Aya: Not too much shounen-ai in this chapter, but I'm setting it up! Really!
Mob Member 2: I want instant gratification! I want my shounen ai NOW!
Aya: Fine, fine. *snaps fingers*
X and Zero: *appears*
X: Oh Zero!
Zero: Oh X! *Zero and X embrace. Zero dips X in a dance move, and then...SMOOCH*
Faith: HEY!! *fumes*
Aya: On with the show!
---------------------------------------
Hunted Heart
Chapter 4: Distance
"Ready for your first mission?" Zero asked Faith as the teams got ready for a low key mission.
Signas wanted the top hunter teams to go on this mission, because the new recruits would also be
there. Unit 0, 5 and 17 were in the hanger, preparing equipment.
"As well as I could be prepared." Faith took a breath and continued to pack the transmission
equipment into the back section of her ATV (all terrain vehicle). "We'll be trying out this
new mobile communications unit. I could try spotting on location." She looked impressively at
the equipment. "If this works, we can have spotters on more missions. Of course... if it
doesn't work, there will be another spotter here at HQ to continue spotting for you, and I'd
just be sitting around doing much of nothing."
"Okay, everyone understand their orders?" X looked around and his team nodded. "Good, then set
your headset frequencies to the ones on your sheet. we'll move out in ten minutes." The team
scattered to their vehicles and continued to work. Zero looked after X as he read over the
directives again.
"Faith, what happened to X before I got there that night?" Zero asked without looking at her.
"What?" Faith dropped a screwdriver. "What do you mean?"
"I meant to ask you for awhile now, but never found time alone with you until now." Zero turned
and looked at Faith. "That night, right after X collapsed. When I came over for dinner, he was
looking at me differently than before. Did he say anything to you?"
"No." Faith shook her head. "Not much. He just suggested we call you for dinner as well."
"I see." Zero trailed off. "Well, good luck spotting for us. I need to go brief my team, too."
Zero turned and started walking away.
"Wait!" Faith started after Zero. "Commander... do you..." Zero looked over his shoulder, a
curious expression on his face. "...do you..."
"Mmm?" Zero walked back to Faith. "Do I what?" Faith kept staring at Zero for several more seconds,
as if she was expecting something from Zero.
"... do you..." She turned her eyes downwards, and looked somewhat disappointed. "... want more
chicken?" She retrieved a basket from the back of her ATV and handed it to Zero.
"Alright!" Zero happily accepted the basket. "Do you have a chicken farm in your quarters or
something?" Faith kept staring down at the floor. "Faith?" She didn't seem to hear him.
"Faith!" He repeated.
"Huh, what?" She snapped back to reality. "Well, gotta go! I need to check the engine!" She
ran around to the front of the car and disappeared behind the open hood of the car. Zero shrugged
and went over to talk to X.
--------------------------------
Faith took a peek from behind the hood of the car and saw X and Zero talking to each other.
//It hurt to see you with someone else... Am I that easily forgotten?//
--------------------------------
"Okay, X, start heading down that tunnel." Faith told X over the communicator. "I'm getting a
strange reading from that room over by your left. Maybe you should check it out."
"Roger." Slowly, he turned the door knob. The door creaked open. X waited for his optical sensors to
adjust to the darkness of the room. The infrareds came on and X stepped inside. "I don't see
anything out of the ordinary."
"X-" Faith's connection started to break up. "--something--" More static. "--los--"
"Hello?" His radio went dead. "Hello?"
"Faith?" Behind him, the door slammed shut. He madly ran over and tried to pull the door open,
but it didn't move a single inch. //It's just jammed.// He told himself. //Just jammed.//'
"X." Spinning around, X could make out the outlines of a figure standing there. The green glow
of the infrared scope made the figure even more eerie than he already stands. "Hi X." Just then,
the lights in the room snapped on, blinding X, who still had his infrared scope activated. X quickly
covered his eyes and shut off the scope, but his eyes were still burning from the momentary
sensory overload. "I'm back."
"What do you want, you imposter!" X blinked his eyes, trying to regain his vision.
"Imposter? Tsk Tsk." Zero walked forwards. "Don't you know who I am yet?"
X grabbed his chest when the pains returned. His vision was still blurry, but when he looked down,
he saw his chest and hands covered in blood. "Nooo..." X closed his eyes tightly then opened them
again. The blood was gone. His relief was short lived. Zero moved within arm's reach of X without
him noticing and shoved the blue hunter across the room. "Ugh!" X slammed against the wall.
"I am who you envision Zero to be, X." Zero approached again. X raised his fists to fight back,
conjuring an amused smile from Zero's face. "You see past the happy exterior, X. You know who
Zero really is: a Maverick." Zero raised his hands and examined them. "Even if he never turns
against the Hunters, or the humans... you know that if he ever got close enough to you, when you're
alone, with him, and you're... asleep..." Zero rushed up to X with inhuman speed and clasped hand
over X's mouth. X's eyes went wide. Zero pressed his expressionless face close to X's. "He would
not be able to resist. It would be too easy to kill you."
Overcoming the shock, X looked defiantly as Zero. The imposter lowered his hand from X's face, but
did not move back.
"You're wrong." X said. "You're so wrong."
"Wrong?" The imposter stepped backwards, not as sure of himself as before. He seems to be searching
his mind for something. "It's the truth!" He grasped the sides of his head. "I... I don't know."
Zero fell to the floor and started to shake. "No..."
"Zero." X knelt down and tried to help the imposter. "It's okay, it'll be okay." He wrapped his
arms around Zero and tried to calm him down. "It'll be okay." He repeated. X noticed a dull headache
and his arms started to fall asleep. To his surprise, his arms started to move on their own accord.
One of his arms reached for Zero's Z saber and activated it. Zero was too absorbed in his own world
to notice X's actions.
//No.// X wanted to shout, but he already lost all command of his body. He saw his arm raising the
sword. //RUN!// The saber hit Zero right in the center of his chest. Zero gasped and desperately
trashed around, clawing at X's face. X saw himself draw the sword out of Zero's chest, and stab down
again, this time splattering blood over himself. Zero continued to struggle, but soon started to
slow down. X watched in horror as he continued to stab Zero. The blue glow of his eyes dimmed, and his
arms went limp by his sides. Zero's eyes lingered on X's face for a moment, then they stared into
space.
X could move his arms again, and he quickly dropped the sword and he backed up from the body. X
squeezed his eyes shut again, willing the terrible picture of Zero's dead body to go away. When
he opened them again, Zero was gone. He let out a sigh of relief and backed against a wall again.
"You know." Zero's voice returned, but X was too desensitized to be surprised. "Either I'm going to
kill you... or you and your doubts would compel you to kill me. Think about it."
---------------------------------------
"Commander Zero!" Zero heard Faith call over the radio. "I've lost contact with everyone else!
I don't know where they went. Has the HQ com kicked in yet?"
"I can still hear you." Zero replied. "You lost contact will all three units? Did something
happen to your equipment?"
"I don't think so." Her voice sounded strained. "But yes, I have lost contact with everyone
except you. I don't know what's wrong... AHHHH!" Crashing sounds could be heard in the
background.
"Faith?" Zero tried to adjust his headset, but now he couldn't hear anything but static. "FAITH?
Damn it." He started running out back to the ATV where Faith was at, all the while trying to
get a connection between HQ. He was out of contact with everyone. This was bad. His first priority
was getting com back up, which means he would have to go back to the ATV. "She'll be fine." He
told himself. "She's got weapons." He wasn't convinced, so he sped up.
----------------------------------------
Zero arrived to base camp, where the ATV was parked, and the bodies of several mavericks laying on
the ground. The ATV itself looked like it came under fire. Faith was sitting, leaning against
the front of the ATV with a light rifle in her hands. She heard Zero approaching and pointed her
gun towards him, when she realized who it was, she sighed and lowered the rifle.
"Sorry." She set the rifle aside.
"What happened to the base camp?" Zero looked around. There usually were at least ten hunters
stationed at the base camp, but she couldn't hear anything. "Where is everyone else?"
"They surprised us." She motioned towards the dead bodies. "Most of the hunters got away,
I think they're just scattered. I have no way of communicating with them though. The equipment is
busted."
"Can you get up?"
"I don't think so... I think I got hit." She tried to get up, but several wires on her right knee
were cut. Zero bent down and picked her up.
"I hope you don't mind, but I think this is the only way to move you." Zero started to carry her
to the back of the ATV. "I think I can fix a couple of those wires so you can at least move."
"I don't mind." She smiled, wrapping her arm around his neck for support. "Hey, Zero?"
"Yo." He replied casually.
"Are you getting...a kind of Deja Vu feeling?"
He looked thoughtfully at her, then shook his head.
"I see." She looked dejected again. "Hey! We have to go find the others!"
"Headquarters to Zero. Headquarters to Zero." A voice came over on Zero's radio. "Come in, Zero."
"The radios are working again." Zero told Faith. "This is Zero. Have you established contact with
the other team members?"
"Yes." The second spotter responded. "We've raised most of the other team members, except Commander
X. I have a signal, but he's not responding. We've marked his location, we need you to go find him."
"Roger." Zero set Faith on the back of the ATV, ran back and retrieved her rifle. "Take this." He
gave her the rifle. "Stay safe until I get back, okay? I have to go get X." She nodded, still
looking a bit dejected, but smiled supportively to him.
--------------------------------
"X? X?" Zero opened the doorway. These were the coordinates he was given by the spotter. The room
was already lit. Zero glanced around the room and found X sitting in the corner of the room. "Hey."
Zero had a bad feeling as he walked towards X. The blue hunter was staring at the ground, paying
no attention to Zero. "X?"
"Stay away from me." X said suddenly, halting Zero's approach.
"What?" Zero bad feeling continued to grow. "What do you mean, X? Are you okay?"
"Just stay away from me." X's voice trembled. X got up, and walked straight past Zero, avoiding
his gaze as he did so.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Zero started after X.
"I mean it, Zero." X turned around and looked coldly at Zero. "Stay away from me."
-----------------------------------
Mob Member 1: I'm going to object to the lack of Shounen-ai-ness in this chapter.
Mob Member 2: *Waving a "Go Faith" banner* I don't know, I think I've changed teams.
Aya: Scroll back up and read the dance move X and Zero did, cuz I can only use my summoning
powers once a day.
Mom Member 3: I think I've figured it out! *passes out conspiracy theories*
Faith: I think the only conspiracy going on here is that this fic is totally void of any shounen-ai...
or any kind of ai...
Vile: I'm ALIVE!!! *Glares at Faith* Did you totally steal my part?
Faith: I'll have you know I'm MUCH better at trapping my victims in my web of LOVE *villainess laugh*
Aya: HEY! I can totally pair you *points to Faith* and you *points to Vile* up!
Vile and Faith: AHHHHH!!!!
Mob Member 2: I want instant gratification! I want my shounen ai NOW!
Aya: Fine, fine. *snaps fingers*
X and Zero: *appears*
X: Oh Zero!
Zero: Oh X! *Zero and X embrace. Zero dips X in a dance move, and then...SMOOCH*
Faith: HEY!! *fumes*
Aya: On with the show!
---------------------------------------
Hunted Heart
Chapter 4: Distance
"Ready for your first mission?" Zero asked Faith as the teams got ready for a low key mission.
Signas wanted the top hunter teams to go on this mission, because the new recruits would also be
there. Unit 0, 5 and 17 were in the hanger, preparing equipment.
"As well as I could be prepared." Faith took a breath and continued to pack the transmission
equipment into the back section of her ATV (all terrain vehicle). "We'll be trying out this
new mobile communications unit. I could try spotting on location." She looked impressively at
the equipment. "If this works, we can have spotters on more missions. Of course... if it
doesn't work, there will be another spotter here at HQ to continue spotting for you, and I'd
just be sitting around doing much of nothing."
"Okay, everyone understand their orders?" X looked around and his team nodded. "Good, then set
your headset frequencies to the ones on your sheet. we'll move out in ten minutes." The team
scattered to their vehicles and continued to work. Zero looked after X as he read over the
directives again.
"Faith, what happened to X before I got there that night?" Zero asked without looking at her.
"What?" Faith dropped a screwdriver. "What do you mean?"
"I meant to ask you for awhile now, but never found time alone with you until now." Zero turned
and looked at Faith. "That night, right after X collapsed. When I came over for dinner, he was
looking at me differently than before. Did he say anything to you?"
"No." Faith shook her head. "Not much. He just suggested we call you for dinner as well."
"I see." Zero trailed off. "Well, good luck spotting for us. I need to go brief my team, too."
Zero turned and started walking away.
"Wait!" Faith started after Zero. "Commander... do you..." Zero looked over his shoulder, a
curious expression on his face. "...do you..."
"Mmm?" Zero walked back to Faith. "Do I what?" Faith kept staring at Zero for several more seconds,
as if she was expecting something from Zero.
"... do you..." She turned her eyes downwards, and looked somewhat disappointed. "... want more
chicken?" She retrieved a basket from the back of her ATV and handed it to Zero.
"Alright!" Zero happily accepted the basket. "Do you have a chicken farm in your quarters or
something?" Faith kept staring down at the floor. "Faith?" She didn't seem to hear him.
"Faith!" He repeated.
"Huh, what?" She snapped back to reality. "Well, gotta go! I need to check the engine!" She
ran around to the front of the car and disappeared behind the open hood of the car. Zero shrugged
and went over to talk to X.
--------------------------------
Faith took a peek from behind the hood of the car and saw X and Zero talking to each other.
//It hurt to see you with someone else... Am I that easily forgotten?//
--------------------------------
"Okay, X, start heading down that tunnel." Faith told X over the communicator. "I'm getting a
strange reading from that room over by your left. Maybe you should check it out."
"Roger." Slowly, he turned the door knob. The door creaked open. X waited for his optical sensors to
adjust to the darkness of the room. The infrareds came on and X stepped inside. "I don't see
anything out of the ordinary."
"X-" Faith's connection started to break up. "--something--" More static. "--los--"
"Hello?" His radio went dead. "Hello?"
"Faith?" Behind him, the door slammed shut. He madly ran over and tried to pull the door open,
but it didn't move a single inch. //It's just jammed.// He told himself. //Just jammed.//'
"X." Spinning around, X could make out the outlines of a figure standing there. The green glow
of the infrared scope made the figure even more eerie than he already stands. "Hi X." Just then,
the lights in the room snapped on, blinding X, who still had his infrared scope activated. X quickly
covered his eyes and shut off the scope, but his eyes were still burning from the momentary
sensory overload. "I'm back."
"What do you want, you imposter!" X blinked his eyes, trying to regain his vision.
"Imposter? Tsk Tsk." Zero walked forwards. "Don't you know who I am yet?"
X grabbed his chest when the pains returned. His vision was still blurry, but when he looked down,
he saw his chest and hands covered in blood. "Nooo..." X closed his eyes tightly then opened them
again. The blood was gone. His relief was short lived. Zero moved within arm's reach of X without
him noticing and shoved the blue hunter across the room. "Ugh!" X slammed against the wall.
"I am who you envision Zero to be, X." Zero approached again. X raised his fists to fight back,
conjuring an amused smile from Zero's face. "You see past the happy exterior, X. You know who
Zero really is: a Maverick." Zero raised his hands and examined them. "Even if he never turns
against the Hunters, or the humans... you know that if he ever got close enough to you, when you're
alone, with him, and you're... asleep..." Zero rushed up to X with inhuman speed and clasped hand
over X's mouth. X's eyes went wide. Zero pressed his expressionless face close to X's. "He would
not be able to resist. It would be too easy to kill you."
Overcoming the shock, X looked defiantly as Zero. The imposter lowered his hand from X's face, but
did not move back.
"You're wrong." X said. "You're so wrong."
"Wrong?" The imposter stepped backwards, not as sure of himself as before. He seems to be searching
his mind for something. "It's the truth!" He grasped the sides of his head. "I... I don't know."
Zero fell to the floor and started to shake. "No..."
"Zero." X knelt down and tried to help the imposter. "It's okay, it'll be okay." He wrapped his
arms around Zero and tried to calm him down. "It'll be okay." He repeated. X noticed a dull headache
and his arms started to fall asleep. To his surprise, his arms started to move on their own accord.
One of his arms reached for Zero's Z saber and activated it. Zero was too absorbed in his own world
to notice X's actions.
//No.// X wanted to shout, but he already lost all command of his body. He saw his arm raising the
sword. //RUN!// The saber hit Zero right in the center of his chest. Zero gasped and desperately
trashed around, clawing at X's face. X saw himself draw the sword out of Zero's chest, and stab down
again, this time splattering blood over himself. Zero continued to struggle, but soon started to
slow down. X watched in horror as he continued to stab Zero. The blue glow of his eyes dimmed, and his
arms went limp by his sides. Zero's eyes lingered on X's face for a moment, then they stared into
space.
X could move his arms again, and he quickly dropped the sword and he backed up from the body. X
squeezed his eyes shut again, willing the terrible picture of Zero's dead body to go away. When
he opened them again, Zero was gone. He let out a sigh of relief and backed against a wall again.
"You know." Zero's voice returned, but X was too desensitized to be surprised. "Either I'm going to
kill you... or you and your doubts would compel you to kill me. Think about it."
---------------------------------------
"Commander Zero!" Zero heard Faith call over the radio. "I've lost contact with everyone else!
I don't know where they went. Has the HQ com kicked in yet?"
"I can still hear you." Zero replied. "You lost contact will all three units? Did something
happen to your equipment?"
"I don't think so." Her voice sounded strained. "But yes, I have lost contact with everyone
except you. I don't know what's wrong... AHHHH!" Crashing sounds could be heard in the
background.
"Faith?" Zero tried to adjust his headset, but now he couldn't hear anything but static. "FAITH?
Damn it." He started running out back to the ATV where Faith was at, all the while trying to
get a connection between HQ. He was out of contact with everyone. This was bad. His first priority
was getting com back up, which means he would have to go back to the ATV. "She'll be fine." He
told himself. "She's got weapons." He wasn't convinced, so he sped up.
----------------------------------------
Zero arrived to base camp, where the ATV was parked, and the bodies of several mavericks laying on
the ground. The ATV itself looked like it came under fire. Faith was sitting, leaning against
the front of the ATV with a light rifle in her hands. She heard Zero approaching and pointed her
gun towards him, when she realized who it was, she sighed and lowered the rifle.
"Sorry." She set the rifle aside.
"What happened to the base camp?" Zero looked around. There usually were at least ten hunters
stationed at the base camp, but she couldn't hear anything. "Where is everyone else?"
"They surprised us." She motioned towards the dead bodies. "Most of the hunters got away,
I think they're just scattered. I have no way of communicating with them though. The equipment is
busted."
"Can you get up?"
"I don't think so... I think I got hit." She tried to get up, but several wires on her right knee
were cut. Zero bent down and picked her up.
"I hope you don't mind, but I think this is the only way to move you." Zero started to carry her
to the back of the ATV. "I think I can fix a couple of those wires so you can at least move."
"I don't mind." She smiled, wrapping her arm around his neck for support. "Hey, Zero?"
"Yo." He replied casually.
"Are you getting...a kind of Deja Vu feeling?"
He looked thoughtfully at her, then shook his head.
"I see." She looked dejected again. "Hey! We have to go find the others!"
"Headquarters to Zero. Headquarters to Zero." A voice came over on Zero's radio. "Come in, Zero."
"The radios are working again." Zero told Faith. "This is Zero. Have you established contact with
the other team members?"
"Yes." The second spotter responded. "We've raised most of the other team members, except Commander
X. I have a signal, but he's not responding. We've marked his location, we need you to go find him."
"Roger." Zero set Faith on the back of the ATV, ran back and retrieved her rifle. "Take this." He
gave her the rifle. "Stay safe until I get back, okay? I have to go get X." She nodded, still
looking a bit dejected, but smiled supportively to him.
--------------------------------
"X? X?" Zero opened the doorway. These were the coordinates he was given by the spotter. The room
was already lit. Zero glanced around the room and found X sitting in the corner of the room. "Hey."
Zero had a bad feeling as he walked towards X. The blue hunter was staring at the ground, paying
no attention to Zero. "X?"
"Stay away from me." X said suddenly, halting Zero's approach.
"What?" Zero bad feeling continued to grow. "What do you mean, X? Are you okay?"
"Just stay away from me." X's voice trembled. X got up, and walked straight past Zero, avoiding
his gaze as he did so.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Zero started after X.
"I mean it, Zero." X turned around and looked coldly at Zero. "Stay away from me."
-----------------------------------
Mob Member 1: I'm going to object to the lack of Shounen-ai-ness in this chapter.
Mob Member 2: *Waving a "Go Faith" banner* I don't know, I think I've changed teams.
Aya: Scroll back up and read the dance move X and Zero did, cuz I can only use my summoning
powers once a day.
Mom Member 3: I think I've figured it out! *passes out conspiracy theories*
Faith: I think the only conspiracy going on here is that this fic is totally void of any shounen-ai...
or any kind of ai...
Vile: I'm ALIVE!!! *Glares at Faith* Did you totally steal my part?
Faith: I'll have you know I'm MUCH better at trapping my victims in my web of LOVE *villainess laugh*
Aya: HEY! I can totally pair you *points to Faith* and you *points to Vile* up!
Vile and Faith: AHHHHH!!!!