Love
Alia!
Chapter 9
"What Friends Are
For"
By MEGAMANX411
Mega Man X ran away from the resort and tried to find Zero. Meanwhile, Layer, Alia, Pallette, and Axl just stood there for a moment. They all stared at X as he ran off into the darkening sky. Suddenly, harsh rains began to fall, accentuating the dark moment. The skies turned horribly dark, and Axl started to follow X. X suddenly turned around to face his newly recruited ally.
"Axl, please, leave this to me," X pleaded.
Axl didn't say a word, but instead, just nodded in confirmation. X turned back around and kept running, until his form completely disappeared in the darkness. Slowly, Axl walked back towards Alia, Layer, and Pallette, and helped them back into the resort. They all looked back outside, almost thinking that X and Zero would wind up back there at any second. Axl stared outside with a hard gaze. Even though he had been working with both X and Zero recently, he didn't know much about them either. X and Zero were both legends among Maverick Hunters, and Axl just joined them recently. There was so much about them he didn't know.
Alia looked outside with glassy eyes. She knew that X was naturally a gentle person by heart, and that confrontation usually breaks him, especially when it comes to facing Zero. He had fought against Zero before, but confronting him was something that X never wanted to do. She knew this was trouble. Layer and Pallette both didn't know much about X or Zero's past. But still, they both felt awful. At that time, X was still running blindly into the dark of night.
He couldn't find his way around. He had trouble finding Zero...he knew normally he could just try and home in on his signal, but Zero was trying to hide himself for the moment. So X was running blind for the time being. He just had to go where he think Zero might have went. X was running for what seemed like an eternity to him. That darkness around him seemed to become more and more intimidating, like it was choking the life of everything around him.
His surroundings were irrelevant to him at that point, however. He didn't care what happened to him. Even if someone showed up demanding a fight, he wanted to get his friend back more than anything. The only thing lighting the path ahead of him were the lightning bolts hurdling through the sky and the red jewel on his helmet.
"Where on earth could he be going?" X thought aloud, looking around.
Before he knew it, X noticed that he had actually run a huge distance. As a Reploid, he could obviously run faster and farther than any human, but even this distance surprised him. He stopped for a moment and tried to look around the area. That's where he finally found Zero. But then X recognized where he was at that point: the Reploid graveyard. That was putting it nicely, however. Most others referred to it as a garbage heap.
"Zero, what are you doing?" X asked, walking towards his friend.
"Trying to find her," Zero answered, not facing his friend when he spoke.
"Zero, you're being irrational! She died in the space station Repliforce built, remember?" X replied.
Zero then turned around and gave X a hard glare. His eyes resonated not with fierce hatred, but with a frantic frenzy. It was like he was entirely consumed with his past, not able to move on.
"Yeah, I do remember. But think about it X. If she died there, her body may have fallen down to Earth…" Zero answered.
"No Zero, you know she's gone! You accepted it before, and you were fine! What caused you to think about this all of the sudden? And…" X muttered, pausing before completed his thought, "I'll fight you if I have to. If you won't come back unless I prove it to you, then I'll do just that!"
X then aimed his buster at his friend, and his eyes glowed with a fierce determination. Zero just shook his head, and began to walk towards X. He lowered his head, and his soaked blonde hair trailed behind him. At first it seemed like he wasn't even going to respond to X at all. Then he picked his head back up, and looked back at X with sorrowful eyes.
"I guess…this isn't like me, huh?" Zero asked, trying to regain his cool composure.
"No, it isn't Zero…" X answered, trying to get his friend to feel more comfortable again.
"It's just what Layer said…brought up some things I would rather forget. I realized I can't be stuck in the past, otherwise you would never leave me alone, right?" Zero teased, trying to force his typical arrogant smile.
"Yeah, besides, I'm your friend, aren't I?" X replied, now smiling with Zero.
"Yeah. Good speech, by the way. You really had me going, you know? I'm surprised X. You can be pretty damn determined when you want to be," Zero answered, walking past X.
"Now where are you headed?" X asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"Where do you think man? I'm headed back to the resort. After all, I got three ladies waitin' on me. Besides, I was having some serious fun there too, and we do have some vacation time left. And to top it all off, I think I may have won a little bet," Zero added.
"Bet? What are you talking about?" X asked, running to catch up with Zero.
"I guess you still haven't figured it out yet, huh X? You can be pretty dense sometimes," Zero joked.
"Hey, come on, tell me!" X replied.
"Tell me one thing though X. What do you think of Alia?" Zero asked.
X immediately looked away, and his face turned bright red for a couple of reasons, mostly embarrassment. He couldn't even force a feasible answer for some time.
"I-I…um…well…what I mean to say is…" X stuttered.
"You like her, I know," Zero answered, finishing X's thought. "Which is cool. I think you guys would've realized it sooner or later no matter what, I just decided to give you guys a little push, to get you closer. And I wasn't the only one."
"You mean…everyone else was in on it? Then that means…the X-Hunters…they were fakes, I knew it!" X answered.
"But if Alia was in trouble, you would've helped her no matter what, right?" Zero asked.
"I guess so," X replied, smiling.
"Then come on, let's get back. We haven't finished our vacation yet!" Zero shouted.
