Author's note: Yeah, i'm back. Brt you never thought ud see me again. This update is short because of my lack of inspiration and encouragment lately. If i get more reviews, ill write more.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
"Zero..." clouds rolled past his blurred vision. His eyelids felt like they weight several hundred pounds. he groaned as he rolled to his left. a cold hand touched his face. "Zero! Open your eyes Zero." He lifted his head alittle and opened his eyes all the way, despite the feeling that they would never open again. Ciel's worried expression came into view. she was kneeling at his side with one hand now on the back of his neck. He forced a weak smile and she returned it sadly.
"Can you stand?" she shifted her hand to his back and lamely tried to pull him up.
He slid one hand out under him and pushed himself to his feet, forcing Ciel to slide foreward and impact his chest. She faltered slightly and halfway fell over before Zero reached out and caught her by the shoulder and set her on her feet.
"Thanks.." she said weakly, turning so he didn't see her blush lightly. "Let's get you to the regeneraton tanks." she said turning bakc to face him.
Zero took a couple steps forward and fell to his knees. Ciel knelt down at his side again and he shook his head, standing again. he stagered into the elevator slowly with Ciel trailing behind him.
Ciel touched a few keys and the elevator descended down several floors past where they had come in before.
Ciel took a long breath, then pulled Zero's arm over her shoulder, wrapping one arm around his back. Zero didn't object as she helped him forward to the front of the closest regeneration tank. It was more for her benifit then his, as they both realized that if he fell, she wouldnt be able to hold him up at all.
when they got to the tank she just stood there for several moments. "Can you remove any of your armor?" She was pretty sure some it came off but she didn't know how much of it. she blushed lightly at her train of thought and shook her head.
Zero reached up and grasped the back of his helmet. He pulled it away slowly, his long blond hair falling down along his back. he brushe dit outof his eyes. "This is the only part that comes off, the rest is graphted to my skin."
Ciel nodded and took the helmet from him. "Maybe we can find a way to remove the rest of it someday, but for now this will do." she tossed it aside. she gestured toward the tank as she looked over his tangled blond hair that looked like it had never been brushed. Zero turned around backed toward the tank.
She tried her best to set him into the tank with alot of help from the mobility he had left, and reached up to pull out the oxygen mask. "Put this on." she comanded.
Zero pulled the mask over his face without much thought and leaned back as she closed the door.
She steped over to the panel and punched a few keys. the tank began to fill with water. Zero winced when he noticed what was hapening, then leaned back again and closed his eyes.
Ciel leaned against the oposite wall, watching the tank fill up. He eyes ran along his young boyish face, now completely exposed. 'That helmet covered up alot.' she remarked to herself. 'He looks so young.' she touched her face. 'younger then me even.'
The panel beeped to signal that the process wa complete and ciel jumped slightly. Her train of thought lost for the moment, she walked over to the tank as the water drained out. As she opened the door she noticed that Zero had opened his eyes already. He steped out and shook his head a few times to get some of the water out of his hair. "Has your streangth returned?" ciel asked, having nothing better to say.
Zero tested his arms out and walked around alittle beofre nodding.
Ciel smiled. "Now that you're better. Tell me, were you sucessful in your mission? Did you destroy the disposal center?"
Zero nodded and turned toward Ciel.
"Zero..." She looked at her feet, cleared her throught, then looked back up at Zero looking into his eyes. "Thank you. I never thought I'd see the day when the Reploid Disposal Center is destroyed. Innocent Reploids will be safe for a while..." she moved closer and leaned over toward him, wapping both arms around his back. He looked surprised by the foriegn gesture, then slowly he wraped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him.
Ciel buried her face in his neck, feeling his hair tickle her cheek lightly. "Thank you so much, Zero."
she pulled away slowly, feeling his arms leave her back. she was unable to look at him for several moments. Finally she found her voice again. "I'd like to ask your help again when you have time. That is, if you don't mind doing us favors..."
Zero said nothing.
Ciel continued. "the destruction of the disposal center was just the begining. Your people are not safe yet. There is still much that must be done."
Zero nodded slowly. "I will help you. whatever needs to be done."
Ciel smiled. "follow me." she started off toward the elevator.
Zero retrived hsi helmet and placed it back on his head as he walked off after her.
Author's Note: This chapter was almost all my own creation. two lines of dialogue were taken from the game. Tell me how you like where im taking the charactors and where you think i should go from here. If i get some reviews for this, then Ill have a new chapter out in a day or two, maybe faster.
Expect a new chapter less then 24 hours from the time i recieve a review.