The Voice in Your Heart
Page 14: Stop and Stare
Axl let his tears fall down as he stared at Maverick Hunters HQ, which grew smaller and smaller as the bus drove away. "Bye…" he whispered weakly as he stared at X and Zero's figures, that grew smaller in his sight as well. "It was a nice eleven years…"
"Goodbyes always hurt, Delta. But it'll be okay." Epsilon whispered back from inside Axl's head. "Remember this sight, Delta, how they stared at this bus as long as you stared at them."
"I know, right?" Axl replied. "I can't believe it. I don't know if it's just because I'm leaving the Hunters, presumably forever, but I don't care anymore. My heart can't take either way."
"It's okay, Delta. You're not alone. I'm here with you." Epsilon assured Axl.
"Right…" Axl responded, smiling. "Those words cheer me up every time." he added as he wiped his tears. "Just give me a while."
"Need to sleep?" Epsilon asked.
"No. I don't want to give the bus driver a heart attack when he saw my hair colour change all of a sudden." Axl answered, giggling. "I'll just look at the scenery."
"True…this calm road is beautiful, even though our first destination isn't exactly a tourist attraction." Epsilon remarked.
Their first destination was a calm, secluded beach area. It's windy most of the time, and is a beach filled with greenery. It was a commercial port and there were no islands or anything around that place…until recently.
"It would've been if government R&D guys and the workers they hired decided to block it. They had to employ humans to get it done after the reploids and mechaniloids they hired to mine the meteor went maverick.
I think the idiots probably didn't notice that the New-Gen workers didn't go maverick, and the ones who survived being mauled by their former co-workers were let go." Axl reminded Epsilon of the events behind that beach, that had made headlines a few weeks before he sent his resignation letter.
"It's just gonna slow down progress." Epsilon mumbled. "I sure hope we can stare at the big rock from here. If we can't, we can still enjoy the crowd-less, windy beach. Still, I'm confused as to why you pick that place, of all places, for a first destination. How are we gonna find a place to sleep from there?"
"You know the humans always have buses coming for them. We're just gonna hop in the worker buses and get off somewhere nice. I can pay them if they won't let me in." Axl answered.
"Really? That's new." Epsilon remarked. "We never had any buses back at Jakob."
"That's because reploids don't need anything outside of solar energy to survive. They wanted you to work nonstop, and that was exactly what they made you do, right?" Axl replied.
"Argh, damn right." Epsilon growled. "These humans get to enjoy time off work…" he huffed out.
"Life isn't fair sometimes, Epsilon." Axl remarked. "I don't like it either, but this is just what we have to face."
"Can we change it, or are we fated to spiral down the social ladder?" Epsilon questioned.
"I don't know, Epsilon, but I know that they weren't this way." Axl answered. "X told me so. Humans and reploids used to live peacefully until Sigma started the rebellion, and he never stopped. That was why the racism got worse."
"Did I make it worse, too?" Epsilon asked.
"If I am to be perfectly honest, yes…" Axl answered, "But look, even though it got the humans to wrongly decide that New-Gens aren't so different from normal reploids, it was their choice to make that bullshit assumption when I obviously survived the Nightmare and Maverick viruses just fine.
New-Gens also used the DNA of mavericks without any problems either. They're the one who decided to make excuses, like it's our fault, not theirs." he further explained. Damn if he's letting Epsilon beat himself up over what he did as Lumine.
"So it's half-and-half, isn't it?" Epsilon remarked. "If I had obeyed them, what would've happened?"
"I don't know, Epsilon." Axl said. "I don't know what's gonna happen once the humans all migrate to the moon without any rebellions happening. And I don't think we're gonna find out anytime soon. One year, and the renovation for the elevator's still not finished."
"They're planning to use the Moon Palace for some fancy residence or something for a president. That shortened the demolition work, but there's still a long way ahead." Epsilon added. "My racism hindered progress too, didn't it?" he chuckled bitterly.
"It's not because it's from you. It's because racism and bigotry is bad, period." Axl responded. "As jerk-y as they become, I can't hate humans or kill them. I don't wanna stoop to their level. Remind me of that, okay, Epsilon? I'll do the same for you."
"You bet." Epsilon said. "I need to calm down, too…I'm young and jittery."
Axl carried his backpack when he felt the bus stop. Having paid the fare in advance, he got off his seat and waved to the bus driver before stepping out of the door. The sight of the wide, near-empty beach that stretched as far as the eye could see made Axl grin like a child.
"This place is awesome." he commented.
"What are we gonna do?" Epsilon asked.
"Let's just kick back and watch the waves." Axl answered.
"Wanna explore the beach first? Starting from that shop over there…" Epsilon said.
It made Axl look to one side, spotting a building that sat near where he was standing. It was a shop, with a few tables and chairs around it. There is a stack of chairs near the corner of the building. Without it, this area of the beach would've been empty. Curiosity overwhelmed both Axl and Epsilon, and Axl approached the shop.
"Oh? Is it someone new?" the middle-aged shop owner greeted Axl. "Good afternoon. What would you like?"
"Just taking a look." Axl replied with a small smile. "It's my first time here. I never knew there was a shop…it's a relief there is, actually."
"What are you doing here? This place isn't a tourist attraction. This is the only shop." the woman replied, chuckling. "You didn't go to the wrong place, did you?"
"Nah, the peace is what I'm looking for. So I'm good here." Axl said, smiling back. For some reason, light social interaction with a friendly stranger feels good. Maybe it gives him hope that the world isn't horrible after all.
"Need something to eat?" a teenage boy in a shirt and apron called out to him. "We serve food here, too."
"No wonder…" Axl remarked, glancing at the tables and chairs around the beach. "Well, I'm good right now, but I'll definitely ask when I need some."
"Do you have any mechaniloids in that backpack?" the woman said with a slightly worried tone. "If you are, you should just leave it with us until you come back. Because if you go further from here, reploids and mechaniloids start going maverick from this point. That's where they stash the Force Metal."
"Force Metal? The stuff they're mining? They gave it a name already?" Axl questioned.
"That's what the workers keep calling it, because it forces the reploids to go maverick, they say. But it hasn't gotten to the big guys yet. They'll probably call it some name that's hard to memorize." the woman answered, laughing at the end. Apparently, she can't tell that Axl is a reploid—but then again, most reploids can be mistaken for human when they're not wearing armour. Axl is wearing normal clothes.
"I see. Well, I just have my clothes in here, so it'll be okay. Although, can I leave the backpack here when I want to explore the place?" Axl asked. "It's heavy."
"Sure. If you want to just sit down and watch the waves, you can just rent a chair. Two zenny for the whole day." the woman offered with a smile on her face.
"That's exactly what I have in mind when I came here, but I guess I'll explore this place first before I sit down." Axl said before putting his backpack down on one of the chairs. "I hope it's OK if I leave this here."
The woman nodded and waved at Axl. He waved back as he walked away.
"Epsilon, did you notice that she couldn't tell I'm a reploid?" Axl asked when he's gotten far.
"Yeah, she can't. Honestly, if I was her, I wouldn't be able to tell, either. So where are we going? Looking at the Force Metal stashes?" Epsilon replied.
"Other than the port, I think it's the only thing we can see. I don't think I'm gonna go—oh god, it fucking hurts!" Axl replied mentally, only to cry out physically when his thoughts were cut off by a sudden sensation of pain hitting his whole body.
Kneeling to dull the pain, he looked to the side to find a big stash of Force Metal ore. "A-aaargh, it can't be, I'm a New-Gen…" Axl hissed in pain. "Epsilon, help…"
Without saying a word, Epsilon helped Axl drag himself away to a point where he was no longer forced to kneel down. With both of them being neither the dominant or submissive consciousness, one of Axl's eyes turned yellow, the hair on one side of his head turned a light purple, and half of Axl's scar disappeared. However, to recover, he decided to sit down anyways when they finally reached a good spot—nowhere near enough to the shop to alert the woman, but far enough from the Force Metal stash for Axl to no longer feel pain.
"I can't believe it…I thought we New-Gens are immune to viruses…" Axl said as he caught his breath.
"That meteor came from space. No one's ever faced something like this, so none of us are built to survive it, although it seems New-Gens have an easier time holding off the pain. Also, I think it affects all reploids and mechaniloids." Epsilon explained his hypothesis.
"True enough…" Axl sighed. "My head's still spinning…"
"Let's go get something to eat." Epsilon offered. Axl nodded and walked back to the shop.
"Oh, what happened to you?" the woman gasped in shock when she noticed Axl's gait being less steady, and the tired expression on his face.
"Eheh, heh…" Axl chuckled. "I think I do need something to eat…"
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I was stuck for a while as to how much 1 zenny is actually worth, but after looking at the prices of the items in Command Mission, I think 1 zenny is the equivalent of 1 dollar. Well, I'm living in Singapore right now, so I'm kind of using it as an estimate as to how much things cost. I can't help but think that zenny is the global currency ever since the Eurasia crash.