Zypher: I thank those who have given me a good review for the last chapter so here's chapter 7.

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Midnight Visitor

Chapter 7

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Diamond looked when she heard him. 'He likes Flazer? But why would he want to like someone so cold to him and Axl?' Diamond thought as she used her saber to prop herself up. "But why? Flazer is so cold to everyone and he would give a care about you until now but that will be to kill you." Diamond said but he shot at her again, causing her to fall back once more.

"Please! Stop, Maturi! I don't want to hurt you! You can break free from the virus, can't you?" Axl asked and he just shot at him as an answer but he dodged the bullet.

"I don't want to fight you, Maturi, but if that's what it takes then I will!" Axl said as he brought out his own guns and it was nothing but a flurry of bullets heading every which way on the training ground.

Zero and Flazer ran out just in time to see that everything was at a standstill. Axl had his gun pointed at Maturi's neck, Maturi doing the same with Axl and Diamond was on the ground, a part of her chest plate missing from the bullets that hit in the same place twice.

"Hey, kid!" Flazer yelled and he turned to see him. "How nice of you to join us, Flazer." Maturi hissed and with a quick motion, he punched Axl in the chest and he flew back to land on Diamond, making her groan in pain.

He got up and looked to him. "Sorry, Diamond." Axl murmured. Flazer walked over to him, pulling out his Steel Saber and stared Maturi down. "So, you became a maverick huh? I think I though we wasn't going to get anymore maverick attacks for a while but this is good. I haven't done a battle with a maverick for a long while." Flazer murmured and he growled as he started to shoot at him, Flazer dodging with quick precision.

They watched the intense battle, Axl worried that Flazer just might kill him if he doesn't learn about Maturi's feelings for him. "Flazer! You have to stop, there is more to this than you think!" Axl cried. Zero turned to him, wondering what the small reploid could he talking about.

He got up and held a hand to his chest, a few of his circuitry feeling like they have been damaged. "You have to listen to me. Maturi may be a maverick but he still has feelings! Feelings for you!" he yelled and that caused him to stop.

'He, actually had feelings for me? Feelings for someone that was cold to him?' Flazer thought and that gave Maturi the opening he needed and he shot a round of bullets to Flazer's chest, causing them to dent his chest plate before they finally went through, Zero moving away before they could hit him.

Flazer gasped in pain, his circuits hissing and sizzling as some of them were broken and torn apart from the bullets. He dropped his saber and knelt down to the ground. Maturi walked over to him and held the gun up to the back of his head. "I hope you had a good life, Flazer. You have ruined my chances at love and I'm repaying the favor." Maturi growled and Flazer looked up to him.

"How could I have known? Flared was right. I do have feelings for you and I would have killed you before I have found out. Now you're about to kill me and I will take this whole-heartedly for breaking your heart." Flazer whispered, lowering his head. "Are you insane? Just get up and kill him, Flazer!" Zero growled.

"I can't. I couldn't," he said as he looked over to Zero. "You have been a great friend, Zero, but I can't. I would think about him even if I did kill him. Flared wouldn't let me until I finally found out my feelings for him but it's too late now." Flazer murmured and that was his final words as Maturi shot him in the back of the head.

To Axl, it felt like everything went in slow motion. Flazer falling to the ground, dead and a bullet lodged in his head, ruining all the circuits and his thinking chip, Zero running over to him, hoping he was still alive and Maturi dropping the gun in shock, as if the virus has left him after the deed it wanted to commit was done.

"Flazer! Flazer get up!" Zero pleaded to the reploid before him but there was nothing. No response, nothing at all. Zero cried out in pain as he held his friend. "What have I done?" Maturi asked to himself, falling down to his knees next to Flazer. Axl walked over to them, tears falling from his eyes as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "You killed him, Maturi. You were taken over by the virus and you killed him." Axl whimpered.

"No. I didn't want this. I didn't want to do it. I tried to fight it but it was too strong and after it happens, it disappeared just like that." Maturi murmured and he pushed him away as he ran off into the night, grabbing his gun on the way. "I can't live without him." he whispered. Axl looked to him and was about to run off after him but Zero held him back.

"No, I'm not letting you go. I'm not going to lose you either." Zero whispered quietly but Axl didn't hear him as he just stood beside him, watching as he disappeared over the horizon. Diamond got up as well and then they heard the dreadful shot of a gun going off and Axl burying his head into Zero's chest.

Zero listened to Z before he did as he said, comforting the boy and Diamond turned to look over to then and smiled. 'Well, after all this, Zero's is finally losing his cold façade but will he now accept Axl's feelings or will Axl fall to the same fate as Maturi?' she thought to himself as it started to rain in agony for the two poor sphinx reploids that never had a chance at being together.

'I really hope not, though.' Diamond thought and unknown to her or Zero, Z was planning to help them out.

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After that day, everyone started to accept Axl a bit but it took a little longer for Zero because he still wanted to straighten out his feelings for him but at night, Z took care of that for him.

"Well, now that everything's settled, let's get back to work. Diamond, I will let you off your work today so you can visit Axl." X said and she nodded as she went to go visit Axl while everyone else went back to the work they had to do.

Axl was asleep in his arms and Zero was lying on the bed, caressing him softly, listening to his quiet breathing. He looked up when he heard the door open and smiled when Diamond came in. "How's he doing?" Diamond asked. "He's doing fine and so am I." Zero said. "That's good. I told the others about Airaxe and they planned to be on full alert so they can come and help out when you need it." Diamond said.

Zero nodded and looked down when he felt Axl shift in his sleep and woke up. He smiled up to Zero and kissed him softly before he jumped out of bed and ran over to Diamond when he saw her. "Hi, Diamond! How have you been?" Axl said. She laughed and pat his head. "I've been fine. I was worried about you when I heard you were sick but I helped out the best I could since I had some work to do."

Zero got up from the bed as well. "Hey, Axl, how about you, me and Diamond go out for a bit? I know you would like to spend some time with Diamond." Zero said. Axl smiled and nodded. "Alright, that sounds good. Let me go and get your armor, Axl. I had it get warmed up for you so it wouldn't be so cold on you." she said as she left out the room.

Axl walked back over to Zero and he wrapped his arms around him. "Zero, do you still remember Flazer?" Axl asked, knowing it was still a hurtful topic to go back on but he really wanted to learn about Flazer since he never had the chance to before his and Maturi's untimely deaths.

"Yeah, I still remember him." Zero murmured, trying to not cry in front of Axl. "Can you tell me some things about him? I know it's a bad topic to go back on but I really wanted to know about him but with everything that happened that day, I couldn't really learn much about him." Axl said.

Zero nodded and he told him about Flazer and how they were long time partners before they met X. Soon enough, when he got done, Diamond came back in with Axl's armor and he placed it on and they left to head out to New Hope, thinking about traveling to Gaudile's laboratory so they can spend some time admiring the Eternal Forest.

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Zypher: Well, I hoped you liked this chapter. Please review.