My Champion: A Love that lasts after death.
The alarm clock went off with a soft buzzing sound; a gauntleted hand slid out of the midnight gloom and shut it off. The hand's owner stood up from the small, simple cot at one corner of the 15' by 15' room. Only the outline of the figure is visible, but it could be concluded from its slender, yet highly muscled body, that the individual was male. A light was switched on; it was dim but was able to expose the tall male android. Zero stood roughly six and a half feet in height; he weighed nearly 170 pounds, which was pretty average for his species. Zero stretched his compact, muscled, limbs, yawning slightly. He cricked his neck, the soft pops relieving some of the strain he had attracted during his day. He rubbed sleep from his light blue eyes, and ran a hand through his long blond hair, which reached down to the calves of his legs. Zero strode over to the opposite wall, which housed a steel cabinet, the tall reploid grumbled sleepily as he searched his red bio-jacket for the keys. Upon finding them, he opened the cabinet to reveal a red combat helmet, a holstered blaster pistol, a small combat chip, and a beam saber, which was switched off of course. He carefully pressed the combat helmet onto his head, almost immediately the air pads on the inside of the headgear expanded to fit his head snuggly, a pair of small hooks gathered up Zero's hair into his trademark ponytail. The hero then attached his saber and pistol to a pair of magnetic clamps on either hip. The combat chip was then inserted into a small slit on Zero's gauntlet, which triggered a small hologram of an ornate 'Z' onto the palm of his right hand.
Zero turned, his combat boots clinking softly on the metal floor, and walked to the door on the west wall. It opened at his touch, sliding silently into the wall. The long haired reploid grabbed a large trench coat that hung from a hook on the wall before striding silently and confidently into the gloom of the hallway. Even though the lights were off, Zero's night vision was perfect enough to ensure that he would move unhindered by the lack of illumination. He paused in his trek as he reached the locker hall, located his locker, typed in the combination, and removed a small backpack from the top shelf.
The hero of the resistance continued on his journey through the base. As he passed an ordinary door, a small young voice called out. "Mr. Zero, where are you going?" Zero turned slowly to see a young girl reploid, no more than eight years old, looking questioningly, albeit sleepily, at him. Zero gave a small smile, whispering "I'm off to see an old friend, please go back to sleep, Aoulette." The small, blond, girl blinked sleepily, cuddling her stuffed animal, a fuzzy frog, to her chest. She asked "But, Mr. Zero, what should I tell Mrs. Ciel if she wonders where you have gone?" Zero crouched and laid his hand on Aoulette's small shoulder "Tell her, and Elipzo, that I'll be back at the base by morning." The girl smiled up at him, "Goodnight Mr. Zero." "Goodnight, Aoulette." Zero stood and watched the young reploid walk drowsily into her room, shutting the door after her.
Zero then turned about face, and rushed at a wind fast pace, his boots barely touching the metal floor, not making a sound. Zero stopped suddenly upon reaching the elevator, and activated it to transport him to the roof. He stood in silence, the dim hallway lights of each floor shone through the window of the elevator, the light sliding over him in horizontal waves. After the elevator sounded a soft 'ping' to indicate that it had reached the rooftop without hassle, Zero stepped out in a speeding rush. Zero dashed until he was an inch from the roof edge, bent his legs to their limit, and vaulted into the air. He flew in a high, wide, arc, being briefly outlined by the half moon. Zero landed without a sound six feet to the left of a guard on duty as part of the security picket line. The guard didn't even know Zero was there. The red armored hero gave a moments pause before running full sprint into the desert beyond, no one saw him, even though he rushed within an arms length by countless guards, he didn't make a sound.
Zero ran through the wilderness, making excellent time to his destination. His coat, which he had also covered his hair with, to prevent painful snags, flapped like a torn sail in his wake. Zero leapt up onto a 15' rock slab, and without breaking stride, leapt over a 20' wide chasm. He crouched as he landed, scanning the way beyond with keen eyes. He checked his holographic watch on his left wrist guard, he had been running nonstop for twenty-five minutes for five miles, and he was almost there. He walked quickly the rest of the way, his hand straying to the pistol located at his hip, his eyes searching the rock formations for any irregularity that would betray the presence of any unwanted guests. He heard a waterfall in the distance, and allowed himself a small smile, he'd reached it. He slowed his pace almost to half step, and then he heard a feminine voice cut through the night air. "I assume that you came alone?" Zero gave a warm smile, "Of course."
Soft, barely audible, footsteps were heard, and a slender, female reploid walked cautiously out into the patch of ground that the moon had kindly lit up for them. She was roughly half a foot shorter than Zero, and seemed to weigh twenty pounds less than him. Her hair looked like brunette silk and it reached down to the back of her knees, her sky blue eyes had warmth to them that could stop, and tame, a rampaging bull. These eyes stopped Zero's heart, in a figurative way of course! She wore a light purple jacket with a red triangle and zigzag design, trimmed in yellow, and normal fitting pants which were tucked into her white boots. A red beret stood at an angle upon her head. "Iris," Zero whispered softly, taking a step forward, reaching towards her with one hand. Iris smiled and closed the gap between them, taking his hand in hers. "Zero," she looked like she could cry for joy. Zero, without further adieu, bent down swiftly, and planted a quick peck on her lips. This action caused her to give a short squeak of surprise, her eyes widening, blinking unbelievably. Zero gave a small chuckle of amusement, "If you didn't catch it the first time, we could try that again." Iris shook herself from her haze and laid her head on his chest, enjoying his warmth. "Maybe later" she said with a content sigh. Iris backed away a step, "How long has it been Zero, how long since we've last seen each other?" Zero frowned slightly, "Too long, a few months since the war ended." He reached out and tenderly stroked her cheek. Iris smiled slightly, taking Zero's hand and kissing it, "It seemed longer than that to me, I've been so preoccupied with helping clean up the damage to the capital city under 'Lord' Wiel's occupation." She hissed the name with such cold contempt, Zero could have sworn that he saw a waft of frost stream from her lips, although this wasn't that surprising, it was almost Christmas after all.
Zero stepped forward and embraced her in a warm, soul melting, hug, "It's okay," he whispered compassionately "That Godforsaken war is over, Wiel's dead, X sacrificed himself to obliterate him on the Ragnarock space station." Iris looked up, her eyes boring into his, "How did it happen Zero, how did Master X die?" Zero slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to explain what had happened.
Flashback:
The frigid climate of the Ragnarock space station began to quickly increase in temperature as the dooms day device plummeted towards earth's atmosphere. In the main hall, under a glass dome, in a room with dimensions in the nine thousands, Zero leans against a pillar for support. He's a terrible wreck; his right eye is swollen shut due to a blow to his skull. His left hand covers his right shoulder, which bears a deep gash that exposes his synthetic, now dislocated, bones to the cold atmosphere. His right hand grips his beam saber limply. His legs are strained, he's so exhausted he ready to fall to his knees. His armor was cracked and dented; his black under armor was shredded in places, revealing his pale, and in some areas badly cut, artificial skin.
Hovering before him is Lord Wiel. At a first glance, one would see a frail looking old man, human in fact, or at least he once was. By Wiel's scientific calculations, 98.6 of his organic body was replaced with bionic parts, only his brain, crimson eyes, wispy silver hair, and the skin on his face remained after over 100 years of cheating, and ticking off, death. Wiel's body was fashioned to look like a vast encompassing metal robe; he had no legs, preferring to hover by the use of an anti-gravity plate. Originally, Wiel's papery skinned skull had been submerged in a glass cone filled with an orange, life giving, transparent, liquid. But during the brutality of combat, the cone had shattered, leaving the madman's long hair to sift down to cover half of his face. His crimson eyes were wide, his voice high pitched and rasping like a snakes hiss.
Wiel fixed Zero with a unblinking stare, stroking his short goatee, "Yessss…Zero…the defender of the people…you've been a hindrance in my plans for too long… you were even able to break my mental hold over your pathetic friend, X, you were actually able to force me to strike him down and fight you myself!" Zero spat at the lunatic, "He's not pathetic, he's thousands of times more of a man than you'll ever be!" Wiel's sick smile widened, revealing needle like fangs where his teeth had originally been, "Except he's not a man, he's an android, just like you, your species was built solely to serve mine!" Zero sneered, "So reploids were created to help out senior citizens in nursing homes." Weil growled, which sounded more like he was coughing, "Insolent fool! After I eviscerate you, I'll crash Ragnarock into the earth, teleporting out as I do so, ensuring the fear and loyalty of both humanity and reploids, I will rule this misbegotten world with out question, and I shall rule it for all time, all life will be controlled by the great Narcius Wiel!" He threw back his head and laughed, his screeching, rasping humor echoing throughout the space stations many decks, sending a chill down Zero's synthetic, metal spine.
Zero gritted his teeth in agony as he stood up, his beam sword gripped limply in his right hand, which he then slipped into his undamaged left. "I will gladly, and willingly, give my life to ensure that your sick dream never comes to fruition." He glared defiantly at the insane scientist. Weil, however, sneered, "I, in turn, will save you the trouble by ripping out your entrails, and splattering them about this room, as a glorious insult to your pathetic Resistance." Zero smiled ruthlessly, "Regardless, as to whether I survive this experience, the Resistance will still fight against your tyranny." Weil snarled, bringing his gauntleted hands up, black laser energy burning from the palms. "Let us cease this inconvenient drivel, and end this, I'm going to paint these walls in your blood!"
Out of the shadows on Wiel's left, rose out a blue blur, trailing a trickle of red, and a scream of "Not while I draw breath!" It was X, or at least what remained of him, a foot wide gash marred he torso, exposing metal ribs, trickling artificial hemoglobin. His left leg was bent at an unnatural angle; his already red eyes were bloodshot and cut. His right arm, from elbow to fingertip was replaced with a powerful buster cannon, already charged to full power. His combat helmet was shattered, allowing some of his, short, brown hair to show through. Before Weil could react, X clamped his left hand around the sociopathic doctor's gullet, pressed the short barrel of the buster into the hollow of Weil's throat. The gun was activated, it fired, point blank.
The sheer force of the blast turned the top half of Weil's metal body into respective atoms, but not before the dark lasers loosed off, punching a pair of holes straight through X's chest. Weil's remains collapsed upon themselves in a smoking heap, X, however gave a groaning sigh and toppled backward. Weil's deathblast had smashed Zero off his feet, as the crimson armored warrior stumbled upright, he heard a feeble plea, "Zero,… help me." Zero rushed to where X lay, streams of red flowing slowly out of the blue armored fighter. Zero gently lifted X into a sitting position, X's head was lolled back, his eyes half closed. He stared at Zero with an expression somewhere between sorrow and gratefulness, "Zero, thank you, for freeing me from Weil's control, I've committed horrible atrocities with the power I had in my grasp, but I want you to know that I never meant for it all to end up like this." Tears were now flowing freely down X's face, his voice cracking with emotion. Zero frowned worriedly at his friend, "Don't talk X, please, save your strength, there is a chance that we can get out of here alive." He made as if to lift his azure armored ally, but X motioned for Zero to cease the action. X winced as Zero set him down, "Zero, please, tell me about Alia." Zero blinked, "Alia? X, I've been in a stasis for one hundred years since she was alive, only a small piece of my memory is intact about that era, I don't know if I can recall anything useful."
X smiled, "Please Zero, Weil, that bastard, erased most of my memories of her, all I have left is the recall of her name and that I loved her more than life itself. Please, I wish to know." Zero sighed in frustration as he tried to remember any significant details, and slowly, after a bit of prodding, a part of the dam that had his memory sealed off, broke open in a flood of facts, images, and memories. The information came so quickly that Zero could barely stay on a single topic, "Well for starters, her hair was like spun gold, she'd wear her hair style in a bun, usually, but there were times that she would let it flow down to middle back, she had green eyes, she was roughly your height… she was our navigator on missions, she'd relay statistics and info to us when we were behind enemy lines… I think she drank coffee while she helped us… you couldn't stop thinking about her, or talking about her." Then a final image slid out of the cracks in the mental barrier, Alia, in a wedding dress, X in a tuxedo, standing in front of a priest, sharing a passionate kiss. "I think I might have attended yours and Alia's wedding." X sighed, "I seem to have a fleeting image of that… by God she's so beautiful… Zero, Iris is alive." Zero nodded "That I already knew, she told me that you revived her so that the military expertise she learned from her brother could help you out in the war." X nodded, "Go to her Zero, she's waiting for you... just like Alia's waiting for me."
Zero's heart stopped, his eyes widened in fear, "What do you mean by that, X?" he whispered in terror, although he already knew what X meant. X didn't reply immediately though, but gripped Zero's hand in a warriors handshake, with palms gripped to wrists, "T-thank you Zero… f-for e-e-everything, I will a-always be w-with you, my friend." X breathing shallowed, then stopped, and his hand went limp and slipped from Zero's shocked grip. Zero felt something in his palm, when he inspected it; it was a hacker chip, which would override Ragnarock's core, causing it to explode, destroying the space station, and everything in it. A small hologram lit up from the chip, indicating the location of a nearby teleporter, which was close to a circuit board where the chip could be placed, that would transport Zero to the earth surface. Zero gently lifted X up, Zero's combat helmet fell off as he did so, and sprinted down a nearby corridor. As he ran, for one of the few times in Zero's long, harsh, life, he wept.
End Flashback:
Zero sighed as he finished, Iris looked sorrowful and sympathetic. She gently reached out and took his gauntleted hand in her gloved one, "Hey, It's okay, X is free now, free from the darkness, he's with Alia, forever."
Suddenly, it seemed that the skies themselves had become sorrowful by Zero's story; it began to rain, hard. Zero's mood evaporated almost immediately, "Aw, damn it! C'mon, let's find some shelter!" The endless sheets of rain had already soaked their respective garments to the bone. However there was no outcroppings to be seen, Zero neared a great slab of basalt, "Stand back, please." He asked, and clenched his hologramed fist, the 'Z' burned green in the dim moonlight. With barely a grunt he slammed his fist into the basalt wall, shards of stone scattered in a hale, which caused Iris to have to duck behind Zero. When the dust cleared, a small cave remained in the wall, they swiftly climbed inside, thankful to be out of the downpour. Iris shivered upon entering, and Zero, seeing this, draped his trench coat over her dainty shoulders. She smiled, nodding at his kind gesture. Zero drew his beam saber, and activated it, a bright beam of narrow triangular light appeared. Zero then stabbed it point first into the rugged floor of the improvised shelter. The glow spread a light green light, as well as a sufficient amount of warmth, causing a happy tingle to flow like water throughout Iris' body.
She smiled and leaned against Zero's slender chest, he, in turn, wrapped his arms around her narrow torso. Iris pursed her lips slightly before asking, "Zero, we've been apart from each other for over a century, I'm afraid that you would have found someone else." Zero opened his eyes slowly, he gently turned Iris around to stare into her eyes, and he smiled, giving a small chuckle. "What do you take me for? A disloyal tramp?" Iris' stared at the ground, "But what about those two other women, Ciel and Leviathan?" Zero continued to laugh, "Those two are already taken, Leviathan has always had a soft spot for Phantom, and Ciel found Elipzo. Besides, even if they weren't already in love, I still wouldn't have had any interest towards them, I always have, and forever shall, be your protector and light of your life." He gave her a quick smooch on the lips, causing another blush to bloom on her face. Zero then smirked playfully, "What about those two guys you've had to work with, Fefnir and Harpulia." Iris gave a dismissive 'hmph!' and then replied, "They're not my type, thank God, Harpulia is too quiet and is a bit of a workaholic, while Fefnir is loud, and a bit… incompetent. In any event though, you've always been my champion, and there will never be anyone else."
She smiled, eyes shut, and leaned into Zero's chest, listening to his heartbeat. Zero blinked at the nickname, "Now, where did I earn that title again?" Iris giggled at the statement, "Don't you remember? You got it from that old game that you, X, and Axl used to play. What was the name again?" Zero nodded as he regained memories of the old tabletop pastime. "I think it was Warhammer 40'000." Iris smiled "Oh, yes, you played as those evil marine guys, while X played as what again?" "X played as the Space marines, Axl preferred to control the Imperial Guard, I think that was because of their firepower." Iris snuggled closer to Zero, wrapping her arms around his midriff and giving him a playful squeeze, "Yes, and those Chaos Marines you played as were led by champions, and so that is where you got your cute nickname, Champion." She smiled and flicked Zero gently on the nose with her index finger; Zero blinked in annoyance, and gave a soft sneeze. "Stop that, please. You know I hate that!" Iris gave a dismissive little laugh, "I do it because it annoys you."
Zero smiled, but then started, remembering something, "Wait here, please." He asked, and walked over to the opposite side of the cave, plucking the backpack he had brought with him. He opened it, and gently out a black plastic box, barely two feet long, a foot wide, and five inches high. He opened it as he made his way back to Iris; he gently lifted a titanium violin, devoid of strings and a bow without a reed, but a black smooth sensor strip. He set his jaw upon the chin pad, glanced at Iris, asking, "What instrument setting would you prefer?" Iris blushed, "Piano stetting would be nice." Zero nodded in acknowledgement, turning a small knob on the end of the violin until a small, white, hologram saying 'piano' appeared. The red armored hero then pushed the knob inside a groove in the handle of the violin. Almost immediately, four beams of, light green, light appeared in the areas where the strings of the violin should have been.
Zero then closed his eyes in concentration, and began to play. Instead of the noise of violin strings, the notes of piano keys were heard. The beautiful music seemed to send Iris' soul adrift, like a surfer upon ocean waves. It brought back memories of a time a century ago, back to the days of the Maverick Wars, where Zero was the angel of death on the battlefield, but the love of her life off of it. It brought back memories of long gone friends and family, such as her older brother, and of X, Alia, the young, spunky Axl, and of Axl's girlfriend, Cinnamon. It also brought tears to her eyes knowing that she wouldn't see any of them again. Zero quickly finished the song, and took Iris in his arms, knowing the reason of her despair. He stroked her hair, hushing her, calming her, as he had done a few times before, one hundred years ago. Iris paused in her sobs, "Zero, listen, the rain's stopped."
It was indeed true, the downpour had ceased. Zero gently scooped his right arm under Iris' knees, and steadied her back with his left, and carried her outside. He strode in the direction of the waterfall, and found it behind some boulders. Iris was slowly, reverently, set down at the edge, with Zero sitting behind her, enabling Iris to lean upon his chest, gathering comfort from his presence. He leaned down and kissed her neck, wrapping his arms protectively around her flat stomach, and around the pair of lives that formed within.
They would be there until sunrise, talking about the future, the future of the world, and their future.