The Voice in Your Heart
Page 13: Sometimes, We're Part of That Cruelty
"You're leaving tomorrow, Axl?" X said, in a slightly weak voice. "Why didn't you tell me at least a week ago?"
Axl flinched slightly, not expecting X to sound so dejected. "I-I um, I was busy packing and I haven't been seeing you around. Sorry about that, X." he lied as he scratched the back of his head. The real reason was that he felt that X wouldn't care so much.
"If I had known you were going to leave, we would've had one last lunch or dinner together. Oh! Me and Zee are done with work already and it's still 2 PM. We can go out now, if you'll give me some time to get him. Unless you need to pack a bit more stuff." X said.
Axl laughed mirthlessly to hide his confusion. "Really, X? I won't be butting in or anything?"
"Why would you? You're leaving the Hunters, and we don't know if you'll be coming back, or if we'll see each other again. We can call or something, but it's just not the same." X reasoned.
"Accept already, Delta." Epsilon defended X. "I don't think he's faking it, stop being so bitter just this once?"
"Alright…thanks a lot, X. I appreciate it. I'm done, so let's get Zee together." Axl finally accepted X's offer.
"This is a nice place, Zero." Axl commented on the restaurant Zero had driven him and X to. "Never gets old."
"Sure is. It's my favourite. It's hard to believe that they were established before Eurasia. The family running this place sure are lucky and hardworking enough to survive so many crises…" Zero added, laughing as he remembered that this is the restaurant he took Iris to on their first date, and he always went here with X, and then Axl as well, on very special occasions.
"Anyways, while we wait for the food, spill us the details, Axl?" X asked about Axl's resignation.
"Oh hell yes, thanks for reminding me, X." Zero said with a crooked smirk on his face.
X chuckled as the memories from when he and Axl went to talk to Zero after Axl accepted his offer returned to him.
"Oh, X, Axl? What's up?" Zero said when his door opened to reveal the two.
"We're going out to eat, Zee, and you're driving." X explained. "Really special occasion, since Axl's leaving tomorrow. He resigned from the Hunters."
Axl backed away and X tensed as Zero's eyes bulged.
"Axl. What. The. Fuck." Zero blurted out in disbelief.
"A-aaah, I can explain…" Axl responded.
Axl grunted as Zero pulled him into a noogie.
"You little shit!" Zero cried out as he noogied Axl's head, messing up his hair. "Whyyyyyyyyyyy didn't you tell me or X earlier? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?"
"Too…busy…packing!" Axl answered as he gripped Zero's arm that was locking his head. "I forgot! Sorryyyy!"
"Well, then maybe THIS will improve your shitty memory!" Zero teased as he continued to noogie Axl. After a few seconds, he removed Axl's hairtie, letting his hair down, before messing it up. "And this is for the sudden heartbreak! Take thiiiiiis!" Zero said as he messed up Axl's hair.
"Whoa, whoa! X! X! Help, please!" Axl laughed as his sight was blocked by Zero's arms.
X's only response was to laugh.
"You sure enjoyed the sight, X." Axl responded to X's chuckling, fully aware that X was chuckling at what had happened before Zero drove them to the restaurant.
"And I want to enjoy the explanation, Axl, or else I'm shaving your head bald when we return to HQ." Zero reminded.
"Right, right, right…" Axl laughed. "Okay, so I just…remembered what X told me before I got accepted. With my copy ability, I can do pretty much everything. I had been in the Hunters for eleven years…I just feel like I need to do something new in my life." he explained.
"Old times…" X sighed with a small smile. "I'm glad you really took my words to heart, even if it took you eleven years. I'm going to miss you, though."
"I still wish you'd tell us earlier. But then again, this isn't the last time we're seeing each other, right?" Zero asked.
"No, I don't think so." Axl answered. "I'm really sorry about that, but it's just that my stuff here piled up after eleven years, and I can't take all of them."
"Technically, you can. What's stopping you?" Zero asked again. "You can easily move in a penthouse with an S-class salary."
"I've decided to live the typical dream of travelling around the world, so I'm taking only a backpack with me. The hard part was just dealing with the officials, because the stuff I'm leaving here HAS to be used by someone else when I'm gone. There was a lot of stuff, and lots of papers to sign." Axl explained.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, awesome!" Zero remarked. "Show us photos, yeah?"
"It would be nice if we can somehow see each other again in your travels." X added, a big smile on his face.
"If you don't keep in touch, Axl, I will find you, and I will end you." Zero teased, a huge smirk on his face.
"Alright, alright…" Axl laughed, enjoying the attention he's getting from both Zero and X.
"I sure wish they paid this much attention to me while I was still in." Axl spoke in his mind, to both himself and Epsilon.
"After one year of being in your head, I really want to say that you're wrong and that they've always done this. But then again, I wasn't there for the first ten years. Just enjoy your time now, Delta. I can tell they're being sincere." Epsilon responded.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: If you're sharp enough all this time, you'll know that this isn't gonna be the last time you're seeing X and Zero in TViYH.