"Iris! What are you doing!" cried Zero, drawing his saber and backing away from the large armored reploid before him.
"…How could you!" Iris cried firing a large blast of energy toward Zero.
Quick on his feet, Zero flipped away from the energy and knocked it away with his saber. He couldn't hurt Iris, he wouldn't! He had to stop her; he had to calm her down.
"Iris please, think about what you're doing! I didn't mean to kill Colonel, it was an accident!"
"LIAR!" Iris screamed, dashing toward Zero at an alarming speed and grabbing the red reploid by the throat and slamming him into the wall. Zero dropped his saber during the attack, and he kicked helplessly trying to get out of Iris's grip.
"I-Iris! It's me, Zero! STOP!"
"NO! You deserve the same fate as Brother, you dirty liar! You promised me…you promised Brother!"
"I'M SORRY!" Zero choked, as Iris pressed him harder against the wall.
After a few more moments of holding Zero to the wall, Iris backed away and watched the red reploid fall to the floor. He was panting heavily, a few seconds longer and he probably would have been killed. But Iris didn't attack again, she waited for him to grab his sword and stand once again.
"Iris…please….I….don't….want…to hurt you…"
"Well I do!" Iris yelled, firing a large beam of energy at Zero.
Zero quickly jumped toward the wall, kicked off from it, and propelled himself over Iris's armored body. As he went over her he slashed with his saber, cutting a large gash through the metal on Iris's arm. Iris turned back toward Zero and fired a hail of bullets at the hunter, and Zero ran all around Iris dodging the bullets. After circling Iris twice Zero dashed toward her and sliced the armor horizontally, causing Iris to back up. But Iris fought back still, and a large metal gauntlet surged forward and slammed into Zero's body, sending him across the room.
As Zero stood once again Iris sent another hail of bullets his way, and this time a cloud of small probes were sent his way as well. Each probe had a turret on it, and the entire cloud fired at Zero as it moved toward him. Slicing his blade, more for defense than anything else, Zero deflected a few bullets as they moved toward him. One bullet he deflected hit one of the probes, and it exploded.
With the probes weakness found Zero began kicking off the wall, sailing into the center of the cloud, and slicing at the probes madly. One by one the probes fell, and Zero felt quite proud of himself for finding their weakness so early, but just as the last one fell yet another cloud was sent his way, followed by another and yet another. The cloud of probes was growing larger and larger, and it became quickly apparent that Zero couldn't defeat them all.
Turning his attention away from the probes, Zero took the fight straight to Iris. As he ran toward her, his sword in front of him, he screamed to his friend.
"I don't want to fight you Iris! But you leave me no choice! If you want a fight, then you've got one!"
Zero slid underneath the large mech, and sliced its underside as he went by. A large gash had been cut through the metal, and Zero knew that Iris was running out of battle plans…or was she?
With a sudden roar of sound a set of jet rockets ignited on the mech's back, and Iris rose into the center of the cloud of probes. She turned toward Zero with a smile, sitting in the cockpit of the suit helped her stay away from harm for the most part, but Zero was vulnerable.
"You asked for it Zero!" she yelled, charging the suits buster.
Zero cursed, knowing that a powerful attack was to come, but before the red reploid could take much more time to think another volley of bullets from the probes made him quick on his feet. Moving as fast as he could, Zero circled his enemy. After two or three circuits Iris had an idea, and she ordered the probes to move into position. The large cloud split into three groups, one surrounding Iris for protection, one following close behind Zero, and the final one moving ahead of him.
Zero saw what Iris was planning, and quickly came to a stop. As he stopped moving so did the probes behind him, and the ones before him started moving toward him. At the same time Iris directed the buster arm of the suit at the hunter, and with a single tear running down her cheek she fired.
Zero jumped straight into the air as the buster exploded into a bolt of pure energy. As he jumped upward, Zero grabbed hold of one of the probes and held on to it as it flew over the laser. Once the laser fire had ended Zero swung off the probe and sliced at a large group of them as he fell through the air. Disoriented by the entire thing Iris tried to regain her composure, and during this time she didn't have time to order the probes to stop converging, and eventually the ones that had been in front of Zero slammed into the ones that had been behind him.
With a roaring explosion the probes burst into nothing but a rain of scrap metal and Zero took this time to issue his final blow at Iris. With a dashing kick off the wall, Zero sailed through the air and took hold of a probe near Iris. The probe was directly in front of the glass window that made up the cockpit of the suit, and Iris screamed in frustration as she saw Zero before her.
"Iris…it's over!" Zero yelled, taking his saber and smashing it through the glass. Iris screamed in a mixture of fright and pain as the control system for the suit was destroyed by Zero's blade and began to explode…and Zero realized only to late what he had done. Iris was trapped in the suit, and it was going to explode!
Zero reached out, trying to take hold of Iris's hand, but the probe he held on to quickly powered down and plummeted to the ground with Zero along with it. Zero dived off the probe and landed on his feet just in time to see the rest of the probes hurtle to the ground…and Iris along with them.
With a screaming crash of metal, Iris slammed into the cold hard ground of the Final Weapon and the suit around her crumbled. The control panel had caught fire, and pieces of flaming red hot metal rained down like cherry blossoms in spring. Along with that, during the battle large wires and tubes had been severed from the floor, walls, and ceiling and hung down into the room and some lay on the battle field.
With a jolt, Zero dashed toward Iris, who lay in the center of the destruction.
"Iris!" Zero yelled, kneeling down beside her and lifting her off the ground. Quickly Zero got her away from the burning suit, and laid her down on the ground, her head probed on his arm.
"…Z-Zero…" Iris gasped, her face covered in cuts and streaks of black grease.
"Iris…I'm so…so sorry. I-I never meant for any of this to happen, Colonel…it i-it was an accident!"
Iris coughed, but smiled at Zero. "…No Zero…I-I'm sorry….I should never have fought y-you…but….the thought of you killing b-brother…i-it drove me mad…"
"Iris…" Zero whispered, feeling a tear run down his cheek as he saw Iris hurt. Iris was dying, Zero could tell it, and it was all his fault.
"Zero…The R-Repliforce…all we e-ever wanted was peace…a haven for all reploids to live in…" Iris gasped, her voice growing weaker.
"Iris…you know that no such a place exists…" Zero sighed.
Iris smiled. "…I know….that's what Brother and I worked so hard for, a…peaceful p-place just for reploids…a place…that I wanted to share…with you…"
Zero stiffened. "W-What?"
"Zero….I-I….I…l-love…y-you…." Iris gasped, raising her hand to Zero's cheek.
Zero was frozen. His emotions where going crazy, he felt sad…scared…hurt…but also happy. He had always looked out for Iris, by Colonel's orders, but as time wore on Zero had enjoyed being around Iris. She was sweet, gentle, caring…and most of all…beautiful…
Do I…love her?
No…I….I can't…but…when I was hurt, she was always there. When she was hurt, I came running. Even the mere mention of her made me feel awkward at times, especially by X…and yet here I am, holding her and she…she's dying….I killed her…I-I killed Iris…
"I-Iris….I-I'm….so…sorry…I…"
Iris smiled weakly. "…Zero…promise me this, make this a promise you'll never break…"
"Anything?" Zero cried, feeling more tears run down his face.
"…Promise…y-you'll….try and make that p-peace that I worked for, t-that B-Brother worked for…"
"I promise Iris! I'll do whatever it takes, no matter what I have to do, I'll do it! I promise!"
Iris smiled, closing her eyes slowly. "….T-Thank you…Z-Zero…"
Zero say Iris close her eyes, and quickly he shook her body screaming her name again, and again, and again. But Iris never opened her eyes again, she never smiled at him again…she was dead, and it was all Zero's fault.
Zero made a vow right there, he made three.
One, to Iris and Colonel…that he would fight for the peace they worked so hard for.
Two, to himself…that he would find the one responsible, General, and destroy him.
And three, to himself…that he would never, ever, fall in love again.
Yes…I do…I love her…and…I killed her.
Zero wept for his love, holding her as close as he could. He didn't want to leave her side ever again, but he had a job to do. General had to pay, for killing innocent people…for causing Colonel's death…and for Iris.
Zero vowed to kill General, and rip him apart piece by piece.
~Author Note~
Hello everyone.
I would like to say that I am sorry that this update took so long, but I have spent days working on this chapter. Again and again I would write it, hoping it would turn out good…but in the end I scraped every idea I came up with.
I am very sorry this update took so long, and I do hope that this chapter is what you all hoped it to be.
I will start working on the next chapter as soon as I can, and the story is almost over…it's time, for the final battle.
Thank you,
Megaman Trigger 2.0