Author Notes:
*ahem* Your attention please. This is my first fan-fic at . Now let me stress, my first one at this site, this is not my first fan-fic ever.
With that in mind, please do go a little easy on me in reviews, but don't be afraid to be a tad biting and harsh. I'd like any problems with my writing style to be pointed out and taken care of before they become too well seeded.
Anyway, as for the fan-fic itself, I noticed that when it came to Axl, msot people went with an Axl/Cinnamon thing, which I always found slightly odd. Considering the typical interpetation of Alia's words to X in X6, and Layer's crush on Zero in X8, I thought there would be more in the way of Axl/Palette material, but that seems almost non-existent. So I wrote this, it was intended to be strictly Axl/Palette, but a bit of X/Alia snuck in as well.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own Mega Man or any of the characters in the franchise, it all belongs to Capcom.
To see the teen reploid walking with any other girl… she'd deny it, but it enraged her.
Cinnamon crawled through the bushes around Hunter HQ. The cracks through the leaves let her see exactly what she expected, and hated, to see. Axl strolled along, not a care in the world. That wasn't what irked her, what irked her was Palette, walking right by Axl.
No, she wasn't walking by Axl, she was clinging to him. Cinnamon's normally bright and well-meaning eyes lost their innocent shine as she saw the tight grasp Palette had on Axl's arm.
Officially, Palette was Axl's personal navigator. In the hopes of forming trust between the Hunters and Navigators, top hunters like Axl had been teamed with a single specific Navigator. Palette was Axl's professional partner, just like Alia had been grouped with X, and Layer had gone with Zero.
The two had stopped walking and had sat down on a techno-bench. The levitating blue bench was high enough that there feet dangled off the front of it, though it was low enough that Cinnamon could still easily see them. More importantly, she could see the way Palette leaned her head on Axl's shoulder. She had her eyes closed, looking as if she was about to take a nap on him. Axl seemed oblivious to her obvious interest in him, just like how he was oblivious to Cinnamon. It gave Palette the excuse to be affectionate without shame.
Nana had explained to her that Layer and Alia also had "a thing" for the Hunter they had been teamed with. Though Alia was too shy, and Layer found herself crushing on the most unapproachable male, ever. He was still subconsciously suffering from the death of someone named "Iris".
Nana said she was also interested in X. That was okay, X could be the core of a love triangle, Axl, on the other hand, couldn't…
"…Why is Cinnamon stalking those two?"
A blue reploid, X, was able to see Cinnamon through the bushes from his vantage point on Hunter HQ's 3rd floor. From her movements, he could tell that she was following those two, though the answer to why? was escaping him.
"You really can't tell why?" A red reploid, Zero, currently off-duty, gave an exaggerated sigh at X's obliviousness.
"It's not obvious." X pressed his helmet against the glass window. He hoped no one thought he was spying on them, but perhaps that's how this might be defined.
"Oh, you…" Zero's face disappeared into his hand. "Okay, let's run down here."
Zero held up a clenched fist, before bringing up the pointer finger. "Number 1. How did Cinnamon react when she heard that Palette was Axl's partner?"
"She was upset that she didn't become Axl's partner." X leaned back from the glass, looking at Zero's finger.
"Number 2." Zero brought a second finger up. "When she saw Axl and Palette holding hands a few days back, how did she react?"
"She got angry." X crossed his arms over his chest, unable to understand what Zero was trying to say.
"Number 3." Zero's expression, once slightly amused, was starting to turn sour. "Who does Cinnamon try not to let out of her sight?"
"Axl." X turned back, the three looked like they hadn't moved, though his conversation with Zero had only lasted a few seconds.
"Do you still not get it?" Zero brought his hand back down, closing his eyes out of annoyance.
"What? No. I don't get it." X trained his eyes on the red reploid, who was getting something out of this scene that he wasn't.
"You're an idiot, X." Zero turned to walk away, before pausing at the sound of a door opening.
"X!" Zero was able to recognize Alia's voice as she walked through the door, a distinctive clasping noise could also be heard. She must of grabbed X on his shoulder or arm. "Will you walk me to the Navigator Room?"
"Why? Is something wrong?" X flashed a confused look at Alia. He could see she was blushing for some strange reason.
"You're wasting your time with that one, Alia." Zero walked off down the hall. X was a good friend, but that didn't change the fact that he could be amazingly stupid on occasion.
"Come on." Alia gently tugged on X's arm, dragging him along behind her. "It's not a long walk." Her voice seemed to be somewhat sad about the shortness of the time she was going to be by X.
"It's getting late…" Axl looked up at the sky above him and Palette. "You know how Signas loves shoving morning assignments on us."
Palette picked her head up off Axl's shoulder, giving a small pout at Axl's suggestion that they should leave now, but didn't argue. "All right."
The two got up off of the bench, to Cinnamon's half-pleasure, Palette released her grip on Axl's arm, but they didn't stop walking together. They weren't hand-in-hand, but they stayed right beside each other as they returned to Maverick HQ's front doors. Neither of them spotted Cinnamon hiding in the bushes mere feet away from them.
As they reached the door, the silence was broken by Palette. "Thank you for that enchanting walk." Palette felt slightly awkward of her use of the term "enchanting", but given his track record, Axl predictably didn't catch on, or even notice.
"Hey, no problem." Axl pushed his left fist into his side. "If it's so enjoyable, we should do it more often."
Palette went red with an embarrassed blush, Cinnamon, in the bushes, went red with jealousy.
Palette would have to someday tell Axl how she was really feeling about him, but not tonight, no, it wasn't right yet. They had yet to know each other long enough for her to jump forward like that. Layer would have called her out for thinking like that, they had known each other ever since the Jakob incident, but she still felt that she wanted to wait for a perfect moment.
That was why she didn't make a motion to kiss Axl right there. Every fiber of her being must have been telling her to do just that, but she couldn't. For now, just being able to be with Axl had to suffice.
Cinnamon continued to hide among the bushes as she saw Axl and Palette walk through the automatic doors. She couldn't follow them any longer, she'd be given away by the sound of the electronic door opening for her.
If she didn't act soon, Palette might start up a real relationship with Axl.
"Er… Zero…" Layer saw the red reploid walk into the Hunter's Rest area, effectively a Hunter lounge, all Zero ever did hear was stare out the window at the sea. "Do… do you think we could… uh…"
"No." Zero evenly walked past Layer and moved to his usual spot by the window, he had frequented the spot so much, that the pattern of dust allowed one to even see the shape of Zero's boots. He always moved to the exact same location, and placed his feet down in the exact same spot.
Layer quietly bowed her head as Zero walked past her. There was no getting through to him, he was a nice person, truly, but he accepted offers from no one, even from X. Layer had heard that his old flame, "Iris", could talk him into just about anything.
Maybe I should just give up. Layer brought her head back up as she walked out of Hunter's Rest.
Kinda figured it have been longer then that. Hm.
Oh, i'm not anti Axl/Cinnamon, I just thought i'd be amusing if she tried to stalk Axl and Palette. I will say that I take a firm stance against Zero/Layer, just like how I take a firm stance against Zero/Ciel. Considering how he was affected by the death of Iris, I think it's better for him to not enter another relationship. Though I understand that he likely wouldn't remember Iris in the Zero series, but still...
Ah, and please do review. Yes.