Two years had passed since Dr. Weil's defeat. Two years since the legendary reploid, Zero, had last been seen. All that had been found of him at the crash site was his helmet, broken and hardly holding together. Most everyone believed he was dead, and after so long without any signs to say otherwise, it seemed to be inevitably true.
Ciel didn't want to accept it. He had done so much for her and everyone else, with little care about his own desires, and now he was just... not there. It felt wrong. Empty. As though the peace they finally had was tainted by a hollow loneliness that nobody could fill. Cerveau had told her it would eventually fade. But it never had. Ciel still felt lonely, still felt as though part of her heart was missing. She had realized by now that some of her happiest moments had been in the midst of the war, purely because Zero had been there.
But he was gone now. She couldn't bring him back. All she had left was his helmet. By now, Cerveau had repaired it for her, but it only comforted her so much. Sometimes when she was alone she would talk to it, pretending the silence was just Zero being his typical, generally quiet self. It had helped at first, though now it made her miss him even more. It made her long to hear his voice again, even just a couple words.
Even just a goodbye.
Ciel shook her head and sighed, looking out the window of her new home and staring longingly towards the horizon and the setting sun. It felt like it had been a lifetime since that fateful day. The day she had discovered his resting place and woke him up. The day everything changed, and the future seemed just a little brighter. Zero had been the ultimate godsend, no matter what he did or where he went. He had always gone above and beyond; a job wasn't just done right, it was as close to perfect as anyone could hope, and more. Again and again, he had pulled off the impossible and was ready for another round.
A sudden knock on her bedroom door drew Ciel from her thoughts, her gaze turning to regard Cerveau as he poked his head in. "Yes?" Ciel asked.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he replied calmly. "but there is someone here to see you. He said he's lost something and thinks you're the only one who can help him find it." The mechanic grimaced. "I tried sending him away, but he refused to leave without seeing you first."
Ciel blinked. This was odd. Normally if someone had lost something, they'd ask someone who was good at finding things, not a scientist. "Did he say what he lost?"
Cerveau shook his head, though he had an odd look in his eyes, as though he knew more than he was actually telling her. "No he didn't. Did you want me to tell him to come back some other time?"
The woman hadn't missed the unusual gleam, and shook her head. "No, send him up here. I may as well deal with this right away so he can go about his life again sooner."
Cerveau nodded and left, closing the door on his way and leaving Ciel to wonder what he hadn't told her. He didn't normally keep secrets from her; what made this situation different? She shook her head a little and looked out the window again. It was an odd time, she thought, for someone to come and see her. Normally someone would have come earlier in the day, not around sunset. Especially if they wanted her to help with something. Even Alouette tended not to ask Ciel for things this late in the day, aside from possibly wanting a bed time story.
"I wonder what they want..."
It probably wasn't that important, she decided. Important things were dealt with during the day, when there was more time to deal with them. This was probably nothing to worry about. Absently, Ciel called 'come in' when she heard a knock on the door, though her gaze remained on the horizon for a moment or two as she listened to the person enter the room. "Cerveau said you wanted me to help you find something?" She asked after a moment of collecting her thoughts.
"Yes, and you are the only person I could think of that could help."
That voice.
That hauntingly familiar voice.
Ciel turned her chair right away, eyes widening slightly as she studied the figure that had entered her room.
He was tall, remarkably so in fact, with deep sapphire eyes and an almost unreadable stoicness in his expression. Blond hair cascaded loosely over his shoulders, long enough to almost reach his waist. Red armor, battered but strong, protected his chest, arms, and legs, from the dangers of the world, with a dark blue bodysuit covering whatever his armor didn't, and white holsters hanging on his thighs, though no weapons could be seen within them. The reploid had a weathered and almost war-torn look about him, though as he spoke again, a smile broke his otherwise unmovable appearance.
"You haven't seen my helmet anywhere, have you?"
"Zero!"
Ciel couldn't help but –clumsily in her rush – launch out of her chair and all but throw herself at him, burying her face in his shoulder as tears welled in her eyes and splashed down her cheeks. Zero laughed softly as he caught her and held her in a close and gentle embrace. "You've been working too hard, as usual." He observed. "Don't you ever take a break?"
Ciel just held on tighter for several seconds, barely believing what was happening but too happy to question it. "You never did..." She finally replied, shaking her head as she leaned back just enough to look up at Zero's face. "Where were you? Everyone thought you were..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the statement.
"Dead?" Zero asked, smirking in light amusement as he stared down at her. "I get that a lot, trust me. I'm sure there were many times X didn't know if he should be upset or just roll his eyes. But that doesn't matter; I'm here now."
Ciel smiled and giggled for a moment, though she hesitated as worry seeped through her happiness. "You aren't going to leave again, are you? What if something bad happens, and you go out to stop it, and-!"
She found herself cut off mid-statement as Zero leaned down and kissed her, smiling afterward as he held her close to his frame once more.
"It's okay Ciel." He assured softly. "I won't ever leave you again."
"I promise."