Search for a Soul
Chapter 13
"Ghost from the past"
By MEGAMANX411

X slowly turned around, and took his boot off of Sigma's face. Sigma breathed a sigh of relieve as he felt the immense pressure removed from his skull.X's eyes widened when he saw who stood before him. It was impossible. There was no way that person could be standing there, it simply couldn't be real. But was it real? Was it an illusion, something triggered by X's apparent loss of sanity? Or was this truly real? Could it be...

"D-Doctor..Light.." X stammered, his eyes becoming wide.

X was completely shocked. It was Dr. Light, his creator. The one person who could tell X his purporse, the one person who knew all the answers he wanted. But how could that be? Dr. Light had only appeared to him in holograms stored in capsules before. He had never actually met his creator in person. Still, that white fluffy beard, the white hair, the lab coat...it seemed so real. X couldn't place it. He almost paid no more attention to the enemy he was about to kill. Sigma didn't move either though. He was just too shocked. One second, he was one control, the next, he was being slaughtered. Now X just stopped? What was going on?

"Hello X, " Dr. Light replied.

Dr. Light's tone was somewhat sad, for reasons X couldn't comprehend at the moment. Was it really Dr. Light though? How could X assume that it was really his voice? He didn't know, he just felt like he knew. X felt like he had to ask why his creator looked so sad.

"Dr. Light..is..is something wrong?" X asked.

"X, look at what you are doing. Look at what you have become. You weren't meant to be this way," Dr. Light replied.

X gave Dr. Light a strange look, and then slowly brought his gaze down to his hands. His hands were completely coated in the synthetic reploid blood of the two Mavericks he killed. X looked entirely horrified at the sight. He saw the two decapitated bodies, and his eyes shot open. He tried to scream, but his voice failed him. Sigma caught sight of this, and wondered what was going on. His foe was talking to thin air!

"Who are you talking to?" Sigma heaved.

Sigma was entirely beaten. He had lost his legs, and his face was crushed inwards. He was really in no position to fight, but he wasn't willing to accept defeat yet. He was just surprised, really. One minute he was being terrorized by a vicious, vengeful, unrelenting demon, and the next, he saw X talking to someone who wasn't there. X didn't pay any attention to Sigma. He was too preoccupied with what he had done. X was all too shocked. Feelings of immense sadness washed over him with an intense force. X felt like the only thing he could do is break down and cry.

"Dr. Light...I'm...I'm...a murderer...please...forgive...me..." he sobbed.

X dropped to his knees, and buried his face in his hands. The blood from his hands became smeared on his face, but X was almost too shocked to even notice. X then remembered all of the questions he wanted to ask Dr. Light, all of the things he felt he had to know. He had to ask him now, while he still had a chance. He raised his eyes to meet Dr. Light's. X's face was covered with tears and blood.

"Dr. Light! Why did you create me? What am I supposed to do?" he screamed.

"I made you...no, I didn't make you, I only gave you life," Dr. Light replied.

"What..what do you mean?" X stammered.

"I didn't make a machine to do a task, to serve a purpose. I gave life to a person, one who could do what he wanted, and could live a life of happiness and choice," Dr. Light replied.

"But why...why did you give me weapons? Why did you want me to fight?" X asked.

"I gave you the ability to stand up for what you believe in, I didn't give you the power to fight. You have the power to protect the innocent. I gave you those weapons because I thought the world might need a new champion. X, I gave you the power of live the life you wanted, and the power to protect. Goodbye, X," Dr. Light whispered.

X reached out, and tried to take the hand of his creator, but Dr. Ligh disappeared beforehand. X couldn't regain his balance. He was falling, and he couldn't stop it. His creator left.

"No..don't go.."X whispered.

X slowly closed his eyes, and blacked out. He fell forward, and was caught by a familiar ally.

"Whew...he's ok," Zero muttered.

He set X down, and sighed a breath of relief. Alia was standing next to him. She was still a little injured, but other than that, she was ok. Alia was immensely relieved to see that X was ok, though. Both she and Zero were really worried about him, and they didn't know what to do. They both witnessed X talk to himself, and then watched him collapse. Something had to be wrong with him.

"Do you think he'll be alright?"Alia asked.

Alia bent down next to X, and caressed his face gently. She planted a kiss on his forehead, and mouthed a silent prayer. She could only hope that X would wake up alright. Zero, on the other hand, remained perfectlycalm. He had full faith in his friend. Meanwhile, Sigma was still writhing on the floor. He couldn't pick himself back up. He was no threat anymore, he had nothing left, not unless he possessed another body. He could only watch his foes for the time being. What he couldn't believe is how Alia was safe, and how Zero got there.

"He'll be perfectly alright. He just had a little shock," Zero replied.

"How...how did you get here?" Sigma screamed.

Zero turned around to look back at his enemy. He just shook his head in disgust. What a sight it was. The mighty Sigma, reduced to a bloody pile on the floor. Zero couldn't help but laugh at this turn of events.

"Sigma...you fool. I followed X here," Zero replied.

"No, the girl! The girl! She's supposed to be dead!" he shouted.

"I saved her, you moron," Zero shouted.

Flashback

"Alright X...if you don't want me to come along, I'll come anyway," Zero whispered.

Zero saw X enter the warehouse, and he cautiously entered through the back. He chose not to go through the same entrance in case there was a trap. Like with X, the rain lighted patted against Zero's armor as he crept outside the warehouse. Zero first watched X go inside, and he then opted to go in himself. The crimson hunter readied himself for anything. He choose the back entrance. As he stepped in, Zero noticed some figures standing around a reploid girl. Zero could make out one of them--Dynamo. But was that girl...Alia? It looked like it. Dynamo appeared to be ready to strike, his energy blade raised high. However, there was a loud clashing sound, and Dynamo's weapon was shattered.

"What the!" he shouted.

Zero stood there with a big smirk on his face. Zero couldn't help but enjoy this. Dynamo used to be the one with all the cards, now it seemed as though Zero had leveled the playing field a bit. Zero looked over to see Alia. She seemed a little beat up, but thankfully, nothing too serious. She was still alive, that was the important thing. Zero brought his gaze back over to Dynamo. The other Mavericks in the room were still shocked to see the legendary Zero here.

"You didn't invite me Dynamo? I'm hurt man,"Zero mocked.

Zero dashed forward, and sliced the Mavericks in half before they had a chance to fight at all. Each Maverick suffered from a similar attack, and they all fell in half in the exact same way at the same time. They stared at Zero in unison, in horror. Zero then pointed his saber at Dynamo.

"Now for you my friend," Zero teased.

Dynamo chuckled a little. The arrogant bounty hunter enjoyed a good challenge, he thought this was going to be fun. At least now he'd have something to fight against. To him, being an executioner just didn't have the drama he wanted. He wanted to see some fight in his prey.

"This makes things a bit more interesting," Dynamo replied.

Dynamo rushed at Zero with his fist, trying to slam the Maverick Hunter. Zero nimbly dodged the attack, and then brought his foot around and caught Dynamo in the abdomen. The bounty hunter went sailing backwards, but he caught himself just as he was about to hit the ground with all the grace of a cat. Zero dashed over towards Dynamo once again, but this time, the bounty hunter managed to evade Zero and kicked him in the back. Zero quickly turned around, caught Dynamo by the arm, and threw him against the wall. He then held his saber to Dynamo's face.

"You're finished," Zero spat.

Dynamo smiled. He wouldn't die here.

"A sportsman knows when he's beat. Catch you later Zero," he replied.

Dynamo teleported out of the room, leaving Zero with a very scared Alia. Zero cursed that Dynamo got away, but he then brought his attention back to Alia. If she had died there, X would never be able to recover from it. Zero bent down, and untied her.

"Alia, are you alright?" he asked.

Alia looked at her bruises and cuts. She was in some pain, but besides that, she felt like she could still walk. If she just got some time to rest, she thought she'd feel better. Auto-repair systems were already starting to kick in. She looked back at Zero.

"Yes, I'm fine, but what about X?" she asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to save him too. Come on, let's go," Zero replied.

Zero stretched out his hand, and helped Alia stand. They walked into the next room to see something they never thought could happen. X was there, but it wasn't X. It couldn't be. It was a demon. A demon with red eyes. They saw him massacre some reploids with his bare hands, and then terrorize Sigma. There was something so odd about him though. His eyes, his face, and just the feeling from him...it was all different. It wasn't right. Alia looked on at X in terror.

"Is..is that X?" Alia gasped.

Zero clenched his fist. He couldn't believe that his friend was doing this. What could've possibly driven him to this? X was such a carefree, loving person...how could this have happened? This was not the same X that Zero had become friends with.

"No...that isn't X. That's not my friend. STOP!" he screamed.

Sigma gritted his teeth, and looked back at Zero. Once again, Zero stood over him with such arrogance that it caused a sensation of pure hatred to go over him. But thanks to X's vengeance, he was crippled, and unable to fight.

"I'll kill you all one day," Sigma heaved.

"And we'll be there to stop you that day," Zero replied.

Sigma coughed up a little of his synthetic reploid blood, and was heaving breaths. He didn't have much more time in this body. His physical body was deteriorating, and he knew it. But he would be able to return one day, and that's what he counted on. For the time being though, he had to suffer some humiliation. The innards of Sigma's current body began to spill out of his wounds. Reploid blood was pouring out everywhere. His energy was draining at a tremendous rate.

"I'll have my...revenge..."Sigma whispered.

With that, Sigma finally expired, leaving only his threats behind. His own glowing red eyes began to dim, and his voice faded away. That was the end of him for now. Thankfully, one threat was gone. Now they had to worry about the next problem.

"It's over," Zero muttered.

He stood up straight, and held X over his shoulders. Zero positioned X so that he was relatively easy to carry. He looked back at Alia.

"I'm glad. But this experience has probably scarred X deeply..." Alia whispered.

Zero sighed lightly. He knew that X was in definite pain from this experience, and that it would take a lot to help him.

"Well, it doesn't make much sense to dwell on things here. We should get back to base," Zero reasoned.