I looked into his eyes and saw his pain... the pain that mirrored my own... he and I were the same, sharing our sorrow.

"Zero... I never meant to be such a burden on any of you... I didn't think---"

He silenced me with a kiss, brushing my tears away with both thumbs as his hands moved to my face. It began gently, sweetly, but intensified as our feelings of grief, regret and the love that had grown from our separation surfaced... How I'd missed him...

All too soon I had to break away to breathe, and also because my headache was returning quickly...

"What is it?" he asked in concern, pressing his forehead to mine.

"I'm all right," I lied, pecking him on the lips. "Don't worry..."

He kissed me again, and I melted in his arms. "I won't let you go again," he promised. "You were never a burden, my love."

"Zero... you were always my knight in shining armor..."

There we stayed in our own little world... just content in being together again.



It became late, and so I left his room to see how Grandfather was. I found him in the lab, bending over the remains of a robot...

"Blue!" I exclaimed as I recognized the auburn hair and cracked grey armor.

"Sierra," Grandfather asked me sternly after jumping in surprise. "Why did you bring him here? Do you know who this is? It's Protoman, the one who helped Dr. Wily abduct you! He's barely alive... and in three pieces, too!"

"Grandfather... don't you remember?" I said sadly. "It's Blue... Daddy's robot..."

"What?" he looked at me in surprise, then back down at the unconscious robot. "It can't be! I thought he disappeared..."

"Wily had stolen him... before... before the fire." I couldn't say 'before my parents died,' because it hurt too much, and it would make Grandfather even sadder... "Can you fix him? Reprogram him? Maybe Wily didn't erase his original memory chips..."

"I... could try..." he stammered, still unbelieving to Protoman's true identity. "It will take some time... but I must work fast! We're losing him even as we speak! Shoo, Sierra, so I can work!" With renewed vigor he waved a hand of dismissal at me before picking up his tools. Smiling for the first time that day I left the room in a daze, happy that an old friend had returned to us.

Then my thoughts turned to Bass... my creation that Wily had turned completely against me... could I possibly get him back? There really was no choice, for he would not be so easily destroyed... and I didn't want to kill him... I had to find a way to return him to his original self, to somehow deactivate the controller... and to do that I needed Bass's blueprints and specifications. How, though? I couldn't go back to Skull Fortress... neither could Zero... far too risky and dangerous just for some 'bot plans...

Think, Sierra, I said to myself. How can I get to those blueprints without Wily finding out? If only I had some kind of spy camera... wait a minute...

"That's it!" I exclaimed, remembering the tiny bug camera I had built before Wily had activated my mind-control device. I had only to set the code for activation and it would work! Most likely Wily didn't need the schematics for Bass since he was complete, so they were probably still in my cell back at the fortress! So... I needed to somehow input the code and set the transmit to the lab here...

With my goal in mind I walked quickly to my room, sat down at the worktable and started tinkering right away with my spare metal parts and tools on the bench...

Author's Note: Review pleez! The more I get the faster I write! Hope you enjoyed! The next chapter will be a lot longer (I hope) and it will probably be another cliffhanger! ~Sierra Omega~