Washed Away

Inferno

You smiled even wider with every picture you took. You couldn't stop taking them. Even after Quick begged you to stop taking pictures of him, you kept on. He was just nervous and afraid he didn't look nice. Gemini proudly posed with his clone for many photos, and Crash reluctantly let you take pictures of him. Right now, you felt so in your element. Nothing could stop you from being happy, your heart sang with joy.

Or, so you thought.

You had taken to wheeling yourself around the castle so you could spend some time yourself. A piece of you quietly urged you to take as many photos as you could of ways that you could possibly make an escape. You photographed doors that you had not been given access to. You did not dare go inside them, in fear of another incident with a robot like Snake Man.

You had found a hallway you hadn't known about on accident. You were about to turn yourself around, but then you saw a robot down the hall. Protoman. You hadn't yet gotten a photo of him, and he hadn't noticed your presence. This would be the perfect opportunity.

Your heart pounded like a drum in your ears. You lifted the camera and adjusted it to get the perfect shot. You were nervous now. It was just a picture, nothing special, and yet you felt yourself become scared and fearful of the robot's reaction. You gulped, and quickly pressed the camera's button and took the photo. He immediately turned around.

"What was that?" He asked out loud, and then his eyes fell on you. Or so you assumed, still couldn't see those eyes of his.

How nice it would be to have a photo of those. But this picture of him would be enough for now.

"I just took a picture, that's all." You said rather casually, and felt quite impressed with yourself for not stuttering or stumbling with your words. The robot's glare was making you rather uncomfortable and you began to regret such a simple action. His loud footsteps echoed through the hall, his scarf swinging behind him as his footsteps quickened.

"I-it was just a photo." You said, your hands shaking slightly with the camera in them.

He stopped abruptly in front of you, towering over you as you were sitting in your wheelchair.

"Delete it."

"What?" You asked.

"I said, delete it." He crossed his arms.

"Its just a picture, and it's not like anyone else will get to look at them but me- I just like having photos--"

He reached for the camera and you quickly jerked it out of his reach. He mumbled a curse under his breath and moved to the side of the wheelchair to grab it. Of course, in response, you moved it out of his reach once more.

He grabbed your arms, pulling them closer so he could snatch the camera from your grasp. He got a hold of it, but you weren't backing down. You held as tightly as you could, your eyes filled with hot burning tears as the strain made you feel like your stomach was gonna rip open. You cried out in pain and it slipped from your fingers.

Protoman's eyes widened as he flung it backwards, not expecting you to have let go so easy.

The camera smacked the wall and the fell to the floor. Your eyes widened, your voice failing you for the moment. Protoman looked rather sad at first. Guilty, almost. But that didn't last long. His stone faced expression returned.

"I.. I told you to delete it." He walked past you, and back down the hall. You slowly wheeled yourself to the broken camera and picked it up. Parts of it fell off as you lifted it.

Hot, warm tears ran down your face, and you couldn't help but start to sob. You gasped for air in between sobs as you uncontrollably cried. Your hands shook, your body hurt. Each sob made your abdomen spike with pain, which only drew out more sobs.

You should have just deleted it.

You'd still have a camera.

You'd still have something to distract yourself with. You dropped the camera back to the floor and pulled your knees up into the wheelchair. You wrapped your arms around your knees and hugged yourself, resting your face on your knees.

You wanted to go home. You wanted to be in your own bed. You felt so cold now, sitting in the dark lonely hallway with nothing but a broken camera and your own tears.

Wily was the worst.
The absolute worst human being on the planet and you decided now that you would never forgive him for imprisoning you here. Sure. Quick Man was nice. So was Bubble Man. Bass wasn't that bad either.

The truth of the matter was still there.

They were keeping you here as a prisoner, and for what reason? It seemed like you'd never know. And the one thing that seemed to give you hope right now had been taken and broken only hours after receiving it.

Despite your conclusions about these robots, you longed for one of them to come to your aid. You wanted Quick Man to come see what Proto had done, and go tell Wily. Then maybe Wily could make Proto apologize. You wanted Quick to wrap his arms around you and bring you back to your room. You wanted to hear the soft whirrings of his inner mechanics lull you into a calm. A false calm. You were still a prisoner, but at least in moments like that, you didn't feel like it.

But no one was going to come save you. And you didn't need anyone.

You were done playing damsel, right?

You put your hands on the wheelchair's arm rests. You pushed yourself into a standing position. Fire ripped through your abdomen and twisted through your insides.

But, who cares?

If fire was the only thing left for you in this place...

You were going to become an inferno.