A/N: Ever wondered what happened after Lei passed out? Wonder no more :)

~Chapter 15~

Staring at the sky above him, Bass lay on his back in silence as he recalled the events that occurred only a few hours ago.

Even now, he felt like he couldn't ever hope to understand what the hell came over him to make him stop his fight and rush to that girl's side like that. It was as if at that particular moment, nothing else mattered to him but her safety. All he could think about was.. Her.

He raised his hand in the air and opened his palm at the sky, then stared at it for a few moments.

'Why..?' He thought to himself, narrowing his red eyes at the gesture.

Was it due to the fact that he was the one who told her to come? Because he knew she came for him after her unnecessary worrying?

Why was her existence even affecting him to such a degree in the first place?

Has he simply gone mad?

The whole thing made no sense to him.. And yet, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Bass blinked as he remembered his conversation with MegaMan right after their fight.

"..Lei? Lei!" MegaMan cried in panic, as he stepped closer and knelt a few feet before the girl on the ground, "She fainted.."

Bass said nothing as he watched her for a few moments, his red eyes examining her injuries.

Then, he lifted his glare to the blue Navi.

"Take her to recover." He commanded, his voice firm.

MegaMan went silent for a while as he just stared at him, Completely shocked at his words.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

"Bass.. Are you..?" MegaMan started, his green eyes going wide.

The cloaked Navi gritted his teeth, quickly cutting into his words.

"Shut up!" He hissed at him, clenching his fist with anger, "Did you fucking hear me? Take this girl with you and see that she gets taken care of. I don't want to hear another pathetic word out of you, fool."

MegaMan went completely silent, never breaking his sworn enemy's eye contact.

Even after thinking he could manage to somehow wrap his mind around this idea, seeing an actual live reaction like that wasn't anything he had ever expected, and it left him completely speechless for a few moments.

After finally regaining his cool, the blue Navi finally opened his mouth.

"Got it." He said, carefully lifting Lei in his arms, then slowly raising up to his feet.

'She's light..' he thought to himself, gazing down at the unconscious girl.

Bass stayed in his place for a few more moments as he watched his nemesis closely, then stood up as well.

MegaMan raised his eyes to him.

"I guess we'll settle our score some other time, then." He said with a confident smile.

Bass kept silent.

Turning around from the cloaked Navi, MegaMan started his journey back to NetCity's Medical Center, which fortunately for him, was located in a secluded part of it which was close to the UnderNet's entrance.

"Bass, just one last thing before we go.." MegaMan suddenly said, facing him once again and watching him closely, "I've known you for quite some time now, and I've never seen you fight or act the way you did today. I was honestly impressed.."

The cloaked Navi narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

The blue Navi simply smiled.

"When are you going to realize, you idiot!" He said, chuckling while shaking his head at him,"Think about it." His words were left to hover in the air behind him as he turned back to go on his way.

Bass stayed silent as he watched his nemesis quickly disappear into the distance using the rest of his flight chip's data.

'What the hell kind of nonsense was that fool even talking about..?' The cloaked Navi thought to himself, annoyed, as he remembered MegaMan's last words to him.

He clenched his fist in the air, then lowered his hand back at his side.

Why did he even care this much?

Lifting himself into a sitting position, he fixed his red eyes on the distance for a few minutes.

"How stupid." He said to himself.

Then, he slowly rose to his feet, and flew away.

"Hmm.. It's already evening." Lei said to herself as she gazed out of her hospital room's large window.

Looking over her shoulder back into the empty room, she focused her blue eyes on the round glass window in her door, which was constantly featuring the passing heads of random medical Navis as they walked by her room to the next patient they were called to check on, their voices getting louder as they walked closer and closer, only to eventually fade out behind them into nothing.

She was just so... bored.

Shifting her blue eyes back to the window next to her, Lei slowly twisted the handle and pushed it wide open, letting some fresh air in. She breathed deeply as she stuck her head out of it and looked all around her. The room was pretty high above the ground, and she could see NetCity's bright lights in the distance.

"This Medical Center sure is far from the city.." She said to herself as she rested her head on both her hands, staring far, "This is the first time I've ever been here."

Then, she blinked.

After dropping her gaze once again to the ground below her, Lei quickly pulled her head back inside the room, and floated across it to peek through the small window in her door.

The corridor was now completely empty.

She smiled to herself as she floated back to the open window, landing on its frame and feeling the soft wind gently flow through her long hair.

"Just for a short while, nobody needs to know!" She said to herself, smiling, then she jumped out, floating down slowly to the ground below her, passing one floor after another.

Reaching the ground, Lei suddenly felt slightly dizzy.

She reached to the wall beside her for support, as she waited for the feeling to past.

'I guess I'm not at my full strength yet..' She thought to herself, looking down at her body, 'Alright.. Walking it is.'

The female Navi quickly lowered her feet to the ground, then started walking forward. She wasn't sure where she was going, but this area was completely new to her, and that fact alone was more than a valid reason for her to go and check it out.

Besides, it was either this or staying in her room and getting bored to death.

After walking for a few minutes following an old looking path she found, Lei's blue eyes widened as she finally reached the end of it and could see where it was heading to. It was what seemed to be an old and a bit neglected small park behind the Medical Center building, with a broken, round, stone fountain in its middle which seemed to be out of order, and a few wooden benches surrounding it. The large trees had shed almost all of their leaves which now covered basically everything, and the whole area seemed like it had been completely forgotten.

"Wow.." Lei whispered to herself as she stepped forward to have a better glance at everything, leaving a visible trail of crushed leaves behind her.

Reaching the middle of the park, Lei looked up at the large, broken fountain in front of her.

She ran her right hand over the smooth, pale stone surface, gently sweeping aside the leaves which accumulated on it with time, then peeked inside, where water have once flowed.

It was completely dry now.

"I wish I could find a way to re-activate it." She said to herself, crossing her arms.

"It's broken, stupid." A familiar voice suddenly said.

Smiling to herself, Lei knew exactly who it was.

"Hi Bass." She said, turning to the cloaked Navi far behind her. Somehow, she had already gotten used to him surprising her like that.

He simply stared at her for a few moments, then stepped closer.

"How are your injuries?" He asked, stopping a few feet before her.

Lei smiled.

"Healed!" She said, excited, as she lifted two fingers in the shape of 'V' at him.

The cloaked Navi said nothing for a while, watching her closely.

"What about yours?" She asked him, as she lowered her hand back at her side. His cloak covered him completely, so she couldn't tell whether he still had them or not.

Bass smirked at her question.

"I already told you, this is nothing for me." He began saying, stepping closer to her, "And I would have never fainted from something like that."

Lei's blue eyes widened as she processed his words.

Was Bass teasing her just now?

She crossed her arms at him, then stepped closer as well.

"Well, sorry I'm not as strong as you." She said, jokingly narrowing her eyes at his direction, "Although, I suppose that if you did, then there would also be nobody else left to rescue me from random energy blasts, and that could be problematic."

Bass went completely silent as he buried the lower part of his face behind his cloak.

Lei simply giggled at his reaction, then lowered her hands back down at each of her sides.

"But really.. Thank you, Bass. You were really cool back there." She said, smiling her widest at him.

The cloaked Navi stared at the girl before him for a few moments.

"Too naive." He suddenly spat.

Lei raised an eyebrow at him.

"I can't thank you for saving my life?" She asked him.

Bass took another step forward. He was now right in front of her, his red eyes glaring down straight into her blue ones.

"Who do you think I am?" He asked her, his voice low.

Lei stared up at him for a few moments with a puzzled expression, trying to figure him out.

"You're Bass." She answered.

He gritted his teeth.

"That's not what I asked, and you know it." He said, irritated, "Why would I save you?"

Lei went quiet for a few minutes, her blue eyes never breaking contact with his fierce red ones.

"I don't know." She started, "But I meant my answer from before. You are who you are - You do whatever you want and your decisions always come from an honest place. You've been through a lot and suffered for so long that I don't think anybody can judge you for your actions until they've walked a mile in your shoes. You fight hard and you never give up. You're rude most of the time but also funny.. You're Bass."

The cloaked Navi kept silent as he stared down at her for the longest time.

Her answer was so unexpected, it left him completely speechless.

'What is this feeling?' He thought to himself.

It was as if a strong, invisible magnetic force was suddenly pulling him towards her. He tried to resist it, but he failed right away. It was simply too strong, and it was taking over him too fast.

His hand twitched.

'What is.. happening to me..?' He thought to himself as he gave in to the strong urge, and slowly started to lean down, closer and closer to her.

He wasn't sure where he was heading or what was going to happen, but for some reason, his red eyes were glued to her lips.

Confused, Lei just stared up at the cloaked Navi. His gaze was fixed on her, and his intense stare made her cheeks suddenly feel hot.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

"Lei! Where are you?!" A sudden loud yell was heard from somewhere above them, making both Navis jolt.

Lei quickly turned around to the source of it and figured someone was calling her from the open window she left in her room.

"Uh.. Sorry Bass, I have to go." She said, her mouth forming into a troubled smile.

The cloaked Navi stared down at her in silence for a few moments.

"Who is that fool?" He asked, glaring at the direction of the yelling.

Another yell was heard, this time even closer.

"My friend, probably. I was supposed to stay in my room but I kinda sneaked out.." She admitted, smiling sheepishly at him, "I'll see you later..! Thanks for coming to see me!"

With a swift movement, Lei turned around from the cloaked Navi and started flying back fast out of the park in the direction of her room, leaving him confused at what had just happened.

"How stupid." He said to himself, annoyed.

Flying fast and completely forgetting about taking it easy, Lei suddenly felt another strong surge of dizziness.

She stopped, quickly lowering herself to the ground below her.

"Oh crap.. I forgot..." She sighed to herself, grabbing her head.

"Lei! there you are!" A loud voice suddenly called from before her, making her jump.

"..Mea?" She asked, slowly raising her gaze to the source of it.

Floating in her place with both hands on her waist, was her tall, red-haired female friend and co-worker from the company.

"Hey! came to check on you after hearing what happened from Dean, never knew you could be this sneaky, though!" She said, breaking into a loud laugh.

Lei swallowed hard.

"I guess.. you know, then?" She asked, her expression turning worried.

Mea kept silent for a few moments, watching her closely.

Biting her lip, Lei just stared at the tall female Navi in front of her.

'What exactly did Dean tell her..?' She thought to herself.

Suddenly, Mea broke into a cheerful laugh.

"Hey! What's with that expression?!" She asked, crossing her arms, "I know everything but I'm not gonna scold you, so relax!"

Lei's expression turned confused.

"You're.. not?" She asked with a quiet voice.

The tall female Navi once again broke into a loud laugh.

"No, but we have a lot of catching up to do!" She said, winking at her.

Lei said nothing as she simply stared up at her friend for a few moments.

A/N: Almost Bass.. almost. :)

I want to thank you guys for 2,100 views on this fic! For me that's more than amazing and it sure makes writing this a lot more fun.

*Neo. EXE - Haven't really thought about adding Medi into this, It could be funny indeed, but I'm not sure if I can write her character well.

Hope you liked this chapter! Please review!