Mega Man Cross
Chapter 7
"Not without you"
By MEGAMANX411
Mega Man X and Zero both entered the pillar of light, and felt as though their bodies were being ripped to pieces and hurled at an incredible rate through a vast nothingness. The feeling of uneasiness and brief pain was followed by a sensation of floating..like they were being carassed by some unknown presence. Finally, they felt themselves being reanimated and restructured back to the way they were. The overall process was entirely alien to them, but it felt like they had done it before.
X's eyes widened, and he looked at his hands just to make sure he was still in tact. He was fine..there wasn't a scratch on him. But he felt like he was ripped to pieces and put back together again. He shook his head, and then tried to grasp the situation. He felt Zero's hand clasp his shoulder.
"X, we made it!" Zero shouted.
X nodded, and a big smirk came onto his face.
"Yeah..but where are we?" X asked, looking around the immediate area.
X and Zero were now standing above a cliff, overlooking a vast body of water. This setting felt familiar to X...he had been here before. He knew it. That's when it hit him.
"This is where I was supposed to die..." X muttered.
Zero's eyes widened, and he gave X a strange look.
"What do you mean X?" Zero asked.
"This is where I fought Sigma the first time. After I defeated him, I watched his fortress fall into the waters from here. Maybe..in the other world, I was the one to fall with the fortress..." X muttered.
Zero responded by taking off his helmet, and running his hair through his silky blonde hair. He placed his helmet under his arm, and stared off into the sky.
"But the fact of the matter is you live here in this world, and this is where you belong. Right X?" Zero replied.
X smiled, and returned his gaze to Zero. Zero had always been there to cheer him up. X responded by taking off his own helmet, and running his hand through his own spikey black hair. (Author's note: I'm not sure exactly what X's hair color is).
"Heh..I barely see you without your helmet. I never get used to seeing your hair," Zero teased.
"Yeah..it feels kinda good to let the air go through my hair," X replied, shaking his head.
All of the sudden, a worried voice came through their com-links. It was too faint to hear at first, and there was some static blocking it, but it came through eventually.
"....Z..Z-Zero!! X! Can you hear me? This is Alia..please respond! Are you alright?!" Alia shouted, clearly worried.
X brought up his communicator, and activated the transmission circuit.
"Alia..this is X. Zero and I are back now," X replied.
"X! You're safe..good..phew..I almost thought you would never come back.." Alia muttered.
"Well, we're on our way back now..I'm sorry to have worried you, Alia.." X replied.
Zero chuckled, and started walking past X. X was a bit curious as to what the laughing matter was, and he was a bit offended too.
"What's so funny?" X asked.
"It's just the way you are around her," Zero replied.
"The way I am..around who?" X replied, purposely playing dumb.
"You know who I'm talking about," Zero teased.
X rolled his eyes, and didn't particularly care for this discussion.
"Hey, I'm just being nice to Alia, is something wrong with that?" X replied.
"Sure..nice, that's what you want to call it," Zero teased.
X shook his head and kept walking. He put his helmet back on snugly and kept a straight face. Zero in the meantime had a huge smile on his face knowing that he just embarassed the living daylights out of X.
X and Zero soon reached Maverick Hunter HQ, and felt entirely relieved to walk back through those doors. Signas and Alia were both there, clearly waiting in eager anticipation for the top two hunters to return. Alia nervously walked up to X, and her head was hung low.
"X..you're ok.." she muttered.
X placed his hands on her arms, and tried to get a good look in to her eyes.
"Alia..I'm sorry," X replied.
X then felt Zero's elbow hitting him in the side. X looked over to see Zero giving him a rather shifty look, and he made a gesture that seemed to make reference to him and Alia.
"Zero!" X shouted.
Signas crossed his arms, and then gave X and Zero a rather serious look.
"You have spent quite some time away from HQ. Care to enlighten us?" Signas asked.
X sighed. He knew that his story was a bit farfetched..and he had to get back! He had to help Kid before her condition worsened.
"Look, sir, I don't have too much time," X replied.
Signas narrowed his eyes.
"X, I don't know if you fully understand, but you have a duty here as a top-ranked hunter--"
"I understand, it's just that there's a situation," X replied.
"A situation?" Signas asked.
"Well..Zero and I investigated that anomaly that Alia pointed out earlier, but it brought us to some unkown location. While we were there, we discovered some interesting things..but one of the things that we must take care of is assistance someone who is in danger of dying if we don't help! Quick, we need to track down a Hydra mechaniloid quick so we can download a progam from its internal memory," X answered.
"Wait, wait, who's in danger? What's going on?" Signas asked.
Zero shrugged and placed a hand on Signas' shoulder.
"Look Signas, the fact is we're fine, and from the looks of it, things here are ok here too. Now can you help us?" Zero asked.
"Well..I suppose you do raise a point. You should be able to find one at the processing plant..but after that, how long do you intend on being away?" Signas asked.
X rubbed the back of his head, and tried to search for an answer. Truthfully, he didn't know how long he'd be away. He didn't want to leave Alia and Signas there, and he certainly didn't want to endanger anyone...but before X could think any more on the subject, he felt a hand clasp his tightly. It was Alia. She looked deep into his eyes.
"X..please..we need you here," Alia pleaded.
"Alia, I have to help. I have to go," X replied.
Alia dropped her head low, and she remained silent for a little while. There was the quintessential awkward silence following. X sighed lightlly, and then brought his gaze to Alia's face. How he longed to look back into that beautiful visage.
"A-Alia..I..I'm sorry," X muttered. "What I mean to say is..I don't want to leave you.."
Alia still looked rather distressed, and didn't seem to cheer up to X's sentiment.
"I know X..." Alia replied.
X shook his head, and kept looking at Alia. He couldn't look away, and seemed to be entirely focused.
"No, I don't think you do understand..I really want to be here with you.." X answered. "But I must go..but not without you."
Alia's eyes widened, and she returned X's gaze. She looked back into his deep, gentle eyes, and became completely lost.
"But X.." she protested.
"Look Alia, I may need your assistance on this. Zero and I may need a communications expert while we are on our investigation, and you may be able to help us uncover something," X offered.
Alia looked to Signas. He seemed rather indifferent, and sighed lightly.
"Well, Alia, he does raise a point. We do have lots of trainees ready for the hunter position, and I'm sure one of our other navigators could fill in for you while you keep an eye on X and Zero," Signas answered.
"Yes sir..I will do my best," Alia replied.
X smiled, and grabbed Alia's hand. She didn't hesitate like she normally did, but she let X clasp her tightly and bring her close.
"Come on, let's get that mechaniloid and get going," X offered.
Signas placed a hand on X's shoulder. He nodded to X, and then smiled.
"X...you're on the top hunters. I hope you uncover something there. And don't worry about anything here, we'll take care of it. We await your return eagerly," Signas announced.
"Don't worry about a thing Signas, we'll be fine," X replied.
X then walked up to Alia. He remembered back to when Kid mentioned something about the Frozen Flame..and he wondered if had any relevance to Lynx. Or possibly as Kid's position in the Radical Dreamers. If it existed in that dimension, there may have been some inversely-related proof of it in this one, as crazy as it sounded.
"Alia, I was wondering if you could help me figure something out," X began.
"Sure, what is it?" Alia asked.
"Well, in that other..place, I discovered a few things that are rather unusual. First, I've been having strange dreams. Second, there's a particularly..well, creature named Lynx, and third, there's something called the 'Frozen Flame'...do you have any idea about all of this?" X asked.
Alia shook her head. She knew a lot about many things, but that just eluded her grasp.
"I'm sorry X..I don't know. But if I accompany you back there, I may be able to help uncover something," Alia replied.
"Well, we should be going soon anyway," X answered.
All of the sudden, they both heard Zero walk back in.
"Hey everyone, got the vaccine data from the mechaniloid! We're all...oh, I see what's going on here," Zero teased, pointing to X and Alia.
X and Alia were standing rather close to each other, and they were holding each other hands pretty tightly..it could make for a big misunderstanding. X quickly realized what Zero was getting it.
"No, Zero, you don't understand! Alia and I were just talking.." X protested.
"Sure X, whatever. Come on, let's get going," Zero replied.
"I'm serious Zero!" X shouted.
"I'll bet," Zero replied.
"No, I'm really telling you the truth!" X shouted.
"Whatever you say, X," Zero teased.
X was becoming increasingly annoyed whereas Zero was beginning to have more and more fun with this. Alia, in the meantime, was a bit too shocked to get involved. She did find some it funny, however. Soon, they all reached the place where they came back into this world. X looked back at Alia and Zero, and clasped the amulet in his hands tightly.
It worked before..so it should work again. Or at least X had hoped.
"Please..work.." X muttered, holding the amulet tight.
Suddenly, a huge blast of light shot up from the ground just like before, leaving Alia in sheer awe. Her eyes widened, and she stood there speechless. X turned to her.
"Alia..are you alright?" X asked. "Are you sure about this?"
Alia nodded happily, and her typical pleasurable smile appeared back on her face.
"Of course I am, last time I checked, you were the one who was always unsure," Alia teased.
Zero then made the gesture of a whip-crack, and smirked at X.
"Zero, that's not funny!" X shouted.
X shook his head, and then walked beside his friends. He nodded to both Alia and Zero.
"You guys ready?" Zero asked.
"Yeah.." X muttered, grabbing Alia's hand.
"Here we go.."
