Chapter 10
It took a few moments for Mega Man to realize he wasn't dead. The searing heat was gone, in fact the air seemed cool and moist. A little too moist for that matter. He realized he was floating face down in water. He tried to sit up, but his body was in agony. It finally obeyed and he lifted himself up to hear a few people cry out.
"Hey he's moving. I think he's still alive. Check the other one." Came a male voice. He felt two pairs of hands on his arms as they helped him out of the water. His eyes fluttered open, but his vision was still blurry.
"What happened?" He finally managed to choke out. His vision was slowly starting to clear and he could see a small group of people standing around him.
"You're lucky I couldn't sleep and went for a walk." Said one of the young men.
"You sure had us worried. You washed up on shore a little while ago. We didn't think you were alive. How did you and your friend end up in the ocean?" One woman asked.
"Friend?" Mega man asked. He looked over and saw Tron laying on the sand, breathing, but barely. "Tron?! Are you okay?" He asked trying to go over to her. But his body wouldn't allow it. For the meantime, he was going to have to rest.
"Easy there fellah. No need to rush. She seems to be fine too. Let's get you over to our village. Maybe after some rest, you'll be able to remember things more clearly." A couple of the stronger men moved towards him, but Mega man held out his hand.
"I should be okay in a minute. Help her instead." He said motioning towards Tron. He looked down at his energy gauge. It was low, but it had been far lower in his battles. After a few brief moments, he found he could stand. They made a makeshift stretcher and placed Tron on it. The group made their way to a small, quaint village. A few of the residents watched as they made their way to what Mega man guessed was their doctor. They entered and an elderly man with graying hair came up to them.
"Who's this, Chuck?" The doctor asked.
"We found him on the shore. His friend over there might need some medical assistance. She seems to be unconscious." He said, motioning to the girl on the stretcher.
"Bring her in here." He said, walking to the back. They placed her on a table and the doctor brought out a small blade. He placed it over Tron and waved it back and forth slowly. He did this twice more before putting the blade down.
"This is most confusing. I can't seem to scan her at all." The doctor said.
"With a knife? Of course not. Why don't you hook her up to a real scanner." Mega man said.
"Don't be silly boy. My sense materia has been raised to its maximum power level. I should be able to sense anything." The doctor said distraught.
"Sense materia? What's that?" he asked confused.
"I thought sense materia was pretty common these days. Far more than attack materia since Shinra usually buys most of that off the market." He sat in an old chair and tilted back.
"I wonder if Roll's still in communications range." He wondered. He tapped his helmet and heard his speakers kick in.
"Roll can you hear me? Are you there?" he said. The doctor looked at him oddly, then decided it must be some new communications on the market.
"Come in Roll. Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Mega man tried. Finally he heard some rustling around and a female voice could be heard.
"Hello?" it said. Mega man could tell the person he was talking to must have been in a deep sleep.
"Roll wake up. It's Mega man. Where are you? Are you okay?" He said, hope raising inside him. But it was crushed when he realized it wasn't Roll's voice coming back to him.
"Roll? Wha? Who is this? Do you know what time it is?" Came the voice.
"I'm sorry. I'm looking for a friend of mine. My name is Mega Man." He said.
"Mega man? Wait a minute, how did you tap into this frequency? This is a sealed frequency." The voice said, now clearly awake and alert.
"This is the frequency I always use with Roll. I'm sorry I disturbed you." He said turning off his communicator. He heard a moan and turned to see Tron stir.
"Tron are you okay?" he said going up to her.
"Huh? Mega Man? Is that you? What happened?" She said, opening her eyes. "Where am I?"
"At a medical center. I don't remember much myself. After that explosion from the refractor, I woke up on a beach and these people helped us here." He moved back so that a few of the villagers could be seen.
"Where's Tiesel? And the others?" She asked.
"I don't know. I tried contacting Roll, but I got somebody else and I think they were mad that I was using my own frequency." He said. After the doctor gave them the okay that they seemed healthy enough to go on, they left the small clinic and into the open air. It was late at night.
"All I remember is that heat. Such intense heat, and then nothing. I blacked out I guess." Tron said as they sat on a bench near a small fire.
"Do you think the others are okay?" Mega man asked, feeling truly worried for the first time. After all he had felt that heat too. Being outside the ship, he had seen the grass burnt to dust as fast as the light moved. And when the heat over took him, he could feel his insides burning. He couldn't believe he was still alive. But Tron had been deep inside the ship. How was it that these two made it here? Surely Bass would have been with him since he had been beside him. Or had the ship exploded and sank. Possibly taking everyone else with it? His thoughts were broken as he felt Tron's head on his shoulder.
"What if we never see them again Mega man?" She asked.
"I… I wish I could say that we will." He said watching the fire. "But I just don't know if it's true." He could feel her softly crying on his shoulder. But all too soon, her crying stopped and her breathing had slowed slightly. He realized she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He looked around, then lifted her into his arms. He carried her over to the doctor's office and asked if there was a place they could spend the night. He offered his two medical beds and Mega man graciously accepted, laying Tron on one of them. He took the other and waited for darkness to overtake him. It wasn't long before he fell into the black pit known as sleep.
* * *
"What's wrong Samus?" Tifa said, the sleep heavy in her voice. She had been startled awake when Samus started yelling into thin air. Samus put her helmet back on the nightstand and looked at her.
"Sorry I woke you Tifa. Someone had tapped into my communications frequency. My first instinct was Mother Brain or something. But this was a guy and his voice was polite." She lay back on the bed. Tifa's eyes adjusted to the darkness and got her first real look at Samus. She was a beautiful woman, though you would never know it when she wears her armor. Her body was slender and very muscular. She had long blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back. Tifa looked her over and then grinned. She still had the biggest chest of anyone she knew. She laid back and stared at the ceiling, then rolled over trying to get comfortable. One room over, Terra was tossing in her sleep. She was having an evil nightmare. She saw her father, Maduin, caught in one of Kefka's cylinders. He was reaching out for her, but she couldn't help him. She was under Kefka's control as she wore the slave crown. She heard Kefka's laughter as he ordered her to do the impossible. But under the control of the slave crown, she had no choice. She raised her hands, directed them at her father and then… she screamed. Less than a second later, a white blast of aura blew the door clean off it's hinges as Sabin ran into the room.
"Terra are you okay?" he said, running to her bedside. Her face was covered in sweat, and she was breathing heavy. She looked at Sabin and fell into his arms.
"It was Kefka. He had my father and he forced me to destroy him." She said, crying on his shoulder. Shadow and Vincent entered the room, their weapons drawn.
"Is everything alright in here?" Vincent asked. Sabin nodded and motioned them to leave. They nodded and disappeared, like they were both so famous for. They motioned to the others that it was okay, and everyone returned to their rooms.
"It's okay Terra. Kefka is dead. You were there, you saw us defeat him." Sabin said slowly as he held her close.
"It was so real though. I saw his face, I heard his laughter, I saw my magic…" She said between sobs. After a few moments, she started to calm down, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"You gonna be okay now?" Sabin asked. She looked up at him, gave a half smile and nodded.
"Thanks Sabin. I feel a lot better now. But how come you were able to get here so fast? I mean you even beat Shadow here by a good minute and a half." She asked looking up at him. Sabin thanked the darkness or she would have clearly seen him blushing.
"Well you see, Setzer, Cid, Cloud and I were playing poker and I sort of lost a heavy round. I didn't have enough chips for the round, so we made a side bet." He said, stumbling over his words.
"What kind of bet?" she asked. She noticed that Sabin was stalling for a moment.
"Well whoever lost the hand, well, he'd have to…" the nervousness in his voice was evident.
"You can tell me anything Sabin." She said calmly. Though nothing could have prepared her for what happened next. She felt the young king's lips on hers. It startled her, yet she didn't seem to mind. At first anyway. Almost as if a reaction, she felt her hand raise up and slap him across the face. She didn't know why she did it. She actually enjoyed the kiss. But Sabin was flat on his backside, with a shocked expression on his face.
"You're right, I shouldn't have done that. I'll go now." He said, turning to leave.
"Sabin wait!" She called as he left the room. But he had already gone. She brought her legs in close to her as she held herself. What possessed her to react in such a way? Although she never truly understood this kind of love yet. Maybe she was just unprepared for it. Though only time would tell.