Notes: I think anyone following my RockmanEXE/MegamanEXE fanfics has noticed a pattern. Oh well, I'm inspired to write stuff where Rockman tries being Saito for a while so I'm going to write this stuff. The idea this story comes from is one where Saito 'survived' and what Dr Hikari did was hook him up to life support and transfer his brainwaves into Rockman. But there's a cure for HBD now so Dr Hikari reluctantly puts Saito under the knife in order to cure him and let him finally live. Except no one told Netto or Rockman about this. I like this idea too much not to write it.

Chapter 1

Dr Hikari signed the forms. Haruka Hikari's grip on his arm was both painful and grounding.

"What if... what if it goes wrong?"

The doctor sighed. He hadn't signed up for this mess. He was only here because he had performed successful surgeries on children with HBD before and this couple wanted to save their son. It was a mess of non-disclosure agreements as well as having to perform the surgery here; in the couple's home, rather than the hospital. Their child had been hooked up to life support since he had been born, his mother putting in time each and every day to care for the unconscious boy. The doctor has been assured that the boy would have no troubles accumulating to life, even though he had been in a medical coma for almost all of his life.

They set a time and a date and Haruka breathed a sigh of relief, although she would be tense throughout the surgery.

Neither parent told Netto about it, or Rockman. They talked about it but they didn't want to get Rockman's hopes up. After all, if this was successful, he would be able to live as Saito for the first time in his life.

Rockman felt strange. When he closed his eyes, he could almost hear the sounds of somewhere else. His body would ache and he was certain he could hear voices talking.

"Rockman?" He opened his eyes to his operator's face. "Everything alright?"

"Of course, Netto!" he responded with a smile. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought he heard his mother asking when he would wake up. He opened them and tried to focus on his operator, although his vision was foggy for a moment.

Netto gasped. "You just went fuzzy!"

"Fuzzy?" Rockman questioned. What did Netto mean?

Apparently, his data was fizzing at the edges, like he was breaking apart. That wasn't good. They would have to tell Papa about it right away.

However, when they got home, Papa was in the workshop, the only room in the house which was always locked and which the two had never been in.

Rockman powered down for the night, his eyes closing as the screen to his PET went off. A weightless feeling like being transferred zipped through his body. His eyes felt crusted over and his body weak.

He groaned, trying to move but finding he didn't have the energy to.

"W..hat?" he croaked as he forced his eyes open. The dark room came into focus slowly, along with the image of his father, sleeping on the edge of his bed.

Bed?

Rockman blinked and slowly pulled himself up. He braced himself against the headboard and shuffled upwards.

"Pa...pa," he tried to shout, his voice coming out as a painful whisper. He inched his hand across the bed, unable to lift it much higher, and poked his father's cheek. "Papa!" he tried again. He barely had any volume but Dr Hikari stirred.

"Saito?" he questioned, causing Rockman to frown.

"No."

Dr Hikari gave him small smile and reached out. Rockman was amazed to feel his father's hand in his hair. Even if his hair was ridiculously long. It was hanging right past his shoulders.

"Do you remember anything?" he asked.

"Remember?"

"Let's try this instead, Saito. What do you remember?"

"Rockman, Papa."

Dr Hikari grabbed a mirror. "I'll assume everything then." He placed the mirror in front of Rockman.

A round face like Netto's stared back. Brown eyes grew wide as brown hair messily hung over them. Rockman shuddered a little, squeezing them shut. He looked a little like the ghost girl from that horror movie Netto wanted to see.

"How?" he questioned, gripping the bed sheets. How was he here? How was it that he could barely move?

"I'll explain later," Papa said, smiling down at him. Rockman was memorised by the way his eyes sparkled. Papa looked like he wanted to cry. "You should rest for now."

His eyelids were already dropping and Rockman could feel himself being pulled away. "O...k," he mumbled.

Rockman woke up in his PET, breathing heavily and nervous about his surroundings. He looked around but he was in the comfortable room of his PET. He placed a hand on his navi icon and wondered at the strange imaginings he had dreamed up.

He didn't mention it to Netto the next morning.

Rockman went into sleep mode and awoke in the strange room again. This time, he felt a little better. There was no one around and he curled on his side and watched the door before falling back asleep.

"Papa's way too busy," Netto sighed during lunch. Meiru's expression didn't change as she reminded him that his father was a famous scientist.

Roll eyed Rockman warily. She had noticed the strange fuzzing he seemed to be glitching with recently. It was like his body wasn't rendering right.

"Any way to contact him?" she asked Rockman quietly.

Rockman shook his head. "You would think it'd be easy to contact him, considering he's in the house. But he's only leaving the locked room for work at SciLab."

"That room you and Netto have never been in?" Roll questioned. It had been a while since they had even thought about that room.

Rockman nodded and closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Saito?" a voice said from far away. He thought he could see the room again with a blurry Mama sitting by his side.

Rockman's eyes snapped open. Roll grabbed his arm and hugged him close.

"Are you okay?" she asked quickly.

He nodded, confused. Maybe... "Did I fizz out again?"

Roll nodded. "You almost vanished."

Rockman swallowed and looked up to see their operators looking at him with worry. He tried to reassure them but since they had no idea what was happening, there was little he could do to ease their fears.

"Hopefully your father finishes his work quickly," Meiru commented quietly.

It was a couple of days later and Rockman thought he might be getting better. The dreams continued but he just ignored it, closing his eyes until the room went away and the fizzing out during the day had almost stopped. Everyone had gone to the arcade for the afternoon, Netto promising that he would do his homework afterwards.

However, the moment Rockman touched ground in the game servers, his body felt strange. His vision blurred and the battle arena vanished, everything going black for a moment before refocusing into that room again.

"Mama? Papa?" Rockman questioned. This time he could pull himself up so he was in a sitting position. Brown hair fell over his eyes for a moment. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to find himself back in the arena.

However, a hand touched his head instead, tucking long hair behind his ear and Rockman opened his eyes to his father's soft smile.

"Welcome back, Saito."

"Why do you keep calling me that? What's going on?" Rockman asked.

His parents shared a look. Mama grabbed some apple slices from a nearby tray and held one out to him.

"Eat," she said. "And we'll talk."

Rockman frowned at the food but opened his mouth anyway. The taste of the fruit was strong on his unused taste-buds and his face scrunched up. He continued eating the fruit as his parents explained.

There had been something Dr Hikari hadn't told him and Netto about Rockman's creation. Rockman had been created from Saito's DNA, allowing him to sync with Netto but, it was mainly for him to sync with Saito. While Saito's mind had been encased in the navi, his body had been kept alive with machines.

It was only recently that a cure for HBD had been created. It finally enabled Saito to go under the knife and be cured.

"You still have a long way to recovery though," Mama said. "Your body needs exercise and food to build up strength."

Rockman, or Saito, didn't know how to process this. He wasn't just a navi. He had a human body. He listened as his parents described the therapy his body would have to go through with a sinking heart.

"What about Netto?" What would Netto do without him?

"We'll tell him tonight."

"I have a feeling he's going to come home upset," Mama said. "After all, Rockman's probably inoperable."

There was a distressed sound which Saito realised a moment too late came from him. He covered his mouth and slipped under the sheets.

No more Rockman? Netto wasn't the only one upset.