MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ Just In Time ❯ Chapter 1

He sat silently on the edge of the cliff, staring out over the forest. He didn't look down, or even seem to acknowledge the fact the ground was several hundred feet below. Nor did he pay any attention to the animal sounds going on around him as he stayed motionless as a statue.

He was late.

He'd been sitting like this for a long time, he'd lost track of how long. It had to have been several hours, since he'd arrived in the early afternoon, and it was now getting close to sunset.

He was way past being late.

His eyes briefly left off their staring to track the movement of a plane in the distance, then returned to their former position. All without moving the rest of his body.

He'd give him one more hour before he decided he wasn't coming.

He sighed softly, a slight movement that went unnoticed by the animals going about their daily lives nearby. Every week, at the same time, found him at this cliff, sitting silently and motionlessly until another arrived to interrupt the peace.

Forty-five minutes.

Every week the two would meet, either to spar, or just sit and talk. They'd started out doing the former almost every time. But more recently, they'd been doing the latter more often. And he was starting to look forward to those meetings.

Thirty minutes.

He fidgeted slightly and finally looked around, his face expressionless. He wasn't worried. Not at all. He was merely impatient to get back to his normal routine, which had been severely set back by the other's tardiness. He wasn't worried one bit.

Twenty minutes. Where was he?

He thought back to their last meeting, only the week before. Things had started out just fine. They'd sat and talked. But somewhere things had gone wrong and they'd started arguing, which ended with him hitting the other and leaving in a rage.

Fifteen minutes. Still no sign of him.

He'd regretted it immediately after calming down. He'd alienated the one person who gave a damn about him and not what he could do. But pride had kept him from returning, from apologizing. That was simply not his way.

Ten minutes. Still hope.

He'd been hesitant to even come today, but he'd forced himself to come. He was no coward, and he faced everything with the same determination. He would face the other and apologize when (if?) he came.

Five minutes. He wasn't coming, was he?

He looked down at the ground below the cliff. He'd been a complete ass. The other wasn't going to come. The other wasn't going to ever come. He'd messed up big time. No one else cared about him. He'd had a great friendship, and he'd thrown it away because of something pointless.

Four minutes.

Three minutes.

Two minutes.

.....

He wasn't coming.

He sighed heavily and hung his head, closing his eyes. He sat like that for a moment, then stood up slowly and opened his eyes again, looking down over the edge of the cliff. Not noticing the sudden silence of animal activity, or the sound of something approaching quickly.

Would it matter to anyone if he just walked straight ahead and didn't stop? Would anyone care? Would he ca-

"Forte!"

Startled, the Wily bot spun around at the sound of his name and was nearly bowled over by a smaller bot tackling him, almost sending both of them over the cliff's edge.

"I was afraid I'd miss you," came the smaller bot's muffled voice from where he had his face buried against Forte's chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around Forte's waist as if afraid to let go. "Sorry I'm late."

Forte blinked, then smiled slightly and put his arms around the smaller bot. "You're just in time, Blues..."