Here's another chapter for all of you guys, this one doesn't have any action, it's pretty much just a part two of the last chapter:
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Guardian HQ
Ciel presses the button as the door to the hallway opens. She glances over her shoulder to find Zero going over the data that she just showed him. "I'll go to my room now, Zero. Tell me if you need anything."
Ciel exits the room and look right beside the door to find Prairie. "How much of our conversation did you hear?"
"Enough to know what's going on," Prairie looks at Ciel before continuing. "I'm sure that we'll figure something out. There's no need to be so sad. Zero's been in tighter situations before."
"Yeah… I guess you're right." Ciel and Prairie walk together in the hallway until they find the door to their room. They open it up and go in to find two made beds and two desks with different piles of paper, just like they left it.
Prairie pushes a button to shut the door and give them more privacy. "Well, do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm just really worried about Zero now. I told him that he should stay here until we find some way of curing him, but he insists on helping out at the front lines. It was hard enough watching him go on dangerous missions a hundred years ago, and now, his system might give out on him any moment."
"If you want, I can arrange it so that Vent and Aile always accompany him on his missions, would that make you feel any better?"
"Everyone needs their time to rest, and besides, it doesn't seem that Zero needs help, even if he is weakened." Ciel pauses for a moment as she thinks of something else to say. "Prairie, did you notice that Forte's growing up?"
"Of course, why? It's pretty obvious if he becomes apparently taller in such a short time. Is there anything wrong?"
"Not exactly, but I noticed that he's stopped growing lately. He's just at the age where he can battle, but still too young to take in the horrors of death. I'm not sure it's a good idea to let him go out like that."
"That's true, but Vent and Aile are pretty young as well."
"Yes, I was hoping that Forte would grow up to be about their age and that might have stopped the problem, but he's been exactly the same for the last few days. I'm worried that he'll join Yuriskah in his confusion."
"I'm worried as well, Sis. All we can do now is hope for the best and try to keep Forte safe. If we just pull him out of battle, he'll want to search for answers outside of Guardian HQ. What happens now depends entirely on him."
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"Well, how's it going, X?" Zero enters the room to find X staring outside the window at Innerpeace, he grabs a chair and sits beside X. "Getting any better?"
"Yeah, they said I should be out of here in about a day or so. I was really beat up by Shademan today." X stops looking at Innerpeace and faces Zero. "Ciel told me about your problem, did you find out anything?"
"She came in here and just told you?"
"I asked her myself. I can tell when something's wrong." X looks outside at Innerpeace. "It seems like the repairs are going quite well right now. All the survivors should be able to go back in about a day or so."
"We really messed up this time, didn't we?"
"Yeah… I guess that's true, but even right now, I can't think of anything that I would've done differently. I take it you still plan on fighting, even though your systems can go down any moment."
"I've been through worse." Zero looks at the other people around the room and sees Aile talking to a patient. "How do you think everyone else is taking it?"
"Everyone else seems to be taking it very hard and trying to help whatever way they can. Vent and Aile are helping with the patients, while Forte, Fefnir, Leviathan, and Harpuia are helping with the repair of Innerpeace."
"There seems to be no end to the people who want to take over the world. When we defeat one of them, another one comes a few years later to take their place. Right now, we have three different groups to worry about. I wonder if there will ever be a time where we won't have to fight."
"The short periods of peace between the battles are what I look forward to. If we just decided to give up and let someone take over the world, it will be far worse than having to fight someone else later."
"I guess that's true. There's nothing much we can do except fight to protect what we believe in." Zero yawns as he stands up.
"Well, I' feeling tired today. Since you'll be staying here for the night, I guess I have the room all to myself." Zero walks out of the medical wing as X watches him go.
"Be careful, Zero. Even you're luck will run out sometime sooner or later."
"I don't need luck to take care of this."
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Innerpeace
"Hey, Harpy, need any help with that?" Leviathan looks at Harpy staring at the water fountain uneasily. The buildings are currently under repair and all the water that flooded the streets have evaporated thanks to the combined efforts of Forte and Fefnir.
"I'm supposed to replace all the water there somehow, but I don't have the right equipment to do it."
"Just leave it to me." Leviathan slams her staff into the water as it all instantly freezes. "You do the rest." Harpuia nods as he slashes the ice into chunks and tosses them aside. Leviathan creates a clear block of ice and puts it in the fountain.
"There, by the time it melts, all the water will be replaced." Harpuia nods as he looks to find Fefnir working on the repairs of a nearby building.
"Hey, Fefnir, watch out for that balc…" Harpuia doesn't get to finish before Fefnir goes up and crashes into it, sending himself downwards. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt."
"It would be nice if I got some help, you know?" Fefnir's raises his arm and pulls himself up from a pile of metal, but everything from his waist down is still stuck.
"Fine, Leviathan, help me out here." Harpuia grabs onto Fefnir's right arm and Leviathan grabs his left arm. After pulling for about half a minute with a lot of shouting and profanity from Fefnir, they managed to get him out.
"Alright, you just… stay outside and don't touch any heavy machinery. Leviathan and I will go inside and fix whatever needs fixing." Harpuia and Leviathan go outside, ignoring the protests from Fefnir.
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"Well, we're all done here. You should take a break, Leviathan, you look tired." Harpuia watches as a small bead of sweat falls from her forehead down to her chin and then to the ground.
"Yeah, I guess that would be the best idea for now. You should take a break as well." Harpuia nods as he looks out the window at Innerpeace. "The repairs will be done pretty soon."
Harpuia frowns for a moment and Leviathan notices. "Is something wrong?"
"Was Zero assigned to help out over here?"
"No, why?"
"I just thought I saw a flash of red and yellow for a moment and saw it was him. It's probably just my eyes playing tricks on me." Harpuia sighs and crashes down on the couch they just finished repairing.
"You must be feeling really stressed. Here, let me help you." Harpuia sits up on the couch and makes room for Leviathan. "Turn so that your back's facing me." Harpuia complies and Leviathan puts her hands on Harpuia's shoulders.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll help you relax by giving you a massage." Leviathan slowly begins to rub Harpuia's shoulders as his muscles begin to relax. Leviathan moves down to his back and slowly starts to work back up again to his neck. "Is this helping?"
"Yes…" Harpuia closes his eyes, letting Leviathan continue her treatment. Her hands skillfully move from Harpuia's neck to his shoulder, then his back, and then back to his neck again.
Leviathan starts patting Harpuia's neck and notices that he's leaning back. What's he doing? Leviathan hears quiet snores coming from Harpuia and realizes that he's sleeping.
Leviathan removes her hands from Harpuia, causing him to lean back with his head on her lap. Harpuia shifts uncomfortably for a moment before settling back down. He doesn't seem very comfortable like this…
Leviathan carefully lifts Harpuia's up a bit and then supports him with her elbows so he doesn't fall back down again. She puts her hands on the sides of his helmet and carefully removes it.
Harpuia doesn't make a noise when Leviathan puts the helmet on his stomach and gently lowers his head back down to her lap. He seems more comfortable now. Leviathan strokes Harpuia's jade hair with her hands, letting the strands of hair run between her fingers. It feels so soft, almost like silk.
Leviathan lets out a yawn and takes off her helmet as well and places it on the arm of the couch. I'm beat as well, a small nap wouldn't hurt. Leviathan lowers her head to the arm of the couch, pushing her turquoise hair out of the way. It wasn't long until she starts to snore rhythmically along with Harpuia.
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Innerpeace
Forte walks to an abandoned area of Innerpeace and checks around to make sure that no one's looking. He stands next to a tall white building and waits until another pair of footsteps is heard.
"You decided to come here after all." The newcomer has long blonde hair and blue eyes. He's wearing a black suit with a red vest. Forte looks at his blue eyes through the glasses he's wearing. "Yuriskah decided to give you one more offer. You can join us and leave this hopeless place to become stronger."
"I want some questions answered first, Girouette."
"Alright, go ahead and ask away."
"What do the two of you plan to do?"
"Once we have achieved enough power, we'll rid the world of worthless inhabitants, which include Shademan and his followers and Model W and his followers. As far as that's concerned, that's all you need to know. Of course, Yuriskah plans on destroying X and Zero before doing any of that."
"Worthless inhabitants?"
"Yuriskah considers most humans, humanoids, and reploids alike to be in that category. However, there could be a few exceptions."
"Do you really expect me to help you with your goals? My answer is the same as last time. I refuse to join you or Yuriskah. I decided to agree to come here to see if you know anything about my past."
"If that's what you came here for, then you'd have to ask Yuriskah about that. Besides, why don't you just ask your friends about that? Is it because you don't trust them?"
Forte is silent at Girouette's accusation as he thinks it over. Is that true? Do I really not trust any of them?
"In fact, do they even trust you?" Doubt begins to plague Forte's mind as Girouette takes out a purple disk. "Well, since you aren't going to come with us, have this." Girouette tosses the orb at Forte and he catches it.
"What is it?"
"Yuriskah needs you to be more powerful when the two of you merge, so he created that. It contains some information about some of your weapons and it will help you become stronger. Well, I'm going now. If you change your mind about joining us, then come here."
Girouette leaves as Forte looks at the disk handed to him. "Forte! You're here." Forte turns to find Prairie.
"What are you doing here?"
"Everyone's finished their jobs for today, but you didn't come back, so I came looking for you." Prairie hugs Forte. "Don't wander off like that again, you made me really worried."
"You were… worried about me?"
"Of course, now come on. Let's go back." Forte nods as he takes Prairie's hand, letting her lead him back to Guardian HQ.
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"Well, how did it go?" Yuriskah sits down in his chair and types some data into the computer as Girouette enters the room. "I take it he still hasn't changed his mind."
"No, but he's becoming more powerful. I gave him the disk you requested me to give him. He should be strong enough soon."
"Alright then, as soon as Forte becomes strong enough, I'll take his power by force and become complete."
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Well guys, I gotta go and study for a test now. Remember to R&R