Well, here yah go. One more chapter for Salvation. I'm still debating a few things with this series, so I have the next chapter or two written...I'm just no sure I'm gonna use them. Still need to figure out a few minor details before everything gets set in stone...

In the mean time... Please Review!!!

Salvation

Chapter 5: Rain

Every last officer was out in force wearing their polished battle armor. Some wore decorations while others wore nothing but the scars of battle which would never heal. They all looked out as one, the higher ranking officers taking front stage before the mass of warriors behind them. Caroline held tightly to her child's hand, almost as if afraid to lose her despite the fact there was no safer place on earth for her. Blues stood to Caroline's left. His hand soon found itself sneaking a small squeeze of security in Caroline's palm. Her tears splashed against towards the ground, making the earth turn the color of blood. Allure stood next to her mother, cradling in her free arm enough flowers to all but smother her from view. And still she would take more as was her duty as the flower keeper.

The order was given. Allure stepped away from her mother, moving so that she was standing in front of the tombstone itself. Riflemen took their marks, bringing the ceremonial pistols into position. X was at the head of the position having wanted to take the saddening and near defining honor himself.

The thunder of the twenty one souls whom had passed on so as to save the thousands who would fight on in name of Freedom was more than a daunting sight. With every shot that echoed off a flower was tossed onto the mass headstone salvaged from the ashes of a mighty, ancient church. A crucifix donning the Star of David with a statue of Buddha reading from the Torah all sat before the giant half-circle grave. A new ribbon of fresh cut flowers had been strung across the half-circle's front. The freshly carved names of the twenty one souls who joined the hundreds of fallen friends seemed to glow in an opaque red reflection.

By end, Allure was left carrying a wrap of twenty one flowers colored as deep a black as could be made without die.

No one needed to give the next order. The crowd snapped to attention all in one single, uniform click. Allure centered the flowers before the headstone, then slowly backed away. She dared not to break ceremony when she turned. The shadow of the headstone cast by the setting sun had finally overtaken her.

It began to rain.

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Zero stood alone before the grave which had gathered so much attention before. His hand clenched the rose thorns, the pricks serving as a not so gentle reminder that this was indeed reality. Though he wished, prayed almost, it was nothing more than another nightmare.

"Are you listening?" Zero asked to no one in particular. The rain whipped down on him relentlessly, losing him in the shadows cast by the mountain camouflage of secondary base one. It looked as though he did not feel the raging torrent at all.

"I know I have no right to be here. I killed just about half of you. But..." Zero lifted the rose up before him. The bud was just beginning to bloom a beautiful blood red.

"I felt so empty this morning, during your ceremony. I didn't even watch. Tell truth, I locked myself up in Allure's room, crying. Me, the Slayer, the Hunter of Mavericks, locked in a little girl's room, crying about your deaths." He looked over at the grave.

"...It's not fair... Damn it, it's not fair!" Zero snapped. The rose found itself imbedded at the foot of the cross directly before the statue of Buddha.

"If anybody should have died, it should have been me! I've got more than my fair share of sins! Half of you were just kids! Just...kids..." He wasn't sure when or how, but he soon found himself on his knees, wrapping his arms tight around himself in a hug.

Blood began to flow from his eyes, clashing against the ground as red raindrops. Tears upon tears, blood upon bones.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder. Zero looked back quickly, his reflexes deadened by the shear emotional trauma. The oddly bright face met his view, accented with a single reverse 'V' shaped scar. Axl smiled down as if he were a guardian angel.

"Hey, Mr. Zero... Couldn't come out to the main ceremony either?" Axl smiled. Zero nodded slowly, looking almost exactly like a dear caught in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler. Axl nodded in understanding.

"Yeah; my Commander was lost in the fight as well. It was... kinda stupid. I never knew he died until after Caroline... upgraded me." The boy sighed, "It didn't seem right to just be another stick in the crowd." Axl moved so that he was sitting in the muck besides Zero, crossing his ankles and leaning his arms against his knees, his hair flying wildly in the wind without the restraint of his helmet. A single tear distinguished itself from the falling rain.

"Hey... I promised myself I wouldn't cry..." Axl chided himself. He brushed away the tear with the back of his hand, casting it aside so that another could take its place. This time, it was Zero's turn to lay a comforting hand on Axl's shoulder.

His single nod was the only signal Axl needed. A second later, and the youth was being supported by the murderer, and the murder supported by the youth. One cried blood while the other added Reploid salt to the poisoned rain.

And the rain flowed on.

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Signas released a long, drawn out sigh of exhaustion. The Special Maverick Unit #0, the very unit he put into existence to help take down the threat Zero had helped create, was currently nothing more than a joke. Maverick Ground Unit Three still needed a new commander, and, to add icing to the cake, his supplies were beginning to dwindle. The cause seemed to have lost its will to continue. Death had just been too hard on them all.

Right as it all seemed to cave in on him the door alarm rang.

"Come in," he sighed. In walked Forte, and Signas had only to look down to find Allure standing at his desk.

"Commander Signas, we're in trouble, aren't we?" Allure questioned. Signas knew it was a better idea to be blunt than to lie, especially to this particular girl.

"Yes, Allure, we are indeed in trouble. Two of our eighteen remaining units are laughing stocks, our supplies are beginning to dwindle, and our will to fight seems to be fading." Signas stood up from his desk. His giant feet echoed across the metal of his silver office as he paced behind his chair.

"Well then, I've only got one thing to say."

"And what might that be?"

"I'll personally pick up the weapon of the first fighter to quit and knock them to a pulp with it."

Signas just kind of stopped and stared. The child's eyes were oddly cold and unwavering.

"Now, Allure, don't be so hasty to take a bloodbath." Signas scolded the child gently.

"Who said anything about a bloodbath? I've got just as much a reason to fight as the next Maverick. All this pain, all this suffering everyone's enduring. It won't end till Wily's power's been cut to ribbons." Allure countered. The chill in her eyes sent a shiver down Signas' spine.

"You said it before, sir. Everyone has to start taking in the slack." Forte cut in. He pulled three slips of paper seemingly out of thin air and held them face up before Signas.

"Promotion requests?" Signas blinked. He took them in hand, flipping through them gingerly. He stopped seconds later, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"Before you even ask, I'm not daft. There's been enough death caused by inaction around here. It's time to pull in the reigns on the Mavericks, Commander. And besides, you did create that division to clean up his mess, did you not? In what better way could he repent for his sins then to reap what he has sown with his own hands." Forte countered.

"But placing..."

"I know he's kinda young... But he's really good at what he does! And Forte could give him some pointers!"

Signas slowly sank back into his chair. He pulled out a single rubber stamp and a pad of red ink.

"Caroline will have my head for this,"

And with that, the seal was placed.

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The room was well lit. Heavy panting echoed through the hollowed hall in dolling patterns. Anyone else with half a nerve would have left in fear of a ghost haunting the small training ground, but then again, he, nor the source of the panting, was the typical 'anyone'.

Axl stood with both hands firmly gripping the beam saber. His brow was covered in a thin line of sweat, making him feel incredibly itchy under his helmet. He ignored it. He had his training to complete. Zero always made saber work look so easy, so fluent. He'd tried to mimic the Crimson Demon as best he could. Only, the way he was going at it, Axl would sooner have his head off his shoulders than his sword in his enemy's throat.

Close range combat – his single weakness. Red had tried to train him properly with a scythe. The results were less than fantastic. So, taking what little he had learned from Red, he transposed the method over to the saber. He was making less progress than he had originally done with Red.

His senses tightened. On instinct he moved to block a blade that had come straight down. His balance was kicked off in a second, and with an 'oomph' of indignity, he landed flat on his aft, the saber flying straight into a wall. Before Axl had time to regain his bearing, he was being hoisted up to his feet by a familiar white gloved hand.

Zero's eyes met his. Axl gulped. The Demon was obviously not happy with the results.

"Do you honestly want to die?" Zero questioned. Axl did a double take.

"N-No! That's why I'm training to fix my weakness! I'm...not exactly good with close combat..." Axl admitted sheepishly. Zero simply grunted in a 'no duh' kind of fashion. Nevertheless, he released Axl from his piercing glare. The youth quickly reclaimed his saber.

"Move to start position," Axl blinked at Zero oddly. "You heard me."

Axl did as he was told. Seconds later and his feet were being kicked out from under him.

"Wrong," Zero huffed. His hands came across Axl's. The young Reploid did a minor double take as Zero pushed him into a proper position. Once satisfied, Zero backed away. He reignited his own saber, causing Axl to gulp.

"Now, let's try this again."

And the dance was on. Axl attempted many a-time to slice his own hand off, only to be stopped by Zero's blade. When it got a bit too ridiculous, Zero stopped Axl and sighed.

"I'll be blunt. You know absolutely nothing about sabers. But, you do know a thing or two about melee battles. What weapon were you originally trained for?"

"Well I wasn't exactly..." Axl shut up when he saw the cold stair coming down at him yet again. "The scythe,"

It fit. Axl kept swinging the saber around as if he could twirl it back behind him in a moment's notice. The only scythe Zero had so much as heard about belonged to the fallen Red. That fit as well, seeing as Red had been Axl's commander. Well, that left Zero with a rather prime option.

Zero simply took Axl's saber away and walked off. Axl blinked.

"What was that about?"

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Everyone was silent the next day; and Axl still didn't have his saber back.

Axl slowly trudged into the training hall with the rest of his unit. It had shrunk slightly, with the weaker human fighters and majority of stronger Reploids being moved off to other units that still had living commanders. The stronger human ones were left to train themselves with the weaker Reploids until a suitable replacement could be found. Despite his best efforts, Axl let out a wide yawn that ended with his vocals squeaking off.

"Not enough sleep?" The remainder of Axl's unit just about jumped clear out of their skins. Axl, however, just waved off the halfway hidden form of Zero.

"Nothin' personal, Mr. Zero, but it's sort of hard to sleep when you're not in bed." Before Zero could ask, Axl added, "Nightshift."

"Ah," and Zero was silent.

If there had been any noise continuing after that minor conversation, it was dropped like a hot rock when the doors opened. Forte, in full armor complete with a Commander's Saber on his right hip, walked in with Allure trailing him.

"Normally under such dark circumstances as the death of a Commander, the weaker Reploid units and stronger human Mavericks are kept together in a unit so as to spar on a daily basis; to keep their edges sharp for their next tutor. This is not the case." Another murmur began to rise up.

"Believe me or not, you ten are the best Unit Three had to offer. Your strength is beyond what normal training drills can sharpen. As such, you are all being transferred to Maverick Unit #0 for specialized training. You've already met your Commander, or at least heard rumors about him." At that point, Forte's smile turned teasing.

"I leave the remainder to you, Commander Zero."

The look on everyone's face was absolutely priceless.