Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman. I do not even know if I can even claim Lightman because he's just Netto v2. =.=

Chapter 33: Final Farewell

It was the first time and last time anyone saw Rockman in his months of mourning.

Still, even though everyone knew that Rockman would take Netto's death hardly, no one suspected that he would take it this hardly. After all, Rockman had always been a rather social navi who took strength from having others around him. It seemed impossible that he would completely shut himself from the entire world.

But he did.

Blues had stayed with the Rockman (at Enzan's bidding) the entire night that first night of Netto's death, but after he left, Rockman had blocked all access to his PET. All manner of efforts were made to get to Rockman in order to comfort him, but all attempts ended up futile and the various people and navis who had made the attempts were left empty handed.

For Rockman, everything was just one big blur, and a dark, empty one at that. For him, everything had come to a complete stop; every minute, every hour, and every day was just like the rest—hollow and without purpose. Rockman was so consumed with such a dark void in his soul that he wondered how such a dreadful feeling could exist. He felt numb and dead. And the worst part was that the link that he had always relied on for comfort was gone. There was such a hole in him from where the link with his brother had been that it surprised him that the rest of him did not just disappear as well.

He wished he would.

There were days when he would wake up and forget for a moment that nothing was right. But then, just as he was about to yell at Netto to get up like always had for the entirety of his existence as a navi, he'd remember and the empty spot in him would become painfully obvious. Sometimes he would then cry, but other times, it hurt too much to even do that.

Now here it was: Netto's funeral.

Ironically, it was a beautiful day—a bright sunny one that Netto had always liked best. But Rockman did not notice; it could have been a hurricane and he would not have noticed.

He did not oppose when Yuuichiro undid the lock on the PET that he had done up. In no time, all his friends were filing up to console him, telling him how they had been constantly trying to get a hold of him. They commented on how they would like to help him and how they did not blame him for not noticing their attempts to help him in his state of shock; however, in this second matter, they were wrong.

Rockman was all too painfully aware of many of the things that were going on around him, including the efforts made to help him. But he simply could not face them. What did they know of a lose like his? How could they when they had never even realized what he and Netto really were to each other? But despite these thoughts, he still did not have a real valid excuse for locking everyone out. Over and over his logic told him that maybe they could help, but then his heart and his feelings would drag him down, pushing him to believe that he just could not stand the facing everyone. After all, he usually had been the strong one that supported them, not the other way around.

The attempts to comfort him were not the only thing that Rockman had noticed. He also was aware of those coming in and out of the Hikari household to help Netto's grief-stricken mother. It was Meiru that visited the most often. They would talk about Netto, taking comfort from all the wonderful memories that they had of him. They would laugh at the memory of his antics and bad-habits—then cry because there would never be such things again.

It was worse when no one was home with Haruka. Haruka would do her best to keep a schedule and the appearance of normality, but she would always break down crying as she did the many chores that a household, even an empty one, required. She no doubt felt very alone: her second son was dead; her husband was always gone, drowning himself in his work like he always did when he was in pain; and her first son had locked himself away in the absence of his brother, seemingly in such shock that he could not even take notice of anything going on around him. It was at these time, watching his mother cry, that Rockman felt the worst. In addition to that emptiness in him, there was a desire to help his mother in her grief as well. After all, they both had loved Netto. He would try to reach out to her, but was always stopped short by his inability to help her. After all, what comfort could he offer, when he had none himself?

Not even the tears that he shed at these times released any of his sorrow.

"Rockman-san?"

Rockman looked up slightly to see a navi he did not recognize.

"My name is Wishman," the blue and white navi introduced. "I am Botan-kun's new navi. He wanted to talk to you." A window with Botan's crying face came up where Wishman indicated.

"Ro…Rockman, I'm so sorry," Botan cried. Rockman looked away. There was silence as Rockman said nothing, unable to come up with anything to say in response. After an awkward moment, Botan continued. "I…I kept my promise...to Netto-san!" Botan said. Rockman looked back at Botan. "I don't have HBD anymore. It'll be a little before I'm completely healthy, but…" This time, it was Botan who looked away. There was another moment of silence before Botan finished, this time speaking in a whisper: "…but I thought you'd like to know I kept my promise. Since I can't tell Netto-san directly…"

Again there was silence, but this time it was broken by Rockman, who spoke in a small whisper as well.

"Thank you."

It was two words and there was much more that could have been said, but both knew what what was being said without words—Netto would have been glad.

Botan was the only one that Rockman spoke to that day, even though almost every navi he had ever known had come up to talk to him. Word of Netto's death had spread far and almost everyone who had ever known Netto had come to celebrate his life and to give their last good-byes. There were even people no one expected to come, including the members of WWW and Dark Miyabi. Masa had almost started a fight with them, suspicious as to why any of them would be there except to cause trouble, but Laika quickly broke it up. He almost escorted the strange fish seller out before he was informed by several people that Masa had been a close friend to Netto, so Laika settled for a quick reprimand. Yuriko later hinted that for she even saw Wily come pay respects to the young hero for a moment.

From far and wide they had come, all having been brought together by that one, seemingly mere boy. It was all the same for everyone there—regardless of how anyone of had first come to know that boy, there was no doubt that every single life there had been changed for the better by Hikari Netto. They all knew it and could not deny it. By the end of the service, as the casket was lowered into the deep hole that would be the final resting place of their friend, son, comrade, rival, and hero, there was not a dry eye, even among the strongest. There was at least wetness in their eyes as they each said their final goodbyes to the stone that would forever mark his existence in this world:

Hikari Netto

June 10, 20XX to July 21, 20XX

A Smile

A Hope

A Hero

May the Angels Guide Him Home

By the way, here's a little tidbit. Just like I picked Lightman's name for a reason (see Chapter 10 bonus), I also picked Botan's name for a reason. His name means "long life" in Japanese.