Chapter 9 - Redemption of the Misjudged

In the end, none of us matter X. You, Zero, and Sigma will go on long after I'm dead. You bear the weight of your ancestors on you. You can make your choices, but, in the end, you will continue to fight for everlasting peace. Just remember, you have many allies, some you have known, some you know now, and some you have yet to make. -Dr. James Cain.

A few hours later, I was doing my best to keep quite as I snuck through the maverick's base. Cossack's robots hadn't been lying when they said it would only take about two hours to dry. It had been hard to find exactly the right colors to use for my armor, but found it I did, and now I looked just like I did the first time I lived. 'Purple is just so much better then blue and green.' After the paint had dried, I left Cossack's citadel and reentered the base.

'Odd…where is everyone?' The truth was that, while I had not seen any of Sigma's latest generals, I had expected them all to be gearing for battle soon. This infiltration, however, was almost a cakewalk. There was nothing in the way of the central computer, so I made my way there to try to find anything referencing the maverick's plans.

Accessing the main systems, I searched through any documents that had been created in the past two days. Finally I found a recording of Sigma's ultimatum to the hunters. 'Excellent. And…play.' The file began to playback it's data. I clearly saw X, Axl, some tech on the computer, and what must have been Signas standing in a group and staring into the screen. I listened carefully to the video as X began to speak.

"You," X growled. I felt a small chill go down my spine, so to speak. It was never good to get X angry. 'It's always the quite ones.'

I heard Sigma's voice, but could not see his image as he must have been speaking from where I was. "Hello X. I bet you didn't expect to see me so soon."

"Sigma, now is the worst time you could have picked to show your face again."

"Now, now X. You don't honestly think I'm completely without knowledge of what goes on in the old HQ do you?"

Sigma was obviously referencing Axl being a spy. "What…what do you mean?"

"I mean, you have a spy in your midst. How else would I know about Zero's little, 'problem?'"

Now I saw what he was doing. He was implicating Zero as the spy, trying to instill doubt in X and the hunters. It must have worked because X looked flustered as he tried to respond to Sigma. "I…impossible. There's no way a maverick could get in here. The scanners would have…"

"Done nothing! My spy has been there for quite some time now, and your pathetic scanners could not detect him. The virus didn't affect him like it would any other. It made him better, stronger, and enhanced his abilities. But no matter. Why do you think Zero ran away from you, hmmm?"

X slowly shook his head. "No…no, I can't believe…"

"Believe what you will X, but my agent has already gotten everything I need out of you. Now you play my game. Or should I say, 'our' game?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Eight maverick generals. The combined forces of the Maverick Hunters. My best, against your best. We'll see who triumphs."

X looked deep in thought as he decided what to say. "Where?"

"Well X, that's up to you. After all, the one challenged gets to choose the location?"

"We'll fight at the ruins of Old Tokyo."

"Old Tokyo… Very appropriate X. You have twenty four hours to prepare. Oh, and X?"

X just stared at the screen.

"If you lose, everyone dies."

"And if we win?"

Sigma laughed. "X, this isn't a win-lose scenario. You don't understand do you? This is it. There will be no winners."

"What? Sigma! Wait!"

The video abruptly cut out, but I had gotten what I needed. 'Damn, I can't believe Sigma called it that short. That means, if my times are right, that their fight is starting right now!' "Vile to Pharaoh Man!"

I heard a bit of static on the other end, then the Egyptian stylized robot responded. "This is Pharaoh Man. What have you discovered?"

As I talked I decided to try to trash the maverick's computers so that, if Sigma tried to come back here, his viral form wouldn't be able to enter this base. "Good news time; the mavericks decided to give the hunters an ultimatum warning them of a fight at the ruins of Old Tokyo and they were generous enough to give them twenty four hours to prepare. Bad news; that was twenty four hours ago and I'll bet anything the reason I've not encountered a single maverick in this base is because the fight is going on at this moment."

Pharaoh Man seemed to mull this over for quite a while. "Then I assume, once you finish what you are doing there, you will be warping to the battle to try to talk to X?"

"Yeah, I should be done in a minute or so. Just need to finish sabotaging this computer."

"May I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but go on and ask another while you're at it."

"Very humorous. I was wondering why you decided to paint yourself in your true colors. Isn't X less inclined to listen to the reploid that's been trying to kill him for the past few decades then he is the new recruit who he's begun to bond with?"

"You raise a good point, but I want X to know who I really am and he probably won't believe me if I say I'm Vile. However, if I show up as Vile and reveal myself to him, I'm hoping the effect will be more pronounced."

As I continued typing on the computer pad, I was suddenly greeted by a 'warning' sign. "Looks like I might have hit a minor snag with my sabotage here, I'll call back in a minute." I turned my attention back towards the computer and suddenly a video popped up. Sigma's face was displayed, but I knew he wasn't watching me. It began to spout off a pre-recorded message.

"Congratulations, whoever you are. You have stumbled onto the hidden lair of the mavericks. It looks like you were trying to do something you shouldn't have been doing, like trying to sabotage the central computer of this base. Just know, in your last few moments, that you were the first, and last, to try to do something this stupid. Good bye."

"Oh shit…" I turned and bolted out the door as fast as the Speed Devil would take me. Getting to the elevator, I noticed that the control panel wasn't functioning. "No, not gonna die here." Looking towards the ceiling of the elevator, a plan came to my mind. I used my Two Headed Slash to cut open the top of the elevator and grabbed onto one of the cables holding the elevator in place. "I really hope this works." Firing another shot into the cables did the trick. The elevator began to fall the rest of the way down the shaft as I was sent rocketing up towards the top.

A few seconds later, I had nearly reached the top of the elevator shaft, however, the door to the outside was very likely sealed. "Here goes nothing." I released the cable and let my upward momentum carry me the rest of the way up. I floated to where I was level with the door and reared my fist back, then let fly with the Golden Right. The powerful attack went flying towards the door and crashed through with little effort. The recoil of the attack was just enough to get me to the opposite side of the shaft and I was able to kick off and go through the ruined doors. Tumbling into a roll, I quickly recovered and started running through the tundra.

A second later, I felt an immense quake as the ground underneath me shifted. A pillar of fire and debris erupted from the elevator shaft I had just been in, sending flying shrapnel all over. Luckily I was far enough that I needn't worry about it. I turned back around, and was surprised at what I saw. Cossack's Citadel was visible. 'What…what happened to the cloak?'

"Vile, this is Pharaoh Man. What just happened? We detected a large explosion in your vicinity. We had to put up the shield to prevent debris from impacting with the citadel. Unfortunately, the shield caused a disruption in our cloak and we won't be able to activate it for the better part of the day. Please respond."

"Yeah, this is Vile. I must have tripped some security device when I was sabotaging their computer and the whole thing was rigged to self destruct. I just barely got out in time. Listen, I've got all the info I need anyways, so I'm going to warp over to Old Tokyo, see if I can't get to X."

"Alright, we'll be trying to get the cloak and shield operational. Let us know if you need any assistance. Pharaoh Man out."

Having ended the transmission, I decided the time had come to warp to the battlefield. I activated my warp systems and flew off, a purple beam of light through the sky.

--

I landed in a small outcropping of rocks. In the distance, I could see a billowing cloud of smoke and a lot of dots flying around in a circle. 'That must be it.'

As I started towards the battle, I saw a bright flash on a cliff to my left, some sort of explosion. I made my way closer, until I got to the cliff and was overlooking the main force of reploids. 'Now, where's X? Better try to tune into the hunters comm channel.' Hopefully I would be able to find them quickly. Undoubtedly they had changed the channel from what it had been when I was a hunter, but if I knew them, it wouldn't be that far from the original. I kept going through them until, finally, "Roger that. All right people, let's move!"

It was X's voice. 'Alright, score. Wait, now what's happening?' A group of reploids, hunters probably, on ride chasers were approaching the conglomeration of reploids. Now I was able to see Sigma's generals. 'Clones? He always did think he was better then every other reploid. They must be copy reploids.' I continued to scan the battle field and noticed a large number of hunter corpses already. 'How on Earth could they have suffered so many casualties already? I can't believe they were this out of practice. Axl must have had something to do with it, he probably infected several units of the hunters with the virus.'

It was a good thing I was focused on the copies of Sigma, because suddenly X leapt onto the copy of Sigma's original form. 'What is he…oh my god!' X delivered two kicks to the back of the copy's legs and brought it to it's knees. Then he dashed away, just as one of the hunters on the ride chasers made a suicide run into the copy, destroying both parties and sending X flying towards another Sigma. I was impressed, that hunter knew he was dying and decided to take his enemy with him: excellent.

As I continued watched X I saw him battling another copy, this one with claws. The copy disappeared, then reappeared behind X. X fired off a shot, but the copy just kept coming and it grabbed X in it's hand. I wanted to intervene, but suddenly, two Goliath mechs slammed the copy between their fists, doing severe damage. X finished it off with a shot to the head and then went to continue the fight. 'Amazing, he's like a force of nature.' The hunters managed to take down the copy that was using a shield, and the one that looked like it was only half-way completed, but then something else went drastically wrong.

I knew Sigma probably had something up his sleeve, but I thought that it may have just been something that would have led to a final showdown between him and X. Then I felt the shockwaves and heard the explosion far in the distance. I turned and saw a gigantic cloud of ash directly above Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Fire licked at the still standing structure, a testament to it's architect, but I knew that it would only be a matter of time before it collapsed. I looked back at the fight and saw X staring at the cloud as well. One of the copies, a gigantic gun in hand, came up and yelled something to X.

'Bad move buddy.' X turned and did some weird sort of gesture. Then plasma began to rain down on the copy. This, coupled with the other attacks X was making, eventually destroyed it. I heard X's voice over the comm again. "Dane, do you copy?"

"Yes sir. What do you need?"

"There's only two Sigma's left. I need you to finish the battle while I find out what the hell just happened at HQ. I'm trusting you with finishing off Sigma."

"Roger that sir. It should only be a matter of time now."

"Exactly. X out."

X turned into a bright beam of energy going straight towards MHHQ. I followed close behind, landing at my usual spot and proceeding from there. Suddenly, I saw X, and I hid behind a piece of wreckage. 'He must not have been able to beam in. Axl probably did something to the shields to keep everyone in the base when it blew.'

Regardless, X plunged in to the building without a moments hesitation. I wondered what could be causing him this much anxiety. Then, realization hit me like a brick. 'Oh no. He's looking for her.' I quickly activated my comm. "Vile to Pharaoh Man. We have a big situation here."

"What's going on?"

"The plan has just been totally fubar'd. I'm going to need you to get over here right away."

"'Fubar'd?'"

"It means…never mind just get over here. Axl just blew MHHQ to kingdom come. X went in and I highly doubt he's going to be in a good mood when he finds what he's looking for. I'll give you safe coordinates to land at. You'll show up in a nice little rock outcropping and you should have no problem finding a spot to observe the battle from. Above all else, stay hidden. If I manage to smooth things out here, you might not have to intervene at all. If everything goes to hell again, I'll trust you to show up when you think it's necessary."

"Affirmative. Pharaoh Man out."

I turned off my comm and entered the burning ruins of MHHQ, trying to find any indication of where X went. I resisted the urge to call out to X, feeling that it was probably better that he wasn't aware of my presence here yet. I made my way closer to the middle of the base, looking in every room for X.

Then I found it. Neither of them noticed me, X had his back to me and, consequently, was blocking Alia from seeing me. Then, Alia spoke. "X…I want you to promise me something. Don't remember me like this. Remember the good times, please. No matter what happens to me, I want you to live. Promise me that X."

X's voice was cracking as he obviously tried to maintain composure. "I promise Alia."

Alia must have gone offline, because X slowly backed away. Then he let loose a howl. "NOOOO!!" A scream so pained it sent a shiver down my spine. It was déjà vu. This was nearly the same situation I went through all those decades ago. She looked just as peaceful as mine did, and he was just as much a wreak as I had been.

I swallowed and took a deep breath; this was going to be difficult. "X, I'm sorry."

The effect this had on him was instantaneous. In a split second he was on his feet, glaring at me with eyes that betrayed the pure, unadulterated rage he felt at seeing me here. "You! You did this?"

'Act calm, try to reason with him.' Deep down I knew X was a rational being, but still, everyone has their limits. 'I hope he hasn't been pushed past his yet.' "No. I didn't, even though you probably don't believe me right about now. I don't go around slaughtering innocents and blowing up buildings for fun X. I never have. I've only ever had a problem with you."

"Why the hell should I trust you, maverick? Give me one good reason right now why I shouldn't tear you to shreds."

That stung a bit, but I probably deserved it considering how lost I had been over the years. Still, I needed to tell him the truth. "I'm not a maverick. I never have been."

"That's impossible. You've been with Sigma since…"

"Since the beginning, yes. In all that time I was never infected with the Maverick Virus. Now, if you are done questioning me can we please leave? This building is going to collapse any second." I figured I should leave out Sigma infecting me only a day ago as it wouldn't really help my case. X stared at me, then turned to look at Alia's body. I could tell he didn't want to leave her here. I tried to do my best to consol him. "She wouldn't have wanted you to stay. I didn't know her, but I can tell that from what she said to you. Come on, we have to get out of here." I figured there was no need to let him in on the conversation we had had in the cafeteria, it was of little consequence now and it might only make X angry.

X turned to look at me, his entire being still radiating anger, but on a much smaller magnitude. The he started to follow me as I led the way out of the building, our pace quickening with every groan the building was making. We got out of the building and were a short distance away when the whole thing finally gave way, and collapsed on top of itself. I stood and caught my breath while X turned towards me and asked, "so, do you know who did this then, Vile?"

I turned to face X and said, "yes, I do X, but you won't like the answer. It was Axl."

As predicted, the look of disbelief was written all over his face. "What? That's impossible, Axl would never do something like this."

I had to convince X of the truth, so I continued. "Maybe not normally, however being infected with the maverick virus will do that to ya."

X crossed his arms, skepticism evident. He wasn't totally willing to believe me, but he seemed confused by my current actions. Good enough for me. "I can't believe that. He was there, fighting Sigma, with me."

I shook my head. "Did you see that one of the members of his unit was missing?"

His eyes went wide. That meant that he had indeed noticed that, but had decided not to think anything of it. "Oh god. A copy-reploid?"

"Precisely. The copy posed as him while the real one did this."

"Then, he was the spy?"

"Yup. And he has been for quite some time, ever since the 'Jakob' incident."

X now definitely realized that I was speaking the truth. "God, that's how Sigma knew to infect the 8th and 10th." X then angrily shouted "why? Why did you let it happen when you knew what they were going to do."

I remained calm and replied, "that Axl was the spy was the extent of my knowledge. Besides, if I had shown up on your doorstep trying to warn you about a trap, would you have listened?"

X's head fell; he knew I was making sense, he was just having a hard time accepting it. "But then, if, like you say, you hate me so much, why didn't you fight me with Sigma? Why aren't you fighting me now?"

I took another deep breath. 'Here it comes.' "There's something bigger happening X. Sigma's plan, if it succeeds, will result in complete annihilation of everything on Earth. I can't let that happen. Besides, a guy can only hate for so long, and trust me, I've had a long time to think about what I'm doing right now. I hated you because you were naïve and childish. You didn't take being a hunter seriously and you didn't try to understand what it took to be one. Sigma once told me, back when he was semi-normal, that you had the potential to change the world. I didn't believe him at first, that's why I wanted so desperately to defeat you. However, you have matured. And so have I, I guess. I realize now that, for all the advances made in reploid science, you are still the most advanced robot ever to be made. You aren't a reploid, you're a human in a metal body. I don't hate you anymore, in fact, I would like it if we could be friends." 'Time for the big reveal.' I reached up to my neck and lifted my helmet off, revealing my face to a stunned X. After a split second of confusion, I saw recognition dawn on X as he mouthed out the name 'Vava.' I just smiled and nodded my head. I could tell that he finally understood what I had been talking about in the storage bay and that he knew I was not his enemy. After doing this, I stuck out my hand towards him.

X, tentatively raised his hand, and then took mine. Years of animosity and hatred faded away as we shared a moment of friendship. Then he asked, "so…where's Axl?"

"My guess would be with Sigma."

I saw X gasp in revelation. "Oh no! The other hunters. Let's go!"

He activated his warp system, heading back towards the battle. I put my helmet back on and followed close behind.

--

It was a graveyard that we landed at. The bodies of hunters lied on the ground, oil and hydraulic fluids leaking everywhere, polluting the soil beneath. The hunters had failed. Immediately, X was on the lookout for any survivors, when we spotted Axl, gun drawn, walking over to one hunter who was on his knees, head bowed, and leaking fluids out of multiple wounds. I ran forward as fast as I could, X close on my heels, fully intending to put an end to this. When I got in range, I let fly my Infinity Gig. It was one of my most reliable and powerful weapons, but I imagined it probably wouldn't do too much to Axl. It stung a bit to admit it, but for all his boasting and threatening, he probably could kill me, given the chance.

My fist returned to me and I could see the surprise evident on Axl's face. The tables had turned, very much not in his favor. I smiled under my helmet, letting myself feel smug. 'Surprise sucker! Bet you didn't expect to see me again, huh?'

X stood at my side, his anger evident. "You traitor! You killed everyone in the base. We trusted you."

Axl laughed. "That was your mistake, fool. And aren't you the hypocrite? Teaming up with an enemy are we?"

"He's not who I'm concerned with. I'm going to…Pallette? What the…"

Axl looked over at the female reploid that had come up to his side. Then he stroked his hand up and down her cheeck, as if he was showing off a trophy to his conquests. "I decided to take her with me. Gave her a little upgrade. However, it was a bit too much for her fragile little mind to handle, unfortunately. Pallette, hon, go attack."

That cinched what I had already expected. She was infected with the virus. 'She probably trusted him too. Bastard!' "Kill!" Pallette charged at X. X barely managed to dodge out of the way as she threw herself at him. Then I saw the black aura surrounding her hands.

I had to let X know what that aura was. I yelled out, "she's been infected! Don't let her touch you!" I fired my Straight Nightmare at her, trying to draw her away from X. A purple beam of energy flew from my cannon, impacting the girl and knocking her down. "Take care of the traitor, he's out of my league. I'll handle the girl."

X looked unsure at first, he obviously didn't want the girl to be hurt, but he realized it was too late for her and he returned his attention to Axl. Meanwhile, the girl got up and started heading for me. 'Pathetic, she wasn't a combat reploid. Axl knew she wouldn't stand a chance. Sadistic bastard.' I dodged her initial charge and fired my Infinity Gig at her. It landed a few good hits, but she leapt towards me with a fury that I wouldn't have expected. 'Virus must be enhancing her abilities.' She landed in front of me and I made to jump over her, avoiding her charge again.

This time, however, she jumped straight up and grabbed me out of mid-air. Startled, I let out a short cry as we both tumbled to the ground, her hands clamped around my throat. Of course, one might think that that was a futile gesture, considering that reploids don't need air. Unfortunately, I noticed a strange feeling emanating from her hands as she held her grip. She was introducing the virus to my systems.

My eyesight began to tunnel, and I could hear that mindless drone that the virus epitomized. 'Destroy. Infect. Survive.' My head felt as though it was full of cotton, and for a brief moment, I considered how easy it would be to just give in.

'NO! You won't take me again!' Suddenly, everything was clear again. I had self-deleted the virus a second time; somewhat unsurprisingly, this time had been much easier. 'Today's just full of surprises.' Letting go of the girl's hands, I reached up behind her back and violently pulled her towards me in some sort of mockery of an embrace. The girl let out a startled cry, not realizing that I had somehow become immune to infection. I looked her in the eyes and said, "I really am sorry about this." Then I activated my Burning Drive.

The girl screamed as my attack caused the air around her ignited, making most of her synthetic skin char and crumble off her body. I could see sparks emanating from where her metal skeleton had become so hot it fried internal circuits. I let go of her and she rolled off of me, clutching her head in agony. Not wanting her to suffer more then the virus was already making her, I quickly activated my Infinity Gig and hit the center of her head, piercing and destroying the control chip inside. She dropped to the ground in a heap. 'Another victim to avenge.'

I turned to look for X and saw him standing over Axl's body. Surprisingly, Axl was pointing his gun at his own head. As I made my way over, he spoke something, I couldn't tell what, and then pulled the trigger, sending a mag-round through his control chip. I wondered what on Earth could have caused him to do something like that, when I noticed a purple tendril snake itself away from his head, into the air. I began to run towards the scene. X looked confused, but then drew back in realization, crying out, "Lumine!" I quickly leveled my cannon and fired the Straight Nightmare. Luckily, the tentacle did exactly what I thought it would and launched itself towards X. My attack intercepted it and it began to burn, disintegrating as it fell to the ground.

I drew closer to X and he turned to look at me. He looked like he was about to say something, but I held my hand up and said, "no need to thank me. Just be more careful."

"Axl…it wasn't him. He was being controlled against his will. He was one of my best friends…I couldn't save him."

'So, Lumine was controlling him? Well, that explains a lot. But if X doesn't get out of this funk he's in, he won't be able to fight.' "X! Stop. You can't change what happened; you have to deal with it and move on. Deaths always happen in war. You can't save everyone who needs it; you have to do what you can with what you have where you are. Expecting anything more sets you up for a fall. Besides, we're not done yet."

He looked at me, weariness evident on his face. "You took care of Pallette right?"

I lowered my head, the bad feeling from killing her had not left yet. "The girl? Yeah, but she's not the one I meant."

"Ha ha ha!" We both turned towards the voice. Sigma stood on a rock outcropping, observing us. Now was the moment he chose to include himself. "Tsk tsk, X! I didn't think you would be able to kill Axl. Typical. However, you have surprised me, teaming up with one of your worst enemies, so maybe you are ready. Either way, I have fulfilled my purpose. My time has come."

X quickly yelled back, "I'm glad you think so. You won't survive Sigma. You may have all but wiped out the hunters, but you have lost; you will never threaten the world again."

"You're right. I won't. I keep telling you though, X. This isn't about winning or losing. It's about your destiny. You see, I was merely the precursor to the storm. The real fight is soon to come."

I saw a beam of red light appear behind Sigma. Sigma, however, kept on talking. 'He couldn't have missed that, it landed right behind him. He must…oh, oh no!' I quickly activated my comm and quickly said, "I need you here right now!"

Sigma continued his rant unabated. "Your fight, your destiny, does not end with my destruction. You are a Megaman. There is only one opponent who can destroy you. It will not be me. I was made by an inferior who copied only what he could understand from your designs. Your true foe is your equal. However, he will surpass you and… EYAH!"

Sigma screamed in pain as a bright green shaft of light emerged from his chest; a beam saber. Sigma began to laugh through the pain. "He is here! Farewell X!" The saber was pulled out and then a mighty swing cleaved Sigma's head from the rest of his body. Sigma's body fell to the ground, revealing the attacker to the both of us.

X was the first to respond, yelling out, "Zero!" However, I could instantly tell that something was wrong with him. His eyes looked empty, devoid of life and the personality that I had known from our brief time in the simulator. Zero threw he head back and laughed; a sound that surpassed even Sigma's insane cackling.

"Oh god. It's happened." I knew that the plan had once again been messed up, this time, however, I couldn't think of any way to improvise.

X turned towards me. "What? What's going on?"

I looked at him and said, "Zero's been infected! He's a maverick. X, you have to get out of here. You aren't ready for him yet." X wouldn't fight him yet. Despite what he had just seen, X was still Zero's best friend, and now that there were no hunters left, Zero was all he had left.

X was visibly stunned. "Zero? Maverick?"

"Commander!" Both X and I turned and noticed the still living hunter drawing near to Zero. "Commander Zero!"

X called out to him. "Dane! No!" The reploid wouldn't stop, it was nearly delusional.

I grabbed X's shoulder and brought his attention back to me. "It's too late for him X. You've got to leave."

But X would not be shooed away so easily. "How did this happen. Tell me now!"

I took a deep breath and did my best to summarize the plan Sigma had explained to me. "Sigma's plan was for Zero to learn his origin from his creator and then turn him maverick so that he would destroy you, and everything in the world. I hoped it wouldn't work. I never knew where Sigma would meet Zero or I would have stopped him. Sigma did tell me about Zero's past, but it's not my place to tell you the truth about him. You wouldn't believe me. Only one man has the right, and he's the only one you'll listen to."

X looked confused. "Zero's origin? But who else would know? How would I find him?"

A new voice appeared behind us. "Mega Man X. The last child of Dr. Thomas Xavier Light. Come, I shall be your guide."

I turned to see Pharaoh Man walking towards us, 'right on time.' I gave off a weak smile and nodded towards the robot.

It looked towards me and nodded back, then turned it's attention towards X. "Come with me X. All your questions will be answered."

X looked like he was seeing a ghost. He had obviously not expected to meet one of the only surviving pieces of the Age of Mega Man. "Pharaoh Man?"

Pharaoh Man spoke again. "Yes. We must hurry X. Time is short, and there is much you need to know, take my hand." X, however, kept hesitating.

I couldn't stand it anymore. "Damn it X! Get out of here!" I pushed X forward, causing him to clasp on to Pharaoh Man's hand. X turned to look at me, shock evident on his face, before the two of them dissolved into beams of particles flying through the air. I sighed a bit as I saw the two leave for Cossack's Citadel, where X would find the answers he was no doubt seeking. "Good bye X. It was nice, being your friend."

I turned around and saw Zero charging me. Another little voice in my head piped up now and began talking to me. 'You know what's going to happen now, don't you? He's going to kill you! Run away damn it! You know nobody's going to rebuild you now that Sigma's gone, right? The only people who know you're not a maverick are X and the Cossack robots, and none of them will probably try to rebuild you. Well, what are you waiting for? You could run. He'd never find you. No one would! Hardly anybody knows what you look like. You could hide forever. Why wouldn't you?'

'X is the only one that can stop Zero. I need to give him time. This is the only way. I've made my peace with this. I should've died a long time ago, I was given a second chance and I have redeemed myself. I made peace with X and have taken my place as a maverick hunter. As it should be.' I came out of my reverie and saw Zero, charging at me, full speed, saber drawn. 'Finally, a real fight.' "Come on monster! Show me what you've got!"

Zero leapt towards me, saber ready for a slash. I fired my Straight Nightmare at him, but he brought his saber down, cleaving the beam of energy in half. He landed in front of me and lifted his saber up. Before I could even move, he thrust his saber into my shoulder cannon, turning it into a pile of scrap. I knelt down and fired my Bang Away Bomb towards him, causing him to back up a few steps. Then I rushed forward, firing my Triple 7 Vulcan cannon to try to keep him off guard so I could follow up with another attack. I jumped up and prepared to fire my Dragon's Wrath flamethrower. Zero, however, took the instant I used to stop firing my Vulcan and jump into the air to close the distance between us. As fast as lightning, he brought his saber up and sliced at my midsection. I fell to the ground my lower half sparking and leaking oil and hydraulic fluids. Zero walked forwards, slowly, like a predator closing in on a kill. I waited for him to get close enough, then fired my Golden Right. I caught him off guard and he was sent backwards a few feet, only for him to come back at me. I wanted to keep attacking, but I saw that my weapons energy was not recharging. 'Must have taken…too much damage. Well, I guess that…this is it.' Zero stood over me, looking slightly more cautious now that I had successfully surprised him. He flipped his saber around in his hand and lifted his hands to the air, preparing to drive it into my skull. Our fight had only lasted one minute. Not bad. "Good luck X." It was all up to him now. I had achieved redemption. No longer was I misjudged, and no longer did I misjudge those I had in the past. I was Vile. I was I.

Zero plunged the saber into my head. There was no pain, physical or otherwise.

--

I was in a white area. Nothing was surrounding me. I looked down at my body and saw that I was still in one piece. My legs were attached to my body, no evidence of the damage Zero inflicted on them. My armor and weapons were gone as well. "Great, now where am I?"

"You are dead Vile, Zero killed you. You won't be going back. This is…I guess you could say it's the afterlife."

I turned around, 'oh god!' "It's…it's you. Are you…"

"I am as real as you are. It's been quite a while. I've missed you."

"I missed you too. But, how are we…"

"Humans think they're the only ones with souls. We are special Vile. I guess we have some how been given the divine spark. We think, we feel, we love. We are like humans. I don't know if this is some sort of heaven, or some other religious sort of place, but we are here, and there are others."

"Wait, what about X? Zero? What's going to happen them. To the world?"

"The world will go on. Trust me. Both X and Zero will survive. Their story has yet to come to an end, ours however, is over for good. We are going to remain here, together."

I sighed, relieved at this news. I looked back towards her. "Together… As long as I'm with you, I'm as close to heaven as I can be."

"Let's go then, I'll make the introductions."

We walked off in one direction, the area around me becoming more and more beautiful, filled with life. As we kept walking, I saw various other figures; relaxing, talking, laughing. There was a select group of young looking people, they looked strangely familiar. One had long blond hair, another wore sunglasses and a bright yellow scarf, and yet another sat besides a large purple dog. There was an old, bearded man with them, and, as they talked, a boy who had been petting a bright red dog got up to greet us, smiling knowingly…

---

The End.

Author's Note: Well, there it is. My little spin off to Denique Fatum. Overall, I'm proud of it. I think it may be one of the few stories on the internet that interprets Vile as a sympathetic character. Well, on to the special thanks section.

Thanks to my buddy, who I've tossed ideas around with and who was the one that informed me of some of my many mechanical errors.

Thanks to all the people who read and hopefully enjoyed the story.

Special thanks to those of you who left reviews. I always appreciate any feedback that people can give to me, be it positive feedback, or constructive criticism.

Special thanks to Erico and Magus523 who, with their works, inspired me to create Denique Fatum, the basis of this story.

Extra Special thanks to Keiji Inafune, for created the Mega Man universe, especially Maverick Hunter X, which heavily influenced my protrayal of Vile in this story.