Author's Note: Hey guys, it's been a while. School was absolutely miserable towards the end of it. Couldn't draw, couldn't write (save for the 5 essays due at once), couldn't even relax for half a second for fear of forgetting some major assignment. College is stressful, but it's worth it. To anyone still in school—good luck. You have my sincerest sympathy. Thanks Milo, for the reviews. If there's anything to get me back in the mood of writing, it's a review. Glad to see you're back from training, hope it went well. While we're on the subject, I'd love for some WoA art; you have my fullest permission to do what you want with it.I HAVE been looking at what you two (Milo and BACD) have been saying. Quite a bit matches what I had planned already, some other parts gave me very good ideas. For that, I thank you. I know this chapter is long overdue, but here it is. We get to explore some of Chaos's relationships; some, as you will find out are quite unstable. But that's not without reason. I'm giving you all a special treat, as someone very special to Chaos makes an appearance in the chapter. Without further ado, I gave you – WoA Chapter 17!
World of Advent Chapter Seventeen
Bass. The god of destruction. Father. Chaos had a difficult time sorting out which one stood before him. Strange. I don't even know what to call my own father.
"You're alive." It was a simple statement. There existed no judgement, nor the usual condescension Chaos would expect from someone who held him at his mercy. What was it? Chaos couldn't identify it, coming from Bass's mouth. Nevertheless, the words incensed Chaos like nothing else ever had.
"That's it?" Chaos looked up at his father, who looked so much like him in full oversol. His father, whose black and yellow armor still had not changed since the last time he had seen him. His father, the one who abandoned him since he was young. "You abandon me, and that's all you have to say?!"
"I was afraid you would not make it." Bass looked out the window, almost regretfully. "You should not have used my powers so recklessly."
"Yeah, well," Chaos said, "It wasn't like you were ever there to teach me how to use it."
Bass then did something that Chaos could never have predicted; he sat down beside him, a softer look in his eyes Chaos had never seen from the reploid renowned for death and destruction. "I'm sorry."
"You – what?" Chaos scrubbed his ears, to make sure he wasn't hearing things. "Am I still hallucinating?"
"This surprises you, doesn't it?" Bass mused to himself. "It's true. I have not been the best father. But I do care. Yes, I have left you to fend for yourself, but I gave you what I never had. Brothers and sisters, whom I only left when I believed strong enough to find their family. I did not have the best role model in fathers, as you know. Wily never saw us as anything more than soldiers. This world is a cruel one. It strikes down the weak without remorse; only the strong or the lucky are allowed to survive."
Bass looked at the girl beside them, whose violet hair matched her eyes fondly. "I have learned not to count on luck. I was never designed to be the luckiest. I was not designed to be perfect, my son. I was made to be the strongest. My very first memories are that of Wily telling me to kill. Kill or be killed. That was the law of this world, and I have seen nothing to convince me otherwise."
"Daddy?" The girl looked up at Bass with wide, trusting eyes. "Grandpa Wily was a bad man wasn't he?"
"Yes, Anna," Bass said, ruffling the girl's hair. "But you will never have to worry about him. I made sure of that a long time ago."
"Tell big brother Chaos about Megaman, Daddy. I love hearing that story. I think he should hear it too."
Chaos looked at the two of them, an odd sensation settling in his stomach, equal parts longing and rage. Sorrow as well. How long until this girl, too, would be abandoned by their father?
"Very well," Bass said. "Long ago, a great machine was created to save the world from Wily and his creations. You should know very well that I was counted among that number. Each one of us was created for a purpose, you see. Some were regarded as the fastest. Others still helped Wily lead his creations into battle. I was made to be the one that would destroy Megaman. And for the longest time, I believed that was my destiny. Kill or be killed. It wasn't until he bested me that I questioned my purpose in life. What use was a robot who could not fulfill the sole task set to him by his own father?"
Bass inhaled deeply before continuing his story. "I sought strength. But what I found was something much more important. Through my various battles with the one I was intended to destroy, I gained a certain respect for him. He fought for something more than just survival. Such a way of life infuriated me as much as it did fascinate me. But try as I might, I could not change. I was still the same robot, hell-bent on gaining power. And for what? As the years rolled by, the robot masters faded from existence. Even Dr. Wily faded from memory as I pondered this enigma. Ultimately, I decided that, with the dawn of this new era, I would not seek to be the strongest. My loneliness led me to escaping the ruins of Wily's lab, where I and another held sanctuary for millennia."
"And that was when he made us!" Anna said happily. "Isn't that right?"
"Yes." Bass smiled - at least, his mouth twitched into what one could interpret as one. "I made a family, through various people who agreed to help me. But this world was not kind to you. Protoman and I hid from the world, fearing the day humans would return all our kind to the scrap in which we were born. We never believed them capable of harming those half their own kind. Their prejudice was too great. To be even half a robot was too great a stain on human judgement."
A dark expression clouded Chaos's father. "I wanted to hurt them all. I wanted to show the world that the 'strongest robot' had not forgotten who he was. But such a show of violence would only make you the scapegoats of my violence. So I did what Wily never did for me. I made families all over, brothers and sisters, united by my DNA, which I had acquired after having my essence transferred into a new, reploid body. I gave you all a system of strength and support that could not be broken by such petty things as "Human" or "Reploid". I gave you a family. Where I once sought to become the strongest, I gave you my strength. It is not my own strength that I seek but my children's. You will become strong enough to survive this world and not have to rely on such fickle things as "luck". You will be strong enough to make your own destiny."
Chaos shook his head. "It's ten years too late for an apology. If you're loking for forgiveness, it's too late."
"You may not believe me, Chaos," Bass said, but every one of you are precious to me. Whatever you do, I am proud. Even Kai has found his place in this unforgiving world. I just hope I can help you find yours. You said that I never taught you how to use your powers. Would you like to learn?"
Chaos blinked. It was all too much to take in. His father, here? And wishing to make amends, of all things? It was as if the sky were falling on his head.
"Daddy doesn't always know what to do," Anna said, breaking the silence between them. "But he tries his best. He's really, really bad at painting fingernails, but he means well."
Chaos raised an eyebrow. "You. Painting fingernails?"
"Call me when you have a daughter," Bass said roughly. And don't ever tell anyone or the deal's off."
Chaos clenched his fist, feeling all his pent up anger explode. For a second, it was all too much. Bass, the dead beat dad who left him behind, doing something as ridiculous and fatherly as painting his daughter's nails? It was ridiculous. But as he unclenched it, Chaos let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in. "I forgive you."
Bass smiled in earnest this time. "I look forward to seeing what you can do. By the way, an envoy of Neo Arcadia's Zan'ei army is here. She says she knows you."
Chaos felt his blood freeze. Just as the moment before, he felt an age old grudge let loose, an even more potent one choked his breath.
Bass gave his son a knowing glance as he left the door alongside Anna. "You can't hold on forever."
Chaos's heart beat fast, every pulse like that of a drum, deafening all else. Of course. Fate would have it this way; his father was one thing but…
It was all too much. "Come in," he growled, almost unable to keep his chaotic energies in check. As if he needed telling who was there. As if he didn't know who the envoy was. The armored figure from before… He resisted telling Light when he was wrapped up in blankets back at Cara's house, but even then, his thoughts found a way of manifesting themselves while he slept. A name. Her name.
"Sanctum."