Warning: This is shonen ai, I guess (I'm really not sure how I'll make it turn out). Kind of a comedy, humor thingy. But since I know there's going to be heavy angst crap, it's a mixed breed. Also, cursing, drinking. Stuff that I think we're all use to.

Apology: As it goes, the most background I have in Megaman is the cartoon series, Japanese Rockman EXE, (which doesn't really add up to the greatness of the previous series, but, oh well) and Megaman X5, X4.... of which I STILL haven't beaten.. Other than that I've done my homework. Oh, and most of MMX6. I hope that all that site viewing and reading will serve me well. A good chunk of the story line... er just forget... you won't need it.

Update: Ok, so I've played and beat MMX4 and I played MMX6 too and beat it. I'm gunna get and play MMX7. I haven't played the EXE series (but I don't care I'm not much interested) nor have I played the Zero series (it looks cool but I don't care much about it). I now all I need to know about these two series to make up my own chapters for them.

All thoughts are in italic. However, flashbacks are in all italic as well and thoughts are in bold. Also, the story title will not make sense till later so don't ask.

Notice: This chapter was revamped. Errors fixed, and grammar rethought. You know the basics.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

¤~¤ Aleph ¤~¤

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

Zero leaned back in the Movie Theater. His eyes gazed over to the flamboyantly wailing Iris. For a girl of such a high rank and stature, he was quite surprised that she hadn't endured love trials of her own.

" Oh, Brack, I'm flying!" A gaudily dressed reploid woman called out.

Zero rolled his eyes as Iris clasped her hands together. He snorted and crossed his legs hoping that the movie would end. Yet, he knew the torture would go on for hours. Three whole fucking hours of watching some slut flaunt her stuff for this Lenonerdo D'cap guy. He sighed and let his head loll. He looked to the right and saw boys with their girlfriends. They glanced at him and he felt kinship from both the humans and the reploids. Everyone's expressions said 'please shoot me, I'm in hell.' He nodded to them and they nodded back.

The movie finally ended and the male audience roared with approval as the lead male actor died and sank. Only problem was that the women gutted most of the guys. The words "Heartless" and "Barbarian" were the key phrases of most of the ladies around. Zero stood up after blocking some soda that was thrown by a mysterious reploid female. As it went, when the movie ended, not only did Zero cheer for the death, he also raised his beam saber as a symbol of victory and was applauded by all the men around him.

" Viva la resistance!!!" He yelled and the male population, along with a few women, saluted him.

Iris, for her part, was just too pacifistic to hit him.

They left and Iris was still sobbing over the poor Brack. Zero sighed and put an arm around her trying to comfort her.

" Listen Iris, it's just a movie. Brack, in real life, is still alive and well." Unfortunately, Zero tacked on. Because everyone knows, D'cap lives, plus more love stories to screw over, plus more mush, equals the grating, masochist torture of millions of people around the world. His explanation calmed her a bit.

" But Zero, for the movie, it was so sad. He died, and she loved him. I would hate for anything like that to happen to us." She took Zero's hair and wiped her eyes. Zero was on the verge of wailing about his precious hair but reminded himself that it was just water. Water evaporates and thus leaves my hair.

He walked her home and gave a few choice looks at the Colonel. The Colonel was giving him a friendly teasing smile.

Upon returning to the base Zero found X sleepwalking again. How on earth does a reploid sleepwalk?! He moved to X's side and started gently pushing him towards the elevator. Next thing you know, he'll be doing missions in his sleep. He moved them through the dark hall and opened the door to their room. " In ya go, man." He pushed X down into his capsule and put the lid on locked so the reploid couldn't get out.

He lay down but kept his capsule open. Heaven forbid he have another panic attack and blow a hole into the ceiling again. The last time Zero had locked X in his pod and shut it as well; X had panicked because of the restraint. Signas wasn't too happy about that and Double babied the blue bot for a whole week after. He also gave Zero a scathing scolding. Last thing I need is have to go into battle hearing 'And I hope you take forever in your mission for what you did to X' every update. He figured Iris was just too nice to use force to get Double out of her way. That was OK, he liked her that way. Sure, it meant having to stomach some overly lovey dovey crap, but he was a Hunter. He could handle everything.

Well, almost everything. Lately there were many excavations. Sure, they were not given nearly as much cover as the Hunter Base, but he was interested.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Days Later ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

Everything went to hell for the Hunter Base. The Reliforce was not obeying orders and fights were breaking out. Whenever Zero got the chance he would go see X. Since things were on a limb; X and Zero had been split into their own teams. Iris was covering Zero while Double was covering X. Neither of the friends were overly joyous about being put at the tail ends of the Hunter Base. It took a good hour and a half to make it to either end, and that meant that they never passed each other.

" Dude, X!" Zero came pretending to pant. They had decided to meet in the main hall in the middle of the base.

" Man, Zero!" X replied looking over to his friend standing in the hall entranceway to the other end.

" X."

" Zero."

" Manaka." Said a blue haired female reploid scuttling pass the hall. She smiled and left.

" Tamakome." Said a female reploid that was taking her break in the main hall. All the reploids in the room were watching with big grins. Zero and X were known for acting out dramatic scenes to tease Iris, and the rest of the base.

" My love!" Zero said and started to dramatically slow-run towards X. His boots made a heavy clank as he 'ran' making dramatic faces. Painful faces, joyful faces, and most of all, faces they let everyone know he was holding back a ton of laughter.

" Darling!" X let out a feminine squeak and started to thruster-float slowly over. Just as the two friends were about to meet they quickly dashed over to the soda machines that were on the opposite sides. The entire main hall burst out into laughs and giggles. Life resumed as normal.

" So, Z, what's up?" X said opening his soda and walking casually over to Zero.

" Nothing other than: Fight, kill, and report. Pretty basic as always." He started to chug.

" Yeah." The blue-bot sighed and chugged back. " It's the first time I think I've ever wanted to get drunk."

" You? Drunk? HAH! As if! I'd hate to think of you." Zero mockingly put out his arms and closed his eyes. He began to sleepwalk, but he slurred to the side. " Think of it X, you, a sleepwalking drunk."

" Zero!" X playfully punched his friend's arm. " I don't sleepwalk anymore." Zero looked over in surprise.

" You don't?!"

".... Much." X gave Zero a big cheesy grin.

" Why you little!" Zero was on the verge of pouncing X when the alarm sounded.

Hunters X and Zero, report to your stations at once! Repeat, hunters X and Zero, report to your stations at once!

Zero and X rolled their eyes and started to dash in the opposite direction. Every time they tried to get together and have some fun, something got in their way. It was really starting to piss them off. Hell was too pay if they didn't get time off.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Iris Station ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

Zero skidded in and saluted Iris of whom giggled.

" Yes ma'am, lady, person of love interest!" Zero grinned as Iris squeaked and blushed.

" Z-Zero! It's not... er, I mean! Hunter!" Iris and Zero stiffened into formality. She gave him the over view of his next mission.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Double Station ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

" Yo, what's going on Double?" X raced in stopping before his screen.

" Seems there is some activity going down. Are you ready to handle it?"

" Ready as ever!" X burped and Double shook his head. He gave X the lowdown on his next mission and the situation.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Events Later ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

It had been a sad day for the entire base. Things had taken a turn for the worse and everyone was feeling it. Sigma had been defeated. Everyone knew that he had to be the one behind the chaos. Even after their victory things had not changed. Zero and X were so down that the rest of the base couldn't recover, mostly because Zero and X brought the comedy and life into the establishment. The two hunters had been quickly moved back into their old room and given leave that no one in the base had even known to exist on files.

Since both of the top hunters were forced to delete people very close to them, they were being pampered. In their mists of grief neither of the two reploids could argue. Everyone on the base either stayed out of their way or tried to comfort them. Be that as it may, no one could help Zero. He was suffering more than others and only X could tell.

X had recovered quite well after the death of Double, while Zero was still, even after two weeks, unable to get a grip on Iris' death. There was nothing X could do. He didn't know how to handle such a situation. Zero was not going to move from his position. He refused to admit that he was drinking way too much and that he needed to just talk about it. Normally, Zero never had a problem speaking with X, however, now was a different story.

Since both of the guides had been disposed of, a new person was put in Iris and Double's place. This new person knew all the ropes and was of a high breed of reploid. But X didn't have time to think of that. He had to get his best friend in order. He looked from his window seat to Zero. Zero was occupied with doing paper work but had a mountain of bottles resting beside him. X sighed and started to clear them away, never making full eye contact with his red friend.

" Zero…" X tilted his head leaning over to Zero.

" Hm?" Zero looked up half dazed. X smiled and put a hand on Zero's shoulder.

" Can we talk about something?"

" Uh, yeah…" Zero's eyes opened a little wider while he turned his chair to give his full attention.

" Look Z, I don't think your new habit is overly kosher with your bank account." X tiled his head towards the few bottles left. The recycling bin is full as of now. He sighed and longingly looked at the reploid before him. I don't really know what to say. He was a little stonewalled because his relationship had not been as deep with Double. What could I say in the face of love?

" X… I know you're trying to help." Zero smiled softly and placed a hand on X's helmet bringing him forward.

" There's not much I can say." He said and allowed his helmet to rest against Zero's. A small grinding sound could be heard as the gems slowly swiveled.

A crash sounded as X's head banged into the table. The difference in their gem shapes had taken affect. The red gem's roundness slipped. Paper flew everywhere and the bottles slipped and landed on the ground. Nothing was broken but X's sensors opened and closed frantically trying to fix on one object.

Zero bit his lip but he couldn't help laughing. X was known for his uncanny ability to make people laugh but this had taken the cake.

In his confusion X reached out and took a hold of a loose lock of hair and ended up yanking Zero forward.

"OW! Come on, man!" He helped X steady himself before they both fell. Then a thought came to him. Why was X so dazed? Zero almost forcefully took X's head into his large hands and brought him forward. Upon inspection he could see that X's cornea was still focusing.

"Something wrong?" X blinked but knew good and well what Zero was paying attention to. For a drunk, all the liquor he had downed in the past few days did not easily affect Zero.

In a very concerned voice Zero asked X, " Why are your systems so haywire that you're not focusing?"

X wanted to shrink away from the question but his friend had a firm hold on his head.

" X, how long has this been happening?" The red one was becoming angry. " Why didn't you tell me? Do the medics know of this?"

" Well, no." He said reluctantly. Actually, it started a few days ago.

" What? So you just got USE to not seeing properly?" Zero was steamed. However, the blue-bot's eyes had adjusted a few seconds after Zero had grabbed his head.

" No, I just thought it was kinda normal… this is the first time it's done that!" Zero snorted at X's reply and let go of the boy's head.

" Fine… I'll temporarily buy that. Regardless, I want you to go see Lifesaver." X nodded not fully wanting to go. He had no idea why he would neglect to get a checkup. He knew good and well it was a hunter's duty to stay fit. " Anyway…" X lifted his head and stood." I figure we get this mess cleaned up."

" Yeah." X said surveying the desk area and noticing how messy it was. Zero sighed and bent down and started fixing the papers on the ground.

" Hey, Z, I'm gunna go put these bottles in the main bin." He pulled a bag out of the recycle container and loud clanks echoed through the room.

" Hey X, if anyone asks…"

" No problem, bro. I'll just say we had a drinking contest and I won." He cheerfully walked out of the room and through the dark halls. Heh, it's too late for beings to be out at this hour. Moonlight cascaded over him as he passed a series of windows and corridors. It had bothered him that he had no urge to visit the infirmary. On any normal occasion he would have been all over it. He lifted the large bin's top and threw in the bad with a large crash. The sound vibrated through the halls and reminded him of how lonely it seemed at the base this late at night.

" Hey, X." Came a voice and almost floored the blue-bomber.

" AH! Who?" He looked around to see the person.

" Nah…Captain X… sir." An orange reploid spilled onto the floor. X's mind drew a blank. He's drunk. What's up with this lately? I KNEW Zero would set a bad example! The bot fumed silently and pulled the soldier up.

" State your name, hunter." X commanded quite peeved about the situation.

" Me... I'm… I… er… WAIT! I remember, I'm… uh…" the bot squinted, obviously overloading his own memory banks. Then he snapped and stood up saluting sluggishly. " Hunter Dart… sir."

" Yes, well, Hunter Dart," X crossed his arms giving a playful smirk that could not be seen in the dark. " Shouldn't you be in your pod this late at night?

" Oh…huh? Yeah." He scratched his head, slowly recovering from the wire-jolts. X rolled his eyes and sighed. It gets worse every year. These rookies, then again… His thoughts turned to his best friend and the image of Zero cleaning came up. But Zero wasn't just cleaning; he had an apron on, a broom, a dust mask covering his vent, and his hair up in a ponytail. This thought sent X in almost wild chuckles but he toned down a bit noticing the muddled expression on the young hunter's face.

" Come now, I'll get you back to your quarters. Where do you stay hunter?"

" Um, left wing, third floor… yeah, third. Um… room 34." The bot slurred a bit putting more weight on the higher-ranking hunter. It was at times like these that X wished he were not as kind. However, he couldn't allow one of the hunters to go astray and end up outside or something insane like that. These days Reploids all over the world were almost always considered Maverick or something to that extent. He was taking the hunter up the lift when a human walked in on one of the stops. She bowed politely and introduced herself. After formalities the trip was quiet.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Back with Zero ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

Zero had finished cleaning the mess they had mistakenly made. He sat back down filling out the documents. The pristine paper started to annoy him when he had to fill out basics. There is nothing worse in this world than basics. Why the heck do I care who did what and when they did it? Shouldn't the rookies be filling out this stuff? Shouldn't the new woman, Alia, be taking care of this? But Zero knew that the base was less quiet these days, and the stacks of paper work from before the calm had finally hit. Not only that, he almost had nothing better to do. Sure, we're getting time away from Maverick hunting but they never said anything about paper work. There's always paper work… I need a maid. He chuckled and sat back glancing at the clock. Hmm, where the heck is X? I know for damn sure that it doesn't take that long to throw away glass bottles. Sensing his entrance call, X walked into the room and closed the door leaning against it. He shot a glare at Zero.

" See the influence you have on the base?"

" Huh? What are you talking about, X?" He removed his hands from behind his head and stood up.

" I'm talking about the wondering drunkard in the hall." He smiled looking around the room and sitting down in his pod.

" Something wrong, X?"

" No… not really." He lowered his eyes a bit before returning to look at Zero. " But tell me something. How many humans are on this base?"

" Huh?" Zero was a bit taken back. " Humans? Well…" The red reploid looked to the ceiling for answers. " There are Susan, Jacob, Bob, and Deena."

" Oh, well, I ran into one tonight. Her name was Alpha."

" Really? Well, she must be new then."

" I guess so."

" Well, it seems more and more the humans are feeling a duty." Zero said.

" Duty…" X uttered. In his long years of serving at the base he had heard that word a lot. All humans that had ever entered the base mention it was a 'duty' and an 'honor'. He had never understood why it was an 'honor' to be at the base. He knew why it was a duty. Some humans just couldn't stand the thought of not protecting themselves. While reploids fought to clear their names, humans fought to preserve their lives, protect the ones they loved, and to have insight on what reploids were all about.

All reploids were programmed very similar to humans. They had extremely complex programs and emotions. So complicated were these programs that most reploids didn't have a clue how they worked. Not even the best scientists knew. Zero had known, that from time to time, X would be cornered and pressed for information.

"So it seems we have a new member to the fray." Zero concluded happily. On his own account he had not been overly fond of humans he did not know. Then again, humans that joined the ranks of the hunter base members were automatically granted a level of respect.

" Z, what time is it?"

" It's…" Zero's eyes lazed over to the clock " almost one in the morning."

" We've been up that long?" X yawned cutely. His nose crinkled and Zero chuckled. X had expressed disliking being adorable. Sure, none of the hunters knew how childishly handsome the blue hunter could be. Nose crinkling was just one of a handful of small things X did.

"All right, guess we'd better hit the sack?"

"Yeah… not like we have to get up in the morning...but let's pretend."

Zero moved and settled into his pod. " NO sleepwalking." He said teasingly. His answer was a half-growl and a quickly closed pod. He shrugged and closed his eyes.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ 5:00 PM ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

Zero got up not knowing what had activated his program. He shook his head in slight pain. The pulsation was robbing him of his precise thinking, but when he woke from his haze he found himself looking into X's pod. The reploid was sleeping, tranquil in his nightly adventures. He pushed the button to the capsule and blinked. Why am I doing this? He didn't understand his actions but proceeded to sit on the rim and stare at X. He was analyzing the bot. This was not the first time. He was not sure why he was paying attention to the details of X.

There was almost a predatory urge as he gazed upon his best friend. Shocking him out of his trance, X moved and scrunched his nose. Zero blinked and smiled to accommodate the reoccurring guilt. Whatever hostile feelings he had for the bot were eliminated with extreme prejudice. His friend's candor could only help to ease a piece of Zero that had long ago died. This empty space was what was left after Iris had died.

In his years of knowing both of them, he had once had a glitch so severe in his programming that it knocked him out. He had woken up in the medical center.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Flashback ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

" Zero… you're awake?" It was Mami, an old-type robot. Her AI wasn't at any level to rival, however, she was kind and sweet. So much so, that people had feared reprogramming her. To this affect she was timeless and ideal. Though she followed orders from both reploid and human, the air around her was strong. In many ways, upon awakening, Zero wished he could be her. The throbbing pain in his head could be shut off; his undeniable stomachache could be numbed away. However, the price one pays to be state of the art is high.

" Yeah…" He said barely registering anything but pain. It's never a pleasant experience to be awake while ones programs were being reassembled.

"Good, because everyone's worried about you. Iris said she would be in later and X has left." Upon hearing this Zero was saddened. As a being of high emotional charge he longed to see his friends. More so now than even. For, in his eventful sleep, he had been shaken quite forcefully and wanted a sedative to calm himself.

"All right, thank you for telling me." He laid his head back down and stared at the bleached walls. The room was sterile enough to eat off of and he hated it. I want to go back to my room. I want chili cheesy fries and a Coca. There's no justice in this world! I am tortured by a past I don't know, a form I can't remember.

Somewhere in his musings he went back to sleep.

A few hours later Iris came bustling down the hall with X by her side. They had agreed to come together and see the poor sick reploid. While Iris was thinking up creative ways to amuse Zero, X was aloft in more serious thought. A few hours beforehand, when he had first left Zero's side, he was called into the office of Signas.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Signas' Office ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

The leading reploid had been deep in thought when X arrived. When the door slid behind him Signas napped out of his repose and addressed X warmly.

" X, welcome, glad you could make it." X sat in a chair in front of the desk and awaited Signas' first move. " Well, as you know Zero is in the infirmary."

" Yes, Sir."

" Have you read the reports on him?"
" Yes, Sir."

" And your conclusion?" He arched an eyebrow.

" Well… I have none. In fact, I am confused." He said blinking to exaggerate his bafflement of the situation.

" Then you may join the club." He inhaled and adjusted himself. " In fact, no one knows why Zero suddenly had that massive migraine and fainted. By the time you brought him in, Zero's systems were reconfiguring themselves. Not a soul knows why his, as we shall call it, 'Break Down' accrued. Has he been under a lot of stress?"

" Well, as a hunter we always are, however, no more than usual."

" Is that so? Well, now that he's back with us I am sure we can ask if he may know."

" Do you think…" X lowered his eyes trying to place his words carefully.

" No, I don't think it's the Maverick Virus. Probably some cold virus is going around. You may want to have a checkup yourself." At this statement X nodded and excused himself. In the hall he met up with Iris. She was headed towards the infirmary to visit Zero. He figured he'd tag along since Zero was not awake when he had last gone.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Back With Iris ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

They reached his room and knocked on the door. When they entered Zero was out like a light again. Iris was a bit peeved because she was looking forward to him being awake. She huffed a bit and marched over to his side.

" Zero… Zero." She called to him, impatient as X sat down next to his friend. Iris sighed and a small bit of malice crossed her face. She knew X had seen it and gave him a huge cheesy grin. She bent down towards Zero's chest, positioned herself, and blew straight into his vent. Now, for a reploid, it's the same sensation as having ones ear blown into. Zero near jumped as he registered the opposite air affect within his body.

"DAH!" he sat bolt up and glared for a few seconds before realizing who had done it. " I curse thee woman, and all that you stand for."

She giggled and looked over to X. Upon following her gaze he gave a contented smile to X before laying down again and entering a long conversation with his two closest people.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤ Flashback ¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

Zero's memory of those days was more pleasant than he would have thought. He had known that there was an uncanny resemblance between Iris and X. At that time, he had not known what it was. Now that he looked back upon the experience and conversation, he knew what had drawn him to Iris. She was just like X. Granted, she was female and attractive, but she was just like him, in many ways that were small and powerful. Her hand gestures were the same, her smile had the same warmth and most of all, her outlook was the same. Given the chance, he was sure X would have taken up a more peaceful role.

In his review of thoughts, it surprised him to think that he was drawn to such a person as her. Not just because she was a good person, but because she was so similar to X. What an aberration X has stumbled upon. A best friend that seeks women like himself. He was greatly amused by his findings. When he applied it to more deep though, he figured that is was only natural in his life; that he be drawn to a calmer existence.

His blue friend sleeping below him had always strived for peace. On the battlefield he could seem fierce, but a part of his programming held him back. It was so obvious that it pained the other bot to fight. Day after day watching his own people be slaughtered. And for what did the bomber fight? For peace, for his friends, for his own honor as a reploid, no, he felt that that was not the only reason. Deep within X something stirred that was uniquely human, the want of the human race's survival. He had not known that X was so attached to the human race until one battle, long ago. In fact, at that time he had merely passed it off as compassion. Yet, later, after becoming good friends with X, he felt differently about the incident.

X had cared for the human that died. In that old event it was one of the human hunters that had passed away during battle. He had not known the name of the hunter but he did remember that X and the woman had spent a good amount of time together. Not many people had cried for her death outside of her family and X. In this time frame of Zero's life, he had not the time for emotions. He was so busy hunting he barely noticed people.

Lately, X had mentioned her as one of the few people that knew him. With that incentive, he had made it a near obsession to get to know the other reploid. Years passed that placed him at where he was in this time and place.

" It's amazing what happens after years of just talking." He was still studying the reploids body. He took special note of his joints. X was of course very use to using his right arm to fire with; thus it got a lot of ware and tear. However, he was always in good shape.

What dazzled Zero the most was X's ability to fight on. He's a strong and stubborn little thing. Zero stood and made his way to the window seat. He knew he wasn't going back to sleep. There were too many things on his mind. Where do I come from? Who am I? Who created me and for what? Who is that man in my dreams? And for the love of peace, why do I have these odd moments with X. More of, why do I have them only when X does not know? He sighed and rested his head on his folded arms. The sun started to rise and he knew that this day would be interesting and enjoyable.

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

¤~¤ Mega-X's Notes ¤~¤

¤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¤

This is going to prove a LONG story for myself.

You know, at one point in my life I really couldn't stand Iris. Then, because I think too much (gets bopped by Jamie for it), I started to question why I didn't like her. Now, I just do not care for her, but she was not a bad person. I have a damn near essay on this chick.