Sorry for the (long) delay. Lots of things I had to do this summer. Puppies injured, Parent's bitchy (there went my Yaoi) and other wonderful things that just kinda hinder a person. So, this is the last few chapters, all at once. But not THE last chapter.

Warnings: Shonnen-ai, yaoi, (but you've read it already, most likely), SAP, SAP, SAP, SAP, SAP, SAP, SAP, SAP, SAP overturned furniture. This is where crazy Zero goes crazy. :p

Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman, and if I did, there would be no more confusing plotlines, no more characters who should come back and don't, no more stupid humans making important decisions, and much more Yaoi. To hell with the holding hands, let's just see them kiss already.

Zero awoke to the coughing for the second time that week. X was having horrible coughing fits. He said he wasn't getting enough oxygen for some function he had, but Zero had looked it up and that wasn't even important. X was sick if his secondary-systems were collapsing.

X stopped as he noted Zero waking up, but little coughs kept creeping up. Zero decided e couldn't get mad for this, and decided to stop his hurting of X so X could heal. A ruined toy was useless, after all.

"Are you all right?" Zero asked, and X nodded.

"I'm fine," X stated, right as another fit took him.

"You'd better be. You've only gotten sick five times since I've known you." Zero watched his pet take a glass of water, which meant he'd slept through another of X's fits already.

X swallowed and snuggled up to him; a movement that made his twisted heart ache no matter how much he ignored it. "Night."

Zero watched his pet fall asleep as he stroked his hair softly. Oh, he was glad he hadn't killed this one. He was fun, he was cute, he was…

The damned voice echoed in his head, much louder this time. / I'll kill you before I'll let you have him./

Zero gave a possessive growl, holding X closer. X, almost asleep, nuzzled into his shoulder.

Zero awoke the next morning, or, rather, later that morning. X wasn't in bed, but Zero had noted X liked to watch the sunrise.

Poking his head out, he noted he was right. X was sleeping at the window, holding the chip in his hand. The sunlight spilled red over him, a beautiful sight until he noted the chip glowing.

Zero walked over, picking X up. X didn't move, except for a light moan. Zero gently kissed his forehead.

X's eyes opened. "Morning."

"I'll say," Zero stated. "Ready for work, sleepyhead?"

X shook his head and curled up, nearly making Zero drop him. Zero gently placed X on the sofa, and X extended the hand with the chip. "I'm gunna go see Lifesaver today," he stated. "Can you let me go with out this just for today?" X winced, knowing what happened last time when he asked a simple question.

Zero wanted to say no. X was his. His and his alone. But he remembered how sick X was getting, and he knew X needed to stay alive. X's cuts and scrapes had been explained by battle, and Zero knew it would be so today. Against his instincts, he nodded and took the chip and placed it up on the shelf. "Come home."

X smiled, getting up and walking into the bedroom to get dressed. When he left, Zero sat, trying not to cry. X was free, now. X didn't have to come home and X wouldn't come home, and Zero missed him terribly.

Chapter whatever. I really don't have numbers. (I love this chappie.)

Zero looked at the clock, then at the door. It was official, now. X was five minutes late. Zero held his hands, trying not to be nervous. Maybe X had tripped. Maybe there were injured puppies. X liked puppies. He should probably give X a puppy.

At fifteen minutes, Zero was rocking back and forth. How many damn puppies did X have to save?

Footsteps at the door. Zero turned, a big grin on his face.

The mail slid through his slot.

Zero threw his cup at the wall, shattering it into a million pieces. X wasn't coming.

At thirty minutes, Zero was chanting some sort of incantation of "I'm sorry" and "I love you" and "Just come back" in the middle of the floor with candles and a wall of sofa bottoms. A Super-camera, that could record 24 hours of footage recorded.

At forty-five minutes, Zero had made little voodoo dolls of himself and X and X was returning home, kissing and hugging. They went to the store. They attacked Signas, and joined the Mavericks. They traveled the world and had a little kid, but the kid was human so she died, and they attended the funeral together. X cried. Zero held him. X was angry. Zero held him. X was happy. Zero held him. Anything as long as Zero could continue holding his X.

After an hour, Zero took the chip and glared at it, his twisted mind suddenly snapping with grief. The mirror reflected his face and the voice returned. /He won't come back. You've hurt him./

"He needs me!" Zero yelled. "I've given him love!" he flung the mirror, which shattered.

/He doesn't need this. Your violence./

Zero ran into the bedroom, just to get away from the voice. Pulling the pillow into his face, he cried. "He loves me!" Zero cried. The voice said no more, and when Zero was done, he looked down at the sheets where X had been. They were clean, but stained.

Just like his X.

He felt tears again and a memory flashed back to him, a kind of metaphor of what he should do.

---

"Forte…why?" The black robot spun, the blue on in his arms. His eyes were with regret.

"He means the world to me," Forte stated. "You don't understand, but you will." The blue robot gasped and Forte placed him down, shushing him and comforting him. "If he made you better than me, than I'll guarantee you'll find somebody."

"You must kill him. It is what he wants."

Forte's eyes flickered, protection flaring within them as he drew the body to his chest. "I'll die to protect him." The black robot looked weak. And his eyes contained something else.

---

Care. Like X's, they contained care.

Oh, and Zero cared for X. he wanted to get lost in X' eyes. He knew then X wouldn't want him back.

The tables had turned on him. He was not longer in control. He was lying down, waiting for his X, the one who wouldn't come back.

How pitiful he must have looked, laying on the bed and sobbing to sleep.

Next chappie.

X returned that morning, coming to the apartment with a sense of fear in his heart. Lifesaver had held him overnight for observation, but X had a creepy feeling, like that Lifesaver liked him or something.

He was, physically, fine. It was a maintenance thing he'd forgone, so he could return home on time. Carefully, he knocked on the door.

No response.

Worriedly, X turned the handle. The door opened. His first red flag. Zero was always afraid of people who'd come to rescue his X.

The apartment, X found, was in shambles. Furniture overturned, random pictures ripped apart, and he swore he saw little figures of Zero and himself. Zero was not in the main room, so X peeped into the bedroom. "Zero?"

Zero was asleep, pillow lying next to him. X walked over to him, deciding submission would be the best route for the two of them. Sitting down next to the bed, X nudged Zero. "Master?"

Zero's eyes groggily opened, snapping up when he recognized X. he sat up, a happy… expression on his face.

"I've come back," X started. "I had to send the night hospitalized."

Zero sighed, nodding, looking more like X's old Zero than his Master. X's heart skipped a beat as Zero sat up.

"I'm…happy you're back, X."

X blinked, confused. Master would have either screwed him or hurt him by now. "Zero?"

Zero shuddered, looking back at him. "X… go out to the living room. I have to get dressed."

X sat back, stunned. "You need me to leave for that?"

Zero blushed and nodded, and then X looked at him. "Zero? Are you back?"

There was an eagerness in X's eyes, one Zero could only tell the truth to. "Yes."

With that, X squealed in delight and happily hugged Zero until Zero's limbs cracked and he turned purple from whatever X had jarred out of alignment when he hugged.

"X… I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. I'm just glad you're back," X stated. "I'm gonna go get a cake or something I baked at my house." X flew from the room, dashing through the corridors. A cake, right before he'd taken…

Zero noted X was crying happily as he waved from the street, almost getting run over by a truck.

"Oh, pet," Zero whispered, holding the chip. "You're so happy…" Something warm flushed down his cheek and he picked up the phone. Dialing a few numbers, he managed to get the person he needed.

"Lifesaver? It's Zero. Really. Yes, yes. I'm having side effects from the removal. No, No. No meds. I was wondering if you could put it back in."

end of chapter segments.

There will be one more. I promise. I won't leave you hanging.