11Chapter 11: Saudade
"Wer Honig lecken will, darf die Bienen nicht scheuen." - German Proverb
Mega Man was obligated to attend the movie premier, and both Dr. Light and Roll had gone with him. A few days later, dressed casually, he went with Break Man, Roll, Bass, and Kalinka. It was nice having the gang together again.
Afterwards they left in silence and headed for the monorail. He felt a growing anxiety as the quiet stretched on, the others lost in thought.
"Well?" he said, when just couldn't bear it any longer.
"They sure made some, ah, choices." Kalinka said, diplomatically as possible.
"It was terrible!" With that, Bass started cracking up. "Absolute garbage."
Break Man shrugged. "Honestly? I'm just stunned it actually got released, after all those years stuck in development."
"You weren't even the main character!" Bass continued. "What was all that crap about Roll and some random made-up 'Marie Lou' robot—"
"That's not what a 'Marie Lou' is. We've been over this. "
For a moment Kalinka and Bass argued about what defined the character archetype. All the while Roll had a strangely amused look on her face. "Trancy wasn't made up. Or the plot. It's the history of the so-called 'Pachislot' universe— remember, when we had that whole multiverse adventure?"
"Do we remember— are you for real? Based on a true story or not, it was still a complete disaster. The only cool part was Proto Man's scenes. I can't believe I was mad about not being in it."
"Hey." Break Man came to a stop. "Rock, I thought you said they didn't take any of your suggestions."
"Yeah…"
It was something of a sore spot.
"And I can't imagine they'd have asked Dr. Light or Roll for input, either."
The others looked at him in confusion.
"So, how did they know about the multiverse and that version in particular? None of that was covered by the netnews, the public doesn't know anything about it."
There was a long, very uncomfortable pause.
"It's another one of those weird connections that extends beyond our separate worlds," said Mega Man, thinking it over.
"Like what?" Kalinka asked.
"Like how Mega Man's armor is always blue," Roll replied, "and Break, er, Proto Man always wears shades."
"No, it's like how I used 'Forte' as a username, and Rockman's Bass is named Forte for real."
"More like how that Aki kid has a human sister and it's Suna," said Break Man.
Kalinka's eyebrows shot up and she whipped around to look at Bass. "You never mentioned that. Is she… that Dr. Light's daughter?"
"Oh yeah." Break Man smirked as he answered. Roll started giggling.
"Don't," Bass said. "Just don't."
"Well… wait." She had a strange look on her face. "Wait. Do we know who our Suna's biological—"
"NO. No, Kalinka! I said 'don't'!"
"But—"
"He's not her dad! He's too old and it's disgusting and— ugh! No!"
As for Mega Man, he was every bit as horrified by the possibility as Bass was.
"I believe congratulations are in order, Dr. Cossack." Dr. Light was beaming as he offered a firm handshake and a playful wink.
"Please, 'Dr. Cossack' is my father's name. Call me Kalinka."
She broke free from his grip to give him a hug.
"How about 'Doc Cossack'," Roll suggested.
"Dr. Cee," said Bass. "No— Dr. Kaycee."
"Ohh! Dr. Goldilocks."
Shaking her head, Kalinka went to greet some of her sorority sisters and school friends. Amid the compliments and well wishes, she introduced the people from her separate lives. After years of compartmentalizing, it was only a matter of time before the two worlds came crashing together.
Being that most of her cohorts were also engineering majors, they were fascinated by the androids and thrilled to meet them. Mega Man was gracious as ever, but as questions grew increasingly personal and inappropriate, Roll and Bass got increasingly rude— and professional punk kid wrangler Break Man was nowhere in sight.
In an effort to get some space, Kalinka headed outside… where she ran into the missing red and gray robot. "Ah, how about that? I was trying to catch a break, instead I caught a Break Man."
"Very funny," he replied, sarcastic but with a broad smile.
"Walk with me?"
"Sure." Linking his arm in hers, they headed across the yard. It was always a little strange, seeing her get older— and taller. So much taller. Break Man could remember carrying her away from the cell in Dr. Wily's stronghold… of course, he was strong enough to do so even now, but at the time she'd been shorter than him.
She glanced down, amused, and reached over with her right hand. "Here, let me fix your hair…"
"You're not going to make this weird, are you?"
"No, no. Of course not."
For a while Kalinka talked about some of her job prospects now that she was out of school, and how she didn't want to take the easy route and work for Cossack Automation. But inevitably the conversation veered off course.
"You know, I used to have such a schoolgirl crush on you."
He heaved a sigh. "I knew you were going to make this weird."
"It's not weird! I said I used to."
Coming to a stop, Break Man pulled away. "Just get on with it, Kally."
"…Well… I mean, I always wondered—"
"Yes. Yes," he said matter-of-factly. "That too. Wow, that's a really personal question, but… uh, yeah. Yes. Same but also different. 'In what way?' Well for starters, I'm a robot—"
Kalinka burst into laughter. "You goofball."
Then she leaned forward, giving him a quick, fleeting kiss.
"Wh— um— I, uhh—" For once the normally cool, collected Break Man was completely flustered.
"Sorry Blues, I just needed to know."
He coughed, waved dismissively, and desperately tried to regain composure. "Look, ah, I hate to— to friendzone you, kid. But I think of you strictly as a little sister."
She laughed again. "Don't you take it the wrong way. I'm already seeing someone."
"Well, don't you take it the wrong way, because I— I got nothing."
Then it dawned on her. "Wait. That wasn't your first kiss, was it?"
It was.
Normally Dr. Cossack was an early riser, but he'd slept in for a change, getting up well after his current 'guest'. After catching a quick shower, he found her making a valiant but disastrous attempt to cook breakfast.
"Sorry. I'm sorry. My ex used to say that I could burn water…"
"It's no problem, don't worry about it."
He stepped in to give her a hand, and she gave him a funny look, then leaned over to whisper.
"You know, Red, your son is really weird."
There was a small pause as he glanced over his shoulder at Bass, who was at the table doing heaven only knows what, working with some small electrical tools and power stone fragments. Whatever it was, it wasn't really appropriate for brunch, as demonstrated by the sharp smell of ozone.
"Heh. Yes, yes he is."
A few years after their fall out, Ingrid died quietly in her sleep, which sometimes was all that one could ask for.
When Bass heard about it he swung by the nursing home, for reasons he couldn't quite explain. There was some lanky redhead there, with a heavily pockmarked face and that same family chin. He was sorting through Ingrid's effects and boxing stuff up, and startled when Bass walked in the room.
"Oh! You're, uh, you're the, uhh, um, y'know… aren't you?"
He wiped off a grubby hand on his jeans and then held it out.
Surprised, Bass hesitantly shook his hand. "Bass Wily."
"Nice— uh, nice to meet you. I'm Fort Hitler." He chuckled nervously at his joke, and Bass rolled his eyes.
"Not 'base' like a settlement, moron, like the music term. My dog's name is Treble."
"Huh, cute. Yancy Fillmore."
Normally he'd have protested anyone calling his name 'cute', but with Ingrid's death, Bass was in a weird place emotionally. He understood what she'd felt when Wily died, saying she was neither relieved nor grieved.
He glanced around the room. Ingrid's side was mostly cleaned up. "Well, Nancy, I see you're pretty much done here, so—"
Then he fell silent when he caught sight of her digital displays, still clustered on the dresser top. There were even more pictures now: grandchildren, in-laws, great-grandchildren, even a few happy looking dogs. There were holiday greeting cards— what kind of weirdos still mailed stuff these days?— and screenshots of netzine articles and some crudely made paper flowers.
His picture was still there, the original one where he had Treble Boost equipped…
…plus recent one, dressed in normal clothes, with a stupid grin and flashing a victory sign, free arm draped across Break Man's shoulders. Roll had taken that picture. How in the world Ingrid had got a copy…
…and another one, powered off and looking uncharacteristically serene, about 85% rebuilt after being blown to pieces. A tastefully cropped, rather clinical shot taken in Dr. Cossack's lab, a part of the repair progress documentation…
…holding baby Suna, wincing as the curious toddler pawed at his face, attempting to jam her chubby fingers into his eyes and nose. That was one of Desirée's photos…
…over half the netzine articles were of his (and Mega Man's) quote-heroic-unquote misadventures.
Bass sat down hard and buried his head in his hands.
Yancy awkwardly clambered down onto the floor next to him. "One time she told me that my mom was a pill-popping hussy, and if she hadn't been such a coward she would've got an abortion, which would've been better because then my parents wouldn't have been stuck in a loveless marriage…" He paused, and when Bass didn't say anything, continued, "…and that was the real reason she shot herself."
"Is any of that true?" he asked, his voice muffled.
"It's kinda vaguely true-ish? I think all Oma's kids had some kind of substance abuse problem. Mom definitely wasn't a— y'know, but Oma called her one because… oh, she dared to have a life before she got married. And yeah, it wasn't a good marriage, and yeah, they stayed in it 'cause of me and my little brother." Yancy scratched the back of his head. "After like, the third or fourth time he tried to take over the world, some netnews journalist tracked mom down and outed her as Dr. Wily's sister. Maybe all that other stuff contributed, but… she totally did herself in because the whole Dr. Wily thing."
There was a very brief pause, but apparently Yancy hated silence and had some sort of compulsive need to fill it with noise.
"Also, Oma always called me 'Pizza Face'. Even when she was on a morphine drip and had one foot in the grave."
Another ten seconds of quiet passed.
"Is it true she spit on you?"
Bass lifted his head. "Do you ever shut up?"
"Nope."
"Yeah, she did."
"Wow. That stinks. Oh shoot! I owe Velma five bucks. Sorry, we heard that story from Oma's old roommate, and had a running bet if it was true or not." He rocked back slightly, glancing over at the picture displays. "I think the more Oma got to know us, the more she hated us, you know? And the more she hated us, the more she liked 'that robot'. Plus she got convinced we were after an inheritance, even though she was in debt. Anyhow— you do realize you were her favorite, right?"
"Yancy. Stop. Talking."
He managed a peaceful thirty seconds.
"She was just such a hateful, mean-spirited battle axe. A total harpy. Way too proud to reach out and apologize for—"
"Yancy!"
"Sorry. Sorry."
Bass gave him an uneasy look. "She said that Wily was dead because of me, and since I wasn't real that he didn't— that he couldn't— couldn't ever love an appliance."
For once, Yancy had nothing to say. He very tentatively reached over and put his hand on Bass's back, between his shoulders.
"…I did pull a plasma cannon on her, so maybe I deserved the last part."
"Dude, I'm pretty sure calling a, um, robot— android?— android that is like, uh, hate speech or something."
He seemed conflicted. "Legally, I am."
"Yeah, well, what's legal and what's right are two different things, right?" He slowly got to his feet.
Suddenly Bass grimaced, quickly hiding his face with his hands. "I should've been there. I should have said goodbye." He shuddered. "This is just going to keep happening."
"What? No way, you just need less haters in your life—"
"No, no, I…" He shot him a strange, hollow look. "I can't—" Then he stood, headed over to the dresser and picked up one of the digital displays, tossing it to Yancy.
He fumbled, dropped it, bent over and picked it up. "Cute kid."
"That's Suna, my friend's little girl…"
"Like your god-daughter?"
"Something like that." After browsing the pictures, Bass picked up the one with the mystery couple and their son, who Ingrid had refused to identify. "Who is this?"
"That's Velma, my cousin, her husband Ned and their son. Oh, I guess… 'our' cousin…?"
Quietly he set down the display. "Eventually they'll all be dead."
"Uh… yeah?"
"Dr. Cossack, Kalinka, Karen and Desirée, then Suna, and if she has any kids then them too— but I won't. I'll watch Suna get old and die, and I'll be exactly the same as I was when she was born. It'll just keep happening. It's not going to get any better. Or any easier."
"Man. That's deep."
There was actual, real, blissful silence after that.
Faced with that sad reality, Bass couldn't help but wonder: was it worth it?
For once he understood Wily. The idea that people couldn't let you down if you never put faith in them, that they couldn't break your heart if you didn't have one. Wily had believed that love wasn't worth the pain, and drove away everyone in his life.
It wasn't an outlook Bass agreed with, but now all he could think about was how it had felt after the stroke— when the transient nature of human life really sank in. Break Man described it as 'that sickening feeling, knowing your father is only human, and someday he's going to die'. The idea of going through it again, with Dr. Cossack, and then everyone else he cared about…
…maybe Wily was right.
It wasn't even like he had to choose between humans and complete isolation. He had Blues, Rock, Roll— heck, even Duo, who was just one of an entire species of mechanical lifeforms, not to mention robots from other dimensions like Signal, Pulse, Nono, Rom Stol…
"Sorry about your mother," Bass said suddenly.
"Thanks. It's fine, I was like six when it happened." Yancy offered a warm smile as he put the other picture back. "You gonna be there at the funeral?"
"I don't know."
"Well, if we don't catch you then, P.J. and Lila always do a family 'Pumpkintoberfest' and the last couple years it sort of turned into a family reunion thing."
"That's a made up holiday."
"Anyway, you're welcome to crash the party."
"…how come you're so accepting? Most people who know I'm a robot assume I'm some advanced walking computer."
"To be fair, um, you are. Kind of like how I'm just a complex brain in a meat suit, right?" He chuckled, but Bass was not amused. "I happen to be an open minded guy. Plus, Dr. Light explained the whole situation back when—"
"Dr. Light?" Bass did a double-take. "Dr. Thomas Xavier Light?"
"Oh yeah. Oma was practically his mother-in-law, you know? Even when Dr. Wily was around he'd always visit her on her birthday. Then when the rest of the family reconnected, he started coming for Alvistine, Liberty Day, heck he even showed up for last year's Pumpkintoberfest…"
Incredulous, Bass ran his fingers through his hair as he stared into space. "Doctor… Light… Un-fricken'-believable."
But in a way it made sense. Dr. Light was an only child, the son of two only children, the last vestige of a dying lineage. His only relatives were his creations. There was a kind of delicious irony in the fact that he'd clung to the family that Wily had driven away.
Bass tried to go to the funeral— when else was he going to get the chance to wear that cool skeleton tie?— but ultimately couldn't bear to go in for the service. Afterwards, Dr. Cossack joined the procession and drove him to the cemetery, but there too he stayed in the hovercar. A few people nodded or waved as they walked past.
A few months later Dr. Cossack received a package for him. Yancy's letter was brief and to the point: Ingrid Wily couldn't legally will Bass anything, but she'd made it clear what she wanted him to have. There was some sort of religious medallion on a gold chain, which had belonged to her mother and she'd worn up until her death. A box of printed photographs that were never digitalized. A few of Ingrid and Frederick, and of all three children, but many had already been distributed to the appropriate family members… leaving mostly pictures of Albert. As an infant and a toddler, as a surprisingly adorable little kid, as an awkward teen, as a young man with something to prove. With the photos was a lock of brown hair, faded and sun-damaged, letters from summer camp, and embarrassing hand-written poetry. The poems were comically bad.
One photo featured twenty-something Albert Wily and Thomas Light, both dirty and frazzled and overworked, arms linked in a triumphant display as they stood behind their first working robot. It was utilitarian and not humanoid, but their pride in it was obvious. Bass scanned the picture and sent a copy to Dr. Light, then tacked the original to the inside of his access panel. The pendant he wore and never took off.
Then, when Harvest Celebration rolled around, Bass asked Dr. Light about the reunion at the Fillmore's house. He went, but only ended up staying for a little over an hour, because frankly it was pretty overwhelming…
…but a few weeks later he returned, along with Dr. Cossack and Kalinka, for the Mega Bowl.
- the end -
- A/N: I personally don't ship Kalinka and Blues but there's no way she didn't crush on him in her tweens. 11 to 13 year old Kalinka spent a lot of time wondering what it was like to kiss a robot, but was too nervous to try it on any of the Cossack 'bots because her dad might find out.
- Also, since the timeline is a little off: she took a year or two off after high school, and then went to a community college for a couple years before transferring to university.
Thank you for reading ❤️ It's been a heck of a ride.
