Thank you all of my readers, after a very long haiiatus i return to you with chapter 8. im soooooo sorry its taken so long, but i lost direction and time and well... bleh. anyways, enjoy it none the less


Night had fallen Down upon Hunter Base and most robots were currently resting in stasis pods, however one could not. X now almost fully recovered couldn't seem to go into a temporary shut down, and headed outside of the base in the crisp night air. As he walked along the perimeter of the base all he could think about was Zero's disownment and the fact that he and Alia had grown so much more close all of a sudden. It was unreal to him, he had known emotion before considering he is a reploid, but never this overwhelming feeling— that and the pain that still flowed through his circuits and joints wasn't helping anything. However something was worrying him, not thoughts about the past or the unbearable pain that was wreaking his body, not even the disturbing death he had witnessed just hours earlier; he was sensing something far stranger than anything he had ever sensed before. X had an uncanny ability to sense danger in the near future, and he could also pick up on abnormalities within the area he was currently in, in fact it's one of the things that made him such a good maverick hunter. And as he stopped and looked to the sky, sitting down and closing his eyes, something caught his attention and his eyes shot open and he gazed off into the piercing darkness illuminated only slightly by the iridescent glow of the stars and the moon. He could have swore it was a shooting star, however it seemed to only grow in size- slowly however –and had a faint blue tint to it, unlike any star that he had ever seen before. X shrugged and lay down under the star light basking in the current peace that was upon him, for he knew that it was assuredly not to last much longer.

Pacing seemingly endlessly in her room, Alias mind was racing. Between the gross realization of her true feelings for X and the new energy that she and her research team had stumbled upon, her mind was like a train out of control; racing from one thought to the next at almost breakneck speeds. But her mind was quickly interrupted when she heard a knock at her door. "Come in" Alia said, trying to get a hold of herself as the door made a great swishing sound and opened, only to reveal Layer with a hand on her hip and her headgear nowhere in sight. She walked in and the door slid shut behind her as she smiled to Alia and Alia to her; Layers arms swaying and her body moving in a very feminine way unlike normal as she made her way over to a sofa and sat down, running a hand through her long silken purple-blue hair. "So… what brings you around my room Layer?"

"It's just" Layer said letting out a sigh and flipping her hair out of her eyes, only for it to fall back down into them "Zero… he's been on my mind for quite a while now"

Alia smiled and cocked her head a bit, sitting down to a chair across from Layer and leaning forward a bit "yeah, you were acting strangely after you got back from your little mission today… is everything all right?"
"Tch, I wish! That Zero really can get to me though… I mean, he was dead set on destroying X when he appeared in moonlight city, and then he just dropped his plans because I showed up"

"Maybe he was just caught off guard."

"No, it was something else" Layer lowered her head a bit, and her tone became a bit higher pitched, but emptier "he halted his… things attack at me and said that he would never harm me even though for all intents of purposes he's gone insane."

"You're blushing, aren't you?" Alia said without missing a beat, and you could almost see the shock set into Layer at that moment. Her head shot up and her face was a deep shade of red, like that of a hot coal right before it turns white hot. A smug grin started to form on Alias face and then she giggled a bit "it's quite obvious that you like him Layer, so why not just get it done and over with?"

"I-im just an operator" Layer said, the desperation and depression overly clear in her voice and her tone "it could never work out, after all he's a maverick hunter class S, what could I possibly offer him?"

"Ok, get a hold of yourself Layer— seriously!" Alia said in a very upbeat tone, and you could almost feel the hope returning to Layer "I think today you've proved yourself on the battlefield, and to be honest you could stand a chance against that Zero any day!"

"Thanks hun, that really helps right now…"

"Whatever it takes Layer, you know I'm here for you anytime you need me. And besides, I saw how you walked into my room, there's definitely something sparked in you, and I swear now more than ever you could bag yourself that little demon Zero if you tried!"

A blush started to appear on Layers face again, and clearing her through she started to get up from where she was sitting "well, I feel tons better hun, so I think I'm off for whatever's left of the night. Sleep well Alia."

"Sleep well Layer, and good luck with your demons" she said winking "don't overwork yourself dear."

"Tch, heed your own words Alia." And with that, Layer left the room and all was quite once more.

As the hours of the night drudged onward, and as X was finally getting into his stasis pod, all was quiet around Hunter HQ. However, a great battle was being waged not amongst those on the remnants of the disaster known as Earth, nor on the utopia-esque space station known as NE, but far more distant still. This battle was raging inside one singular being; one being that seemed to be of pure light. Amongst the stars not but a few light years away from the space colony NE there was something so unbelievably powerful that it didn't even know it's true power or potential. As it continued on its crash course for the planet known as Earth, a fight clashed within its mind and its spirit. Light and dark were colliding in an epic and yet miniscule battle that threatened the very existence of reality, and no one was even aware of it— not even this being of energy. Perhaps it was the key to unraveling the bonds of reality, or perhaps it would be just a simple onlooker. But soon enough, age old questions would be answered, and the Earth would meet something that hadn't graced- and threatened –its existence for nearly a millennia. The only true question that remained would be if both good and evil would be ready for this cosmic force of utter chaos, and an even better question would be— would anyone survive it?