It is a strange fact that the greatest of warriors rarely die in battle. Other warriors can be fought against, and if they succeed long enough, what inevitably brings them down is the enemies that cannot be defeated so.

Alexander the Great is said to have died of poisoned wine, but some modern scholars suspect it was appendicitis… potentially lethal in that ancient time. Attila the Hun is rumored to have died of a nosebleed, although ER doctors suspect he actually had a throat hemorrhage from excessive, chronic drinking… actually the most common cause of death for chronic drinkers, followed closely by liver disease. Genghis Khan is reputed to have died of old age, or perhaps falling from his horse.

So perhaps it was not surprising that the oldest Reploid of all should be having some problems. Although he was a copy of the original, some of his parts had come from that first body… and some were failing.

"Zero…" Ciel bit her lip, helping the slender Reploid sit up. He was weak, tired, although the weakness was passing… it always did. But that weakness was recurring more frequently with every day.

"Ciel, what's wrong with me?" Zero said quietly, looking at his human friend… and more than friend. Ciel stared back, and suddenly her eyes filled with tears. "It's that bad?"

"Yes." She took a deep breath, calming herself, aware of the resistance soldiers watching. They were listening, with a petrified silence. Zero was utterly vital to the resistance, so Ciel's distress was terrifying. "Zero, your fusion generator is failing. At most, it will last another six months."

"Why?" He asked softly, curiously. He was taking the news quite calmly… it wasn't the first time he'd faced death, and he was fairly confident Ciel could help him in any case.

"It's just very old. Some of the parts are wearing out… the best thing to do would be to make a new one, connect you to life support and replace it. But we can't." Ciel concluded, and Zero frowned.

"Why not?" He didn't see why Ciel couldn't do it.

"Because your generator is so small, so efficient, so much better than anything Neo Arcadia can make. Certainly much better than anything I can make here," Ciel gestured, taking in the semi-ruined Rebellion base. Zero nodded, conceding the point. "All the Reploids made by Neo Arcadia use far more basic generators, and most are powered by crystals, not fusion. They wouldn't swap in with your components at all… only the Guardians use generators that would be compatible with yours."

"Well, where did they get their generators?" Zero asked reasonably.

"Well, they…" Ciel trailed off, and blinked, puzzled. "You know, Zero, um… I have no idea where they got their generators. I created Copy X, and his parts were just… given to me… I never asked where they came from."

"Were they new?" One of the Rebellion soldiers asked, tilting his head.

"Yes, brand new." Ciel replied, then fell silent for a moment, thinking. "Looking back on it, it's very odd."

"Maybe they came from the Devil Lands across the sea." One of the Rebellion soldiers joked, but Ciel turned to stare at him, and he faltered. "Um… maybe?"

"Could they really?" Another muttered with more than a little trepidation.

There were stories about the place across the sea. The kindest said that the lands there had fallen into pure anarchy after the Cyber Elf wars. But the wilder tales said that great high tech Mecca's still existed there, churning out soulless and deadly creatures without regard for the rest of the world. Barbaric humans and even worse Reploids were said to live there, a constant danger to the safety of Neo Arcadia.

Of course, those stories had been spread by Neo Arcadia. And it suddenly occurred to more than one person that they served the purpose of giving Neo Arcadia a permanent enemy… and keeping any of Neo Arcadia's citizens from looking for greener pastures across the sea. Might the grass be much greener and lusher there, for those who dared to find out?

"There's only one way to find out," Zero said decisively, standing up. "Ciel, can you arrange a meeting for me with Harpuia? A peaceful meeting?" Ciel looked startled.

"Zero, are you sure? You could have another attack." If he did, Zero would be a sitting duck. But Zero nodded.

"Harpuia's too honorable to attack me during a truce." He wouldn't have been willing to do this with Fefnir or Leviathan, but Harpuia was a different matter. "And he won't take any pleasure from my problem… I can at least see if he'll help." Zero thought there was a fair chance that he would. Harpuia's sense of honor would be repulsed at the thought of an honorable enemy dying so ignobly. Of course, his duty with Neo Arcadia would be in conflict with that. Zero would have to see which way Harpuia would finally go.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Soon, Ciel came back with a time and place for the meeting.

"Tonight, at five o'clock, at these coordinates." She rattled them off, and Zero nodded, recognizing them. It was a beautiful hill with a view of most of Neo Arcadia. A lovely place to sit and think. "Zero… be careful?"

"Always." He promised, and gave Ciel a quick hug before he teleported away.

"I knew you would be here early." The soft, androgynous voice interrupted Zero's musings. He turned around slightly to see Harpuia walking towards him.

"That was why you picked such a glorious place," he said, gesturing down to the view. "Wasn't it?"

"Perhaps. What do you want, Zero?" Harpuia immediately got down to business. Zero paused for a moment, and then finally spoke.

"I want to know where Neo Arcadia gets the parts for the Guardians." A wave of dizziness slowly rose through Zero, and he grit his teeth, trying to remain completely steady. Harpuia was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"I can hardly give that information to the Rebellion-"

"This has nothing to do with the Rebellion," Zero said painfully, raising a hand to his chest. There was a deep ache there. "It has to do with me. I need… need…"

"Need what? Zero… Zero!" Harpuia stepped forward, shocked, as his companion on the hill slowly collapsed. Harpuia knelt down beside him, hearing Zero's rasping, pained breathing. "…"

It took several minutes for the attack to pass, but Zero finally pushed himself up. Harpuia offered him a hand, which Zero resisted taking for a moment… then accepted the help.

"What's wrong with you?" Harpuia asked quietly, looking at Zero oddly. Zero rubbed his chest, and coughed. He knew it was only psychological, but it felt tight and painful there.

"My generator is failing. I need a new one, and Ciel says that Neo Arcadia can't make them like mine anymore." Harpuia looked out over the cliff, considering for a long moment. As Zero had thought, he was balancing his duty and his honor, trying to decide where one ended and the other began. Finally, the Guardian spoke.

"I don't know how much I can help. Master X took care of all that… we haven't had any shipments since you destroyed him." Zero didn't comment on that. He didn't want Harpuia to dwell on that… the Guardian might change his mind about giving any information. "But the shipments we did get came from over the Western Ocean. I… spoke to the crew of one of the ships, once. Much of what they were willing to say was very confusing. One spoke of a beautiful city made of white stone, populated only by Reploids, and he said it was his home. But another told me about a wild, frontier town with humans and Reploids living together. I could only assume the crew of the ship came from many places."

"Is there anything else?" Zero asked, watching Harpuia. The Guardian fell silent. "Please, Harpuia." Perhaps it was the please, but Harpuia suddenly raised his head, meeting Zero's eyes.

"Stay here." To Zero's surprise and puzzlement, the Guardian suddenly teleported away. Zero hesitated, then waited patiently. Harpuia wouldn't ambush him during a truce. He tensed, though, when in perhaps fifteen minutes Harpuia teleported back… with Leviathan by his side, carrying a cardboard tube. That was more than a little puzzling. What could it be? "Zero, we will help you with some conditions."

"What are they?" Zero watched Leviathan warily, but she only looked at the tube in her hand with an uneasy frown.

"We will provide a ship, and crew, and Leviathan will go with you. We need to reestablish trade over the sea as much as you need your generator." Harpuia grimaced slightly. "Our lack of fusion generators is why Phantom and many other high level Reploids have not been replaced." Zero nodded thoughtfully. That would make the Rebellions task harder, if they had to fight Neo Arcadia again… but that was fair, since Zero's survival would do the same thing to Neo Arcadia.

"I mean no offense," Zero said. "But if the crew of the ship is all Neo Arcadian, how can I trust them?" They would be well out of Harpuia's oversight, and there might be more than a little temptation to arrange an accident.

"My word of honor," Harpuia said briskly. "And you can take a party of ten." That would give Zero some firepower behind him, although he would still be outnumbered.

"Besides," Leviathan added. "I'm the Guardian of water, and Neo Arcadia has fishermen. Does your Rebellion have anyone who knows one end of the ship from the other?"

"A point," Zero had to admit. If he was forced to make up the crew out of only Rebellion soldiers, the ship would probably sink before they made it halfway across the ocean. "But none of you have gone across the ocean before, have you?"

"No, but I'm certain it will work out fine." Leviathan said briskly, covering her own concern. X hadn't encouraged anyone to make that trip, so they would be using ships that were more costal in nature. Harpuia didn't understand the risks, but Leviathan knew the ocean as well as any of them and was well aware of the hundreds of things that could go wrong. "Besides, you have to go, don't you?" She raised the cardboard. "At least we have a map." Zero blinked, then eyed it respectfully. Maps beyond the local level were very rare. "It's from before the war, so cities are marked and everything."

"Ah, good." Zero allowed himself a warm smile at Leviathan, who blushed faintly. "I'll go gather my ten… where and when should we meet?"

"Port Town, in… mmm, a week?" Harpuia glanced at Leviathan, who looked pensive.

"Better make it two. Getting everything together could be a little messy." That went completely over Zero's and Harpuia's heads, but Leviathan was their expert on sailing, so they accepted it.

"Okay." Zero smiled slightly. "Thank you, Harpuia." He appreciated that they were willing to help, even if there was some self-interest in it. Then he teleported away, back to the Rebellion base…


"Oh, this is totally out of the question! Just shoot me now and put me out of my misery!" Leviathan was waving her staff and glaring at Ciel. Normally, that would have sent the eight Rebellion soldiers around her into an immediate defensive reaction. But right now, the situation was very amusing, and many of them were hiding grins. "The ship will sink if you try to load all that crap on it!"

"I need this crap!" Ciel retorted, crossing her arms. "It's all very important! If Zero's generator shuts down, we'll have to put him on life support so we need the systems."

"Those systems weight a ton," Leviathan said, frustrated. "This is a ship, not a repair bay! And it's a damned costal fishing ship! Are you trying to kill us all?"

"You were loading a lot of things earlier," Zero said, feeling a need to defend Ciel a bit. Leviathan scowled at him.

"Those are trade goods. Do you think we'll get something for nothing?" Leviathan glowered, but this time at empty air. "Our records show shipments, mostly of food and spices… damnation, we can't take a shipment of grain on this thing. Just the spices and our own food is taking up so much space. And then the ten of you! Useless, all of you. We are not taking THAT." She came back to the main point, Ciel's baggage.

"Ciel, is there any way to cut it down by, say, half?" Zero looked at Leviathan. "Would half be acceptable?" Leviathan considered it, and finally nodded grudgingly.

"If we unload some other things, yes." Ciel looked mutinous, but finally started looking over the equipment, grumbling and getting the soldiers to help her weed through it. Leviathan looked at Zero, blushing faintly again. "Thank you." She sighed, and slumped down, taking a seat nearby on the steps leading up to the dock. Zero hesitated, then took a seat beside her.

The unimaginatively named Port Town was really quite pretty. It was mostly inhabited by humans, and a few low level Reploids who enjoyed the sea. The buildings were made of red brick, and there were planters everywhere, filled with spring flowers. Zero sighed faintly. If he could, after all the fighting was done, he would retire to a place like this. It was so tremendously peaceful. He wondered if that time would ever come.

Of course, the peace was relative. Zero winced as he heard the sounds of a squalling fight from one of the houses, then grinned. That only made it more charming, in a strange way. A real paradise would never be completely without conflict. Two children ran out of the house, calling each other names.

"Ugh, brats… I hate kids." Leviathan muttered, wincing at the shrill sounds. Zero shrugged.

"They can be sort of cute." He did empathize with Leviathan's attitude, though. The noise was pretty annoying, and one of those kids knew curses he shouldn't.

"Hrmph, if you say so. Are you likely to need all that stuff?" Leviathan gestured to the pile of equipment Ciel was cutting down. Zero winced.

"I hope not. It will all depend on how much time this takes." The longer it took, the better the chances. Leviathan shrugged.

"Well, crossing the ocean won't take too long if we make it at all. Wretched tub of a ship. But I think we'll be fine." Leviathan glanced over at Zero. "Have you ever been on a ship before?"

"No," Zero admitted. Leviathan grinned devilishly.

"Oh, you're in for a treat." But despite his questions, she wouldn't say anymore…