Ragnarok fell, the mighty space orbital cannon built by Weil fell from heaven onto Earth, raining shattered fragments down, sending them burning as they descent through the atmosphere. The shooting stars were witnessed by many: survivors of the recently destroyed Neo Arcadia, and in a distance away, by a group of people who had found their place within Area Zero. Many were unaware of the sacrifice made, but for those who did, they prayed for him.
Down on Earth, a young human scientist cried, her calls for his name went unheard within the forest she chose to seek refuge in, and high up in heaven, within the sea of stars, a similar cry echoed hers. The ancient warrior from a time beyond ours tried his best to mimic the human emotion of grief, water droplets stained his cheeks, were they tears? One hand rested against the glass panel of a small observing window, within his sight was home, yet he knew despite having it in sight, he might never reach it. If there was one thing worse than death, it was isolation from the ones he loved.
With Weil's death, sections that were directly linked to the immortal collapsed upon itself, and with the explosion that followed after, Zero had expected himself to be engulfed by the flames as well. However, that was not what happened, before the explosion could reach him, the floor gave way, sending him falling into a bottomless pit. With the whole space complex dying and falling apart, the inbuilt AI computer tried its best to salvage what it could save, using what remaining power it had, it sealed off the deteriorating area, and separated them from the undamaged sectors and sent them plunging down into the stratosphere.
When Zero finally woke up, he found himself not much worse than death, having suffered heavy damages on various parts of his body, Zero struggled onto his feet, and staggered off limply with one arm hanging by his side. He quickly surveyed the new environment, and it did not take him long to realise that he was stuck within an enclosed space. All exits were either sealed or collapsed upon themselves, and having lost both his saber and blaster, there was no way in his current condition to force his way out. His only connection to the outside world was a tiny observation window before him, and through it, he saw that there were still other similar orbiting blocks from Ragnarok like the one he was currently in, that remained afloat in space.
As if on cue, the lights suddenly dimmed, and in a short while, they died out completely. Left alone in the dark, there was nothing much he could do but to wait for rescue. He wondered if the floating remains of Ragnarok were even large enough to be detected on radar, but he could only hope. In the mean time, Zero found joy in putting his visual-unit on auto playback to display still images of a girl in pink dress. Audio playback provided him not just the voice of Ciel, but also Alouette's laughter, Rouge's stern warnings, and even Leviathan's vows of revenge. Neige, Cerveau, Hirondelle… Harpuia, Fefnir, even Phantom… Zero chuckled softly, noting the pain coming from his sides. One last image came through, though Zero had no recollection of ever recording down this image and had no idea who was the female Reploid standing beside X, he found the two figures within the last photo very comforting. X, Iris… The names came through strangely so easy…
Occasionally, Zero would find himself slipping off into darkness, only to wake up hours later dazed and strangely cold. He checked his inbuilt sensors and radio for any pickups and found none, and he checked his clock to find almost three days had passed, among which he spent 95 percent of the time unconscious. At the end of the fifth day, after many occasions of slipping into unconsciousness and reawakening confused and feeling weakened, Zero decided to enter standby mode to conserve his remaining energy, he knew help would come eventually, he only had to trust and believe in them as he always did.
Zero slept for a while, using daily timer to occasionally reactivate himself to reassess any changes in the situation. Another week passed, nothing changed, knowing that he would not be able to last longer if he should to spend any more energy on his timer and the occasion reactivations, Zero decided for a total shutdown to preserve his memories. He had lost many things, with hope barely treading on a thin thread, he only wished to retain his memories of his friends, and more importantly of Ciel.
Zero whispered a silent goodbye, and slowly closed his eyes. Zero slept on forever.
