A Single Light in the Darkness

I suddenly felt very tired after dinner and went back up to my room to get some rest. My feet came to a sudden stop as the small square flashdrive on the table caught my attention. With my chest feeling tight, I snatched the flashdrive and stashed it in my pocket. I was apart of this 'team' now, so I had the right to know what was going on… right? Right?

My chest felt heavy and it was getting harder and harder to breath as I continued to think about the decision that I never really made, before blurting it out, out of want. Want to feel my mother's love, want to feel like I belonged… want to have the slightest chance of having a real family.

When I entered my bedroom, I immediately saw my PET lying on my bed and rushed over to it. "Roll!" I exclaimed, seeing my Net Navi inside my PET.

"Maylu! Oh, thank goodness you're okay! What happened to you?" I reluctantly began to tell her everything that had happened to me, including the part where I blurted out that I would join my "mother" and Dr. Wily. "Well I think it's a good idea." My heart stopped as she said those words.

"What?"

"Yeah, I mean, she's your mom right? And remember mom always know best!" Something just didn't seem right. Why was Roll all for this all of the sudden? A light knock on the door made me turn to see my mother standing at the door with a smug look on her face.

"I'm glad to hear we're all on the same side." Her voice slipped right through her lips like silk. "Come along Maylu, we have work to do."

I stepped out of the car after my mother and saw a large building covered with lights and a stream of fountains in front of it. "Tonight, the world will know of Dr. Wily's return." I looked over at my mother who had the biggest, most wicked grin I had ever seen before on her face as she pulled out a remote from her pocket.

"What's that?" I questioned her.

"Before I left Nebula, I memorized my dear brother's notes and experiments with Crossfusion and the Dimensional Area. Her voice spoke with pure excitement as she pushed one of the buttons on the remote, sending Dimensional Area Generators appeared from the ground and from the top of the lighted building, creating a Dimensional Area with us trapped inside.

"Here." My mother handed me a Dark Syncro Chip. "Dr. Wily reprogrammed these to not have the same side effects that Mysaki had." I reluctantly took the chip and watched her pull out her PET "It's time." Her voice practically a whisper as she began talking to her Net Navi, Spikeman. "Dark Syncro Chip in, download!" Data began to collect around her and form armor around her, fusing her and Spikeman together.

"There's no backing down now." She looked over at me, giving me butterflies in my stomach as I pulled out my PET and slid the chip in saying: "Dark Syncro Chip in, and download! Begin Crossfusion now!" I watched as the data around me began to form into my own armor and turn me into my Net Navi, Roll. We turned around when we heard people running behind us and found that Crossfusion Megaman and Crossfusion Protoman were coming towards us before stopping suddenly.

"Maylu?!" Lan's voice sliced right through my heart and instantly made me feel guilty.

"Maylu, what are you doing?!" Chaud's voice made the cut even deeper.

"Give it up!" My mother yelled at them, stepping in front of me. "You've already lost!" She lounged at Lan, the two of them instantly getting into it, slashing and blasting away at each other.

"Maylu." Chaud's voice seemed calmer now as he kept his distance. "Why are you doing this? Since when did you think it would be a good idea to join, Wily?" He was obviously hurt, by the current situation.

"Chaud, you don't understand." I tried to explain, but realized that I would be putting myself in quite the situation if I did. What would he think? That's obvious. The same thing that Lan would. I'm the daughter of a fugitive. Even if I wanted to, I could never be any more than that.

"Then help me to understand!" I nearly jumped out of my skin at his yelling. I wanted to tell him, I really did, but… no. If I told him that, then I would have to tell him about my father. No. No one else will ever know and I'm never going back to that life.

"Aqua Tower!" I yelled, slamming my fist to the ground and sending a tower of gushing water rushing towards Crossfusion Protoman, before he sliced through with his Cybersword and came right at me. I dodged, downloading the Piranha battle chip and running the opposite direction while he dodged, running after me. What was I suppose to do? Fight him? He was my friend, how could I fight him? But he couldn't be my friend anymore… could he? I had joined the dark side, he was good and I was bad. How could we possibly be friends anymore?

I leaped over a wire fence easily, putting a little distance between us before Crossfusion Protoman had used the Air Shoes Battlechip to jump over my body and land in front of me, blocking my path and stopping me in my tracks. I couldn't stop; skidding right into him and feeling him grip onto my wrists and hold me in place.

"Let go!" I yelled, struggling in his grip. 'What's wrong with me? Why isn't he trying to attack me? He doesn't even care so why is he doing this?'

"I know you don't want this life so why do this? Why put yourself in this position?"

"How do you know what I want?!" I yelled back at him, listening to the clashing swords for behind me. "I never cared about any of you, just like none of you ever cared about me!" I could feel his lips crashing down against mine and sending my heart into running marathons.

"Who says we never cared about you?" He questioned me after his lips left mine.

"Just forget it!" I twisted my wrists enough to get out of his grasp and took a few steps back. "Roll Arrow!" My crossbow and arrow appeared and I aimed it at Chaud, not even realizing what I was doing until I saw the harsh look in his eyes through his visor. He didn't even flinch; he just stood there completely motionless. I couldn't believe what I was doing. My arm holding the crossbow and arrow shook violently as I tried to hold myself together.

"If you really never cared about us, then attack me!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He actually wanted me to attack him? I couldn't do that, he's my friend. No! He's not my friend, he was never my friend! Or was he? "Think about what you're doing, Maylu." His voice was softer this time. "You still have a chance. You can still come back."

Fear ran fiercely through my veins. "No!" I could hear my voice screaming at him, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. "I can't go back! I won't go back! It'll just happen all over again!" Terrified, I shot my arrow at him, not even thinking about what I was doing as the tears burst from my eyes, clouding my vision. I stood there; completely motionless as my excessive blinking pushed my tears back to see Chaud had dodged my arrow and sliced my side with his Cybersword, looking down at me as I sat crumpled to the ground.

"What happened to you, Maylu? Why are you so afraid?" Did his voice really sound… concerned? He couldn't be. No one could be, not for me. Before I could even think about what to say, Crossfusion Spikeman landed in between us and began attacking Chaud. I looked over to where she had just come from and saw Crossfusion Megaman digging himself out of a landslide of rocks and bound his way over to me, calling out his Cybersword and sending an attack right at me. Standing there, motionless, I watched Lan get closer and closer to me, only to be stopped by Chaud and his Cybersword, catching Lan off guard, throwing him back into the rocks, crumpling them and sending dust flying into the air. All I could do is watch until someone grabbed me from behind and began to drag me away as the Dimensional Area began to collapse around us.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry I haven't posted in such a long time, but when I was about to my internet kicked me out and I've spend all summer without it. :'-( In other news: I know the whole kiss thing makes it seem rushed, but I really needed get Maylu thinking later on…. That and I've always been a ChaudxMaylu fan. ;-) Be sure to ask any questions if you ever need anything explained. :3