Author's Notes; Royal/Post-Apocalyptic AU. Shounen-Ai. This is set to take place during the same timeframe as post-X6 and pre-Z1..I honestly never saw myself doing something like this, although the idea intrigued me and I've seen the pre-apocalyptic scenario from many games..Guess I have to thank the Legend of Spyro Dawn of the Dragon and StarFox Assault for that..Please enjoy..This will be chaptered, but won't span as long as Royalty did..
He slowly pushed himself up from the dirt of the large crater. The upper layer of dust and ashes slid off his blue armor, but much of the soot and ashes from the impact had stained his armor and face. Something had happened, something disastrous, and whatever it was had forced him into the earth. As he stood and scanned the area with emerald eyes, X was horrified at what he saw. The area had been leveled, no buildings stood, no signs of life, and even Maverick Hunter HQ was no more than dust. He almost wondered if he was still on Earth, but he answered his own question because he could still breathe. He wondered what happened. It looked as if a bomb had hit and wiped out everything. He was even more horrified to see human skeletons around and buried under rubble and ash. Then, he had another thought occur to him. 'Where is Zero? I hope he's not dead again too.' The thought terrified him. Everyone he knew was gone. If this included Zero, he would be truly alone. He found his way to the edge of the crater, slowly crawling his way out in search of his blond lover.
Outside, X could see that there were multiple craters, some big and some small. 'Bombs? Or asteroids?' X pondered to himself. He managed to spot a body of water in the distance and looked down at his stained armor. 'Yeah, I could definitely use a wash.' He manuevered along the edges of the craters towards the water, which happened to be the ocean. Upon reaching the ocean, he sat in the sand and let the tide come in, scrubbing the soot from his face and armor. Two pairs of eyes peered at him from a nearby crater before nodding at each other and sliding down into the crater. 'We've found him, my lord.' One of them whispered into a communicator. 'Excellent, I'm on my way.' responded a familiar voice. As X finished rinsing his face, he stared at the water unable to take in what had happened and lost in worry over whether or not Zero was alive. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the sound of wings flapping nor did he see the black figure coming towards him.
He landed just behind X. The mere sight of his blue-clad lover inspired hope in him once more and made his heart race. He carefully reached his demonic hands around the dazed X's chest and pulled him close. When X registered movement, he looked at the hands on his chest. He recognized those large purple demonic hands. 'Could it be..?' He asked himself and turned around, bursting into tears immediately when he saw him. "Zero! You're alive!" He cried happily, pinning Zero down into the sand as he snuggled him. Zero's red chest lens was just as warm as he remembered. "I feared you were dead, my precious X." He wrapped his wings around him as X played with his long mane. "I worried the same of you, Zero. What's happened here?" The blond wiped X's tears away and stood up, keeping X in his arms. "I'll explain along the way. Let's get you to safety." He gently set X on his feet before turning his back and moving his hair. X nodded and crawled onto Zero's back, snuggling between his wings and wrapping his arms and legs around him as Zero took off into the air. Zero held X's hands gently as he flew past the craters X had crawled through earlier. "First off, I was sealed for 101 years. What came of that was a cure to the Maverick Virus and Sigma Virus. Sigma is gone entirely now and very few Reploids have to be put down. When I was reactivated, a full-scale armageddon by a wave of large asteroids was occuring. You've seen the craters yourself, I'm sure. I managed to escape with some more surviving Reploids and we led many of the humans underground to safety, but the population was trimmed a little. We managed to save at least 75% of them, there may be more. I remembered your dream of creating a Utopia for humans and Reploids and we've decided on making it a reality. However, the asteroids destroyed almost every building on the planet. Any remaining resources are either dust or buried, which demands further investigation. Since there was no longer any sort of government, we decided on a monarchy. It seems appropriate and effective for now. I was put at the throne and sent the soldiers I escaped with to find you. That was almost 3 years ago." X was baffled. "3 years..? Asteroids.. Underground.." He said in shock, snuggling him tighter. "A monarchy? But you've always been my king...You don't need a crown on your head to prove that." Zero chuckled. "As are you. I'm not wearing one either." X smiled. He felt a little better already. "So, where exactly are we going?" "Deep underground where the humans are. The only ones who should be above ground are my troops trying to scavenge food supplies and materials we might be able to use."
Upon arriving in a desert relatively unaffected by the asteroids, Zero found and opened the underground passageway, closing the door behind him. His head and chest crystals as well as the lights on his armor made the path in front of them clear as he descended down the long stairs leading to the underground bunkers. As Zero said, there were the surviving humans and Reploids. Many of them still devastated, but some still hopeful for a brighter future. They all stopped and bowed when they saw Zero come in. X hesitated a little as he climbed off Zero's back. All these humans and Reploids had counted on him and the Maverick Hunters to protect them, but he failed. As he got on his feet, he expected to be booed and hissed at. Instead, there were cheers and chants of his name. Zero closed his eyes and smiled. "Nobody blames you for what happened. There was nothing we could do to stop asteroids." X looked at him before sighing in relief. The cheering quieted as Zero continued. "Since it is your dream that we are trying to make a reality, you should be the leader. You've always been the true leader." He began to take a few steps behind him, but X pulled him close. "No. I'm not ruling or leading alone. I want you to be with me." Zero smiled widely at him. "Ruling and leading with you? I can't object to that." X smiled more and hugged him tightly, making the humans and Reploids aww and cheer. Once the cheering stopped and everyone went to get their food and water, the blond led X to his chamber to let him relax. He saw that Zero and his troops managed to make the bunkers and chambers livable, giving them the comforts of home for the most part. X deactivated and removed his armor before lying down on the bed. Zero watched him in concern and stopped in front of the bed. "I know how shocked you are from all this. I was too at first." The brunette smiled as he looked up at him. "You and all the survivors are safe. That's the best I can ask for." He pet the bed, gesturing for Zero to lay down next to him. "Come here, my king." Zero smirked and did as he was told, wrapping his wing around X. "We'll draw the blueprints and search for resources tomorrow." X nodded, snuggling him tightly, rubbing against his warm chest lens. Zero lapped X's neck, sending a tingling feeling through X's body that X had long missed. He placed a few new love bites around X's neck before they eventually fell asleep for the night.