Aya: Damn, tons and tons of time later, this chapter is finally written. What I will tell you is that I'm really REALLY glad that I waited, since I found the perfect plot twist to make your hair stand on end and chase me around in circles for an update. If you can't handle the angst, maybe you should wait until I get the chapter after this before reading.
X: How bad of a plot twist is it, Aya?
Aya: Let's just say I was cackling in bed at 3 in the morning when I thought this baby up! Vile-kun, time for your appearance. ^_^
Vile: With pleasure *grins at X*
X: *shivers*
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Skew Universe
Chapter 9: The Origin of All Maladies.
"Excuse me," X said politely to the man sitting at the reception counter, "Is Dr. Hilbert in at this moment?"
"He's in a meeting right now." The receptionist typed an inquiry on his terminal. "You should probably come back later today and see if one of his appointment slots free up."
"Thanks." X nodded, smiled pleasantly at the receptionist and then turned to go. It was fortunate his voice was a slightly higher pitched than the average male Reploid. Everyone seemed to assume he was actually a woman, given the feminine disguise commander X made him wear. He brushed some of the blond hair from his face and looked around, noting the small robot rolling silently across the red carpet, vacuuming the lobby.
X's attention was fixed on the robot, when it was mercilessly crushed by a large, metallic boot. Looking up and seeing who it was, X almost fell over from shock.
"VILE?!" X shouted, feeling his body grow tense from a violent dread. Confused by the intense feeling, he looked away. I know I don't like him, X thought to himself, but I've never felt this bad from seeing him before. Why?
"Hmm?" Vile tilted his head. "Who are you?"
"I…" X lost his voice, being taken over by the heavy, swirling sickness again. Part of him wanted to get out of the room immediately, but another part of him was holding his legs firmly against the ground.
The receptionist X was just talking to, having finally recognized it was the Maverick Vile who just walked through the doors, ran screaming down the hallway, leaving X and Vile alone in the reception bay.
"You look familiar." Vile stepped past the crushed remains of the vacuum robot, towards X, who had started to shiver. "Have we met before…" He paused, searching his memory banks. "No, I would have remembered someone like you… However, you seem to know me, since you haven't tried to kill me or run away, there must be something else…" There was another heavy pause. "X?"
"What?" X snapped nervously, finally able to back up several steps. "I… I'm not the X you know!"
"Oh?..." Vile hovered, having closed the distance between the two Reploids already. "Then who are you?"
"What are you doing here, Vile?" X yelled, challenging the maverick.
"If you know me," Vile chuckled, "then you know what I'm here for."
"Then I'll just have to stop you!" The conversation turning to more familiar grounds, X regained his confidence and looked dangerously at Vile.
"Fight me?" Vile smiled. "Now I really know you're not X." His shoulder cannon snapped forwards, barrel pointed inches away from X's face. Immediately X leapt backwards, and onto the reception counter, giving him some space to analyze the situation.
The Hunter paused, waiting for Vile to make the first move in the fight. An odd noise emanated from Vile's shoulder cannon. Having never heard that noise from his previous fights with Vile before, X stopped, watching the cannon closely as he wondered what the weapon was going to do.
X hissed when he felt something slit his upper arm. Speckles of fresh blood sprayed from the wound as another cut appeared on his arm. He closed one eye in pain, confused by what was happening as more cuts appeared over his body.
"Why aren't you dodging?" Vile purred. A split second later, X somersaulted off the reception counter and hid on the other side. X took a quick examination of the wounds and determined he could still fight at near 100 percent.
Not that it's not going to hurt like heck. X thought before standing back up to face Vile. I should have guessed a different universe had different weapons and fighting styles… in that case…
X leapt at Vile, easily connecting a right hook with the Maverick's jaw. Taking full advantage of the element of surprise, he unleashed a relentless flurry of punches and kicks, sending Vile flying to the ground.
Vile writhed in pain in the ground, while X swung his hands in the air, trying to shake off the pain. Fighting without his armored gloves was acceptable, but, again, meant he took more damage internally.
"What's this?" X heard another familiar voice from behind him. A hurricane force stuck X down before he could turn around. X strained to push himself off the ground, but whatever hit him held on with terrifying steadiness, even with X maxing out his power to escape. "Can't you do anything right Vile?"
X gasped as the pressure increased, and was starting to crush him. Now he could only whine in pain.
"Sigma, stop!" X heard Vile say before the pressure let go. X winced as Vile picked him up off the ground. The maverick pulled the battered X towards himself protectively. Worn from the events, X could only lean against Vile as he is pulled to his feet. "This one is mine."
"I had no idea you were interested in females, Vile." Sigma laughed, stepping closer to examine X. "Oh…" He leaned in closer than X would have liked. "She reminds me of…"
"Yes. Doesn't she?" Vile nudged X's chin up, examining his features. "She's not X, though."
"I assume you can tell." Sigma snorted before turning away. "Do whatever you want. I can manage this place myself."
"Sig..Sigma!" X reached towards the Maverick leader, with whatever anger he could conjure at this point seething from his clenched teeth. Feeling the hot blood soaking through his clothing now, X shook in Vile's grasp. Energy drained from him as his blood trickled from his wounds. Realizing his system was going to shut down for emergency repairs, he let out one last cry of frustration before falling completely against Vile.
Vile brushed the blond hair off X's face, then looked curiously at the hair. He felt behind X's ear and found a clip. Unsnapping it, the blond wig fell from X's head to reveal locks of raven hair. Vile gasped, then smiled delightfully, running his fingers through X's hair. "You're not X, but you're practically his twin!" Vile paused, lowering his lips towards X's. "Or maybe this is what happened to you after being in stasis for all this time?" He stole a kiss from the unconscious figure. "I'll help you remember… X."
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X stepped stoically through the deserted ruins of a city. It was a dream city. By now he had enough of his counter part's memories as dreams to realize what this was: a walk through the other X's memories. Only this time, he himself was in the body of the other X. An audience inside the body of the actor. He was experiencing everything the other X was thinking and feeling, but could not do anything to change the events.
Why am I here? X asked himself as he walked through the streets. Why did Dr. Light… do this to me? Intense emotions snapped through his circuits as X recalled his time in the stasis pod. Why… did he…leave me in that pod, by myself? Hot tears rolled down his cheeks. I spent years upon years in there…on my own, knowing everyone I had memories of was dying. It was so dark.
Now that I'm out here it's no different. I don't know anyone here except Dr. Cain. On top of that… it's because of me that this Maverick rebellion is even happening. Mavericks wouldn't even exist without me. Am I just… helpless?
Something exploded from above X. Looking up, he saw a Maverick army's patrol robots flying menacingly above him. X turned to run, having no real fighting capabilities he knew how to use, only to be stopped by a ground troop of Mavericks. One of the mavericks raised a stun gun towards X. Oh no! I wandered into Maverick territory! X raised his hands and backed away, but felt his feet lift from the ground. A magnetic net wrapped tightly around X, ensnarling the blue Reploid.
"Hey!" X struggled against the net. "Let me go! No! AHHH!" X screamed as scorching electricity pulsed through the net. The white fire disappeared from his view, along with everything else.
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His eyes opened to darkness. X knew it was the other X's memories again, since he felt his body move not on accord of his will, and another set of thoughts aside from his own. X wrapped his arms around his own body, a great sense of dread at being in the dark by himself.
"Am.. am I alone again?" X's voice echoed through the dark. "No no no!" X shook his head. "Don't leave me alone! Not again!" He sobbed loudly, the darkness closing in on him.
"Hey, give it a rest, will you?" A voice came from across the darkness. "Hunters don't cry!"
"What?" X looked around. He crawled towards the voice and finally came to a wall. "Are you over there?"
"Yes, I'm in the cell next to yours." The voice replied. "What kind of hunter are you? Crying about nothing."
"I'm NOT a hunter!" X said defensively. "And I…I just don't like this."
"Well, if you're going to be that way about it, it can't be helped." X heard something shuffle on the other side of the wall. "Back up." X did as he was commanded. Moments later, the wall crumbled, revealing the owner of the voice. The other cell had a functioning light bulb, so X could now see that he was in a holding cell.
"There." The red Reploid on the other side of the broken wall said smugly. "Is that better?"
"Uh…" X was speechless. He was so dumbfounded by the boldness of the other Reploid that he forgot all about the dark. "Thank you."
"Come on!" The red Reploid pulled X across the opening in the wall and to his feet. "I was going to wait a little bit longer to collect more information, but I couldn't stand to hear you cry all day."
"What?" X furrowed his eyebrows.
"The name's Zero. I'm a Maverick Hunter." The hunter winked. "I let myself be captured by the Mavericks to learn more about this base. Of course, now I have to escape early just to break a cry baby out."
"I am not a cry baby!" X stamped his foot. He was quite annoyed at this Zero, but something about the smug Hunter also made him feel better. "Who do you think you are anyway?"
"I'm leader of the 17th unit! Now, come on!" Zero opened a compartment on his arm and pulled out a light saber. "I kept this baby hidden from them." With several slashes, the door to the cell fell away. Zero grabbed X's wrist and started to run. X tried to keep up as best he could, taking the moments where Zero was fighting off guard Mavericks to catch his breath.
"Hwa." X held his breath as they passed through a door and onto a walkway connection to a large platform filled with vehicles. X peered down the edge of the platform as they got on it and saw the several story drop. "Where are we?"
"Inside the hanger. I just have to activate the control panel and we're out of here" Zero looked around. "So far the defense has been laughable…" He eyed the room nervously. "Be careful." On cue, Mavericks leapt out at them, these ones looking tougher than the others. Zero fended off multiple mavericks easily as X looked around, trying to find the control pad quickly so they could escape. He spotted a violet Maverick standing from across the hanger aiming a shoulder cannon at Zero. His eyes darted around, and found a piece of scrap metal. He launched it at the Maverick with all the force he could, but it bounced harmlessly off his armor. What's worse, a red light gleamed dangerously from the depths of the Maverick's helmet as he turned to look at X.
Instinctively, X backed up. Engrossed by the intensity of the Maverick's stare, he didn't notice he was about to step off the platform. His lips moved soundlessly as his foot hit air and he tumbled off the platform.
"X!!!" He heard Zero cry before hitting the ground below.
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X groaned, rolling his head from side to side, trying to shake the cobwebs from his brain. He squinted, trying to get a clear picture of his surroundings. Moments later, his eyes finally focused, he realized he was staring at a ceiling.
"Are you up? X-chan?" It was Vile. Immediately X sat up, locking wide eyes at Vile, who was now sporting casual clothes, and no helmet, standing casually across the room. "Hmmmm? You don't recognize me? X?" Now realizing Vile has been calling him X, he reached up and found his disguise was gone. His own clothes were gone as well, replaced by a loose fitting blue robe, and bandages over the cuts he just got.
"I'm not the X you know." X said, annoyed at the mistaken identity again.
"You are different." Vile smiled, walking closer to the bed. "Maybe it was all that time in stasis that did this to you?"
"That's it, I'm out of here." X got up to leave, but his legs folded under him and he fell into a sitting position on the ground. Shocked at not having use of his lower limbs, X simply sat still, staring at his legs.
"They tell me your construction is quite like X's, with slight variations." Vile stroked X's hair. "But you insist you're not X, then I'll just have to believe it. Your name is also X, right. No need to answer, I found that out looking at your internal schematics also."
The feeling of intense dread returned to X, and he shivered. Something wasn't right. The hollow, acidic feeling he was experiencing was not normal, nor his own. It must be the other X… He thought. The other X is connected with Vile somehow. "Vile… how do you know X?"
Vile laughed, then knelt down beside X, putting a hand on his shoulder. "If you must know…" Vile leaned forwards and whispered in X's right ear. "X is my pet." X's eyes widened. At Vile's words, the other X's memories broke out of a mental floodgate and swept through X's mind. Now he knew why his other self was the way he was, why Zero shot X, and of Vile's convoluted plan to take over the Hunters.
"Oh my god…" X whispered. So frozen with shock was he, that the only emotion he could express was through a single drop of tear trickling down his chin. "You…"
"That's right, X." Vile wrapped both arms around the Blue Hunter, pulling X's head to his shoulder. "Now that you're here. You'll be my pet as well."
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Mob Member 1: WAAAAHHH Vile you sick sick bastard!!!
Mob Member 2: Waaaah! What's with the ending?!
Aya: Sorry everyone for the several month delay in updates. Life got in the way. But, as promised, I've revealed the plot twisty ness that sent me into a torrent of cackles in bed XD
Vile: OOOooo I'm so EVIL!
X: O_o Oh dear.
Zero: I'll save you!... except I'm stuck in the original universe _