Yatta, I love this fic. I also now have a pre-reader. A few people did ask and I decided on one, thank you everyone. Sigh, also sorry for making you all wait do long for this chapter, I had mondo writers block... then of course I had to get my pre-reader to go over it... so sorry.
I AM CANADIAN, and as a reviewer said I am also proud to be one.
IMPORTANT: I wrote a theme song for Yami quite awhile ago, its at the end of this chapter. SO read on.
Ghost from the pastBy: Firehedgehog
Chapter Twelve: By Your side
It was at least an hour before he had to wake Netto up, but Rockman was already awake. The blue navi was thinking over many things, the most important on his mind was Netto's return.
Strange, it was almost as if Netto had never left in some ways... but he knew Netto had been gone for years and only now returned.
A smile came to his face as he remembered Netto's new haircut, or should he say old haircut. Netto now looked almost like he should; he would look, as he should if it hadn't been for the chemicals that had changed Netto-kun so much.
It was strange to look into pale blue eyes instead of gentle brown, and that white hair was startling. But he was getting use to Netto's new look, but sometimes he expected to look at his netOperator and see him with brown hair.
Rockman shook his head with a wry smile, all those strange thoughts... he really should just take life as it came.
How many years had he lived without his best friend, too many in his estimation. He wasn't about to ruin it all with what ifs and what could have been, he would do everything in his power to make the best of it.
Already happiness was returning to his life, Netto was back and ever slowly (almost too slow in his estimation) he was becoming himself again.
Now... if only he didn't have to deal with Kage so much. It wasn't that he hated the other navi, he just disliked him. Part of it was plain jealousy, jealousy that Kage spent all those years with Netto and protected him when he himself could not.
'If I could turn back time, I wonder if I could have changed the fact that Netto got kidnapped and then vanished with amnesia' Rockman thought sadly, he would always wonder what could have happened that day if he had been with Netto at that moment.
'But I'll never know' he thought.
Looking at the time he smiled slightly.
"Time to wake up Netto-kun," he said happily, at least this moment never changed.
OoOoOo
Netto yawned as he slowly walked downstairs; he couldn't hear any of the usual morning sounds below.
'Hmmm... wonder what's up' Netto thought curious, looking at the time he saw that for once he had time to actually enjoy eating at a normal pace.
Finally he came to the end of the stairs; soon he was in the kitchen... an empty kitchen.
"Mom, dad?" Netto called out, but silence greeted him.
"I think dad is at work, maybe mom left a note of some type," Rockman suggested, Netto nodded and started looking around.
"There's something on the fridge," Netto finally said, he walked over and took whatever it was of the fridge.
"Well?" Kage asked in a curious voice.
"It's a note, mom had to run some errands... she won't be back till late tonight," Netto said, opening the fridge he saw that his mother had prepared some dishes to cook for later on.
"Well, I guess you might as well eat breakfast now... mystery solved," Rockman said, Netto sighed.
"I know, but its always nice to eat breakfast with mom," he said, after all he found it comforting to do so... it felt familiar.
"Yami-kun, breakfast," Kage reminded.
"I know, I know," Netto said walking to where the cereals were stored, as he opened a box of some type of cereal the two navi's began to argue a bit... would it never end.
"His name is Netto... Ne-et-to... as in Netto-kun, not Yami," Rockman said, Kage snorted.
"I've called him Yami-kun for years blue boy, I won't stop just because his real name is Netto... he'll always be Yami to me," Kage said, they bickered a bit longer till they finally became silent.
Netto ate silently, usually while eating he would chat with his navi's. Yet today... he didn't know why, he just didn't feel like it. As he chewed his breakfast he stared silently at a blank wall, the world seemed so far away.
As the minutes went by he blinked; as the world seemed to blur... after a bit he shook his head trying to clear the fog that seemed to be gathering in it.
'Is it just me, or is it getting really hot in here' Netto thought, finally he pushed away breakfast as his stomach began to protest in a unique way... the way that said run to the toilet on the double.
With that Netto ran for it, leaving to PET's behind with 2 worried navi's.
OoOoOo
Kage swore under his breath; as the heath monitoring system in his PET became quite active, he hadn't noticed that it was activated because of his arguing with Rockman.
"Kage, what's wrong?" Rockman asked in a slightly worried voice, after all Netto had just run from the room looking quite pale.
"I have a special program that monitor's Netto's heath, he is quite sensitive due to the chemicals all those years ago. He has to be monitored at all times, because of that the time he was Yami his adopted father put the program in my PET so I could always keep an eye on it. But it became active warning me that his heath isn't that good at the moment, I didn't notice because I was arguing with you," Kage said angry at himself, what kind of navi was he when he couldn't even take care of his NetOp right.
"It's not bad is it?" Rockman asked very worried now.
"Not yet, but he has to stay home in bed or he'll get much worse. Thankfully it's not as bad as the last virus that struck so hard, if we get him right in bed and resting he'll just sleep through the worst and be fine in no time," Kage explained, Rockman nodded.
"I see, you've done this many times before haven't you?" Rockman asked softly.
"Too many times," Kage said softly, Rockman sighed and turned in his PET to watch for Netto.
"And one day, I fear that Yami will get so sick suddenly he'll never wake... leaving me alone," Kage whispered softly, so softly not even Rockman heard.
OoOoOo
"Why now, why did I have to get sick again," Netto whispered as he finished heaving his breakfast down the toilet, with a groan he leaned against a white washed wall.
'Will I ever be free of getting sick like this' Netto thought squeezing his eyes close, a single tear trickled down his face and slipped silently to the floor.
"Why... why do I have to be sick, why did this have to happen to me," Netto whispered in a hoarse voice. Why did he have to face amnesia, the stress of loosing his adoptive father, WWW always after him... and most of all getting so sick at the drop of a pin.
He ran a hand weakly through his white hair; it was slightly damp with sweat.
"Better check to see if I'm running a temperature," Netto said, he opened his eyes and slowly stood up. He clenched his teeth; feeling his stomach lurch, nausea bubbled through him.
Quickly he rummaged through the medicine cabinet for the thermometer, after a minute he found it behind a small box of Tums.
After making sure it was clean; he put it in his mouth, then he once again leaned against the wall waiting for the results.
It seemed to take forever; his whole body was protesting his body's sickly state.
Finally enough time had passed, by now he could find out how badly off he was, with that in mind he pulled the thermometer out and looked upon his results.
"Damn," Netto swore, high enough that he was definitely not going to school today.
OoOoOo
Rockman winced as he saw Netto stagger back into the room; the teen's face was flushed with fever.
"Netto-kun," he whispered worriedly.
"Yami-kun, you're going to bed now... you are definitely not even thinking of going to school now," Kage said, Netto blinked and smiled weakly.
"Really, why would I go to school when I feel so bad," Netto said, Rockman sweatdropped as he heard Kage growl a bit.
"Oh reallly," Kage said sarcastically and drawling the latter word out. "What about that time in Eifelland when you went to school after throwing up for an hour," Kage said impatiently, Netto gave a nervous laugh.
"I didn't think you'd remember that," Netto said scratching the back of his head, at that Kage began to swear.
"Calm down Kage, Netto-kun is just fooling around," Rockman said trying to calm down the other navi, as it was he really didn't think Kage knew such language or he could do those things to Netto.
"You are going to bed now," Kage hissed to the teen, Rockman laughed nervously at the very scary tone of voice.
'He's scary' Rockman said with a sweatdrop, he was so glad they didn't share a PET... especially when Kage switched to a scary mode like that.
"Yes mother," Netto grumped, he picked up the Two PET's and headed back towards his room.
"Netto-kun... does he do this often?" Rockman asked nervously, at the moment they were on the stairs.
"Well..." Netto said nervously, he gave a weak laugh.
"I see," Rockman said with more sweatdrops, looks like Kage did act like this when Netto was sick.
'But at least Netto-kun will be resting in bed instead of walking about or doing something silly' Rockman thought, in the meantime he ignored Kage who was telling Netto what he wasn't allowed to do now that he had fallen very ill again.
OoOoOo
Meiru sighed as she walked into the classroom, she had waited for Netto to appear at school... but she hadn't seen him yet. So, with only a minute till the bell she walked to first class. It was Math of all things, the one she shared with Netto and Enzan... if either of them were there.
"Meiru-chan, are you alright?" Roll asked from her PET, the pink haired girl sighed.
"Netto hasn't shown up yet, I hope he isn't going back to his old habits of sleeping in," Meiru said with a frown, Roll also sighed.
"I was looking forward to seeing Rockman today, even Kage," Roll said, both females sighed.
"Hopefully he'll get here soon," Meiru said, Roll could only agree.
OoOoOo
With a sigh of relief, Netto finally crawled into bed. The lush covers he pulled over his body, cushioning his ill body. Before laying down he had put both PET's in there recharger's and connected them to the net, this way his navi's had something to do while he tried to get better.
"Tired..." Netto said, he pulled himself deeper under the covers till they cacooned him totally.
He still felt nausea and feverish, but now he felt so tired.
'Sleep feels so good right now' the teen thought, with that morpheous claimed him into its embrace.
OoOoOo
"Thank goodness, he's finally resting," Rockman said from his PET, Kage nodded.
"He just needs some sleep at this point, but we do need to keep an eye on his condition," Kage said, Rockman agreed.
"I forgot, I have to send a message to Netto's school to tell him he's sick," Rockman said, Kage smirked.
"Forget did you," Kage said.
"Hey, you could have remembered also," Rockman called back.
"Didn't you just say something about a message for the school," Kage pointed out.
Rockman sent a pointed glare at the white navi, buy he quickly went to work on a message to email to Netto's school to explain the situation.
A minute later it was done, quickly he sent it.
"Done," Rockman said in a satisfied voice.
"Good," Kage said, yet the white navi's gaze never left the sleeping form of Netto.
Silence followed that for hours to come, there minds were on watching Netto and making sure he got better and not sicker.
It was nearing one in the afternoon when Rockman finally broke the silence.
"Kage, why are you so protective over Netto... especially his health. I know its bad, but he's at home... you can relax some?" Rockman asked curious, to his surprise Kage gave a small sigh.
"I know, but... I can't let him get hurt... not again," Kage whispered, Rockman blinked at the pain in the other navi's voice.
"Again?" he asked.
Kage sighed and closed his eyes, and remembered.
And knew, he would tell Rockman what had happened.
Flashback
A fierce blizzard whirled outside the cottage; it blasted against the building side making those inside thing it would cause the building to fall apart.
"Look at the wind," Yami said, at this point the white haired teen was at least fifteen and had his PET held up.
"Good thing were not out there," Kage said, it was cold enough that with no shelter someone could easily freeze to death.
At that moment the cabin's door slammed open, Yami spun around PET still in hand surprised. The door was quickly pushed closed by a snow covered man, Kage quickly feared the worst seeing the man horrified face.
"Please you must help me, my little daughter Irene is lost out there... she's three years old... I can't find her anywhere... I need help," the man cried, quickly at those words the people inside leapt to action.
Soon all that were left in the cabin was Kage and Yami, Yami was still inside due to the fact he had a light cold and no one wanted it to get worse.
"Kage..." Yami said after an hour.
"Yes Yami-kun?" Kage asked, he had a feeling what was about to happen.
"We have to help them, that's a little kid out there... she must be terrified to be so alone," Yami said quietly.
"But if you get caught out there you could die, you health is very fragile right now... you can't," Kage protested, yet he knew it wasn't no use... Yami had that stubborn look on his face and nothing would change his mind at this point.
"I know," Yami said getting up.
"I see, just be careful Yami... I don't want you to die," Kage said, Yami smiled softly at his navi and placed his PET on his belt.
Soon dressed his warmest; Yami slipped from the cabin to find a certain lost child.
End Flashback
"What happened next?" Rockman asked curious, he never knew Netto would due something so dangerous while sick.
"Somehow, Yami-kun found the little girl twenty minutes later. But the storm got much worse, we got stuck in some abandoned shed. Yet... while we had shelter, Yami's health went down the pits..." Kage said trailing off.
"And?" Rockman asked, why was Kage trailing off like that.
"We were stuck there for three days, the little girl was fine once we got back to the cabin. But once we did get back, Yami-kun collapsed... he then spent three months comatose in the hospital," Kage said angrily.
"I see," Rockman whispered.
"And I promised myself, I'd never let Yami-kun get hurt and sick like that ever again," Kage told him, Rockman was silent for a bit.
"I understand, but you have to understand something Kage... your not alone now in looking after Netto-kun. I'll help look after him, for I promise, never to leave his side again," Rockman said softly.
"For Netto," Kage said.
"For Netto," Rockman replied.
They would both keep their promises, even if it meant their deletions.
OoOoOo
While the world went on normally, Netto slept.
Or more accurately, he dreamed.
Netto found himself floating in a sea of colours, it was so beautiful to behold. He found himself looking this way and that way to see it all; it seemed to go on for infinity.
"Amazing," Netto finally said.
This dream was beautiful and seemed to go on for eternity, Netto had never seen anything of its like before.
Then again, it was his mind... his dream.
Not know what else to do he floated there, yet slowly his body gravitated towards the ground till he was only centimetres from a path that had suddenly appeared.
Then softly he landed on it, the teen blinked.
"Okayyyy... what now," Netto said, this was getting boring... he had rather enjoyed the floating part.
With nothing else to do Netto began to follow the path, looking back briefly he saw that the path was vanishing behind him as he walked.
AS he walked he also began to notice strange bubbles around, they shone with rainbow colours... real cool looking to say the truth.
"What the hell!" Netto suddenly shouted, for... within one of the bobbles slept his younger self.
'Can that truly be me... my past self?' Netto thought, his blue eyes gazed at the innocent sleeping face with chestnut coloured hair fallen over a slim heart shaped face.
'It really is me; this is a dream. But... this me...must represent the person I once was' he thought, he started reaching out a hand to touch the bubble but stopped. Did he have the right to do this, what if the bubble held nothing in reality.
He hugged his hand to his chest for a moment, he felt so unsure... he really didn't know what to do.
'But I have to do this' Netto thought with new determination. With that in mind, he once again reached for the bubble... and this time he didn't stop or hesitate.
A startling pop sound filled the air; Netto blinked and took a startled step back.
A giggle filled the air.
"Don't tell me my future self is afraid of the past," a childish voice said, Netto could only gasp.
"Your me...I mean I know your me... but the past me," Netto managed to jumbled out, Past Netto laughed smiling. (from this point on Past Netto will be and present day future Netto will be )
"I know, kind of weird... but in our life shouldn't we expect this by now," P. Netto asked, could only nod and scratch the back of his neck a bit nervously.
"I guess, but is this real... us meeting... This is after all a dream," F. Netto said softly.
"Its real... this place while a dream is our subconscious mind. I say ours, because while we are one person in reality your missing memories... it makes us separate at this moment," P. Netto explained.
"I see, is there any way for us to become one again...I want to remember... the good and the bad so much," F. Netto whispered sadly, P. Netto smiled at him.
"Are you sure your ready to accept all of it, even the things you never want to remember?" P. Netto asked, F. Netto frowned... did he really want to remember everything.
"Yes... I want to remember everything... all of it," F. Netto said finally, the younger version of himself smiled softly at him a nimbus of light beginning to surround him.
"Thank you... now its time for you to embrace yourself... embrace your memories and all of your past," P. Netto said softly.
With that P. Netto stepped forward, F. Netto gently hugged his past self to his chest.
"Thank you," F. Netto whispered.
"You don't have to thank me, we are after all two parts of one," P. Netto whispered.
"I know..." F. Netto answered.
Both glowed as P. Netto became more and more see through, ten in a flash of light... they became one.
OoOoOo
Sapphire eyes slowly opened to the world, they blinked and brightened.
'I remember, everything' Netto thought. Smiling he fell back asleep.
OoOoOo
OoOoOo
TBC
Note:
Eifelland is Italy... pre-reader told me I should call it something different since Japan always calls different countries things then us... decided to go along for the fun of it.
Next Chapter: Netto is finally well again; also his Canadian friends finally arrive to see their friend. But once again WWW strikes, what kind of problem is Wily causing for Netto now. Chapter thirteen's name not decided at this point.
And here is the theme song; it has both English and Japanese version. Warning, I'm English and don't know Japanese that well so the Jap part isn't translated that well since I used an old Japanese/English dictionary.
Shattered Past - Kudakeru Kako
My dream, - Watashi no yume,
My Destiny. - Watashi no unmei.
Broken shards, - Wareta shards,
Shattered before me. - Kudakeru mae ni wa.
The past is blank, - Ano kako ni hakushi,
Lost in a haze. - Nakushita no moro.
No clear past, - Iie meihaku kako,
Unknown future. - Mumei no mirai.
I gather what I can, - Watashi no atsumeru Watashi no dekiru,
Piecing them together slowly. - Piecing no issho ni yukkuri.
What is my Destiny, - Nan ni wa unmei,
Where do I belong to. - Nan au wa zokusuru.
Hope is all I have, - Kibo ni min'na wa motteiru,
That all will work out. - Sore min'na ishi shigoto soto.
Even when all seem dark, - Even itsu min'na yo ni mieru kurayami,
I will continue on. - Watashi ishi tsuzukeru.
The ghosts of my past seek me, - Ano yurei no wa kako sagasu wa,
Soon all will become clear. - Sugu min'na ishi ni naru meihaku.
No matter how hard it will be, - Iie tatoe doyatte nesshin ni isshi iru,
I will fit all the shards together. - Watashi ishi awaseru ano shards issho.
(x3) Soon all will be reveled, - Sugu ni ishi iru arawasu,
And the truth will become clear, - Ne ano shinjitsu ishi naru meihaku,
No longer will it be blank. - Iie longer ishi ni iru hakushi.
I would like to note another apology to my readers, I had insane hours at work so I was unable to post this or even send it to my pre-reader. Only now was I able to email it to my pre-reader and get it back. Gomen.
Ja Ne