Fandom: Megaman Legends
Title: Charity
Subject: Something Winter Based or Something I Wrote Because I Was Scared, Anxious and Having Some Really Bad Stress Issues. Yes, this is a stress one-shot. That's right. This is a short one-shot.
Wordcount: 1,550ish. Ugh.
Pairing: N/A
Characters: Tron - Yep, Tron is the only canon here! Go Tron!
Rating: PG
Notes: I am the world's biggest liar because I can never write about cute kittens and happy or make a short drabble. Plus, the inspiration for this came from a story in a collection. I am not going to say of what because that would spoil things. (Let's not forget the tiny pinch of Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man.") Part of this also comes from the fact that my early childhood, about first grade to sixth, was daycare and school, from 6-7 in the morning to, in some instances, almost 6 at night.

Tron Bonne was led inside the children's home, still bitter about everything that had happened before. After being caught, for once, by the police after a botched up heist, the higher-ups figured that it would be best, especially around Christmas time, that the girl served her community hours with children. Now, she was inside this musty, old building that smelled of spit and urine, the walls bright with pictures of teddy bears and blocks pasted on them and its halls forever doomed to be noisy with the cries and shouts of kids.

"My servbots are more disciplined than these brats," she hissed under her breath as the caretaker pulled her through the aisle past the play areas.

When they reached a door in a rather lonely hall, the walls there a sickly yellow, the caretaker announced: "Alright, Tron, we're here. I'm sure you and Tabitha will get along just fine. We would let her play with the other children but she's different, you understand?" She was rambling now. "Don't worry too much though. She's a sweetie."

Don't they all say that? Tron thought to herself with a wrinkled nose. That woman had bad breath.

In the room behind the door, a small girl sat on a pile of cushions, quietly thumbing through a picture book. Oddly enough, she did not look up as they stepped inside. The hairs on the back of Tron's neck pricked up, she sensing something odd in the air.

"Tabitha!" called the caretaker. "You have a new friend! Meet Tron! Say 'hi' to Tron!"

Now, she was glancing at them, her eyes shining. Not a word was said.

The caretaker released Tron's hand and beamed. "Alright, I'll be back in an hour to check up on you two. Don't get too imaginative, Tabitha, alright?"

Too imaginative? Tron turned back around to ask what the caretaker had meant but the door had shut. She seemed to be in a hurry. How come?

"Hi, Tron-lady. It's Christmas," Tabitha smiled. Her voice was calm. "Do you like Christmas?"

Tron slowly faced her, crossed her arms and looked down on her. "One, I'm only fourteen. Please call me Tron, got it? Two, I don't like Christmas when I spend it serving community hours."

"You did something bad?" The girl frowned.

Tron shrugged. Reluctantly, she took a seat near Tabitha on the cushions, which made the little girl smile. "People say so. I don't like it myself but we don't have any other choice."

The girl shoved away her picture book and pulled herself next to the pirate. Those strange, dark eyes were looking up at her. "Wanna' play a game?"

Tron made an odd face at the seemingly random request. "A game?"

"Games make me happy," Tabitha giggled.

Tron glanced around the room at the numerous shelves and whatnot, looking for the board games. There were a few and all of them looked like a waste of her time. "What do you want to play?"

"Safari!"

"I never heard of that one before." Tron scratched at the back of her head, trying to recall every board game commercial she had ever seen. Must have been some stupid children's game. Great.

"It's easy. You're the hunter and I'm the lion. I hide and you're supposed to find me."

"You mean 'Hide and Go Seek!'" Tron snorted.

"No!" Tabitha shook her head. "This is 'Safari!'"

Well, Tron was lost. Before she could say anything more, Tabitha seized Tron's hand with a surprisingly strong grip, tugging her to her feet in the direction of an unused baby crib.

"This is your safari car," she announced.

Tron blinked a bit, unable to create a large, cumbersome, all-terrain vehicle from the stained covers pale with dust. "Um, okay."

"What's wrong?"

Tron looked down at Tabitha, as she had apparently noticed her doubt. The pirate managed a (false) smile at her, feeling a little guilty.

Fine, this old crib ready to fall apart at any moment was a big lug of a tank. Got it.

"I'm alright," she said aloud. Trying to muster up the enthusiasm was difficult. "I never played before, that's all. Do I count to ten?"

"Okay." Tabitha nodded. "I go hide. Then you look for me. Okay okay?"

With a nod, Tron turned to the crib, rested her arms against the bars and hunched over, covering her eyes and counting down. It was becoming hard to concentrate, she hot and beginning to sweat. Come to think of it, the room felt strangely warm, especially on the back of her head where the sun was beating down.

Wait a second... Sun?

She was on five when she jerked up, finding herself praying on the steps of a massive tank. It looked exactly just like the one her imagination had formed prior.

"What the?"

Tron frantically looked around the room, finding the African veldt instead. Of course, she had no idea what an Africa was but she very much knew that something was going on.

"Tabitha?" Tron called, carefully approaching the tall grass. She felt weighed down, especially on her back. Stopping for a moment and reaching around, she found a large, long and very primitive gun. It was double-barreled with a flared end and loaded. Even worse, her outfit was brown and tacky. Her lovely black and pink motif was nowhere to be seen, just these bland khakis, earth colors and more pockets than she really needed. Bleh!

Once over her appearance, she approached the grass, the oversized gun in hand (or really, hands as the thing was not only with a strap tearing up her shoulders but weighed at least a zillion pounds). Once several feet into the waist-high overgrown mess, she peered again, trying to find Tabitha. In the distance, tall, long-necked deer creatures with funny, brown spots nibbled at umbrella-like trees. What were they called again?

Suddenly, Tron smiled and laughed.

She had to see the machinery, the hologram work, behind all this! It was amazing, how it projected these ugly clothes onto her and how she could feel the weight of her gun, how it made everything so real and perfect! It was like she was magically was teleported into this strange hot, grassy place on one of the large islands along the equator of Terra without ever stepping onto an airship to get there!

Before Tron could admire the hologram work any further, she heard a deep growl that made her skin crawl. Yet again, a hologram could never hurt anyone, right?

"Hoooaaar!"

A flash of tawny brown exploded from the cover of the grass and slammed into Tron from the front. It was soon on top of her, pinning her to the ground with a massive paw. Coughing and gasping after having the wind knocked out of her, Tron could smell the creature's hot breath as it panted and peered down at her from over its short, heavy muzzle. Her eyes never left its teeth.

Her gun!

Tron suddenly realized, as the creature, a full-grown and quite hungry lioness, brought back its paw for the killing blow, that her hands were empty. Just a few feet away, there was a flash of dull gray. The stupid strap to the gun had broke.

Tron made a face: Today was not her day. Why was she the one stuck with all the bad luck with animals?

Oh yeah. There was a hungry lioness on top of her.

Screaming, Tron struggled in the beast's grip, jerking to the side when the paw swiped. She winced from the fiery pain in her shoulder as those ridiculously long, razor-sharp claws raked across. Her chest began to burn from where the other paw was pinning her down, pressing down harder and harder.

Fine! You win!

Swallowing her pride, Tron ceased and held still, knowing it was the end. She squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe that was what it took to end this stupid hologram? Still, she could feel the lioness' bringing its teeth to her neck, feeling its whiskers, smelling its breath. Then-

"Tron?"

Tron's eyes shot open. There was Tabitha, playfully sprawled out on her chest as if she were her mother. The veldt was gone. The room was freezing. Her clothes were stylish. Again, everything smelled like animal crackers and spit and dust. Tron's breathing was still shallow.

"Tron-lady, please get better!" Tabitha lightly slapped at her cheek and pulled at an earring. "I won. You give up too easily."

Tron continued to gasp and pant and hyperventilate, her eyes wide regardless; yes but were the lions and grasslands gone for good? She was ready to have a heart attack.

Tabitha rolled off Tron and sat next to her, her small, round face filling the spooked pirate's vision. "They always do that when I win. That's why I ask to play 'Safari' first because it's my favorite game. They say okay then they don't want to play it again!"

Tron shuddered. Oh hell, she could see why, hologram or not! Her chest still felt as if something had been pressing down on it. Even more so, when she shakily pulled herself up to a cross-legged sit, she felt her right shoulder burn red when she huddled up.

Tabitha gave her a funny look as she watched Tron almost rip off her jacket, finding four crimson lines running across her upper arm.

Fin