A soft sigh escaped Axl's mouth. A part of him really didn't want to ask the question that was on his mind....but the other part of him wanted answers. His heart went out to his new friend-the young Reploid felt as if he had known him his whole life.......

And so he wanted to help him.

"X?"

"Yes?" X asked him, not really wanting to hear what was going to come next.

"What's wrong with Zero?"

Silence dive-bombed into them for brief moment, making them both feel uneasy. The look on X's face made Axl feel bad for asking the question that had been tugging on him, but....

"Sorry, but........"

"No." X held up a hand with a smile. "It's all right. I guess I'll tell you....but are you sure you want to know? This......really doesn't concern you. I don't think we should burden you with anything. You're already dealing with Red Alert and Sigma."

Axl smiled back at him, touched by his thoughtfulness. There was a warm smile on the Maverick Hunter's face.....but his eyes were tainted by sadness. There were gemstones...drowning in ultimate, complete darkness......and the Hunter had no desire to add more worries to his new friend's agenda.....but the young runaway really wanted him to know that he was there to help.

Friends helped each other out, right?

The former member of Red Alert's smile became brighter-it shamed even the brightest star. "I'd like to know. You can tell me. Maybe I can help out with something, y'know? You never know."

X's smile became even warmer, but at the same time, the sorrow in his eyes increased. Looking at him was like trying to look at an abandoned puppy. In other words, it was pretty hard. He sighed heavily, trying to figure out if he would have enough strength to tell the tale of his best friend.....maybe he would just get right down to the nitty-gritty.

"I'll make this short. There's a virus inside of Zero......and it's killing him. Slowly."

A small gasp left Axl's mouth, and looking at X was still excruciatingly hard. The Hunter was holding back so many emotions.....and his eyes were so sad.....

"Look at it this way. There are two voices inside of him. One's telling him to become the bloodthirsty, mindless killer Sigma wants him to be....the other is telling him to let the virus kill him. Guess which one he's listening to."