A/N: Thank you for the reviews thus far! I've decided to go ahead and upload everything(or most of it) from tumblr to here and eventually solely post here at some point, although the when is still in the works haha. If there's anything you'd like to see from me in particular, feel free to send me a PM!
Ciel's resignation from the position of Commander-in-chief of the Resistance's forces to focus solely on her studies to create a substitute energy source had been something they had both agreed upon, although it was only now that it had come to pass did Zero actually selfishly regret urging to her to do so.
Ciel's Replacement, as he had come to call him(though not to his face of course), was for all intents and purposes also her complete opposite. The way Ciel was both caring and motherly, knowing each member of her Resistance by face and name, while also maintaining a firm hold on the morale and discipline of her forces was something not many could boast about, let alone from someone her age. In short, Zero's expectations of her Replacement may or may not have been a little too high.
While he was clearly a competent military tactician, Elpizo certainly did not possess Ciel's more prominent traits as a Commander, and was often rude and disrespectful to his subordinates, both Zero and Ciel included.
Zero himself was relatively unphased by such treatment, but he quickly found himself growing short and rather sour with this "Commander-who-was-not-Ciel," most especially because of the way he treated both Ciel and her goals of achieving peace with Neo Arcadia, giving him more attitude than necessary (or professional for that matter) whenever he was presented the chance, particularly after one of his "harder" missions.
Perhaps his first impression of the newly appointed Commander was partly to blame, because as Ciel had often told him: First impressions are the most important ones. His introduction into Elpizo's methods of running Resistance operations had hardly been what he would call pleasant, owing mostly to the way his first and frankly, only, conversation with the taller Reploid had gone. Elpizo's clearly forced and rather arrogant attempts to greet Zero had immediately put him off, and therefore he had pointedly ignored the other's handshake in response. His overall posture and demeanor practically screamed 'narcissist', and Zero surprisingly caught himself grudgingly adding Elpizo's slight height advantage to the growing list of things he strongly disliked about the pink Reploid.
In the end, however, what Zero thought about the new Commander on a personal level did not matter in the least.
What mattered was that, ultimately, he was an effective leader and tactician and to that end he was such, despite Zero's misgivings about how he went about it. Additionally, Ciel had seemingly appointed the Reploid herself, and as such Zero was beginning to see the rationale behind it… if he squinted, he supposed…