Disclaimer: The Reality Benders own nothing!
Note: Sorry it took so long. We cemented Nikkie's legs into a pot and forced her to continue this thing at least while we dealt with.some other problems. We thought we needed to get back on track.
Zero and X ran into the control room, the only room at the moment that was absolutely safe. Mavericks were being fought everywhere, but everyone else seemed to be handling it already. "What happened?" asked Alia, jumping up from her place in front of the computer. "She took on one of the more powerful Mavericks alone," replied X. "She must've been too angry to notice the bomb in it." "What of the both of you?" asked Douglas. "You guys look pretty battered." "Would've been worse if Dawn wasn't with us to give us a hint on how to beat those Shadow Mavericks in the hall," said Zero. Lifesaver entered the room, looking pretty hassled. "We got a lot of damages to a lot of people from every side. Those new Mavs are brutal." He saw Dawn and ran to them as he gasped, "She's by far the worst! What happened?" "Just some stealth Mavs," said X. "I think they're after her." Lifesaver looked her over. "Oh, this isn't good. She's lost a lot of energy and taken a lot of damage." He shifted in position and said, "She hit her head and her circuits are in shreds. Come on, help me take her helmet off." Zero nodded and he and X carefully slipped the shattered helmet off Dawn. As soon as they did, Zero dropped the helmet with a thud. He looked stunned. X's eyes were wide. "Look at her! She looks just like.like." Zero choked out, ".I-Iris?" "No way," said Alia. "She just must look like her. I mean.putting aside the hair and eye color.she-she does look like Iris." "Too much," X said with a raised eyebrow. "Are you all right, Zero?" "Yeah," replied the red Hunter, standing up. "I-I'm okay. Just a little.stunned." He looked to Lifesaver. "Well? Is she going to be okay?" "Can't tell anything right now," said Lifesaver. "Best chance is that we just get her fixed up and recharged as soon as possible." "Right," said Zero. "Do what you have to. I-I'm just going to go see to everybody else." And her and out of the room and back into the diminishing fray. "Zero's shaken up," said Alia. "X, go with him." "Yeah," said X, standing up, with a last glance at Dawn. "Really shaken up." He ran out the door and saw Zero running down the hall, his face looking pale. "Zero!" X called. "Zero, I'm coming with you." He ran up to his best friend and said, "Are you sure you're all right?" "No, I'm not," Zero replied through gritted teeth. "Is this why she never took off her visor? She must know something about the Colonel and Repliforce. That's why she asked me if I knew the Colonel personally. She must know Iris too, and she knew me because she didn't want to show me what she looked like." He groaned in frustration, "X, I'm getting so confused! Everything's happening so fast, it's making my head spin!" "Zero, get a hold of yourself!" exclaimed X. "You're whiter than a sheet and your getting hysterical. Oh no." a thought came to him. "You-you left without getting any repairs! You're still drained!" Zero didn't seem to be listening as he sank to his knees. "The dreams.is this why." And he collapsed to the floor. "Zero!" X exclaimed.
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".she's all right now." Huh? What-what happened? ".is Zero okay too?" .A girl.Iris?.Is that you? "Look! She's waking up! Dawn, can you hear us? Dawn!" Dawn stirred. She tried to speak, but the words that came out of her mouth were slurred. ".What-I-" A shot of pain went across her head and she groaned. Putting a hand on her head, she realized that her helmet was not there. "What? My helmet." "We had to take it off," said X, and he slowly came into focus on Dawn's eyes. "You hit your head pretty badly." Dawn sat up. "Where am I?" "You're in the infirmary," replied Alia, coming over with Lifesaver, and Dawn realized that it was Alia's voice, not Iris', that spoke. She was a little disoriented. "You had to be repaired a bit. You took a lot of the explosion's force." Dawn looked around and noticed someone missing. "Where is Captain Zero?" "He's still unconscious," said Lifesaver, walking over to the capsule where Zero lay unmoving. "He passed out because of lack of energy." X helped Dawn out of the capsule and to stand up. "Thank you," she said. X did not reply, but the both of them moved over to Zero's capsule. Zero was unconscious, but otherwise fine. Dawn bit her lip. "I should've never come to this base." "What?" Alia looked at her. "I was the Silver Pirates' target. The leader of the Shadows said so. It was insensitive of me to put everyone here in danger." "Look, none of this is your fault," said X. "We told you that, remember?" Dawn did not say anything. It looked like tears were coming to her eyes on her impassive face. "I-I broke my promise." They all looked at her, and she just said, "I promised Iris.I promised her." Before X could ask what she meant, Zero began to stir. ".Iris.Iris." "He's dreaming again," said X, watching Zero's face turn pale. "He's having another nightmare. We have to wake him up." "Allow me," said Dawn. "But I'll need your help, Captain X." X nodded, and held her other hand as she put one on Zero, and energy seemed to be flowing from the both of them and to the red Hunter.
"Zero.why are you so sad?" Zero looked up from the blackness to see Iris. She was looking at him in a strange manner. "What's wrong?" "Iris!" he exclaimed and ran to her. "You're alive!" He reached out to touch her, but his hand just went through her. It was as if she was made of mist. Iris' face fell. "It's about me, isn't it?" Zero couldn't speak, but disappointment is clearly in his face. "I.I miss you." Iris smiled a bit. "So do I, Zero. But you're torturing yourself. It's not your fault that I died, you know. It's not your fault at all." "Iris, I killed you in the weapon station!" Zero said. "How can you say it's not my fault?" "It was I who chose to fight and go against you," she replied. "And you were forced to in order to fulfill your mission. It was my choice, and you had none but to fulfill your mission." She gave a short laugh and said, "But don't worry, Zero. I may not be alive, but I will be soon." "What?" Zero gasped. "What do you mean?" "I'm coming back, Zero," she said with a smile. "In the meantime." She looked a little over he shoulder and a bright light was emanating into the gloom, ".I want you to take care of yourself, and my best friend." "You mean Dawn?" Iris nodded. "I believe that her face came as a shock to you, since she looks so much like me. Well, she does and you'll just have to believe in her. She's a brick because of all that training, but once you get to know her, she'll loosen up." She looked serious. "Believe in her. She'll be able to help you and help me too." Before Zero could reply, X voice seemed to be coming from the light, calling for him.
Zero came back to reality, and his vision began to clear. He looked up and saw a familiar face looking down at him. ".Iris?" his voice came out in a murmur. She shook her head. "No, Captain. I'm Dawn." Zero tried to sit up, but pain shot across his head. "What did I tell you about calling me 'captain'?" X laughed from beside Dawn. "He's back, all right." Dawn tried to smile, but couldn't. He thought I was Iris.he really must love her. "How are you feeling, Zero?" "A little dizzy, but pretty okay," he replied. "What about you? You were in a bad state last time I saw you." "I'm all right," she said. She looked at X and said, "You should thank Captain X. You were having a nightmare and if it wasn't for his help you might've never woken at all." X raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about? I just lent you my energy. You're the one who did the whole process." Dawn did not reply, and Zero just shook his head. "Yeah well, thanks, guys." He looked at Dawn. "Um.Dawn.I want to ask you a lot of things.but I don't quite know where to begin." "I shall answer anything you ask as much as I could," she replied with a sigh. "That, I at least owe to you." "Okay.first of all.how come you never took your helmet off?" asked Zero. "Is it because you." Dawn sighed. "Yes. At first.I was afraid. I knew that I looked like Iris, whom you knew so well, so I hid my face, fearing it would affect the results of my being transferred to your unit." "You know the Colonel and his sister, right?" said X. Dawn nodded. "When the Colonel was still in control of Nova, that was when I first met Iris. We quickly became good friends. Iris was my best and only friend at that time. We both got along extremely well, disregarding the fact that I was sometimes hardened because of my training. They went to other sectors sometimes, including this one. "The Colonel knew of my skills, and that was why he told me that he wanted me to transfer to this sector and to Hunter Zero's unit. By then, Iris knew Zero. She was somewhat delighted, and told me that I should do extremely well there. She would be looking forward to seeing me there sometime. "But then the Repliforce incident came.Iris and I still kept in touch, until the day came that she never wrote back. I then received news that the weapon station was destroyed, and Iris had been killed by the Red Hunter named Zero. I was devastated at her loss, and threw myself to training all the more until I beat all of my co-Hunters by leaps and bounds. Then they sent me here." Zero, who had been listening to the tale with a white face, stared at her. "Were-Are you still devastated about the tragedy?" "Certainly," Dawn sighed. "Iris was the only friend I ever had. I still mourn for her loss.she was like a sister to me." She glanced at Zero. "Once I thought I was mad at you for killing her, but I wasn't. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to get angry with you. Not after Iris told me her feelings for you, and what a nice person you were. So.I guess I just tried to remain cold.as always." Zero looked down. "I'm sorry. I should've known." "Some of this I know since Alia and I found your file," said X, crossing his arms. "But you said something earlier. What promise did you make Iris about Zero?" It was at this that they looked up and stared at her. Dawn looked away, picking up her helmet. "When I was to be transferred here.Iris made me promise that whatever happens.I'd look out for my future captain, and make sure that I bring him no trouble. She said that Zero sometimes had the tendency to be very wound up in the battle. I promised her that I'd look out for Zero, as she said. But now that I brought the trouble to this base.I broke that promise." She sighed and was about to put her visor back on when Zero grabbed her hand. "No. Don't put it on." Dawn stared at him strangely and asked, "Why?" "You don't need to hide anything," he replied. "You haven't broken your promise to Iris, either. Nothing serious happened, and I'm okay. It'll be all right soon-we'll beat the Silver Pirates for sure." Dawn looked away. "I hope so." She turned from him and put on the helmet. She pressed a button on it, and when she looked at them, the visor was transparent, and they still saw her face. She gave them a little smile. "I shall return to my quarters now." Zero nodded with a smile, and Dawn walked away. As soon as she was gone, Alia looked at him with a grin. "Well! Who'd've thought?"
Review please!!
Note: Sorry it took so long. We cemented Nikkie's legs into a pot and forced her to continue this thing at least while we dealt with.some other problems. We thought we needed to get back on track.
Zero and X ran into the control room, the only room at the moment that was absolutely safe. Mavericks were being fought everywhere, but everyone else seemed to be handling it already. "What happened?" asked Alia, jumping up from her place in front of the computer. "She took on one of the more powerful Mavericks alone," replied X. "She must've been too angry to notice the bomb in it." "What of the both of you?" asked Douglas. "You guys look pretty battered." "Would've been worse if Dawn wasn't with us to give us a hint on how to beat those Shadow Mavericks in the hall," said Zero. Lifesaver entered the room, looking pretty hassled. "We got a lot of damages to a lot of people from every side. Those new Mavs are brutal." He saw Dawn and ran to them as he gasped, "She's by far the worst! What happened?" "Just some stealth Mavs," said X. "I think they're after her." Lifesaver looked her over. "Oh, this isn't good. She's lost a lot of energy and taken a lot of damage." He shifted in position and said, "She hit her head and her circuits are in shreds. Come on, help me take her helmet off." Zero nodded and he and X carefully slipped the shattered helmet off Dawn. As soon as they did, Zero dropped the helmet with a thud. He looked stunned. X's eyes were wide. "Look at her! She looks just like.like." Zero choked out, ".I-Iris?" "No way," said Alia. "She just must look like her. I mean.putting aside the hair and eye color.she-she does look like Iris." "Too much," X said with a raised eyebrow. "Are you all right, Zero?" "Yeah," replied the red Hunter, standing up. "I-I'm okay. Just a little.stunned." He looked to Lifesaver. "Well? Is she going to be okay?" "Can't tell anything right now," said Lifesaver. "Best chance is that we just get her fixed up and recharged as soon as possible." "Right," said Zero. "Do what you have to. I-I'm just going to go see to everybody else." And her and out of the room and back into the diminishing fray. "Zero's shaken up," said Alia. "X, go with him." "Yeah," said X, standing up, with a last glance at Dawn. "Really shaken up." He ran out the door and saw Zero running down the hall, his face looking pale. "Zero!" X called. "Zero, I'm coming with you." He ran up to his best friend and said, "Are you sure you're all right?" "No, I'm not," Zero replied through gritted teeth. "Is this why she never took off her visor? She must know something about the Colonel and Repliforce. That's why she asked me if I knew the Colonel personally. She must know Iris too, and she knew me because she didn't want to show me what she looked like." He groaned in frustration, "X, I'm getting so confused! Everything's happening so fast, it's making my head spin!" "Zero, get a hold of yourself!" exclaimed X. "You're whiter than a sheet and your getting hysterical. Oh no." a thought came to him. "You-you left without getting any repairs! You're still drained!" Zero didn't seem to be listening as he sank to his knees. "The dreams.is this why." And he collapsed to the floor. "Zero!" X exclaimed.
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".she's all right now." Huh? What-what happened? ".is Zero okay too?" .A girl.Iris?.Is that you? "Look! She's waking up! Dawn, can you hear us? Dawn!" Dawn stirred. She tried to speak, but the words that came out of her mouth were slurred. ".What-I-" A shot of pain went across her head and she groaned. Putting a hand on her head, she realized that her helmet was not there. "What? My helmet." "We had to take it off," said X, and he slowly came into focus on Dawn's eyes. "You hit your head pretty badly." Dawn sat up. "Where am I?" "You're in the infirmary," replied Alia, coming over with Lifesaver, and Dawn realized that it was Alia's voice, not Iris', that spoke. She was a little disoriented. "You had to be repaired a bit. You took a lot of the explosion's force." Dawn looked around and noticed someone missing. "Where is Captain Zero?" "He's still unconscious," said Lifesaver, walking over to the capsule where Zero lay unmoving. "He passed out because of lack of energy." X helped Dawn out of the capsule and to stand up. "Thank you," she said. X did not reply, but the both of them moved over to Zero's capsule. Zero was unconscious, but otherwise fine. Dawn bit her lip. "I should've never come to this base." "What?" Alia looked at her. "I was the Silver Pirates' target. The leader of the Shadows said so. It was insensitive of me to put everyone here in danger." "Look, none of this is your fault," said X. "We told you that, remember?" Dawn did not say anything. It looked like tears were coming to her eyes on her impassive face. "I-I broke my promise." They all looked at her, and she just said, "I promised Iris.I promised her." Before X could ask what she meant, Zero began to stir. ".Iris.Iris." "He's dreaming again," said X, watching Zero's face turn pale. "He's having another nightmare. We have to wake him up." "Allow me," said Dawn. "But I'll need your help, Captain X." X nodded, and held her other hand as she put one on Zero, and energy seemed to be flowing from the both of them and to the red Hunter.
"Zero.why are you so sad?" Zero looked up from the blackness to see Iris. She was looking at him in a strange manner. "What's wrong?" "Iris!" he exclaimed and ran to her. "You're alive!" He reached out to touch her, but his hand just went through her. It was as if she was made of mist. Iris' face fell. "It's about me, isn't it?" Zero couldn't speak, but disappointment is clearly in his face. "I.I miss you." Iris smiled a bit. "So do I, Zero. But you're torturing yourself. It's not your fault that I died, you know. It's not your fault at all." "Iris, I killed you in the weapon station!" Zero said. "How can you say it's not my fault?" "It was I who chose to fight and go against you," she replied. "And you were forced to in order to fulfill your mission. It was my choice, and you had none but to fulfill your mission." She gave a short laugh and said, "But don't worry, Zero. I may not be alive, but I will be soon." "What?" Zero gasped. "What do you mean?" "I'm coming back, Zero," she said with a smile. "In the meantime." She looked a little over he shoulder and a bright light was emanating into the gloom, ".I want you to take care of yourself, and my best friend." "You mean Dawn?" Iris nodded. "I believe that her face came as a shock to you, since she looks so much like me. Well, she does and you'll just have to believe in her. She's a brick because of all that training, but once you get to know her, she'll loosen up." She looked serious. "Believe in her. She'll be able to help you and help me too." Before Zero could reply, X voice seemed to be coming from the light, calling for him.
Zero came back to reality, and his vision began to clear. He looked up and saw a familiar face looking down at him. ".Iris?" his voice came out in a murmur. She shook her head. "No, Captain. I'm Dawn." Zero tried to sit up, but pain shot across his head. "What did I tell you about calling me 'captain'?" X laughed from beside Dawn. "He's back, all right." Dawn tried to smile, but couldn't. He thought I was Iris.he really must love her. "How are you feeling, Zero?" "A little dizzy, but pretty okay," he replied. "What about you? You were in a bad state last time I saw you." "I'm all right," she said. She looked at X and said, "You should thank Captain X. You were having a nightmare and if it wasn't for his help you might've never woken at all." X raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about? I just lent you my energy. You're the one who did the whole process." Dawn did not reply, and Zero just shook his head. "Yeah well, thanks, guys." He looked at Dawn. "Um.Dawn.I want to ask you a lot of things.but I don't quite know where to begin." "I shall answer anything you ask as much as I could," she replied with a sigh. "That, I at least owe to you." "Okay.first of all.how come you never took your helmet off?" asked Zero. "Is it because you." Dawn sighed. "Yes. At first.I was afraid. I knew that I looked like Iris, whom you knew so well, so I hid my face, fearing it would affect the results of my being transferred to your unit." "You know the Colonel and his sister, right?" said X. Dawn nodded. "When the Colonel was still in control of Nova, that was when I first met Iris. We quickly became good friends. Iris was my best and only friend at that time. We both got along extremely well, disregarding the fact that I was sometimes hardened because of my training. They went to other sectors sometimes, including this one. "The Colonel knew of my skills, and that was why he told me that he wanted me to transfer to this sector and to Hunter Zero's unit. By then, Iris knew Zero. She was somewhat delighted, and told me that I should do extremely well there. She would be looking forward to seeing me there sometime. "But then the Repliforce incident came.Iris and I still kept in touch, until the day came that she never wrote back. I then received news that the weapon station was destroyed, and Iris had been killed by the Red Hunter named Zero. I was devastated at her loss, and threw myself to training all the more until I beat all of my co-Hunters by leaps and bounds. Then they sent me here." Zero, who had been listening to the tale with a white face, stared at her. "Were-Are you still devastated about the tragedy?" "Certainly," Dawn sighed. "Iris was the only friend I ever had. I still mourn for her loss.she was like a sister to me." She glanced at Zero. "Once I thought I was mad at you for killing her, but I wasn't. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to get angry with you. Not after Iris told me her feelings for you, and what a nice person you were. So.I guess I just tried to remain cold.as always." Zero looked down. "I'm sorry. I should've known." "Some of this I know since Alia and I found your file," said X, crossing his arms. "But you said something earlier. What promise did you make Iris about Zero?" It was at this that they looked up and stared at her. Dawn looked away, picking up her helmet. "When I was to be transferred here.Iris made me promise that whatever happens.I'd look out for my future captain, and make sure that I bring him no trouble. She said that Zero sometimes had the tendency to be very wound up in the battle. I promised her that I'd look out for Zero, as she said. But now that I brought the trouble to this base.I broke that promise." She sighed and was about to put her visor back on when Zero grabbed her hand. "No. Don't put it on." Dawn stared at him strangely and asked, "Why?" "You don't need to hide anything," he replied. "You haven't broken your promise to Iris, either. Nothing serious happened, and I'm okay. It'll be all right soon-we'll beat the Silver Pirates for sure." Dawn looked away. "I hope so." She turned from him and put on the helmet. She pressed a button on it, and when she looked at them, the visor was transparent, and they still saw her face. She gave them a little smile. "I shall return to my quarters now." Zero nodded with a smile, and Dawn walked away. As soon as she was gone, Alia looked at him with a grin. "Well! Who'd've thought?"
Review please!!