Protomen Funeral For A Son
[Between the gaps in the trembling and calloused
fingers that cradle his heavy head, Light watches the
mob of cowards carry Protoman's scarred helmet -- all
that was left of the Man Machine who would have been
their savior. As the crowd marches somberly back --
some to their homes, some to the makeshift grave where
Protoman's helmet would remain, all to slavery -- Light
notices a tear streaming down the dorsum of his hand
and feels a breathtaking weight in his chest. What is
this? Frustration? Humiliation? Hatred? Certainly,
these are there too. But no, this is more than that.
These emotions are his life. He has lived with them for
so long that they no longer affect him. Over the years
he has learned to fight them, then ignore them, and
finally channel them into his work, his creation, his
machine, his son.
So that was it. The source of tears and the pain that
caused them. This time he had built more than a
machine. He had sent more than a robot to battle. He
had sent a man, his own son, to do the impossible, to
save those who could not be saved, to die.
There was the hatred again, the rage, welling inside of
him. No more, he thought, as he tore down the tools and
parts that framed his apartment workshop. Never again.
"Mankind deserves the hell that they have brought upon
themselves" He smashed and cut, metal against metal,
metal against flesh, in an effort to destroy his own
means of creation. He allowed the tears to pour from
his cheeks and mingle with the blood seeping from the
cuts in his torn and battered hands. He had set out to
use these hands to destroy his workshop but he now
watched as they seemed to be creating of their own
accord. Pieces of machine from the floor were seized
and fused. They began to take form - the form of
Light's anger, the form of his guilt, the form of his
grief, the form of his love, the form of a son.
Years passed. Nothing changed. The human race seemed
weary but content to suffer under Dr. Wily and the
robot army. In whispers, they still spoke of Protoman.
Eventually, Megaman would find out the truth. Dr. Light
knew this.
When Megaman was old enough, Light called him into the
workshop and began to explain...]
