Darkness comes to Light

Chapter 2 Zero's POV: Took the words right out of my mouth…

God, MHHQ is so goddamn boring this time of day! It's always busy, and no one is paying any attention to anyone, which is why everyone keeps bumping into others. Usually, I'm not one to complain about it all, as I rather enjoy seeing people crash to the ground and break their tailbones, but 20 times a day is just far too much for me. Yeah, X's been complaining about it as well, but then again, he complains way more than me.

X… he confuses me sometimes. He's a real enigma, and I don't like those things. They always force you to see every piece of the puzzle before you're able to understand what the puzzle means. And well, whenever I think I understand X, another piece of the puzzle appears before me and makes me all confused. But strangely, with X, I don't mind trying to puzzle everything together. I don't have that much patience, everyone knows that, but with X, I can seemingly wait forever. People find that strange, especially Iris.

Oh, right… Iris. Totally forgot about her. Oh don't get me wrong, I have nothing against her! But she's just too cheery for me. Too… sugary sweet. Yuck. But X seemed to dislike her as well. Yes, I figured out X didn't like Iris ever since we first met her. I didn't think too much of it back then, but now, I wish I had.

Second I saw that girl, I couldn't get my eyes off her, because I had the strangest sense of recognition. I don't know what it was, but she just seemed so familiar to me. X tried to get my attention again, but I had to figure out where I saw her before. But she noticed me looking and she smiled, walking over to us. I doubt she even noticed X standing beside me. She talked to me for some time, before X suddenly stalked off. I could easily see the hitch in his step, and I knew I really ruined it.

After gingerly telling Iris I had to talk to X (and getting rid of her, which took some time), I went in search of that Blue Bomber. But no matter where I looked, I just couldn't find him. It just had me confused. X never walked away from anyone, no matter how embarrassing a conversation could get. So there was another piece I found and had to puzzle together.

But that's hard when you're working on two puzzles at the same time. But I still managed. About a week after the first meeting with Iris, I was sitting on a bench outside of MHHQ, thinking about those two puzzles again. Also, whenever I'm working on those things, I tend to ignore everything happening around me, which is most likely why I never noticed X sitting down beside me. So, well, when he clocked me, I was very much startled from my little 'trance'.

"Hey, X! What the hell was that for?!" I demanded, rubbing my sore head.

A little too late did I realize that was the wrong thing to say.

Retrospection… loathe it, really.

X shook violently and his face contorted in a deep frown. His eyes were sparking with both anger and unshed tears, as he practically shot up and started screaming at me. And that really caught me by surprise. He's never angry unless it concerns Mavericks, but I most likely pushed him over the edge.

I really tried to calm him down, but he kept interrupting me, telling me to listen to him. When he finally stopped yelling, I tried to think of what to say, but everything I'd tried to tell him escaped me. Just like that. I lost all the words I needed at the moment.

Minutes passed, and I could still not find the words I needed. But when ten minutes had passed, and neither of us had spoken a word, he broke the silence with the one thing I hadn't expected.

"Know what, Zero? If you appreciate Iris' company more than mine, than you can forget about us being friends at all! I don't even want to be your partner anymore!!"

That got a reaction from me. Years ago, we vowed to always be best friends no matter what happened, and now X was just going to throw it all out the window?! I gasped and shot up, grabbing his shoulders with my hands.

"X, listen already!!" I tried to reason with him

"NO!!! LET ME GO!!! LET GO!!!!"

Before I knew what happened, X had kicked me, hard. It caused me to double over, giving X the chance to run. I shouted after him to wait as he ran away, back to HQ. I knew it was hopeless to chase him though, but I still ran after him, hoping to stop him. But as I expected, it was impossible. Not only did he have too much of a head-start, he also locked himself up in his room, changing the code so I couldn't get in.

As I sighed, leaning against the door, I sighed softly.

Way to go, Zero.

Now what're you going to do, huh?

Well, the first thing I had to do, was give X some space. Let him cool down, you know. And in the meantime, I could actually get to work on the other puzzle.

And that's exactly what I did.

I spent hours trying to find anything revolving around Iris, but there was nothing anywhere. Not even on internet. The only thing that said was that she was the sister of Colonel of Repliforce. So, needless to say, that didn't really help.

So I resorted to the next option I had on the list; walk around town and see if I could find the answer there.

Well hello?! You actually thought I was going to walk up to Iris and ask her?! Give me a break!

Anyway, that's how I got downtown, just searching for any sign I could find. I had a digital camera with me, just incase I found out just what I was looking for. Whatever that was.

I was just wearing some plain clothes, so it wasn't all that easy to figure out who I was. Even though my hair was most likely a clear giveaway. Nevertheless, I wasn't bothered by any of those annoying fangirls.

But in any case, I had just started walking past a bookstore… then stopped and walked back a few steps. I stared through the glass of the store for a few seconds, looking rather confused, before I walked inside.

'Well this is interesting…' was all I thought as I picked up the magazine.

I smirked and pulled out my camera. I quickly snapped a shot and left after putting the magazine back. I left the place as fast as I came in, and surprisingly, no one made a move to stop me.

I rushed off to HQ again, eager to get the photo printed. That's why I got myself a digital camera in the first place. All you gotta pay for with those photos, is ink and paper. Seriously, what more could you want?

But as I walked into HQ, I ran into trouble, in the shape of Alia. And if you know how she is, you know it's bad no matter what's it about. Not the news, but it's the fact that she won't shut up no matter how harsh you get.

And by the looks of it, she was pissed.

And that could only mean one thing; she couldn't talk to X.

"What did you do to him?!?!" she demanded, not beating around the bush.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered, pushing past her without a second thought.

I didn't need any of this. Not at a time like this.

"Don't give me that shit, Zero!!"

I sighed softly. Looks like there's no such thing as rest for the weary.

"Alia, I don't have the time, so I'll talk to you later, goodnight."

And I vanished into my own room, closing and locking the door. She kept at it though, pounding on my door, but I simply attached my camera to the PC. I loaded several programs and started working. I picked up several snippets of Alia's one-sided conversation (seeing as I wasn't responding to her), while she pounded on my door.

"He won't respond to anyone!! So what the hell did you do?!?!"

Make a mistake, geez. I really wished she'd go away right now. But that's like wishing for the impossible.

The rest of her babble was mostly the same shit over and over, and I'm not going to repeat any of it. Instead, I cranked up some of my music-CD's, making sure to drone her out, but also to such degree that I couldn't go deaf.

It took some time, but she finally gave up. And just in time too. The second she left, my printer finally spat out the picture I had taken. I smirked as I pulled it out.

X was going to love this!

I checked my wrist-watch, and noticed to my surprise that it had been 4 whole days since X had fled to the sanctuary of his own room. As I looked outside, I noticed it was getting late. Well, all for the better, I suppose. Because the later it got, the more people would go to bed. And X knew I wasn't one to apologize with everyone around. So, he was probably waiting for me to show up, or he fell asleep while doing so.

I chuckled at the thought, and decided to wait a few more hours, before going to see the Blue Bomber. If he was still awake.

By the time I decided to go, it was nearing midnight. There wouldn't be anyone else up at this hour, not even Alia or Signas. So, I quickly sneaked out of my room, the picture stuffed in my pocket, and rushed toward X's room.

I've been there so many times before, I could find my way there with a blindfold on and both hands tied behind my back. Not like I was planning on ever doing that, but it's just a figure of speech. For some reason, it seemed to take a lot longer to get to X's room, and it gave me some time to think.

How was I going to tell X why I'd been ignoring him? I know that I have a terrible way with words, and retrospection seems to have taken a liking in me. It keeps coming back no matter how hard I try not to let it. And no matter how many times I tell myself to think before I speak, I just have the tendency to blurt everything out. Hoping against hope, I just wanted to make sure that didn't happen now.

Either that, or it's three strikes and I'm out.

All too soon, I came to the destined door. And as I stood there, it dawned to me how nervous I was to talk to X again. Things could seriously go wrong if you're not careful, and in such situations, that was dangerous.

Once I managed to gulp down whatever was blocking my throat, I raised my fist, and hesitated at the last second. What if X didn't want to talk to me? What then?? Gathering my resolve, I finally managed to knock.

I didn't expect a response, and I didn't get one either. I waited for several moments, before knocking again. And again, I didn't get a response. So I tried to talk to him.

"X? Are you up? I… I really need to talk to you."

I hated the way my voice hitched, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"…Zero??"

…Well, here goes nothing.

"Y-yeah… it's me… please, open the door, X…"

I nervously cast my eyes to the floor, hoping he'll open the door, but I didn't hear a thing. It seemed to take an eternity, but the door finally opened, revealing the fragile figure of my best friend.

The sight of X had almost made me crumble to dust, that's practically how crushed he looked. I doubt he even realized it, but his eyes were red and puffy from crying so much, and the tear-streaks on his face had yet to dry up. His skin was paler than I remembered seeing it four days ago, but he was still slightly flushed, his hair was ruffled even more than usual, and his clothes were a real mess.

Speaking of which… he was also clutching one of my old shirts against him, like it was his last hope for survival.

Heartbreaking… really.

"Hey," was all that managed to get out of my mouth.

X seemed almost ready to just break apart any second, and it tore me up to see him like that. Once again gathering my resolve, I opened my mouth again.

"C-can I come in?" I asked softly, hating the way I stuttered.

I could see X gulp, and all he managed was a small nod. He carefully stepped aside, allowing me to enter easily. Once I was in, he closed the door again, and just stood there. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't dare to look at him right now. I had to gather my thoughts for a moment. I had to figure out what to say to him, and I had to make sure I didn't say the wrong thing.

I gulped a little once I felt like I could face X again, so I turned and did just that.

X was clutching my shirt tightly against his chest, like it was really all that kept him alive. I really got this urge to just walk up to him and just hug him, telling him it was going to be alright, that everything would be okay again. But I wasn't planning to give in, yet. First things first.

"Look, X, about Iris…"

I think that was the wrong thing to say as I noticed him flinch, before he began to shake, quite visibly. His grip on my shirt tightened, and right then, he reminded me of a distressed little kid, hugging a plush animal close to him.

I bit my lip, weighing my words carefully, before allowing my words to escape.

"X… there's nothing going on between her and me. I just… I just had the strangest feeling like I saw her somewhere before. Like… like… uh…"

Oh crap. I couldn't remember what I'd been planning to say.

"Oh heck… I'm not good with this…"

X surprised me when he giggled, a small smile crossing over his face as he pulled up the shirt to hide it. He seemed to enjoy seeing me frustrated over something so easy as saying what's on your mind.

Normally, had he been anyone else, I would've blown up, but X is just… well… he's different, that's all there is to it.

And besides, the tension became less now, and I wasn't complaining.

"X…" I started again, "look… I'm sorry about what happened, but I just needed to figure out where I saw Iris before, and… well…"

I trailed off, and pretended to look around, as if to check if no one else was there. It got the desired reaction and X looked at me with expecting and curious eyes, almost begging me to continue. I know X was easily interested in anything that might seem to be the world's biggest secret, and he'll most likely do anything to learn it.

I pulled the picture from my pocket, and handed it to X, whispering: "Check this out!"

He gingerly took the picture from my hand, his hand lightly shaking, took one look at the picture… and quickly muffled his laughter with my shirt. I smiled at the reaction and walked up to beside him, looking at the picture with him.

"Just happened to walk past the book-store. Was lying right in front of me."

He smiled up at me, his eyes shining with so many emotions that I couldn't possibly sort them out. But as I looked down at him, I saw the tear-streaks still on his face. I knew it was a little late for it, but I could just tell by looking at him that he needed it. So I gently pulled him against me, and gently embraced him.

Little rascal nuzzled his face into my shoulder, and gave a soft sigh, not saying anything.

Let's see… that had been a good 10 months ago, and right now, we're back to being friends again. Iris still plagued me from time to time, but hell, see if I care about her!

Well ANYWAY!!! That was over and done with, but that didn't mean trouble ended for me. It'd been a quiet day, and if I know X, which I did very well, he was most likely just loafing around. Not me, though. I was busy working on some paperwork that was due somewhere that afternoon. I know, not the best time to do stuff like that, but I always tend to leave the most important stuff until the last second. X always tells me to do it the second I get it, and I always tell him I will, but I end up not doing it anyway.

Like I said, it was way too quiet, and no one was expecting any Maverick attack anytime soon. The last Maverick attack had been two days ago, so everyone knew they had to recuperate. I knew that as well, but X seemed to have his doubts, don't know why though.

But as I already said, people weren't expecting an attack… and three guesses what happened.

Yup. We got attacked. Or… well… not us, but you know what I mean! Luckily, it wasn't anyone we knew (yeah, I'm talking Sigma here *shudder*), but they still had a single goal in mind.

They were attacking Gate's old lab.

Even though it had been meant to be destroyed, people ended up rebuilding it instead. And looks like those damn Mavericks didn't really like the idea.

X and I immediately rushed for the war-room, where Signas was staring at a screen, and Alia was working vigorously with the computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard. Okay, Alia can type fast, but she makes a lot of mistakes, and that can cost people their lives someday.

Signas went into a lecture to us about how we were supposed to fix this, but I'll save you all the torture. No, you can thank me later.

So anyway, we were sent out to fix it, and so, we went, we saw… and we were surprised.

All robots and Mavericks we faced seemed to be searching something whilst destroying everything they encountered, and it left us rather confused.

"Those bastards are looking for something."

"I know… but what?" X asked softly.

I gave a simple shrug, still holding onto my saber. This couldn't be good. Anything those Mavericks wanted had to be bad.

I looked up in surprise when a hand suddenly gripped my left lightly. I was looking straight in X's emerald eyes, and they sparked ever so slightly, as they usually do. He smiled at me briefly, before he rushed off into battle, without a word. There was no need for words. It's just a little something between best friends. You can understand each other without the use of words.

Shaking the memories away, I rushed off as well, saber grasped tightly in my hand. I couldn't afford to get lost in thought here. That could be enough to have one killed.

I wouldn't stop killing Mavericks and random robots as I ran on an on, not once stopping. If my internal clock wasn't messing with me, I had been 'busy' for about 20 minutes, when I suddenly heard screams of fright, before two Mavericks suddenly ran past in front of me.

I blinked, watching them run off, seriously confused. What was wrong with them??

"AND JUST WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!?!?!" a strangely familiar voice screamed, and a giant bolt of red plasma shot past me.

A set of screams was followed by a large explosions, as the Mavericks were instantly vaporized by the blast. Almost afraid to look, I slowly turned my head… and my jaw dropped.

"X?!?!"

Geez, can you blame me for shouting?! Not that far away, holding the barrel of his Buster in one hand, was someone who looked exactly like X, but a closer look made me realize that it wasn't him.

For one, his armor was too dark. His armor was dark gray, while his jumpsuit was about two shades lighter. The gem on his forehead is a lot brighter, and the joints at his knees, elbows, wrists, and his neck were just a shade darker than the gem. And then there was his face.

Well, the first thing that caught my attention were his eyes. They were a deep bloodruby-red, and burning with a fire so intense it could just burn your eyes out.

Panting for breath, he lowered his Buster, and I could tell he was exhausted. It suddenly occurred that he also seemed to be about a foot taller than the X I knew was. His Buster vanished into his arm, brining out his hand as he looked at me oddly. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a hoarse groan… before he toppled over.

He crashed face-first into the ground, catching me off guard slightly. When he didn't move again, I moved over and bent down beside him. I checked for a pulse and nodded once a found one.

He must've been really exhausted to just collapse like that.

I thought things over once or twice. I couldn't leave this guy here, but I couldn't just take him back to HQ like that either. I had to get him in without anyone's notice, and that would take some time.

I picked the dark-armored Reploid up and tossed him over my shoulder, quite surprised at how light he was. Shrugging it off for now, I activated my teleporter, and warped away from the place. I wasn't going straight to MHHQ, but I headed for a rather unknown area of HQ X and I had once stumbled upon. No one of HQ knew about it, but we weren't about to get rid of our hiding-place. We put some alarm-systems there, but so far, no one's found it yet.

Once I got there, I easily managed to sneak into the base, unnoticed. The small alcove ended not far from my own room, inside an old closet no one ever used… except when they couldn't wait to get to their rooms.

Luckily, no one was there, so I hurried off to my own room. Didn't take me long, but I was stuck with one more problem; where was I going to leave this guy??

Finally, I shrugged my shoulders a little, and walked over to my bedroom. Ever since I've had those disturbing dreams, I tried to avoid sleeping in my pod. Which was why I now had a bed in my room.

I tossed the covers aside with a flick of my wrist, and gently eased the dark Reploid onto it. Not gently enough I guess, as he groaned softly and blinked his eyes open halfway.

"Buh??" was the only sound escaping from barely opened lips.

"You shouldn't move," I said calmly, making him turn his head in my direction. "Just get some rest. You'll need it."

"Do not…" he argued, slightly frowning up at me.

"Yes you do, now, sleep," I said, and tapped him on his nose.

He drowsily reached out to bat at my face, but I avoided the 'attack' easily. He growled softly, but then he huffed and simply snuggled up on the bed, pulling the covers over himself.

I watched him for a moment, noting that even though he looked like X, he didn't act like him. For one, X always tosses and turns a lot before being able to fall asleep, and secondly, this guy lay perfectly still as he slept, making it seem like he was dead.

Shaking my head, I finally left, dashing from my room and down the hall. I had to tell X about this.

Within seconds, I had dashed into his room, and, big surprise, he was waiting for me. He shot up as I stormed in, and I opened my mouth… same time he did.

"Zero/X!! You're not going to believe what just---Huh?!?!"

We were both dumbstruck that we both said the same thing at the same time, and it made us stand there for awhile, not saying anything. But then it started again.

"What do you mean I'm not going to---Will you knock it off!?!? NO!! You knock it off!!"

It took a few minutes for us to realize what we were doing and X gave a groan as he dragged his hand over his face in exasperation.

"Ugh! You go first!" he mumbled.

"Okay, but you might want to take a seat first," I said warningly, not wanting him to tumble over or anything.

"Nah, don't bother. I don't think anything can shock me today."

I blinked in surprise. What was that supposed to mean??

I finally decided to just drop the bomb though.

"Well, what if I told you I found a Reploid who's completely identical to you safe for the darker armor?"

……

I swear, X looked like he was about to have a heart attack. He just froze up and stared at me as if I'd grown an extra head.

Once he opened his mouth though.

"Well this is interesting…"

Took the words right out of my mouth, X.