Eclipse (AA, 1PP, a Rockman.exe fiction)

[Cyclone EXE]

*stretches arms above head* ...so! let's get down to it. i'm back; you probably didn't know that i was here before, since my fictions are mostly...lame (ah, what a great way to make you want to keep on reading...). and i know that most people probably don't appreciate fan characters being a large part of the (in this case) .exe world, but! i'm giving this another shot. i miss writing fan fiction quite badly. D=

mmm...

i. am. warning. you.

if you, by some fluke, were so unfortunate as to read my previous fan fictions on this forum, i would like to apologize ahead of time for this next one. once i have an idea in my mind for a story, i write tens of versions of that first rough draft of the fiction until i feel i've worn out all of its potential. in other words: i've, in a way, written this fan fiction on this forum before.

i'd love to begin anew with this story, because i think i can develop it much more clearly now that i have read and reread it to identify its weaker areas. new ideas and tweaks are always fun as well. =3

kay. enough of my incessant babbling...i know no one appreciates it. >.<

EDIT (12-16-07): *sigh* no comments yet. maybe if i...

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More Things You Don't Really Need to Read:
Fan Character(s)
Katya Kasumi: 16 years old © Cyclone EXE
Cyclone.exe: Katya's Net Navi © Cyclone EXE

All Rockman.exe Characters © Capcom

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Eclipse
a fan fiction by Cyclone EXE
<-- AA --- 1PP --- PG-13 for mild language...ish and violence...ish -->

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.:One:.

Netto

I opened my eyes groggily, blinking a few times to bring the world around me into focus. Bright yellow rays of sun streamed into my bedroom from the large glass sliding doors to my left, blinding me. Groaning, I closed my eyes to the light. I yawned, stretching and rolling onto my side; the motion dumped me onto the floor with a dull thud. "Unnh...," I mumbled, still not quite awake enough to find the energy to push myself upright.

"Heh...good morning," a voice chuckled, the sound coming from my desk. I tilted my head back slightly, focusing my gaze on a small blue handheld device sitting near my computer. I could barely make out the figure of my net navi on the device's screen, but was willing to bet he had an amused smile on his face.

"Ugh...yeah, sure," I muttered; I could feel the blood rushing uncomfortably to my head. Rolling onto my stomach, I pulled the blankets off of my bed and covered my head, blocking out the sun.

"Netto, you can't go back to sleep now...you have to get ready for school." I frowned, pushing the mass of warm cotton down past my eyes. I glared up at my desk.

"But that's not until the day after tomorrow," I complained, voice muffled slightly by the pile of blankets. His green eyes narrowed, smile melting into a scowl as he processed my mood.

"If you keep sleeping in until noon, you're not going to be able to wake up as early as you need to when school starts! That's why I've been trying to get you up earlier for the past week," he retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes, untangling myself from the sheets that were knotted around my body and standing up. I shuffled over to my desk and picked up the device, running my fingers absently over the letters 'PET' before clipping it in its usual place on my belt.

I stared at the screen of my computer, thinking about how unnaturally peaceful things had been lately. After restoring peace to the world five months ago... "Hey, Rockman...how much longer do you think it'll last? This period of time where nothing seems to be happening, I mean." There was a silence that filled my room for a moment. "Rockman?"

"I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" my navi replied warily. I shrugged, grabbing my blue headband with Rockman's symbol on the front off of my desk and yanking it on over my messy brown hair.

"Dunno. I just feel like it can't last. Things have never been this...calm. At least not since I met you." I smiled slightly, but, thinking of something else, frowned once again, looking down at the floor. "It's strange. How this peace is making me so uneasy, rather than being a welcome change." I yawned halfway through my sentence.

"Well..."

"Hey, I need to get outta here and do something before I fall asleep again," I interrupted, smiling. There was a soft knock at the door; I turned halfway around, blinking in surprise. "Who could be here this early?"

"Netto, it's ten in the morning," Rockman reminded me, somewhat exasperated. I shrugged, crossing the room to my door, twisting the knob and pulling it open to reveal a girl with soft red hair. I felt my cheeks warm ever so slightly as she smiled and slipped past, into my room.

"M...Meiru? Wh...what are you doing here?" I stammered, ignoring Rockman's sniggering. She stared out my sliding glass doors for a moment at the street below before turning around to face me, smiling to herself.

"It's just like you to forget that we had plans today," she commented. I grinned sheepishly, rubbing at the back of my neck with my right hand; a nervous habit.

"Uh...my bad. We had plans today?" I racked my brain, trying to remember what it was that I had forgotten. "Rock? Help me out here." My navi sighed.

"Netto, if you can't even remember what your plans were with your friends, how do you expect to remember what you have for homework every night once school starts? I'd think you'd be more responsible than that...I mean, this is something that you want to do! I can't even imagine how you'll act when it's something you hate-"

"You don't remember either, do you," I muttered with a sly smile.

"...not a clue." Meiru laughed, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door.

"Come on, we're supposed to meet Yaito, Dekao, and Chisao at the Metroline in five minutes." I flicked off the light to my room as she tugged me into the hallway and down the stairs.

"Where are we going again?" I asked, stopping in the aperture of my front door. Meiru turned to face me, frowning.

"You really don't remember." She sighed when I shrugged. "We're going to check out that new aquarium that Sci Labs have," she explained, giving me a look that asked, 'do you remember now?' I exhaled sharply, my shoulders slumping forward.

"Oh...now I remember! We're gonna get to see dad, Rockman!" I grinned, straightening and turning toward the kitchen. "Mooom," I called, "We're going to see dad!" My mother came out into the living room, wiping her hands on a towel.

"Hello, Haruka-san," Meiru said, her smile returning. "Is it alright if we kidnap Netto for the day?" I rolled my eyes.

"It's not 'kidnapping' if I choose to go," I pointed out. They both ignored me.

"Sure, just as long as you kids don't stay out too late. You're starting school in a few days, and need to get your rest." Mom gave me a meaningful look and I nodded quickly.

"Sure, sure, no problem."

"I'll make sure he gets back on time, Haruka-san," Meiru said with a grin. She gripped my sleeve and pulled me toward the door, ignoring my protests. "Bye!"

"Say hello to your father for me, Netto!"

"I will, mom," I said, managing to close the door behind us as Meiru tugged me out onto the sidewalk. "I'm perfectly capable of walking, you know," I told her.

"Come on, we're supposed to be at the Metroline!" She let go of my arm, bounding away toward the edge of town. I sighed before taking off after her, part of me looking forward to actually relaxing for at least one more day before school started.

~~~~~

.:Two:.

Katya

The night was crisp and cool, air thicker with the salty scent that was blown inland by a soft wind wafting across the sea. I smiled slightly as the breeze brushed gently against my cheeks, pushing my copper blonde hair back over my shoulders and out of my face. I lay back on the sand, closing my eyes, spreading my arms out on either side of my body. Relaxing, I listened to the low rush of the waves, taking in the smells and sounds of the tranquil beach that stretched on for miles to my left and to my right, committing it all to memory. I tried not to think about the next day, about what was going to happen...

Sighing, I let my head fall to the side, feeling the texture of the gritty sand that lay beneath my cheek. My mind wandered, remembering with slight amusement how I always hated sand. It was coarse, annoying, and it got into everything; hair, clothes, the house. It was a pointless hassle. Only now did I realize how much I would genuinely miss the sand and everything that was connected with it: the ocean, my friends, my mother and sister...home.

Shifting so that my face was looking upward once again, I opened my eyes to the image of a full moon as it hung lazily in the heavens, positioned exactly above the point where the ocean seemingly met the sky. The waves lapped against the beach gently, dancing with the shells and filling my footprints, erasing all evidence of the path I had taken to where I now lay.

I started slightly at a movement to my right, smiling to myself as my visitor lowered himself to sit in the sand next to me, staring silently ahead, watching the ocean and the moon. I tried absently to count the stars in the moments of content silence that we shared, but failed; there were too many. The sky was dotted with thousands of tiny lights, flickering and laughing in the night.

"It's fantastic," the boy next to me said softly, leaning back on his hands and tilting his head to stare at the stars. I propped my body up on my elbows, my smile widening as I forgot the sadness that leaked through my insides, as I looked up at his face. The moon cast a silver glow on his face, making his angular features softer somehow; his nose seemed not as pointed, his cheekbones less prominent under two smoky blue eyes. Sensing my gaze, his eyes looked down to meet mine. My smile disappeared; he was hiding something, some emotion he didn't want me to see, behind those eyes.

"Yeah, it is," I murmured, cocking my head slightly to the side as I tried to decipher what he was feeling. Realizing what I was doing, he carefully looked away, gaze sliding over my head and across the beach. My brow furrowed with worry and mild annoyance, and I felt my lower lip push out into a slight pout. "Col, what is it?"

"I don't know what you mean." His voice had a strained edge to it, as though he was fighting to keep it steady. I pushed myself up so that I was sitting Indian style, turning my body so that I was facing him head on. I peered into his eyes; he turned away.

"Collier!" I said his name with a bit more force than was necessary, frustrated. He looked back at me, surprise at my reaction throwing off his facade. I took a deep breath before trying again. "Col," I said carefully, reaching out to place my hand on his. "It's not like I'll be gone forever, you know." He didn't say anything for a moment, eyes flickering down to stare at a half buried shell between us. He gently slid his hand out from under mine and began to doodle in the sand, swirling the fine grains in no particular pattern.

"Yea, I know that. It's just going to be weird without you around, Kat. We've hung out together since we were kids." The sadness was suddenly plain in his voice, and the sound of it brought back the full force of my own negative feelings. I folded my hands in my lap, staring down at them, fighting back the tears that threatened to leak onto my cheeks.

I hadn't always lived in Ameroupe. My mother, older sister, and I moved to this small town after mother and my father divorced. I was only six at the time, and so don't have many memories of the city in Netopia where we lived; where my father lives now. Den...something. Anyway, that all happened six years ago. A lot changes in that amount of time.

Something elusive pricked at the edge of my memory, and my frown changed from one of sadness to one of concentration. I couldn't ever seem to recall much from my short time near that bustling city, teeming with its abundant sources of all of the latest technologies and luxuries...but there was one image. A boy with messy brown hair and teasing brown eyes...a girl with hair the color of a bright red flame, always watching with envious disapproval. That was all my mind cared to allow me to remember from my six years in Den...Den...that city.

"Do you promise you'll keep in touch? Promise me that at least." I looked up; Collier's blue eyes probed into mine, their depths radiating nothing but hope that I would fulfill that one wish. A lump rose in my throat as my instincts told me that I wouldn't be able to keep this promise. As I stared at my best friend, him staring back at me, waiting for the answer that would make this separation bearable, I couldn't suppress the feeling in my heart that told me I would never see him again. This was somehow the end of something that really had never begun.

I swallowed, almost choking; it felt as though something was clogging my throat, stuck in my windpipe. "I promise," I said, though I didn't feel my lips move, didn't choose to say anything. I tried to swallow again; this time the action was made impossible by the lump in my throat. I massaged under my chin, confusion bubbling up in my stomach; Collier was just smiling at me, relieved by my answer. Something in my mind suddenly clicked, and I remembered that I should be getting back home. Mother would be murderously angry if she found out where I was.

"Collier, I have to go," I tried to say. He continued to smile, as though he had heard nothing. I tried to gasp, my chest tensing, but nothing happened. I stood up quickly, now clutching my throat with both hands, fear pinching the pit of my stomach. "Collier," I tried again; no sound came out. I was choking, choking on the lump in my throat, anguish engulfing me as though a giant wave of pain had washed over my head, pulling me under. I fell to my knees, fighting for a breath, but could feel my body giving up, weakening from the lack of oxygen, from my desperate panic. Collier still sat lightly on the sand, his dark black hair streaked with the silver from the moon, a smile lighting up his face.

"Thanks, Katya. I'll miss you." I struggled to remain conscious, helpless as his voice faded into the black abyss that soon engulfed me.


The thick air was made thicker by the smoke that billowed heavily around me, leaking through the door in front of me and filling the room. I coughed, eyes watering, throat burning. "Katya, you have to get out of there!" a feminine voice told me desperately. I slumped against the wall, chest heaving with each cough, pain flaring in my lungs. It felt as though my very being was burning, my body eating itself away from the inside out.

I reached for my PET with a shaking hand, fumbling with the device until I held it in the palm of my hand, screen blinking brightly through the smoke. My navi stared desperately up at my face; I wondered what my expression looked like. "Cyclone, get yourself out," I whispered, wincing as my throat burned angrily. "I'll...I'll..."

"You'll do everything to get yourself out of there," she said, gray blue eyes hard with determination, voice radiating authority. I shook my head, knowing that there was no way out. My mind wandered, wondering why this was happening, hoping that this was all just a dream, a terrible nightmare that I would soon wake from.

Two years...was that really all? Had it really only been two years since I sat on that beach with my best friend, since I was forced to say good-bye to my family, to my home? Two years. Two long years of hell...and now, at fourteen years old, that was it. I was going to die; nothing mattered anymore, because I wasn't going to survive to regret anything I had done. I shook my head again, tears streaming down my face, eyes stinging, filling with the smoke.

It can't be over.

"Wake up. Hey...hey. Wake up."


"Excuse me, miss, but you have to wake up now." I blinked, staring at the lady in front of me blankly; her heavily makeup'd face was pinched in an unnatural way, eyeing my loose seat belt with a look of severe disapproval in her eyes. "Miss?"

"Oh...sorry," I mumbled, fumbling with the clasp on my seat belt. With a sigh of what I was sure was frustration she reached down and freed me. "Sorry," I repeated, rising stiffly and moving past her, still awkward due to the fact I had just waked. Barely paying attention, I made my way through the overcrowded terminal and pushed open the doors to the outside world.

I stopped, squinting in the bright sunlight that reflected off of the sidewalk in front of me. I took in a deep breath, closing my eyes and exhaling slowly. It was time to forget my nightmares, to forget what had happened. "Katya? You okay?" My navi's voice came from my PET, which was in its usual place at my hip. I opened my eyes, smiling slightly and nodding.

"Yea, let's go."
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[RazorBlade]

I found Netto's comments about the uneasy peace cliche (I got a Kingdom Hearts flashback when it mentioned restoring peace to the world), but otherwise the fic is pretty good. I enjoyed the second chapter more because it was more serious and a bit darker. I like the Japanses references as well. =P

It's a good read; kept me interested until the end of the post.
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[Cyclone EXE]

Razor: thank you so very much for your comments...they're appreciated. =]

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.:Three:.

Netto

I stretched my legs out under the seat in front of me, yawning loudly. Meiru gave me a disapproving look, and a tiny girl with long blonde braids sitting on the seat beside her looked up from her PET, brown eyes riddled with annoyance. I gave them both a look that asked 'What did I do?' and they rolled their eyes, looking away at exactly the same time. I sighed, silently longing for my warm bed. "Netto, you could at least pretend that you want to be here," said the blonde.

"Yaito, just because I don't announce to the world that I'm happy to be here doesn't mean that I'm not," I pointed out. The girl shrugged.

"Well I'm just saying...you'd think the fact that you get to see your father at work would at least be something important enough to remember for 24 hours." The sound of muffled laughter bubbled up around me. I sighed again, this time in frustration, and turned to glare at Meiru and the others.

"Aw, be quiet, Dekao, Chisao, you two weren't even there," I snapped.

"S...sorry...aha...," the boy beside me choked out, hand covering his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter. I turned back to face forward once again, crossing my arms across my chest, face still set in a glare.

"Oh come on, Netto, don't be that way. If it was any one of us, you'd be laughing too," Meiru said, a smile in her voice.

"Yeah, but...," I was interrupted by the groan of the Metroline as it slowed to a stop. The people traveling in the car with us stood and stretched, the low mutter of conversation rising in pitch and intensity, covering my mumbled words.

"We're here!"


I took in a deep breath as the glass doors behind me slid shut with a soft sigh. Meiru, Yaito, Dekao, and Chisao continued past me, chatting as they walked toward a large sign flashing the words SCI LABS AQUARIUM - New Attraction, Open Now! in neon blue. I smiled, closing my eyes and allowing the chaos that was the labs around me to seep through my skin into every cell in my body. It felt like home.

"Come on, Netto!" Meiru called. I opened my eyes reluctantly; she was waving at me from within a crowd of people underneath the neon aquarium sign.

"Give me a minute." I frowned slightly, head swiveling from side to side, eyes scanning over the throng of tourists, workers, and scientists, searching for any sign of my father. "Strange. He was going to be here..."

"Nettooo!" My shoulders slumped forward slightly and I began to push my way forward, shoving past the obnoxious groups of people with difficulty. In a matter of seconds, they were everywhere. I turned; there were only bodies, no opening, no direction to go. I opened my mouth to call out to my friends, dazed, when a hand clamped around my wrist and tugged me out of the confusion. I stared up into Dekao's face greatfully.

"Wow, it's crazy in here!" Yaito commented, looking around at the commotion with a frown. I sighed.

"I guess everyone had the same idea that we did today, huh." Meiru shook her head.

"I don't understand why it's so busy here...the grand opening was a month ago," she said, biting her lip. "I have a weird feeling."

"It's just the crowd, Meiru - it's making me a little jittery too," a feminine voice trilled, the sound eminating from the small pink device clipped to Meiru's skirt waist.

"Yeah, Roll's probably right...don't overreact. It's perfectly normal for an attraction this big to be popular for a long time," Yaito said, waving her hand dismissively. "Besides, we can't leave now, we bought tickets already!"

"Leave? I don't wanna leave...," Chisao said softly from his place atop Dekao's shoulders.

"We're not leaving," Dekao assured him. "Right guys?"

"Course not, I haven't even seen me dad yet," I replied, looking up at Chisao with a smile. "Um...I wonder where he is, anyway."

"He's probably busy with something in the exibit. Wasn't it part his idea anyway?" Yaito started to move toward the long line of chattering people that stretched through the opening under the neon sign. "Let's go, c'mon!"

"I want to see the fish," Chisao said with a grin, tugging on the collar of Dekao's lime green shirt.

"Alright, we will, just hold on!" Dekao swatted at his brother's hand. "You're gonna stretch out my shirt..." I smiled, turning to gaze up at the words flashing over our heads. Today would be a nice way to begin saying good-bye to the freedom of summer vacation.
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