Months had passed since Mother and Aunt Sarah's deaths; it was now December. Life was certainly different anymore. All feelings of animosity towards any of us that Father had ever had dissipated immediately following Mother and Aunt Sarah's deaths; Xavier still tried to uphold his easy-going nature, but it didn't always work. For the first few weeks, I always caught him crying; it didn't matter where he was, he would just cry, which was understandable. His very father had disowned him. I tried as best I could to cheer him up, but that's not really my strong suit. So I usually had Rock tag along, and the two of us would see if we couldn't cheer up X. Rock's a naturally caring and happy droid; when you're around him, you can't help but lose your negative emotions. We were almost always successful with X; Rock and I always made him laugh whenever we had bouts of sibling rivalry.
It was very different without Uncle Albert...I missed him terribly. Out of all the humans living with me, Uncle Albert and X were the two I cared for the most. But I knew that there couldn't be more than one depressed child in the house, so I had to mask my emotions. It took a few days, and it was very hard trying to block out my emotions protocol, but I finally succeeded. I myself was almost as depressed as X, but I never showed it, never expressed it. And nobody was the wiser. I had gotten very good at hiding.But as always, Elec Man could see right through me.
"Blues."
"Hmm? Oh, hi, Elec. What's up?"
"...come with me. I need to talk to you."
"Um...okay..." We went upstairs to my room; Elec sat himself on my bed, and motioned for me to do the same. I obeyed, and plopped myself next to my little brother.
"So what was it that you wanted to talk about, Elec?" I asked. He smiled, an unreadable expression on his face.
"You may be able to hide from the others, but you can't hide from me, Blues." I was more than slightly taken aback.
"Wh-what do you mean, Elec?" He stopped smiling.
"I can see right through that disguise, Blues."
"What disguise? What are you talking abou-"
"You know," he interrupted harshly, angry and hurt, "I really wish you wouldn't just bottle everything up inside of you, Blues! It's not good...pent up feelings can lead to dangerous things. I've seen it in humans; trapped emotions lead to nothing but trouble. You need to talk about how you feel - we all just can't keep guessing!"
I narrowed my eyes. "I am not a human!"
Elec sighed. "Yes, I know that. But still, it's not a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because it can destroy you. If you keep your emotions hidden, one day you're going to overload, and all of your emotions will come spilling out. Then you'll do something drastic, something you'll regret."
"I'm in control of my emotions," I said curtly. "I can keep them locked away. They're just burdens anyway, to me and to everyone else."
"Is that what you think? That you can't tell us how you feel because you think it'll be a burden on us?"
"I have to be strong...for X and for the rest of you. I can't let my emotions get the better of me. We can't have two depressed people moping around. Somebody has to keep his head on straight."
"Blues...look, we're all in this together. This tragedy affected us all. Everybody's depressed and angry and hurt to some degree! If you don't start showing how you feel, then Dr. Light's going to take you apart and see if you've damaged something! He thinks you're malfunctioning because it seems like you don't care, and he knows you better than that. He knows how close you and Dr. Wily are. When he sees you not acting depressed, then -"
"Well, that's pretty fricking sick, isn't it? 'Since Blues isn't depressed, he must be malfunctioning.' God, I can't stand that man sometimes!"
"Blues, please try to understand. Dr. Light cares about you, about all of us. He doesn't want to see any of us hurt. And he wants to know how you feel. But you won't let anybody inside your heart; you won't let us see what's wrong and how you're feeling. And I just wish that you would for a change." He slid off the bed, opened the door, and stood in its frame. Then he looked back at me with a melancholy expression and headed out the door, leaving me sitting alone on my bed, left to contemplate what he had said.
Maybe he was right. After all, this was the time to come together and share our emotions with one another; now was the time to talk over things with the family. But...I didn't want to bother any of them with my feelings. They had enough things to worry about without my emotions adding on to the pile; I didn't want to trouble anyone. But Elec had said...that I wouldn't be troubling anyone at all, because they all felt the same way as I did. And I really trusted Elec's word. He was a very wise android, even though he was younger than I was. I jumped down from my bed and stared into the mirror.
I saw a young android of eleven human years, with longish sandy blonde hair and emerald green eyes. I had once heard an old saying: "The eyes are the mirrors of the soul." I peered intently into this android's eyes, to see if I could see anything.
I did.
I saw a magnitude of emotions - anger, sadness, depression, hurt, fear...I saw them all reflected in these green mirrors, these mirrors that kept everything locked up, sealed tightly in his mind, never letting anyone get close enough to the lock as to open it. And Elec was right - it looked as if he was being torn apart before my very eyes, as if something was killing him slowly, very slowly, too slow enough for me to detect. But now I could see it.
I stared at this distraught boy and he stared back, unblinking, letting his emotions wash over me like the tide. I thought about what Elec had said - if I just let my family know what I was feeling, then I wouldn't be so torn apart. I decided then that I would follow his sage advice. I took one last glance at the sad little boy, exited my room, and walked downstairs.
I could smell food cooking - Roll was making dinner. In the family room were all of my brothers, sitting around the fire place, the Christmas tree lights reflecting on their armors. Father wasn't there; I assumed he was down working in the lab again. He had to do all of the inventing himself now, although X was starting to learn a lot about mechanics. Sometimes he was even able to help Father on some of the smaller projects; since I didn't see him in the family room, I assumed that was were he was now.
Either that or crying again.
I walked into the room and surveyed the scene: Ice and Fire were playing cards, Bomb and Guts were listening to Cut play the old piano we had, and Elec was singing a Christmas carol. Curled up in front of the fireplace was Rock, sleeping soundly. I smiled; it was so peaceful. A feeling of immense happiness washed over me, and I found myself feeling very humble all of a sudden.
Everyone had a piping hot mug of cocoa with those little marshmallows on top; it seemed Roll had made hot chocolate. I was instantly reminded of Mother's hot chocolate; she made the best hot cocoa this side of Tokyo. Thinking about Mother made me think of Aunt Sarah...and thinking about Aunt Sarah made me think about Uncle Albert. I remembered all of the things we used to do, how Uncle Albert was the one to make me feel accepted, how he helped me speak...how he was always there for me. All of these memories were...painful to dwell on. I found tears streaking down my cheeks in spite of myself. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, trying to stop the flow of tears, but it didn't help; in fact, it only made things worse. I was losing the battle against my own emotions, the battle that I had fought so long and hard to win. Now that I had finally won it, I felt myself losing again. In my battle of trying to stop the tears, I felt my voice module give way, letting lose a loud sob.
Well, that did it. Cut stopped playing, Elec stopped singing, and everyone turned and looked at me. Everyone, that is, except Rock, who was still sleeping peacefully, and Roll, who was in the kitchen and couldn't hear what was going on.
The sob had startled me, and my eyes flew open. Feeling stare after stare on me, I slowly lifted my gaze and saw my brothers gazing back. Then came an emotion that I had never really experienced before, and I didn't know what to make of it. It made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable, and I could feel my cheeks turning slightly red. Annoyed, I accessed my mental book of emotions, and it identified the new feeling as "embarrassment."
Wonderful. Now I had yet another God damned emotion to try and control. On top of that, my mother and aunt were dead, my cousin was always depressed, and my uncle, the person who was very much like my second father, had totally gone insane and we hadn't heard from him since that rainy July night. To make matters worse, everyone was staring at me, and I didn't like it, didn't like it one bit, and, and....
...and I just couldn't take it anymore. I stared at Elec, felt my lower lip quiver, and then burst into heaving sobs. I fell to my knees and put my face in my hands, and just cried. Just cried and cried and cried. I had to let it all out; it felt good to cry. Elec was right. Letting out my emotions did make me feel better...but it sure as hell scared the living bolts out of my other five brothers. They all ran over to me, crowded each other, each one trying to reach me first. I knew they were there, but I didn't care; I ignored them all. At least I tried to, but then Guts came barging through the little crowd of androids, wailing my name. He plucked me from the ground, picked me up, and squeezed me so tight I thought my optics would come popping right out of my head. Needless to say, this definitely quieted my sobs...strangled them, you might say.
"Ohhh...Blues, Blues, what's wroooong????" he wailed. "Why are you crying, Blues?! Please don't cry anymore!!! Uhhoohoohoohooooo!!" And with that, Gutsman proceeded to cry large tears that splashed into my hair.
"HEY!! Heyheyheyhey!! Guts, Guts, you're squeezing!! Heyheyhey!! If he could breathe, he'd be turning blue, just like my coat, and then he'd be living up to his name! Heyheyhey!!! Stop now, Guts! Put Blues down!" Ice inhaled, then let loose a frigid blast of arctic air which made my hair turn stiff and froze the tears to my face. It also made Gutsman release me; he was too cold. As I fell to the ground with a whump!, Guts wrapped his arms around himself and shivered.
"Hey!" he sniffed. "That wasn't nice, Iceman!"
"No, but it was effective," pointed out Fire. Guts sulked.
"Good job, you morons," said Bomb. "You made Blues fall to the floor. Are you okay, Blues?"
I wiped my eyes. "...physically, yes, I'm fine." I stood up and brushed myself off, then sat down on the couch, hands in my lap, still sniffling. I just couldn't stop the tears from coming, no matter how hard I tried.
"Care to...talk about it, Blues?" I looked up and into the face of Elec, who had the same sad smile as before. I felt as though I was ready to cry again.
"Elec........yes. Yes, I...want to talk...about it," I said slowly. And with that, I dissolved into sobs again. This worried the others, except for Elec, it seemed. In fact, he acted as though he had predicted this. Elec sat down next to me on my left; Ice clambered up on the couch and sat to my right. Guts went around behind the couch and watched from there, while Fire, Bomb, and Cut all sat in front of me.
"I...I feel so....st-stupid," I choked. "I...I know I'm n-not usually like th-this...but...I just...I just can't hold this in any longer!!" Ice patted my hand.
"Heyheyhey," he said gently. "It's okay, Blues, really. We're your brothers, 'member? We're worried about you. What's the matter?"
I remembered that sad little boy staring at me with woeful eyes; I didn't want to be him any more. So, in between spurts of sobs and sputterings, I managed to finally tell my brothers how I felt. How I was miserable without Uncle Albert; how I missed him so much; how I was depressed all the time; how I hid my feelings from everyone so that they wouldn't worry about me; how it seemed to have backfired; how I felt that I needed to hide my feelings so they wouldn't be a burden to anyone. I told them everything that I felt, everything. Then I started to cry again.
That was when I heard a different voice. It was smaller, and higher pitched.
And it was crying, too.
"R-rock...?"
Yes, it was he. Rock had woken up due to all the commotion, but had hung back. Now he was standing behind Fire, Bomb, and Cut, crying his little sapphire eyes out.
"Why...why didn't you tell us, Onii-chan? Why didn't you tell us? Why did you keep it locked away?! Why didn't you tell us that you were suffering so much?!" He sat on the floor and cried harder than ever, which made me feel like absolute shit. Here I was, keeping my feelings hidden away, never even noticing that it was hurting the ones I loved. My secrecy had wounded them. And just as bad was the fact that I made my little brother, the one who was so kind and caring, the one who possessed a delicate and sensitive soul...I had made him cry. It was the worst feeling in the world. If I could have, I would have felt sick to my stomach. I jumped off the couch, pushed past my three other brothers, and ran to the sobbing Rock. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly, held him close.
"Rock...I'm so sorry...I didn't realize that it would affect you, too...I...guess I was being selfish, in a way. Ironic, though...isn't it?"
Rock sniffed. "Y'mean...you can iron stuff with your selfishness?"
You know...sometimes I think Rock acts clueless on purpose...just to make me laugh.
"Wh-what...?" I chuckled. "No...no, Rock. 'Ironic' means...well, it's hard to define. But here's an example: I was trying not to hurt all of you with my emotions and problems, and yet by keeping them hidden, I did the very thing I was trying to prevent. Do you understand now?"
"I...think so," he sniffled. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand; how gross was that? I grimaced.
"Um...here, Rock," I said, handing him a hankie. "Don't use your hand...that's really nasty."
"Oh...sorry, Blues." He blew his nose quite loudly.
"But I don't understand somethin'....why did you hide from us, Blues? You said that you didn't wanna hurt or burden us with your feelings...but we're your brothers."
"Yeah? And?"
"...and we love you, Onii-chan. We would never be hurt or burdened by any emotions, 'specially yours."
"Oh?" I smiled. "And why is that?"
"'Cause," he chirped, "we all look up t'you!" Then he smiled his insanely cute smile, while the other androids all agreed.
"That's right," said Fire. "You're an inspiration to us all."
"Suresuresure! We all look up to you!"
"We have deep respect for you, Blues," said Bomb.
"'Course we do! You're our older brother!" chimed in Cut.
"Without you, we'd be totally lost!" said Guts.
"Do you see now, Blues?" said Elec. I looked up at him. "Do you see now? Can you see how much we love you, Blues? We don't want to see you hurt, either. When you're upset, we're upset. And we can't bear to see you in pain, especially Rock." He leaned down to my ear. "I think," he whispered, "that Rock looks up to you most of all." He grinned.
I was speechless. Never had I heard such words directed at me before. Never. Not once had I been told these...wonderful things. It made me feel so...loved, at the risk of sounding cliché. I smiled through my tears.
"Minna...arigatou!" ["Everyone...thank you!"]
The clock chimed. Six o'clock. Roll came in.
"Okay, everyone, it's dinner!! Oh...!" She looked around and saw us all huddled together. "Did I miss something?" Rock shook his head.
"Nope! It's okay, Roll, you didn't miss anything!"
"Oh...okay! Well, c'mon, and let's eat! I'll go and get Dr. Light and Xavier!" She walked off, and the rest of us headed into the kitchen for a pre-Christmas Eve dinner.
"Huh...? Who is it...?"
"Blues..."
"Who's there? Uncle Albert? Is that you...?"
A shadowy face. Recognizable hair style.
"U-uncle Albert...! It is you!!!"
Running toward the figure. Running...running....
...a metamorphosis...not the same...now it was...
"No, you foolish little robot! I am Dr. Wily!!"
An insane laugh...a cold, heartless laugh.
Choking...he's choking me. I'm dying, shutting down...all systems fail--
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!
"Hunhfrshzl?!" I sat bolt upright in my bed, sweating. A dream...just a dream...but he had tried to kill me. What did it mean?
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!
I groaned. Stupid alarm clock. I reached over and shut it off, then looked over at my calendar.
December 24th, 20XX.
I sighed and laid back in my bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. Then Roll knocked at the door, told me to get up, shouted something at Rock, and then went back downstairs in a huff.
It turned out the reason she was so mad was because of Rock. Rock was bouncing all over the place. He absolutely loved Christmas; it was his favorite time of the year. He loved giving gifts to people, and just couldn't wait for tomorrow. He was also getting on everyone's nerves. So, in order to alleviate their grief, I volunteered to spend the day with him after breakfast. As if that was any different from any other day.
It just happened to be snowing out. Rock made some sort of comment about "having a white Christmas." I had to admit, watching the snow fall was pretty peaceful, even sort of soothing. Of course, the real problem occurred when Rock actually wanted to go outside in the stuff.
"C'mon, onii-chan!! Let's go outside and play in the snow!!"
"Er...I don't know, Rock. Snow's awfully cold..."
"Well, yeah! That's half the fun!" And he ran outside, letting in frigid winter air.
"SHUT THE FRICKEN' DOOR!" shouted six angry voices; my brothers and sister were sitting in the family room watching TV and the cold air had swept over the as well, although Ice didn't mind it at all. In fact, he loved the way the air brushed over him. I sighed, and went out the door, shutting it quickly behind me.
Yes, it was indeed freezing. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. Why the hell did winter have to be so damn cold? But as I looked around the quiet December afternoon, I slowly but surely didn't mind the cold as much. It was so silent, so peaceful...so beautiful. I smiled and enjoyed what was before my optics.
WHAM! A snowball came in contact with the side of my head. GOD, but that was freezing!!! I whirled about and looked every which way, even though I already figured who my assailant was. I scanned over the landscape, pretending to not notice the snickering that came from my left.
The good thing about snow is that it muffles your footsteps. I had no trouble sneaking up behind Rock, who was hiding behind a snowbank, his back turned to me, giggling away madly. I grinned to myself, desperately trying to keep my own giggles inside. Then I attacked.
"RRRRAAAAAH!!" I grabbed ahold of Rock's shoulders and he let out a loud scream of bloody murder. He spun around, his little sapphire optics wide with fear. When he saw it was me, he pouted.
"That wasn't funny, Blues!!" he said, but I was too bust laughing hysterically to hear. I fell on my back, holding my sides, laughing so hard tears were streaming down my cheeks.
"Y-your f-face!! Ha ha ha!! You should have seen your face!!!! It was classic!! Hoo hoo!!!" I finally calmed down and sat up, ignoring the bitter chill of the cold. This was too much fun. I stood up and brushed the snow from my coat and pants, then scooped up some snow and made it into a snowball. Just as I looked up, Rock had a snowball in his hand, too. We stood there, eyeing each other up.
"This means war!" shouted Rock, and launched his snowball, but this time I was ready. I dodged it and as I did, I threw my own snowball, which hit its mark square in the chest.
"Yatta!!! That's what you get, Rock!" I cried triumphantly. For the next hour, we let loose barrage after barrage of snowballs, laughing the entire time. Our snowball fight came to an end, however, when we heard Roll from the door:
"Hey, you two, you want some hot cocoa?"
Immediately we both stopped, snowballs in out hands. We looked at each other and grinned.
"Heck yes!!" said Rock, and he dropped his snowball and went inside. I chuckled and dropped my own snowball and followed Rock into the house. It was considerably warmer in there, and it felt as though my very circuitry was defrosting. Just as I was walking into the family room, Iceman was walking out.
"Yayyayayay!! I just love the snow!! I'm gonna make a snowman! 'Scuse me, Blues!" He bolted outside, washing everyone else with a jet of cold air again. Fire glowered; he despised the cold weather.
I walked into the kitchen, where Rock and Roll were. Rock was already sitting at the table, his short legs dangling from the seat, mug in hand. He was hovering over a piece of paper. I took my mug from Roll, thanked her, and pulled up a chair next to my little brother.
"Whatcha doing, Rock?"
"Colorin'."
"Ah...what are you coloring?"
He slid the book over a bit so I could see. It was a drawing that he had done, of the entire family. He had drawn us all sitting together on the large couch in the family room.
"Hey, that's good, Rock," I said. And no, I wasn't just humoring him; it actually was a pretty good drawing.
"Thanks! I'm gonna give this to Dr. Light tomorrow as part of his Christmas present!"
"Oh. I bet he'll like it a lot. Maybe he'll hang it up in the lab." Rock's eyes went wide, and he turned to face me.
"Really???" he gasped. "You think he will?"
"Sure," I shrugged. Rock grinned, then went back to coloring. I took a sip of cocoa and leaned back in my chair. Then I made sure Roll wasn't looking; she wasn't. She was busy washing the dishes. I smirked and rested my feet up on the table.
"You'd better get your feet off the table right now, Blues," said Roll. I blinked astonished. How had she known I had put my feet up on the table when her back was still turned? I decided not to think about it and obeyed, putting my feet back on the floor.
"Thaank you!" she chirped. I went back to my hot cocoa.
After I was finished with it, I pushed my chair away from the table and started to go out the kitchen door, when Roll's voice stopped my short in my tracks.
"Oh, Blues, can you finish the rest of these dishes? I need to get dinner started."
Curses, foiled again, I thought. "Aw, Roll, can't I just-"
"Now, Blues." I knew that tone. That was the "Shut-up-you-fool-and-just-do-what-she-says" tone. I sighed and did what she asked. Then I heard Rock snickering, and I shot him a glare. He shut up after that, but still had this annoyingly spiteful grin plastered on his face the whole time he was coloring.
Once the dishes were done, I was finally free to go and watch a little television with my other brothers before dinner...or so I thought. All I wanted to do was just veg out but no. Because the moment I walked into the family room, Roll called out, "Dinner!!" and I was nearly killed as six androids came from every which way and into the kitchen, followed closely by Father and X.
Nothing in this house survives very long when there's food on the table.
We almost never talk to each other at the table, mostly because we're all too busy stuffing our faces; Roll's meals are very, very tasty. Sure, we don't need to eat, but that never stopped us before.
After dinner was finished and the kitchen cleaned up, the whole family filed into the family room, where Cut went over to the piano and started to play a Christmas carol. Elec started it, then we all joined in. This was how we spent our Christmas Eve, singing together, as the snow fell silently to the ground. I remember it so well...
It was the last Christmas Eve we ever spent together.
"Mrmmhf..."
"Come on, Onii-chaaaaan!!"
"Okay, okay! I'm up, Rock...sheesh..."
The little brat was hovering over my bed, eyes wide and excited; the kid could barely contain himself. He was jumping all over the place as if he really, really had to use the bathroom. Which is impossible, since he is an android after all. Although, if properly equipped with the right things, nothing is impossible for an android.
But anyway.
Groggily, I practically rolled out of bed. Rock grabbed my arm and literally dragged me down the stairs. Once we reached the family, however, I was wide awake.
Everyone was seated around the Christmas tree, the lights blazing merrily. They hadn't yet unwrapped anything; they were waiting for me.
Rock and I sat down with everyone else, and the great gift exchange began. To tell the truth.........mostly all of the presents I received and gave that day are all a blur......forgotten.
Except for one.
"Here, Blues! Merry Christmas!"
I smirked. The package from the mall that day, so long ago. But I played stupid yet again.
"Gee, Rock, thanks!" Grinning wickedly, I started to slowly pick at the wrapping paper, meticulously tearing the edges. That pisses Rock off to no end; I knew it, and he knew that I knew. He began to fidget.
"Blues...." he whined. I rolled my eyes, and tore the rest of the paper off. He knew that his whining annoyed the hell out of me. Every time he whined at me, I usually did what he wanted.
It was a white box. I opened the box...and in it was the thing that I am associated with the most, aside from my telltale whistle.
Inside the box was the present that I have treasured the most. Inside the box...
...was a yellow scarf.
"Wow..." I breathed. "Thanks, Rock! I love it."
Rock grinned. "I knew you would!" he said gleefully. "Here, try it on!!"
He took it from me and wrapped it around my neck. I stood and went to look in the hall mirror.
"Looks good," I said. "But I'm going to try a different style, I think." Currently, it was just draped across my shoulders. But I reworked it, and finally got it into the style that it is to this very day - loose, a lofty part draped over my chest. Tied in a knot, the rest of the scarf trailing behind, like a tail.
It truly was the best present I had ever received.
The rest of the day is...a blur as well. I can't really recall what happened the rest of that afternoon...it must have been pretty uneventful. Or maybe it's my memory banks acting up again.
But whatever the reason, I can only recall what happened early that evening, around...oh, maybe five o'clock or so. I remember...
...sitting with Rock and my other brothers. Roll was in the kitchen making dinner, and Father and Xavier were downstairs in the lab, tinkering with some sort of new invention. We were just.........sitting there, just siting there...
...when all of a sudden, the front door was broken down. Startled, everyone looked up...and I will never forget what I saw.
".....U-un...Uncle Albert?!"
It was he. Only I was wrong - it wasn't Uncle Albert. Well, I mean it was...but he didn't go by that anymore. Now he went by -
"Dr. Wily, you foolish robot!" Rock sprang to his feet.
"What do you want, Dr. Wily?!" he exclaimed. Dr. Wily grinned; it was not a nice grin, either.
"Why...I want my Christmas presents." We all looked at him like he was insane. Which he was.
"What...are you talking about?" I said slowly. "What Christmas presents?"
"Why...my Christmas presents....are the eight of you!!!" With that, he whipped out some sort of device - it looked like a stun gun or something. Which, we found out, was exactly what it was. Wily leveled it at Guts and fired - Guts cried out, then fell limp to the floor with a loud thud! The rest of us stared, wide-eyed. Then we did the only thing left to do - ran.
We bolted in different directions. I grabbed Rock, ran into the kitchen, grabbed a protesting Roll, and flew like a bat out of hell up the stairs. Behind me, I heard the cries of my brothers as they fell, one by one. By this time Rock was, as usual in these situations, crying; Roll had no idea as to what was going on - she hadn't heard all the commotion, which to me seemed odd. I mean, you'd have to be deaf not to hear Guts go crashing to the floor.
I herded the two into my room and slammed the door behind me, panting with fear, feeling the adrenaline that was oil pumping through my system. Quickly I locked the door and looked for a place to stash Rock and Roll. I could hear Wily coming up the stairs, calling in a sickly sing-song voice, "Oh, Bluuu-uuess....where arrreee youuuu...???" It made my metallic skin crawl.
Finally I decided that the most appropriate hiding place was the small cubby hole I had in my ceiling. It was actually for storage, but I never put anything up there. Probably because I really didn't own a lot of things, so I never needed the extra space. Now I was glad that I didn't.
I pulled down the trap door, which to the untrained eye was practically invisible when it was shut. You'd have to have extremely keen vision or some sort of device in order to see, if you didn't know what you were looking for and where to look for it. I helped Roll into the space, and turned to shove Rock up as well, but he wouldn't let me near him.
"NO!" he protested, stamping his foot. "I wanna help you!"
"Rock, please!!" I pleaded. "You'll be helping me by hiding and staying safe!"
"But what about you? That space isn't big enough for all three of us! Where are you gonna hide?"
"Up on the roof," I lied. There was no way I'd let Wily get his hands on my brother and sister. He had already gotten my other six brothers, and so help me he wasn't going to get these last two, not if I could help it.
Thankfully, Rock bought my fib, and climbed up into the cubby hole, albeit reluctantly. Once he was safely inside, I slammed the trap door closed. Just as I did, I heard the door being kicked down. I whirled - there was Wily, the stun gun in his hand, a maniacal grin plastered on his face. I gulped and started to back away, stupidly. Wily followed me, and I knew that he would eventually corner me.
"What's the matter, robot? Afraid of your old pal, Uncle Albert?" he sneered as he advanced on me.
He said that "r" word with such hate, such venom, that it physically made me wince each time he said it. And before I knew it, my back was pressed against the wall Then Wily was pressing the end of the stun gun's barrel against my chin, pushing it upward as he glared at me triumphantly.
This is it, I thought, terrified, squeezing my eyes shut. He's going to get me, too...I've...failed...
I waited for the blast, but none came. Confused, I wrenched open one eye, and laid eyes on perhaps one scene that would have been extremely humorous under different circumstances.
Rock had gotten out of the cubby hole and was now on top of Wily, pounding him with his little fists. I reckoned that about a million and one protocols were probably screeching at him right about now, telling him he was in violation of half the Rules of Robotics. But either way, Rock wasn't giving in. In the end, however, Wily got the better of Rock, and threw him against the wall.
That pretty much did it for me.
I narrowed my eyes in anger, and then watched horrified as Wily pointed the gun at my little brother. Thinking fast, I whistled, a loud, sharp sound.
And my signature, as well. The short burst of notes that one always hears whenever I come to their rescue.
Wily turned just in time to see my fist come flying at him. The old man didn't have enough time to duck, and my metal fist came in contact with his soft, fleshy face.
Take a guess as to what happened.
Let's just say that...I'm surprised Wily didn't need a blood transfusion. It was absolutely everywhere. Think about it - a decent-sized hunk of solid metal going at a decent speed right at a pretty soft substance.
I must say, it was pretty nasty. And boy, oh, boy, did I ever want to kill myself. Not only had I just totally wrecked my uncle's face, causing vast amounts of blood to come spilling onto the white carpet, but I had done the unthinkable. I had harmed a human. I had broken the number one rule of robotics.
And boy, did my system so totally not care for that in the least.
Next thing I know, I'm totally paralyzed. I cannot move, not one muscle. All the while being told by my system that I was in violation, and that I was dangerous. As such, I needed to be halted. So that's exactly what the damned program did - it halted me, all right. So much so that it left me unable to move. How inconvenient.
Somehow I hadn't managed to knock Wily out - I just pissed him off even more. He suddenly forgot all about Rock. Now he had a new target - me. And it was even worse for me, because I couldn't move. I couldn't fight back. I had no defenses left.....................
The last thing I remember was Wily pointing the gun at me and pulling the trigger. I heard a loud noise, saw Rock reach out his arm toward me and call out my name, felt unmatchable pain.
And then everything went black.
