Wow, certainly been awhile since I've posted, hasn't it?
First off, this is for Pardra, for being one of my closest friends and roleplay partners, and is a birthday giftfic. :) Happy birthday, Pardra!
Second - this fic is a major AU. While main game events will be recognized, there are huge differences in the history of the world.
For those of you following A Real Hero - it has not been abandoned. I've simply been extremely busy with work. I know where I want to go with it, but I'm having a hard time putting the words on paper. Hopefully I will get at least one more update in it out before the end of the year.
Pairings: Only one, and it's never explicitly stated. Pardra knows the pairing, but I'll let the rest of you figure it out.
Disclaimer: The Limited belongs to Pardra. All other characters belong to Capcom. These specific AU versions of these characters are all mine.
Keeping a mask up was hard.
It was only in his private rooms - Xavier's private rooms, he noted sourly at one point - that he was able to drop the mask at all, when he could act like himself and not pretending to act like someone else. It wasn't safe, not even at this stage. If one of them got suspicious, then the others would, too.
The consequences of failing what he was doing was too high. The devil whispered in his ear constantly, and if he wasn't pleased, then Xanatos himself was the one that suffered the punishment. No, he couldn't allow anyone to figure him out, because right now, he was what was holding Neo Arcadia together.
He was going to be the hero that Xavier couldn't.
The first things that he'd had to do was get rid of Xavier's remaining family; they'd know that he wasn't who he said he was right away. Uncle Reuben and his kids. Xavier's sister and half-brother. Xavier's children that had been built before the Elf Wars. All of them. They had to go.
They'd gotten away, but he'd coldly ordered the entire military force of Neo Arcadia, from the Guardians themselves to the lowest Pantheon footsoldiers, to kill them if they ever showed their faces again.
Of course, he couldn't have the disappearances of so many "family" members without other family getting suspicious.
Phantom and Ciel had come far too close to figuring it out. He had been forced to "convince" Phantom with some help, and despite all efforts to silence Ciel and make it look like an accident instead of murder, she had managed to flee.
She was certainly resourceful for a human female, he had to give her that. But he had Phantom, and he knew that while Harpuia, Fefnir, Leviathan, and Cial were wary of the change in their brother and their sister's disappearance, there was no way that they could assume what had happened without serious repurcussions. He would be more than happy to do the same if it meant that no one would find out.
Fortunately, the devil had been fairly happy with what he'd been doing, and slowly left him to his own devices. But, he had warned him, if he willfully chose to disobey him and he found out, then the consequences would be dire.
Xanatos deeply feared the devil.
He'd feared him all his life, ever since he'd seen how violent the other could get. Even as a small child, Xanatos hadn't been spared his wrath, and this had left him growing up with a feeling of fear and respect for him, and a deep-set hatred towards his father for not protecting him.
Life in Neo Arcadia continued.
Xanatos had no idea what this... thing was.
He'd found it skulking about in the hallways leading towards Yggdrasil. This area was restricted and banned to everybody except him, so it was a mystery as to how he had gotten there. As for Yggdrasil itself, even he didn't dare mess with the power source of Arcadia - he'd never been in there, and he didn't want to give the devil anymore ideas. For once, Xavier had done something right. Yggdrasil's power source was infinite and wouldn't run out, whatever it was.
From all appearances, it looked like a normal Reploid. The long red hair and gold eyes were unusual amongst humans, but amongst Reploids, that wasn't a strange thing. Lots of Reploid creators went wild with their creations. Even the partially organic nature wasn't strange amongst Reploids. Xanatos knew plenty of Reploids that were partially organic, and he was one of them himself.
The androgynous-looking Reploid had been skulking about the hallways, as if looking for something but not expecting to find it. What it was looking for, Xanatos didn't know, and nor did he care. There were tendrils of red gel (at least, he thought it was gel) coming from the Reploid, and when it noticed him, it turned towards him with some interest.
Hold on, gel? Hadn't he had something whispered in his ear about gel, whenever the devil had spoken soothing words to him in his sleep?
Limited. This was a Limited. A feral one, from the looks of its hungry eyes.
Xanatos tensed and prepared to defend himself from the creature. Feral Limiteds could never be reasoned with, and they were dangerous, eating other Reploids and destroying them. It was terrifying for a normal Reploid or human to look at one, like they were something out of human mythology, a human-like being that acted anything but.
The Limited hissed, but then stopped, taking an awkward step forward and making an odd, soft cooing noise at him. Some of the feralness disappeared from its expression as he studied Xanatos, only to be replaced with something a little more gentle. Still feral, but not as if he was about to pounce.
The young Reploid remained tense, red eyes fixed on the creature. Was it trying to lower his guard?
It cooed again, and before Xanatos knew what was happening, the Limited was in his face, staring at him. He almost stumbled back, but it didn't seem interested in attacking or eating him, instead idly poking his arm with one of his gel tendrils or staring at his face. One of the Limited's pale, delicate hands reached up to trace the contours of his face, and Xanatos had to admit that it made him a little uncomfortable.
"You stop that," he finally ordered, backing away from it. What a weird creature.
The Limited seemed to sulk, almost like a dog that had been pushed off when trying to show affection to its owner. It reached down to grab what appeared to be part of a processor (a Reploid's processor, Xanatos noted uncomfortably) and brought it up to its mouth, biting a piece off, chewing it, and swallowing. It never took its eyes off of Xanatos, though it seemed to purr and poke at him with gel.
Did it like him? He didn't know. But if it ate Reploids, he couldn't very well have it following him around. It might turn on him any moment, or it might eat someone that he considered useful. He really should destroy it and end it here.
And yet, the fact it seemed to like him was intriguing. Why did it like him?
He reached out to place a hand on the creature's head, rubbing its head much like one would do an animal. The Limited purred loudly, shoving his head against Xanatos's hand as if demanding that he pet him some more.
This was amusing, but disturbing. This Limited clearly had no qualms about eating Reploids, like most feral ones had in the past, but it didn't seem to want to eat him. Maybe he could use that to his advantage... maybe he could keep this Limited around.
Xanatos eyed the entrance to Yggdrasil. He had access to Yggdrasil, of course, but he didn't like to go in there, and as far as he knew, Yggdrasil itself had no actual guard due to being so difficult to find and access. Perhaps he should set a guard there?
Making up his mind, he placed his hand on the scanner, letting it authorize him through his hands (he'd set it up so that it checked his general facial features instead of his eyes - for whatever reason, Yggdrasil didn't seem to like his eyes and refused to grant him access if it scanned them). When the door slid open, he swallowed, and nudged the Limited towards it.
The Limited made a chirping noise, as if confused, and stepped in, eyeing the giant tree that was Yggdrasil. It didn't seem to be interested in munching on anything other than the Reploid part that it had brought with it, and dropped down against a wall. At least it seemed to be able to distinguish between 'food' (other Reploids) and 'not food' (Yggdrasil itself).
"You stay there," Xanatos demanded, unsure of whether it could even understand him.
It turned towards him, and the young ruler found himself staring at a pair of feral golden eyes again, before it nodded jerkily. So it could understand words after all. The Limited wandered about the room as Xanatos carefully backed out out of the room and closed the door.
Well, if someone broke into Yggdrasil, they would meet a feral Limited. And it would probably eat them. Oh well. It wasn't Xanatos' problem anymore, and no one need know that he was keeping a feral Limited down here.
Even the devil didn't need to know. This was Xanatos's secret.
The very next day, Xanatos checked on the creature, still not going too close to Yggdrasil. The Reploid processor that it had been eating was gone, and Xanatos had the feeling it had completely devoured it.
It hadn't touched Yggdrasil and seemed fairly bored, but perked up a little when it saw him, making a happy chirping noise, sliding over to demand petting. It even shoved its head underneath his hand in order to receive it.
This was bizarre. Xanatos petted it, muttered a bit of praise, and then quickly left. The Limited unnerved him.
Despite his wariness of the creature, he did continue visit, telling himself that he was merely checking to make sure that it hadn't eaten Yggdrasil, but the visits tapered off. At first, he went every day. And then every few days. A week. A few weeks. A few months. A year. Finally, he stopped visiting the Limited altogether, confident that it would guard Yggdrasil to the best of its ability and prevent Neo Arcadia's power source from being completely destroyed.
He was busy anyways. That upstart girl, Ciel, had managed to start up a rebellion of sorts against his government. Just because he killed a few criminal Reploids to prevent waste of power. Really, what kind of girl was this to protect such people? Cial had been taking her twin sister's actions as a personal insult, which he was thankful for, and she had been working hard to ensure Neo Arcadia ran smoothly under him.
To make matters worse, Ciel recruited someone that had been believed dead.
Even the devil that murmured to him had not counted on his presence.
When he first saw Zero, he knew that the other didn't look a thing like he had during the older days. In fact, it was rumored that Zero was inhabiting another person's body, and he believed it. This person's features were a little different, the hair was a different shade - a little lighter - and the eyes were violet instead of blue.
That made him no less dangerous.
And Xanatos hated him. The man that had protected Xavier all of his life, that had defended him no matter what happened. Why did he have no one like that to protect him? This man, that knew immediately that he wasn't Xavier, that could read him... That looked far too much like the devil to make Xanato's comfortable.
That was probably why he fell to his blade. That was why he failed. That was why he couldn't defeat Zero.
The devil was going to torment his soul for this, he just knew it. Even as his vision faded, he could swear that he heard him laughing.