Author's Note: And yet another installment! So what did happen to Lan back there…? What was all of that we missed? Hm…perhaps this chapter shall enlighten us.

Thanks for the funny return review, grandmasterp. Hahaha. Made my day. You weren't really drunk. Right? Right…? Haha!

Disclaimer: Refer back to the prologue.

Warnings: A little violence, that's about it.

Fic Note: After this chapter, I'm planning on a LOT more pairing from now on. I'm just trying to get some plot stuff out of the way. Bear with!

I promised to have this chapter up sooner but…I'm sorry! I got sidetracked last night.

Reflections

"Chaud…you really should loosen up a lot more!"

Laughter. Chaud felt himself quirk a smile. "See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You don't have to be so cold all the time, Chaud…just smile a bit more!"

Chaud felt himself try hard not to laugh. Lan always tried to bring out the best in him, no matter how hard he tried to be passive. Somehow, Lan always succeeded.

Lan brought out the child in him. He let Chaud be his age, while his father expected him to be full grown by twelve. Lan gave him so much to be grateful for.

"Hah! I got you! You'd better come get me, Chaud!"

"Chaud…!" Chaud stirred. "Lord Chaud…!"

Chaud's eyes opened slowly, and he blinked, his eyes trying to focus. Groggy, his head tilted to the side where his PET was, propped up on the table. "Proto…man…?"

"Yes, sir. Feeling better?"

"Nngh…" Chaud groaned and got up into a sitting position slowly. "Protoman…what the hell happened?"

Protoman cleared his throat. "Well…You chased Lan Hikari…we lost several valuable soldiers…we managed to capture most of the Trojans before they called their retreat…and soon after you tried to talk to Lan, he ran and left. You passed out shortly afterwards."

"…" Chaud brought his knees to his chest and leaned his head on his hand. "Hn…"

"What seems to be the matter?"

"Hm? Ah. It's nothing, Protoman."

Protoman chuckled. Since they weren't in the workplace, and no one was currently watching, he was able to drop the formalities and speak a bit more privately with his operator. "Chaud…you're usually not the one to get so down unless something has happened."

Chaud snorted. "Eh…you forget…I used to always be like this…"

Protoman winced. That was the truth. Lan had been the one to bring out Chaud's latest positive emotions. "Well…"

Chaud slammed his fist on the wall behind him. Protoman almost jumped in the PET due to the loud crack. "C-chaud!"

"Hn…" Chaud's eyes were narrowed as he looked straight at the wall ahead of him. "This was all my fault in the first place…if I hadn't-!"

Just then the door creaked open. Quickly, Chaud loosened up and tried to return to a calm state. Protoman quickly regained his composure as well. The poor young nurse walked in timidly and felt a bit intimidated by Chaud's stare. "Um…I see you're awake, Master Chaud?"

Chaud nodded once and gave her another chilly stare. "Is that not obvious?"

"Um…yes! Um…your medication!" the nurse hurriedly placed the bottle next to Protoman. "Um…two tablets every four hours and with water no food, and that's all!"

Chaud sighed. "And when will I be free to leave?"

The nurse straightened and stiffened. "Oh! Oh, that's right! Um…Doctor says you should be right and ready by the time you've gotten up so…" she blushed, "I guess that means you're free to go whenever you wish now!"

Chaud snorted as the nurse quickly shuffled out of the room. "That…was interesting."

Protoman smirked. "Indeed, it was."

Chaud leaned back and stretched. "Heh…not that it mattered that they gave me permission to get out. I would have anyway…"

"Then why bother asking for permission?" Protoman smirked.

"You know…I don't even have the slightest idea. Protocol I grew up on, I guess."

"Aa."

Chaud scanned his surroundings for a moment, finally becoming familiar with the area. "Infirmary."

"That is correct," Protoman agreed.

Chaud nodded. "Mmhmm…so we're on one of the top floors…"

"Fifth."

"Okay…now I have an idea where we are." Chaud got up from his sitting position and grabbed Protoman's PET, "Time to go, Protoman."

Protoman looked up at his net-op, slightly confused. "Where to, exactly?"

"See? Getting out of your shell isn't so hard now, is it?"

Chaud's eyes clouded. "We find Lan…"

Lan sighed as he stared at the brick wall in front of him. His mind was at present, a swirl of confusion due to recent happenings. Things had happened too quickly for him to handle-and who would be by his side to understand? He had considered leaning on Chaud's assistance once more ages ago, but realized that after all he had done to get to this point, it would be impossible.

Lan had been so naïve. He should have known better than to have gone this far. Though his original intentions had been pure, he should have realized that the world was not always a kind place.

After seeing all of those photographs of injured or dead scientists all laid out carelessly on Chaud's worktable, a chord had struck deep within him. There was still hope that his father was alive, but Lan wasn't about to sit around and wait anymore, waiting in anticipation each day only to be thrown into pure disappointment.

So he had gone off on his own to the Net Trojans, and worked his way from the bottom up. Somehow, before he knew it, he had stopped worrying about finding his father, and became far more worried about getting to the top of the line. He didn't know why, but suddenly he was just like everyone else on the Trojans, broken people looking for a good time.

Eventually, somehow he had become second in command. He had all the power-and he was loving every moment of it. Megaman never had the sense to correct him, all because his navi felt like a lost soul too. Two lost souls working the same wrong mission.

Lan clicked his PET open, then shut, open, then shut. Megaman was used to this nervous tick of Lan's by now, and just quietly watched his operator. Lan stopped, then sighed. Megaman looked at his operator, concerned. "Lan…?"

"Yeah…?"

"What's on your mind?"

Lan's eyes glazed over as he thought about it. He thought of home and he thought of his friends and family. "Wondering…if we should just go back, like Chaud said."

"…"

Lan laughed bitterly. "Yeah…that's what I thought too."

"Do you want to go back?"

"Can we? I really don't know."

"Lan…"

The brunette began to shake and let the tears fall. "He's alive, Megaman…he's been alive all this time, and we didn't know…"

Megaman gave him a sympathetic look, which was missed. Lan dropped his PET to the ground and rested his head against the brick wall behind him. Recent memories filed through his mind.

"There's a team of morons after us. That SRT or whatever group," their leader had said to him gruffly, "I want you to take your sector of Trojans and wipe em out."

"Now…?" he had said hesitantly.

"No. Not now. Wait until only if the main group has been captured-then you can lead your ruffians out to free us and bring us back. Understood?"

"Right," Lan had agreed slowly.

The scene in Lan's mind quickly changed to the day of his fight with Chaud. How he had been surprised to see Chaud there and how he had run when their eyes met. There was no way Chaud could have known it was him, but when his eyes had connected with the blue-eyed boy, he had felt a small spark of some sort. It was as if the real reason for Chaud's coming had been to find him, and that fact alone scared him. After all, there could have been a number of reasons why Chaud would want to find him now; one of those reasons being that he was a highly wanted member of the Net Trojans.

He was in an even larger mess than that, anyway. He had tried to shoot and kill Chaud. How could anyone, especially Chaud, forgive him for those kinds of intentions?

Lan sighed. He didn't know what he was doing anymore. He felt like he was walking on a thin wire, about to tip over on either side and plummet to his death. Lan took out his navi. "Megaman…what do we do…?"

For once, his brother didn't have an answer. Lan stared at Megaman's solemn face for a moment and half-smiled. "Well then…I guess we'll continue this way a bit longer, until we can think of something…"

"Yeah…I guess you're right."

TO BE CONTINUED…

SaiKenYuu officially has a stomach flu…terrible, terrible, terrible! I may not be able to post for a while…gosh, I wish I knew what it was I ate…I never wanna eat it again! -Whimpers-

'Till next time, everyone! This should get a lot more interesting from here on out!