Aya: So how is Faith working out for you all? Are you creeped out? Do you want to jump her
in a shady alleyway? Good.
Mob Member 2: *Wearing "Go Faith" Hat* Well, I like her.
Mob Member 1: That's only cuz you like Alicia Silverstone in "The Crush."
Faith and Vile: *arguing about who's better*
Aya: Today we blow the blot WIDE OPEN, baby! YEAH! Don't worry, there will still be twists to
follow the ones that are revealed today.
-------------------------------------
Hunted Heart
Chapter 5: Love
"How are you sleeping, X?" It was Zero's voice again. X sat up on his bed, hair ruffled and
pajamas wrinkled. It was enough he was hallucinating about Zero, but when those hallucinations
woke you up from sleep. He massaged his face, trying to wake up fully. Zero was sitting across
the room, leaning comfortably on the back of a chair, wearing a smug smile on his face.
"I thought I killed you." X said with more hate than he would like to admit.
"You can't kill me." Zero got up. "I'll be with you..." Zero climbed onto the bed. "Until."
Now he boxed X to the headboard of the bed. "The day." Zero's hand pressed down on X's chest,
pushing him flat on his back. "You die." X winced and his hand moved over his chest. "Does
it hurt again? Your... 'heart'?"
"You don't have one." X narrowed his eyes to slits. "So shut up about it."
"I have a heart X." Zero slid his hand up the hunter's exposed neck and arches X's chin up. "I
have a heart..." Zero's green eyes hovered over X's lips. His instincts told him to shove Zero
off, but he found that he was paralyzed again. He could only look on helplessly as Zero stole a
kiss from X. Although unable to move, X could feel all the emotions and sensations of Zero's advance.
Zero pressed hungrily against X's lips, slowly changing X's feelings for the imposter. For a
fleeting moment, X could see it in the imposter's eyes. Clear as day, different from the hatred and
the possessiveness from before.
//Love?//
Just then, someone knocked on the door, and Zero disappeared. X reached for the fading image of
Zero, but only caught air. He sighed, and headed for the door.
"X!" Faith called cheerfully as she knocked on the door of X's quarters. "X?"
"Coming!" The door slid open and X looked like he just climbed out of bed. His hair was
going in all possible directions, and he was wearing his pajamas. Faith's eyes suddenly
gained a strange glittering effect, stunning X a bit. "Uh... are you okay?"
"You look just adorable even out of your armor!" She continued to stare dreamily at X,
who laughed nervously. "Oh!" She snapped out of her daydream state. "I brought you some
spaghetti this time." She moved to her left a bit and started to push a cart full of food
into X's quarters.
"Are you sure you're not supposed to be at the culinary academy across town?" X joked as she
started to set up the food on his table. She scratched her head, slightly embarrassed. "You
cook really well."
"Thanks." She started back towards the door again. "I just wanted to drop by to see how
you were doing. We were a little worried about you after the last mission. You just stopped
talking to everyone for days."
"I'm sorry about that." He sat down at the table. "Please sit down." She perked up again and
joined X at the table. "I don't know what happened back there. I think I said some really
awful things to Zero." He ran his hand through his hair. "I guess I just... snapped."
"Well, you got a week's vacation out of it!" She laughed cheerfully, but X didn't find it as funny.
"Ahem... Uh... forget I said that.... so what did you say to Zero?" X looked like he didn't want
to answer. "Okay, forget I asked that. Here!" She pushed the plate of spaghetti to X. "Say...
is blue for favorite color?"
"Yeah." X thought of Zero's eyes. "Blue's my favorite color." He absentmindedly started to eat
the food before him.
Faith got out of her chair and moved towards X. His eyes opened wide when her arms wrapped around
him from behind. She squeezed him firmly. "I hope you feel better." She kissed him lightly on
the top of his head. As abruptly as it began, she had let go of him and rushed out of the room.
--------------------------------
"Faith?" The door to Faith's quarters were not locked, and after standing there yelling for a
good two minutes, Zero decided to go inside to see if anything was wrong. She missed her last
shift, and since he was passing by her quarters, he thought he'd check on her.
Zero looked suspiciously around the room. It didn't seem like anyone was here right now. "Faith?"
He called out again. "Are you here?" After checking everything in the living room, he started
to check the bedroom. The moment he stepped inside the room, though, he knocked a poorly placed
stool over by accident. He bent down to right the stool, and to return the book that was sitting
on top.
"Hmm?" He couldn't help but notice the letters "X" written on the pages. "It must be a diary."
He started skimming the page it was open to see what context X was written in.
"X is really adorable!" Was written at the top of the page. "He's such a nice person. When I
hurt myself today, he bandaged my hands and knees." Zero thought back to the dinner the three
of them had, and recalled the bandage on Faith's right hand. "I found him lying on the floor
on his room, when I went to deliver his dinner. Glass was everywhere. He made me promise not
to tell Zero about it. Does he think it's Zero's fault?"
//My fault?// Zero's mind spun. //What's my fault?//
"His hallucinations must be quite bad. I never imagined he would react this strongly to it."
Zero continued to read. "I only expected him to have waking dreams when he's alone, but there
seems to be a physical aspect involved in this case. Hopefully he'll start to hate Zero soon."
Zero gasped, and thought back to the day at the cafeteria when she stared angrily at him, seemingly
for no reason. The entry ended there, so he flipped back forwards several pages to find out
what exactly is going on. A photo was slipped between two pages. Zero pulled it out. Centered
on the photo was himself, in a style of armor he wore several years ago. Beside him, X was studying
a map. He didn't remember posing for this photo, so most likely it was taken without his knowledge.
He started to read that page. The entry was dated a week ago, when Faith had arrived.
"I managed to get rid of a couple of people for the meantime so my team would get a chance to work
here, at hunter HQ. It was easy enough to infect a couple of people with my virus. Fortune smiles
up on me, since one of the people I got a chance to infect was none other than Alia, the navigator
for the 17th unit. She also helps other elite teams on their mission, including the 0-Unit. I was
a shoe-in for that position, since I'm the top navigator in the entire pathetic academy. So now
here I am, at the academy, closer than ever to him.
"I saw him at the cafeteria during lunch, but he didn't seem to recognize me at all! He was busy
being friendly with his X. I was furious at him. After all that I did to see him again, how dare
he not recognize me. I was so mad. I could cry." Zero thought about the mission several days ago,
and how she asked him if he was getting a Deja Vu feeling. After searching his mind for a moment, he
remembered where he first met Faith. Several years ago. Downtown. An attack.
/////"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just got caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Oh! You can't stand. I hope you don't mind, but this is the fastest way to get you to the repair center."
"No... I don't mind at all..."/////
He continued to read the diary, the entry was dated the next day.
"I had to drive the two of them apart, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt dear, sweet Zero, so I
implanted the chip in X instead. But still, I feel slightly bad about it, since it will definitely
not be a pleasant experience for him, and he's such a sweet guy. At least now I know he can't
get near my Zero. He'll even come to hate him soon."
"Today X collapsed. It was probably because of the chip. Something came over me, and I felt all this...
guilt. I hadn't expected him to react that strongly to the chip. Of course, I'd never tested it at all,
but I didn't think... I'm so sorry, X. He still smiled like nothing was wrong. Oh, I feel horrible."
He was back at the entry he first read, so he flipped passed that page.
"I'm not even sure what happened today. X flipped out or something, and refused to talk to anyone.
Zero looked devastated on the entire ride back. X must have said something to Zero. This could be
my big chance to get Zero to forget about X...
"... but I can't seem to get X out of my mind. He's so genuine. You can see it in his eyes. I honestly
don't want to hurt him, but I have to be strong and follow through with this. The chip will work.
The two of them will break up. As to which one I love more... I don't know. I mean, I came to this
place to see Zero, the one I've been thinking about for the last three years. I cried when he
died, was overjoyed when he came back... but X... my rival... he's in the way... but I've fallen for
him, too."
The doors to the quarters slid open. Zero panicked. He tossed the diary on her bed and looked around
for a place to hide, but did not have time to duck away before Faith entered the bedroom.
"Zero?" Faith blinked. "What are you doing in my room?"
"I came to check on you. You missed your shift." That much was true.
"Oh. I forgot about my shift." She laughed nervously. "Sorry."
"Tell me, what exactly are you doing to X."
Her eyes met Zero's. He did not look at all happy. She looked towards the bench were the diary was, then
found it on her bed. A dark shadow cast over her face.
"So you know." She moved slowly to the vanity and sat down. Zero could see her face reflected by the
large mirror. Everything about the way she looked changed. Her eyes looked less innocent; they were
seasoned with age and hurt. "Do you hate me now? Che... You don't remember me at all anyway."
"I asked you--" Zero tried to contain his anger "--what did you do to X."
"You really do like him don't you?" Her eyes were void of emotions now She simply stared at her own
reflection in the mirror. Zero grunted. Fed up with her games, he moved over and spun her chair around.
"I'm not playing your game anymore!" He shouted. "Did you do to X?!" Her lips curved slightly, and he
only saw the glint of something metallic before a burst of electricity sent him flying violently backwards
to the bed.
"Zero?" Faith got up, both hands still gripped on the stun gun, disguised to look like a lipstick. Zero did
not move. "I guess you really do like X." She lifted Zero's unconscious form from the bed and cradled it.
"I like X, too." She unclipped his helmet and removed it. "I like you very much also." She brushed
aside the hair blocking his eyes before kissing him. When she finished, she looked like she took a breath
of air for the first time. "Unfortunately, you're in my way. I like X now, you see." Gently, she set
Zero's body back on the bed. "Looks like I'll have to deal with you..."
-----------------------------------
Aya: *nods* Let this be a lesson to you all: the diary will ALWAYS be an evil fangirl's downfall.
Mob Member 2: *eyes glittering* She's sooo cool! Wow! The ultimate evil fangirl!
Mob Member 1: My god, number 2, is that a Faith T-Shirt you're wearing?
Mob Member 3: She's hopeless.
*People arrive, bearing torches, axes, and other garden tools*
Aya: Who are you?
Neo Mob Member 1: We are members of Neo Mob. We're here to hate Faith with all our might, and we came
brining garden tools!
Faith: *evil laugh* Attack me if you dare! You cannot touch me!
Neo Mob members rush Faith, only to hit some kind of shield and fall backwards.
Faith: *still more evil laughing* My Evil Fangirl Aura is too much for your puny garden tools to
penetrate! Forte, eat your heart out. My Evil Fangirl Aura is far superior to your pathetic
Dream Aura! *Evil laughing*
in a shady alleyway? Good.
Mob Member 2: *Wearing "Go Faith" Hat* Well, I like her.
Mob Member 1: That's only cuz you like Alicia Silverstone in "The Crush."
Faith and Vile: *arguing about who's better*
Aya: Today we blow the blot WIDE OPEN, baby! YEAH! Don't worry, there will still be twists to
follow the ones that are revealed today.
-------------------------------------
Hunted Heart
Chapter 5: Love
"How are you sleeping, X?" It was Zero's voice again. X sat up on his bed, hair ruffled and
pajamas wrinkled. It was enough he was hallucinating about Zero, but when those hallucinations
woke you up from sleep. He massaged his face, trying to wake up fully. Zero was sitting across
the room, leaning comfortably on the back of a chair, wearing a smug smile on his face.
"I thought I killed you." X said with more hate than he would like to admit.
"You can't kill me." Zero got up. "I'll be with you..." Zero climbed onto the bed. "Until."
Now he boxed X to the headboard of the bed. "The day." Zero's hand pressed down on X's chest,
pushing him flat on his back. "You die." X winced and his hand moved over his chest. "Does
it hurt again? Your... 'heart'?"
"You don't have one." X narrowed his eyes to slits. "So shut up about it."
"I have a heart X." Zero slid his hand up the hunter's exposed neck and arches X's chin up. "I
have a heart..." Zero's green eyes hovered over X's lips. His instincts told him to shove Zero
off, but he found that he was paralyzed again. He could only look on helplessly as Zero stole a
kiss from X. Although unable to move, X could feel all the emotions and sensations of Zero's advance.
Zero pressed hungrily against X's lips, slowly changing X's feelings for the imposter. For a
fleeting moment, X could see it in the imposter's eyes. Clear as day, different from the hatred and
the possessiveness from before.
//Love?//
Just then, someone knocked on the door, and Zero disappeared. X reached for the fading image of
Zero, but only caught air. He sighed, and headed for the door.
"X!" Faith called cheerfully as she knocked on the door of X's quarters. "X?"
"Coming!" The door slid open and X looked like he just climbed out of bed. His hair was
going in all possible directions, and he was wearing his pajamas. Faith's eyes suddenly
gained a strange glittering effect, stunning X a bit. "Uh... are you okay?"
"You look just adorable even out of your armor!" She continued to stare dreamily at X,
who laughed nervously. "Oh!" She snapped out of her daydream state. "I brought you some
spaghetti this time." She moved to her left a bit and started to push a cart full of food
into X's quarters.
"Are you sure you're not supposed to be at the culinary academy across town?" X joked as she
started to set up the food on his table. She scratched her head, slightly embarrassed. "You
cook really well."
"Thanks." She started back towards the door again. "I just wanted to drop by to see how
you were doing. We were a little worried about you after the last mission. You just stopped
talking to everyone for days."
"I'm sorry about that." He sat down at the table. "Please sit down." She perked up again and
joined X at the table. "I don't know what happened back there. I think I said some really
awful things to Zero." He ran his hand through his hair. "I guess I just... snapped."
"Well, you got a week's vacation out of it!" She laughed cheerfully, but X didn't find it as funny.
"Ahem... Uh... forget I said that.... so what did you say to Zero?" X looked like he didn't want
to answer. "Okay, forget I asked that. Here!" She pushed the plate of spaghetti to X. "Say...
is blue for favorite color?"
"Yeah." X thought of Zero's eyes. "Blue's my favorite color." He absentmindedly started to eat
the food before him.
Faith got out of her chair and moved towards X. His eyes opened wide when her arms wrapped around
him from behind. She squeezed him firmly. "I hope you feel better." She kissed him lightly on
the top of his head. As abruptly as it began, she had let go of him and rushed out of the room.
--------------------------------
"Faith?" The door to Faith's quarters were not locked, and after standing there yelling for a
good two minutes, Zero decided to go inside to see if anything was wrong. She missed her last
shift, and since he was passing by her quarters, he thought he'd check on her.
Zero looked suspiciously around the room. It didn't seem like anyone was here right now. "Faith?"
He called out again. "Are you here?" After checking everything in the living room, he started
to check the bedroom. The moment he stepped inside the room, though, he knocked a poorly placed
stool over by accident. He bent down to right the stool, and to return the book that was sitting
on top.
"Hmm?" He couldn't help but notice the letters "X" written on the pages. "It must be a diary."
He started skimming the page it was open to see what context X was written in.
"X is really adorable!" Was written at the top of the page. "He's such a nice person. When I
hurt myself today, he bandaged my hands and knees." Zero thought back to the dinner the three
of them had, and recalled the bandage on Faith's right hand. "I found him lying on the floor
on his room, when I went to deliver his dinner. Glass was everywhere. He made me promise not
to tell Zero about it. Does he think it's Zero's fault?"
//My fault?// Zero's mind spun. //What's my fault?//
"His hallucinations must be quite bad. I never imagined he would react this strongly to it."
Zero continued to read. "I only expected him to have waking dreams when he's alone, but there
seems to be a physical aspect involved in this case. Hopefully he'll start to hate Zero soon."
Zero gasped, and thought back to the day at the cafeteria when she stared angrily at him, seemingly
for no reason. The entry ended there, so he flipped back forwards several pages to find out
what exactly is going on. A photo was slipped between two pages. Zero pulled it out. Centered
on the photo was himself, in a style of armor he wore several years ago. Beside him, X was studying
a map. He didn't remember posing for this photo, so most likely it was taken without his knowledge.
He started to read that page. The entry was dated a week ago, when Faith had arrived.
"I managed to get rid of a couple of people for the meantime so my team would get a chance to work
here, at hunter HQ. It was easy enough to infect a couple of people with my virus. Fortune smiles
up on me, since one of the people I got a chance to infect was none other than Alia, the navigator
for the 17th unit. She also helps other elite teams on their mission, including the 0-Unit. I was
a shoe-in for that position, since I'm the top navigator in the entire pathetic academy. So now
here I am, at the academy, closer than ever to him.
"I saw him at the cafeteria during lunch, but he didn't seem to recognize me at all! He was busy
being friendly with his X. I was furious at him. After all that I did to see him again, how dare
he not recognize me. I was so mad. I could cry." Zero thought about the mission several days ago,
and how she asked him if he was getting a Deja Vu feeling. After searching his mind for a moment, he
remembered where he first met Faith. Several years ago. Downtown. An attack.
/////"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just got caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Oh! You can't stand. I hope you don't mind, but this is the fastest way to get you to the repair center."
"No... I don't mind at all..."/////
He continued to read the diary, the entry was dated the next day.
"I had to drive the two of them apart, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt dear, sweet Zero, so I
implanted the chip in X instead. But still, I feel slightly bad about it, since it will definitely
not be a pleasant experience for him, and he's such a sweet guy. At least now I know he can't
get near my Zero. He'll even come to hate him soon."
"Today X collapsed. It was probably because of the chip. Something came over me, and I felt all this...
guilt. I hadn't expected him to react that strongly to the chip. Of course, I'd never tested it at all,
but I didn't think... I'm so sorry, X. He still smiled like nothing was wrong. Oh, I feel horrible."
He was back at the entry he first read, so he flipped passed that page.
"I'm not even sure what happened today. X flipped out or something, and refused to talk to anyone.
Zero looked devastated on the entire ride back. X must have said something to Zero. This could be
my big chance to get Zero to forget about X...
"... but I can't seem to get X out of my mind. He's so genuine. You can see it in his eyes. I honestly
don't want to hurt him, but I have to be strong and follow through with this. The chip will work.
The two of them will break up. As to which one I love more... I don't know. I mean, I came to this
place to see Zero, the one I've been thinking about for the last three years. I cried when he
died, was overjoyed when he came back... but X... my rival... he's in the way... but I've fallen for
him, too."
The doors to the quarters slid open. Zero panicked. He tossed the diary on her bed and looked around
for a place to hide, but did not have time to duck away before Faith entered the bedroom.
"Zero?" Faith blinked. "What are you doing in my room?"
"I came to check on you. You missed your shift." That much was true.
"Oh. I forgot about my shift." She laughed nervously. "Sorry."
"Tell me, what exactly are you doing to X."
Her eyes met Zero's. He did not look at all happy. She looked towards the bench were the diary was, then
found it on her bed. A dark shadow cast over her face.
"So you know." She moved slowly to the vanity and sat down. Zero could see her face reflected by the
large mirror. Everything about the way she looked changed. Her eyes looked less innocent; they were
seasoned with age and hurt. "Do you hate me now? Che... You don't remember me at all anyway."
"I asked you--" Zero tried to contain his anger "--what did you do to X."
"You really do like him don't you?" Her eyes were void of emotions now She simply stared at her own
reflection in the mirror. Zero grunted. Fed up with her games, he moved over and spun her chair around.
"I'm not playing your game anymore!" He shouted. "Did you do to X?!" Her lips curved slightly, and he
only saw the glint of something metallic before a burst of electricity sent him flying violently backwards
to the bed.
"Zero?" Faith got up, both hands still gripped on the stun gun, disguised to look like a lipstick. Zero did
not move. "I guess you really do like X." She lifted Zero's unconscious form from the bed and cradled it.
"I like X, too." She unclipped his helmet and removed it. "I like you very much also." She brushed
aside the hair blocking his eyes before kissing him. When she finished, she looked like she took a breath
of air for the first time. "Unfortunately, you're in my way. I like X now, you see." Gently, she set
Zero's body back on the bed. "Looks like I'll have to deal with you..."
-----------------------------------
Aya: *nods* Let this be a lesson to you all: the diary will ALWAYS be an evil fangirl's downfall.
Mob Member 2: *eyes glittering* She's sooo cool! Wow! The ultimate evil fangirl!
Mob Member 1: My god, number 2, is that a Faith T-Shirt you're wearing?
Mob Member 3: She's hopeless.
*People arrive, bearing torches, axes, and other garden tools*
Aya: Who are you?
Neo Mob Member 1: We are members of Neo Mob. We're here to hate Faith with all our might, and we came
brining garden tools!
Faith: *evil laugh* Attack me if you dare! You cannot touch me!
Neo Mob members rush Faith, only to hit some kind of shield and fall backwards.
Faith: *still more evil laughing* My Evil Fangirl Aura is too much for your puny garden tools to
penetrate! Forte, eat your heart out. My Evil Fangirl Aura is far superior to your pathetic
Dream Aura! *Evil laughing*