Disclaimer: If I took over Capcom, I'd own Mega Man X. Unfortunately, I'm broke and thus do not own it.

A/N: Just thought I'd clear something up:

Italics: thoughts

Bold: something written, on a computer screen, or announced over a com. system

O.K., on with the story!

Shadows of my soul

Chapter 3: Revelations and explanations

"Okay, this test is all short answers, so I'll give you one hour to complete it. Use full sentences and proper grammar unless otherwise noted. When you're done or the time is up, I'll take the test and grade it out of 65." Explained Zero. He was hoping that Axl would pass this test, having failed the last one. Signas had not been very pleased with that and threatened to put Axl on desk duty filling out paperwork for the next month if he failed again. And, as Zero knew too well, Signas did not make idle threats.

"O.K., O.K., I got it. Can I have the test now?" asked an impatient Axl. He had studied and was positive he'd ace the test. Plus, he wanted to hurry this up so that he and Zero could go to the training center and spar a few rounds.

"Fine, here it is." said Zero, handing the three page test to the young Hunter. "And the clock starts…Now!"

Axl took out his pen and began to write the test. The test was actually harder than he expected and he was suddenly very glad he had studied that morning. He continued answering the questions without a problem until he came to a question which read: List all the high-ranking members of Repliforce in alphabetical order. Axl paused and wondered whether or not to included Iris on that list. "Might as well." he thought, "After all, she was a high-ranking member of Repliforce and if Zero knows I know about her, he'll have to answer my questions." After finishing that question Axl completed the rest of the test easily. He double checked his answers and handed the test in to Zero with 15 minutes to spare.

Zero took the test and began to mark it, giving small nods or shakes of his head as he marked. Overall the test looked good and it appeared Axl would pass with flying colours when Zero came to question mentioned above and read Axl's answer: Colonel, Frost Walrus, General, Iris… Zero didn't see anything after that. He just stared at the paper, in his mind screaming "How the hell did Axl find out about Iris! If X told him, I'll…! No, it couldn't have been X. He swore to me he would never tell anyone unless it was O.K. with me. Oh, when I find out who's behind this I'll rip their fucking head off!" Zero said nothing though and finished marking the test. He handed it back to Axl then said "I'm going for a walk"

Axl took note of the red 60 on the test then asked Zero "Huh, what do you mean "I'm going for a walk"? We were going to go spar."

"I'm not in the mood." said the red Hunter, anger beginning to become evident in his voice. He then turned and headed toward the door.

Axl sighed and then said "So I guess it's pretty clear that I know about Iris."

Zero turned around and faced his friend "Who told you about her?"

"No one told me. I read her file in the archive room."

"Don't give me that bullshit. I'm the only one who can access that file."

"It's not bullshit," replied Axl, reaching for his hacking disc. He showed it to Zero and continued "I used this hacker disc to get into the file. I wasn't trying to do anything wrong. I was just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat." said Zero, now calmed, knowing how Axl found out about his love.

"I just wanted to know who she was. And when I found out, all I had were more questions." Axl said.

"And you knew I had the answers." Zero said. He rested himself against the wall, crossed his arms in front of his chest, stared up at the ceiling, and began, "I guess that there's no harm in telling you. Iris was, as the file said, a member of Repliforce. She was developed with Colonel to be the perfect fighting Reploid. She was the peaceful arbitrator and Colonel was the strong-willed fighter. Anyway, she was transferred over to Maverick Hunters during Soul Eraser incident and served as my navigator. We worked well together and we grew…close. About three months later, (A/N: O.K., just so we're on the same page, I'm setting MM Xtreme 2 after X3, even though it officially happens after X2.) Mavericks attacked the Sky Lagoon, where she was staying at the time, and I saved her. She acted as my navigator once again, although she constantly told me "there has to be some alternative to us fighting." However the situation quickly grew out of control once Repliforce activated the Final Weapon. When X and I were trying to prevent that, we were confronted by Colonel. I told X to go on ahead while I stayed and fought Colonel…"

"And you retired him." concluded Axl. "That must not have sat well with Iris."

"Losing Colonel drove Iris to insanity. When I returned to H.Q. I was told Iris had gone to the Final Weapon. Upon arriving there she confronted me and accused me of murdering Colonel in cold blood." Zero paused and faced Axl directly, giving the teenage reploid a smile, "I think that the time I fought Colonel was one of the few times I actually tried to hold back in combat. So, as I said, Iris saw me as a murder and used her brother's fighting will to give herself the power she needed to avenge him. I'll never forget what she asked of me as she did that."

"Which was…"Axl pressed. He had become quite interested in this tale, as it gave him insight into Zero's past, something the red reploid always seemed to be guarding with his life.

Zero turned away and stared into space, lost in a memory "She asked to forgive her. When she said that, I knew I was going to have to fight her. It was the battle I hoped wouldn't end with either of us dead. When her Ride Armour exploded, I knew that it was probably too late. Still, I ran to her side. As she lay there in my arms dying, we admitted to each other that we loved one another. Then she was gone, lost to me forever."

Axl stood there shocked "Wow, I never would have guessed. To lose someone you love is hard enough, but to be forced to kill them yourself, that's just cruel." "Zero…I'm sorry. I never knew. I just…" was all he got out before his friend raised a hand to silence him.

Zero used his other hand to wipe away a tear on his cheek, and then said "It's alright, no harm done. But now you must know why I don't have feelings for Layer. My heart still belongs to Iris. But, I know that won't bring her back, and I'm slowly learning to live with that."

Suddenly, the voice of Signas came over the com., simultaneous with the Maverick alarm "X, Zero, and Axl, report to the command center A.S.A.P. We have a situation." Even before the end of the message was finished, Zero and Axl were heading top speed for the command center.


(Meanwhile A/N: as in, this happens while Axl is taking his test and while Zero is talking about Iris, not when the alarm sounds)

X walked down the hallway toward the command center, thinking about what he was about to do. He was finally going to admit his feelings to Alia. Not only that but, if it turned out that she had feelings for him, he planed to ask her out. "I can't believe I'm finally doing this. God, I hope she feels the same way about me. O.K., I need to find the right words. The wrong ones will just end up pushing her away. But, are there words to describe how I feel? Will she know what I say is from my heart?" and a thousand other thoughts swirled in the blue reploid's head as he came up to a pair of silver doors, Command Center written across them. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, X pushed all doubts out his mind and walked in.

The command center was alive with activity, filled with Hunters ever on alert, and navigators keeping their eyes on the world, monitoring their assigned Hunters in the field, and compiling data for various tasks. Behind a large set of monitors sat Signas, leader of the Maverick Hunters, filling out paperwork and hating every second of it. Noticing the sound of opening doors he looked up and, seeing X, gave a friendly nod before returning to his punishment. X returned the nod and then scanned the room for a certain blonde navigator. He spotted her across the room and began making his way over to her but was, unfortunately, ambushed by Axl's navigator, Pallette.

"HEY X! How's it going? How are Axl and Zero? What are you doing here? Is there a mission happening that I didn't know of? Or are you just visiting?" the young navigator said all in the same breath.

Knowing that she was probably on a sugar-high (again) X responded, slowly and clearly, to Pallette's questions "Hi to you too, Pallette. I'm fine, thanks. Axl is having class with Zero, so I guess they're both O.K. And, honestly, I'm…here to talk to Alia."

"Ohhhhh! I see! Well, I hope you have a good "chat" with her! Bye, X!" exclaimed Pallette, making quote marks around the word chat.

After she walked away X began heading toward Alia, and as he reached her he was taken aback by her beauty, as he had been many times before. Composing himself, he tapped her on the shoulder and said "Hi, Alia."

Alia turned and faced the veteran Hunter and, smiling, said "Hello, X. This is certainly a surprise. What is that brings you here?"

"Nothing really. Since I had the morning off I just thought I'd see how you were doing and if you needed help with anything." X responded, trying not to be mesmerized by Alia deep blue eyes.

"Actually, I could use a bit of help. I'm just going over some combat data collected from the Maverick new generation reploids you guys encountered in Sigma's Palace, and I guess I could use a hand" Alia said. She nodded at the chair beside her and said "Sit down."

As he sat down Alia turned her head away from him to hide the blush creeping across her cheeks. Noticing this X commented "Alia, are you… are you blushing?"

"No, I mean yes, I mean… its nothing." She quickly replied, although her blush was defiantly deepening. The two reploids then turned away from each other and worked in silence for awhile. Alia began to become uncomfortable with the quite and asked X "So, what were you talking to Pallette about?"

"Nothing, just saying hello to each other." X replied. The duo resumed their work until X suddenly said "Alia, can I ask you a question?"

Alia giggled and responded "You just asked me one. But sure, what is it?"

X took a deep breath and thought "Well, here goes everything." "Do you thing that there is someone we are meant to share our lives with? You know, like our soul mates?"

Alia turned and faced the blue reploid and said "I like to think that we do. It certainly is a romantic thought. Someone who you trust with your life, who knows you better than you know yourself, the person who, when you're with them, makes you feel whole." She smiled and, looking into X's emerald eyes continued " But, sometimes people feel that way about someone but something holds them back, not letting them express the way they really feel. Maybe it's because they're to shy to admit it to the person the care for, or it could be that they worry that, if they do confess, all they'll find out is that the feelings aren't shared." By this point Alia was sporting a lovely shade of crimson on her checks and, realizing this, turned her face to the floor and stared at her feet.

X put his hand under Alia's chin and lifted her head so that the two of them were at eye level "And what do you think someone should do if they are in that situation?" X inquired.

Alia cleared her throat and responded "I think that person should tell the other person how they feel. Otherwise they'll be left wondering "What if…" for the rest of there lives."

After she said that there was a silence that seemed to last an eternity, but was probably only two or three minutes, a silence that was broken by the two saying simultaneously "I have something to tell you." Trying to fix this they replied "No, you first." in tandem.

Thinking quickly, X spoke before Alia could and said "You know Alia; I've always had the biggest crush on you. You're smart, funny, kind, and breathtakingly beautiful. So I was wondering, will you go out with me?" He hoped she had been able to make out what he had said because he had spoken so quickly.

Fortunately, Alia (who was very skilled at analyzing things) heard everything perfectly. At first she was stunned and couldn't respond. She quickly recomposed herself and replied "X… I've always had a crush on you too. And, I would really like to go out with you."

Now it was X's turn to be stunned. After he realised what had just happened, he did something he never he'd do in his wildest dreams. Gently, he brought her face closer to his and kissed her. Alia couldn't help but kiss him back.

"Oh, that's so sweet! I told you they liked each other! I told you so, I told you so, I told…" exclaimed Pallette, but she was cut off in her ramblings by Layer's hand cupping her mouth.

She sighed and replied "Yeah, you told me so. Here's your ten bucks." Even though she had never actually thought X and Alia would be together, seeing that she was wrong lifted her spirits "Maybe there is hope for me and Zero after all."

This sweet scene was broken, however as the voice of Signas came in loud and clear throughout the base "X, Zero, and Axl, report to the command center A.S.A.P. We have a situation."

The alarm snapped X and Alia back to reality and they immediately broke their first kiss. Both of them were a bit surprised at what had just happened, but happy it had. However, X knew what he had to do. "Alia, I'm…" he began, but Alia put a finger to his lips and silenced him.

"It's all right X;" she tapped her headset and said "I'll be right there for you."

As she said this Axl and Zero burst through the doors and Zero asked "What's the situation?"


Review Responses:

Youshou Leviathan: Thanks for thereview. And, yeah, Axl owns all!

Sailor Senshi Writer: Hi. Now in concern to story lengh, I think this story will be about 12 chapters when it's done. Hopefully then it won't be such a short read. Thanks for the input.

Prjct. WAR: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. I think you'll really enjoy Axl's secret ending when you see it. When you get chapter 4 up, I'll be sure to review. Thanks for reviewing again.

Racegirl: Glad you like my story. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

A/N:Wow. Three chapters. And I've gotten 7 reviews. Never did I expect to get this many reviews for my whole story, let alone the first three chapters. Thank you, all my reviewers. I'm glad your enjoying my first story. Anyway, I managed to work in some romance between X and Alia. It's probably not very good, but I tired. Hopefully I'll get better at this sort of thing. Well, the story is really going to start moving next chapter, so I hope I'll see you all there!

Next Chapter: Thunder and Lightning