Chapter Text
It was in an instant, he had arrived too late to stop King, too late to stop Rock from getting involved, but just in time to throw himself into harm’s way. Now he was lying on the ground, halfway to being complete scrap.
He wasn’t afraid to die, his only regret would be having never seen himself worthy to accept his father’s love.
Rock had told him to go back to Light’s Lab for repair, but Proto Man barely muttered a sound as an answer.
“No…”
Rock was already chasing after the rogue robot, he wouldn’t have heard him, but he’d be back to take him home.
But he couldn’t bear the thought of his father’s face seeing him in disrepair, the guilt and fear of failing his boy. There was no one he could give that guilt to…
…but, there was someone he was sure who could fix him up and still be distant enough to not feel remorse if something went wrong.
At least, he hoped so…
Gathering the last of his strength, Blues grabbed his legs and vanished in a beam of red light.
Another day of gathering and studying sample, another day bothered by her sister’s incessant prodding of how boring she is, it was another average day. Though she could not complain, between Dr. Wily’s seemingly never ending attempts to dominate the world over and her own personal journey to pick up the missing pieces of who she was, Tempo was more than content for trouble to never cross her path.
…though, one troubled individual always managed to stumbled into it.
Dr. Lalinde’s lab had become a secondary home to Proto Man, all on the account of Tempo’s own…feelings, of him.
It was hard to put a label to it, didn’t fit into the guidelines of any established parameters of logic. He had caused her much more trouble than he should’ve been worth given his prior connections to Wily, yet his seeming trust in her to understand him, to be honest with him. Well, it was a logic loop trying to process her exact opinion of him, not at all helped by the fact her sister kept calling Proto Man her “boyfriend”.
She pinched her brow, giving herself silent curses for continuing to waste time thinking about him. Hearing that song he’s always whistling to himself in her processor.
…no, wait, she WAS hearing it.
But it was wrong, it was weak, it was glitched. Slowly she approached the source of the music and gasped when she saw the torn in half prototype laying before her.
“PROTO MAN!?”
“Quake Woman…”
His voice was strained, he was near total shut down, he couldn’t bring himself to move another inch forward.
“What happened, who did this to you, are you-“
No, this is irrelevant, answers are unneeded, he is injured, he is dying. He needed to be brought to the lab for repairs and fast, his circuitry and wiring were old, and now exposed to the desert elements.
She scooped his two halves up in her arms, a feeling, fear, shinning in her eyes.
“No, no don’t speak, reserve and maintain your power, I will take you to Dr. Lalinde.”
She quickly rushed into the lab, pushing past her sister who had been cut off mid-tease upon seeing what Tempo was carrying. Rushing into her mother’s lab, her voice rang out with unintended volume.
“DR. LALINDE, MOTHER, IT’S AN EMERGENCY!”
Lalinde rushes into the lab, her lab coat hastily tossed over a casual shirt. She hadn’t been expecting the end of a long day to be suddenly interrupted by her eldest daughter screaming for, not at all helped by the pale face of the usual chipper Vesper Woman. Before she could even ask what happened, she saw who Tempo held in her arms.
“Blues!?”
She rushed to take the torn in two robot from Tempo, who held him even tighter at the attempt to remove him.
She sighed, examining the damage between his lower body and his hip. Cut nearly clean apart. However the damage had been incurred, it was done with an intent to leave Blues in tact enough to slowly power down.
It was a vile thought she had to swallow as she guided Tempo to the table, slowly helping her place the two halves of him down.
Her grip on his body was in a gentle vice, she looked directly into the shine of his tinted visor trying to see any shred of light. He was starting to get better, starting to find himself, started talking to his family again.
He was getting better, he was going to be okay, she got to see in real time as he found himself.
If he could, maybe she could too.
Maybe they could be something better, better than what they had both lost.
She didn’t want to lose him.
Didn’t want to see anyone lose him.
Once he was placed on the table, she held his forearm tightly. She couldn’t fathom why, it would do no one any good, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave.
“We can fix him, save him, right? Like you saved me?”
Dr. Lalinde bit her tongue, looking in anguish at the desperation in her daughter’s eyes.
“What happened with you was far less…” she hesitated to finish the sentence, she watched her own daughter crushed under rubble, had to shift throw parts that were barely recognizable, “…extreme.”
She quickly began to reconnect loose wires between the two halves, the body would be easy to fix. Any robot could be brought back from the scrap heap, though there were a few three who were unique, most unexplainable among them was the one before her.
“You were built using similar means to how Dr. Light originally made Blues, yet…”
It was a lifetime ago, one where a stupidly hopeful man dreamt of the day robots and humans would be nearly one and the same. It was a dangerously beautiful idea, the Robot Master. She had been in constant updates of his boy’s development, how proud he was of him, how he made a song. He had no directive, no purpose, he was a miracle of modern robotics.
“…Blues’ personality chip…doesn’t exist. He simply is, he’s made himself who he is. If he were to go offline after critical damage…”
Tempo’s pupils shrank, her hold of Blues grew tighter.
“We can save him, right?”
Her mother looked at her with weary eyes, “…we will try.”
Blues managed a weak chuckle, looking over to Tempo with a weak smile.
“Nev-er tho-oug-ht you’d care this much what happens to-me…”
She didn’t answer him, pushing a finger to his mouth.
“Save your energy, Blues.”
She used the wrong name, her mother had gotten her used to his other name, his “real” name. Could she even call him that? She stared a second too long, wordlessly asking him the thought plaguing her thoughts.
“…hel…met…”
He tried to move his free arm to remove his helmet. For a moment he struggled, refusing to accept even the smallest defeat. Yet in the end, he couldn’t even lift it off the table.
All the while Lalinde silently continued to work, looking back to Tempo every so often to ensure she was alright. She couldn’t imagine what must be going through Tempo’s manmade mind, couldn’t begin to reason why Blues had shown up at her lab for repairs.
Though, with how the two were looking at one another, she could hazard a guess that would bring answers to both questions. Bittersweet answers that she’d have to help her daughter through…no matter the outcome of her work.
Tempo stared intensely at the broken boy before her, understanding what he wanted but wasn’t sure she could handle the sight. With hesitance, she removed Blues’ helmet, his messy hair popping out, his eyes still covered by his sunglasses. He looked so much more human like this, and yet..
Still she wanted to see what was behind the veil of what he hid from everyone.
She wanted to remove his glasses.
She wanted to see him.
He could feel the subtle movement of her hesitating to reach for his glasses, he froze for a moment, thinking.
Finally, after what felt like eternity, he managed a nod.
He could at least give her this comfort, after all, he had once more showed up to her unannounced. Dumped his problems on her again, made her process complicated feelings she couldn’t name, all because he wanted to see her one last time.
Shakily she reached over him once more, removing his sunglasses to look at him.
Faded emerald eyes looked up at her, dead pixels dotted around flickered at the light above him, he had to squint to get a good look at her.
She looked far nicer in full colour.
He gave her a smile, silently asking for one back.
She gave him one, her grip on him subconsciously tightening as Dr. Lalinde worked tirelessly to fix him.
She would not be leaving his side until she knew he would be alright. Even if it felt like eternity, even if it was eternity, she’d wait to see him stand.
So they could see one another, together.