Hey everyone! Welcome to the next chapter in 'Strings of Fate'. I will gladly respond to some of the reviews now.

PRIVATE: Sorry for the confusion! If you had shown this review to X, he would have told you that both of your guesses were correct. He regretted lashing out on Axl, but he was definitely lost in emotional turmoil. I know he isn't the type of person that would lose his cool and attack someone, but a lot was going on at the moment, and he lost the ability to stay calm about things. Zero's condition had gotten worse, and he couldn't believe that Axl was trying to play off everything that had happened between him and Tornado.

Uzu-Chan: NO, I am not angry! (smiles) I was worried about someone saying something about the battle, but I am not angry. I worried about describing the battle the entire time I wrote that chapter. I wanted to, but I didn't want to take attention away from the feelings of the characters...and I was afraid of making the battle suck, to tell you the truth. But I'll try harder-I'll describe the rest of the battles to the best of my abilities! Thank you for telling me that! and thanks for wanting to share X8 info-I've only been through the Easy mode....boohoo....

I'm glad the last chapter turned out beautifully! I'm sorry about making you cry, but that was my intended effect-I want everyone to feel the emotion, the passion (sounds like warped person playing w/crystal ball)!!! (gives tissue and laughs at Uzu-Chan's response to X yelling at Axl)

Aoi-Chan: (high-fives) YES, AXL'S VOICE-TOO CUTE!!! right on...and I know x was too puppyish in the beginning......i hate the beginning chapters now......i'm really sorry about the puppyness.......

Star Ninja: Thank you for the nice review. It made me really happy. as for the ending....i don't know......

--The main room of the Maverick Hunter base wasn't any different from the tower of Tornado Tonion. The atmosphere was filled with indescribable pain, and it held the very essence of intolerable tension-trying to breathe was very difficult because of the heavy sorrow flowing throughout the main room. The employees of the Maverick Hunter base were carrying out their duties silently and swiftly, listening in on any conversation that concerned X, Zero or their new guest. Apprehension was glued to the face of every worker, and not one of them dared to become involved in idle conversation. Aside from Dr.Cain, the beautiful Navigator Alia was the only one smiling at the moment-

But her smile wasn't a sincere one.

She was suffering just as much as everyone else, for several different reasons.

One of the reasons walked right up to her, looking as if he had just had his heart torn out. She looked away from her data tables and saw the very one that had walked up to her, and warm concern immediately entered her eyes.

"X! Hey....what is it? You look like you just had an argument with someone."

She was good. Really good.

The look on X's face was no different from the look of a neglected newborn puppy. He truly did look as if he had committed the worse crime imaginable....and he regretted committing it. For a moment he didn't know what to say-he could barely even think. Usually he was a calm, collected soldier, a soldier that carried out his duties perfectly.....a soldier that cared for his friends....

But just a few seconds ago he attacked someone that was suffering just as much as he was.

And a part of him felt happy because he had executed the attack. After all, Axl was keeping everything to himself, and X wanted his friends to be open with him. The young one refused to show any signs of depression-all he wanted do was SMILE. He shouldn't have trusted him.

There was no cure.

Hope didn't exist.

In other words, Axl had lied to him.

But he only wanted to help.

Was that so bad?

"X?"

"I didn't exactly have an argument. I unfairly attacked a friend......but......a part of me feels as if the attack I made was a justifiable attack."

"So......" Alia's face became a gentle, serene yet sorrowful painting of compassion. ".....now I know why Axl isn't here."

"Yes-he's the "friend" I'm having problems with."

A heavy sigh fell from the Hunter's mouth, and eternal despair transformed his eyes into pools of lost hope. He was definitely exhausted, but his next sentence told Alia that he had no desire to rest.

"Alia.......whatever. Can you just give me our newest mission data? Please?"

Alia felt as if her heart had been smashed into a million pieces.

Megaman X, the Maverick Hunter she loved madly....was on the verge of falling apart.

Trying to keep up a smile of incalculable sunlight, she gave him an answer....also trying to hold back her tears.

"Sure. But don't you want to wait for-"

"I'm here, ma'am."

Alia gasped, and her heart was crushed into ten million pieces when she saw the look on her new friend's face. X looked behind him and also fell into endless sadness-

It was Axl, all right. But the smile wasn't there. The energy, the enthusiasm....

It was all gone.

The young Reploid's eyes were on the floor, and his hands were balled into fists. He had a burning desire to speak to X, but the desire was being ignored-he couldn't get X's words out of his mind.....and so being around the legendary Hunter made him excruciatingly awkward and uneasy. X turned away from him after a second and scowled, sounding just like an annoyed Sergeant that was being forced to train an idiotic Ensign.

"Great. You're the last person I need to see right now."

"....."

Axl couldn't even look at Alia. He could barely even move, since his heart was still frozen.

Alia looked at them as if she were at a ping-pong match, waiting for one of them to say something......X closed his eyes......Axl didn't take his eyes off the ground......she was expecting a bomb to go off between them.....

But the only thing that came from both of them was-

Silence.

"All righty then." She said, bearing a resemblance to someone that was stuck right in the middle of a huge war between two people in a bar. Painful sorrow filled her eyes, and caused them to sparkle with the most beautiful radiance.....but she held back her tears.

"The two of you need to make your way over to the Deep Forest. We're detecting some seriously bad energy from the very core of the forest, and so it needs to be completely destroyed. When you arrive, you'll come across a Reploid called "Ruinsman". The area you will be exploring has several different areas covered in spikes, so you'll need to be extremely careful. The only way you can avoid taking damage is if you use the DNA core of Ruinsman. Axl, this is where you come in. You do have the ability to transform yourself into any Reploid once you have their DNA code, right?"

".............yeah."

With the elegance of an expert gunner, Axl unsheathed both of his guns, twirled them around his fingers for a minute, and then returned them to their hilts. It was an impressive display, but the young one didn't do it for attention-he had only done it to show that he was a little impatient. "Let's just get this show on the road." he told the both of them, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. A part of him really didn't want to go anywhere X, since he was in such a bad mood....but.........

"X....." Alia said to the Maverick Hunter softly, after tearing her eyes away from the heartbroken Axl. "This will be your first mission without Zero at your side. Are you okay?"

He gave her the same type of glare that had caused Axl's downfall.

"Not really, but we'll be fine."

He looked over at the young ex-Red Alert member and spoke to him in a tone that made him snap right to attention.

"Axl?"

"Yes sir?"

"Don't speak to me unless you have something to say about our mission. I don't want to become engaged in idle conversation. Do I make myself clear?"

His eyes lowered again....slowly and sadly. The tension between the two of them was beyond excruciating. He knew X cared about him....he knew X was feeling awful about everything that was going on.....but he also knew that X was lost within emotional confusion. He wanted to speak to him the way he had spoken to him just a few seconds ago....but at the moment...

X didn't want to have anything to do with him.

His chest burned with cold waves of tears.....and so did his eyes. His voice shook....he closed his eyes, trying to restrain the drops of moonlight that wanted to fall.....but he failed at holding them back miserably....

"Yes sir."

Without another word, X teleported from the base....leaving behind an empty void of cold, bitter hatred. Alia, who was also failing at holding her tears back, gently placed a hand on Axl's shoulder, emitting the warmth of a caring sister. She could almost feel the pain of the young Reploid.....it was just like her own pain.....

"Axl.......don't mind him. He's just in one of his moods. I don't know what he said to you.....but he feels badly about what happened. It'll be okay. No worries, all right?"

"I was wrong to trust you!"

"I can't toss aside what he said. You should have heard him."

Those were his last words to her.

He teleported from the base, following X into the Deep Forest.....and leaving behind a very sorrowful Alia.

--"This is terrible! Our Captain's health is decreasing rapidly-the speed of the virus continues to increase!"

"He has approximately 48 hours left before we lose him. He's trying to fight off the virus, but.....he's fighting a battle he knows he can't win."

"We're going to lose him for sure, I know we are........damn it, I feel awful...."--