A/N: No reviews ;.; Ah well, I shall press on nonetheless! The SOTA Flash project I was working on for a short while is now dead and forgotten, replaced by the SOTA doujinshi project that will begin once my scanner starts working! And that's pretty much it...
Chapter 8:Aishiteru (I Love You)
Zero sat alone in the darkened cell they had placed him in, his armor gone, leaving him looking human and vulnerable. His blonde hair was draped over his knees and also flowed out onto the floor of the cell around him. The cell itself was relitavley bare, with just a simple recharge capsule as furnishings. His blue eyes were closed as he drew his knees tightly towards his body.
Why didn't he just destroy me...? he thought. He had the chance... is this some sort of mindgame? Is he trying to use me as a scapegoat and therefore keeping me alive? Did he know that they wouldn't be able to see his true nature...?
Suddenly his eyes flared open and he slammed one fist into the ground, his sapphire eyes burning with anger. Why can't they see the truth?! Why do they deny that he is Maverick?! Why won't they believe me?!
His increasingly angry train of thought was cut off by a knock at the door to his cell. "Anou... Zero-sama, are you awake?" came Hitomi's voice through the speaker that had been installed between the outside and the inside.
"...I am Zero-sama no longer, Hitomi-sama," he replied quietly. "My ranks have been stripped of me. I am not even a civillian in rank - I am a criminal."
"Zero-sama, you're not a criminal," replied Hitomi. "I know you're not infected. Every infected person I've seen has been much more blatant about it - unless the strain is specifically designed to leave the core systems alone, the Repliroid becomes effectivley incapable of subtley, due to design flaws. That's why so many Mavericks are caught before they can do anything. You're not like that - you're just malfunctioning somehow, and we can fix that..."
"Oh, joy. So now I'm not infected, I'm broken. That's so much better," Zero replied sarcastically. "Just leave me alone, Hitomi-sama. I'm probably going to be retired soon, or imprisoned for life. I don't want you to be tarnished by associating with me."
"Please... Zero-sama," Hitomi implored. "Stop thinking so lowly of yourself! You'll be scanned tommorow and found clean, and then we'll repair the problem! It will all be OK..."
"...No. It won't," replied Zero. "The main problem will still exist, because you refuse to scan Deathsong, who is the reason all this happened. He'll collapse the base from the inside eventually... All because you refuse to see..."
Hitomi sighed slightly, the noise sounding crackly and odd over the intercom. "Deathsong-sama is not a Maverick. He's been the main force behind all the repairs we've had to do, and what's more, he's a wonderful Hunter - more Mavericks brought down than anyone else this month. And of course, there's-"
"Sigma. I know," Zero interjected. "I know he brought down Sigma. I know he destroyed our biggest threat. But what if he got infected in the proccess, or even before that? I keep up on mission info, and I know that Jaguar had dangerously high infection levels..."
"He's shown none of the signs!" Hitomi replied annoyedly. "He's the best we have!"
Zero laughed bitterly, his eyes filled with pain. "You finally admit it, eh?"
"Admit what, Zero-sama?" asked Hitomi.
"He's the best. He's the greatest. He's better than I ever was, and ever will be. He's the only one who matters now."
---
Deathsong stood in front of the mainframe computer of the base, grinning slightly, ready to begin his greatest plan yet. The past two sabatoges had been mere warning shots of sort - now it was time to begin the real project. He grinned and begin to type activley, occasionally brushing a strand of silver hair out of his face...
---
"Tha-That's not what I meant, Zero-sama!" Hitomi stuttered. "He's just good! You're equals!"
"Yeah, right," muttered Zero. "You just told me what I had always believed, Hitomi-sama."
"No... please... you're different... So very different... Just trust me, Zero-sama! You're as good as him, perhaps even better! I didn't mean it when I said what I said..."
"....And what exactly makes Deathsong and I so different? Is it that I'm Maverick scum, while he's the paragon of virtue?! Is it that he can do no wrong?! Why not just declare him Pope and take the rest of the day off!" Zero shouted angrily.
"No, Zero... That's not it..." Hitomi replied quietly.
"Then what is it, hmn?!"
There was a long period of silence on the other end, then very quietly, the answer came.
"Because I don't love Deathsong, Zero-sama..."
---
Deathsong grinned and prepared to press the final button to begin his plan. As he pressed it, a tiny progress screen came up, the precentages going much more slowly than Deathsong would like. However, finally it hit 99, and his grin grew larger as he waited for the chaos to begin...
---
"...What?" Zero said quietly, his voice disbelieving.
"...I love you, Zero-sama. I don't know why, but I do. Perhaps it's just that I can see your pain and want to ease it... perhaps it's because I can see what you could become. But I love you, and I have for a while now..." Hitomi paused for a second, and when she spoke again, Zero could tell she was crying. "So tell me, Zero-sama... Do you love me?"
"Hitomi-sama... I... I... I don't know what to say... I think..." Zero was stuttering, his eyes wide. "Iris was so recent... and..."
Hitomi cut him off, her voice now choked with sobs. "I understand. It would feel wrong to forget Iris so soon, right?" Zero tried to interrupt, but she began speaking again too soon for that. "Don't worry, Zero-sama, I... I understand... if you ever change your mind... then..." She began sobbing too hard to speak, the muffled sounds echoing oddly in the cell.
Zero wanted to run to comfort her, but a wall of concrete seperated the two, keeping them distant. "Hi-Hitomi-sama, that's not what I mean! I just... I need time to think! Please..." Before he could speak further, however, a low alarm cut him off.
"Wha... what's that alarm for?" asked Hitomi, still sniffling, bu brought out of her tears partially by the sudden alarm.
"I have no idea," replied Zero, fear tinting his voice slightly. "But I somehow doubt it's anything good."
Before they could discuss this any further, a computerized female voice played through the many speakers in the base. "Warning. Maverick presences detected in base," the voice said evenly. "The current estimate of Maverick numbers is one hundred and thirty four. Security systems will activate, but all Hunters are advised to be on alert." The alarm then resumed its loud and low whoop.
"A hundred and thirty four?! There's no way there could be that many Mavericks!" Hitomi said fearfully.
"...No, but Hitomi-sama... How many people do you think the base contains, counting civillians being protected and suchlike?" Zero replied silently.
"The last time I checked the roster, the amount was a hundred and fifteen, but a few new recruits have come in since then... but what does that... oh..." Hitomi seemed to come to a sudden realization and fell silent.
Zero nodded, despite the fact Hitomi couldn't see him. "Exactly. The system is now registering everything as Maverick. I reccomend you run... And Hitomi?"
Hitomi's voice quavered with fear when she spoke, but it was still remarkably steady considering the circumstances. "Y-yes, Zero-sama?" she asked.
"I love you too, and I hope we'll be able to be together soon... but for now run." Zero's own voice was stable and even, but a slight amount of pain leaked in.
"...Hai..." With that, the intercom shut off, and Zero could hear her footsteps away form the door, leaving Zero alone in the darkness to try to plan...