[FIC] There's No Good in It - Chapter 7
Series: Megaman Star Force/Ryuusei no Rockman
Rating: PG-13/T
Characters: Hoshikawa Subaru, War-Rock.
Warnings: Dark. Pretty dark. Actually, it's Bad End dark. I BLAME GABE. IT WAS HIS IDEA.
Notes: Bad End AU. oops what are emotions. Also, don't forget to read chapter 3.75 below this!
Summary: He couldn't save them. Why did he keep trying?
“What?!” War-Rock couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The kid barely knew about the Andromeda Key, only that it was powerful and that others were after it, and whatever other tidbits the other FM-ians had dropped. Why was he suddenly so interested in it?!
“Give me the Andromeda Key.” It was repeated with a slight hint of impatience, the first emotion that Subaru had let into his voice since they had defeated the Gemini Sparks.
“Why should I give it to you!?” War-Rock had to stall. He had to figure out what was going on with Subaru. When had he changed? Why? “You barely know anything about the Andromeda or the Key itself, and suddenly you want your hands on it? What’s your reason?”
“I know enough. The Andromeda has enough power to destroy Earth, doesn’t it? And it needs your key and the King’s controller to work…but the key itself has plenty of power, doesn’t it? It needs it, in order to be able to jump start Andromeda, after all…”
“I thought you weren’t interested in destroying the Earth,” War-Rock interrupted, his tone apprehensive. “You said it yourself; you were fighting with me to prevent that.”
“No…I think Gemini Black…ah, Hikaru…got something right, there. It was all really self-defense. The only reason I joined up with you in the first place was because we both needed something from each other. But…” And here, Subaru leaned back, stretching. “There really isn’t anything worth protecting, is there? I don’t really have that much attachment to anything in this world. Those attachments just cause pain. But almost everyone else does, you see. And that’s the problem.” War-Rock found himself involuntarily recoiling as Subaru smiled that odd, sick smirk yet again, that expression that just didn’t fit on his face and yet did.
“Everyone keeps struggling to live, to survive, to make bonds and seek out desires that only cause suffering in the end…when you think about life that way, then Andromeda…it’s a savior, isn’t it, instead of something to be feared?”
That was it. He had it. War-Rock finally knew why he had been feeling uneasy these past few weeks with the kiddo. Subaru had slowly been losing it, and he had never realized. Or rather, he did, but he kept making excuses, because things had been going so well. How…how had a young human gone from only fighting because he was curious about his father to wanting to destroy his own home planet in some misguided attempt of saving it?
“That’s it, kiddo! I’ve heard enough!” And with that, War-Rock quickly escaped from the Transer, forcing Subaru to put on his Visualizer to spot him. “The times we had together were pretty good, kid, but I can’t hang around if you’re gonna act like this!!!” Sure, War-Rock did have his morals skewed a bit. It came with the territory of being a proud soldier of Planet FM, and one that was out for revenge against FM’s ruler at that. But he drew the line at blowing up planets. Most sane beings would. Without another word, War-Rock turned to leave.
He had nearly made it out of the room’s window when he felt an electric attack strike him in the back. With a yell of pain, he felt its paralyzing effects take hold, making his body numb. He sank onto the floor next to Subaru’s bed, and he struggled against the paralysis even as he heard Subaru’s footsteps walk up the stairs to his bed. Looking up, he saw Subaru holding his Transer up, as well as several Battle Cards, and belatedly realized that as a denpa being, those cards still affected him…even more so, since these particular cards had been powered up by his own abilities on multiple occasions. It looked like Subaru had just used a Thunderball card to subdue him.
“Ah, but you are going to hang around, War-Rock. We’re partners, remember?” War-Rock heard the creak of the bed as Subaru sat down, right next to where he was still paralyzed. He thought he felt the effects wearing off right now…if he could push himself up, he could…
“Battle Card, Strike Edge.” War-Rock let out another scream of pain as an electric sword appeared right above him and drove itself right into his chest. He felt the numbness settling in again, and he realized that as long as the kiddo had his Transer and his Battle Cards, he could keep War-Rock subdued as long as he needed.
“And you are going to tell me what you know, including where you hid the Andromeda Key, because we’re partners, of course!”
It was really disturbing how much Subaru sounded like his previous naïve self when he said that.
“T…tch…if your father saw this…” He didn’t really know what Daigo would have felt. But it wouldn’t have been a good emotion, he knew that. Anger? Or sorrow, maybe? The thought did seem to distract Subaru a bit, and for a moment, War-Rock felt a faint glimmer of hope.
“Oh, tousan? You never did tell me about him, War-Rock. How did you know him?” It did distract him! Maybe, if he kept talking until this paralysis wore off…
“I…I was the jailkeeper after the FM King had his troops attack their space station, and had them sentenced to death. They had been attempting to propose a BrotherBand between Earth and Planet FM, but the FM King saw it as a threat of invasion, and he sentenced them accordingly…I was charged with keeping an eye on them until their sentence was carried out. Your father always kept prying into my business…when I stole the Andromeda Key and escaped, he insisted I help them out too. So I turned him and the crew into denpa lifeforms like me, so they could escape, but…Taurus attacked just then. I lost him. He had sent a signal to your Transer, and I followed it when I happened upon it, but I don’t think Daigo found it, or he’d be home by now. He’s probably still wandering around in space, lost…”
“So that’s how it is…” Subaru sounded like his old self again. He looked lost in thought. And War-Rock could move. Slowly, carefully, he got up, and moved to sneak towards the window again. He had just made it, when…
“Poor tousan, stuck alone in space like that…it’s a big place, isn’t it, War-Rock? What a long time to be wandering around lost. I guess I’ll just have to kill him too, when I find him.”
At that, War-Rock froze. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Despite his instincts screaming at him to run, to flee, to get out before things got worse, he turned back. He had to know that he wasn’t hearing things.
“W…what?”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? He’s stuck alone, and suffering, and he doesn’t know how to get home, and he’ll probably go mad up there by himself. It would be kinder to just kill him, if that was possible. Really, War-Rock, I appreciate the effort you went through for him, but wouldn’t it have been kinder to just let him die? Now look what you’ve sentenced him to.”
“Kiddo…you…”
“Oh, right…Battle Card: Plasma Gun!” And whatever chance War-Rock had was gone. He was back to square one, only lying down on his back this time, but still paralyzed either way. “That was a good story, War-Rock, and I thank you for that, but you didn’t tell me about the key…”
“I’m not telling you anything, kiddo! Figure it out yourself if you’re that desperate!” In reality, War-Rock knew very well that he was the desperate one, scrambling for time that he knew he didn’t have. Subaru didn’t look desperate at all; instead looking at War-Rock with a placid expression that could have been described as amused…he raised an eyebrow, seemingly taking the challenge.
“Ah, if you insist…” “And he looked up, thinking, swinging his legs back and forth and making him look like the young boy he really was for a few moments. It really was unnerving, seeing him make threats one moment and acting almost childish the next.
“Well, the FM-ians are after the Andromeda Key, after all, so you’d have to hide it somewhere where you could easily keep track of it…and it’s something powerful too, so that means you can’t really leave it anywhere…they could sense it, couldn’t they? I mean, you could sense other FM-ians and weird denpa, so it makes sense that they could sense you and the Andromeda Key’s denpa? If you hid it somewhere else, it would make sense for them to go after the Andromeda Key first, so they had some sort of leverage over you…so that means that you have to have it on you somewhere don’t you, War-Rock? But you have no pockets or anything to carry stuff with you…” And for a few, hopeful moments, Subaru looked stumped.
And then a twisted look of amusement crossed his face.
“Oh, War-Rock, you didn’t. I’d heard of spies swallowing paper that had classified information on it to keep it from the enemy, but…you didn’t actually eat the Andromeda Key, did you? Did you really keep it inside your body, War-Rock?”
War-Rock’s silence all but confirmed it. Subaru only laughed as he saw the alien get up and brace himself. It looked like War-Rock had resigned himself to attack Subaru himself, or he’d never get a chance to escape. With a roar, War-Rock charged right at the young boy, who was still laughing.
“Battle Card: Stun Knuckle!”
War-Rock’s claws had barely been an inch from Subaru’s face when a bright yellow fist had struck him straight in the chest, driving him upwards into the ceiling and pinning him there. Subaru only looked up, not even acknowledging how close he had been to death, instead staring at the struggling War-Rock with a blank expression.
The yellow fist pressed itself inside War-Rock’s chest, causing the alien to cry out as it sank into his body, dislodging the key that was inside him. Once the yellow fist was completely inside, it pushed out the key, slowly and torturously. War-Rock, in his few moments of clarity, could only look down at his chest in horror as the key slowly emerged-first its long slim body, then the winged extensions, and lastly, the gem that topped it all, its power source. The key was just large enough to fit in War-Rock’s chest, which meant that Subaru needed to use both arms to catch it as it fell into his arms. War-Rock fell to the floor only seconds later, exhausted, drained, and unable to put up another struggle.
“So this is the Andromeda Key,” Subaru murmured, before letting out a soft chuckle as he let it convert itself into pure denpa energy, absorbing it into his Transer. The transer visibly changed, whereas it had been under the Pegasus satellite and thusly had the Pegasus logo on it, the logo had changed into a picture of the Andromeda Key itself. “Thank you, War-Rock. You’re a good partner.”
War-Rock only let out a groan in response. He wanted to push himself up, but he couldn’t. He wanted to make the kiddo go back to normal, but he couldn’t. He could only watch blearily as the Transer opened up, letting out green strands of energy that bound his arms and body, dragging him back into it.
“That was good advice you gave me, War-Rock. Doing all I can to achieve my goals. That really cleared my mind. I’ve decided. If this world…no, if this universe exists only for everyone to live in pain in it…let’s have Andromeda destroy it all, War-Rock. That’s my goal. That’s your goal now too, partner. We’ll stop all the suffering in this universe, and we’ll do all we can to make that happen. It’s a good goal, isn’t it? It means we’ll spend our whole life working towards it, and then we won’t want for anything when it ends, because our lives will end too…it’s perfect.”
There was another chuckle at the lack of response, before Subaru raised his Transer up.
“Denpa-Henkan. Hoshikawa Subaru, On-Air.” And with that, he transformed. But he looked different this time. War-Rock was not a willing participant of the transformation, so his head no longer adorned Subaru’s arm. Instead, a blue Transer had taken War-Rock’s place, still adorned with the symbol of the Andromeda Key. The emblem on his chest, which for so long had resembled his pendant-that treasured gift from his father-shattered. In its place, the Andromeda Key itself slowly rose out, shrunken to perfectly take the emblem’s place. Subaru took a few moments to observe the changes, before smiling, opening the Transer and looking at the screen.
“Let’s go, War-Rock. I know you’re eager for your own revenge on the FM King, but I think I’d like to take care of some matters on Earth before we go.”
And with that, he vanished from his room, never to return.
[A/N]: And then things got worse. And they'll continue to get worse. Yes, I have more planned that will probably be counted as worse than this. I am not sorry. It was planned to be longer, but, well, the scenes after this turned out to be incredibly long. And I've only finished two out of the planned four or five scenes. So they'd end up outshining this little bit, so it ended up getting its own chapter. There you go.
Rating: PG-13/T
Characters: Hoshikawa Subaru, War-Rock.
Warnings: Dark. Pretty dark. Actually, it's Bad End dark. I BLAME GABE. IT WAS HIS IDEA.
Notes: Bad End AU. oops what are emotions. Also, don't forget to read chapter 3.75 below this!
Summary: He couldn't save them. Why did he keep trying?
“What?!” War-Rock couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The kid barely knew about the Andromeda Key, only that it was powerful and that others were after it, and whatever other tidbits the other FM-ians had dropped. Why was he suddenly so interested in it?!
“Give me the Andromeda Key.” It was repeated with a slight hint of impatience, the first emotion that Subaru had let into his voice since they had defeated the Gemini Sparks.
“Why should I give it to you!?” War-Rock had to stall. He had to figure out what was going on with Subaru. When had he changed? Why? “You barely know anything about the Andromeda or the Key itself, and suddenly you want your hands on it? What’s your reason?”
“I know enough. The Andromeda has enough power to destroy Earth, doesn’t it? And it needs your key and the King’s controller to work…but the key itself has plenty of power, doesn’t it? It needs it, in order to be able to jump start Andromeda, after all…”
“I thought you weren’t interested in destroying the Earth,” War-Rock interrupted, his tone apprehensive. “You said it yourself; you were fighting with me to prevent that.”
“No…I think Gemini Black…ah, Hikaru…got something right, there. It was all really self-defense. The only reason I joined up with you in the first place was because we both needed something from each other. But…” And here, Subaru leaned back, stretching. “There really isn’t anything worth protecting, is there? I don’t really have that much attachment to anything in this world. Those attachments just cause pain. But almost everyone else does, you see. And that’s the problem.” War-Rock found himself involuntarily recoiling as Subaru smiled that odd, sick smirk yet again, that expression that just didn’t fit on his face and yet did.
“Everyone keeps struggling to live, to survive, to make bonds and seek out desires that only cause suffering in the end…when you think about life that way, then Andromeda…it’s a savior, isn’t it, instead of something to be feared?”
That was it. He had it. War-Rock finally knew why he had been feeling uneasy these past few weeks with the kiddo. Subaru had slowly been losing it, and he had never realized. Or rather, he did, but he kept making excuses, because things had been going so well. How…how had a young human gone from only fighting because he was curious about his father to wanting to destroy his own home planet in some misguided attempt of saving it?
“That’s it, kiddo! I’ve heard enough!” And with that, War-Rock quickly escaped from the Transer, forcing Subaru to put on his Visualizer to spot him. “The times we had together were pretty good, kid, but I can’t hang around if you’re gonna act like this!!!” Sure, War-Rock did have his morals skewed a bit. It came with the territory of being a proud soldier of Planet FM, and one that was out for revenge against FM’s ruler at that. But he drew the line at blowing up planets. Most sane beings would. Without another word, War-Rock turned to leave.
He had nearly made it out of the room’s window when he felt an electric attack strike him in the back. With a yell of pain, he felt its paralyzing effects take hold, making his body numb. He sank onto the floor next to Subaru’s bed, and he struggled against the paralysis even as he heard Subaru’s footsteps walk up the stairs to his bed. Looking up, he saw Subaru holding his Transer up, as well as several Battle Cards, and belatedly realized that as a denpa being, those cards still affected him…even more so, since these particular cards had been powered up by his own abilities on multiple occasions. It looked like Subaru had just used a Thunderball card to subdue him.
“Ah, but you are going to hang around, War-Rock. We’re partners, remember?” War-Rock heard the creak of the bed as Subaru sat down, right next to where he was still paralyzed. He thought he felt the effects wearing off right now…if he could push himself up, he could…
“Battle Card, Strike Edge.” War-Rock let out another scream of pain as an electric sword appeared right above him and drove itself right into his chest. He felt the numbness settling in again, and he realized that as long as the kiddo had his Transer and his Battle Cards, he could keep War-Rock subdued as long as he needed.
“And you are going to tell me what you know, including where you hid the Andromeda Key, because we’re partners, of course!”
It was really disturbing how much Subaru sounded like his previous naïve self when he said that.
“T…tch…if your father saw this…” He didn’t really know what Daigo would have felt. But it wouldn’t have been a good emotion, he knew that. Anger? Or sorrow, maybe? The thought did seem to distract Subaru a bit, and for a moment, War-Rock felt a faint glimmer of hope.
“Oh, tousan? You never did tell me about him, War-Rock. How did you know him?” It did distract him! Maybe, if he kept talking until this paralysis wore off…
“I…I was the jailkeeper after the FM King had his troops attack their space station, and had them sentenced to death. They had been attempting to propose a BrotherBand between Earth and Planet FM, but the FM King saw it as a threat of invasion, and he sentenced them accordingly…I was charged with keeping an eye on them until their sentence was carried out. Your father always kept prying into my business…when I stole the Andromeda Key and escaped, he insisted I help them out too. So I turned him and the crew into denpa lifeforms like me, so they could escape, but…Taurus attacked just then. I lost him. He had sent a signal to your Transer, and I followed it when I happened upon it, but I don’t think Daigo found it, or he’d be home by now. He’s probably still wandering around in space, lost…”
“So that’s how it is…” Subaru sounded like his old self again. He looked lost in thought. And War-Rock could move. Slowly, carefully, he got up, and moved to sneak towards the window again. He had just made it, when…
“Poor tousan, stuck alone in space like that…it’s a big place, isn’t it, War-Rock? What a long time to be wandering around lost. I guess I’ll just have to kill him too, when I find him.”
At that, War-Rock froze. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Despite his instincts screaming at him to run, to flee, to get out before things got worse, he turned back. He had to know that he wasn’t hearing things.
“W…what?”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? He’s stuck alone, and suffering, and he doesn’t know how to get home, and he’ll probably go mad up there by himself. It would be kinder to just kill him, if that was possible. Really, War-Rock, I appreciate the effort you went through for him, but wouldn’t it have been kinder to just let him die? Now look what you’ve sentenced him to.”
“Kiddo…you…”
“Oh, right…Battle Card: Plasma Gun!” And whatever chance War-Rock had was gone. He was back to square one, only lying down on his back this time, but still paralyzed either way. “That was a good story, War-Rock, and I thank you for that, but you didn’t tell me about the key…”
“I’m not telling you anything, kiddo! Figure it out yourself if you’re that desperate!” In reality, War-Rock knew very well that he was the desperate one, scrambling for time that he knew he didn’t have. Subaru didn’t look desperate at all; instead looking at War-Rock with a placid expression that could have been described as amused…he raised an eyebrow, seemingly taking the challenge.
“Ah, if you insist…” “And he looked up, thinking, swinging his legs back and forth and making him look like the young boy he really was for a few moments. It really was unnerving, seeing him make threats one moment and acting almost childish the next.
“Well, the FM-ians are after the Andromeda Key, after all, so you’d have to hide it somewhere where you could easily keep track of it…and it’s something powerful too, so that means you can’t really leave it anywhere…they could sense it, couldn’t they? I mean, you could sense other FM-ians and weird denpa, so it makes sense that they could sense you and the Andromeda Key’s denpa? If you hid it somewhere else, it would make sense for them to go after the Andromeda Key first, so they had some sort of leverage over you…so that means that you have to have it on you somewhere don’t you, War-Rock? But you have no pockets or anything to carry stuff with you…” And for a few, hopeful moments, Subaru looked stumped.
And then a twisted look of amusement crossed his face.
“Oh, War-Rock, you didn’t. I’d heard of spies swallowing paper that had classified information on it to keep it from the enemy, but…you didn’t actually eat the Andromeda Key, did you? Did you really keep it inside your body, War-Rock?”
War-Rock’s silence all but confirmed it. Subaru only laughed as he saw the alien get up and brace himself. It looked like War-Rock had resigned himself to attack Subaru himself, or he’d never get a chance to escape. With a roar, War-Rock charged right at the young boy, who was still laughing.
“Battle Card: Stun Knuckle!”
War-Rock’s claws had barely been an inch from Subaru’s face when a bright yellow fist had struck him straight in the chest, driving him upwards into the ceiling and pinning him there. Subaru only looked up, not even acknowledging how close he had been to death, instead staring at the struggling War-Rock with a blank expression.
The yellow fist pressed itself inside War-Rock’s chest, causing the alien to cry out as it sank into his body, dislodging the key that was inside him. Once the yellow fist was completely inside, it pushed out the key, slowly and torturously. War-Rock, in his few moments of clarity, could only look down at his chest in horror as the key slowly emerged-first its long slim body, then the winged extensions, and lastly, the gem that topped it all, its power source. The key was just large enough to fit in War-Rock’s chest, which meant that Subaru needed to use both arms to catch it as it fell into his arms. War-Rock fell to the floor only seconds later, exhausted, drained, and unable to put up another struggle.
“So this is the Andromeda Key,” Subaru murmured, before letting out a soft chuckle as he let it convert itself into pure denpa energy, absorbing it into his Transer. The transer visibly changed, whereas it had been under the Pegasus satellite and thusly had the Pegasus logo on it, the logo had changed into a picture of the Andromeda Key itself. “Thank you, War-Rock. You’re a good partner.”
War-Rock only let out a groan in response. He wanted to push himself up, but he couldn’t. He wanted to make the kiddo go back to normal, but he couldn’t. He could only watch blearily as the Transer opened up, letting out green strands of energy that bound his arms and body, dragging him back into it.
“That was good advice you gave me, War-Rock. Doing all I can to achieve my goals. That really cleared my mind. I’ve decided. If this world…no, if this universe exists only for everyone to live in pain in it…let’s have Andromeda destroy it all, War-Rock. That’s my goal. That’s your goal now too, partner. We’ll stop all the suffering in this universe, and we’ll do all we can to make that happen. It’s a good goal, isn’t it? It means we’ll spend our whole life working towards it, and then we won’t want for anything when it ends, because our lives will end too…it’s perfect.”
There was another chuckle at the lack of response, before Subaru raised his Transer up.
“Denpa-Henkan. Hoshikawa Subaru, On-Air.” And with that, he transformed. But he looked different this time. War-Rock was not a willing participant of the transformation, so his head no longer adorned Subaru’s arm. Instead, a blue Transer had taken War-Rock’s place, still adorned with the symbol of the Andromeda Key. The emblem on his chest, which for so long had resembled his pendant-that treasured gift from his father-shattered. In its place, the Andromeda Key itself slowly rose out, shrunken to perfectly take the emblem’s place. Subaru took a few moments to observe the changes, before smiling, opening the Transer and looking at the screen.
“Let’s go, War-Rock. I know you’re eager for your own revenge on the FM King, but I think I’d like to take care of some matters on Earth before we go.”
And with that, he vanished from his room, never to return.
[A/N]: And then things got worse. And they'll continue to get worse. Yes, I have more planned that will probably be counted as worse than this. I am not sorry. It was planned to be longer, but, well, the scenes after this turned out to be incredibly long. And I've only finished two out of the planned four or five scenes. So they'd end up outshining this little bit, so it ended up getting its own chapter. There you go.