Author's Note: Still don't own Mega-Man Battle Network.

This Chapter is written from Lan's point of view. Don't forget to review!

Wednesday 10:45 AM, Dan Tech City Hospital.

"Remember: if anything changes, call us immediately!" Mr. Sakurai instructed me.

"I will, you and Mrs. Sakurai need to go get some sleep," I answered, Maylu's parents had arrived soon after she was admitted to the hospital. I had stuck around until after midnight, then they had sent me home for some rest, now I had come back and was going to return the favor.

I watched them trudge off; then I turned back to my friend. After hiding it behind a ton of medical baloney, the doctors had admitted that they didn't know what was wrong. All they could tell was that she had a small concussion, and was in a coma.

I placed my P-E-T on the nightstand, next to Maylu's Terminal. After connecting the two, I sank down into a chair, and prepared to wait.

"Roll," Mega-Man approached the pink Navi, "I'm here for you."

"Thanks." Roll never looked away from her Operator. "That means a lot."

"She'll recover, I know it." The Blue Bomber then dropped into silence.

I continued to wait as the minutes ticked by, as I sat there memories of Maylu and me ran through my head. The birthday parties we had thrown when we were only five years old, the day that Torch-Man had attacked her hairdryer at the worst possible moment, when she was using it. The way she looked at me when she thought I wasn't looking and acted so funny whenever we were remotely alone together. I couldn't figure that part out, weird huh?

After a few minutes, I impulsively reached out and took her hand in my own, it was because of me that she was in this mess, "I'm sorry this happened to you… It's my fault." I found myself saying as I waited for anything to happen.

An hour passed then two, various friends came and went, but I couldn't bring myself to budge from the room.

Roll was the first to notice: "She's moving! I think she's waking up!"

I jerked myself and noticed that it was true, Maylu was slowly sitting up.

"Maylu!" The Navis and me cried in unison.

The redhead looked around with a puzzled expression. "Who's there?"

"Maylu, it's me!" I took her hand. "I'm right here."

"Lan?" She stared blankly into the far wall. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"Huh?" By now I was getting concerned.

"Why- where are you?"

"I'm right here." Concern? By now I was on the verge of panic, "On your left."

The girl slowly looked to her left; I looked into her eyes. The bright gleam that used to exist in them was gone, replaced instead by a dull lifeless stare, after a few seconds she looked away, "Oh, no…"

I felt the realization as well, and desperately wished that all of this were nothing more than a dream. "NURSE!" I hollered, as I mashed the call button into its frame, "Mega-Man, call her parents."

"Already done." The Blue Bomber replied, "They're on their way."

"Where's Roll?" Maylu continued staring at the wall.

"I'm right here, Maylu." Roll said from her P-E-T, "To your right, on a nightstand."

The girl hesitantly stretched out to her right, and felt along the tabletop. I couldn't stand to see her so confused, so I reached over and slid the device into her hand.

"Roll," Maylu's voice was cracking, "Is that you?"

"Yes, I'm here."

At that moment, a team of doctors and nurses entered the room.

"Mr. Hikari? We'll have to ask you to leave now." One of the nurses grabbed my arm.

"Please no!" Panic and confusion was written all over Maylu's voice, her fear stabbed at me worse than any knife could. "Let him stay, please! I- I need someone."

"Mr, Hikari, now!" The nurse pulled me toward the door.

I couldn't believe that they were being so cold-hearted to her, "But-"

"Now!" Another doctor tossed me outside like I was a rag doll.

"Lan? LAN! Don't go!" Those were the last words I heard from her before the door was shut in my face. I desperately wanted to barge in there, to comfort her, but Mega-Man's voice held me back.

"Her parents are here."

I looked away from the door, and saw the Sakurai's rushing toward me.

"How is she?" Mr. Sakurai asked.

"I wish I could tell you something different," I slowly replied, the memories of the past few minutes were haunting my mind. "But she's blind."

"What?" Mrs. Sakurai stared at me.

"Maylu can't see anything." I clarified, "I'm sorry."

"She's… blind?" Mr. Sakurai stared past me into the far wall.

I couldn't explain it, but slowly over the past few hours, I had become very protective of Maylu, "Listen, she's scared right now, I can hear it in her voice. So the last thing we need is for everyone to start treating her like she's a different person, just because she lost her sight."

"You're right, son." Mr. Sakurai snapped out of his stare and laid a hand on my shoulder, "I'm glad you had the sense to see that."

The exchange was broken up as a doctor exited the room.

"Well?" Maylu's dad asked.

"Frankly, we don't know." The doctor explained. "We haven't been able to pinpoint what's wrong with her."

"Can we visit her?" Mrs. Sakurai inquired.

"At this point, I think it would do more harm than good for you to stay away. If possible one of you needs to stay with her at all times, at least until she adjusts-"

"Oh sure, you tell me to stay around after you throw me out of the room." I didn't even wait for him to reply; I strode through the now open door, and held my ground as the nurses and orderlies filed past me.

"Who's there?" Maylu asked from the hospital bed; she was still clutching her P-E-T; it was probably the only source of comfort she had had through all of that.

"It's Lan." I replied, "and your parents are here too." I added as the other two entered the room.

"Mom? Dad?"

"We're here, honey." Mrs. Sakurai talked as she moved over toward the bed, "We're here."

"Um, Lan?" Mega-Man whispered, "Don't you think we should- let them have a moment?"

"You're probably right," I whispered back.

"I'll be right back, Maylu." I told her as I stepped out the door, minutes ago, I had been aching to come to her. Now, I knew I had to move away. "I'm not going far."

"It's my fault." I dropped into a chair in the hallway, the emotion and shock of the past few days had finally caught up to me and I felt exhausted. "It's all because of me that she's blind."

"Lan, please don't punish yourself." My Navi replied.

"I'm not," I stretched my arms. "But I've got to set it right, somehow."

Before I left the hospital, me and Maylu's parents worked out an arrangement; each of us would take a few hours with Maylu. That way the redhead wouldn't be alone, and the others could get some rest.