"What do I do now? I said the words...I...I can't open my eyes!"
Roll, frightened, fought as hard as she could to pull her eyelids apart. It was as if someone had sewn them together. That frightening imagery alone made Roll try harder. She put her hands to her eyes, but no, there wasn't any stitching there. Nothing physical was holding her eyes shut, and this only scared her more.
"Someone help! GrimMoody!"
And then her eyes snapped open, all at once from the effort. The author was nowhere to be found, but at the sight of everything around her, Roll forgot all about the time she had spent with X and Zero. This wasn't Maverick Hunter Headquarters, nor was it a barren street outside of Arcadia. This was her room, right there in Light Laboratories. The bed with its red quilt on it (Roll never used it, but she had insisted on having one), her long mirror on the wall, her flower wallpaper, her vanity with hair accessories, and finally her closet, full yet perfectly organized with all of her favorite things.
Gasping with delight as she reaquainted herself with all of her worldly possessions, Roll's perifery caught sight of the mirror.
"That's right!" she exclaimed. "Let's see if this has changed back too..."
It had. No longer did Roll have on a flowery blouse or winter clothes, but her normal, simple red dress and green hair ribbon. Stretching out her arms, Roll saw that her arms were again thin, feminine, and delicate, with absolutely no trace of a buster. Simply delighted, Roll twirled around, giggling in amazed delight. As if requiring further proof, Roll shut her eyes and listened with her radio recievers; the air, once filled with news of Maverick attacks, was now filled with friendly chatter as the news announced the weather and a piece on puppies rescued from a house fire.
"It worked!" she cried out. "It absolutely worked! Oh, thank you so much!"
This was addressed to the author, but there was no response. Roll wasn't worried about getting one. She had so much to discover that she simply couldn't wait around. She ran from her room, delighting herself in every hallway, room, and decoration that made Light Laboratories a home. Her jolly running brought her to the main lab, where she saw Bass. He was sitting on a computer chair, immersed in a book called The Compact Guide to World Religions. Treble was at his feet, calmly trying to resist chewing on any spare wires.
Noticing movement, Bass looked up and immediately sneered. Roll's stare was wide-eyed, touched by the slightest of hopeful smiles. It was as if she was waiting for something.
"What the hell are you looking at?"
Bass' sour reaction didn't even touch Roll. She just laughed wholeheartedly and clapped her hands with delight.
"You're a selfish jerk again! That's so wonderful!"
Bass was starting to get a sinking feeling that this was going to be one of those things that would make him have to put his book down. Roll's attention departed from him without acknowledging his reaction, turning instead to an equally confused dog.
"Treble! You're such a good boy! Come here!"
Roll beckoned for him. Treble looked at his master uncertainly (Bass had no answer for him), but in the end he walked cautiously toward her, wagging his tail a little. As soon as he was near enough, Roll covered his face in pets and kisses. Pleased with the attention, Treble merrily nosed at her and knocked her promptly on her posterier. Roll only giggled more, continuing her affection uninterrupted.
"Aw, you're such a good puppy!" Roll gushed. "I'm going to go get you a bolt! How would you like that, huh? You're such a good boy!"
Treble wagged his tail even harder, barking with delight. Appalled at the whole thing, Bass rolled his eyes and glared at his dog.
"You're such an attention whore."
Treble turned back and gave a huffy bark back. Let Bass call him what he wanted. He was going to get a bolt!
"Seriously Roll, you're not glitching or something, are you?" Bass was disdainful. "Didn't you get a scan yesterday?"
"What? Roll-chan's having errors?" Another voice called out. "That sounds like a job for...ME!"
Roll immediately got back on her feet. She knew that voice. It was the same peppy and cute voice that Roll hadn't heard in over a decade. Much to Roll's delight, it was indeed Crystal Bot, the jolly technical girl. The newcomer approached the group with her same smile, just as shiny as the orbs built into her helmet, arms, and legs.
"Sona-chan!" In an instant, Roll had her arms around Crystal's neck in a tight hug. "You're not dead!"
"Uh, well yes, not yet, I'm happy to say." Crystal winked, a little unsettled as she gently pushed Roll away. "Hehe, personal space now. Um, are you feeling different today or something...?"
Roll felt perfectly happy, and she deflected the question with a happy one of her own, delightedly hopping. "Hey Sona, you know what we should do?"
"Uh, what?"
"We should get our band together! The Digital Sweethearts!" Roll practically screamed with delight. "You have your guitar with you, right?"
"Don't I always?" Crystal started to grin. "Splash Woman isn't here to do vocals though."
"We can at least have a jam session then! Oh! My keyboard! I wonder if I still have it...well of course I do! I still have everything else so why wouldn't that be there too? Oh, it's so wonderful to have my home and my room and my friends again! Everything is finally wonderful again!"
Crystal squealed in hilarity. "Eeee! I like Error Roll! She's fun!"
"I'm not your friend." Bass' fangs sprouted in Roll's direction. "And furthermore-"
"AUTO!" Roll did scream this time, making the other robots present jump. "You're home too!"
Without another second of even pretending to listen to Bass, Roll ran across the room and practically smacked right into Auto. She delightedly hugged him, then started on a tirade of questions for the green repair-bot and what he was doing on his latest project. Treble, annoyed, began to nose at Roll's legs and whine. He hadn't forgotten about the promised bolt. However, Roll just smiled down at him and patted him once more before returning to listen to Auto talk about his upgrades for the lab's security system.
"Aaah! There's Rush!"
Roll ran away again, leaving Auto in the middle of his speech on how to operate a proper burglar alarm. He glanced at the others and they only shrugged. Roll was too happy playing with Rush to even care about the concern of the others - playing with Rush was a lot easier with his smaller size. Treble barked and interrupted, and Rush went up to him and barked twice curiously. Treble answered his question with one firm, annoyed whine. At that, Rush returned to Roll and started yipping. He wanted a bolt too.
Roll laughed. "Okay, okay, you can have one too, Rush. You're both such good dogs!"
"Hey Rock!" Bass yelled towards an open hallway, getting too weirded out by everything. "Your sister's on crack!"
"Bass, what are you talking about?" Mega Man's voice echoed into the lab, growing louder as he neared the room.
Roll froze, completely unable to move. Her gaze was focused solely at the hall, watching as the one person she missed most in the world entered. Rock's wide, unassuming eyes ran about the room at the others. He looked just as innocent and happy as he did the very first day Roll had been activated and she met him for the first time. His eyes finally settled on his little sister.
"Is everything alright?"
With a high pitched squeal and a dash flying his way, Mega Man was the next victim of Roll's vicious hugs. She clung tightly, on the verge of happy tears.
"Everything is just fine, Rock! Just fine!" Roll's voice managed with only a little cracking. "Everything is just perfect again!"
"Hey, I think I know what's going on with Roll." Crystal Bot piped up, doing her best to sound stern. "You know this one, Forte. I've been teaching you about technology and I expect you to get it right!"
Crystal was joking, but Bass glared at her anyway. She was attempting to take the same tone with him that he took with her during the crystal girl's fight training. He took that tone an unfortunate amount of the time, about equal to Crystal's mishaps. Realizing that his technician wasn't going to say anything or let him off, Bass grudgingly took a moment to think about the answer.
"Uh...wait, yeah, it's that thing where a robot goes through a traumatic event and then their...emotional pattern control goes nuts. Right?"
"Ding, ding, ding!" Crystal Bot clapped her hands. "Yay! You got it right! Hey Roll, you don't mind if he fixes it for you? I want him to learn how."
Roll finally let go of one side of her brother, holding onto him with a tight side-hug as she faced Crystal. She laughed. "What do you mean? Everything is wonderful! What traumatic thing could possibly have happened?"
Crystal Bot opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. She winced painfully, staring down at her feet. Bass cursed sharply, grabbing his book and storming for the door - not without once looking back to glare at Roll and shoot back a few daggers. Treble growled at her before following his master, and Rush's tail went limp as he settled moodily on the floor. Auto turned to face the computer, not letting anyone see his expression. Roll timidly looked at her brother, only to find that Rock too was silent and brooding. He sighed.
"Roll..." he said, unable to look at her. "I know you've been taking this pretty hard, but...I didn't think it would be this bad. It's only been two weeks since we lost him."
Then, and only then, did it strike her. Roll's arm dropped from around Mega Man, and she settled on the floor, numbly letting the knowledge take hold. Dr. Light was still dead. Everything else was the right and as it should have been but for one thing. Roll had her lab, her friends, and her brother, but her creator was still gone. Roll pulled her hands over her face, weeping the few glitches that she could.
"Um...I think that's worse than Forte-kun can fix." Crystal Bot said sadly. "Um...maybe you'd better get that, Auto."
"No, I've got it." Mega Man lifted his sister from the floor. "I remember how to fix this, at least. Auto, hand me the datacore."
"Sure. Here you go, Rock." The green robot solemnly handed him a small electronic pad and the cord that went along with it. "You'll be okay, Roll."
Roll wasn't so sure. All she wanted was for Dr. Light to be alive again. She shook with anger, not even noticing as Mega Man pulled her to her feet.
I've dealt with the hologram! Roll wanted to scream. It's not good enough!
Still glitching, she let Mega Man lead her away into one of the individual laboratories, where a sensitive piece of machinery could be worked on separate from other projects. Rock knew that his sister was feeling very sensitive at that moment and it would be better to get her away from the others.
He plugged the datacore into her neck with the cord. The datacore was a fairly small handheld device, about twice the size of a top-line calculator. The cord that reached out from it was the only way it could be connected to other computers. It was specially designed for detailed data work on individual robots. He directed Roll to the lone repair table, and she obediently sat there, quietly twiddling her thumbs. She glanced over at the outside window. The same trees she remembered were still there, gently providing a pleasant country view for the lab.
"Wow, Roll, this is really bad." Rock was stunned by the data showing up on the device's small screen. "When was the last time you had a proper EMSI scan? You're a mess in here."
"I...I didn't want to bother Dr. Light with it..."
"I know you were worried about him, but that's no excuse for not taking care of yourself." Mega Man said gently as he sat next to her. "Dr. Light wouldn't want you to feel this way. Hold still, this will only take a minute."
Roll didn't move. She sat there, just holding her hands in her lap and thinking of nothing. There was nothing she wanted to think about. On their own, her thoughts returned to GrimMoody and why she had sent Roll back. In disgust, Roll cast aside those thoughts. She didn't care why the author had sent her back, not anymore. What possible task was could she complete without Dr. Light? She needed help. She couldn't exactly tell anyone that an author put her several years back into the past in the hopes of preventing the extinction of man and robotkind.
"Are you keeping up, Roll? How are you feeling?"
"It's not bad." she referred to the process being done. "I feel sort of exhausted though."
"You need to take some energy pellets. Hm, I guess it could be worse on here." Mega Man pushed more buttons on his datacore, before handing it to Roll. She only gave it a cursory glance before placing it on her other side of the repair table.
"Roll," Mega Man said, becoming more serious. "Tell me how you're really feeling. Not data or anything. I'm here to help, whatever you're going through."
"I...I don't know." Roll managed to meet her brother's eyes. "I'm just...tired. Of everything. Without Dr. Light, everything is so confusing. I...just don't know what to do with myself."
"I know what that feels like." Mega Man smiled knowingly, letting loose the expression after a moment. It was hard to feel cheerful. "This has been really bad for all of us, Roll. You'll know what to do with yourself soon. You're very talented."
She just leaned her head against Mega Man's shoulder. There were so many things she couldn't tell her brother, for so many reasons. What would he say if he knew about X, the Mavericks, and the Hunters? She could tell him about how lost she felt, but when it came to putting words to her heart, nothing would come. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to talk about it. So Roll said nothing. Her mouth hung a little open in the attempt as if her voice would speak for her and just say something, but nothing came out.
Mega Man let his sister rest on his shoulder as he pondered Roll's issues. It couldn't be easy for her to just let go of their creator. She had spent her whole life taking care of him, so going on without him meant that she had to find a new purpose entirely. Of course this transition would be the hardest for her.
"We still have to go on." he said. "We're his legacy, and we have to make sure that everything turns out just like Dr. Light always dreamed it would. We can't be unhappy like this for too long. I mean, I still have to go out there and protect Monstropolis, and you..." Rock paused, interrupting himself with a realization. "Hey, is that why you're acting so weird? Is it hard for you to stay home and feel like you're not doing anything to protect the world?"
That wasn't exactly it. Roll wondered if that was true for a moment, but that didn't seem to be the case. It wasn't the real point of her problem. She had always taken care of Dr. Light not as a favor to science, but because she loved him as her father. Any given day scrubbing, washing, and dusting was all fun when Dr. Light was there getting the benefit. Roll, however, didn't feel up to explaining this. She merely nodded.
"Hey, don't be like that." Mega Man gently cuffed her on the chin. "Know that every day here you keep me and Auto hard at work. It's easier to go out into danger when one of the people I benefit is at home, always reminding me why I keep going. You mean a lot to me, okay Roll?"
She blinked, letting a smile creep back up on her face. So maybe things weren't perfect, but at least things were still good. She had her friends and home, and the world wasn't facing a war. That was much better than the future she had faced before.
"I guess I can't complain about everything." Roll sat back up. "Thanks, Rock. I feel a lot better now."
"I'm glad." he smiled back at her. "Now hand me that datacore. I need to make sure you're stable again."
Roll handed the little machine back to her brother, and he finished up with more button mashing and data readings. He glanced at Roll, holding back his desired sigh. She was going through a lot, and he had the feeling that it was more than she had said. He didn't want to push the matter and upset her, but all the same he could clearly feel the burden of being the "man of the house". He wanted desperately to make sure Roll was just as happy as she had been when Dr. Light was still living.
"Roll, everything's going to be alright." he said, wondering which one of them he was trying to reassure more.
Roll's head shot straight up from her brother's shoulder, and she stared into his eyes with a certain fear. There was an awkward moment until she finally spoke. Her resolve was wavering, but her voice was final.
"You promise?"
Mega Man began to wonder if he would ever understand his sister. What was she so afraid of? Why did she stare at him with so much emotion in her eyes when he said that? What was going on in her mind? All Mega Man knew was that the poor girl was suffering far too much. He had to do something about it. Mega Man could hardly guarantee that the future would be perfect, but how could he tell her no?
"Yes, Roll." he said. "I promise."
Roll was silent as Mega Man finished the scan and synaptic reallignment. She stared down at her hands as the data rearranged itself in her head, and Rock's worry for her only grew. This didn't seem like his sister. What had happened to her?
Noise from the outside caught Roll's attention, but Mega Man disregarded it. He knew Forte's footsteps when he heard them, and for the moment he was more concerned with fixing some of these errors in Roll's emotional AI. He wasn't attempting to ignore the outside sounds, however, so he did notice the conversation.
"Sonata." Bass said. "Let's get the hell out of here. I need to get back to Russia. Reyes will be here to inspect me in an hour and make sure I haven't kept any of the Cain-bot weapons, so be done with your stupid pipi by then. I don't want to have to stay here any longer than we have to."
"Bruce isn't stupid." Crystal Bot scolded. "But I'll be done here in a minute, anyway. Hey Trebby, what are you doing?"
Mega Man's mind was still on the data going back and forth on the pad in his hands, so he was paying less and less attention to the conversation outside. He barely registered the whining growls coming from out in the main lab. Roll, however, turned her head to listen.
"Oh, Rock, I better get that." Roll said, breaking him out of his trance. "I promised Treble that I would get him a bolt, and I don't want him to be unhappy. Am I done?"
"Er, not yet." Mega Man put down the data pad. "But if you think you need to, this can wait for a minute."
"Good." Roll unplugged the cord from her neck. "I'll be back."
Roll got up from the repair table. As she left, Mega Man felt a little despondent. He glanced after her a moment, then looked down at the datacore. Her readings, surprisingly, were showing mostly normal readings. A thing here or there was off, but from the data he saw he couldn't tell what was wrong. Slumping, Mega Man plopped the little machine down beside himself, where Roll had been sitting. It clacked carelessly against the metal repair table, and Rock ran his hands through his thick, wild hair. A sigh escaped him.
"I don't understand any of this at all..." he whispered, staring once more down at the data. "I don't know what's wrong with Roll...I'm out of touch..."
Mega Man hoped that Auto had some clue how to fix Roll. Her emotional relays were working too hard, and as much as he wanted to think he could, Mega Man didn't know how to repair them. He couldn't even tell what the source of the problem was. It had been so long since his lab assistant days that he was far behind in the times.
"Good boy, Rush!" Rock could hear his sister's giggling outside. "Don't knock me over, Treble! Haha! You dogs are so naughty!"
Mega Man smiled. At least she hadn't lost her happiness completely. He would have to hang on to his as well. Opening the door, Rock watched as Roll continued to pet the now contented dogs. They had their bolts, and were wagging their tails as they chomped down. Mega Man paid more attention to his sister's smile. She seemed just as content as the metal pets she watched. It warmed Mega Man to see her so happy. He would do what he could to keep her that way.
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Author's notes:
- Hey y'all, just a bonus chapter up. I'm writing up a buffer for the last story in this series, and I've got a couple more scenes I want to get done before I post the story. Also, this segment really does better at the end of Afterlife than at the beginning of a new story, especially considering that most of this is based on events that happened in this story and would totally throw off a new reader. So I figure I'll use it to say some announcements.
- My next story, like I said, needs a bit more work before I post it. I've got some good ideas going, and I'll hopefully have something nice for you. I have to write an introductory chapter and fill in some spots in the work I've so far done on it. I gotta say y'all, this story's looking really good so far. It's going to focus more on Mega Man, which is really necessary since all my other stories have been about other people, mainly.
Since this story is the finale of the series, I'm not limiting it to fifteen chapters (hopefully it won't be so long it loses interest), and I intend to do crazy things with all of the characters. My gimmick this go round is only going to be character profiles again, but people seem to like those. I kinda regret not doing it for Afterlife.
Anyway, I'll be posting my next story at the end of the month, so look forward to that! See you then!