Search for a Soul
Chapter 9
"Things of beauty"
By MEGAMANX411

The movie soon drew to a close, and both Alia and X stood up and stretched as the lights in the theater came back on.

"Well, I rather enjoyed that," X commented, smiling.

He really enjoyed this feeling he was having, he felt things he hadn't felt for such a long time.

"I'm glad to hear you liked it," Alia replied. "So, what do we do now?" she asked.

X shrugged, and his eyes trailed off. He didn't have any ideas. Besides, Alia was the one that really did all the planning tonight, it seemed. He thought he would just leave it to her.

"Well, I'm not quite sure, to be honest," X responded.

Thankfully, Alia had an idea in mind. She always seemed to have the right ideas at the right moments.

"How about we just go for a walk?" Alia offerred.

X nodded slowly. He didn't know why, but he really liked that idea.

"Sure...I'd like that," he replied, taking her hand in his.

X and Alia left the theater, hand-in-hand. They walked leisurely in the moonlight, taking the time to enjoy each other's company and the tranquility of the quiet night. It was getting pretty late, so there weren't as many people on the sidewalks. It was a quiet night too, so there was nothing to really disturb them.

"You know," X began, his eyes affixed on the stars above, "I haven't had this much fun in a long time."

Alia smiled at him. That was just the reply she was waiting all night to hear. It seemed as though she succeeded in getting X to loosen up a little bit.

"I'm glad to hear it," she replied.

For awhile, there was the quintessential awkward silence, and both sides had many thoughts running through their respective minds. X, surprisingly, managed to stop thinking about all the death and destruction that plagued the world, and all of the things that offended him so much. He had something better to concentrate his attention on, although he couldn't forget those bad things completely, of course. Alia, on the other hand, was simply enjoying her time out with X. She knew that X was a nice person, and she rather liked his company, but she hadn't really given much thought to her own personal feelings. She reasoned that she liked X, but certain other emotions were still debatable.

"The stars are really beautiful, aren't they?" X asked, pointing up at the night sky.

Alia stopped in her tracks to see what X was referring to. The brilliant beacons of light illuminating the dark sky appeared like tiny floating crystals of such beauty that nothing could compare.

"Yes, they are..." Alia whispered, sounding amazed.

X also stopped, not just to stay in pace with Alia, but to truly admire the things of beauty around him. The silent tranquility of the night, the beautiful light of the stars, and of course, the warming presence of Alia. X could often be considered a poetic person, he enjoyed those sort of things. Of course, X didn't really fundamentally dislike or hate any one thing, although for some reason he couldn't quite comprehend, feelings of anger came easier to him now. He didn't know if it was simply him becoming more attuned to his emotions, or simply him losing control of his emotions. Back in his rookie days, X was far more laid back, and although he still didn't want to fight, he did. But now, he simply couldn't find any more reasons for fighting. However, after the night he just experienced with Alia, he debated that maybe there are things still worth fighting for.

"Alia?" X asked.

Alia looked as though she just broke out of a daydream. She turned to X, and gave him a pleasant smile.

"Yes, what is it?" she replied.

"What is it...that you think I should fight for?" X asked.

He felt kind of dumb for asking such a ridiculous question, but he felt that he had to ask it. Fortunately for him though, Alia seemed to have an answer prepared for him yet again.

"If you want my opinion X, I think you already know. Back when you became a Maverick Hunter, you said you wanted to fight to keep the world safe for reploids and humans. I think that in itself is a noble cause," she replied.

X shrugged, and tried to sort his thoughts out. He knew Alia had a valid point. He couldn't dispute that. But how does one justify killing another? No matter how you approach it, it's still murder, and therefore is still wrong. But if the intentions are pure, does it negate that? X had often wondered why it is noble to kill for a cause, yet killing in itself is a despicable thing.

"If you don't think that's good enough..." Alia whisered, "then why don't you fight for those you care for?" she asked.

"Those I care for?" X repeated.

"You know..like Zero, your friend," she replied.

Alia, of course, did not want to come off as self-centered by including herself in X's personal life. She considered herself a friend of his, but she didn't want to intrude in his personal affairs, she was more considerate.

"And you..." X whispered.

Alia's eyes widened at X's statement. X cared for her? She knew that X liked her, but this sudden burst of initiative made her feel a bit awkward. She did take the time to go out with him tonight, but she was under the assumption that they were doing so as just friends.

"You care...for me?" Alia asked.

X smiled, and fidgeted for a bit. He knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that he cared for her, he wanted to let her know how he felt. X thought of the previous times when he had failed to talk to Alia, when he failed to speak out to her. And he knew that this was the perfect chance to remedy those mistakes. He decided to follow up on his initiative, and take the next step.

"Well...of course I do," he replied.

Alia smiled, and blushed. Her eyes sparkled with joy, yet she had trouble looking X back in the eye because of it.

"That's...very kind of you to say," she whispered.

X didn't really know what to say next. He had said his piece, so he know knew that Alia had some idea of his feelings, but he hadn't really gone too in-depth. He wanted to say more, he wanted to tell her that she sparked feelings within him that he thought he had lost. But the overall feeling of nervousness prevented him from saying much else. Alia was equally nervous. She had no idea of what else to say. She had known X for a while, even if she hadn't been around since Maverick Hunter HQ was first established. And she had never really seen him so openly express such emotions. She felt as though she needed time to think about things.

"Well, it's getting rather late," Alia began. "I think we should go back now."

X nodded in response. It was a good thing too, because he had no idea of what to say. If they kept standing there, he would've really felt awkward.

"OK," he replied. "I suppose you're right."

With that, X and Alia walked back to Maverick Hunter HQ, not saying much on their way back. They occasionally glanced at each other, only to blush to and look immediately away. When they got back to base, Alia immediately stretched, and yawned.

"Well, I think I'll be getting some sleep now," she announced.

X nodded in confirmation.

"Sure, see you in the morning," he replied. "Good night."

Alia smiled back at him.

"Good night X," she replied.

X turned and walked away, and headed off on his own. He then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Things go well?" asked the figure.

"They went ok, Zero," X replied, smiling.

X turned around to see the face of his best friend, Zero.

"Glad you had a good time. You've been way too mopey my friend," he teased.

X chuckled a bit. He did understand where Zero was coming from, after all.

"Perhaps. I still have my ideals, but it was nice to get my mind off things for awhile,"X replied.

"Well, just try to remember those things the next time you get down. I don't know if it'll help much though,"Zero muttered. "Anyway, good night X."

"Yeah, good night Zero," he replied.

With that, X walked off. He sat himself down on his bed, and looked out the window to see the familiar sight of the stars. Was Alia truly right? Did he have a noble cause? Did he simply refuse to see it? X wasn't quite sure at this point. He did feel better, but he was still haunted by the fact that he knew he was going to fight again in the future. Having friends like Alia and Zero brought him some form of relief, but he concluded that something must be done still. What were Dr. Light's intentions? Perhaps he always wanted X to experience emotions like the ones he did tonight. Perhaps he intended for him to be a defender of justice. Or maybe it was something more complex than that. X's mind raced with thoughts of his creation, his potential, his friends, and his enemies. Meanwhile, Zero was immersing himself in thought as well. He took a deep breath as he sat down on his bed. Bringing up memories of Iris certainly wasn't something he wanted to do. He tried his best to forget, yet the images always haunted him. He may not have been as tormented as X was, but he still had the recurring feeling. However, Zero could easily dismiss his mysterious past, and resolved to get over Iris. He had to, he was a Maverick Hunter.

However, Zero and X were completely different in terms of personality. While Zero could typically be hard-edged and sometimes even downright harsh, X was his soft, idealistic counterpart. He cound never understand why X relentlessly stuck to his beliefs, yet he was somewhat relieved that he did so. The main thing Zero did understand was that he would continue fighting the Mavericks, and that he had many reasons for doing so. Alia was also thinking about a great many things. However, her main issue of concern was X. She couldn't stop thinking about him. He was on her mind as of late, considering how completely miserable he appeared to be, but this was more than just plain sympathy. Alia had a strange recurring feeling within her, something that she couldn't quite describe nor explain about her emotions towards X.