Saber, Zero
By LazerTH
Author's note: I refuse to believe that 'Zero', the blonde Hunter, is deceased. Capcom
cannot remove Zero from the series, since any Megaman X game without him in it would
be incredibly boring. So I wrote this, in the hope that Zero still exists out there...
somewhere...
The Year is 21XX
One week after the Fifth War
"X, what's the matter?"
X was sitting in HQ lounge, chin in hands, staring depressed at the floor.
"It's Zero I'm thinking about. I can't believe that he died... and he died to save
ME..."
X remembered those last few minutes he had spent with his fellow Hunter, and best
friend. Sigma had severely damaged them both, and was about to kill X when Zero, even
with half of his body blown off, managed to destroy what remained of Sigma with his Z-
Buster. He had told X that he had to live... for him. What did that mean? Was Zero's last
request for X to carry on his work as a Hunter?
"Yeah, everyone in the base misses that blonde guy. He was our leader, after all,
and an exemplary one at that. But you're our leader now; X, and we look to you for
guidance. I guess that's what Zero wanted for you."
"I suppose so. But I feel so guilty. I never did anything to save Zero! He
sacrificed himself, what, TWICE to save me? What makes me so special that he must die
instead of me?"
"Just be glad that you had a friend like that, X, one who would give the ultimate
sacrifice for you."
"Yes... the friend I HAD... All I have now is his Z-Saber..."
X removed the weapon from the backpack he had newly-installed two days ago. The gray
metal of the Z-Saber shone dully in the slightly dimmed lights of HQ lounge. Memories
of Zero flashed by in X's mind. Running into battle, his Z-Buster blazing, his long blonde
hair whipping behind him, his red armour gleaming in the sun, and his green Saber
slashing apart his enemies without mercy. X wished that he could have had more time to
know Zero as a person rather than a fighter. He had never really sat down and had a long
conversation with his...late...friend, maybe because they were always hunting
Mavericks. He wished that he could see Zero again, just for a few seconds, to tell him
how much he appreciated him.
"Well, X, our session is over. Same time next week?"
"Sure. I still have these uncomfortable memories of Zero, and this guilt I have to
deal with for not being able to save him... until later, Doc."
"Bye, X."
The glass doors shut quietly behind X as the blue Hunter left.
The reploid psychiatrist leaned back in his armchair. He reviewed the notes he
had taken with his personal laptop. The Special A-Class Maverick Hunter, X, leader of
the Maverick Hunters, was a very interesting patient indeed. He had so many issues to be
resolved, and they all were centered on the ex-Hunter, Zero, whom he understood was
X's best friend. Ah well, the psychiatrist thought, at least the pay is good, especially from
one as elite as X.
X stalked the passageways of HQ. His mind was a jumble of broken thoughts and
unpleasant memories. Why did Zero's death continue to haunt him day and night like
this? He found it harder to concentrate on his duties because of them. He stopped in a
passageway just outside of loading bay 4 and removed Zero's Saber from his backpack
again. He stared it, feeling more guilty and helpless than usual. He did not deserve such a
gift.
"Zero... I'm sorry..."
"...X..."
X jumped in surprise. That voice had come from the Z Saber. What the...
"W-What is this?!" he demanded, holding the saber away from him as if it were
an armed H-Bomb.
"...X...Why..."
"Who are you?!" he yelled, dropping the Saber on the ground. A faint red aura
outlined itself around the Z Saber.
"Why did you leave me..."
"That voice...Z-ZERO!?"
"Why did you forsake me for dead..."
The eerie voice of Zero was having quite an effect on X. His face had suddenly
gone as white as chalk, and he was involuntarily trembling.
"Wh...What?"
"X, I am disappointed...After all that I did for you, you forgot me..."
"I didn't forget you, Zero! How could I ever forget you?"
"But you left my body there...to rot... and you insulted me, X... You left my
body next to Sigma... My mortal enemy... why did you do that? I... feel anger..."
By now, X's eyes were twice their size, fixated on the Saber which was lying the ground,
staring with the utmost fascination, and perhaps fear.
"...But...I... didn't know..."
"Know... what?"
"That you were alive! I thought you were dead, Zero!"
"Well... I am not dead... neither am I alive... I merely exist as a memory now...
and that's what I am to you, a memory... you did not even recycle my body, you left it
to rot forever, next to Sigma's..." The voice was full of bitterness.
"Zero... I'm so sorry..."
"You... fool... you want me dead, don't you... you want to stay as the most
powerful Hunter of all and make everyone forget me!"
"N-No!" he protested.
"Well... we'll see who is the strongest, even if I don't have a body!"
The saber slowly rose off the ground!
"What is this? Zero, what are you doing!!"
"I'm going to correct an injustice! You did not bury me! Why, X? Why did you
do that!? After all I've done for you... you could not even perform the last rites..."
"Zero! What are you doing?"
X was beyond confused now. What were those 'rites'? Was all this just because Zero was
not buried?
"Heh... This is interesting... will you destroy your own friend?"
"But, you don't have a body!"
"True... but I can still fight..."
"What..!"
The Saber's beam was activated!
"How on Earth is this possible?" X thought furiously. What was that thing, which
sounded like Zero, going to do?
"You know, that fight between us during the fifth war was a tie. Let's see if that
can also be corrected..."
"Whaaa!"
The saber made a slash at X! He spun around and raced down the passage, the Z Saber
flying behind him in hot pursuit.
"Zero, stop! This isn't like you!"
Reploids in the passage and in other areas of HQ looked at their commander X
being followed by his flying Z Saber. Their response was, "..."
He ducked another slash to his head and rolled. The saber followed.
"AGGHH!"
He was struck in the shoulder. The ghostly voice from the saber sneered at him.
"Now you know a fraction of the pain I felt when Sigma destroyed half of my
body!"
"You can't be Zero! He wouldn't hurt me..."
"Oh, really? I didn't seem to hesitate in the fifth war, did I?"
"GAAHH!!"
Once more, the saber struck his shoulder. The searing pains lanced up his arm.
"P-please... stop it..."
With a grunt, he hit the ground face down. He was thinking very seriously of activating
his arm cannon and disintegrating the offending Saber.
"I won't stop. This is a test of your character, X. Will your big heart allow you to
destroy what remains of your me, your friend, or will the Hunter within you save
yourself?"
"I thought this was about your burial..."
"I haven't forgotten that. Now, allow me to bury you."
"No!"
The Saber flew toward him. Fighting back the pain in his arm, he held up the fully
charged cannon. In a blast of light, the X-Buster nullified the Saber's attack,
permanently. The badly damaged hilt fell to the ground some distance away.
"Why did you make me do it, Zero?" he cried, moving toward the damaged
Saber. It sparked several times as smoke rose from it.
"...X... you really have changed..."
"I didn't want to do it, Zero! Why did you force me to?"
"...Heh. I'm glad for you... X. Now that you're changed, you can live... for
me..."
The voice spoke no more.
"Zero!! ZERO!!"
"Commander X! Wake up!!"
"Zero! Noo..."
"Wake up, commander!"
Blurry images shifted and swayed before him. He struggled against the pressure
on his arm, but fell back. As his visual units came into focus, he saw faces around him.
"Commander... we heard you screaming, so we came here and found you asleep.
Are you OK?" a reploid asked concernedly. X sat up and rubbed his head.
"That... was a dream?" he murmured. The faces nodded.
"Ugh... it was Zero... he..."
"Zero? He was destroyed last week..."
"Yeah, but... I have to do something."
X rose from the pod he had been asleep in and walked out the door.
"Should we stop him?"
"Nah. He'll be OK. He's always OK."
The psychiatrist walked into the pod room, looking behind his shoulder.
"I saw X walking out. What happened here?"
"He was screaming like he was having a fit while sleeping. He said something
about Zero, then walked out.
"Zero? He's been worrying about him since the last War. He's very troubled.
Why did you let him go?"
"Because... he had to."
X threw aside pieces of junk in his path. He had tapped into the HQ's database and found
the exact location where he had last fought Sigma. There, he would find Zero's body, and
give him a proper burial.
"Zero, don't worry... I'll take care of everything from now on..."
This and other things he muttered as he pushed down walls and leaped over
chasms. Eventually, after using his X Buster to destroy a wall, he peered into the
darkened room. Sure enough, he found the two capsules on the far end of the room,
which Sigma had placed there before the final battle. Strewn around the previous
battleground were body parts of Sigma. He sifted through the slag on the floor, removed
all manner of waste, but one thing was certain.
Zero's body was nowhere to be found...
By LazerTH
Author's note: I refuse to believe that 'Zero', the blonde Hunter, is deceased. Capcom
cannot remove Zero from the series, since any Megaman X game without him in it would
be incredibly boring. So I wrote this, in the hope that Zero still exists out there...
somewhere...
The Year is 21XX
One week after the Fifth War
"X, what's the matter?"
X was sitting in HQ lounge, chin in hands, staring depressed at the floor.
"It's Zero I'm thinking about. I can't believe that he died... and he died to save
ME..."
X remembered those last few minutes he had spent with his fellow Hunter, and best
friend. Sigma had severely damaged them both, and was about to kill X when Zero, even
with half of his body blown off, managed to destroy what remained of Sigma with his Z-
Buster. He had told X that he had to live... for him. What did that mean? Was Zero's last
request for X to carry on his work as a Hunter?
"Yeah, everyone in the base misses that blonde guy. He was our leader, after all,
and an exemplary one at that. But you're our leader now; X, and we look to you for
guidance. I guess that's what Zero wanted for you."
"I suppose so. But I feel so guilty. I never did anything to save Zero! He
sacrificed himself, what, TWICE to save me? What makes me so special that he must die
instead of me?"
"Just be glad that you had a friend like that, X, one who would give the ultimate
sacrifice for you."
"Yes... the friend I HAD... All I have now is his Z-Saber..."
X removed the weapon from the backpack he had newly-installed two days ago. The gray
metal of the Z-Saber shone dully in the slightly dimmed lights of HQ lounge. Memories
of Zero flashed by in X's mind. Running into battle, his Z-Buster blazing, his long blonde
hair whipping behind him, his red armour gleaming in the sun, and his green Saber
slashing apart his enemies without mercy. X wished that he could have had more time to
know Zero as a person rather than a fighter. He had never really sat down and had a long
conversation with his...late...friend, maybe because they were always hunting
Mavericks. He wished that he could see Zero again, just for a few seconds, to tell him
how much he appreciated him.
"Well, X, our session is over. Same time next week?"
"Sure. I still have these uncomfortable memories of Zero, and this guilt I have to
deal with for not being able to save him... until later, Doc."
"Bye, X."
The glass doors shut quietly behind X as the blue Hunter left.
The reploid psychiatrist leaned back in his armchair. He reviewed the notes he
had taken with his personal laptop. The Special A-Class Maverick Hunter, X, leader of
the Maverick Hunters, was a very interesting patient indeed. He had so many issues to be
resolved, and they all were centered on the ex-Hunter, Zero, whom he understood was
X's best friend. Ah well, the psychiatrist thought, at least the pay is good, especially from
one as elite as X.
X stalked the passageways of HQ. His mind was a jumble of broken thoughts and
unpleasant memories. Why did Zero's death continue to haunt him day and night like
this? He found it harder to concentrate on his duties because of them. He stopped in a
passageway just outside of loading bay 4 and removed Zero's Saber from his backpack
again. He stared it, feeling more guilty and helpless than usual. He did not deserve such a
gift.
"Zero... I'm sorry..."
"...X..."
X jumped in surprise. That voice had come from the Z Saber. What the...
"W-What is this?!" he demanded, holding the saber away from him as if it were
an armed H-Bomb.
"...X...Why..."
"Who are you?!" he yelled, dropping the Saber on the ground. A faint red aura
outlined itself around the Z Saber.
"Why did you leave me..."
"That voice...Z-ZERO!?"
"Why did you forsake me for dead..."
The eerie voice of Zero was having quite an effect on X. His face had suddenly
gone as white as chalk, and he was involuntarily trembling.
"Wh...What?"
"X, I am disappointed...After all that I did for you, you forgot me..."
"I didn't forget you, Zero! How could I ever forget you?"
"But you left my body there...to rot... and you insulted me, X... You left my
body next to Sigma... My mortal enemy... why did you do that? I... feel anger..."
By now, X's eyes were twice their size, fixated on the Saber which was lying the ground,
staring with the utmost fascination, and perhaps fear.
"...But...I... didn't know..."
"Know... what?"
"That you were alive! I thought you were dead, Zero!"
"Well... I am not dead... neither am I alive... I merely exist as a memory now...
and that's what I am to you, a memory... you did not even recycle my body, you left it
to rot forever, next to Sigma's..." The voice was full of bitterness.
"Zero... I'm so sorry..."
"You... fool... you want me dead, don't you... you want to stay as the most
powerful Hunter of all and make everyone forget me!"
"N-No!" he protested.
"Well... we'll see who is the strongest, even if I don't have a body!"
The saber slowly rose off the ground!
"What is this? Zero, what are you doing!!"
"I'm going to correct an injustice! You did not bury me! Why, X? Why did you
do that!? After all I've done for you... you could not even perform the last rites..."
"Zero! What are you doing?"
X was beyond confused now. What were those 'rites'? Was all this just because Zero was
not buried?
"Heh... This is interesting... will you destroy your own friend?"
"But, you don't have a body!"
"True... but I can still fight..."
"What..!"
The Saber's beam was activated!
"How on Earth is this possible?" X thought furiously. What was that thing, which
sounded like Zero, going to do?
"You know, that fight between us during the fifth war was a tie. Let's see if that
can also be corrected..."
"Whaaa!"
The saber made a slash at X! He spun around and raced down the passage, the Z Saber
flying behind him in hot pursuit.
"Zero, stop! This isn't like you!"
Reploids in the passage and in other areas of HQ looked at their commander X
being followed by his flying Z Saber. Their response was, "..."
He ducked another slash to his head and rolled. The saber followed.
"AGGHH!"
He was struck in the shoulder. The ghostly voice from the saber sneered at him.
"Now you know a fraction of the pain I felt when Sigma destroyed half of my
body!"
"You can't be Zero! He wouldn't hurt me..."
"Oh, really? I didn't seem to hesitate in the fifth war, did I?"
"GAAHH!!"
Once more, the saber struck his shoulder. The searing pains lanced up his arm.
"P-please... stop it..."
With a grunt, he hit the ground face down. He was thinking very seriously of activating
his arm cannon and disintegrating the offending Saber.
"I won't stop. This is a test of your character, X. Will your big heart allow you to
destroy what remains of your me, your friend, or will the Hunter within you save
yourself?"
"I thought this was about your burial..."
"I haven't forgotten that. Now, allow me to bury you."
"No!"
The Saber flew toward him. Fighting back the pain in his arm, he held up the fully
charged cannon. In a blast of light, the X-Buster nullified the Saber's attack,
permanently. The badly damaged hilt fell to the ground some distance away.
"Why did you make me do it, Zero?" he cried, moving toward the damaged
Saber. It sparked several times as smoke rose from it.
"...X... you really have changed..."
"I didn't want to do it, Zero! Why did you force me to?"
"...Heh. I'm glad for you... X. Now that you're changed, you can live... for
me..."
The voice spoke no more.
"Zero!! ZERO!!"
"Commander X! Wake up!!"
"Zero! Noo..."
"Wake up, commander!"
Blurry images shifted and swayed before him. He struggled against the pressure
on his arm, but fell back. As his visual units came into focus, he saw faces around him.
"Commander... we heard you screaming, so we came here and found you asleep.
Are you OK?" a reploid asked concernedly. X sat up and rubbed his head.
"That... was a dream?" he murmured. The faces nodded.
"Ugh... it was Zero... he..."
"Zero? He was destroyed last week..."
"Yeah, but... I have to do something."
X rose from the pod he had been asleep in and walked out the door.
"Should we stop him?"
"Nah. He'll be OK. He's always OK."
The psychiatrist walked into the pod room, looking behind his shoulder.
"I saw X walking out. What happened here?"
"He was screaming like he was having a fit while sleeping. He said something
about Zero, then walked out.
"Zero? He's been worrying about him since the last War. He's very troubled.
Why did you let him go?"
"Because... he had to."
X threw aside pieces of junk in his path. He had tapped into the HQ's database and found
the exact location where he had last fought Sigma. There, he would find Zero's body, and
give him a proper burial.
"Zero, don't worry... I'll take care of everything from now on..."
This and other things he muttered as he pushed down walls and leaped over
chasms. Eventually, after using his X Buster to destroy a wall, he peered into the
darkened room. Sure enough, he found the two capsules on the far end of the room,
which Sigma had placed there before the final battle. Strewn around the previous
battleground were body parts of Sigma. He sifted through the slag on the floor, removed
all manner of waste, but one thing was certain.
Zero's body was nowhere to be found...