Chapter 2 Zero's POV: Strange

God, MHHQ is so goddamn boring this time of day! It's always busy, and no one is paying any attention to anyone, which is why everyone keeps bumping into others. Usually, I'm not one to complain about it all, as I rather enjoy seeing people crash to the ground and break their tailbones, but 20 times a day is just far too much for me. Yeah, X's been complaining about it as well, but then again, he complains way more than me.

X… he confuses me sometimes. He's a real enigma, and I don't like those things. They always force you to see every piece of the puzzle before you're able to understand what the puzzle means. And well, whenever I think I understand X, another piece of the puzzle appears before me and makes me all confused. But strangely, with X, I don't mind trying to puzzle everything together. I don't have that much patience, everyone knows that, but with X, I can seemingly wait forever. People find that strange, especially Iris.

Oh, right… Iris. Totally forgot about her. Oh don't get me wrong, I have nothing against her! But she's just too cheery for me. Too… sugary sweet. Yuck. But X seemed to dislike her as well. Yes, I figured out X didn't like Iris ever since we first met her. I didn't think too much of it back then, but now, I wish I had.

Second I saw that girl, I couldn't get my eyes off her, because I had the strangest sense of recognition. I don't know what it was, but she just seemed so familiar to me. X tried to get my attention again, but I had to figure out where I saw her before. But she noticed me looking and she smiled, walking over to us. I doubt she even noticed X standing beside me. She talked to me for some time, before X suddenly stalked off. I could easily see the hitch in his step, and I knew I really ruined it.

After gingerly telling Iris I had to talk to X (and getting rid of her, which took some time), I went in search of that Blue Bomber. But no matter where I looked, I just couldn't find him. It just had me confused. X never walked away from anyone, no matter how embarrassing a conversation could get. So there was another piece I found and had to puzzle together.

But that's hard when you're working on two puzzles at the same time. But I still managed. About a week after the first meeting with Iris, I was sitting on a bench outside of MHHQ, thinking about those two puzzles again. Also, whenever I'm working on those things, I tend to ignore everything happening around me, which is most likely why I never noticed X sitting down beside me. So, well, when he clocked me, I was very much startled from my little 'trance'.

"Hey, X! What the hell was that for?!" I demanded, rubbing my sore head.

A little too late did I realize that was the wrong thing to say.

Retrospection… loathe it, really.

X shook violently and his face contorted in a deep frown. His eyes were sparking with both anger and unshed tears, as he practically shot up and started screaming at me. And that really caught me by surprise. He's never angry unless it concerns Mavericks, but I most likely pushed him over the edge.

I really tried to calm him down, but he kept interrupting me, telling me to listen to him. When he finally stopped yelling, I tried to think of what to say, but everything I'd tried to tell him escaped me. Just like that. I lost all the words I needed at the moment.

Minutes passed, and I could still not find the words I needed. But when ten minutes had passed, and neither of us had spoken a word, he broke the silence with the one thing I hadn't expected.

"Know what, Zero? If you appreciate Iris' company more than mine, than you can forget about us being friends at all! I don't even want to be your partner anymore!!"

That got a reaction from me. Years ago, we vowed to always be best friends no matter what happened, and now X was just going to throw it all out the window?! I gasped and shot up, grabbing his shoulders with my hands.

"X, listen already!!" I tried to reason with him

"NO!!! LET ME GO!!! LET GO!!!!"

Before I knew what happened, X had kicked me, hard. It caused me to double over, giving X the chance to run. I shouted after him to wait as he ran away, back to HQ. I knew it was hopeless to chase him though, but I still ran after him, hoping to stop him. But as I expected, it was impossible. Not only did he have too much of a head-start, he also locked himself up in his room, changing the code so I couldn't get in.

As I sighed, leaning against the door, I cursed softly.

Way to go, Zero.

Now what're you going to do, huh?

Well, the first thing I had to do, was give X some space. Let him cool down, you know. And in the meantime, I could actually get to work on the other puzzle.

And that's exactly what I did.

I spent hours trying to find anything revolving around Iris, but there was nothing anywhere. Not even on internet. The only thing that said was that she was the sister of Colonel of Repliforce. So, needless to say, that didn't really help.

So I resorted to the next option I had on the list; walk around town and see if I could find the answer there.

Well hello?! You actually thought I was going to walk up to Iris and ask her?! Give me a break!

Anyway, that's how I got downtown, just searching for any sign I could find. I had a digital camera with me, just incase I found out just what I was looking for. Whatever that was.

I was just wearing some plain clothes, so it wasn't all that easy to figure out who I was. Even though my hair was most likely a clear giveaway. Nevertheless, I wasn't bothered by any of those annoying fangirls.

But in any case, I had just started walking past a bookstore… then stopped and walked back a few steps. I stared through the glass of the store for a few seconds, looking rather confused, before I walked inside.

'Well this is interesting…' was all I thought as I picked up the magazine.

I smirked and pulled out my camera. I quickly snapped a shot and left after putting the magazine back. I left the place as fast as I came in, and surprisingly, no one made a move to stop me.

I rushed off to HQ again, eager to get the photo printed. That's why I got myself a digital camera in the first place. All you gotta pay for with those photos, is ink and paper. Seriously, what more could you want?

But as I walked into HQ, I ran into trouble, in the shape of Alia. And if you know how she is, you know it's bad no matter what's it about. Not the news, but it's the fact that she won't shut up no matter how harsh you get.

And by the looks of it, she was pissed.

And that could only mean one thing; she couldn't talk to X.

"What did you do to him?!?!" she demanded, not beating around the bush.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered, pushing past her without a second thought.

I didn't need any of this. Not at a time like this.

"Don't give me that shit, Zero!!"

I sighed softly. Looks like there's no such thing as rest for the weary.

"Alia, I don't have the time, so I'll talk to you later, goodnight."

And I vanished into my own room, closing and locking the door. She kept at it though, pounding on my door, but I simply attached my camera to the PC. I loaded several programs and started working. I picked up several snippets of Alia's one-sided conversation (seeing as I wasn't responding to her), while she pounded on my door.

"He won't respond to anyone!! So what the hell did you do?!?!"

Make a mistake, geez. I really wished she'd go away right now. But that's like wishing for the impossible.

The rest of her babble was mostly the same shit over and over, and I'm not going to repeat any of it. Instead, I cranked up some of my music-CD's, making sure to drone her out, but also to such degree that I couldn't go deaf.

It took some time, but she finally gave up. And just in time too. The second she left, my printer finally spat out the picture I had taken. I smirked as I pulled it out.

X was going to love this!

I checked my wrist-watch, and noticed to my surprise that it had been 4 whole days since X had fled to the sanctuary of his own room. As I looked outside, I noticed it was getting late. Well, all for the better, I suppose. Because the later it got, the more people would go to bed. And X knew I wasn't one to apologize with everyone around. So, he was probably waiting for me to show up, or he fell asleep while doing so.

I chuckled at the thought, and decided to wait a few more hours, before going to see the Blue Bomber. If he was still awake.

By the time I decided to go, it was nearing midnight. There wouldn't be anyone else up at this hour, not even Alia or Signas. So, I quickly sneaked out of my room, the picture stuffed in my pocket, and rushed toward X's room.

I've been there so many times before, I could find my way there with a blindfold on and both hands tied behind my back. Not like I was planning on ever doing that, but it's just a figure of speech. For some reason, it seemed to take a lot longer to get to X's room, and it gave me some time to think.

How was I going to tell X why I'd been ignoring him? I know that I have a terrible way with words, and retrospection seems to have taken a liking in me. It keeps coming back no matter how hard I try not to let it. And no matter how many times I tell myself to think before I speak, I just have the tendency to blurt everything out. Hoping against hope, I just wanted to make sure that didn't happen now.

Either that, or it's three strikes and I'm out.

All too soon, I came to the destined door. And as I stood there, it dawned to me how nervous I was to talk to X again. Things could seriously go wrong if you're not careful, and in such situations, that was dangerous.

Once I managed to gulp down whatever was blocking my throat, I raised my fist, and hesitated at the last second. What if X didn't want to talk to me? What then?? Gathering my resolve, I finally managed to knock.

I didn't expect a response, and I didn't get one either. I waited for several moments, before knocking again. And again, I didn't get a response. So I tried to talk to him.

"X? Are you up? I… I really need to talk to you."

I hated the way my voice hitched, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"…Zero??"

…Well, here goes nothing.

"Y-yeah… it's me… please, open the door, X…"

I nervously cast my eyes to the floor, hoping he'll open the door, but I didn't hear a thing. It seemed to take an eternity, but the door finally opened, revealing the fragile figure of my best friend.

The sight of X had almost made me crumble to dust, that's practically how crushed he looked. I doubt he even realized it, but his eyes were red and puffy from crying so much, and the tear-streaks on his face had yet to dry up. His skin was paler than I remembered seeing it four days ago, but he was still slightly flushed, his hair was ruffled even more than usual, and his clothes were a real mess.

Speaking of which… he was also clutching one of my old shirts against him, like it was his last hope for survival.

Heartbreaking… really.

"Hey," was all that managed to get out of my mouth.

X seemed almost ready to just break apart any second, and it tore me up to see him like that. Once again gathering my resolve, I opened my mouth again.

"C-can I come in?" I asked softly, hating the way I stuttered.

I could see X gulp, and all he managed was a small nod. He carefully stepped aside, allowing me to enter easily. Once I was in, he closed the door again, and just stood there. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't dare to look at him right now. I had to gather my thoughts for a moment. I had to figure out what to say to him, and I had to make sure I didn't say the wrong thing.

I gulped a little once I felt like I could face X again, so I turned and did just that.

X was clutching my shirt tightly against his chest, like it was really all that kept him alive. I really got this urge to just walk up to him and just hug him, telling him it was going to be alright, that everything would be okay again. But I wasn't planning to give in, yet. First things first.

"Look, X, about Iris…"

I think that was the wrong thing to say as I noticed him flinch, before he began to shake, quite visibly. His grip on my shirt tightened, and right then, he reminded me of a distressed little kid, hugging a plush animal close to him.

I bit my lip, weighing my words carefully, before allowing them to escape.

"X… there's nothing going on between her and me. I just… I just had the strangest feeling like I saw her somewhere before. Like… like… uh…"

Oh crap. I couldn't remember what I'd been planning to say.

"Oh heck… I'm not good with this…"

X surprised me when he giggled, a small smile crossing over his face as he pulled up the shirt to hide it. He seemed to enjoy seeing me frustrated over something so easy as saying what's on your mind.

Normally, had he been anyone else, I would've blown up, but X is just… well… he's different, that's all there is to it.

And besides, the tension became less now, and I wasn't complaining.

"X…" I started again, "look… I'm sorry about what happened, but I just needed to figure out where I saw Iris before, and… well…"

I trailed off, and pretended to look around, as if to check if no one else was there. It got the desired reaction and X looked at me with expecting and curious eyes, almost begging me to continue. I know X was easily interested in anything that might seem to be the world's biggest secret, and he'll most likely do anything to learn it.

I pulled the picture from my pocket, and handed it to X, whispering: "Check this out!"

He gingerly took the picture from my hand, his hand lightly shaking, took one look at the picture… and quickly muffled his laughter with my shirt. I smiled at the reaction and walked up to beside him, looking at the picture with him.

"Just happened to walk past the book-store. Was lying right in front of me."

He smiled up at me, his eyes shining with so many emotions that I couldn't possibly sort them out. But as I looked down at him, I saw the tear-streaks still on his face. I knew it was a little late for it, but I could just tell by looking at him that he needed it. So I gently pulled him against me, and gently embraced him.

Little rascal nuzzled his face into my shoulder, and gave a soft sigh, not saying anything.

Let's see… that had been a good 10 months ago, and right now, we're back to being friends again. Iris still plagued me from time to time, but hell, see if I care about her!

Well ANYWAY!!! That was over and done with, but that didn't mean trouble ended for me. It'd been a quiet day, and if I know X, which I did very well, he was most likely just loafing around. Not me, though. I was busy working on some paperwork that was due somewhere that afternoon. I know, not the best time to do stuff like that, but I always tend to leave the most important stuff until the last second. X always tells me to do it the second I get it, and I always tell him I will, but I end up not doing it anyway.

Like I said, it was way too quiet, and no one was expecting any Maverick attack anytime soon. The last Maverick attack had been two days ago, so everyone knew they had to recuperate. I knew that as well, but X seemed to have his doubts, don't know why though.

But as I already said, people weren't expecting an attack… and three guesses what happened.

Yup. We got attacked. Or… well… not us, but you know what I mean! Luckily, it wasn't anyone we knew (yeah, I'm talking Sigma here shudder), but they still had a single goal in mind.

They were attacking Gate's old lab.

Even though it had been meant to be destroyed, people ended up rebuilding it instead. And looks like those damn Mavericks didn't really like the idea.

X, Axl and myself were sent to take them out. We headed out in a hurry, destroying any Maverick we encountered. But it was rather odd though…those Mavericks weren't really attacking anything in particular. Instead they just seemed to be looking for something.

"This is crazy!" I mumbled. "What the heck are those guys looking for?!"

"No idea," X said. "But whatever they're looking for can't be good when they get their dirty claws on it."

Axl was silent, unable to add anything to it, for the moment. In any case, we kept moving on, and as we did, it became apparent that something was seriously wrong around the place, but what?

After several minutes of non-stop walking and destroying Mavericks, we come to an area that was completely abandoned. No doubt about it that that was the place we battled Gate during the 6th War. Though I found it peculiar that no one was even there, as the rest of the place was crowded with them.

"All right, NOW where are those damned bastards!?" I demanded.

"Maybe they all went somewhere else?" Axl offered and I noticed X rolling his eyes at that.

I gave a soft sigh, and was about to move, when X yelped out. I looked over to him, and my eyes widened in horror when I noticed X's leg stuck into the ground.

"What the?!" X cried out, trying to pull his leg loose again, but no such luck.

"X?! What the heck is--?!"

"I don't know alright?! Just get me out of here!!"

Both Axl and myself began to help X yank his foot out, but it didn't help at all. In fact, he only seemed to be sinking further and further into the ground. But even so, we wouldn't stop and just kept trying.

Still… I soon realized it wouldn't help at all…

Maybe I could contact Alia to help.

"Crud, this isn't helping!" I mumbled. "I'm gonna--ACK!!"

Reason for that exclamation? I just figured out I was stuck as well!

I looked up, just to see X try to push himself up again, being already waist-deep into the ground. His arms suddenly passed straight through the ground, and he was gone within a second.

"X!!!" Axl and I cried in horror.

I tried to get loose, but cursed in anger when my leg wouldn't budge.

"Axl!! Give me a hand here!!"

Axl hurried over and took both my hands, pulling at me with all his might. I tried to step forward, but my other leg also sank into the ground because of that. I couldn't stop cursing, trying to yank myself free as Axl continue to pull, practically pulling my arms out of joint.

That was about when I noticed the ground underneath Axl's feet.

"Axl! Move!! Hurry!!" I shouted.

Axl yelped in fright and leaped back quickly --- only to get stuck himself.

"Crap!!"

"Ack!! W-w-what's going on!?"

I tried to twist and turn myself loose, cursing loudly, just for the hell of it. In the end, it didn't help anything as I followed X to wherever this trip would take us. I gave a yell of surprise as I was flung down a massive tube of flashing lights, before crashing into a wall at the end.

"OUCH!!! GODDAMMIT!!" I screamed in anger, rubbing the back of my head.

That really hit home, and it really made my skull ache and pound. And the world was spinning faster than it was supposed to. I shook my head once, and looked around.

First thing I noticed was that I was alone. X was nowhere in sight. For a moment, I wondered if he had been sent somewhere else, but then I shook it off and got up. No reason to think like that until I was sure. So, I started making my way through wherever I was.

By the looks of it, it was some kind of office complex, though I wouldn't want whoever painted the walls here to come paint at MHHQ. All the walls were dark-red with splotches of black on them. Like someone had chucked several gallons of black paint all over the walls, instead of trying to actually paint.

Tapping a finger to the side of my head I mumbled something equal to "all those painters are nutters", before moving onward.

After turning several corners though, I came to a fork, heading straight ahead, up, and down. I looked down each road, but concluded the same with each; namely, there was no way to know what to expect until you walked it.

I finally shrugged, and made to move down the way straight ahead…

…When I got the barrel of a Buster jammed against the back of my head.

Uh-oh…

"I suggest you don't move, unless you want me to blow your frickin' head off," a cold voice said from behind me, but at such tone, that I couldn't disobey.

There was no way I could reach for my saber fast enough without the guy blowing me to pieces so that left me thinking about what I was supposed to do. So, I did as the guy said and didn't move. I liked my circuits the way they were, thank you very much.

"Laze! Get over here!!" the guy shouted, making me blink.

'Laze'?? Who the hell was that?

"Yes, X? Something wrong?" a woman's voice asked, and I tensed.

What the heck?! Why does X have his Buster to my head!? But… now that I thought about it, he didn't sound like X. At first I thought it was coincidence, but then I shook it off. How many Reploids are named 'X', after all?

"This guy," 'X' said, jabbing his Buster into the back of my head harshly ("Ouch!"). "Check 'im."

"All right."

I suddenly felt something trickling in the back of my mind, and it was becoming clearer and clearer with every second that passed. A number of memories flashed rapidly before my eyes, dizzying me a bit, before it stopped as fast as it came.

"And?" the guy behind me asked.

"…I think he's from something Zeal would called a parallel world."

"………'xcuse me??"

"X, lower your Buster for God's sake. I'm supposed to be the trigger-happy Reploid around here!"

…????

"Alright, alright, sheez…"

The pressure from the back of my head disappeared quickly, but before I could turn around, a female-Reploid stepped up around me. Her armor was a deep red with silver edges and under it, she wore a light green jumpsuit, and there was a light blue triangular gem on her chest. Her hands were gloveless. Her hair was gold blonde, much like my own, and her eyes were sapphire blue. From what I could tell at least, as the left half of her face was hidden beneath her fringe.

"Sorry about that," she said, smiling up at me. "And I'm sure X is too. Right, X?" she added, looking around me.

I turned a bit, and my eyes widened in shock.

The Reploid standing there really did look like X, but he still didn't look the exact same. His armor was dark gray, while his jumpsuit was about two shades lighter. The gem on his forehead is a lot brighter, and the joints at his knees, elbows, wrists, and his neck were just a shade darker than the gem. And then there was his face.

Well, the first thing that caught my attention were his eyes. They were a deep bloodruby-red, and burning with a fire so intense it could just burn your eyes out.

He scoffed, and put one hand on his hip, glaring at me, nearly making me shudder.

"Can it, Laze."

I looked over to the woman, who rolled her eyes (or the one I could see, at least). She shook her head, then looked at me.

"In any event, I'm Laze. Let's head to MHHQ. Zeal's going to want to see you."

"Huh?? Who??"

"You'll see her when we get there."