Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman (i wish), Lan, Chaud (i really wish) or any other characters that are in some way in the Megaman series.

Lan kneeled on the floor, unable to deal with the shocking news that trys to force its way into reality. "No...no no NO..." Throwing his PET down in distress, he slowly got up and tried to walk to his room. "Lan...I'm so sorry...I don't know how this could have happened..." tried a consoling Maylu, but Lan wasn't accepting anything at the minute. Maylu felt Chaud watching and turned to look at him, and she could have sworn she saw a shimmer in his eyes, but the next moment, Chaud was looking awkwardly into a corner of the kitchen. Maylu put her hand on Lan's arm and tried to soothe him, "It's...it'll be ok...it's ok...shh.." She could feel his shoulders shaking, and it didn't really put her in a better mood. "No...it won't be ok! It'll NEVER be ok AGAIN!" Lan took off to his room, tears flying out of his eyes. "I should have never gone to Sharro!" called the mysterious voice behind the slammed door. Maylu sighed and looked at the floor, noticing that Megaman was left behind. She picked up the PET and tried to talk to Megaman, but he just had his back turned and said, "Not right now..." His shoulders were shaking as well. Maylu blinked back tears of her own as she tried to accept that Mrs. Hikari was gone forever.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No, it can't be...Mom...why did I go to Sharro in the first place? It all seems like just a big blur now...All I know...is that if I hadn't gone to Sharro, this wouldn't be happening...

Lan racked his brain for any reason, any explanation for what was going on. All he knew was that the man from Sci Lab had called in an urgent message for him, and he told the poor boy that his mother had died. Who knew someone's life could shatter, just like that? Worst of all, I have no one to turn to. No one else knows what it feels like...except Chaud...

The thought hit him like a bucket of ice cold water. Chaud! He's been through this before...why didn't I think about it before?...oh, right, I know why, because Chaud kind of thinks I don't want to talk to him and he probably doesn't want to talk to me.

------M-E-A-N-W-H-I-L-E------

"You should go talk to him."

"Hm?"

Maylu and Chaud were now sitting in Lan's living room, trying to debate what to do.

"You heard me, I think you should go talk to him. He won't listen to me, he thinks I don't know what he feels. I..."

Her voice trailed off, and she suddenly seemed very worried.

"You what?" Chaud asked slightly less than curiously.

"I...never mind..." Maylu broke off the topic and looked down at her shoes, obscuring as much of her eyes as possible.

"Before, when Sci Lab told Lan what happened...I...thought I looked at you...and you were on the verge of tears."

She saw! Chaud's mind froze, but his body played it cool. "And?"

"Well, I just thought it was kind of...odd..that you would be crying...for him. Well, actually, it's not that odd at all. I mean, you lost your mom when you were younger. I don't know what you were thinking about, and I might not want to know, but it seems to me that you felt Lan's loss almost as badly as he did. That's why I think you should go talk to him." Maylu looked right into Chaud's blue, blue eyes, almost like she was trying to get at his own mind.

Chaud blinked. "...ok...I'll go talk to him...but don't be surprised if I come out within 30 seconds with a strict order to leave him alone until further notice."

Maylu seemed satisfied. "Good. In the meantime, I'll send Roll to try and talk to Megaman."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Face buried in pillow, Lan at least felt safe from the world here in the safety of his room. No Megaman nagging at him to get his tuckus to school. In fact, where is Megaman? Oh no! I left him outside! He was about to get up and get him when he saw Roll appear on his screen.

"Lan...have you...seen Megaman? I can't find him, and I want to see if he wants to talk now..."

"No, I don't know where he went..."

Roll's face darkened for a minute. "Alright..." She dissapeared as Lan's face went back to its pillow.

-------M-E-A-N-W-H-I-L-E-------

Hands behind his head, Chaud slowly began to walk up to Lan's door. Leaning his ear slightly to the door, he heard faint sobs coming from his room. With a light sigh, he began to think of what to say...What can you say to someone that's gone through this? I went through it, and all anyone said to me was, Oh I'm so sorry even though your mother never meant a damn thing to me and I don't give a damn, and I doubt Lan wants to hear that...

Flashback...

You see a happy mother, with black and white hair and blue eyes to match her son, running around a park. Climbing up a slide, then holding on to him while sliding down. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"That was fun, Mama! Can we do that forever...?"

"Yes, Chaud, as long as you like..."

End Flashback...

"Mama..."

Chaud's lip trembled, and a single silver tear rolled down his face before being wiped away.Knocking lightly on the door, "Who's there? Go away..." floated out the door. "It's me, Lan..." "Chaud?" The door opened in a few seconds, and Lan's brown, sparkly eyes looked at him with 99 percent confusion, and a sliver of happiness.

Chaud's hands went behind his head again, and he asked gently, "Do you...want to talk now?" Lan had never heard Chaud like this. Was he...crying? About what? "Um...sure...I guess.." came Lan's slightly bewildered reply. The door closed behind the rivals, and after a few minutes, you could here not one, but two teens crying in that room.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well? What do you think? I was watching a bunch of AMV's (anime music vids if you didn't know) that all pretty much had something about Protoman transforming into Dark Protoman, and they played sad music, so I was just in the mood for a sad story.

R&R, and tell me which way you think Lan's pairing should go - shounen-ai or not? (personal fan of shounen-ai myself)