Chapter 11: Snowy Apology

Meanwhile, Proto had woken up. He felt terribly weak from his injuries and from the cold. He shivered, then just managed to remove both halves of his visor from his helmet and throw them far away from him. He would wear that sign of his past no more.

Then, weakly, he began to write in the snow. There was one final message he had to send, even though he felt almost certain that it wouldn’t last long enough to be received. He collapsed just after finishing the two-word phrase, just before he would’ve heard his brother calling his name.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“The snow’s falling harder, Rush. We’ve for to hurry.” Already the tracks from their escape were growing fainter. He could just make out six set of footprints, but that left out Proto. “Proto! Can you hear me?” The only answer was his own faint echo. Mega was beginning to lose hope. There were just too many possibilities for him to try. Proto could’ve turned onto one of many other paths, or been captured, or - Mega hardly dared to think it - been destroyed.

Suddenly Rush seemed to see something and bolted forward, barking. At one point he stopped and began to sniff at the ground.

“What is it?” Mega went over as well. He saw a place where it appeared one of Pharaoh Man’s blasts had hit the ground. “Definitely a clue.” Mega looked around, then froze, peering down a nearby slope.

There, laying limply at the bottom, partially covered by the falling snow, was Proto.

“Proto!” Mega began to carefully slide down the steep slope, managing to control his speed until about half way down, where it turned into more of a barely controlled tumble. The instant his feet hit the bottom he was at his brother’s side. Proto was very cold to the touch. Mega rolled Proto over, and in the process saw writing in the snow. It was partially smeared out and erased by snow, but he could make out:

SORRY BROTHER

“No! Proto! Open your eyes!” Proto didn’t move, but Mega refused to give up on him. Rush barked, having found a small cave of sorts to one side of the incline that was clear of snow. “Good boy, Rush.” Together they half dragged, half carried Proto to the cave, where they laid him in the back and wrapped him up in both blankets. Then Mega removed his helmet and laid it at the base of a tree, where he hoped someone might see it. Both he and Rush were too cold to return, and Mega wasn’t going to leave his brother for anything. He returned to the cave and laid down between the entrance and his brother, using his body to try and shield Proto from the worst of the cold. Rush nosed some sticks together, and then nosed a ring of stones around them. He barked.

“G - Good idea,” chattered Mega. Using the last of his weapon’s power, Mega fired a single, weak blast. He smiled as a small fire sparked to life, half-heartedly wishing that he had Fire Man’s weapon right then. Glancing at Proto, the younger bot thought he saw a little flicker of movement. Then he stretched out on his stomach and fell asleep.