literature

Until the Break of Dawn

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The latest hours of the night – that is to say, the very earliest hours of the morning – were a mysterious time. Something seemed to brighten just beyond Earth's dark blanket at the stroke of midnight, slowly declining until at last she threw off the covers and greeted the awaiting Sun. It almost seemed like a drawn out game of hide-and-seek to Protoman. They began in the evening, Earth finding her hiding spot and lying in wait for the true search to begin. The Sun would finish his countdown at twelve, shining radiantly with excitement. But as time wore on, with still no sign of his playmate, that brilliant, gold aura would dwindle to nothing more than a piteous, flickering glow. Only then would Earth reveal herself, having triumphantly won another round of their little game.

It was not quite that time yet as the gray and red robot stood perched on the branch of a tree, leaning against the trunk with his arms crossed. No, not quite. But soon. He could feel it.

And speaking of feeling things...

"I am aware of your presence, you know," Protoman said to the cold night air.

There was silence. Then, from nowhere, a reply.

"Truly?"

"Truly," Protoman said.

From the shadow of another tree, a face came partially into view. "How?"

Protoman smirked. "Those piercing red eyes. Not exactly easy to miss."

The robot in the shadows brought a hand almost self-consciously to his, indeed, piercing red eyes. He stared ahead at nothing, as though deeply troubled by this knowledge. Then he glared up at Protoman. "You lie," he said accusingly.

"I joke," the scarfed robot replied. "Despite what some of you seem to think, I am capable of it."

"I never said you were not," the red-eyed robot mumbled.

"No, you didn't," Protoman said. "Why are you here?"

Those red eyes blinked. "I was watching you."

Protoman gave a short laugh laced lightly with contempt. "Obviously," he stated. "Why were you watching me?"

The partially veiled face sank ever so slightly back into the shadows. "I find you... interesting," came the voice from the darkness.

"Because I'm not one of his."

It was not a question. The face in the shadows shifted, just enough to be noticed. A hesitation. Then, piercing eyes held to the robot in the tree, the face dipped toward the ground in a nod. "I think so."

"You're never quite sure of anything, are you?" Protoman said, more thoughtful than annoyed.

"Perhaps." The robot's red eyes drifted off to the side. "How can I be?"

Protoman acknowledged these words with a small, "Mm," and silence befell the scene. Both robots stared off into the darkening horizon, knowing light was soon to breach the starry sky.

"Break Man..."

Protoman looked over at his addressor, though one could only tell by the turn of his head.

"Do you know who created you?"

The visor wearing robot looked back toward the distant juncture of earth and sky. "Maybe."

The robot in the shadows considered his peer in the tree. "You do know," he concluded after a moment.

"Like I said, maybe," Protoman replied. "Why do you want to know?"

The silence that ensued indicated another hesitation. Protoman waited patiently for an answer, wondering if perhaps he would not receive one at all.

His doubts eventually proved unfounded. "I was wondering..." the red-eyed robot said quietly, "if you knew of any other robots they may have created."

"I don't believe we were built by the same person, if that's what you're asking," Protoman said, deciding one of them might as well get to the point. He turned his gaze to the shadows, and the other robot looked away.

"...Ah," the robot said after a moment. "Why not?"

This time, it was Protoman who hesitated. Proceeding with an answer that anywhere near resembled truth would require admitting the he did, in fact, know who his creator was. The gray and red robot eventually decided to continue, as the person he was speaking with seemed to have already deduced this fact for himself.

"My creator builds robots for more... practical purposes," Protoman said carefully, having no wish to offend his audience. "Robots who will serve mankind well during times of peace. You are a combat robot. Your purpose is to fight. It doesn't fit, you see."

The robot in the shadows stared at Protoman studiously. "And what is your purpose?" he asked.

Protoman held the robot's gaze for a moment, unsure of how exactly he should answer the inquiry. Eventually, he turned his head away. "I'll worry about my problems. You worry about your own."

"...Problems?" The robot's thin mouth tugged down at the corners. "My purpose is not a problem. Is yours?"

The scarfed robot in the tree could feel his patience slipping. "When I said worry about your own problems, I was sort of trying to tell you to mind your own business."

"Do you not know your purpose?"

The question hit home like a well aimed power shot. Protoman flinched and turned his face away from the one in the darkness. "My purpose is not to stand here answering inane questions until the break of dawn."

Red eyes blinked in a momentary confusion. "I have offended you, haven't I? I am sorry. It was not my aim to do so."

The anger that had begun welling up inside Protoman's chest dissipated. He didn't feel like getting into a fight over something that was really so trivial. "It doesn't matter," he said.

"...Truly?"

Protoman gave a half smile despite himself. "Truly."

The silence that graced them now was mostly peaceful, comforting in the knowledge that soon it would pass into bright skies and birdsong. But it was also anxious, as though it had one last task to complete before leaving them to the waking world.

"If I may say something else without offending you..." said the voice in the dark.

Protoman turned toward the voice. "Yes?" he said, knowing that any statement preceded by those words probably would offend him.

"I believe that perhaps, we decide our own purpose," the robot in the shadows said. His red eyes stared off toward the horizon. "No matter what we are built for."

Protoman followed the robot's gaze. A thin glow of light was peeking out at them from the edge of the world. Hide-and-seek was almost over. "Have you decided your purpose, then?"

The robot nodded. "My purpose is to serve Dr. Wily," he said quietly.

Protoman looked at the robot in the slowly diminishing shadows, and the robot looked at him. Quiet as it was, there had been no hesitation in his answer, no doubt. His intent, red eyes told the scarfed robot that if he was sure of nothing else in this world, he was sure of this.

"He's not your creator," Protoman said finally, though he didn't know what point he was trying to make by doing so. Perhaps he was just curious to see what sort of reaction this statement would receive.

The robot looked away. If he didn't know better, Protoman would have sworn he could detect pain in the perpetually tired, red eyes.

"My creator... whoever he may be... did not want me," came the mumbled reply. "He deactivated me and left me to rust in the middle of nowhere." The robot sank back as far as he could into the ever diminishing shadows. "I hold no obligations toward a man who wanted to forget I exist. Only toward the doctor who gave my life back to me."

"Maybe you ran away." The statement came as a surprise to both robots. The one in the shadows looked up just as the one in the tree looked away. "Maybe you didn't trust the scientist who created you, so you left. But there might have been something wrong with you, some sort of damage that you were unable to fix on your own, and eventually your energy just completely ran out..." Protoman trailed off. Eventually, he swallowed and turned back to the robot below him. "After all, how can you be sure?" he said, attempting a half smile.

For a while, the two robots stood and stared at each other in silence. Alas, soon silence had no more time for them. A bird suddenly began chirping over Protoman's head. Another bird answered.

Shadows no longer hid the red-eyed robot on the ground, but this did not seem to bother him. He gave the robot above him a smile that was small, and tired, but entirely genuine. "I suppose I cannot be," he assented. The robot turned his red gaze toward the striking horizon, where the Sun blinded all with his contagious delight at seeing Earth again. "Good morning, Break Man."

Protoman looked to the vivid morning sky as well. "Good morning, Shadow Man."
Alright, we all knew it was Shadow Man from the get-go, I know. I wasn't really trying to hide it from you guys, there just never really seemed to be a fitting time to introduce him.

Dude, how many times did I refer to him as having red eyes? WE GET IT DIANA.

Well, this isn't my best piece of work ever, but I suppose that's my fault. I wrote this in a notebook originally, and I have this absolutely horrible... preservation complex, if you will. If I'm transferring it over from paper to computer, it has to be word for word. I will change nothing. This is one of the reasons I don't usually write this stuff out with a pen and paper. :iconfacepalmplz:

Okay, a few things I want to address. Some of the stuff in this story comes rather specifically from some headcanons I've got going on.

One, perpetually tire eyes. For some reason, my brain keeps telling me that Shadow man has, well, shadows under his eyes or whatever. Tired looking eyes.

Two, Break Man. This is the alias Proto was using before you found out his real name in the third game. It's my headcanon that Wily's other robots knew him by this name as well. Or were at least introduced to him with this name. Maybe they found out who he really was later on? But really, who does know who Protoman really is, eh?

Three, loyalty. I've got it set in my head that Shadow Man is extremely loyal to Dr. Wily. Probably nestled itself in there because of something I read on his wiki page.

Oh, and you may have noticed that I spell literally every name but Protoman's as two words. This is just me being a stubborn nub. I've only seen it spelled otherwise, like, twice, and one of those times was on the wiki (where everyone's name is two words).

Like most of my fics, this really didn't have much of a point. Also like most of my fics, I pulled the title out of a sludge bucket after the fic was finished.

Proto and Shadow © Capcom
© 2012 - 2024 Beane-Cat
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JovieGDN-001's avatar
That is a cute story, loved it :)