Elegy of Falling Snow
Chapter 5: Under the Shade

"Thanks for waiting," Alia said, breaking the silence, "Axl, we found a roommate for you for the time being."
Axl looked up to face her, "Ah… I see. Thank you, Alia. Um… what's his name? It's a he, right?"
Alia chuckled, "Haha. Of course. His name is Alyosha, but everyone calls him Al. Just wait, he'll be here soon."

"It's him? Good, then Axl should be in good hands." Zero remarked.
"You know him, Zero?" Axl questioned.
"Yeah, we've worked together a few times. Good guy. Laid-back, easy going. Doesn't talk much, but you can tell he's friendly." Zero explained.
"Al's worked his way up to A-rank, so if you have questions about the Maverick Hunters, you can ask him too." X added.
"I see… good to know." Axl replied, a small relieved smile on his face.

Part of Axl wanted to hope that X and Zero have kind of accepted him as a hunter, but… nothing's official yet. He doesn't want to hope for too much yet. Not now.

Right now, his future is… uncertain. And it scares him.

Maybe it doesn't hurt to ask…?

"Um… one thing, though," Axl said again, "We're… we're going to wipe Red Alert out, right? Then… after all of this is over, what will happen to me?"

…

…

Everyone in the room silently, slowly looked to Signas. The commander felt all the eyes on him, and was not too surprised. He placed a hand over his chin in thought.

"Hm. It's too early to make a decision just yet. We really need to ensure the successful resolution of this incident. So, Axl… take care of yourself. Make sure you survive to the end. Then we can talk about what comes next."

Okay… Axl honestly didn't really expect more than that. But at least it was an assurance that he won't immediately be thrown away. But just to make sure…

"Can I have your word, or some kind of guarantee that if I survive this incident uninfected, I won't be retired straight away?" Axl requested.
"We can guarantee that if you survive uninfected, and if you maintain cooperation with us throughout." Signas added.
"Great!" Axl said with a relieved grin, "So do we have a deal?"
Signas nodded, "We have a deal. We will input this agreement into your files. Alia, please program this deal too in the access card we're giving him."
"Of course." Alia said.

With a sigh of relief, Axl leaned his back against the bench. X gave Signas a thumbs up, which the latter acknowledged with a nod and a smile.

As instructed, Alia programmed the agreement data into Axl's temporary access card. It was a standard D-rank/hunter trainee card, repurposed for Axl, since he was a "guest fighter" of sorts. Once she was done typing in the agreement, she sent the data over to Signas so that he can add his digital signature to it.

After Signas added his digital signature to the agreement file, Alia copied it to the Maverick Hunters file on Axl as well.

Once the administrative work was done, the card was ready. Alia slipped it inside a lanyard, and then gave it to a small drone. Once the drone took the lanyard, it flew towards Axl to hand it to him.

"Thank you." Axl said as he took the lanyard.
"You're welcome, Axl. That card is a basic access card for D-ranks, or hunter trainees. You can access private quarters, the cafeteria, the medbay, and other basic facilities with it. Make sure you don't lose it. I can technically have a new card made for you no problem, but being locked out of basic facilities would be… unpleasant." Alia explained.
"Haha… of course. I'll keep that in mind."

A few minutes after Axl received his access card, Al arrived. As the heavy-sounding footsteps sounded in the room, Axl turned to look at the arriving reploid.

The first thing Axl noticed was his striking orange-red hair. It was cut short and quite neat. But what made his hair stand out to Axl was that it's almost the same colour as his. Al's hair is slightly redder than Axl's light brown. The other thing was that Al's red hair stands out against his dark grey armour.

Al's armour is heavy. That much was obvious when his footsteps sounded heavier than even Zero's. It was thick and dark-coloured. But it was smooth and structurally quite simple. Axl felt intimidated, but also not intimidated.

But perhaps the most striking thing of all is the mask covering his eyes. Functionally, it might not be too different from shades. But it's… it's a mask. Now that's one thing Axl doesn't see often.

"Sorry for the wait. I hope I didn't take too long." Al said.
"Hi, Al. You arrived just in time, actually. We just finished up Axl's access card." Alia said.
"Good! So… I guess I just need to show Axl to his room?" Al asked.
"That's correct. We'll send you an email with more details on the current situation. It should be ready by 8 AM." Alia answered.
"Okay, that would be great. Anything else I need to know?"
"Hmm… you might also want to show Axl around HQ since it's quiet. But maybe tomorrow night, if it's too late right now. It's 2:23 AM. You might want to just go to bed." Alia suggested.
"Hah! As Zero always says, to hunters, time is an illusion." Al joked.

Zero let out an undignified snort. X let out a little "pfft" when he heard that as well. Axl couldn't help but smile at the sudden light-heartedness. It appears that Zero was the creator of a widespread inside joke within the Hunters.

"Good joke," Signas remarked with a small smile of his own, "But the cafeteria is barely operational after midnight. Only the vending machines are available. But it should be decent for a snack."
"Thanks, Commander Signas." Axl said.
"Alright, go get something to eat. Everyone must be tired. You're all dismissed. Get some rest and we'll meet again tomorrow." Signas declared.

With that, X, Zero, Alia, Axl, and Al all said "Yes Sir," "Thank you Sir," and variations thereof before splitting up.

Both Al and Axl walked a few distances in silence before Al spoke up.

"Would you like something to eat? You must be hungry." Al offered.
"I… I guess so. Today has been rough." Axl replied.
"We can talk about it over a midnight snack if you want."
"Alright. Sounds good."

The two reploids changed course to the cafeteria. As Signas had pointed out, it was indeed barely operational. There was no one manning the food counters, which was empty. Only vending machines were active. Thankfully, only a few reploids were around. Mostly tired night shift hunters. So Axl and Al can sit somewhere and enjoy some peace. Still, they're allowed to eat in their private quarters.

"Do you want to eat here, or do you want to eat in my room?" Al asked.
"Is… is that really okay?" Axl questioned.
Al let out a small laugh, "Hahah, I eat in my room sometimes. So it's fine, really. Whichever you prefer."
"Hm, I guess I'll eat here. Thanks, though. I want to get used to the facilities." Axl replied.
"Sure. I'll show you around."

Al led Axl to a vending machine, which sold frozen microwaveable meals. He taught Axl how to use his access card to buy the meals, and they found that there was some money in Axl's card. Axl was relieved; this meant he didn't have to deal with Al buying him a meal. It would… embarrass him a little.

After all, it's been so long since he felt so… helpless.

Once Axl got the frozen meal of his choice, Al showed him where the microwaves were. While the food was being heated, Al showed Axl where to get the utensils, as well as where to put away trays and dirty dishes.

It felt… good. Axl felt more grounded, even if just a little bit.

Soon, the microwave stopped with a ding. Axl took out his reheated meal, and found an empty table to sit with Al.

A few bites in, and Axl's already starting to feel better. He really was hungrier than he realised…

"Is it good?" Al asked.
Axl didn't say anything because his mouth was full, so he just nodded.
"That's a relief. We can try the others next time." Al said.
Axl swallowed his food, "What about you? You're not eating?"
"I grabbed a quick bite before reporting," Al replied, "Besides, I have stock in my room for when I'm hungry. This goes without saying, but you can help yourself if you want to."
"Haha… you're being so kind to me."
"I want to say it's my duty, but… it's just natural? Duty as your supervisor of sorts aside, you must be feeling lost. But let me know if you want to talk about your feelings once you're done eating."

Axl nodded, and continued to eat his food. While he is way outside his comfort zone, he is still surrounded by kindness. The overwhelming feeling of gratefulness and relief in his chest was threatening to push tears out of his eyes… he let them flow.

"What's wrong, Axl? Are you alright?" Al asked, his worry visible even when masked.
"No… this food is just a little spicy. I still like it, though." Axl lied.
"Then would you like some water?"
"Yes, please."

When Al got up from his chair to get a glass of water for Axl, Axl wiped his tears with one arm.

He'll survive. He'll get through this. He's not alone. Everything will be alright.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Holy hell, I last updated this on mid-October? hecc. Sorry for the extended absence! I was plagued with chronic fatigue, which came to a head on mid-Dec, manifesting as no good, bad, terrible lower back pain. I'm fine now though. I got myself renewed energy after recovering from back pain. whew...

Anyways, this chapter is the introduction of Alyosha/Al, and is kind of a calm "bridging" chapter before the upcoming fight. Also to... hm, ease out of the heavy stuff from the previous chapters. It was a bit hard to write because I didn't envision or expect the chapter to be, well, a low-key bridging chapter where barely anything happened. So it's mostly worldbuilding here. Hope it's still enjoyable though!