All That's Left
By jixie
Mega Man X © Capcom
A soft red glow reflected across her features as Iris stood, laser sword in hand, feet spread in a defensive stance.
The first attack came without warning and she barely escaped it, twisting and stumbling slightly as she dodged.
There was no hesitation. Her opponent spun on his heel and came right back at her, blade sweeping wide as he struck. She parried, and sparks flew as Zero's sabre collided with hers, the green katana-like laser crackling against her red longsword.
Iris glared, intense, focused, but Zero…
A vicious grin crept across his face.
He broke away and swung again. Iris scrambled backwards, the Z-Sabre missing her by inches. Switching from a two-handed grip, she struck Zero with her fist, the well aimed punch cracking against his knuckles and fingers. He yelped in surprise and dropped his sabre.
The green blade faded as it landed, and Iris kicked it out of the way, handle skittering across the floor.
"This ain't over," Zero said, forming a cannon.
The time he took to charge the shot was the opening she needed. Thrusting the sword forward, she drove the blade into his chest—
—only for it to disappear on impact. The hilt bounced against his armor.
Zero's expression was a mix of irritation and pride. "Better." He playfully fired the charged shot at her, a stinging but harmless energy blast they used for practice.
"Good thing those swords have a safety feature," she teased. "You're the one who said 'no mercy', remember?"
"Yeah, yeah." He flipped his ponytail as he walked away, off to fetch the errant Z-Sabre. "Your reaction time's improving, and I'm liking the creativity you bring to the fight. Just remember, a true warrior never boasts."
"Oh, right, because you've never bragged about your numbers…"
Zero laughed as he knelt down and picked up his weapon. Of course he did. It was only fair, really, no one had numbers like Zero did. The reploid was, quite literally, a killing machine.
He was more than Iris' martial arts instructor, he was also a long time friend, and maybe someday something more. She hoped. They'd met through her brother, and… Iris closed her eyes, grimacing. She no longer cried when she thought of Colonel, but she still felt that stab of grief every time.
"You okay?"
Looking up, she smiled sweetly at Zero. "Oh, I'm fine." He didn't have to ask what was wrong, and she didn't have to say.
"I can't believe Iris beat you that easily," X commented, stepping into the doorway of the training room. "Losing your touch?"
"Tch."
As much as Zero insisted that he wasn't going easy on her, they all knew… he was going easy on her. Still, X couldn't resist the chance to give his friend a good ribbing. Still on practice setting, Zero fired a shot at X's feet, who grinned as he jumped to avoid it.
"By the way, nice work, Iris!" Approaching, X held his hand up, inviting a high-five. "You're getting really good at this!"
She stared, her own hands at her side, expression unreadable. "Hello, X." He stood there awkwardly, still awaiting the high-five that would never come, goofy smile slowly turning into a sheepish look. Ignoring him, Iris glanced over at Zero. "I'm done training for now."
Zero nodded, and headed out of the room.
Out in the hallway, she disengaged the sword's safety mode and flicked it on. For a long time she stood there, back against the wall, the fiery red light burning into her visual sensors.
Colonel…
Her brother, her best friend, had died several months ago— by X's hand. The whole Repliforce had crumbled, the tensions with the Maverick Hunters ending in their complete eradication. So many lives stamped out, so much destruction. In her heart, Iris couldn't bring herself to hate Zero, but at the same time, couldn't bring herself to forgive X. Sometimes she wondered how things might've turned out if she'd been there. If it could've turned out different. Would her brother be here in her place, choking on this smoldering grief?
She'd joined the Maverick Hunters. What other option was there? But she'd kept her Reliforce armor.
…and Colonel's sword.
She turned it off, clipping the hilt to the scabbard at her hip. It was all she had left of him.
"Iris?"
Her head snapped up. X stood a few feet away, quietly studying her, and their eyes met.
"What do you want?"
"I— I don't know, you just seemed sad, and… are you okay? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Her laughter was uneven. "What's wrong?"
Zero was right, her reaction time was improving. In one fluid motion she unsheathed the sword, activated it, and dashed forward, bringing the glowing blade against X's neck.
"Why don't you tell me 'what's wrong'?"
X was silent.
"It's that I am holding this sword. Don't you see? My brother should be holding it. But no, he's gone, because you destroyed him. You killed him. That's what is wrong." She snapped off the blade, turned, and stalked off.
He watched, searching for the right words and unable to find them… because what was there to say?
How sorry he was?
That he hadn't had a choice? How he'd never wanted to fight in the first place, and the lives he'd taken were a crushing weight on his shoulders, day in and day out? How this terrible war pulled everyone in and tore them apart and spit them back out?
'You're right'?
In the end, all of those things were true, and Iris was right.
And there was nothing they could do about it, except try to live with the pain.
- A/N: This is a complete re-write of my oldest surviving fic "The Warrior Within", written back in 1997. It's here on FFN if you're curious. (It's… not bad? Keep it up, teen!Jixie, you might get kinda good at this.)
-If you enjoy this one, you might also like my Classic Mega Man fics. :)