A/N
Maybe not all characters are supposed to have a happily ever after ending, but the secret ending to Megaman ZX Advent drives me crazy. In the spirit of that, here's what I think could happen instead. Review please and if you must flame, don't be super harsh.
Forgiven
Aeolus shifted nervously in his chair, something rather uncharacteristic of him, and glanced at his companions.
Atlas was glaring impatiently at the door, her body language all but screaming "Hurry up before I break something!"
Thetis was fidgeting for the umpteenth time and appeared thoroughly convinced that he'd be shot if he tried to stand up, though given the fact that both Model A Mega Men, Ashe and Grey, were watching them the assumption probably wasn't very far off.
Even Siarnaq was affected by the tense atmosphere, at first glance he seemed as stoic as ever but every now and then he looked to his left and right before stilling once more.
Seeing that the other three 'evil' Mega Men were just as uncomfortable as he was, Aeolus returned to his thoughts, going over what had led to their current situation.
When they had confronted Ashe and Grey on Ouroboros, Vent and Aile had shown up and given the Model A Mega Men a chance to take on Master Albert. Not long after that Ouroboros started to fall apart and they all knew that Albert and the Model Ws were no more. The ZX Mega Men had wanted to check up Ashe and Grey but were still in a four-on-two fight with the 'evil' Mega Men. Model Z gave them the chance by un-merging Vent and Aile and freezing Models H, F, L and P, effectively stopping their Biomatches and providing a chance of escape to the 'good' Mega Men.
Demerging, Aeolus, Atlas, Thetis and Siarnaq plucked Model Z from the air while carrying their own Biometals and abandoned whatever dignity they had left; running like heck to the nearest Transerver and warping to the entrance where they managed to jump into the Guardian Base just as the entrance closed.
Needless to say, they were met with guns pointed at them. A lot of guns.
Aeolus, gasping for breath and practically ready to keel over, thrust Model Z and Model H at a very surprised Aile, "Here, take your Biometals and don't shoot!" He'd said before collapsing. Atlas, Thetis and Siarnaq, left with no other options, had handed their Biometals to an equally surprised Vent before sitting on the floor to recover from their mad dash to (relative) safety.
Aeolus had woken up in the infirmary to his surprise and was promptly informed that despite officially being prisoners of the Guardians, he and the other three 'evil' Mega Men were entitled to getting their wounds treated. After he was given the okay from one of the nurses, he was escorted to a small room with four chairs where his companions were sitting and waiting to learn what was going to happen to them.
This was their current situation, he mused, sitting in a small room inside an enormous airship, waiting to hear their final fate. Would they be executed for their crimes? Jailed? At best they'd be sent straight to Legion and put under surveillance. At worst... Aeolus shook his head and tried not think about what would happen should the remaining two Wise Men decide that what they'd done was completely unforgivable.
Aeolus was broken out of his musings when the door slid open; Vent and Aile walked into the room and six gazes were immediately trained upon the ZX Mega Men, four of the six gazes filled with a mixture of hope and fear.
Vent cleared his throat, "To start things off, we need to tell you that Models H, F, L and P are alright. In fact, they came with us and want to talk to you in *ahem* 'person'." He stated as said Biometals floated out from behind Aile and up to their Biomatches.
"I'll be blunt; we're all pretty outraged at what you used our power to do." F stated harshly, getting a small flinch out of Atlas.
"Killing innocents, feeding them to Model Ws... It's practically the Slither Inc. incident all over again, but on a much larger scale!" P berated, making Siarnaq look away uncomfortably.
"And that doesn't even cover the destruction you all caused; the environment just was barely starting to recover from the first Model W attack when you caused a second one!" L ranted, causing Thetis to hang his head in shame.
"But despite everything you did, it can be excused on account of the fact that it was technically all Albert's fault." H said calmly, drawing stares of a mixture of hope and confusion from all for 'evil' Mega Men.
"When Pandora and Prometheus and stole us and brought us to Albert, he put a mind block on us that prevented us from speaking out against what you were doing," H continued, "Albert also used to DNA data from a Model W to temporarily corrupt the minds of whoever would be using us, when the Model Ws were all destroyed and our minds were no longer blocked we were able to purge the data."
"But who removed the mind blo- what a minute..." Thetis started to ask until it dawned on him.
Model Z floated into view, somehow managing to look sheepish. However, before he could say anything, L spoke up. "Don't blame him for the power loss, he only removed the mind blocks, we had to kind of... reboot ourselves for the purge."
As Aeolus, Atlas and Thetis took it all in, Siarnaq looked at Model P with a hurt look in his eyes.
"BIOMETALS H, F, L AND P REBOOTED AND CAUSED EXTREME FATIGUE IN SUBJECTS AEOLUS, ATLAS, THETIS AND SIARNAQ, RESULTING IN NEAR-DESTRUCTION. INQUERY; DID SUBJECT BIOMETALS CARE ABOUT SUBJECT MEGA MEN?" He asked, a betrayed look beginning to dominate his features.
"That's right; when you rebooted (or whatever it was that you did) we almost died!" Thetis exclaimed, obviously agreeing with the ninja.
Atlas looked like she was ready to add something when Aeolus had finally had enough.
"Did it ever occur to you that they may have very well been trying to get us killed?!" He exploded, catching everyone's attention.
"We did just as P and L said we did; we killed hundreds of innocent people, including children, demolished homes, practically destroyed the environment, maybe we really do deserve to die." He ranted, "Who'd miss us? I never had any friends and even if I did once, they certainly wouldn't care about me now! After everything we've done I wouldn't be surprised in the least if everyone at Legion wanted us dead!"
The room was silent and still until...
Siarnaq hung his head and slowly shook it from side to side.
Thetis began sobbing before pulling a shell-shocked Atlas into a tight hug and crying some more.
Atlas was stunned at the truth behind Aeolus' words and numbly hugged Thetis back, her mind completely unable to process anything except that there was a boy weeping openly into her shoulder and that the physical contact was somehow more comforting than annoying.
Aeolus buried his head into his hands, hiding the sheer anguish he was feeling at the moment.
The four so-called 'evil' Mega Men were currently feeling more guilt, regret and remorse than they'd ever felt before in their entire lives.
Aile decided that now was a good time to speak. "Actually, we went over things with Master Thomas and Master Mikhail and they decided that as it was Albert's fault that you four *ahem* did what you did you will be put under surveillance by the Guardians. Three months of 'good behavior' as they put it and you'll be free."
Aeolus and Siarnaq slowly lifted their heads, Thetis broke the hug and turned around and Atlas' brain finally registered what was going on around her. All four Mega Men stared with disbelief clear in their gazes.
Thetis was the first to blink, looking like he was ready to dance at any given moment.
Siarnaq managed to regain his composure and straightened in his chair slightly, doing everything he could to restore the 'emotionless ninja' façade he had lost at some point during their escape from Ouroboros despite his obvious relief.
Atlas and Aeolus shared an 'is this really happening?' look.
H, F, L and P floated up to their Biomatches. "We're sorry that we nearly got you killed." H apologized, clearly expecting a snide comment or a harsh reprimand. What he got was neither.
"H, I have more reason to be sorry than you; I used your power for unspeakable crimes, I apologize for my actions." Aeolus said, Atlas Thetis and even Siarnaq were saying similar things to their own Biometals.
Thetis looked L, the small blue Biometal floating in front of him. "Do you think that maybe, when I'm free... if it's okay with the Guardians that is... that you could come with me, L?" He squeaked out.
L looked amused, "As long as it's alright with Vent and Aile, and the Legion too I suppose, I'd be happy to."
F took the opportunity to add his own opinion. "If I look past all the crazy I think I can make this work."
Aeolus, Atlas, Thetis and Siarnaq watched in disbelief as their Biometals promised to come with them when they were free (as long as it was allowed).
"Hey uh, where will we go when we're free? I don't think we have homes anymore..." Thetis asked.
Three months later...
Near the armory
Atlas walked down the hall of the Guardian Base with F floating at her side, heading to the armory.
Cédre looked up from the rocket launcher she was polishing as the flame Mega Man walked, "Atlas, good morning! How's your first day as a Guardian going so far?" She greeted cheerfully.
"F and I are on field duty for the next two weeks, cleaning up some mavericks near Area C." Atlas replied with a grin.
"Still couldn't get me on the field huh?" Cédre asked with the tiniest hint of bitterness.
Atlas shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, though for the record, that ink balloon prank that you convinced Sardine and Thetis to pull on Congre probably didn't help."
"Hey, it wasn't my idea to dump a bag of flour on him afterwards," Cédre defended, "And besides, you have to admit it was pretty funny."
"Haha it sure was! Congre raced down the halls flailing his arms like he was on fire or something!" F exclaimed before being plucked out of the air by a slightly irate Atlas.
"And now Thetis is stuck inside for a week. He'll be bored out of his mind and play another prank and get into more trouble..." She began before stopping herself and remembering that she needed to see Fleuve before heading off to blow up mavericks.
Bidding farewell to Cédre, Atlas and F walked to Fleuve's lab.
6:25 P.M., on deck
Aeolus relaxed as he leaned against the rails, feeling the wind rush around him.
So much had happened in the past three months; Siarnaq was still talking in that mechanical monotone voice but was now using 'regular speech patterns', he'd also developed a crush on the shy nurse Rose, who had developed a crush on Siarnaq yet neither one knew the other's feelings.
Atlas and Cédre had hit off almost instantly (Congre hid in his room for three days upon learning about it) and walking by the armory often yielded the sight of the flame Mega Man recounting war stories to the Guardian's resident weapons lover.
Thetis and Sardine became fast friends and made enough mischief for three of them, the latest of their exploits being the decision to pelt Congre with ink balloons and dump a sack of flour on him (that happened a week ago, nobody's seen him since), the ink balloons were apparently Cédre's idea. While the end result was funny enough to give Siarnaq a few guffaws it did land both pranksters and Cédre in trouble.
He himself had found a friend in Carrelet and often dropped by the passionate yet logical Guardian's room to talk.
Overall, things were looking up for the flame, ice, wind and shadow Mega Men.
"6:30, time for our evening flight around the Grand Nuage." H suddenly stated, bringing him out of his musings.
"So it is." Aeolus simply replied before Megamerging and taking off into the air.
Swooping, dipping, diving and even spinning, Aeolus enjoyed the wonderful freedom that flying brought him, but as amazing as that freedom felt nothing could compare to feeling of being... Forgiven.
~fin~