Ecstasy of Blue

Chapter Four: Empty Homes and Ice Cream

By: Bibly

As the afternoon sun slowly sunk behind the horizon, a purple beam of light came crashing to the ground, suddenly taking the form of Bass as his feet touched the ground. Looking about the area, his red irises landed upon a big house that stood a few yards away, partially hidden by the forest that resided around it. Baring his teeth, he slowly headed towards it, trying to be as quiet and unnoticeable as he possibly could. This is it…, he thought as he peered from behind a tree. After cracking his knuckles, his right hand sunk into its cufflink, taking the shape of his deadly buster cannon. Bass took a deep breath and then bolted towards the unsuspecting family.

"Your life ends now, Mega Man!" Bass snarled as he charged his buster cannon and shot a large bolt of plasma at the door. The door busted open upon impact, swirls of smoke flying into the sky. Charging his buster once more, the black-armored bioroid jumped through the smoldering hole and into the living quarters of the Light family compound, expecting to hear screams of surprise. Bass hissed through his teeth as he looked around. The house was empty! Not a single living thing could be seen! "Damn it…damn it!" he cursed to himself. This is just fucking great! A loud bark suddenly brought him to look straight ahead. Rock’s faithful mutt Rush could be seen sprinting down the hall towards him. Bass sighed and shot at the dog, watching as he fell to the ground with a loud whimper and stopped functioning.

As he ventured further into the house, his teeth clenched together so tightly Bass felt as if his prized fangs might actually snap under the pressure, memories from when he first entered the Blue Bomber’s house reappeared in his mind. He had tricked Rock into thinking that he was working against Wily just so he could steal the plans needed for upgrades on his armor. It had worked perfectly, much to Bass’ surprise. Why can’t this damn thing just end alread!

Bass slowly shook his head, bringing himself out of his train of thought, and upon raising his gaze, he realized he was standing in front of a closed door. His eyes scanned the door for a moment until landing on a small sign hanging idly a few inches before the top. His eyes widened. "’Rock’s Room’…?" Should I…go inside…? Bass’ eyes slowly narrowed as he stared at the sign, an inner conflict ripping at him.

I wonder what his room’s like…

What does it matter? Your mission is to kill Mega Man!

No! I’m not going to kill him!

It’s what you were programmed to do, Bass. There’s nothing you can do about it.

Like Hell there isn’t!

Fight it all you want. You’re fighting a lost battle.

His hand suddenly clamped onto the doorknob as tightly as it could. I WILL NOT KILL HIM! Bass shouted at himself as he flung the door open. He didn’t so much as wince when the door crashed against the wall. He was immediately captivated by the almost calming effect the Blue Bomber’s room seemed to have. It looked just like Bass had thought it would: action figures stood on shelves, all of them in the silly little poses they were all created to stand in for the rest of their existence; board games could be seen poking out from beneath his bed; a game counsel sat near the bottom of a rather large television, numerous games stacked next to it; books stood in the far corner on a rather large book case, all of them showing ware and tear. Slowly, Bass headed into the room, completely forgetting what he had originally come to do.

Dr. Light smiled as he watched his "children" chat and laugh amongst themselves. Tokyo was as busy as always; people walking to their destinations, cars zooming past, everyone doing something that the city had to offer. Much to everyone’s delight, the Light family had decided to go out for dessert after dinner that evening.

"Hey Rock, remember that time Roll was chasing you around the house cuz you spilled oil on the carpet, and she ran right into the wall? Oh man, that was classic!" Blues laughed loudly, dodging a punch that had been thrown in his direction by his younger sister.

Rock laughed as well. "I remember that! I couldn’t stop laughing for hours!"

"It wasn’t funny!" Roll replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "It hurt a lot!"

"Yeah, but that’s what makes it so funny," Blues snickered. "Man, the sound you made when you crashed into that wall, and that string of swears that came out of your mouth after that… I didn’t know you knew such words!"

"Dad!" Roll whined as she turned to their ‘father.’ "Tell them to stop picking on me!"

Dr. Light chuckled as he lovingly placed a worn hand on her shoulder. "Now now, you two. Stop picking on your sister."

"Yeah, sure, the wall just shouldn’t have been there, right Rock?" Blues snorted, a large grin still worn on his face as Rock nodded in agreement.

"BLUES!"

The two Light boys laughed as their younger sister chased them down the block and into a nearby ice cream shop. Dr. Light shook his head as he watched them disappear past the doors. "At least it’s good to have everyone together for once," he stated happily. Upon joining up with them, he spotted Blues holding Rock in a headlock as he gave him a noggy with Rock laughing and trying to get out of his grip. "You two, cut it out!" Dr. Light muttered as he walked past them and up to the counter. "Now, what do you three want?" Before the good doctor even realized it, his two sons had rushed before the counter, telling the vendor what they wanted at the same time. The young girl who stood behind the counter looked quite baffled as she listened to the two try to out-shout each other. Dr. Light just smiled softly as he waited to pay for the frozen treats.

Now content with their choice of ice cream, Rock, Roll, and Blues proceeded to talk amongst themselves on a bench outside the store entrance, leaving Dr. Light to tend to a few lab notes he had brought along at a nearby table.

"Hey guys, I heard a really raunchy joke before I came home. Wanna hear it? But I’ve gotta warn ya, it’s pretty bad!" Blues asked as he gnawed on his ice cream cone, the vanilla ice cream that had been on it a few moments earlier now nothing more than faint pieces of material within his robotic belly.

Rock nodded. "I wanna hear it!"

"Me, too," Roll added.

"Okay then. What did the gynecologist say to his wife when he got home?" Noticing that neither of his siblings had an answer for the question after a few moments of silence, Blues answered, "’Honey, I’m bushed.’ Get it?" He suddenly burst out laughing at the sight of Rock and Roll’s expressions. "I told you it was bad!"

"Yeah, but that’s just…BAD!" Rock shouted, soon joining his brother in his fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Roll rolled her eyes at them. "You guys are so immature!"

"Immaturity makes for interesting living," Blues answered, finishing off the last of his cone before removing his sunglasses and cleaning them on his scarf. "Besides, what kind of brother would I be if I wasn’t somewhat immature? I’m rarely home, so when I am, I’ve gotta make up for lost time!"

"But why do you gotta be immature?" Roll inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It comes with the territory," Blues replied as he placed his sunglasses back in their trademark position. "It’s one of the few things I’ve gotta make up for. I’m gone for five months, then you get five months worth of immaturity within the time span I’m home. I’m gone for a year, then a year’s worth, and so on and so forth. Besides, when it comes to being immature, Rock lacks in that department! I’ve gotta make living in that house interesting!"

"Hey, I can be just as immature as the next guy!" Rock shouted, pointing at Blues with his ice cream cone.

"Sure, sure," Blues agreed, patting him on the back. The two watched as Roll slowly stood up and headed towards Dr. Light before a fight broke out. Blues smirked. Good, good, I need to talk to Rock in private anyway. "Anyway, Rock," he started, sitting Indian-style on the bench and facing his brother. "All the immaturity aside, we need to figure out how and when you’re going to tell Bass about your feelings."

"Blues, why can’t you just drop it?" Rock snapped suddenly, aggravated. "You’re making a bigger deal out of this than I am!"

Blues glared at him from behind his sunglasses. "With good reason! I don’t want you to end up like me!"

Rock raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Alone, Rock," he muttered. "Alone."

"But…you choose to be alone."

"And that’s what you’re doing." Blues shook his head, placing his chin in the palm of his hand. "Don’t choose to be alone, Rock. I do all the time, yes, and I’m quite used to it, but I don’t want you to go through the same thing that I went through. It took so long for me to get used to it, what with me not being able to find my way back home after that damn accident… But within that amount of time, I went through such stages of mental anguish that you wouldn’t believe, and someone as innocent as you - although used to the battlefield and used to the painful emotions that have to do with it - wouldn’t be able to take it for very long. The emotions that run through your circuits in such a situation is nowhere near the emotions you suffer through when you’re alone." Sighing, he removed his glasses, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger. The very thought of what Blues had gone through was bad enough. He didn’t want anyone to have to go through what he had gone through, especially not his younger brother. "What I’m saying is, just…we need to figure out what to do, Rock. I want to help you through this. I’ll be kicking myself in the ass of this damn thing doesn’t get a happy ending."

Rock watched as his older brother slowly placed his trademark sunglasses back on his face and regained his confident posture. The two stared at each other for a while, both wondering if the other was going to say something to end the silence, before the two slowly formed identical soft smiles on their faces. Rock was glad that Blues was willing to help him with his current situation. He was always there for him, no matter what was going on or what was in the way. Rock always wished that he could some day return the favor, but knew that such a day was far off from their current day. But he didn’t mind. Blues probably didn’t even want any sort of payment for all his help, not that Rock would listen to him even if he told him so anyway.

"Thanks a bunch, Blues," Rock said with a smile as he and his brother both stood and followed the rest of their family home.

Chapter 5