Among Friends
Final: Forever
by Lady Virgo
"And all that is
is no longer
And all that can
be die."
///
For the first time in far too long, the world saw him outside of the dim interior of Skull Fortress. Generally he would spend a vast majority of his time outside, but the stress of the passed few months left him feeling far less energetic than usual.
To be putting it lightly.
It was a beautiful day outside, as well. Sitting up on the roof of the highest tower of the fortress, Quick couldn't help but think it was unfair. The sky wasn't supposed to be a soft blue and clean. The clouds were supposed to be thick and foreboding, maybe even flashing lightning lashes in the dark horizon. No warm winds, no harmonious bird songs, no blooming trees.
Looking at the tall sway of the grass, he wondered just how easy it would be to jump.
///
There was a condition all creatures, unaccustomed to battle, go through. Due to strain, fear, fatigue, boredom and/or pain. Its called Fog of War. It is when you can't seem to comprehend what's going on, you're detached, you don't understand what you see, you can't hear any sounds and everything's moving in slow motion.
In theory, the only ones that should be feeling this fog are those that are alive. Those that are under threat of permanently dying.
It should, hypothetically, not happen to a device whose sole existence was to fight and destroy.
So then why did everything move like he was watching them from a water filled glass? Why was everything blurring together? Why couldn't he remember what he was doing?
A.... a fight. He remembered that much. He was fighting. Again. Who was- ah yes, Ring. He was fighting Ring again. And he couldn't seem to move right. He felt sluggish, slow, his body refused to move. All it did was scream at him in a dull pulse.
He remembered the other Robot Masters gathering around them. They were shouting something at them, he couldn't make out what. Move, maybe? Fight? Or was it they wanted them to stop? He couldn't remember anymore, it all sounded the same to him in the heat of battle.
Battle? That's right, he was supposed to be fighting. His thoughts struggled weakly in the exhausted folds of his mind. Was he still fighting? How could he lose focus like that?
In his swimming vision he could make the blur of Ring's enraged face, waiting for something.
Attack.
The only thing that made it through his mind.
Fight. Move. Attack.
He lurched forward, but his legs wouldn't comply. One of his knees gave out, the other just refused to move outright. He dimly realized he was falling. He saw the smears of blood around him (on him?) that swept across the floor. Where did it come from? Him? Why didn't he feel the pain?
There was a faint thud as his body connected with the floor, mind reeling in the thick confusion. There.... he thought vaguely. There's my leg. No wonder it wouldn't move.....
Something forced its way passed his throat, demanding he let it out or choke. The blood didn't so much as ooze out of his open lips as it was a reflexive vomit, throat pushing the foreign liquid from where it didn't belong.
Did he lose? That's couldn't be right. The only one he had actually lost to was Rock. He didn't lose. A hint of pressure prodded his foggy thoughts, Ring grinding Shadow's head against the floor with a viscous heel.
He couldn't remember....
A scuffle? The pressure lifted from his head and knees came into his vision. More yelling from the sounds of it. Or maybe it was just the blood in his ears. It must have been, because something red was dripping in his view.
With a sigh, he decided maybe it would be better if he just remained unaware.
///
"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Ring let his head loll to the side with the force of the blow. Pharaoh had never once raised a hand to him and his personal views on slapping was that the Robot Masters were above the sort of baby-ish treatment.
So to have him rake an open palm across his face had, amazingly enough, hurt.
The Enforcer stood before him, trembling in rage. "I /never/ would've thought you'd be so fucking /stupid/! I can't believe /you/, out of everyone here, would honestly try to /kill/ someone!" He jerked a finger passed the glass behind him, passed the computers, passed Crystal and Freeze at the body of Shadow laying on the lab table. "I told you before," he seethed, voice lowered but as intense as before, "that it was my duty to keep everyone from killing each other. I had /hoped/ that you were smart enough to just leave it at little squabbles. I honestly didn't want to punish you."
Ring said nothing, lifting his eyes up to meet his brother's golden ones.
"Or do you think you'd learn better if I let Magnet at you." His fists hardened at the thought. He was, to be earnest, afraid of what Magnet would do to Ring, just because he knew he was important to Pharaoh.
"It doesn't matter." Came the soft reply.
"What?"
"It doesn't matter." Ring looked passed him, at the still form on the table. "Shadow's still alive. And so long as he is, I'll never stop fighting him." His clenched fists shook, teeth grinding in his anger. "I'll never forgive him."
///
Of all the feelings going through Metal, he wondered is annoyance should be one of them.
He had left shortly after they wheeled Shadow into the operation room. Or, rather, he had discharged himself. Neither Freeze or Crystal complained, too busy to spend time worrying about someone who was already back in stable condition.
The last thing that Crystal had told him, up to his elbows in Shadow's abdomen: "I know you're not going to listen to me, but at least it'll be off my conscience. No more drinking, all right? We had to replace damn near 73% of your circulatory system. Even so, you keep drinking the way you do, you'll just rot your insides again."
And, as Crystal had suspected, Metal didn't have the slightest inclination of listening to him. He was already being worn down physically, it was really only fitting that he deteriorated from the inside, as well.
But that wasn't what had annoyed him. It was his 'friends' that did.
No. They all had their own problems.
It was Elec.
The first thing Metal had done was go to his room to drink. Even if Crystal had flushed all the alcohol from his system, the poison had permeated his very being, seeped into his memory, into his circuits. He was a complete slave to it. And it demanded to tarnish this.... untainted tubing that ran through the body it ruled.
And the first thing Metal instinctively realized as he stepped into his room was his supply had all gone.
Because Elec was waiting vaguely for him.
"You know," he had stated once Metal entered the room, "I'm surprised that it took this long for something to happen to you." He cast a sideways glare at his lover. "Now do you understand why I'm always on your case?"
Softly, as if he barely even acknowledged him, Metal turned to his dresser. "No."
Elec snapped. "What, looking for your stash?" The younger robot stopped, back still to Elec. "It's gone. It's all gone. Where do you get that shit, anyway? Jim Beam, Grey Goose, Captain Morgan, /Gold Schlagger/?" Elec's blue eyes narrowed. "How the hell did you get all those?"
There was a silent moment and Metal dragged a hand across the surface on the dresser.
"Don't think," he said softly, "that just because you got rid of all that you can find, I'll stop just like that."
"Jesus Christ, Metal!" He stomped to his feet. "You damn near drunk yourself to fucking /death/!"
"That doesn't change anything. The fact that you're here, now, lecturing me about drinking of all things, proves that it hasn't changed."
"/What/ hasn't changed?" Metal said nothing, continuing to stare down at the piece of furniture. "Goddammit!" He stalked to the door and whirled around. "I'm doing this for /you/, Metal." He growled. "I don't like being a bastard, especially to you." He then practically shouted, "So what the /fuck/ do I have to do to make you /talk/ to me!?"
In a hoarse voice came the reply.
"Leave me alone."
"No!" Elec yelled. "Not until you talk to me!"
"What business of it is yours?" Metal snapped. "I can deal with it on my own."
"With booze. Yes, wonderful way to cope. Walking around /drunk/!" He returned. "I hate when you get like this! I worry every time-"
"There's nothing to worry about! I'm in control, I'm perfectly fine!"
Elec snarled. "Being beaten doesn't make you perfectly fine /or/ in control. And this damn habit of yours isn't helping any at all!"
"It helps," he tensed visibly, "when your entire body is in pain! But what would you know? You don't care enough to even ask let alone understand!"
"I /try/ to understand! I'm trying to get you to speak with me, I'm trying to know just what it is you go through, but you never tell me!" He was far beyond the range of his temper. Everything he was trying to hold back after so many long years of hidden anxiety and fear and anger was pushing against him. "You always freeze up and turn away, you always change the subject, /you're/ always the one avoiding me trying to help you so don't you dare try to pin /me/ for not caring!"
"But you /don't/ care! It's not just about these things that I'm talking about!" Metal shouted. "The pain never really goes away anymore, I'm always hurting but you don't care! You never notice when it gets really bad, you don't see when it hurts too much to do anything, but you know what?" He waved a hand around haphazardly. "I let you fuck me anyway because I want to make you happy! I do these things for you and all you do is pester me for the little things! No shit I'm hurt! No shit I got beat or raped again, but I'm used to it. You know what really hurts? When you have to fuck me when I'm hurt and you don't care enough to notice!"
For a moment, Elec looked as if he were about to break. "Do I- Do I really hurt you?"
"Yes! Even though you don't intend to, it really does hurt, more than the others because it's /you/!"
He stuttered, shivering a bit. "I didn't know. I would never hurt you. I didn't mean to, I- I never knew."
"Because you never cared enough to notice." Metal sniffed, voice steady and quiet. "That's why I drink, so it doesn't hurt as much, so I don't have to think about it anymore." He turned back to the wall, etching small figures into his dresser's surface. "Leave me alone."
Without a second thought, without fully being aware, Elec left.
///
"Hey, Quick."
Silence was Crash's only response.
"Hey, Quick.." He said again, toeing the floor idly. Quick's door was locked, all the codes he tried were denied so he was reduced to talking to his brother through the unyielding metal. "You should come out soon. We're thinking about setting up a picnic or something. You know, the weather being nice and all. Gotta take advantage of the last vestiges of summer before it gets too cold!" He said in his best travel agent impression.
The nothing greeted him.
Deathly stillness was all there was since Ring had put Shadow into emergency care. Without a word, without anyone knowing, Quick had just... stopped. Stopped talking, stopped coming out, stopped moving. Crash had wondered once- only once, there was no way it could be true -if Quick had stopped being.
"Maa," he leaned against the wall, "you should come out after evening chow. Stone and Guts are having an arm wrestling competition. Whoever loses has to shave their head. I'm hoping Guts loses, Stone's already nearly bald as it is." Crash paused and strained is audio sensors. They picked up nothing. Clearing his throat, he tried to think of something else to say. "The cooking's getting worse. We need to bug Turbo to fix the programming again. But, you know, I hear that Star got caught watching those cooking shows, maybe we should put him to the test, huh? You should've been there at practice, too. Bubble's a total moron, man. You wouldn't believe what happened..."
///
"I can't believe Ring went that far.."
"That wasn't just from that last fight."
"What do you mean?"
Crystal hung his head, silver-gray hair hiding his tired eyes. "All the other fights they got into.. Ring refused to fix up Shadow. Shadow never came in for repairs. Most of his wounds were weeks old, the accumulation and stress broke his body down."
Freeze's eyes widened. "But.. They've been fighting for over a month!" His low voice was a mere whisper. "It's amazing he could even survive.."
"They can't keep going on like this." The older robot clenched his fists tight. "We were lucky we could've saved him. But I doubt we can keep it up at the rate they're going. They won't stop until one of them dies."
Freeze shook his head. "You talk as if we're even alive. How can we 'die'? How can we be stopped permanently?"
"If no one repairs us. If no one recharges us. If we refuse to be activated." Crystal looked at Freeze with hard eyes. "Just because we don't live the way purely biological beings do doesn't mean that we're immune to death."
From where he lay, listening to the conversation- only parts of it penetrated the thick cloud of his thoughts -Shadow held up a bandaged hand. Then, slowly, clenched it into a fist.
Death.. Dying...
Was Quick worth 'dying' for? Could he deal with Ring's 'death' on his conscience? Could he give up his own 'life'?
"It doesn't matter.." Shadow said quietly to himself. "If it comes to that, so be it. But I will never forgive him."
///
"Hey, Quick, I'm back!" He stood in front of the speedster's door, waiting a few seconds for some sort of acknowledgment. And none came. "They said that Shadow's going to be fine. A little rest and a few more tweaks in his system and he'll be up to his reclusive, quiet self. Isn't that great?" Crash said, smiling at the door.
There was no reply.
He wondered if he even expected one. "Ne, Quick.." his tone lowered half an octave. "It's useless trying to scare me like this. I know you're in there, laughing at me worrying over you. But it's okay. Because I like you and you've taken care of me. So I'll keep coming here and keeping you company. I'll indulge in you and your twisted sense of humor until you get bored." Crash swallowed the knot in his throat, trying to ignore how unnaturally quiet it was.
"But... Quick." The muscles in his cheeks twitched and clenched. "Elec... I can't take it. Elec came to me and.. And he was crying. Quick, Elec was /crying/ to me." His voice was gradually becoming thick. "He's always been one of the strongest bioroids I've ever known and he just broke down and cried. He just kept on rambling about it's his fault Metal nearly drank himself to death. He said that he's no good to Metal and that he keeps hurting him and he never knew, that he never meant it.." Crash placed his hands on the door. "Quick, please. Please, I don't know what to do. I've never known how to take care of things like this. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to tell him?" The door blurred in his eyes, tears trembling on his lashes as he desperately tried to hold them back.
Quick...
Forcing a cheerful note in his tear-thick voice, Crash made his best effort to smile through the door, as if Quick would see him. "You're probably asleep or something, huh? Must be why you're so quiet. I'll bet it's because you're running low on energy. Tell you what, I'll get you something to eat, you know you're hungry. You're always hungry 'cause of your metabolism. I'll leave your food outside your door. Eat it up so you're awake next time I come by, okay?"
With one last look at his brother's room, Crash made a quick retreat down the hall. He barely made it to his own quarters before he slid to the ground, curling into a ball and trying so /damn/ /hard/ not to cry..
///
"Che. A bit too soon, isn't it?" Ring spat to the side. He really didn't care if Shadow had a death wish.
As if he were just checking, Shadow rolled his leg at the knee and ankle, experimentally flexing the hand that they had to replace. Ring saw the flash of skin between Shadow's jacket cuff and glove; it was several shades darker than his original skin. No one else really had the same tone as Shadow did.
Confident in his parts' working order, he slowly looked back up at Ring. "Thank you for your unwanted concern."
Ring scowled. "I don't care about you. I want you dead."
"I know."
He despised that cold shell he constantly hid himself behind. "We're ending it this time. Only one of us is walking away."
Shadow tilted his head down. He seemed to have been waiting for this, a small, dark smile on his face. "We'll do this the proper way." To Ring's surprise, Shadow pressed on his Flash Case, light encasing his form as the dark armor solidified onto his body. By instinct, Ring's own armor was called no more than a half-second later.
And, realizing how serious the kagemusha was on their final battle, the Russian robot smiled.
Today, he was certain, /he/ would be the victor.
///
Their battle took them across the vast halls of Skull Fortress. Doors and computer panels were smashed, light fixtures shattered, wires and glass strewn down battle scarred halls. Holes and dents littered the walls, drops of blood, oil, whatever it may have been speckling the floor and the Robot Masters shrank away. They knew what true rivalry looked like, they knew when one was so intently focused in their battles that nothing else mattered. They were robots, built to fight. But this went beyond anything they say.
This was true blood lust. They were out to kill each other.
Even at the expense of their own lives.
Anyone that got in their way was swept up in their fight. Several had already been sent to the medbay in dire need of repairs. And because of that, the others stayed a good distance away.
Several of the Robot Masters had contacted the Enforcers, staying in their corner of the recroom. Flash, Skull and Hard were fidgeting at the bar, Snake and Plant trying to ignore the world beyond their video games. And Magnet just about had enough of the wait.
He stalked up to Pharaoh, calmly sprawled across his chair and reading a paper. Some strong, strange smelling tea was next to him. Magnet recognized its scent as the one Pharaoh drank whenever he was anxious. Frown on his deceptive face, he peered down on the golden eyed robot.
"Why are we in here?" He quietly asked. But the others heard anyway. They knew this would end up in another argument, but they wanted to know the same thing.
Magnet received no answer. "Well? How come we're not out there stopping them like we should?" Pharaoh didn't appear to even notice him. "Are you waiting for Wily-sama to tell you to stop them? It's obvious we should! We don't need to be told these things, you know that!" At the continuing silence, Magnet exploded. "Dammit, Pharaoh! They're destroying the fortress that we were formed to protect and you're just sitting there like it-"
"Leave it, Maggie!" The sharp, crispness of Pharaoh's voice cut through his mind, leaving the red bioroid temporarily speechless. He calmly picked up his cup of tea. "If they won't learn any other way, then let them kill themselves. They don't care."
///
Not everyone shared Pharaoh's sentiments on the fight. Crash, once having found out about the fight-to-the-death, had hurried to the scene. Clad in his armor, the drill bomber set himself in the fight, determined to pull the two apart.
He was causing more problems then he was stopping.
Having run out of any other ideas- he knew before hand he wouldn't be able to keep up their pace for long -he wrapped his arms around Ring, putting himself between Ring and Shadow.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" Ring nearly shrieked, finally noticing that his best friend was trying to kill him. Or himself. Or both of them.
"Stop it, Ring! Please!" He begged for all he was worth. "Stop fighting! It's not helping anyone! All you're doing is hurting-"
"Goddammit, Crash!" Ring's orange eyes flickered upward, sensing the impending attack. "Get the fuck outta the way!" He ripped an arm out of Crash's grip and smashed it against the side of Crash's helmet.
And got a flying sidekick, point blank, in the face.
Ring skidded across the floor and plowed into the bulkhead. He rolled over to his side, a hand frantically tearing the broken pieces of his mask away from his face. Blood dripped down from his mouth and broken nose and he choked on a stray tooth that nearly went down his throat.
Shadow, secured in his sense of victory, smiled uncharacteristically and dashed forward. He found himself fighting for footing as something barreled into his side, knocking him off course. Crash stood between the two, still reeling from the blow that knocked him out of harm's way. Trying to shake clear his head, the orange drill bomber flexed his hands. The few brave that made up the audience murmured at his apparent suicide.
"Both of you," he shouted, "/stop it/!"
"Stay out of this!" Shadow snarled. He swung out with a reverse fist, pivoting on his forward foot and fell into a sweep kick, tripping Crash to the ground.
Using his spin momentum, Shadow twisted up, his outstretched foot coming up into an arc, falling to crush Crash in the chest. However, Crash was just as much a battle-oriented robot as many of his brethren were and knew better than to stay down. He spun to the side, dancing away nimbly as Shadow tried to catch him with a back-kick.
The shadow slinker snarled and fell on Crash with his blade. The helmeted Robot Master angled his body, shifting both hands into drill and thrust them forward. As they contacted, the bombs exploded, breaking the sword into large shards, one of them striking Crash in the face, Gel spilling down his open cheek.
Shadow staggered back from the force of the explosion. Small nicks and scratches raked down his body as well, struggle to readjust his sight from the light. His eyes finally focused on the shattered blade in his hand and flashed a blazing violet. With a snarl, Shadow's sight fixed on Crash.
He shot forward with a speed hard to follow and threw the broken hilt at him. It was easily evaded, but as Crash sidestepped the projectile, he left himself open for a kick in the side. He felt something crack, just before the follow through pounded him against a nearby wall. A hand found its way to his throat, cutting off the breath that he couldn't catch. Through wincing eyes, he matched up to the flaring pair of Shadow's. With strength someone his size couldn't possibly possess- Surge, Shadow was in Surge! -he hauled Crash off the ground. The taller robot's feet scraped the air a good couple inches from the floor. He weakly batted at Shadow's arm, what little breath he could get whistled in his body- one of his lungs must've been punctured..
Crash grappled with the fingers at his neck, pressing too tightly to loosen them. He cracked open an eye again and aimed a kick at Shadow's armpit. Though with his armor on, the kagemusha didn't feel any pain, the force of the kick made him reflexively drop his arm. Crash took the opening, pressing both his feet against the wall at his back and pushing them across the hall. Surprised, Shadow allowed the movement, unlocking his elbow and bringing Crash in close. Which gave Crash the advantage.
He was one of the better grapplers in Wily's ranks- for someone smaller than a majority of the other robots -and immediately he snaked an arm over Shadow's, bringing it down to break the hold on his throat. He gripped Shadow's arm at the triceps, anchoring him in place and locking his other arm behind Shadow's head. He was pressed tightly against Crash, unable to move, their legs entangled and any sudden movement threatened to topple them both over.
Then Crash saw Shadow's eyes grow wide, not in fear, but in a hissing anger and suddenly, Crash heard running feet and turned to see Ring charging at them, in his hands the broken hilt of Shadow's sword.
He barely even thought, just turned, one hand keeping Shadow in place, the other going up to block the thrust. It was almost like slow motion, he saw- not felt -the ragged edge of the blade piercing through his armor, impaling his hand. He didn't even feel it before he felt a hand on his gut- Shadow- gripping and twisting his stomach, causing him to double over. The moment Shadow deemed him bent far enough down, he rolled over Crash's back, kicking Ring away and the fight began anew.
He fell back against the wall, still too close to the battle for anyone to dare see if he was okay. His frustrations wanted him to cry and scream, but he lacked the energy to do so. He was tired, he couldn't hold up to them and he couldn't stop them.
Dammit... Goddammit..! He hissed to himself, cradling his bloody hand to his chest, trying to ignore how the lack of oxygen was starting to make his vision darken. He didn't see the battle rage on. He didn't watch as the two fought, the blood being spilled and bones being broken. He cursed at himself, praying for strength, praying he could see Quick's smiling face again. See Ring doing another one of his stupid pranks. He wanted to envy the connection between Elec and Metal again. He wanted his friends to be /happy/.
Shadow and Ring fell back after they exchanged blows, trying to find their next wind. With blood soaked grimaces, they charged at each other.
"DAMMIT!" Crash shot forward, bringing out another bomb. He had to stop them. He had to stop this. And right now, it didn't matter how.
He smashed the point of the bomb into the floor between the two fighters, just as they were closing in. Bright light and heat enveloped the three and that was all he knew.
///
When Crystal walked into the room, he was surprised to see Crash was sitting up and looking around in his normal, wide-eyed manner.
"Ah, you're up." He said in a doctorly manner.
"What is this place?"
"One of the rooms where we keep the over-nighters."
Crash looked confused. " 'Over-nighters'?"
"The ones that need to be looked after for long periods of time." The light haired robot took a small bottle off the tray he had brought in. "You, my foolish patient, nearly blew yourself and the other two up." He gave him a critical look. "Not the smartest way to end a fight, if you ask me."
"Well.." He had the good nature to look sheepish. "Are they okay?"
"Fine, for the most part. Few broken parts here, a couple things needing replacing there. A good load of tranquilizers all around."
He blinked. "Tranqs?"
"Yup." Crystal drew some of the liquid in the bottle into a needle that was also resting on the tray. "Those two gave us a lot of work in here. Ran out of painkillers so we figured: if you have to be in pain, might as well be unconscious for it."
"U-Un.." Crash looked up in surprise.
"Crystal." A voice said. It was Ring, leaning against the door to the room, parts of him still wrapped up in bandages. "I want to talk with Crash, alone."
The medical robot looked at him for a moment, then at Crash. The robot in question seemed glad to see his friend. However, Crystal didn't think he'd be happy for too long. Normally he wouldn't have given it a second thought, but he didn't feel particularly inclined to let them speak alone.
"Crystal-" Ring growled in a menacing way.
"It's all right, Crystal!" Crash smiled brightly. "I'll be okay."
He cast a look at Crash, looking as if he was going to say something but, deciding it wasn't his place, just nodded and walked out. The needle and bottle remained on the nearby table.
"Have a seat!" The older robot said with more energy than he had in weeks. He scooted over a bit, patting the area next to him on the bed. However, to his surprise and curiosity, Ring remained standing. And when Crash looked up at him, he shrank at the fury and animosity the shone clearly on his face. "Wh-What's wrong?"
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" He growled, trying to control the shaking in his fist.
"What're you talking-"
"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Ring lashed out, his arm catching on a glass of water on the nightstand and shattering it on the ground. Crash flinched, unable to meet Ring's eyes.
"I-I was-"
"Do you want to die? Is /that/ your problem?" He hissed.
Faltering slightly, the other robot glared up at him. "/You're/ the one that wanted to die."
"/I/ have a purpose."
"/Purpose/?" Crash had forgotten his fear, lost in the stupidity of it all. "What, do you think you can be a martyr or something? Do you think dying would /get/ you something?"
"I'm willing to die for a cause!"
"There's no point to it!" Crash shouted, hands bunch up the sheets around him. "Your death would be meaningless!"
Orange eyes narrowed at him. "Quick is not meaningless."
"Right now, anything you'd do for him is!" His own gaze matched, force for force, demanding to be heard. "You don't even know. You don't even /care/!"
"What the hell are you-"
"Quick might as well be dead right now!" His voice rang in the small room. It threw Ring off guard. "No one's seen him! He won't talk to me, he won't leave his room! He hasn't eaten in nearly a week! For all we know, he's lying dead in his quarters but we can't tell because his fucking /room/ is locked! There's no point to this Goddamn fight because it's not accomplishing /anything/! You claim to be doing this for Quick, but have you stopped and thought, for just /one/ /second/ about how he's feeling? Have you thought that maybe you're /hurting/ him? That you're driving him into hiding? Have you ever thought that he doesn't want two people he loves fighting each other over /him/? He thinks it's his fucking fault!" Tears began to spill over Crash's cheeks. "He thinks it's his fault you two are fighting when you're just being dumb asses!" His head was bent over his clenched hands, eyes shut tight at he ranted. "I would've forgiven Shadow because Quick loved him! Because he never really knew how much Quick cared! But I can't forgive you! I can /never/ forgive you! You deliberately hurt Quick because you were being selfish! And now, because of you.!" Crash's words stumbled and caught in his throat. He doubled over in his bed, tears entangling themselves in his mouth. "Because of you..! I may never see my brother again.."
He sat there, head braced against his knees, crying. And Ring, giving him one more cold stare, spun on his heels and walked out of the room.
When Crystal came back to check on the drill bomber, he found the room empty. So was the tray he had left there.
///
"Quick..." he said, voice low, "I can't keep going like this. I'm not as strong as you. I don't know how to keep everyone together. Elec's withdrawing from everyone, Ring's getting snappy, I don't know how to comfort Metal..." Crash pressed his forehead against the door. "I can't be like you. I don't know how. I'm not strong enough for it.
"Everything's just getting messed up now and everyone's falling apart. Quick, please... help me. Tell me what to do, I'm not strong enough. Please..." his voice fell on dead ears. "I can't take it. I can't... I can't live like this. I'm not helping anyone. I'm not doing anything. If you can't tell me what to do..."
Somewhere, in the dark, the smallest breath of life shone a blind amber.
"Crash? ... Crash, where are you going..?"
He called out weakly, but the hall had gone silent.
///
"What a wonderful destination.
"Where am I now, I can no longer see?
"Drop another pill just to kill me..." He swallowed the two allotted medication. Then two more. And two more. "Collapsed to my knees and fell fast into sleep.
"And there I was," he looked at the blue liquid that rippled in its small container. Strong enough to tranquilize even the strongest of their ranks, enough to slow their system to an almost death-like state. "And there I was drifting
"Way out into the sunshine
"Expecting to crash but I'm tied to a string," he picked up the liquid, the syringe, "look at me," the medication emptied through the small needle, "I'm a tangled puppet. I might be a mess but I sure can survive." And he injected himself. And he sighed, tilting his head to gaze at the out of focus ceiling. "But I have escaped it... by pretending to die..."
///
"Wily-sama...." Freeze's quiet voice echoed in the foreboding room, ringing with a volume that's never made it's way passed his mouth before. "Wily-sama, there's a problem. Crash-" he cut himself off, trying to collect his thoughts. He wasn't particularly close to Crash, or to anyone other than Slash as it may be. But he had never, under any circumstance, believed he would have to explain a situation like this. And thus, had no idea how to continue.
"What is it?" Wily grumbled. The med-bot ducked his head.
"Crash is.... Crash is gone, sir." He bit his lip. It didn't seem like the proper word to him. He wasn't 'dead', per sae, because he was never actually alive. He just.... "He won't function." His ice eyes flickered slightly as he heard the subtle skip in the old human's typing. "He ODed on his medication and injected himself with stolen tranqs from medbay. He nearly stopped his circulation. His appendices are dried out, circuits are shot. Most of his databanks are wiped clean and everything in his main, back-up and memory chips have been encrypted to the disk in his central core. Those that didn't copy are damaged beyond repair. He's...." he frowned at the only choice of words he had. Because it makes it seem like he's still active.... Freeze thought. "He's refusing all activation commands."
For a long moment there was no sound, just the clacking of typing fingers. It stretched to the point Freeze felt inclined to say something.
"Get out."
The bioroid looked up, surprised at the low voice. "Sir?"
"Get out!" The command came out loud and sharp. Hastily, Freeze shot to his feet. Making a small bow, he hurried out of the room.
Once his door had swooshed closed, Wily abruptly stopped his typing. Stiffly, as if his legs had forgotten how, he stood and walked to the door hidden in the dark corner of the lab. He strode swiftly passed the partly completed robot on the table, washed in bright lights and surrounded by knives and lasers. He barely gave it a passing glance as he went by, instead, going to the consoles along the wall.
He stood before the main computer, hands held like a conductor, waiting for the muses to inspire him, to move his robotic opera further. But he did not move. In time, his hands began to tremble and he clenched his hands to fists and brought them down hard against the wall.
Wily hunched against the bulkhead, body shaking. Teeth clenched, he refused the fear that crept on him, time twisting his will and body and mind.
He would not submit.
He would not fail.
He would. Not. Die.
by Lady Virgo
"And all that is
is no longer
And all that can
be die."
///
For the first time in far too long, the world saw him outside of the dim interior of Skull Fortress. Generally he would spend a vast majority of his time outside, but the stress of the passed few months left him feeling far less energetic than usual.
To be putting it lightly.
It was a beautiful day outside, as well. Sitting up on the roof of the highest tower of the fortress, Quick couldn't help but think it was unfair. The sky wasn't supposed to be a soft blue and clean. The clouds were supposed to be thick and foreboding, maybe even flashing lightning lashes in the dark horizon. No warm winds, no harmonious bird songs, no blooming trees.
Looking at the tall sway of the grass, he wondered just how easy it would be to jump.
///
There was a condition all creatures, unaccustomed to battle, go through. Due to strain, fear, fatigue, boredom and/or pain. Its called Fog of War. It is when you can't seem to comprehend what's going on, you're detached, you don't understand what you see, you can't hear any sounds and everything's moving in slow motion.
In theory, the only ones that should be feeling this fog are those that are alive. Those that are under threat of permanently dying.
It should, hypothetically, not happen to a device whose sole existence was to fight and destroy.
So then why did everything move like he was watching them from a water filled glass? Why was everything blurring together? Why couldn't he remember what he was doing?
A.... a fight. He remembered that much. He was fighting. Again. Who was- ah yes, Ring. He was fighting Ring again. And he couldn't seem to move right. He felt sluggish, slow, his body refused to move. All it did was scream at him in a dull pulse.
He remembered the other Robot Masters gathering around them. They were shouting something at them, he couldn't make out what. Move, maybe? Fight? Or was it they wanted them to stop? He couldn't remember anymore, it all sounded the same to him in the heat of battle.
Battle? That's right, he was supposed to be fighting. His thoughts struggled weakly in the exhausted folds of his mind. Was he still fighting? How could he lose focus like that?
In his swimming vision he could make the blur of Ring's enraged face, waiting for something.
Attack.
The only thing that made it through his mind.
Fight. Move. Attack.
He lurched forward, but his legs wouldn't comply. One of his knees gave out, the other just refused to move outright. He dimly realized he was falling. He saw the smears of blood around him (on him?) that swept across the floor. Where did it come from? Him? Why didn't he feel the pain?
There was a faint thud as his body connected with the floor, mind reeling in the thick confusion. There.... he thought vaguely. There's my leg. No wonder it wouldn't move.....
Something forced its way passed his throat, demanding he let it out or choke. The blood didn't so much as ooze out of his open lips as it was a reflexive vomit, throat pushing the foreign liquid from where it didn't belong.
Did he lose? That's couldn't be right. The only one he had actually lost to was Rock. He didn't lose. A hint of pressure prodded his foggy thoughts, Ring grinding Shadow's head against the floor with a viscous heel.
He couldn't remember....
A scuffle? The pressure lifted from his head and knees came into his vision. More yelling from the sounds of it. Or maybe it was just the blood in his ears. It must have been, because something red was dripping in his view.
With a sigh, he decided maybe it would be better if he just remained unaware.
///
"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Ring let his head loll to the side with the force of the blow. Pharaoh had never once raised a hand to him and his personal views on slapping was that the Robot Masters were above the sort of baby-ish treatment.
So to have him rake an open palm across his face had, amazingly enough, hurt.
The Enforcer stood before him, trembling in rage. "I /never/ would've thought you'd be so fucking /stupid/! I can't believe /you/, out of everyone here, would honestly try to /kill/ someone!" He jerked a finger passed the glass behind him, passed the computers, passed Crystal and Freeze at the body of Shadow laying on the lab table. "I told you before," he seethed, voice lowered but as intense as before, "that it was my duty to keep everyone from killing each other. I had /hoped/ that you were smart enough to just leave it at little squabbles. I honestly didn't want to punish you."
Ring said nothing, lifting his eyes up to meet his brother's golden ones.
"Or do you think you'd learn better if I let Magnet at you." His fists hardened at the thought. He was, to be earnest, afraid of what Magnet would do to Ring, just because he knew he was important to Pharaoh.
"It doesn't matter." Came the soft reply.
"What?"
"It doesn't matter." Ring looked passed him, at the still form on the table. "Shadow's still alive. And so long as he is, I'll never stop fighting him." His clenched fists shook, teeth grinding in his anger. "I'll never forgive him."
///
Of all the feelings going through Metal, he wondered is annoyance should be one of them.
He had left shortly after they wheeled Shadow into the operation room. Or, rather, he had discharged himself. Neither Freeze or Crystal complained, too busy to spend time worrying about someone who was already back in stable condition.
The last thing that Crystal had told him, up to his elbows in Shadow's abdomen: "I know you're not going to listen to me, but at least it'll be off my conscience. No more drinking, all right? We had to replace damn near 73% of your circulatory system. Even so, you keep drinking the way you do, you'll just rot your insides again."
And, as Crystal had suspected, Metal didn't have the slightest inclination of listening to him. He was already being worn down physically, it was really only fitting that he deteriorated from the inside, as well.
But that wasn't what had annoyed him. It was his 'friends' that did.
No. They all had their own problems.
It was Elec.
The first thing Metal had done was go to his room to drink. Even if Crystal had flushed all the alcohol from his system, the poison had permeated his very being, seeped into his memory, into his circuits. He was a complete slave to it. And it demanded to tarnish this.... untainted tubing that ran through the body it ruled.
And the first thing Metal instinctively realized as he stepped into his room was his supply had all gone.
Because Elec was waiting vaguely for him.
"You know," he had stated once Metal entered the room, "I'm surprised that it took this long for something to happen to you." He cast a sideways glare at his lover. "Now do you understand why I'm always on your case?"
Softly, as if he barely even acknowledged him, Metal turned to his dresser. "No."
Elec snapped. "What, looking for your stash?" The younger robot stopped, back still to Elec. "It's gone. It's all gone. Where do you get that shit, anyway? Jim Beam, Grey Goose, Captain Morgan, /Gold Schlagger/?" Elec's blue eyes narrowed. "How the hell did you get all those?"
There was a silent moment and Metal dragged a hand across the surface on the dresser.
"Don't think," he said softly, "that just because you got rid of all that you can find, I'll stop just like that."
"Jesus Christ, Metal!" He stomped to his feet. "You damn near drunk yourself to fucking /death/!"
"That doesn't change anything. The fact that you're here, now, lecturing me about drinking of all things, proves that it hasn't changed."
"/What/ hasn't changed?" Metal said nothing, continuing to stare down at the piece of furniture. "Goddammit!" He stalked to the door and whirled around. "I'm doing this for /you/, Metal." He growled. "I don't like being a bastard, especially to you." He then practically shouted, "So what the /fuck/ do I have to do to make you /talk/ to me!?"
In a hoarse voice came the reply.
"Leave me alone."
"No!" Elec yelled. "Not until you talk to me!"
"What business of it is yours?" Metal snapped. "I can deal with it on my own."
"With booze. Yes, wonderful way to cope. Walking around /drunk/!" He returned. "I hate when you get like this! I worry every time-"
"There's nothing to worry about! I'm in control, I'm perfectly fine!"
Elec snarled. "Being beaten doesn't make you perfectly fine /or/ in control. And this damn habit of yours isn't helping any at all!"
"It helps," he tensed visibly, "when your entire body is in pain! But what would you know? You don't care enough to even ask let alone understand!"
"I /try/ to understand! I'm trying to get you to speak with me, I'm trying to know just what it is you go through, but you never tell me!" He was far beyond the range of his temper. Everything he was trying to hold back after so many long years of hidden anxiety and fear and anger was pushing against him. "You always freeze up and turn away, you always change the subject, /you're/ always the one avoiding me trying to help you so don't you dare try to pin /me/ for not caring!"
"But you /don't/ care! It's not just about these things that I'm talking about!" Metal shouted. "The pain never really goes away anymore, I'm always hurting but you don't care! You never notice when it gets really bad, you don't see when it hurts too much to do anything, but you know what?" He waved a hand around haphazardly. "I let you fuck me anyway because I want to make you happy! I do these things for you and all you do is pester me for the little things! No shit I'm hurt! No shit I got beat or raped again, but I'm used to it. You know what really hurts? When you have to fuck me when I'm hurt and you don't care enough to notice!"
For a moment, Elec looked as if he were about to break. "Do I- Do I really hurt you?"
"Yes! Even though you don't intend to, it really does hurt, more than the others because it's /you/!"
He stuttered, shivering a bit. "I didn't know. I would never hurt you. I didn't mean to, I- I never knew."
"Because you never cared enough to notice." Metal sniffed, voice steady and quiet. "That's why I drink, so it doesn't hurt as much, so I don't have to think about it anymore." He turned back to the wall, etching small figures into his dresser's surface. "Leave me alone."
Without a second thought, without fully being aware, Elec left.
///
"Hey, Quick."
Silence was Crash's only response.
"Hey, Quick.." He said again, toeing the floor idly. Quick's door was locked, all the codes he tried were denied so he was reduced to talking to his brother through the unyielding metal. "You should come out soon. We're thinking about setting up a picnic or something. You know, the weather being nice and all. Gotta take advantage of the last vestiges of summer before it gets too cold!" He said in his best travel agent impression.
The nothing greeted him.
Deathly stillness was all there was since Ring had put Shadow into emergency care. Without a word, without anyone knowing, Quick had just... stopped. Stopped talking, stopped coming out, stopped moving. Crash had wondered once- only once, there was no way it could be true -if Quick had stopped being.
"Maa," he leaned against the wall, "you should come out after evening chow. Stone and Guts are having an arm wrestling competition. Whoever loses has to shave their head. I'm hoping Guts loses, Stone's already nearly bald as it is." Crash paused and strained is audio sensors. They picked up nothing. Clearing his throat, he tried to think of something else to say. "The cooking's getting worse. We need to bug Turbo to fix the programming again. But, you know, I hear that Star got caught watching those cooking shows, maybe we should put him to the test, huh? You should've been there at practice, too. Bubble's a total moron, man. You wouldn't believe what happened..."
///
"I can't believe Ring went that far.."
"That wasn't just from that last fight."
"What do you mean?"
Crystal hung his head, silver-gray hair hiding his tired eyes. "All the other fights they got into.. Ring refused to fix up Shadow. Shadow never came in for repairs. Most of his wounds were weeks old, the accumulation and stress broke his body down."
Freeze's eyes widened. "But.. They've been fighting for over a month!" His low voice was a mere whisper. "It's amazing he could even survive.."
"They can't keep going on like this." The older robot clenched his fists tight. "We were lucky we could've saved him. But I doubt we can keep it up at the rate they're going. They won't stop until one of them dies."
Freeze shook his head. "You talk as if we're even alive. How can we 'die'? How can we be stopped permanently?"
"If no one repairs us. If no one recharges us. If we refuse to be activated." Crystal looked at Freeze with hard eyes. "Just because we don't live the way purely biological beings do doesn't mean that we're immune to death."
From where he lay, listening to the conversation- only parts of it penetrated the thick cloud of his thoughts -Shadow held up a bandaged hand. Then, slowly, clenched it into a fist.
Death.. Dying...
Was Quick worth 'dying' for? Could he deal with Ring's 'death' on his conscience? Could he give up his own 'life'?
"It doesn't matter.." Shadow said quietly to himself. "If it comes to that, so be it. But I will never forgive him."
///
"Hey, Quick, I'm back!" He stood in front of the speedster's door, waiting a few seconds for some sort of acknowledgment. And none came. "They said that Shadow's going to be fine. A little rest and a few more tweaks in his system and he'll be up to his reclusive, quiet self. Isn't that great?" Crash said, smiling at the door.
There was no reply.
He wondered if he even expected one. "Ne, Quick.." his tone lowered half an octave. "It's useless trying to scare me like this. I know you're in there, laughing at me worrying over you. But it's okay. Because I like you and you've taken care of me. So I'll keep coming here and keeping you company. I'll indulge in you and your twisted sense of humor until you get bored." Crash swallowed the knot in his throat, trying to ignore how unnaturally quiet it was.
"But... Quick." The muscles in his cheeks twitched and clenched. "Elec... I can't take it. Elec came to me and.. And he was crying. Quick, Elec was /crying/ to me." His voice was gradually becoming thick. "He's always been one of the strongest bioroids I've ever known and he just broke down and cried. He just kept on rambling about it's his fault Metal nearly drank himself to death. He said that he's no good to Metal and that he keeps hurting him and he never knew, that he never meant it.." Crash placed his hands on the door. "Quick, please. Please, I don't know what to do. I've never known how to take care of things like this. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to tell him?" The door blurred in his eyes, tears trembling on his lashes as he desperately tried to hold them back.
Quick...
Forcing a cheerful note in his tear-thick voice, Crash made his best effort to smile through the door, as if Quick would see him. "You're probably asleep or something, huh? Must be why you're so quiet. I'll bet it's because you're running low on energy. Tell you what, I'll get you something to eat, you know you're hungry. You're always hungry 'cause of your metabolism. I'll leave your food outside your door. Eat it up so you're awake next time I come by, okay?"
With one last look at his brother's room, Crash made a quick retreat down the hall. He barely made it to his own quarters before he slid to the ground, curling into a ball and trying so /damn/ /hard/ not to cry..
///
"Che. A bit too soon, isn't it?" Ring spat to the side. He really didn't care if Shadow had a death wish.
As if he were just checking, Shadow rolled his leg at the knee and ankle, experimentally flexing the hand that they had to replace. Ring saw the flash of skin between Shadow's jacket cuff and glove; it was several shades darker than his original skin. No one else really had the same tone as Shadow did.
Confident in his parts' working order, he slowly looked back up at Ring. "Thank you for your unwanted concern."
Ring scowled. "I don't care about you. I want you dead."
"I know."
He despised that cold shell he constantly hid himself behind. "We're ending it this time. Only one of us is walking away."
Shadow tilted his head down. He seemed to have been waiting for this, a small, dark smile on his face. "We'll do this the proper way." To Ring's surprise, Shadow pressed on his Flash Case, light encasing his form as the dark armor solidified onto his body. By instinct, Ring's own armor was called no more than a half-second later.
And, realizing how serious the kagemusha was on their final battle, the Russian robot smiled.
Today, he was certain, /he/ would be the victor.
///
Their battle took them across the vast halls of Skull Fortress. Doors and computer panels were smashed, light fixtures shattered, wires and glass strewn down battle scarred halls. Holes and dents littered the walls, drops of blood, oil, whatever it may have been speckling the floor and the Robot Masters shrank away. They knew what true rivalry looked like, they knew when one was so intently focused in their battles that nothing else mattered. They were robots, built to fight. But this went beyond anything they say.
This was true blood lust. They were out to kill each other.
Even at the expense of their own lives.
Anyone that got in their way was swept up in their fight. Several had already been sent to the medbay in dire need of repairs. And because of that, the others stayed a good distance away.
Several of the Robot Masters had contacted the Enforcers, staying in their corner of the recroom. Flash, Skull and Hard were fidgeting at the bar, Snake and Plant trying to ignore the world beyond their video games. And Magnet just about had enough of the wait.
He stalked up to Pharaoh, calmly sprawled across his chair and reading a paper. Some strong, strange smelling tea was next to him. Magnet recognized its scent as the one Pharaoh drank whenever he was anxious. Frown on his deceptive face, he peered down on the golden eyed robot.
"Why are we in here?" He quietly asked. But the others heard anyway. They knew this would end up in another argument, but they wanted to know the same thing.
Magnet received no answer. "Well? How come we're not out there stopping them like we should?" Pharaoh didn't appear to even notice him. "Are you waiting for Wily-sama to tell you to stop them? It's obvious we should! We don't need to be told these things, you know that!" At the continuing silence, Magnet exploded. "Dammit, Pharaoh! They're destroying the fortress that we were formed to protect and you're just sitting there like it-"
"Leave it, Maggie!" The sharp, crispness of Pharaoh's voice cut through his mind, leaving the red bioroid temporarily speechless. He calmly picked up his cup of tea. "If they won't learn any other way, then let them kill themselves. They don't care."
///
Not everyone shared Pharaoh's sentiments on the fight. Crash, once having found out about the fight-to-the-death, had hurried to the scene. Clad in his armor, the drill bomber set himself in the fight, determined to pull the two apart.
He was causing more problems then he was stopping.
Having run out of any other ideas- he knew before hand he wouldn't be able to keep up their pace for long -he wrapped his arms around Ring, putting himself between Ring and Shadow.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" Ring nearly shrieked, finally noticing that his best friend was trying to kill him. Or himself. Or both of them.
"Stop it, Ring! Please!" He begged for all he was worth. "Stop fighting! It's not helping anyone! All you're doing is hurting-"
"Goddammit, Crash!" Ring's orange eyes flickered upward, sensing the impending attack. "Get the fuck outta the way!" He ripped an arm out of Crash's grip and smashed it against the side of Crash's helmet.
And got a flying sidekick, point blank, in the face.
Ring skidded across the floor and plowed into the bulkhead. He rolled over to his side, a hand frantically tearing the broken pieces of his mask away from his face. Blood dripped down from his mouth and broken nose and he choked on a stray tooth that nearly went down his throat.
Shadow, secured in his sense of victory, smiled uncharacteristically and dashed forward. He found himself fighting for footing as something barreled into his side, knocking him off course. Crash stood between the two, still reeling from the blow that knocked him out of harm's way. Trying to shake clear his head, the orange drill bomber flexed his hands. The few brave that made up the audience murmured at his apparent suicide.
"Both of you," he shouted, "/stop it/!"
"Stay out of this!" Shadow snarled. He swung out with a reverse fist, pivoting on his forward foot and fell into a sweep kick, tripping Crash to the ground.
Using his spin momentum, Shadow twisted up, his outstretched foot coming up into an arc, falling to crush Crash in the chest. However, Crash was just as much a battle-oriented robot as many of his brethren were and knew better than to stay down. He spun to the side, dancing away nimbly as Shadow tried to catch him with a back-kick.
The shadow slinker snarled and fell on Crash with his blade. The helmeted Robot Master angled his body, shifting both hands into drill and thrust them forward. As they contacted, the bombs exploded, breaking the sword into large shards, one of them striking Crash in the face, Gel spilling down his open cheek.
Shadow staggered back from the force of the explosion. Small nicks and scratches raked down his body as well, struggle to readjust his sight from the light. His eyes finally focused on the shattered blade in his hand and flashed a blazing violet. With a snarl, Shadow's sight fixed on Crash.
He shot forward with a speed hard to follow and threw the broken hilt at him. It was easily evaded, but as Crash sidestepped the projectile, he left himself open for a kick in the side. He felt something crack, just before the follow through pounded him against a nearby wall. A hand found its way to his throat, cutting off the breath that he couldn't catch. Through wincing eyes, he matched up to the flaring pair of Shadow's. With strength someone his size couldn't possibly possess- Surge, Shadow was in Surge! -he hauled Crash off the ground. The taller robot's feet scraped the air a good couple inches from the floor. He weakly batted at Shadow's arm, what little breath he could get whistled in his body- one of his lungs must've been punctured..
Crash grappled with the fingers at his neck, pressing too tightly to loosen them. He cracked open an eye again and aimed a kick at Shadow's armpit. Though with his armor on, the kagemusha didn't feel any pain, the force of the kick made him reflexively drop his arm. Crash took the opening, pressing both his feet against the wall at his back and pushing them across the hall. Surprised, Shadow allowed the movement, unlocking his elbow and bringing Crash in close. Which gave Crash the advantage.
He was one of the better grapplers in Wily's ranks- for someone smaller than a majority of the other robots -and immediately he snaked an arm over Shadow's, bringing it down to break the hold on his throat. He gripped Shadow's arm at the triceps, anchoring him in place and locking his other arm behind Shadow's head. He was pressed tightly against Crash, unable to move, their legs entangled and any sudden movement threatened to topple them both over.
Then Crash saw Shadow's eyes grow wide, not in fear, but in a hissing anger and suddenly, Crash heard running feet and turned to see Ring charging at them, in his hands the broken hilt of Shadow's sword.
He barely even thought, just turned, one hand keeping Shadow in place, the other going up to block the thrust. It was almost like slow motion, he saw- not felt -the ragged edge of the blade piercing through his armor, impaling his hand. He didn't even feel it before he felt a hand on his gut- Shadow- gripping and twisting his stomach, causing him to double over. The moment Shadow deemed him bent far enough down, he rolled over Crash's back, kicking Ring away and the fight began anew.
He fell back against the wall, still too close to the battle for anyone to dare see if he was okay. His frustrations wanted him to cry and scream, but he lacked the energy to do so. He was tired, he couldn't hold up to them and he couldn't stop them.
Dammit... Goddammit..! He hissed to himself, cradling his bloody hand to his chest, trying to ignore how the lack of oxygen was starting to make his vision darken. He didn't see the battle rage on. He didn't watch as the two fought, the blood being spilled and bones being broken. He cursed at himself, praying for strength, praying he could see Quick's smiling face again. See Ring doing another one of his stupid pranks. He wanted to envy the connection between Elec and Metal again. He wanted his friends to be /happy/.
Shadow and Ring fell back after they exchanged blows, trying to find their next wind. With blood soaked grimaces, they charged at each other.
"DAMMIT!" Crash shot forward, bringing out another bomb. He had to stop them. He had to stop this. And right now, it didn't matter how.
He smashed the point of the bomb into the floor between the two fighters, just as they were closing in. Bright light and heat enveloped the three and that was all he knew.
///
When Crystal walked into the room, he was surprised to see Crash was sitting up and looking around in his normal, wide-eyed manner.
"Ah, you're up." He said in a doctorly manner.
"What is this place?"
"One of the rooms where we keep the over-nighters."
Crash looked confused. " 'Over-nighters'?"
"The ones that need to be looked after for long periods of time." The light haired robot took a small bottle off the tray he had brought in. "You, my foolish patient, nearly blew yourself and the other two up." He gave him a critical look. "Not the smartest way to end a fight, if you ask me."
"Well.." He had the good nature to look sheepish. "Are they okay?"
"Fine, for the most part. Few broken parts here, a couple things needing replacing there. A good load of tranquilizers all around."
He blinked. "Tranqs?"
"Yup." Crystal drew some of the liquid in the bottle into a needle that was also resting on the tray. "Those two gave us a lot of work in here. Ran out of painkillers so we figured: if you have to be in pain, might as well be unconscious for it."
"U-Un.." Crash looked up in surprise.
"Crystal." A voice said. It was Ring, leaning against the door to the room, parts of him still wrapped up in bandages. "I want to talk with Crash, alone."
The medical robot looked at him for a moment, then at Crash. The robot in question seemed glad to see his friend. However, Crystal didn't think he'd be happy for too long. Normally he wouldn't have given it a second thought, but he didn't feel particularly inclined to let them speak alone.
"Crystal-" Ring growled in a menacing way.
"It's all right, Crystal!" Crash smiled brightly. "I'll be okay."
He cast a look at Crash, looking as if he was going to say something but, deciding it wasn't his place, just nodded and walked out. The needle and bottle remained on the nearby table.
"Have a seat!" The older robot said with more energy than he had in weeks. He scooted over a bit, patting the area next to him on the bed. However, to his surprise and curiosity, Ring remained standing. And when Crash looked up at him, he shrank at the fury and animosity the shone clearly on his face. "Wh-What's wrong?"
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" He growled, trying to control the shaking in his fist.
"What're you talking-"
"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Ring lashed out, his arm catching on a glass of water on the nightstand and shattering it on the ground. Crash flinched, unable to meet Ring's eyes.
"I-I was-"
"Do you want to die? Is /that/ your problem?" He hissed.
Faltering slightly, the other robot glared up at him. "/You're/ the one that wanted to die."
"/I/ have a purpose."
"/Purpose/?" Crash had forgotten his fear, lost in the stupidity of it all. "What, do you think you can be a martyr or something? Do you think dying would /get/ you something?"
"I'm willing to die for a cause!"
"There's no point to it!" Crash shouted, hands bunch up the sheets around him. "Your death would be meaningless!"
Orange eyes narrowed at him. "Quick is not meaningless."
"Right now, anything you'd do for him is!" His own gaze matched, force for force, demanding to be heard. "You don't even know. You don't even /care/!"
"What the hell are you-"
"Quick might as well be dead right now!" His voice rang in the small room. It threw Ring off guard. "No one's seen him! He won't talk to me, he won't leave his room! He hasn't eaten in nearly a week! For all we know, he's lying dead in his quarters but we can't tell because his fucking /room/ is locked! There's no point to this Goddamn fight because it's not accomplishing /anything/! You claim to be doing this for Quick, but have you stopped and thought, for just /one/ /second/ about how he's feeling? Have you thought that maybe you're /hurting/ him? That you're driving him into hiding? Have you ever thought that he doesn't want two people he loves fighting each other over /him/? He thinks it's his fucking fault!" Tears began to spill over Crash's cheeks. "He thinks it's his fault you two are fighting when you're just being dumb asses!" His head was bent over his clenched hands, eyes shut tight at he ranted. "I would've forgiven Shadow because Quick loved him! Because he never really knew how much Quick cared! But I can't forgive you! I can /never/ forgive you! You deliberately hurt Quick because you were being selfish! And now, because of you.!" Crash's words stumbled and caught in his throat. He doubled over in his bed, tears entangling themselves in his mouth. "Because of you..! I may never see my brother again.."
He sat there, head braced against his knees, crying. And Ring, giving him one more cold stare, spun on his heels and walked out of the room.
When Crystal came back to check on the drill bomber, he found the room empty. So was the tray he had left there.
///
"Quick..." he said, voice low, "I can't keep going like this. I'm not as strong as you. I don't know how to keep everyone together. Elec's withdrawing from everyone, Ring's getting snappy, I don't know how to comfort Metal..." Crash pressed his forehead against the door. "I can't be like you. I don't know how. I'm not strong enough for it.
"Everything's just getting messed up now and everyone's falling apart. Quick, please... help me. Tell me what to do, I'm not strong enough. Please..." his voice fell on dead ears. "I can't take it. I can't... I can't live like this. I'm not helping anyone. I'm not doing anything. If you can't tell me what to do..."
Somewhere, in the dark, the smallest breath of life shone a blind amber.
"Crash? ... Crash, where are you going..?"
He called out weakly, but the hall had gone silent.
///
"What a wonderful destination.
"Where am I now, I can no longer see?
"Drop another pill just to kill me..." He swallowed the two allotted medication. Then two more. And two more. "Collapsed to my knees and fell fast into sleep.
"And there I was," he looked at the blue liquid that rippled in its small container. Strong enough to tranquilize even the strongest of their ranks, enough to slow their system to an almost death-like state. "And there I was drifting
"Way out into the sunshine
"Expecting to crash but I'm tied to a string," he picked up the liquid, the syringe, "look at me," the medication emptied through the small needle, "I'm a tangled puppet. I might be a mess but I sure can survive." And he injected himself. And he sighed, tilting his head to gaze at the out of focus ceiling. "But I have escaped it... by pretending to die..."
///
"Wily-sama...." Freeze's quiet voice echoed in the foreboding room, ringing with a volume that's never made it's way passed his mouth before. "Wily-sama, there's a problem. Crash-" he cut himself off, trying to collect his thoughts. He wasn't particularly close to Crash, or to anyone other than Slash as it may be. But he had never, under any circumstance, believed he would have to explain a situation like this. And thus, had no idea how to continue.
"What is it?" Wily grumbled. The med-bot ducked his head.
"Crash is.... Crash is gone, sir." He bit his lip. It didn't seem like the proper word to him. He wasn't 'dead', per sae, because he was never actually alive. He just.... "He won't function." His ice eyes flickered slightly as he heard the subtle skip in the old human's typing. "He ODed on his medication and injected himself with stolen tranqs from medbay. He nearly stopped his circulation. His appendices are dried out, circuits are shot. Most of his databanks are wiped clean and everything in his main, back-up and memory chips have been encrypted to the disk in his central core. Those that didn't copy are damaged beyond repair. He's...." he frowned at the only choice of words he had. Because it makes it seem like he's still active.... Freeze thought. "He's refusing all activation commands."
For a long moment there was no sound, just the clacking of typing fingers. It stretched to the point Freeze felt inclined to say something.
"Get out."
The bioroid looked up, surprised at the low voice. "Sir?"
"Get out!" The command came out loud and sharp. Hastily, Freeze shot to his feet. Making a small bow, he hurried out of the room.
Once his door had swooshed closed, Wily abruptly stopped his typing. Stiffly, as if his legs had forgotten how, he stood and walked to the door hidden in the dark corner of the lab. He strode swiftly passed the partly completed robot on the table, washed in bright lights and surrounded by knives and lasers. He barely gave it a passing glance as he went by, instead, going to the consoles along the wall.
He stood before the main computer, hands held like a conductor, waiting for the muses to inspire him, to move his robotic opera further. But he did not move. In time, his hands began to tremble and he clenched his hands to fists and brought them down hard against the wall.
Wily hunched against the bulkhead, body shaking. Teeth clenched, he refused the fear that crept on him, time twisting his will and body and mind.
He would not submit.
He would not fail.
He would. Not. Die.