The Day the Sky Fell Down

Axl had entered the room in a state of mild apprehension. X had been pretty upset over the prank he'd pulled on Lifesaver, but it hadn't actually caused any damage. Well, unless you counted a laser scalpel exploding. But in a Reploid medbay, that was a minor nuisance and in the context it had been so funny he hadn't been able to resist… even the other medics had been laughing.

So why was he being called in for an interview with X? Axl blinked as he saw someone exiting the room just as he jogged up.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked the younger rookie, who blinked at him.

"Don't you know? General fitness reviews," he lowered his voice. "And their pretty harsh. Good luck, dude." He walked away, dejection in every line of his body. Axl was momentarily taken aback, and then shrugged, his usual self-confidence returning. He entered the room without a knock and with a broad grin.

"Hey X! And how may I help you today?" He collapsed into a chair, giving the other occupants of the room a wave. "Hi Signas, hi Alia!" Signas just regarded him coldly, while Alia seemed… upset? And Zero wasn't around. Axl rather wished he was. He'd idolized both X and Zero when he first joined the Maverick Hunters, but since then he had come to like Zero more than anyone.

Axl smiled at X, but the Commander of the 17'th unit didn't smile back. Even for X, his expression was unusually solemn. Axl tilted his head, looking bright-eyed, bushy tailed and eagerly attentive. Like a puppy waiting for its master to speak.

A puppy that was about to be given a brutal kick.

At first, Axl didn't know what X was getting at. Sure, he had demerits. Everyone did if they were creative. Sure, he liked to have fun… who didn't? And if his attitude was a bit off and his philosophy about peace primitive, he couldn't be alone in that, either, could he? Zero was off on his attitude…

Comprehension followed, and then shock took over, cocooning his thoughts in pink candy floss. That couldn't be right. It had to be a joke. X was such a kidder!

Right?

"…Not acceptable for the Maverick Hunters." Axl watched as X closed the file he had been looking at… his file. "I'm sorry, Axl. But there are lots of positions…" X went on, but Axl was tuning him out. Shock was burning off, leaving horrible apprehension, fear and dread. Axl felt his face heating up, pricking, and his breathing went short. His stomach was tied into a knot as the horrible reality hit him.

Axl stood up jerkily, interrupting X in midword. The senior Maverick Hunter looked a bit taken aback, and Signas frowned. Alia looked away.

"I'll… th-think about that, X," Axl swallowed hard. He would not cry in front of them. Would not cry! He beat a hasty retreat before he had a breakdown in front of them. The blow was just too much, and he walked as fast as he dared to his room. Fortunately, no one stopped him. He didn't think he could make conversation right now.

He slammed his door shut as he entered his room, and flung himself on his bed to have a serious breakdown. He muffled his sobs in the pillow…

This CAN'T be right, it just can't be right I tried so HARD I should have been made a Hunter last year but still Zero WAS teaching me all those special moves and why would he bother if they were just going to why why why X WHY…

Axl wept until he couldn't anymore, until his eyes were stinging and he felt quite sick. He slowly sat up, and wiped his face with one hand.

X… how could you…Axl closed his eyes in pain. He was sure X had been the one to recommend he not become a Maverick Hunter. X had never seemed to like him at all… he was always yelling, even when Zero thought he'd done okay. Even when Signas thought he'd done okay. Sometimes, Axl had thought that X hated him. And the council would listen to X…

But why hadn't Zero defended him? Axl gathered his pillow in his arms, squeezing it tightly as the hurt filled him. Maybe Zero hadn't known when the meeting would be. Maybe he'd forgotten to check… maybe he hadn't known what X was going to do…

Maybe he just didn't care. Axl hadn't seen him much the past few months… just a few missions, and saying hello in the hallways. But everything had seemed to be fine. Why would Zero abandon him?

It doesn't matter. It's over, it's done… He got up to pull out an old suitcase. It had held his few possessions when he'd come over from Red Alert. All the things in his room would never fit into it now, but it would have to do. He quickly filled it with a few changes of clothes, a jacket Red had given him, a tiny steel rose Alia had given him for Christmas... he hesitated over his pair of matching X and Zero plushies, then tossed them in as well. He had loved them too long to leave them, even if the taste was bitter now.

But he was damned if he would accept X's stupid sop of being a glorified janitor or something at the Hunter HQ. He couldn't believe X had even gone on about it… that was just rubbing salt in the wound. He'd rather have stuck pins in his eyes than watch all the other rookies going on to what he couldn't be…

Tears threatened again for a moment, and the suitcase went blurry. Axl blinked quickly, then closed it.

When he walked out, there was no one to see him, and he ran into no one on his way out. That seemed oddly right. Let X wonder when he had left, where he had gone, and why he had left half his possessions behind.

It was the least he deserved.

Elsewhere…

"X, you are the absolute limit!" Alia fumed at him in private. They had been involved for almost a year romantically, and she was venting her spleen as a lover, not a subordinate. "How could you do that to him?"

"Axl?" X looked down, and then sighed. "Alia, it's better this way. He should find something better to do with his life than kill people."

"That's very high minded, X, but this is what he wants to do. And it's what he's good at," she said icily. "I can't believe how you went on about his grasp of philosophy to the council! What does it matter if he doesn't really understand what he's fighting for?"

"Of course it matters!" X was shocked by the suggestion. "Our ultimate goals are the most important-" He was cut off as Alia slammed her hand against the table.

"Not if we can't stay alive!" she nearly shouted at him, and X stared. He'd never seen her this angry before. "Axl has survived dozens of missions where your spotlessly pure philosophers die in their first battle! What's the point? You tell me X!" Her eyes narrowed. "Or better yet, why don't you tell me the real reason you forced him out of the Hunters! It isn't his philosophy, is it?" She stared at him intently, and X fumbled, trying to think of a good reply. He finally went with his natural instinct… the truth.

"It's… he's just so happy, Alia, so cheerful. He shouldn't be ruined fighting the Mavericks the… the way I was ruined." He could vaguely remember being that happy, once. It had been burned away through all the wars, the battles, friends dying… Alia stared at him, her expression changing from angry to sad.

"Well, I'd say you've started to take care of that… I don't think he'll be very cheerful after this." X flinched. "And you know, X, I think you're wrong about Axl… you see yourself in him, the way you used to be, but I think Axl is much closer to Zero. Fighting is part of who and what he is. He lost a lot of friends in Red Alert, but he was still happy…" She shook her head at X's obstinate expression. "You can be as hardheaded as Zero! And have you told him about your little quest?" X scowled at that.

"It's not my problem if he doesn't show up to meetings," X replied, annoyed. "Can we please talk about something else?" He was convinced he was right. Axl would find a new profession at Maverick Hunter HQ and stay the sweet, happy kid he had been when he joined instead of getting burnt out by endless warfare. X was sure of it.

Alia was a trifle more realistic. She was expecting Axl to be terrible depressed, and possibly do something extremely rash in an effort to prove his worth. She also thought he would probably go to Zero the instant the red hunter came back, and then there would be an explosion of cosmic proportions between him and X. Zero was fairly fond of Axl.

Neither one of them expected Axl to throw about three years of his life in a heartbeat.