Disclaimer:

I do not now nor ever will own Rockman X/Megaman X or any of its characters. I also don't own 'Robin Hood' or 'Weekend at Bernie's.' Reploid anatomy design and theories of life and death and why some die and some come back are my own. Please don't steal.

If you ask nicely, I may let you borrow.

Important:

This chapter is rated PG because apparently 'Weekend at Bernie's' was PG and that had a dead body in it. You wanna know what the heck I'm talking about? Well, then, read the fic. There are also a few mild curse words used.

Also, this is not shonen-ai or yaoi. I swear its not. Think, best friends, close enough to be brothers, I'd-take-a-bullet-for-you kind of concern. Not romantic or sexual concern here, people. Just because two guys care about each other does not mean they want to jump each other's bones.

If you really, really want to, you can take it as shonen-ai. But don't flame me for writing shonen-ai when its not intended that way.

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Reploid Anatomy 101 – Life, Death, and Resurrection

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Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil.

...Why the hell won't they stay dead, but she can't come back...

A reploid is a sentient, self-aware, true A.I. robot that experiences emotions and is fully capable of making its own decisions without relying on preprogrammed responses and algorithms. The most important parts of a reploid, that which makes it who and what it is, are the control chips, the personality matrix, and the memory matrix.

The control chips are necessary for any reploid to function. These are the circuits that contain the necessary programming to monitor, maintain, and coordinate all the systems in the reploid's mechanical body without causing problems or conflicts between systems. The control chips also contain the basic A.I. programming that allows the reploid to develop as an individual sentient being.

The true genius behind the individuality of a reploid lies in its interconnected personality and memory matrixes. Before activation, basic knowledge of language, mathematics and other basic concepts are installed in the basic root of the memory matrix. Immediately after activation, the reploid's personality and memory matrix are unformed and malleable. From that point on, everything the reploid learns or experiences is added to their memory matrix while their personality matrix develops. The crystalline personality matrix is self-writing and self-adjusting. Every experience the reploid gains adds new layers and connections of their personality into the matrix. The crystalline memory matrix is continuously added onto and updated, every memory made being interconnected and wrapped in the layers of personality that the memories are connected to.

Just as no two humans think exactly alike; no two reploids' personality and memory matrixes are identical. Each personality matrix is unique, just as human DNA is unique to each human. This is where the concept of reploid DNA souls came from. The energy patterns that make up the thought processes of a reploid are uniquely specific to each reploid. Scanning equipment can detect these energy patterns and use them to positively identify a specific reploid from every other reploid in existence.

A reploid is a machine. Why then, is it possible for a reploid to 'die'? Aside from complete destruction, broken machine parts can be replaced and a machine reactivated. What makes such part replacements only possible in certain cases for reploids?

It is invariably acknowledged that reploids can take, and deal, a lot more punishment to their bodies than a human ever could. Loss of limbs is not an unfixable situation for a reploid. The determining factors in whether or not a reploid will survive an injury are power supply and the condition of their 'brain,' which consists of the control chips, and memory and personality matrixes.

Large explosions from external sources are usually fatal to a reploid due to massive destruction to the body and systems, often resulting in a breach in the plasma fusion generator that results in complete destruction due to a secondary internal explosion. Breaches in the generator itself can cause the plasma fusion reaction to destabilize and result in a plasma-based explosion that will completely vaporize the reploid's body from the inside out. While the generator is shielded to prevent such breaches, during a battle or severe accident, the shielding can be ruptured if sufficient force is brought to bear.

The personality and memory matrixes are delicate systems. Any damage that occurs to the matrixes can result in a condition similar to human brain damage. This can alter personality and memory and if severe enough, can cause the reploid to be completely different from what he or she was before the injury. Such damage is rarely repairable. The interconnections and mental thought pathways between and within the memory and personality matrixes are so delicate and layered that any attempt to manually repair the matrixes would almost certainly cause further damage. Also, any change to the connective pathways can cause personality changes or memory loss.

Why then, can't the memory and personality matrixes be copied as backups, to ensure a reploid will be able to be restored despite such grievous mental damage? Any previous attempts to copy the memory and personality matrixes of a reploid onto blank template, backup matrixes has ended in failure. Such a copy is done all at once. Without the time for the matrix to adjust and stabilize each pathway as it is created, the matrix becomes unstable and prone to complete cascade collapse. Also, because the matrixes are continuously updating themselves with new information and experiences, any backup copy would be outdated within less than a day.

Sometimes, despite lack of damage to the 'brain' or complete destruction of the fusion generator or body, a reploid will still 'die.' Such a death occurs when damage is sufficient enough to cut off power from the fusion generator, or fully shut down the fusion generator. Once activated to bring the reploid online for the first time, the plasma fusion generator never shuts off. While mild to moderate damage to the generator, such as minor plasma leaks or small breaches in the shielding, can be repaired if medical repair help is reached in time, severe damage usually results in the generator overloading or overheating and resulting in an explosion.

Usually a generator explosion occurs quickly, within moments of the damage being inflicted, without providing sufficient opportunity for an emergency shutdown. On the few occasions when damage to the generator is sufficient enough to cause failure, but does not occur swiftly enough to cause an explosion before the generator can shut down, the reploid then has a chance to be saved.

If a reploid whose fusion generator has shut down is gotten to medical attention quickly enough, their generator can be repaired and reactivated, assuming there is enough remaining of it to be repaired. A full generator replacement would result in 'death' for the reploid. Aside from the 'brain' the generator is one of the only systems that cannot be completely replaced. The reason for this is because when a fusion generator is replaced, the reploid's power grid must not retain a residual energy charge. This is necessary to avoid an explosive power surge in the new generator that can cause a lethal generator overload in the reploid being operated on that will cause an explosion that could also kill any medical personnel working on the reploid.

When a reploid loses all residual power in their main power grid, the reploid is 'dead' and unsalvageable. It can take up to three weeks for the residual energy charge in a reploid's systems to fade, however it can occur earlier or later depending on the reploid in question. During this 'grace period' the reploid can be reactivated and saved. Reactivation of the power generator after the residual charge has fully bled out of the systems is automatic death for a reploid.

The personality and memory matrixes are extremely delicate systems. Any unregulated power surge through the matrixes would completely wipe the reploid's personality and memory. Normally there are buffer systems active to protect the matrixes from power surges. However, these buffer systems require energy to run and regulate the power flows entering the matrixes. While a residual energy charge remains in the main power grid, the buffers remain active. The buffers are one of the last systems to shut down after power failure. Once all residual energy has bled out of the reploid's systems, the buffers shut down. Reactivating the plasma fusion generator, or a replacement generator, would cause a power surge throughout the reploid's entire system as the suddenly restored energy flow rushed into the power grid. With the buffers deactivated, the power surge would cause a complete wipe of the reploid's personality and memory. It would be as though they had just been built and activated for the first time.

Regardless of how closely the reploid's friends and companions try to replicate and jog the memory of the experiences the afflicted reploid lived in the past, they would never be able to restore his personality and memory matrixes back to what they had been before the incident. The reploid's personality and memory matrixes would rebuild themselves in a completely new and unique configuration that would result in a different person wearing their old friend's body.

Because of this disturbing discovery the first time such damaged reploids were reactivated, it was decided that reactivation of 'dead' reploids would be prohibited. It was just too disturbing and morbid to put a new person in someone else's body and hope the people the reploid knew and cared about in the previous incarnation didn't run into him in his new existence. Often, in those first cases, the blanked reploids would rebuild their personality and memory matrixes in a faulty, haphazard manner due to the provided experiences and memories given to them by those who knew them before the incident and were hoping to bring their friend back. This sudden influx of past knowledge and memories often caused mental instability in the new matrixes which led to the reploids either going mad, destroying themselves, or complete cascade collapse of their matrixes. Once a reploid has fully lost any residual charge to their systems, they are 'dead' and resurrection of 'dead' reploids is illegal and immoral.

How, then, was Zero able to return to life after he was killed in the first Maverick War against Sigma? Zero was dismantled, and some six months later, was put back together and reactivated. Why did Zero not suffer from the personality wipe that 'dead' reploids suffered when reactivated. The answer to that is because when his body was taken from the rubble after the first defeat of the Maverick Sigma, the mavericks that stole him, the X-Hunters, intended to reactivate him and use him for their own purposes. They also intended him to be used as bait against X to keep him busy and off balance. To ensure Zero's parts would be an enticing enough prize, they maintained the residual power flow through each independent part, ensuring that the 'grace period' extended far beyond its normal limits. They were unable to reactivate Zero themselves because they lacked his main control chips that maintained and monitored all his body's systems at safe levels. Without those chips, Zero's systems could have malfunctioned and broken down without proper regulation and maintenance.

Mavericks do not suffer from the restrictions against resurrecting their dead. Once infected, the virus causes many of the buffers to break down and induces a painful, controlled, low-level power surge in the personality matrix. This wipes out most of the connections between the personality matrix and the memory matrix. The reploid's original personality is either fully wiped or a partial wipe occurs that isolates the remaining personality from control of the body. While this causes some damage to the memory matrix as well, most memories remain intact and available for the maverick virus to access. The virus then has control of the reploid's body. A death from power failure, or a damaged and shutdown generator, does not affect the virus itself. Reactivation only serves to wipe the matrixes again, which were already partially blanked. The virus prevents reconstruction and addition to the personality matrix and runs the decision-making processes itself. The loss of memories from a reactivation wipe causes the maverick to forget whatever weapons skills and fighting experience the reploid had had before being infected. This explains why repeated resurrection of mavericks results in less experienced and effective fighters.

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X had known it was coming. He always did. But knowing it was coming and having it happen are entirely separate things. No matter how much he knew it was coming, it still never prepared him for the gut twisting worry and the helplessness that came along with it. Heck, everyone at HQ who wasn't completely blind, or brand new, knew it was coming. Not many knew why, but they all knew it would happen.

X rather preferred the speculative rumors about why it happened, rather than the truth. The rumors were just that, rumors. They could never hurt as much as the truth did. But X would never correct them. Zero didn't need his personal matters splattered all over the HQ rumor mill. No one who knew the truth would do that to him.

X had hoped to head it off this year before it had a chance to get started. Or at least make a dent in it. Yet, once again, Zero had eluded him. Damn, but that blonde haired lunatic could be sneaky when he wanted to be.

Every year, around this time, Zero would simply vanish. Sometimes for only a few hours at a time, sometimes he'd be gone all day. No one knew where he went or what he was doing. He never talked about it. But X suspected.

Zero was a complicated guy. X knew this. Everyone who really knew Zero knew this. Everyone else took him at mainly face value. The crazy, womanizing, long-haired, adrenaline junkie; sometimes hero of the planet; S-class Special Elite Maverick Hunter, often short tempered, Commander of the Special Elite 0th Unit; he who jumps to conclusions, holds grudges, kicks Maverick ass, and causes insanity and chaos wherever he goes; best friend and battle partner of the famous Commander Rockman X, hero of humanity. Zero was very good at misdirection.

Despite all of the flirtations, the attention from pretty ladies, fangirls throwing themselves at him, Zero had never really gotten over her. As far as X knew, and considering he's Zero's best friend that's pretty far, Zero had never fallen in love with another. Sure, there were the constant flirtations with anything attractive and female, the nights out on dates, and X was sure there had been sex since, it had been many years, after all. But none of that was ever anything serious, not like she had been to him. The women were always one-night stands, and they knew it beforehand, and didn't mind either. If they minded, then they became no-night stands. Zero didn't lie to them about that and he wouldn't get their hopes up. He may be egotistical and overblown and embellish his accomplishments and escapades, but when it came down to something important, Zero didn't lie about it.

X sighed. He wished he had gotten to Zero's quarters earlier. If he had, he might have been able to head him off before he vanished this year. X just knew he was off somewhere, holed up, being miserable and blaming himself. He had no actual physical proof, but he knew. He just wished Zero would let him try to help. Zero's his best friend damnit! He hated knowing he was off somewhere, alone, being miserable and X couldn't do anything to help him.

X had concocted a plan this year. He had no idea if it would help, but he was willing to try just about anything, if it could help Zero. Granted, it wasn't much of a plan. There was only so much X could work out on his own. He had no intention of involving anyone else when Zero was like this. And his plan had involved getting Zero alone to talk things over with him, hopefully, assuming he would talk.

X had been putting off his routine check on the Restricted Armory level, waiting for this day before heading down to check his specialized armor inventory and clear out the dust of another year. Normally, the annual check consisted of opening each of the capsules and taking out the armor and making sure all the pieces were in working condition and nice and shiny; and making sure none of the R&D techies had managed to sneak in and try to take some of them apart for study. X was quite sure they'd happily maim and kill (depending on who they were killing) for the opportunity to pick the armor apart and study it. They pestered Signas to order X to give them access, as well as X himself, every year for such a chance. It was also his time to reminisce on his creator and the ultimate creator of all reploids, Dr. Thomas Light. The armors and the holographic messages that had come with them were practically the only legacy his creator had left him.

Ever since X had been assigned the Restricted Armory level for his own use, back when it became apparent that there was no way to keep the armors safe from the curious and the techies in his quarters, not to mention the problem of storage space, Zero had accompanied him down on the annual checkup. Part of it was that Zero kept X from getting depressed over his creator's only legacy to him being armor and weapons of mass destruction. The rest of it was that Zero loved lording it over the techies that he got to go play with X's armors every year and they couldn't even touch.

Admittedly, Zero did like playing with X's armors. Occasionally, X would regret giving Zero an invite access pass code for his Restricted Armory on Armory level 17. Last Halloween, there was a massive joint unit Hunter Halloween Costume Party thrown that encompassed two levels of the living quarters area. Zero had arrived a half hour late, by himself. Dressed as Falcon Armored X. In the actual Falcon Armor.

What made it worse was that he had played the part of X all night. Answering whenever someone called for X, and thoroughly embarrassing X himself, who had been dragged along by Axl and Alia. The three of them had dressed, at Alia's insistence, as characters from one of X's books, Robin Hood. Alia had arranged the costumes and handed them out. So X had found himself as Robin of Locksley Hood, an outlaw, of all things. Alia had chosen Maid Marian, and had saddled Axl with Will Scarlet. It wasn't as bad as X had feared; everyone else was in costume as well, but having Zero come, and act, as X, had been incredibly embarrassing. Not to mention the fact that the armor was a size or two too small for Zero, considering he was taller than X. This resulted in Zero complaining to X every chance he got about how the armor chafed, or pinched, or squeezed, and how could X stand it.

Things only got worse near the end of the party when Zero accidentally activated the flight thrusters and sent himself through a wall. None of Zero's upgrades had ever included actual flight systems. Only the helmet and the inertial repulsion field generator saved Zero from knocking himself senseless or worse. Normally, X didn't use the inertial repulsion field generator to knock down walls; though it did a very good job of it; nearly as good a job as it did taking out maverick drones that he rammed into during flight. However, Signas was not pleased and, once Zero's head had cleared enough to understand, had ordered Zero to go put the armor away before he accidentally killed himself or someone else. X went along to make sure Zero didn't choose a new Halloween costume from Armory level 17.

While X was capable of using his internal teleportation system to summon or dismiss the armor to and from the pre-programmed storage capsule coordinates, Zero had not anticipated the difficulty in getting in or out of the armor and had not bothered to calibrate his internal teleportation system. Which meant they had to get it off manually. It had taken an entire hour to get Zero out of the armor, the blonde Hunter complaining and yelping the entire time as X tugged and pulled at the too-small armor pieces before they finally got them off.

The only consolation X had to offer the thoroughly irritated and chafed Zero at the end of the night, was that it had not been the Ultimate Armor that Zero had chosen to use as a costume. Even for X, who it fit, getting the Ultimate Armor off manually was practically impossible without help. He had found that out after returning to base from the mission he had acquired the armor on. Whenever X found a new suit of armor, he would have to manually remove it the first time, in order to place it into an empty storage capsule on Armory level 17 and program his teleportation system to assign the specific capsule coordinates for the new armor. He had had to drag Zero down to the armory to help him get out of the suit. Getting Zero out of the Ultimate Armor would have been a task to phase even the most determined of reploids.

X had decided that the best and easiest way to get Zero alone for a talk, while catching his interest enough that he wouldn't disappear this year, would be to catch him before he vanished and take him down to the Restricted Armory to mess around with X's armors for most of the day. No one would bother them because no one else but Signas had access, and he never went down there. Plus, getting to stick his tongue out and go 'nyah' to the techies was sure to lift Zero's spirits.

The only hitch was that X had gotten waylaid on the way to Zero's quarters by an entirely too-cheerful-for-that-early-in-the-morning messenger who proceeded to drag him halfway across HQ to an 'urgent situation that needed you right away.' Only to discover, upon arriving at their destination, that some mid-level paper-pusher had gotten into a shouting and paper-throwing match with three of the 17th's newest transfer rookies who were demanding better quarters and live weapons to train with. X entered that scene of chaos just in time to hear himself used as a 'close personal friend' by the apparent leader of the disturbance, who was threatening to take this matter directly to X.

X was only too happy to oblige.

Now, though, he wished he had been a bit more vengeful, rather than just getting them transferred to the a clean-up crew unit, which never sees live action and comes in after everything has happened to clean up the mess the fight left behind; as well as putting them on HQ janitorial and garbage duties for the next three months. If they stayed in the Hunters after today, X would be surprised, and a bit disappointed. However, the thought of them cleaning out garbage receptacles was little consolation when X finally arrived at Zero's quarters to find them already empty, and Zero vanished.

Since then, X had been scouring HQ for Zero, with no sign of his best friend. Just like always, no one had seen him, no one knew where he had gone, and no one knew what he was doing. X had just about given up on this year. As had been his experience in the many previous instances, Zero wouldn't show up until he'd finished whatever he vanished to do. X had never been able to find him. He would just have to save his plan for next year. It was almost enough to make X cry. Or hunt down those rookies and drag them off to a frustration-venting 'training session' straight out of Zero's training manual.

X sighed as he arrived at his destination. There was no help for it. He'd have to do the Restricted Armory check on his own. The techies were already breathing down his neck for the status reports he was supposed to draw up on the armors and let them claw through. Not like he expected there to be any sort of change from last year's status reports, or the year before's. But the techies were convinced that if they just got enough of the stupid reports, they'd find out the secret to the armors' creation and be able to duplicate it, or convince Signas to let them take them apart for study. Whichever came first.

X stepped forward into the Maverick Hunter Head Quarter's Main Armory Wing. As always, the place was full of activity as Hunters and rookies came and went to the multiple lifts along the wall by the Armory Inventory desks. Reploids and humans hustled about, clanking as they carried armor pieces in and out of the lifts and down the corridor aisles where various sets of unclaimed standard armor and practice weapons waited on racks and shelves. This was Level 1, the lowest security level, where the rookies were brought to get outfitted for training.

Until they had proven that they knew which end of the buster or saber to point at the maverick, rookies were kept on practice weapons. Currently, there were no new batches of rookies being outfitted. The ordered chaos of the armory was generated due to it being nearly lunchtime. Multiple units were coming in from training sessions or getting off patrol duty and heading for either one of the mess halls, or off-grounds to eat out.

Every duty shift, various units were drilling and training in the training facilities assigned to each unit. Others were assigned on patrols or to investigate and/or deal with assorted reports and demands for Hunter assistance. When on-duty or training, Hunters were required to wear their armor. When off-duty, nearly everyone opted to go without armor, and wear civvies instead. Only officers, or those who joined with their own custom armor, assuming that it passed muster for defensive capabilities, were permitted to keep their armor in their quarters. Everyone else was required to check their armor in at their personal storage capsule locker, in their unit's section, on levels 4 through 6. Rookies' armor was kept on levels 1 through 3, along with unclaimed sets and spare parts.

Although it seemed as though security was lax, there were actually effective protocols in place. The main armory doors would not open when approached by unauthorized civilians who happened to be unescorted by active duty Hunters. No one could take gear out of the armory without signing for it at the desk and having the armor or weapon's energy signature cleared for passage through the doors. Trying to take something out of the armory without getting it cleared first, resulted in the alarms being triggered and the doors sealing shut until the alarm was deactivated by a member of the command staff. The only times these security measures were overridden were during a mass scramble of forces to deal with a massive maverick attack. At that point, it was more important that everyone be armed, armored, and on the way to deal with the situation than to make sure spare armor parts stayed in the armory. During a mass scramble, the door protocol sensors were switched to the Scramble Protocols, where everything leaving the armory was catalogued, along with the ones doing the taking, and stored in the main computer banks for later examination.

Each of the lifts inside the armory only went to Armory levels. Each one would go to only the designated levels for that particular lift. The low security levels had lifts separate from the mid-level security lifts and the high security level lifts. The lifts for the high security restricted levels 13 through 25 only went to those levels. The lift for level 17 only went to level 17. The lifts for R&D only went to the R&D levels 21 through 25. Each high security lift required an identification pass code for it to even open, and another for it to move, and a third for it to open at its destination; differing codes for each level. Each pass code was accompanied by a sensor scan, a vocal, and a retinal verification that corresponded to the codes used. Every reploid had a unique energy signature, and every human's DNA was unique.

X crossed the front of the room, avoiding rushing reploids and humans as they worked to get their gear stored as soon as possible so they could go eat. He picked up his pace as he noticed a gaggle of R&D techies homing in on his location from across the lift and checkout zone. Ducking around a particularly large, Asian dragon style, quadrupedal, animal-type reploid, who was just coming out of a large lift for levels 18 through 20, the custom and experimental armor and weapons levels, X lost the techies in the bustle and made it un-accosted to the only level 17 lift. Laying his hand on the code panel, X transmitted the pass code in a direct burst transmission on his personal frequency, to open the lift doors. There was a soft hum as the scanning sensors built into the lift doors ran through the verification process. There was a soft chime as the first two lights on the panel activated green. "Commander Rockman X, Elite 17th Unit." The third green light activated, and with a pressurized hiss of air, the lift doors slid open. X stepped inside as the doors shut behind him. While vocal verification could be imitated by voice synthesizers, a vocal verification from the reploid fitting the correct scan profile could be told apart from a vocal verification coming from a reploid accompanying an unconscious reploid that fit the correct scan profile.

X turned to the interior code panel for the lift and repeated the process, providing a different code this time. The lift activated a second later and rushed downward to its destination. X repeated the process a third time after the lift came to a stop. Another code and the blast-shielded lift doors opened onto a round room that the lift shaft dropped down into the center of. Another blast-shielded door stood closed against the outer wall behind the back of the lift shaft pillar. X had to walk around the outside of the lift shaft to bring it into view. While everyone above rookie knew about the triple-coded high-level security Armory lifts, only the three people who had access to level 17 knew about the fourth code sequence required to get through the doors to the actual armor storage chamber.

There were also multiple transporter scrambler fields activated in the armory to prevent reploids from teleporting in and out unnoticed. One between each level, and another covered the entire Armory. Not to mention the ones active over the entire MHHQ compound. As far as X knew, he was the only one who had the pass codes for the entire scrambler field network in the Armory. He was the only one who had need to randomly teleport gear directly in and out of the high-level security armory levels.

After supplying the final pass code and verification process, the massive doors hissed open and slid to the sides. X walked into the spacious chamber whose walls rose across from him, nearly three times his height, to the ceiling and stretched away to either side before meeting the corners and making right angles to vanish out of sight behind the rounded curve of the wall at his back. This particular chamber was shaped like a donut with squared off outsides. The inner wall was the outside of the inner rounded chamber that the lift shaft dropped into.

About 30 feet out from the inner wall, the row of storage capsules began. Each one was separated by about 6 feet from the ones to either side of it. Each was approximately 12 feet long, 4 wide, and 3 tall as they rested parallel to the floor. They marched on in a fanned out line from one end of the curved room to the other, and vanished behind the curve of the inner wall only to reappear at the other side. They were meant to store not just armor, but almost anything. When this level had been outfitted, it had originally been storage for high security, top-secret, experimental weapons and armor. The level had been cleared out later, and given over to X's armor storage. Although there were over 50 storage capsules down here, none had been removed because no one was really sure just how many armors Dr. Light had left for X to find. For all anyone knew, there could be enough of them out there to eventually fill all these capsules.

X headed around the curve of the inner wall to his right. As an added deterrent to snoopy techies or anyone else, X kept his armors around the curve of the chamber, out of direct sight of the doors. Anyone who managed to get in here, and didn't know precisely what was kept on this level, would likely assume it was unused storage from a quick glance around. Though all the capsules were powered and running, all of the ones in direct sight were empty. The capsules had scanner scattering fields built in that prevented invasive scans from penetrating to the supposedly top-secret contents they had been designed to hold. Because the main computer security and power systems couldn't scan the contents of the capsules, they were programmed to assume they were full and so had all of the capsules' seals and systems activated at all times.

The capsules with X's earliest armor upgrades were to the left side of the doors, around and behind the curve of wall, halfway to the back half of the room. His armors were held in chronological order in the following capsules, also heading left. By heading right, he was taking the long way around the room and would reach his latest armor first. X normally checked on the armor in chronological order, oldest first. But today, X didn't mind taking the longer walk or going backwards. It was something to do to take up time so that he wouldn't have to deal with the rumors flying around about Zero's disappearance. And so that he had more time to get a grip on, and deal with, the miserable, helpless feeling that coiled in his gut at the fact that he hadn't been able to help Zero this year, again.

Which was why X was shocked into a moment of frozen speechlessness as he rounded the next length of wall and discovered the mysterious location of the disappearing blonde hunter. This discovery did several things at once. It lifted a huge burden of worry off of X's shoulders. It suddenly made his plan plausible; Zero was already here. And then it dumped all that worry right back onto his shoulders, but for an entirely different reason.

Like X, Zero was wearing civilian clothes. Black slacks, black shoes, and a white shirt under an open fronted, long-sleeved, black, button-up shirt. His long blonde hair was loose; he rarely wore it loose outside of his quarters. He stood with his back to X, standing beside one of the storage capsules and looking down into it through the solid energy particle field that served as a glass-like, but much stronger, cover to each of the capsules. He was leaning up against it, his left arm thrown across the top of the capsule as his hair obscured his face from clear view. He was holding a long-stemmed red rose in his left hand, resting it on the surface of the capsule.

It wasn't Zero's appearance or stance that made the worry and concern twisting inside X roar up to an almost sick feeling of dread, and knowing, and fear. It was the contents of the capsule. X had never really bothered looking inside capsules he knew to be empty. He should probably start doing so more often. Lying inside the capsule was Iris. Well, her body, at least. She lay on her back, facing up towards the ceiling, eyes shut as though she was merely sleeping. Only the absolutely perfect motionlessness, and the certain knowledge that her plasma fusion generator and main power grid would never work again, indicated otherwise.

"Zero?" X spoke before his mind could come to terms with all the possible implications of this scene.

"X..." Zero turned slightly to face more towards the inner wall and lifted his head slightly. His hair fell away from his face, revealing his profile.

"Zero... what..." X hesitantly stepped towards his best friend, hand lifting as though to reach out to him, before X even realized what he was doing.

"Did you know that humans bury their dead?" Zero turned back to gaze once more into the capsule. "Or sometimes its cremation and they keep the ashes in a little pot. Humans have some funny customs, ya know." Zero lifted his head, staring off into space with a small sardonic smile on his lips. He turned back to Iris's face and his left hand gently stroked across the top of the capsule, brushing the petals of the rose that lay on top as it passed. "They visit the graves of their dead loved ones. They bring flowers and some of them even talk to the graves, like the dead can still hear them and might talk back. Silly really. Dunno why they do it." Zero murmured softly, his smile turning pained as his voice thickened.

"Z-Zero..."

"Reploids don't do that, X." Zero whispered, his voice hollow and turning to bitter. "We're machines, you know. Deep down, under it all. We don't bury our dead, or talk to them, or bring them flowers. Machines don't do that, you know. We're not allowed to keep the bodies of the dead." His right hand clenched into a fist as his side. "Waste of resources. Why would a machine ever need to visit a grave or remember those they love who have died?" Zero's voice trembled, on the verge of breaking.

"Oh... Zero... That's not..." X stepped forward quickly, reaching for his shoulder.

"Yes it is, X." Zero spun to face him, stopping X in his tracks when his blue eyes met green. Pain and anger clashing with despairing grief in rich blue. "At least, that's the way the big-wig politicians have it." Zero dropped his gaze from X's pained and compassionate green, turning back to gaze at Iris again. "I... I couldn't do it X. I just couldn't. Not her. I couldn't let them take her away." Zero whispered as he closed his eyes, tears spilling over the edge.

"Zero... I know. I know." X murmured, stepping closer, up beside his friend.

"W-what if I don't remember her one day?" Zero turned his grief and fear filled eyes to X as he turned to face him. "What if I forget? Her smile. Her laughter. The way she'd look at me and nothing else mattered but that one moment." He pleaded in his urgent desperation.

"Zero, you won't forget her. How could you? You still love her, you always will." X soothed as he met the blue eyes that verged on panic.

"I forgot my own beginnings, X." Zero scowled and dropped his eyes to the floor before lifting them to meet X's again. "My first clear memories are of Sigma activating me here in HQ. And I know ole reflecto-dome didn't build me. I... I don't want to forget her, X." Zero whispered brokenly, dropping his gaze again as an involuntary shudder ran through his body, wrapping his arms tight around his waist.

"You won't Zero. I know you won't." X reached out and gripped his shoulders in either hand. Zero lifted his gaze to meet X's again, tears still tracking down his cheeks. "Maybe... maybe there wasn't anything in your beginning worth remembering. But, Iris... She's worth remembering. You won't forget her Zero. Even if your memories might falter... you... Zero... your heart will always remember her." X urged as Zero's arms loosened and dropped.

"I can't let her go, X." Zero whispered, shaking his head slightly and making his blonde hair swing back and forth. "I just can't, not yet, maybe not ever."

"Zero..."

"X, what do you suppose happens to reploid bodies?" Zero pulled slightly away and lifted his eyes to meet X's challengingly. "They get dismantled, for parts and materials. But that's just for a dead reploid. What do you suppose happens to dead mavericks? Or what about someone who openly allies with a group the Global UN Council has legally declared maverick? I'll tell you what. They get melted down for scrap, that's what. I couldn't let that happen to her, I just couldn't." Zero turned back to the capsule and ran his hand down the clear surface again. "She deserves better than that. She's always deserved better..."

"Zero, I saw the scan reports from when we were on the station, Iris wasn't maverick; most of Repliforce wasn't either."

"Heh, that didn't make much of a difference to the G. UN." Zero's smile was bitter and twisted. "Like they'd admit they screwed up that badly and ordered the slaughter of a bunch of pain-in-the-ass reploids that were only fighting for better reploid rights. Besides, with Repliforce out of the picture, they wouldn't have to listen to demands for better equality from a bunch of 'dumb machines'. Besides, you think I'd stand around and let her get dismantled for spare parts?" Zero spun to face X again. "Not a chance! Not any more than you'd stand around and do nothing if they came to take Alia's body away for spare parts."

"W-what?" X backed up a step. "Alia's not..."

"You heard me." Zero said softly then frowned as X opened his mouth to speak. "Nuh-uh! Don't even start, X." Zero shook his head, blonde hair rippling. "You bawled like your heart had been ripped out and stomped on when I first 'died', and we'd barely known each other for two years. And I'm not the pretty, sweet, intelligent lady you keep making eyes at when you think no one's looking." Zero poked X in the chest with his finger.

"I do not!" X cried, turning a brilliant shade of red across his cheeks.

"Of course you do, everyone knows but you and Alia." Zero sighed. "You should stop dancing around it and just go for it, X. Even if it doesn't work out, which I can't imagine happening with you two; you won't regret it." Zero turned away, back to the capsule as his voice grew melancholy and soft. "Being with the girl you love is worth it, for however long it lasts, regardless of all else, it's worth it. Don't make the same mistake I did, X. Don't let her slip away from you." Zero stroked his hand down the side of the capsule again as silent tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Zero..." X stepped up beside his best friend and gently laid a hand on his shoulder as Zero bent forward against the capsule's curve.

"You won't tell, will you, X?" Zero whispered in a tiny hesitant voice.

"Zero..."

"They think she was on the Repliforce station when it blew. I told them I left her there." Zero stroked the capsule absently as he gazed at its contents. "You won't tell, will you, X? I never meant... I just couldn't..." His voice faltered brokenly as he bowed his head over the capsule, a blonde curtain obscuring his face from view.

"Oh, Zero..." X sighed softly, closing his eyes and leaning his shorter frame up against Zero's side as his left hand lay splayed against Zero's right shoulder blade. "Why here, Zero? Why right under everyone's noses?"

"No one but you and me ever come down here." Zero murmured softly as X opened his eyes. "Only you and Signas have the clearance for this level. Not even those drooling techies are allowed down here. Signas never comes down here." He lifted his head to meet X's bright green eyes. "It's your stuff, X. Belongs to you and no one else. I just come along to help you lug the stuff around. There're plenty of empty storage capsules down here." Zero lifted his left hand slightly and waved vaguely around, gazing aimlessly around the room. "No one knows how many armors ole Light made for you, or how many you'll end up with if someone ever figures out how to duplicate what he did. The sensor grid doesn't look inside the capsules, can't really scan your stuff properly anyway; just that the capsules are all here and powered." He turned his eyes back to meet X's, bright with tears and clouded with grief. "Only you or I would notice that there was an extra full one. I figured you'd notice sooner or later. Thought it would be sooner actually..." His weak smile was strained.

"Zero..."

"I never meant to drag you into this, X." Zero shook his head, turning back to face the capsule and laying his hands against its surface. "There was just nowhere else. I didn't want you to get in trouble if anyone found out. I had hoped... But then... I just couldn't, X. I-I just couldn't." His voice broke as he leaned forward over the capsule's field and cried silently, his shoulders shaking under X's hand.

"Shhh. It's all right." X soothed, leaning up against Zero's side and gently rubbing his shaking shoulder. "It's all right, Zero. I won't tell. Shh. I wouldn't tell, Zero. I wouldn't even have to."

"Huh?" Zero raised his head in confusion, his blonde hair sticking damply to the tears still running down his face. "B-but... I don't want you to get in trouble, X. It's my mess. I-I don't want you taking responsibility for it." Zero urgently stammered out as he met X's eyes again.

"Shh. It's all right. Signas gave me leave a long time ago to store any of my stuff I wanted to, down here with my armor. The perks of being a world hero, you know, extra storage space." X smiled slightly, his lips tugging up at the corners sardonically. "I don't think he quite meant this, but he gave no restrictions." X reached out and laid a hand gently on the smooth surface of the capsule. He turned back to Zero and smiled sadly, his own green eyes over-bright with unshed tears. "She was my friend too, you know. I suppose that counts as being 'my stuff'." X leaned forward and rested his forehead against Zero's with a soft thump, closing his eyes as tears traced slender tracks down to his chin. "As long as you want, Zero... As long as you need to."

"Thanks." Zero whispered softly.

"Always." X smiled.

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The End

Owari

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Note:

- The inertial repulsion field generator – This is what I decided to call the invincible flight mode of the Falcon Armor from the game X-5. My theory is that it makes X invincible because it generates an energy field around him that repulses anything that comes in contact with the field at a rate exponential to its inertia when contact is made. The faster X is going when he hits something, the more repulsion the struck object is given. This also stands for when something hits him. If enough force is between the object and X, it will be blasted away from X. The more inertia the object had built up when striking him, the greater the force delivered. This means that if there is enough inertial force between X and the object, it will literally be blown apart as its thrown away from X. This makes X invincible.

Please review.

Man, this made me so sad, and I was the one writing it. I don't know if it's just me or not though. This is my first attempt at angsty sadness. Tell me how I did.

Well, this explains what Zero did with Iris's body at the end of X-4, my theory at least. I know there're a lot of people out there who don't like Iris. But I think she gets a bum rap all the time. Felt I should give her a little love.

Does anyone know the official names for the armor upgrades X received in X-1 and X-2? The X-1 armor had the Hadouken attack and the X-2 armor had the Dragon Punch. He also got upgrades in X-3 unless you hold out for the Gold Armor which works just like the separate upgrades but with all the power chips. I decided to go with Force Armor for the non-Ultimate Armor from X-4, I'm treating them as separate armors.

I may not have played any of the games, but I sure spent a long time going through scripts to find out how many armors X has gotten and what they can let him do. And to make sure I knew what had happened to Iris. Unfortunately, I haven't found a Command Mission script so I have no idea what happens in that game, and I've got no clue about X8.

Tell me what you think. Too out of character? Did you like it? Hate it? Felt Iris should be dropped off the nearest cliff? Wanted to give Zero a big hug and tell him it would be okay?

Let me know.