Chapter 1

All things must come to an end. But from that ending, something new will be born. The start and the finish, alpha and omega...forever linked in an endless cycle. Which will you be? The ending or the beginning?

The first thing she was aware of was darkness. An endless field of black stretched as far as she could see. Then, one by one, her senses began to activate. First was touch, which alerted her to the fact that she was lying down on an inclined metal surface. Next was her sense of smell, which enabled her to discover that the air she breathed was stagnant. Next, her hearing booted up, allowing her to hear some people murmuring nearby. Her eyes fluttered open as her sight came online, and the world became visible to her for the first time. A glass barrier covered her resting place, enabling her to see the metal ceiling above her. The glass was also reflective enough for her to see what she looked like.

Physically, she had the appearance of a petite sixteen-year old girl, with curves in all the right places and slender black limbs. She wore a knee-length dress that was primarily colored red from her neck to her waist but primarily blue from the waist down. Yellow bands accented the top of her dress, while the skirt part was decorated with both red and yellow material. The dress's puffed sleeves were short and pink, while her shoes were armored pink and white heels. Her long brown hair was tied in a low ponytail by a blue and yellow hair band. Finally, yellow rings covered her wrists and ankles, and a bright red beret was placed atop her head.

Her first emotion was confusion. Who was she? What was she doing here? What was her purpose in the world? Before she could even begin to answer these questions, a sharp hiss filled her auditory sensors. The glass that had covered her was lifting up, releasing the compressed air it contained. When the glass cover was fully upright, she allowed herself to sit up.

She was finally able to get a better look at her surroundings. It was apparent that she was in some sort of laboratory. However, the place was in a state of disrepair. Almost everything looked like it was corroding or falling apart. Her eyes soon landed on a small group of humanoids nearby. They all wore green military uniforms with matching berets and brown metallic boots. She quickly identified them as mechanical beings: Replica Androids, or Reploids.

She had a sudden revelation: she was a Reploid, too. She had been activated just moments ago and her processor was slowly feeding her basic information that all Reploids were preprogrammed with. But where was her creator and why were those Reploids all pointing guns at her?!

Frightened, the newly-activated Reploid whimpered and shrunk back into her capsule. Her processor searched for a possible way to escape the situation, but she had no combat functions, weapons, or exceptional athletic or intellectual abilities. She was a thoroughly average civilian Reploid in every conceivable way, and in this situation, that meant she was done for. She couldn't believe that she had just been activated only to be destroyed! Why did these Reploids even bother to awaken her in the first place if they just wanted to kill her?

"I don't think she's dangerous," one of the Reploids murmured. "She looks scared out of her wits. I think she would have attacked by now if she presented a threat."

A tense standoff followed. The newly-activated female Reploid curled up into a ball, praying and pleading that the others wouldn't shoot. Finally, an order pierced the silence.

"Lower your weapons!"

A series of clinks and clicks alerted the young female that the guns were no longer pointed at her, but she was still too scared to move. She stiffened as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry we frightened you. We didn't know if you were a threat or not."

The female Reploid timidly uncurled herself and looked at the speaker. He was a bit taller than her, and he wore a see-through visor in addition to his beret.

"What is your name?" he asked.

With everything that had happened in her first few moments of life, the female Reploid had never had a chance to search through her data for her name. Now that she was calmer and no longer at gunpoint, she found the desired information.

"My name is…Iris," she murmured. "Who are you? Where is my creator?"

"My name is Milan. I'm part of a group of Reploids called the Resistance. Our leader found this lab and we were ordered to investigate it, which is how we discovered you. Based on the state of this place, I'm guessing your creator is long gone."

A weight settled inside Iris's chest. Did her creator abandon her? She desperately searched through her data archives for a clue, and to her surprise, found an audio message addressed to her. Hurriedly, she played it for herself.

"Greetings, Iris. My name is Professor Dahlia. I am the one that created you. If you are listening to this message, then I will be long gone. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to seal you away before you had a chance to be activated. It is likely that many years have passed since you were sealed, and you will probably be alone in a world that you know nothing about. But don't be afraid. When the time comes, you will know the reason why you were brought into this world as well as why I sealed you away. I am sorry that we were never able to meet face to face, but know that I care for you as if you were my own child. I wish you happiness and I hope you can help bring the world true peace."

Iris blinked in a mixture of surprise and confusion at the message. What sort of role was she supposed to play? As far as she could tell, she was as ordinary as a Reploid could get. How could someone like her help the world find peace?

"Iris? Are you okay?" asked Milan.

"Oh! Sorry. I was just thinking," she replied.

"It's dangerous for you to be out here by yourself. You should probably come with us."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's a long story, but basically, we Reploids aren't very welcome in the world anymore. When we get back to our base, Dr. Ciel can explain everything."

Iris felt a shiver crawl down her spine. What could have happened to make Reploids unwelcome? She wobbly stood up with Milan's help and joined the group of soldier-like Reploids. She was a bit reluctant to trust these Reploids since they had held her at gunpoint just a few minutes ago, but she didn't know how the world around her had changed since she was built. If Milan was telling the truth, she'd be much safer with an armed group than by herself.

"Okay everyone, let's head back to base!" Milan ordered. The small group followed his lead out of the lab. Iris was finally able to properly examine the place where she had lain dormant. It was in worse shape than she initially thought. The metal had cracked and corroded with time, leaving holes in the ceilings and walls, and the machines were completely defunct and covered with grime. If she had to guess, many decades must have passed since the lab was last used. She could only assume that either her capsule had been exceptionally engineered or she was just extremely lucky.

Milan led Iris and the other soldiers to a disk-shaped beige device which he called a Transerver. He explained to her that the Transerver was used to travel quickly between various areas. Someone could use a Transerver to warp to any other available Transerver. Milan set the Transerver's destination and urged Iris to get on top of the device. Hesitantly, she did so. After the Transerver activated, Iris's vision went white and she was overcome with an odd sense of weightlessness. This lasted all but a second, and before she knew it she was back on solid ground.

Feeling disoriented, she stumbled off the Transerver while trying to get her bearings. This was not the same building she had been in before. While it was still run-down, it wasn't in complete disrepair. A nearby noise jolted Iris out of her thoughts. She saw that the other Reploids from the group were appearing from the Transerver, one by one. When Milan arrived, he approached her.

"Follow me, Iris," he said. "I'll take you to see Dr. Ciel."

"O-okay."

Milan led Iris through numerous halls. They passed many other Reploids wearing the same kind of uniform as Milan. Iris shrank away from the others and avoided making eye contact. She doubted they were bad Reploids, but her earlier experience made her wary.

At last, they entered a small laboratory. It was very basic in design, with only one computer and a few other pieces of necessary furniture. Iris peeked around Milan and saw someone seated at the computer and busily typing. Nearby this person hovered a tiny fairylike creature. Iris's data archives informed her that the fairy was a Cyber Elf, a sentient program created to empower Reploids.

"Dr. Ciel! We've found a new one!" Milan announced.

The person stopped typing and swiveled her chair around. She lifted a white visor from her face, revealing cobalt eyes. Iris gave a start when her scanners identified that Ciel was a young human. Ciel's outfit was very similar to a Reploid's body armor, consisting of a black bodysuit, a pink vest and skirt, white gloves, and matching shoes and helmet. Her blond hair poked through an opening in the back of her helmet and reached just past her waist. She honestly didn't look like a doctor or the leader of an organization of Reploids.

"Oh? Who are you?" Ciel asked.

"M-my name is Iris, ma'am," Iris replied. "So, you lead all these Reploids? But you're a human, and you're so young!"

The Cyber Elf flew right into Iris's face. "Don't underestimate Ciel! She may be young, but she's a genius!"

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean any offense, honest!" Iris apologized.

"It's all right. I'm not mad," said Ciel. "So Milan, you found her in the lab we discovered?"

"That's right," confirmed Milan. "We found her sealed and activated her on-site. Based on the lab's condition, I'd say she must've been there for at least a century."

"A century," Ciel muttered thoughtfully. "Milan, you're dismissed. I will explain everything to Iris."

"Understood." Milan left the lab, and the door shut behind him.

"I assume Milan has already explained why he brought you here?" asked Ciel.

"Yes. He said Reploids aren't welcome in the world anymore," Iris replied. "But why is that?"

"Wow, you're really out of the loop," the Cyber Elf commented.

"Passy, if she truly was sealed away for a century, then that's only natural," Ciel reasoned. "Let me start from the beginning…"

Ciel explained that the nearly the entire population of the world lived a utopia called Neo Arcadia, and it was in the midst of a major energy crisis. In order to conserve energy for the humans, innocent Reploids were unfairly labeled as Mavericks and sentenced to death. When Ciel found out about this, she helped the Reploids escape Neo Arcadia to this ruined city. She organized them and formed a group which became known as the Resistance so they could defend themselves against Neo Arcadia's oppressive rule.

"That's horrible," Iris commented.

"Five years have passed since then," Ciel continued. "We've managed to hold off Neo Arcadian forces with guerilla tactics, but we can't keep this up forever. And so…I've been searching for Zero."

"Zero? How can a number help you?" Iris wondered. In response, Passy rammed into her head.

"What's wrong with you?!" the Cyber Elf demanded. "You've never heard of the legendary Maverick Hunter Zero?"

Iris winced and massaged the bump. "Well, uh… Okay, no, I haven't! That knowledge wasn't programmed into me!"

Now that she thought about it, though, the name "Zero" did strike a chord with her. It carried a pleasant nostalgic feeling, even though that shouldn't be possible since she'd only been active for half an hour tops. Did that mean Professor Dahlia had missed a glitch in her systems?

"Actually, it's not all that surprising that you don't know," said Ciel. "If Milan's estimate of the time you spent sealed is accurate, that meant you were built around the time Zero supposedly went into stasis."

"Oh, wow. Can you tell me more about Zero?"

"As you can guess from the title 'legendary', his strength was beyond compare. He was instrumental in quelling every Maverick rebellion that occurred during his time. But he eventually sealed himself away permanently. Some legends say it was because he believed the bloodshed would never stop as long as he was around."

"Wow. That's so sad," Iris commented. "It sounds like Zero was really noble. I would have liked to meet him."

"If I can find him, you'll be able to do just that," said Ciel. "But as you can imagine, finding a century-old Reploid who intended to sleep for all of eternity while the government is trying to eliminate you is far from easy. No one knows where Zero rests. Actually, most people think he's just a legend. It's not easy convincing the rest of Resistance that searching for him isn't a waste of time."

"Just a legend, huh?" Iris closed her eyes. A strange sensation emanated from her core. It seemed to be telling her that Ciel's efforts were not in vain. Zero was real, he had to be! He was sleeping in some unknown place, but he was alive. She couldn't explain why she was so certain of that fact, but it resonated so strongly within her that she knew it had to be the truth.

"I believe in Zero," Iris stated as she reopened her eyes. "I'm sure you'll find him someday, Dr. Ciel. And I want to help you and the rest of the Resistance. I don't have any combat functions or anything else that really stands out, but I'm willing to provide support any way I can."

"I'm glad to hear that, Iris," Ciel said with a grateful smile. "With Neo Arcadia constantly breathing down our necks, we need all the help we can get."

"You can count on me!" Iris exclaimed.

Erm, so here we are again. I should have restarted the story from scratch as soon as I started reconstruction, but of course I was too stubborn. Anyway, you'll notice this chapter is unchanged, and I'll be reuploading Chapter 2 and the new versions of Chapters 3 and 4 shortly. I'm really sorry for all of the confusion I caused. Hopefully there won't be any more problems!