Part 6
~0~
Omega woke up... it was in the middle of the night, and the reploid would take this time to enjoy seeing his memo-files get reorganized and played with. In other words, he loved dreaming.
He'd even learned how to control his dream. One of his friends had called it lucid dreaming. It was fun and a wonderful way to travel in the universe without having to move his frame. And he didn't need an entryway, and he definitely didn't have to deal with cyber-sentries, making his days a bit more annoying than necessary.
But for him to wake up from his sleep cycle only meant one thing; X had a bad time. Either a nightmare or his mind giving him grief.
Omega sighed and flared his senses to X's side of the bed, finding it devoid of his tentative boyfriend.
Obviously... At this point, Omega had stopped being surprised for the second time. X simply could not stay in his cozy bed while his CPU ran like a hamster on caffeine and energy drink.
He threw the blanket off and, after covering his frame with a night robe, he quietly walked down the stairs to find X, curled up on the couch as he blankly stared at the TV screen. His eyes and cheeks were wet with tears.
"X?" Omega gently called out as to not startle his boyfriend.
He still startled... but at least, he was not pulling out his buster.
"Oh... Omega..." X covered his shoulders with his favourite throw blanket. "Sorry I... I woke you up."
Omega soundlessly walked beside his lover and, seeing that he was not shying away from him, sat a bit away... close without being intimate.
It's... a reminder of the first time X was curled on the couch, upset and confused.
He remained quiet as to let his broken bird on the mend process what he needed... Still, he needed some prompt to get out of his looping thoughts.
"D'you want some energen?" He asked.
"N... no but... I wouldn't say no to some water." X asked with a strained smile. It was oblivious that he was trying to comfort Omega.
'Oh, X.'
"Sure, I can get you that." And with that, Omega got up and made his way to the kitchen, filling a glass of pure well water for his beloved. Then he came back and...
"Say... can I sit beside you?"
"Yeah... sure." X mumbled as he took the glass of water. Still curled up as far away from Omega as he could, not even looking at him.
"X... have I done something wrong?" Omega asked, not hiding his concern at all. "Is it something I said or..."
"It's not you... It's... I'm betraying Zero."
'Oh, dear.' "Can you elaborate?" Omega asked as gently as he could.
X remained curled up in his couch corner, holding the stress-pillow Omega had made for him, when things would become too much. But Omega didn't mind, he was a patient Reploid (now) and he would give his Broken Bird on the mend all the time he would need.
"Zero... He was my fiancee... He wanted to marry me, to make our bond stronger." X finally spoke after a whole five minutes of mulling things over. (and for a reploid, a whole five minutes of processing equated from thirty minutes to an hour.) "I know... I know it was his way to make sure I would never get away from him. That no one would be able to touch me... to even look at me but..."
"But?"
"But... When people are married, and one dies... the other one can't remarry, can he?"
...
"Well, you were not married to him. He was just your boyfriend who promised to spend the rest of his life with you." (Who made empty promises at that.) "But, as you said, he just wanted to secure you, to control you."
"... he's still controlling me, isn't he?" X asked, the bitter tone of his voice too loud to be ignored.
"... Yeah, He is." And thus, Omega added to the bitterness with his own. "Seriously, what the hell was his problem? He said he loves you, dies for you a few times, sure, you to had a great chemistry, I'll give him that but-"
"It was toxic... so toxic."
"Yeah... But, you can't let him go."
"He told me, the second time he returned from the smelting pot that... That he'd died for me again, that I belonged to him, and that this was I was the reason why he would never let death take him away... I... He said it as if he was expecting me to do the same... to die for him.
"He put me under a heavy debt... and he was expecting me to repay it in kind.
"And I... I wanted to die for him." X spoke, his voice turning lifeless. "But then, every time I tried to repay my debt, Zero would save me again, putting me in even more debts than I could handle. Scolding me for being reckless..."
"Gaslighting."
"Something like that," X admitted with a frown. "... and now... Now, I've found this amazing person that, while he looks a bit like him, is not him... and is even better than him." X said. " I... I want to share my life with this person, to share everything I have, even my very self. I want his touch, his laughter, his everything but..." The ancient reploid let out a shuddering breath. "But... every time I tried to move on, to make some friends... I can feel him... I can still feel his presence."
"Oh, X..."
"It's almost... It's almost as if he's standing right behind me, breathing down my neck... I used to like it, you know... He was so kind to me, so sweet when I listened to him when I would do what he was asking me. A-and he would always make sure my opinions were heard but... but not on everything. Only on what he allowed me...
"He would never allow me to move on... I'm... I'm his forever." X sobbed bitterly, using up the entire glass of water for his tears.
"X! Don't say that!" Omega gently scolded. " Listen, Zero is dead, trust me, not even an elf is left of the guy."
"So why..." X sobs. "Why does he still haunt me?" he asked with eyes wild with fear and confusion. " I... I know... I know he did love me. He truly did, but he... he didn't know... he didn't know about boundaries, he didn't... none of us knew what we were doing a-and..."
"It ended badly..." Omega spoke quietly, once again feeling extremely out of his depth about the whole situation, his mending bird breaking even more.
All of this because of Zero...
Always Zero.
His latent possessiveness for X, something he'd tried to suppress burst fort.
It was ugly, it was animalistic and...
He could not stop it.
With a snarl, Omega pounced on X, throwing him on the floor as his anger aimed at his dead body-donor flared up worse than an aurora borealis.
"X! I don't give a fragment about this piece of drowned motherboard." he snarled, baring his teeth. The virus whipped about him as his bottled-up anger blew up.
"You are mine! You understand? Mine and not his! He has no power over you, I have! He threw you away! I stole you away and kept you despite your Trauma and injuries! He stepped all over you in the name of so-called love when he was never programmed to feel it! I... I love you, You have no idea how much it hurts me to see you like this. And I'm ready to let you leave if you can't handle this monster Called Omega! He made you suffer! And he broke your heart... and I swear that I will never do that!" He snarled, feeling his anger flare higher. " Zero has no more power over you, he gave his right of ownership the moment he gave up his life over a FUCKING LIE!" His voice rose to a crescendo, following his anger at the whole situation. "HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR, X?!"
As he finished his rant, lightning shone and struck a nearby tree, startling the both of them... and enough to snap Omega out of his rage.
Arctic cold replaced the burning hatred Omega had tried to douse, only to have it flare up again in a display all too close to what Zero would do.
'Oh no... no no no no Omega you beeping idiot!' He scolded himself as he warily looked at X while the spring storm fell in ropes of water. He felt like an idiot, like the worst monster that had ever had the misfortune of walking the earth, the scummiest scum, an unworthy being having blasphemed a holy icon by accident.
The one his heart sang for, the one he sold himself to fully, the one he loved with whatever type of heart a monster such as he had.
No better than Zero... No better than Weil.
X sobbed, and no matter how powerful his buster was, this wretched sound hurt Omega's core more.
It was worse than an anti-viral blade to the chest.
"Oh no... X, shit. I'm so sorry..." The retired god of destruction felt his burning shame rob him of all words. How the hell was he supposed to fix this? No, wait, he knew how to fix this...
He had to leave... to give X some space. Hell, where was his Laptop, X had to be with someone and the only one they knew was Winchester... but Winchester had taken one of his rare vacations and X had no other friends other than Omega who just acted like that ass-hole Zero and now X was having a meltdown because Omega was the worst of demons and had let his demon out and-and...
He was straddling X, still holding his shoulders possessively as the love of his life sobbed earnestly, hiding his face with his trembling hands...
"I'm a Monster..." Omega whispered... Felling his entire system still and shivering at the thought...
He'd sworn himself that he would never get like this... that he would give X his freedom even if it would break his heart.
Would he be human, he would be emptying his stomach content, this was
He tried to move away from X, heck, he was even making some pretty good progress, having managed to have his foot touch the ground.. now, if he only could remove his hands from X's quivering shoulders.
But...
X didn't let him. Instead, the still crying reploid kept the two appendages clutched in his hands. "N-No..."
'Shit.' Omega together with great dismay. Sure, practically nothing could destroy him but...
X had this unlimited power; the variable system.
There was nothing his beloved broken bird could not do...
And maybe it was some suicidal tendency rearing its ugly head, but Omega wouldn't mind dying at X's hands. Not after what he did.
He was willing to give X's free rein, he could do whatever he so wished to the so-called God of destruction...
Including pulling Omega back in his arms, kissing and biting the side of his neck. Sending him signals and hertz beyond anything the God of Destruction could ever hope to describe. But spoke of love and gratitude.
After a while, X let Omega go, proving that his strength could easily surpass his.
His glorious green eyes should be clouded with tears where instead bright and crystal clear, touching something deep in Omega's soul.
X held the stunned reploid's hand to his heart. And then placed a gentle kiss on his knuckle.
I am yours. He seemed to say.
~0~
" I see." Winchester nodded gravely. "So X... felt the need to be owned."
Omega nodded. "Yeah. Apparently, me giving him space and a chance to say no really screwed him over. X... He needs someone over him, He's been programmed this way."
"So... He needs a superior, someone who will guide him and own him fully."
"Yep! It used to be Cain first, then commander Sigma and then Zero." Omega uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck. "And from what he told me... Zero was... He was not so bad at the beginning. But then there was the whole Iris Debacle..." Omega turned to the hovering cyber-elf. "Not you, the reploid." Then he returned his attention to his shrink. "Actually, things started degrading when humans started trying to take Zero's place as his mate. X became confused as to whom to listen to, while Zero became obsessive about keeping what was his, his."
"A perfect storm." Winchester crossed his arms. " Now I get the whole picture."
"Yeah..." Omega muttered as he clenched the hem of his Yogi shirt.
"And... How is he now?"
"Much better!" X chimed as he walked into the computer's webcam view. He wore a pink shirt stained with dirt and bleach white jeans and a mud-covered face. "Hi, Whinny, what's up?"
"Well... first of all, I am deeply concerned about the sheer amount of dirt on your face." The shrink deadpanned.
"Ah." X bashfully rubbed the back of his head, his smile was as bright as the sun, shining through a healthy covering of mud and manure.
Ahimsa manure from the Hare Krishna's Sacred cows.
"Well, you see. It's been close to a century since I've gardened and... I missed the smell of the healthy earth." X's eyes crinkled. "I forgot how sweet it smelled."
"Ah yes... now I understand." Winchester gave a crinkled smile of his own. "I'm glad you feel better X. Are we still having an appointment next Wednesday?"
"Yes, Of course!" X happily piped up. "I may feel rightfully owned now, and working up at making friends and re-learning how to live but..." His smile dimmed. "A century's worth of constant war is not something a few months' worths of therapy can heal... and... is it alright if I consider you a friend?"
Winchester wore a sad smile. "Unfortunately, I can't. It would be against professional ethics." he regretfully informed. "The moment we become friends, I will stop being your therapist... and even then, the morality of it all..."
"I see, you're still a doctor."
"Yes... a doctor of the mind. One that will help you get back on your feet and with better coping mechanisms."
"Ah..."
"Nevertheless, I believe this is all the time I have with you Omega," Winchester spoke to his first patient. "And, as sad as it is, I do believe that you have no more need for my service. I am glad to say that you are now emotionally stable and healthy. Your grieving process is going along well."
Omega looked down. "Yeah... realized Granny would call me an idiot for crying over a dead body for so long. Besides, She took another birth, and since we're close to the Hare Krishna Farm and temple, chances are, she's gonna have another human birth." Despite himself, his smile turned sad. "I may not have known her for as long as I would have liked but... I knew her long enough that I grew and became a better person.
"And for that... I'm eternally grateful for my time with Georgette."
"This... is a wonderful outlook. And this tells me that you've been hanging out with the Vaishnavas." Winchester smiled.
"Is it bad?" X asked as he began worrying about the hem of his shirt.
"No, no. Not at all." X's therapist assured his patient. " I am a fan of their Sunday feast, and their Philosophy is a safe and sane one, a hope giver in all times."
This admission removed a weight from X's shoulder.
"Now, Until our next rendezvous X, and Omega, if you ever feel the need to talk, if you have any relapse or other mental anguish, don't hesitate to contact me."
"I will don't worry."
"Good. I bid you goodbye, then."
"Goodbye, and thank you for everything."
Winchester inclined his head and turned his screen off, ending the Zoom meeting.
Omega leaned back, feeling a pang of loss. Sure, he was not supposed to be friends with Winchester, but... deep inside, he knew that their relationship had been less professional than the man was trying to pass off.
He was like a dad...
"Omega? Are you alright?" X asked as he sat beside his life partner, snaking an arm around his hip.
Omega shamelessly leaned on the shorter reploid's shoulder. "... I already miss him." he sighed. "But... I guess this means that I'm human... missing people is good."
"Hmm... I'm realizing that." X nodded. "I... I miss Zero, Alia and Axl but... there's nothing wrong with that, I'm not a robot."
Omega scoffed. "Well, Ain't that an ironic statement?" The Mourning powerhouse groused with a crooked grin. "Well... we have two choices now." Omega state as he gave a languorous stretch, wrapping an arm around his X. "One, we can binge Kill la Kill or..."
"We can take a stroll to Nandagram and shovel manure?"
...
"You want to shovel manure?"
"They have a huge pile and... I need some more for my potted plants." X admitted. "I've seen videos of devotees' planting in pure cow dung, you should see the size of the plant they are growing!" the father of all reploids gushed. "And Vrinda-Kunda das told me he would show me how to take care of a Tulasi plant."
"Wait... isn't it the cult's sacred shrub?" Omega asked as he leaned closer to his beloved. "I thought only a few could even approach this plant."
"Not really, I just showed a bit of interest and Vrinda Prabhu roped me in to get rid of all the spider mites killing them."
"Oh... huh, sorry if I sound a bit nosy but... what else do you do there?" Omega asked.
And thus, the two passed the rest of their day chatting away until they desired to rest.
~0~
So... when are you going to work again?" X asked as he perused Omega's work on his shirt.
It was black... he liked black shirts, and apparently, he could not stand any other colour than his default.
Oh well... Omega didn't seem to mind much, telling X that he was iconic in azure.
Omega swivelled his chair to face X, putting his sewing glasses on his forehead. "I was thinking tomorrow, actually," Omega spoke as he twisted to face his Boyfriend. " Will you be alright alone?"
"I think I will be," X assured with a kind smile. It had been a few weeks since he had his last breakdown and Omega claimed him. And ever since then, Omega began leaving to see some of his other friends and do his own thing...
It was not that he had gotten bored of X, far from it. But Omega had been off his social map for long enough, fearing the azure bomber's mercurial mood would spiral ever so downward.
But After the claim, X knew that Omega... that he belonged to someone, that he belonged to Omega...
that he was not alone anymore... He belonged to someone.
and this, this was a balm on his heart. And the void that had once been there was a bit less empty.
And he'd managed to make some friends along the way. And while it was... awkward at first, the Yogi's of Premananda had accepted X with open arms. Heck, he had an open invitation for campfire kirtana and a divine sleepover at the temple. And none of them batted an eye when he revealed that he and Omega were an Item.
Some had given an all-suffering sigh, but one of the elder speakers, Bhatkimarga swami had intervened and explained to X, in private, that it was not the fact that they identify as the same gender, but more about how they were interested in useless sex, all gender and orientation included.
Since... apparently God was Sex-life that followed the Vedic teachings. Meaning, you had it to bring serving souls down... and this happened usually once a month. But Bhatki had conceded that not many followed this... and the Guru told them that as long as it was with their wife, and that it didn't spill out in the public, and didn't take their thoughts away from Krishna. Then he had nothing else to say.
Not too much, not too little.
a life of ballance.
Bhaktimarga had told X that even this was no reason to feel shunned for it. For bhakti was for all since it was a spiritual Dharma and not a Body-Dharma.
And yes, X was a soul... not that he doubted it at all since he could fire a Hadouken, no problem.
And only those who had a soul... were a soul could do that.
Actually... X really liked Bhaktimarga, he had the same 'dad' energy doc Light would have. But better.
Actually, the reploid felt like... him being a reploid to be a ruse. He was something beyond a mechanized ghost, he was... Other.
Not from this world, and yet well-grounded and easily approachable.
"X... why are you smiling like that?" Omega asked with a slight smile instead.
"Oh, I was just thinking about Bhatkimarga swami... Do you think he's still at the farm?" The plain-looking reploid asked.
His owner's smile grew bigger. "Yeah! Heard from the divine grapevine that Swamiji would stay in Mascouche for the summer too. Something about how he needed to slow down since he's scheduled for another pair of legs." Omega informed him. "Bhaktimarga is the walking monk, who told me he was happy to have a reploid body if it meant that he could get even more mileage out of his body. He's so friendly-"
"I know!"
"And he just wants to walk the entire country to meet as many people as he can, giving them all a chance to chant the holy names and reach God!" Omega bounced up and down his chair. " He's amazing."
X nodded with a brilliant grin. he had so many interesting stories to share.
"So... you won't be alone then?"
"I think I can handle a day alone, and if not. I can always go and visit the Community."
"Alright... So, I guess I need to check up on my mail, then." The words thus spoken, Omega properly ended his work, closed his machine, cleaned up his room and went to his office, leaving X to sweep the floor.
The retired blue bomber smile as he fully imbibed the domesticity of the scene.
There were no reploids to destroy, no wars to fight and he was free... he was free from his cage.
X smiled as he mentally planned the rest of his day. True, he didn't mind staying alone for some time but... well, he would mind returning to the farm community, wanting to take some more association from Bhatkimarga swami and... maybe spending a few hours in their library to peruse those books he had never been allowed to read.
Yes... this sounded good.
And thus, one chapter of X's life ended. The Hunter was dead...
Omega had killed him.
With a simple kiss.
And yet, this same kiss had shown X that the previous chapter was not the last. And the blue bomber, being an avid reader couldn't wait to see what else was written in the story of his life.
And this time, he would not be alone to face it.
~0~
The 'End'