Marisa's Note: AAHH! I didn't even realize it repeated like that! Please forgive me, it should be fixed now!
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A week or so passed. Plague watched Netto carefully, taking careful note of anything suspicious. He still didn't say anything about the dream.
But Plague didn't notice anything, and by the end of the week, he relaxed.
Well, sort of.
"Jump Rockman, jump!" He coaxed his reluctant brother and friend, grinning across a vast gulf. Several panels had been knocked out in a recent battle.
"You're crazy!" Rockman peered down, into the empty space... there was no telling where THAT led. Plague had jumped across without a thought. "I'm waiting until the panels repair themselves."
"Aw, that's wussy! C'mon Rockman." Plague laughed at him. "It's not so hard! Or are you scared?" Plague's tone turned taunting, and Rockman scowled.
He finally walked back a bit, turned... then ran towards the empty place. Rockman pushed off hard, at just the right moment...
And almost came up short. He tettered for a moment on the edge, trying frantically to find his balance... then he was jerked forward by black hands.
"Well done, Rockman!" Plague laughed, sliding his arms around Rockman. "I thought you wouldn't do it." Rockman shook his head, and started to pull away...
But Plague's grip was suddenly hard, too hard and tight. Not normal...
"Ow! Plague?" Rockman looked up at his 'brother', suddenly noticing the blank stare in his eyes. "Plague..?"
Plague...
"Wha?" Glancing around, Plague found himself back in that black void...
Plague...You haven't forgotten me, have you?
"...No! No, it can't be!"
Then, came that god damned chuckle.
"SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
I'm still here, Plague...don't you dare forget that...
"NO!"
Plague...
"NO!!"
Plague...
"PLAGUE! What the hell are you doing?!"
"Wh...what?" Plague blinked. He looked down and was shocked to find his own buster was pointed at his brother, who was sprawled on the ground, with a look of fear in his eyes. "Rockman!" The black and red navi gasped, "Wh...what happened?"
Plague looked up suddenly. "Netto-kun...I've got to check on him."
"What? Why?" Rockman inquired, a bit baffled.
"Because..." Plague still didn't want to tell him about the dream. "Never mind." He dashed up to the screen. "Netto-kun, are you there?"
"Huh...?" Netto yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Whoah, must've blacked out there...huh..."
"Netto-kun, this is important. Have you been having any...weird dreams?"
Netto blinked at the Pet. "Weird dreams?" He frowned, thinking about that. "Well... a little, but I can't remember them much."
"Were they of a void, and a voice...?" Plague's voice was tense as he asked. Surely not... but...
"Yeah, how did you know?" Netto blinked, surprised. What little he could remember sounded like that...
"Oh, no, it can't be..." Plague whispered, looking down. But if it was...
He didn't know what to do. He fell to his knees and started to cry.
"Netto-kun, Rockman...I'm sorry..." He whispered.
Rockman kneeled down next to Plague and wrapped his arms around him. "Hey, bro...what are you sorry about?"
There it came. That warm feeling again. Plague's sobbing ceased and he rested his head against his brother's chest. "I...remember when I had that nightmare? Well...I lied, I could remember the whole thing vividly..." He shuddered.
"Can you tell us about it?" Rockman asked.
Plague nodded. "There was this voice...it was the virus inside of me. He said I was just his puppet, and he tried to turn me against you. But I wouldn't let him...and then..."
"And then?" Urged the blue navi.
"He...he said he was going to use the DNA link between Netto and I to become the first virus ever to infect a human being." He buried his face in Rockman's chest and started crying harder than ever.
Rockman hesitated for a moment... then hugged Plague tighter. "Plague... it won't happen." He gently tugged on one of Plague's hair spikes, making him sniff and look up. "You and Netto-kun are stronger than that... and we'll go talk to Oniisan..." Netto frowned, though, at that.
"But... he's gone away for a convention. He won't be back for a week." Netto bit his lip. That could be a big problem... Rockman blinked, and Plague sniffed again, nuzzling his chest.
"Well... things should be alright for a week." But Rockman sounded uncertain... Plague had already pointed a buster at him. Things might get worse…
"But what if I have another blackout?" Plague questioned.
Rockman didn't know how to answer that. "Plague...Netto-kun...now that we know about it, we can watch out for each other...so I can let you know if you guys start acting weird. Netto-kun, I'll tell Roll and everbody-"
"NO!" Plague cried.
The blue navi was puzzled. "But Plague, I need them to tell Meiru and everyone...If he suddenly starts acting weird, we need someone in the real world to wake him up."
Plague shook his head. "Rockman, please, no! If everyone knew about this, they'd hate me..."
"Hey." Rockman smiled, lifting the red and black navi's chin. "You're my little brother, and it's not your fault. I promise, nobody's going to hate you for this. And if they do, and they decide to insult you, well...I'll pop 'em in the nose."
At the words 'little brother', Plague gave a hopeful grin.
It felt good, to know Rockman looked at him that way... Plague hesitated, though, then sighed.
"Okay." He nodded, resigned to it... although not thrilled. He was getting alone with with Roll and the others... letting them know this wouldn't help. But if it would keep Rockman safe...
"Rockman," Plague suddenly said impulsively. "If... everything goes wrong... don't hesitate to delete me. Okay?" Most of all, he didn't want Rockman to die because of the virus...
Rockman's eyes widened at the idea. "No! Never! Don't even talk like that!"
Plague shrugged and glanced off to the side. "You seemed pretty anxious to do that not too long ago..."
"No, Plague, I was jealous of you. You were getting all the attention...but now..." He hugged the navi tighter, "Plague, I really care about. you. I couldn't stand it if you were deleted, especially by me…"
But I don't want the virus to kill you, either... Plague sighed, and shook his head, leaning against Rockman.
There was no way out of this situation, without pain...