merry merry christmas, and I want you to know

[mansionstaff]

Who: YOU
What: KISSLETOES
When: December 14th - January 1st
Where: Everywhere
Warnings: Sloppy makeouts.

SUDDENLY, AND WITHOUT WARNING...



The entire school has become covered in mistletoe overnight. It grows out of the walls! The ceilings! Everywhere you least expect it? HOW CAN THIS BE??

It's probably best not to think about it. Attempts to uproot the plants or burn them away only makes the plants grow back faster. For the time being, it seems the school must live with it.

[OOC INSTRUCTIONS:
+ Post dudes, get kisses!
+ Some (NOT ALL) plants are cursed. If you manage to step under a cursed plant, you will exchange a memory when or if you exchange a kiss. The memories will be first-person and very vivid, and characters will feel like they are experiencing the memory in real time, though in reality the transfer is instantaneous. Memories can be as short, long, happy, sad, or traumatic as you like.
+ If you'd like to participate, we highly suggest making a list of a few memories (with accompanying links/descriptions) that are up for grabs, and linking or posting the list in your top-level comment. Memory exchange is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. When in doubt, OOC communication!
+ PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAG YOUR CHARACTERS
+ That's it, we love you.]

Comments

[awakeningwill]

Zero, meanwhile, was stunned into silence. Why did the man in his memory look exactly like the on in Rock's? No, in his heart he knew the reason why - he just didn't want to acknowledge it. It couldn't be possible, that... that man was from over two hundred years ago! And yet the ghost of Mega Man's greatest enemy was there to greet Zero when he woke, and named him.

Dr. Wily. His true creator. He had suspicions back when Rock first told him about the man, but now he could finally string the truth together, a truth he never even wanted to uncover - but the words fit perfectly in that empty space, like a long lost jigsaw piece. In a way, there was some sick satisfaction in finally knowing the face and name of the man responsible for the endless cycle of bloodshed that was Zero's existence.

Rock had come so close to killing him, too. Somewhere deep in Zero's wounded heart, he almost wished he'd succeeded. If Mega Man had taken that shot, then Wily's legacy of destruction would've ended there. He never would've created Zero, a walking curse upon all future generations.

But Rock would no longer be Rock, would he...?

The boy was staring at the reploid like he was a monster, and he wasn't wrong. What could Zero possibly say? To try and reassure Rock that he was not his enemy could very well have been a lie as well - too much of the past was still a mystery to Zero, especially 20XX. And I didn't know was only an excuse, it didn't wash the blood off his hands. After all, he had suspected...

With an air of pained acceptance, Zero could only mutter, "So... it's true..."

[megabuster]

Rock's fist clenched. Anger... That's what was flowing through his head. Anger and betrayal... With a flash, his blue armor materialized on him, transforming him into Mega Man.

"All this time... You were just like Bass!" he declared. "Dr. Wily built you to get close to me, to try and hurt me and my family again! He made you to destroy us! And I trusted you! I thought... I thought you were my friend!"

Tears were welling in Mega Man's eyes as he hurled his angry accusations. But then a thought crossed his mind that had never occurred to him before. Something horrifying... "Is... Is the reason I'm not around in the future... because you succeeded? You killed me, you killed my father?" Rock asked, raising his arm cannon, pure terror on his face. Was he facing his own future killer...?

[awakeningwill]

Staring down into the barrel of Mega Man's arm cannon, Zero felt strangely calm. Even with a weapon pointed at him, the instinct to retaliate in kind was silent in him, inert. He had to wonder if this was by virtue of his cloned form - if he was still in his original body, would the ancient directive to destroy Mega Man take him over?

"I don't know the answer to that," he told him honestly. "I don't remember."

As much as he loathed to admit it, it was negligent to rule out the possibility considering the violent, bloody flashbacks he'd uncovered early on after activation. Mega Man had every right to be wary of him if there was even the slimmest chance that he was responsible for the Lights' deaths.

There was one thing he knew for sure, though: "...But I'm not like Bass." Because Zero actually wanted to be Rock's friend.

[megabuster]

His instincts told him to fire. He was facing a Wily robot, one who was powerful enough that he could probably succeed where even Bass had failed in the past. He had been betrayed in the past by robots claiming to be his friends, so it would be only natural to defend himself.

But he didn't start to charge a blast. He just stared at Zero. "I'm not like Bass," he had said. Did he believe him? Rock wanted to, so badly... Zero had been such a great support to him lately. Had it all been a lie?

"...How do I know if you're telling the truth?" Rock asked, voice cracking, but his mega buster remaining trained on Zero.

[awakeningwill]

That was the question, wasn't it? Was there any way Zero could decisively prove his good intentions?

His amnesia was the problem. It was the real reason he couldn't give Rock any conclusive answers about his past deeds, and that only made him more suspicious. Anyone would've had a hard time trusting Zero with those facts before him. That being the case, though... hm.

With slow, measured actions, Zero unsheathed the Z-saber's hilt from his hip and, without activating it, lightly tossed it at Mega Man's feet. It clattered to a stop against his boot like a peace offering, a gesture of good faith.

Now that he was disarmed, the reploid sighed (he could not believe he was suggesting this) and said, "If you're prepared... you could kiss me and find out for yourself."

[megabuster]

The Z-saber clattered at Rock's feet, and he looked down at it, then back up at Zero in surprise. "Y-you're serious?" he asked, mega buster lowering hesitantly. It was a suggestion that sounded odd at the best of times. But he did have a point... If these plants were transferring memories, he could know for sure whether Zero was being honest about this.

He had to know. He had to know if Zero was telling him the truth.

"...Fine," he said. He stepped closer to him, hesitantly, arm cannon never far away from being raised. He was cautious, eyeing Zero suspiciously, before hopping up a bit to kiss Zero's cheek once more.

[awakeningwill]

Zero bowed his head just low enough for Mega Man to reach, still feeling a bit incredulous that this was the only solution that came to mind. Not to mention the effect was a complete gamble in of itself - whatever the robot saw would be plucked at random.

Zero could only hope it was something that could make sense of where they stood, regardless of what it was.

The Inner Sanctum of Neo Arcadia erupts in light and flame, and everything goes white.

There is nothing. And then - there is a voice. A soul appears to him, glowing bright with every colour.

The Cyber-elf that gave him his sword. Who watched over him and guided him to the false copy playing tyrant over reploid lives. This whole time, he felt so familiar to Zero. Gentle and sorrowful in spirit... Did he save Zero from the blast?

His tone is melancholy, and his presence stirs the reploid's mind. "Since you disappeared, I've been fighting this war alone against an uncountable number of Mavericks for nearly a hundred years...

"Battle after battle... So painful and so sad...

"But the hardest part was when I discovered that I no longer cared about the enemies I fought..."

Suddenly, the Cyber-Elf shows its true form, and a figure manifests before him in blue... Clad no longer in armour, X looks down at him in fondness and regret. The image is hazy, like static, and the sound of his voice grows more and more faint with this simple exertion of energy, but he wants to leave Zero with these last words.

"I'll leave this world to you... Please allow me... to rest in peace... for a while.

"I'm sorry, Zero..."

With that, the ghost was gone.

Zero's eyes slide slowly open, he pushes himself off the ground - sand, desert everywhere around him - and he looks to the sky in the hopes of catching one last glimpse of X. His memory's still a blank, but his heart remembers his dearest friend. His soul still recognizes his guiding light.

So be it. But that's why we are the best partners.

Footsteps in the distance, an army marching. Zero stands up to his full height and glances over his shoulder to find Pantheon units closing in on him all across the horizon. Enemies beyond counting...

I'll do what you want... Rest for a while.

I will handle it, you can count on me.

Looks like he still had a lot of work to do.

[megabuster]

Wily's castle was in ruins again. Only this time, it was his third. The giant former peacekeeping robot Gamma collapsed in ruin, as Dr. Wily again knelt at Mega Man's feet, begging for mercy. But as the debris fell this time, neither of them was quick enough to evade it.

Rock felt the crushing weight of a mountain of metal over him, feeling himself fade from consciousness. His systems were so badly damaged. Was this the end...?

But something happened. An energy blast scattered the pile of rubble. And standing over him was the robot in red... Break Man he had called himself. The one who had fought him, the one who had helped him. Was he helping Wily? Was he working on his own? Rock never knew. But his mask was gone. He could see a face under it. Who was that...? And why did he look so familiar? There was something about him. He looked so... lonely.

Break Man said nothing at first. He scooped up Mega Man into his arms. As Rock lost consciousness, he could hear Break Man ask, "Where's Dr. Wily? Oh no, too late..."

When he regained consciousness, he lay on the floor of the laboratory. But how did he get there? Where was Break Man? As he looked around him, he saw Dr. Light standing over him, relief on his kind old face. "Mega Man, you've regained consciousness! I found you lying here when I arrived. But how did you get here...?"

As he spoke, a faint whistling sound could be heard in the laboratory. As Rock pushed himself up, Dr. Light looked up and listened to the sound. It was a nostalgic look on his face. He knew what this song was. He knew what it meant. "This whistle," he said. "It must have been Proto Man."

"Proto Man...?" Rock asked.

Dr. Light looked down at him, kneeling and placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's a long story, and I should have told it to you much sooner," he explained. "It's been... very difficult for me to talk about. Proto Man... Blues... is your big brother."

Mega Man stepped back from Zero, mega buster finally lowering. And a moment later, retracting and converting back into his hand. That image in blue... It felt... familiar somehow. He had no idea how that could be, especially if those images were indeed from 200 years in the future. But the conviction, the emotion behind them. There was no mistaking it.

"I don't know," Rock told him. "I don't know if you did any of those things. But I do know... Even if you did, who you are now is not who you were then. If Wily built you to destroy, you've spent all this time trying to help."

[awakeningwill]

Zero stood back up to his full height, a somber air to him. It was hard to feel relieved when his dark parentage still meant that he could've been the one responsible for wiping all record of 20XX from history. That he might've been the reason X didn't have a father or older brother to wake up to, a family to be there for him. Maybe he wouldn't have felt so alone if he had Rock and Dr. Light, Roll, even Blues... that whistled tune stuck in Zero's head, and it saddened him to know that X would never hear it.

That Zero was still alive when no one else was... it felt like a mistake, somehow. But since he was, he had no choice but to carry on in their place. If he didn't, then over two centuries' worth of conflict would've been for nothing, and Dr. Wily would have truly won.

"I shouldn't have existed in the first place. But since I do... I have a lot to make up for," he replied - not only for his own existence, but for his family as well.

[megabuster]

Rock was silent. He looked up at Zero, then down at his hand. He was no closer to answers. And he felt terrible... He shed a bit of insight into Zero's own past, but rather than make things better, they just got worse. So much worse. He almost wished he didn't know.

"I... I don't know what to say," Rock answered finally. "I think... I need to think about this for a while," he said quietly. As he turned to leave, he added, "I'm sorry, Zero."

[awakeningwill]

This is why Zero said he was probably better off not knowing his own creator. But now that he did, it only filled him with more questions. How far did Dr. Wily's schemes go when it came to the future? Zero had already shed his original body, and the madness that lay dormant in its power, but even by association, his heart felt tainted.

Maybe that's what Rock saw when he looked at him.

Stone-faced, Zero walked away. "So am I, Mega Man." With those words, he was gone, leaving his sword lying there next to the blue robot's boot.

[megabuster]

Mega Man looked down at his feet. As much as he wasn't ready to face Zero again yet, he couldn't help but notice the beam saber hilt lying at his feet. He reached down to pick it up. As he held it in his hand, looking down at it, his heart was heavy with thought. Zero had been trying to be kind to him all this time. And he was just as surprised as Rock was to find out the nature of his creation.

But he was still a Wily bot. One probably created to cause mayhem and destruction. Was his true first meeting with Zero still in his future?

He had a lot to think about. But there was one thing he was certain of. He ran after Zero, calling for him. "Zero!"

[awakeningwill]

Zero stopped in his tracks and turned his head just enough to glance back at Mega Man - but said nothing. There was only a questioning silence, empty and waiting for whatever words would step in to fill it. He was listening. And he was all too aware of what Rock held in his hand.

(His hair flowed dramatically, a marvel of robotic engineering.)

[megabuster]

Mega Man stared up at Zero for a few moments longer. He gripped the Z-Saber's hilt tighter. He looked into Zero's eyes, eyes that had seen so much and held such pain to them... He took a deep breath, and held the weapon out to him, offering it back to its owner.

"...Zero..." Rock struggled to find the words. Finally, he decided on what to say that would encapsulate it. "You... You're still my friend." It was from the heart. Whatever else he decided, whatever else he may have suspected...

Zero was his friend.

[awakeningwill]

Zero looked down at the sword sitting on that outstretched hand, and then back up at Rock, meeting those blue eyes with dark grey. His gaze softened, somewhere between relief and melancholy, as the words sunk into his heart.

Rock knew exactly the kind of evil Dr. Wily was capable of creating, but still chose to believe in him. To call him friend. That one word carried an incomprehensible weight, and it lingered heavily on Zero. It felt like forgiveness.

Too soft... He really was too kind-hearted.

But that was what drew Zero towards him, wasn't it. To both of them.

The red reploid reached out and picked the Z-Saber back up, and for a moment he paused as he held it. It fit in his hand intimately, every aspect of it memorized by his palms. His arms knew its heft, his body knew its motions. It was part of him. And he'd entrusted it to very few people in his very long life.

That it was back in his hands again at all was reason enough to keep fighting.

"...Thank you," he said, after a long silence. In one practiced motion, Zero sheathed the sword at his side and faced the smaller blue robot. There was a pause as he hesitated, words almost on the tip of his tongue but not quite there - but in the end, it was another truth that Rock deserved to know.

"X... your youngest brother really takes after you."

[megabuster]

"...Thanks."

Mega Man gave him a small smile as he left. He still had a lot to think about... But that thought did give him a little hope for the future. He wished he understood more, but at the moment he knew all he needed to about Zero. And that was all that mattered.