Hey. To the Great Khilai: There is no need for an apology. Everything's okay. Deleting the review probably would have made things harder on you-holding in emotions isn't really a good thing. She needed to be put in her place anyway. All people like that need to be straightened out. Seriously, I know what happened may not seem like such a big deal to other folks, but I feel like she's trashing something very important. What she did was down right disgusting! People like that shouldn't be allowed to have access to this place! And I'll bet she's not going to come back because she's nothing but a coward.

Prjct.War: YESH! THE PARTY IS ON! ANNIHILATION! YES! HUGE PARTY AT KHILAI'S HOUSE! I'LL TIE RED UP TO A CHAIR AND STICK A BUNCH OF DYNAMITE UNDER HIS SEAT, AND THEN WE CAN WATCH THE FUN! WHILE WE'RE AT IT, WHY DON'T WE RUSH OFF AND FETCH MISS PRISSY AND TIE HER UP WITH HIM! SOUND LIKE FUN! IT DOES TO ME!

I'd like to thank everyone for their support. I'm glad all of you are enjoying 'Strings of Fate'. (stomps on Lyza furiously) No, really, I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm soooo over yesterday (speaks through gritted teeth while still pounding Lyza). And if anyone knows anything about Uzu-chan, tell me! The poor thing, where did you go! I feel like I know her in real life…..but I haven't been able to see her for such a long time. Friends can't just drop off the face of the earth like that!

-

Two hours slowly elapsed after the climatic battle with Hyenard.

The two Maverick Hunters and their young friend, the Reploid named Axl, returned to the Maverick Hunter base in complete silence. The young Axl had fallen asleep in the arms of his friends inside of Hyenard's factory, because of the emotions that had captured his entire body right after the battle. The two Hunters sadly and quietly watched over their friend as they made their way back to their homebase, each of them lost within their own thoughts….but lost within the same emotions.

Their homebase was quiet once again, but the poisonous silence that had inhabited the entire base for such a long time was now gone. The sunlight of peace was still within the eyes of every Reploid…and within the eyes of the human that dwelled inside of the base. Smiles were on many faces, and in many eyes….rivers of tears were flowing silently from the hearts of gentle Reploids….there wasn't a single trace of the fear and sorrow that had struck out so harshly at every soul. Every worker was carrying out their duties while passing along warm smiles and embraces, feeling their hearts sink under immense rhapsody. The atmosphere of the base, which had resembled the atmosphere of an ice cavern many hours ago, was now warm and serene, like the aura of a beach on a beautiful sunny day. The latest mission with Sigma was almost complete-there were only four Red Alert members left, even though two of those four remaining members were completely silent-Alia was only picking up activity from the ones called Vanishing Gungaroo and Ride Boarski. Why weren't the other two conducting any strange activities?

No one knew the answer.

-

The two Maverick Hunters, Megaman X and Zero, were inside of an empty dormitory that had temporarily become Axl's. The Red Alert runaway was lost in deep slumber, lying beneath the warm, comforting blankets of the bed. The air was thick was devastating emotions-there were soft drops of crystal flowing from the eyes of the sleeping Reploid, and the two Hunters were watching over him, thinking….thinking of everything that Axl had said to them…..thinking of the painful cries he had released inside of the factory. The eyes of X were no longer filled with the sunlight of vast happiness-the two green emeralds were filled with dewdrops of unfathomable, indestructible sorrow and regret. The gentle eyes of the Crimson Flame were like small candleflames-soft, peaceful and dark with sadness. Both of them were lost among the winds of silence for quite a while-neither of them bothered to even think about time, but an hour of awkward silence passed between the two of them, then the Hunter called X decided to speak….about the details of the mission. It became apparent to Zero that he was desperately trying to prevent himself from breaking out into tears…

"I received a transmission from Alia just a few minutes ago. She informed me of our current standings-the Red Alert members called Wind Crowrang and Splash Wafly are not stirring up any trouble. The reasons for their silence are unknown, but the ones called Vanishing Gungaroo and Ride Boarski are causing a lot of trouble-the Triton Air Forces are under attack, and our Special Defense in the city of Celes have been taken over."

"Do you think our two quiet friends could be hanging with Sigma?"

"They could be. They could be planning to strike out at us at anytime. Maybe they decided not to carry out separate agendas."

"Hmm." Zero folded his arms and took a second to digest these words, then mentioned the very name that almost brought X to his knees.

"So, when our friend Axl awakens, we'll have to head right out to see what's going on. The 'silent enemy' thing doesn't sit too well with me-we need to find out what's up."

"At the moment I wish they ALL would go and jump off a cliff. It would save us a lot of trouble."

Zero's eyes became softer. "You sound like you haven't slept in weeks, friend."

"I feel like I haven't sleep in years."

With a heavy, agonizing sigh, X looked over at the sleeping Axl, feeling the pain within his chest increase greatly. The Hunter felt like he wanted to explode because of the pain his body was drowning in. He opened his mouth to speak, but Zero beat him by a second-the Crimson Flame wanted to start off a new area of conversation for him, to make things easier.

"So, are you absolutely certain about Red? There isn't a way to get him back?"

"I'm absolutely sure." X's voice began to tremble. "Everything I told you before we left for Hyenard's domain was correct. I spoke with him….told him everything….but he didn't budge. Didn't budge at all."

"Well…." Zero said to him softly, his eyes falling onto the body of the heartbroken young Reploid….

"You did what you could do. You tried for him….that has to count for something….right?"

Shimmering rivers of tears began to fall from X's emerald green eyes, and the Reploid began to shiver tremendously. He fell to his knees with a harsh thud, bearing a resemblance to someone that had just been forced to watch their only home burn to the ground. He closed his eyes and tried to stay calm….but his efforts came to nothing. His voice became hoarse….and his body trembled and trembled with waves of tears…

"It means nothing. What I did didn't mean anything! It was all for nothing!"

A tender frown fell onto the face of the phenomenon known as Zero, and his heart soared out to the friend he treasured so much. He had only seen X break down twice before in his life, and that was shortly after he had just met him, during the Eurasia colony incident. The Crimson Flame had volunteered to take a shuttle into space, to destroy the colony that had been sent out to deliver massive destruction….but the results of his flight came dangerously close to being devastating. He came severely close to death-he had been unable to contact X or any of his friends inside of the homebase for a long while after he completed the mission, because of his condition. His silence sent out a great deal of pain to his best friend's heart-the legendary Maverick Hunter was unable to endure the suspense that had broken out because of his friend's inability to contact him. And during the final battle with Sigma, Zero sacrificed everything in order to protect the one he loved….

And vanished into thin air.

He hated seeing X in any amount of pain…..but there wasn't anything he could do to stop the tears from falling….

"It all came right down to nothing! I didn't change anything at all! This just isn't fair!"

This just isn't fair!

Those words echoed through out Zero's mind.

He felt the very same way X did.

"I feel awful about all of this! Axl saved your life-he saved my life at the same time-but I can give him NOTHING in return! The one he cares for is gone, and there isn't anything I can do about it! He gave us back everything we cared for, but he never even thought about himself at all…..he does nothing but bash his own name! This just isn't right!"

The Maverick Hunter pounded the ground in agony and released a heartbreaking cry.

"I feel BEYOND helpless right now! I was SO CLOSE to losing you, Zero! I thought my entire world was going to be turned upside down, and for an eternity I was lost in nothing but madness-I could breathe, think or barely even SEE! My heart was lost among the claws of unrelenting pain for millions and millions of years…..but then he came by and changed everything! I didn't believe him-I didn't believe that there was a cure out there for you, but he did, and he FOUND IT! He gave it to you and now you're all right…..he restored the life of my most precious treasure but I can't give anything back! I can do nothing for him!"

Like an affectionate, loving father, Zero watched and listened to his dearest friend cry. The powerful Maverick Hunter wanted to rush right out and comfort him, but he also wanted his friend to have the chance to release everything within his heart.

Tumultuous, soul breaking sobs left his friend's mouth…..millions of pristine dewdrops left his closed eyes….and currents of pain tormented his body. The sobbing of his dearest friend broke his heart into a countless amount of pieces-X sounded like a young mother that had just lost her entire family...infinitely sorrowful and heartbroken. The dormitory, which had been warm when they entered it, became cold to the crestfallen Hunter because of the tears leaving his heart….everything became cold….

Five long, maddening minutes passed, and then X began to calm down a little….

"I know what it's like. I know what it's like…to lose a father. I never even got to say good-bye to my father….but…it's still the same. I know how awful it feels…to lose someone you thought you'd be with…forever. I just….I don't believe this. I don't believe any of this. He came here-"

He.

Saying the name 'Axl' would have been too hard.

"-knowing that he had problems of his own….but he decided to take on a burden that should have never been his. And now he has nothing. Absolutely nothing. Did you hear him? He came in here with the desire to become a Hunter-and now he longer cares the wish he had."

"You're wrong."

The eyes of X flew opened and fell right on the gentle, fatherly eyes of Zero…with the warmth and striking qualities of a puppy's eyes. "What?"

"I said you're wrong about something."

"And what would that something be?"

Zero's voice was a calm breeze of devotion.

"Axl DOES have someone to take care of him. Actually, he has TWO people to take care of him."

The Crimson Flame pointed at himself, and then he pointed out at his friend with a bright smile.

"See? That problem's taken care of."

"But….." A part of X wanted to accept what Zero had just said, but the other part was unwilling to do so. The legendary Maverick Hunter wiped his eyes, which was a pointless movement due to the fact that more tears fell right out of his eyes….and he still had the look of a forlorn puppy about his eyes.

"I still don't think this is right. Not at all. It's just that….he saved my dearest friend…..but I was unable to bring his back to him. That's not exactly a fair deal. I feel like a fool right now, I really do."

"Axl isn't the only one being unfair to himself. You're also guilty of throwing dirt on your own name. Think about it. You're Axl's friend. You're giving him the devotion and support of a true friend, which is exactly what he needs right now. You're giving him the greatest thing of all, but you continue to say that you're giving him nothing in return for what he did."

The two of them were no different from a parent and child involved in a life-changing revelation-Zero was the calm, gentle parent and X was the exhausted, exasperated child. The voice of Megaman X rose to a high volume-

"Zero! Did you not hear a word he said back there! He misses Red!"

"Yeah. I heard everything. I was only standing 3 inches away from him, you know. You're the one that isn't picking up on anything. Yeah he misses Red-of course he would. I don't know too much about this whole Red thing, but because of what you told me right before we left, I can safely assume that the two of them had some really great times together. Why wouldn't he miss him? But…he's gone now. The guy chose his own path to follow. It was a bad decision, but it was the decision he made. Th'bastard decided to abandon Axl, and so now it's up to us to take care of him. Life isn't just a basket of cherries. You miss your family, I miss Iris-our hearts find other hearts to unite with, but unfortunately, the bonds we create can't last forever, you know. I was forced to kill Iris with my own two hands, and yeah-I still miss her. Badly. All of us go through life with millions of regrets, millions of 'what ifs' and 'I should haves'. We just need to let go of everything and concentrate on the present….and on the future. We're surrounded by friends that love us, and so we should concentrate on protecting those friends, and prevent the mistakes that occurred in our pasts from happening again."

The warmest bloomed on the face of the Crimson Flame-he was satisfied with what he had said, and hoped that his best friend would be satisfied with it as well. His blue sapphires twinkled with the light of hope and happiness….and so did his smile.

"Get what I said?"

(A/N: X's family: Dr.Light, Roll, Proto Man, Rush, etc. The characters from the classic Mega Man series.)

X's face lit up with several different emotions-immeasurable sadness….love….happiness…..relief…..and hope. He understood the words of his dearest friend perfectly……even though there was still a deep amount of sadness piercing his broken heart. He spent a moment thinking of a response, but was unable to create one because of the tears flowing from his eyes….and embraced the one he loved so much instead. Zero held onto his friend tightly, still emitting the warmth of a gentle father…

"I missed….having talks with you….while you were asleep."

"Heh. I did too. I actually missed a whole bunch of things."

"Thank you." X said to him softly, with a small yet loving smile. "You always seem to know what to say. You really know how to cheer me up. Sheesh, I'd be lost without you."

"You sure would."

"If that was supposed to be an insult, it didn't work." X laughed and shoved his friend playfully, glaring at him. "You can be really weird sometimes."

"Let's leave. You've made enough noise already. I'm surprised Axl hasn't stirred yet."

"You're right-I've been too noisy."

X looked over at his sleeping friend, wiped his eyes, sniffed and smiled.

"Sorry. I'll go away and let you rest now."

He turned back to Zero and spoke.

"This is funny. Now I feel like laughing."

"Well, laugh. No one's stopping you."

"You just told me that I was being too noisy in here."

"And you still are. Let's go already. I'm pretty sure Signas has something t'say to us about our situation with Sigma."

"Yeah yeah yeah…."

Halcyon silence returned to the dormitory.

Both of the Hunters looked at their sleeping friend for a moment……thinking…..about the miracles he had created…..thinking about the sunlight he had restored…

Zero was the one that broke the silence.

"Hey. I need to thank him….when he wakes up."

A grin blossomed on X's face. "So do I, for the fifth thousandth time."

"The three of us will make a pretty badass team, don't you think?"

"Yeah….but I wish we could leave him behind, you know? He needs to rest!"

"Yeah yeah yeah….let's go, Mother X."

-

The two Hunters left the dormitory, and golden silence drenched the entire room. Everything became warm again-the place was like a serene field of ocean blue water…..soothing, beautiful and silent. Both Zero and X thought the young Reploid was asleep….but….

Axl's eyes flew open the very second the mechanical dormitory door slid shut.

-