Disclaimer: I don't own Mega Man Zero, or any part of the Mega Man series or their characters. They are the legal property of Capcom. I do, however, own any other characters in this story. Are you still reading this? I'm impressed.
Author: Hey there. First chapter for you, set shortly after MMZ2. Enjoy it, I hope. I warn those kind enough to read my work that, although action and romance are the main genre of this story, I thrive on drama and angst as well, and there will be pieces of those scattered through the story also. All reviews, minus flames, are welcome, and I plan to maybe have review polls somewhere to decide some of the key turns in the plot in future, so watch this space for more info if you're interested. Until then, enjoy. Oh, and thanks to Phantom Kensai for the info.
(P.S: I'm kind of glad that one of the few things Genocideking and Shadowknight agree on is my work, heh.)
Zero: Heart of a Hunter
Chapter 1: Crimson Hope
The battle was over.
At least that was the way it seemed.
Ever since Zero's return that month ago, most of the Neo Arcadian military had withdrawn to the capital to restore order, and the battle-weary Resistance could rest at last. With their hold on the Outlands beyond Neo Arcadia finally unchallenged, the Resistance had occupied and reactivated key resource structures and plants, strengthening and expanding their power base.
Most of the Resistance would call the red reploid a hero for his role in the withdrawal of Neo Arcadia's oppressing forces, but at that moment, that particular reploid felt like anything but a hero.
Zero sat alone on the roof of the Resistance base, gazing out at the sunset that streaked the cloudy sky in shades of pink and orange.
Yet again, it had happened. He had saved Neo Arcadia, and the Resistance, but at what cost? Elpizo was dead, the Dark Elf had escaped, Neo Arcadia was in turmoil...and most grievous of all, X's body had been destroyed. Zero knew that X could not take physical form again, and he would exist as a cyber-elf forever.
He stood up and sighed, stretching his stiffening synthetic vascular filaments and shivering with relief as he relaxed.
No point worrying...what's done is done...but what now?
Zero's memory flickered back to High Temple. The Dark Elf was loose, and from what Ciel had told him, that was hardly a good thing. She had no knowledge of right or wrong, and a powerful entity needed only to command her to wreak havoc and destruction and she would do so.
Over the last month, at Ciel's urging, the Resistance had been sending recon drones as well as common recon patrols, using their new technology, in the attempt to locate any traces of the Dark Elf, from suspected sightings to negative energy trails. But so far, she seemed to have completely vanished.
Zero sighed and went down from the roof as his energy core alarm went off. He had indeed been sitting on the roof and pondering for five straight hours.
Time for some fuel.
As Zero descended in the elevator to reach the mess hall, he remembered that he had to meet Cerveau to go through the drones' data from that day.
He sighed. Leader's formality. Of there's one thing I remember from my past life, it's that we have to go to the solution...it won't come to us if it didn't at the start.
Even though Ciel had named Zero as the new Resistance leader a week ago, he hardly ever needed to give out any particular order or do any extra heavy work, as most Resistance work was set in stone at the moment anyway with regular patrols and guard duty, along with the scouting missions. Neo Arcadia had turned inward to restore order within her own borders, and special operations, minus Ciel's research, had been put on hold to allow the Resistance forces to focus on seeking the Dark Elf.
Of course, there was paperwork by the stacks, but Zero managed to slip out of that by saying he was still not familiar enough with the present world to do the administrative work. After that, it had instead been passed on to Cerveau, who had the knack for doing that kind of thing efficiently (if reluctantly). So Zero was still free to take to the field. A leader in name and nothing more.
The elevator whirred to a stop at one of the underground levels.
The mess hall in the Resistance Base was crowded with off-duty Resistance soldiers who had returned from the early afternoon patrol shifts. Zero entered the hall and walked towards the kitchens. As a reploid, he could simply plug himself into an energy source for recharge, but he preferred to refuel the human way and eat. The super-enzyme catalysis solution in his repli-blood broke down food energy so easily and quickly that it just seemed a waste of time to hook himself up for an hour.
The cook, Chow, a cheerful white-aproned reploid, stood behind the kitchen counter, smiling and giving out food trays to the soldiers who passed by.
"Chow?" Zero said wearily.
The cook turned and grinned at him. "Busy day, sir?"
Zero shook his head. "Not quite. Have you got anything for me?"
Chow reached under his counter and produced a tray of beef for Zero.
Nodding in thanks, Zero took the tray and went out to find a table in the hall. The place was very crowded, and it was a while before Zero spotted an empty table. He sat down and began to stir his food idly, his mind wandering down dark roads.
The Dark Elf is missing, and all I can do now is just sit here and wait. Come to think of it, why am I still here? The Resistance are safe, and I can't help them with much now. Maybe I should just go and try to find the Dark Elf myself. I'm a warrior, and warriors don't sit around and do nothing except patrol. I'm sure Ciel will understand if I...
Ciel.
Thump!
He felt a tremble on the table, and looked up.
Ciel set down her tray on his table and sat down opposite him.
"Hi Zero." She smiled tiredly. Her radiant blue eyes were wrapped in dark circles and her movements looked stiff and fatigued.
Man, has she been in the lab all day? This girl never rests.
"Hey Ciel. Another big breakthrough, huh?"
She smiled. "Is it that obvious?"
Zero smiled back. "Yeah, I'm afraid so." He chuckled, and then decided to try pushing his luck. "Don't worry. You're still almost halfway cute."
Ciel mock-snarled at him, but her eyes were smiling. "You're horrible."
Zero's smile cracked into a grin. "I know, but you love me anyway, don't you?"
Ciel blushed slightly. "Zero!"
"Heh, sorry."
They both turned to their food. It seemed, with all the stress and everything they faced in the Resistance Command Center, the relative peace of the mess hall was the only place where both of them could try to forget their problems and enjoy themselves, if only for as long as their food lasted. It was like two separate worlds, one with and one without violence.
For that reason, both Zero and Ciel tried not to talk about the war whenever they had the chance to eat together. But sometimes, when it wore so heavily on them, neither of them could help it, and their conversation inevitably went in that direction. This was probably going to be one of those times, Zero could sense it.
However, Ciel seemed to be unusually silent as they ate.
"What's up, Ciel? Something wrong?"
She looked up at him, and then down at her plate, and then she sighed and placed her spoon down on the tray.
"Zero...it's just...too quiet!"
Zero nodded slightly in agreement. "Yeah, I feel that way too..."
There were another few seconds of silence, and then they both began to eat again. Ciel was really on the edge, Zero could see, and not just because of the war...there was something else. He did not push it...he could see that Ciel wasn't going to speak up so easily.
She was so open with him, and yet, at the same time, so closed up. He knew the Ciel who was the Resistance strategist and head scientist, but the other Ciel before him now was almost a stranger to him.
One day, I'll change that, Ciel. You've been a good friend to me.
Five hours later, Zero lay on his bed, doing his best to sleep. As a reploid, he could sleep anywhere, even standing up, but the idea of a bed made it more comfortable somehow. Even so, reploids could still be kept awake by mental unrest just as humans could.
He tossed and turned in his bed until finally giving up and sitting up. His room was dark and quiet. It was late into the night, and most personnel and soldiers had likely turned in for rest, leaving only a few personnel to watch the base. Few were the eyes that now scanned the horizons, even after only such a short time since...
Zero shook that thought out of his head and glared at the suit of armor on his wall.
His armor pieces hung on pegs in a body shape, grinning down at him from the wall. It was like it was another reploid, saying to Zero: This is what you are and what you were made for.
But this is me...not the armor, he thought, looking down at his body. Without the armor, he looked almost completely human.
Zero then looked up again and around. There was so little he had in his room with him. Aside from his armor and weapons, he had virtually no possessions: no pictures, no furniture, no pieces of identity. He didn't really have any use for them either, being what he was.
Still, he thought, this is my home now. Maybe I should try to let things down a bit. Get some identity together, try to recover some of my memories...have a life besides that of a soldier.
He sighed then.
It was an impossible dream...at least for now. He had a Dark Elf to find and hostile enemies to fight. Maybe, when it was all over, he could try to build a new life, as well as remembering his old one, but now, the only way to live was as what he was: Zero, the crimson hunter.
That thought made him rub his face in frustration.
Darn it X, where are you? If you could only tell me...then I might be able to bear it, but at his rate, I'll...
Zero finally threw back the sheets from around his waist and got out of bed. He clenched his teeth slightly as he stood. He was clad only in his sleeping pants and his thermoreceptors were going haywire.
Not wanting to wait for his internal heater to kick in, Zero simply strode huffily to the pile of clothes next to his armor and pulled on a vest.
Practice, he thought, as he pulled his Z-saber from the holster on his hanging belt.
Practice was good when he felt this way. It cleared his mind.
Zero stood straight with his eyes closed, feeling the saber in his hand for a moment.
He felt the warrior instinct within him roaring into life at the touch of the weapon.
His face lost all expression and every synthofilament in his body snapped taut and waited.
He opened his eyes and slid one of his legs behind the other into a fighting stance, activating the Z-saber. The greenish blade pulsed and thrummed in front of him, singing to its master of battle and blood.
"Keeeyaah!" Zero swept the saber in a full horizontal arc, stepping forward and pivoting on his other foot to face the opposite direction. The tip of the saber glowed in the same spot his face was a moment ago.
"Shaaaiii!" He kicked off the floor and did a double-flip, spinning his saber in around him and landing in a half-crouched vertical slash.
Move, stab, back, slash, twist, pivot, jump back and strike.
The Z-saber became a blur of green light as the reploid moved at the speed of lightning in his kata, cutting into enemies only he could see.
After a couple of minutes, Zero was forced to slow down because of the growing heat stress in his joints. He stepped too far and lost his balance, but he did not topple over. He kicked neatly off his back foot and landed in a lavish, but painless crouch.
He sat there, panting and sweating. Like all reploids, he sweated a coolant filtered from water to keep his surface temperature at normal level.
Zero heard a light gasp behind him and turned towards the door.
Ciel slept fitfully, her mind embroiled in visions of complex scientific theories. She had been battling her formulae and scientific research all day. Ever since Elpizo's death and Neo Arcadia's withdrawal from the Outlands, she had seized the chance to finish her research without interruption.
One thing about Ciel all the Resistance agreed upon: the poor girl worked too hard. She sat in her lab before the computer screen all day, working furiously to keep the hope for peace alive. She had learned so much from X - everyone could see that - but even he would have had trouble with the almost-infinite magnitude of the research Ciel was carrying out. Zero had once asked her how exactly she was narrowing down the method of isolating so much energy, and he had left her lab twenty minutes later, pale and shaking. (That little episode was the subject of a great number of jokes among the Resistance soldiers for a while.)
Nevertheless, despite Ciel's determination, her body was not coping well with the stress. Her body had shrunk to a frail shell, and her eyes were almost constantly encircled with dark rings. She had aged three years in one.
Many of the Resistance, Cerveau in particular, who knew Ciel best, recommended to her that she rest for a while, but she refused to listen and said it was more important to finish before she ran out of time.
But lately, Ciel's psyche was starting to play tricks on her, as could be seen in what was happening to her now. She went to bed late every night with her mind buzzing with complex theories and proposals. Now her dreams were raring up every night, awakening her and making her feel that she was wasting time sleeping, after which she had got up and gone back to her lab in the middle of the night to keep working, without sleep.
It had been happening frequently over the last month. Only two days ago, Cerveau had found Ciel face down on her desk, snoring her head off. After that, he insisted that she take a break, but she had snuck out of her room after he escorted her there and back to the lab, muttering to herself under her breath.
It was happening again, but tonight would see different results.
Ciel sat bolt upright, pale and shaking. Her pink sleeping clothes were drenched with sweat, her strawberry blonde hair mussed and messy, and she felt light-headed and nauseous.
Ciel snorted to herself and swung her legs out onto the floor.
"Wasting time..." she muttered quietly.
She stood up and stepped into her bathroom for a shower, emerging five minutes later in a pink bathrobe. She quickly changed into her usual pink outfit and lab coat lying on a chair next to her bed.
Ciel may have been a pretty and smart young girl when you knew her, but when it came to her private room, she was basically a complete slob. Her clothes and belongings were scattered over the floor and furniture, and the paperwork on her small table was stacked haphazardly and looked likely to just collapse any moment. It wasn't that it didn't bother Ciel. It did, but she simply didn't have the time to clean up, and Ciel feared that if she allowed the Resistance's primitive maintenance robots in, they would throw away some of the hard copy notes she left on the table when she came back from the lab most nights. So her room remained untidied.
After rummaging carefully through the stack of paperwork, she pulled out several of the notes she had made on the last power couplings in her research apparatus and tucked them into her coat. She strode to her sliding door into the corridor and opened it a crack, peering out. She knew there was a regular sentry who patrolled this corridor at night, and she wanted to avoid any awkward questions.
She immediately spotted him turning from a far corner and shrank back slightly, closing the door as he passed. After a moment, she opened it again and saw that he was gone. Sighing, Ciel opened her door all the way and stepped out of her room. She began walking down the corridor towards the command center and her lab.
She turned into the corridor holding the reploid dormitories. It was dark and quiet, but Ciel could not help but shiver at the eerie silence.
She walked past each of the doors, taking note of the marking sign.
A-1, A-2, A-3, B-1, B-2, B-3, Z-0...
Z-0...
Ciel stopped.
She could see a greenish light flickering in and out in Zero's private room beneath the door.
Zero? He's awake? What's with that light?
Curious, she stopped and stared at his door.
"Kyaaah!"
Ciel jumped as she heard the unmistakable sound of Zero shouting behind his door.
Zero!?
Ciel was usually too polite to invade others' privacy, but in her present, sleep-deprived state, her curious instinct took over with little resistance and she edged closer to his door, touching the automatic open disable pad and sliding the door open slightly. She peered through and gasped slightly.
Zero was crouched on the floor with his back to the door, clad in white sleeping pants and a vest, his figure illuminated in the pale green light of the Z-saber in his hand. His hair, free from the restraints of his helmet and hair band, cascaded in long golden strands down his back, almost touching the floor. The green light of the saber threw into shade the fine lines of his body and cast a luminous sheen on the film of sweat on his skin, showing the ripple of wiry synthomuscles in the lean frame of his bare shoulders and arms.
Ciel blushed slightly at the sight and quickly looked down. She finally realized what she was doing as her consciousness caught up with her.
I am such an idiot! I shouldn't even be peeping like this. I'd better get out of here before...
Too late. Zero had heard her gasp and he whirled around.
Ciel?! What the – what's she doing here?
Zero stood and deactivated his Z-saber, staring at Ciel, who was staring back through his door.
He just looked at her for a moment, then he spoke. "Why don't you come in, Ciel? What are you doing up at this hour?"
Ciel, looking sheepish and red in the face, slid open his door and stepped inside. Zero clicked his desk lamp on and set down his Z-saber.
"Sorry Zero, I shouldn't have peeped like that. I just saw the light under your door and I heard you shouting, and...well..."
Zero smiled slightly. "I see, so we've caught each other. Why are you up anyway?"
Ciel hesitated, and Zero had a flash of realization. He had heard all about Ciel's workaholic insomnia from Cerveau.
"Oh man, you were going to the lab, weren't you? Ciel, you've got to stop doing this. Everyone's worried."
Ciel looked up, with a flash of anger in her eyes. "Zero, I can't afford to waste any time. We've got the opportunity I need to finish my research, and I have to finish it before Neo Arcadia comes for us again. This may be our only chance to stop the war for good!"
Zero sighed. "Oh, come on Ciel. You're too smart to think I'm not right."
She hesitated, and then deflated slightly. "Yes, you are right, Zero. All the same, I just can't lie down and sleep now...with the end so close...and not knowing how much time we have. Please understand, Zero."
He nodded. "I do...but that's still no reason to wear yourself out like this. I was thinking about this today in the mess hall. I don't want to upset you Ciel, but right now I think you're pushing way too hard, even for the time limit we have. But you could probably afford to tone it down a little. If you think about it, even after the clean-up in Neo Arcadia, they'll have to keep their forces there a while afterwards...you know, to keep the peace and do the housekeeping and all that."
Ciel blinked, and Zero could see he had raised something she had never realized before. Her face reddened slightly, and she looked down. Zero stifled a chuckle. It wasn't often one could put Ciel in that situation.
"Let's just sit down, okay?" He sat down on his bed and motioned for Ciel to join him. She nodded and sat down beside him.
"You work really hard, Ciel. You really amaze me..."
Ciel smiled slightly. "Are you trying to flatter me out of this, Zero?"
He shook his head. "Hardly. This is all going to be finished soon if you can make that energy source. I know Harpuia and the others never really wanted this war, they were roped into it, and now they know it was the work of a mad reploid. They wouldn't throw away this chance to end it if they just had the right excuse...your research..."
"That's why I have to finish it, Zero!" Ciel blurted, interrupting him.
Zero nodded. "Indeed, but I think...they withdrew all their forces because they wanted to give you time...not because they needed all their troops."
Ciel looked stunned again at Zero's words. She had obviously never considered that.
"But...it's not all at the whim of the Guardians, Zero."
"That's true too, but I think even the Neo Arcadian government is tired of this war, now that they have so many other enemies as well. Why fight the Resistance anymore when they have no reason to? And when the Resistance gave them the energy resources they needed to stand against the others?" Zero smiled.
Ciel nodded, her face brightening considerably. "So you're saying that we have more time than we thought, Zero? That they're waiting for us?"
"Yeah, Ciel. That's why I want you to take it easy. You need rest."
"I'm fine."
"Ciel..."
He suddenly stopped speaking for a moment. Zero somehow had the feeling that he had done this before...sitting up at night talking...in another life, with another friend...or was it a friend?
He glanced sideways at Ciel, and then up at the ceiling. Was she supposed to look like that?
I've been in this situation before. When was it? Aaack, I can't remember! Someone...another on now, think!
As he thought about it, he quite failed to notice that his arm had somehow instinctively found its way around Ciel's shoulders.
She jerked slightly, but even though she stared at Zero, she did not pull away immediately.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Huh?" Zero suddenly realized where his arm was and jumped.
"Oh...sorry Ciel." He pulled away, feeling his face grow slightly warm. Even repli-blood could cause a blush.
"You got lost, neh?" she chuckled, slightly red in the face herself.
Zero shook his head. Ciel's eyes widened slightly at the angry look on his face.
"I'm sorry."
Zero turned and looked at Ciel again. "No, no, it wasn't you, Ciel. I was just thinking..."
She stared at him. "Thinking about what?"
"..."
"Come on Zero. I'm your friend."
Zero sighed and rested his arms on his knees, glaring at his upturned palms in frustration.
"It's...I just remembered something, but it's like I couldn't remember it all...just the part that doesn't make sense on its own...and I know there's something else to it, but I don't remember what. It's just so annoying sometimes!"
Ciel nodded. "When you..." she blushed slightly, "held me, you mean?"
Zero hesitated, and then nodded. If he couldn't trust Ciel with this, then who could he trust? He knew what his affirmation implied though...
Ciel spoke slowly, as if choosing her words carefully.
"Zero...all your memories...I know it must be frustrating for you. I'll help you get your memory back when this is all over...I promise. It's the least I can do after everything you've helped me with."
He nodded slightly in gratitude.
"Zero...I don't want to intrude, but...can you remember much from your past?"
"Just a little. Flashes, you know? Not much at all."
"Zero..." Ciel looked a little uncomfortable. "What you're doing now, and the way you said you felt when you disappeared last year...I think, something you remember makes you think this is all wrong, right?"
Zero grimaced. Had his behavior really shown that much? He smirked sideways at her. "You're too smart for my own good, Ciel."
She chuckled lightly. "Please Zero...tell me what you know. If nothing else, it might help me recall some history that might make sense to you, and help you recover some more memories."
Zero sighed. Like he had just told her, his memories were like shattered glass.
"Ciel, you look really tired and so am I. Why don't we just talk about this another time?" He stood to make his point. "C'mon, I'll escort you back to your room."
She frowned, but she reluctantly stood up. "So unbending, Zero?"
Ciel, you have no idea how much I want to talk with someone about this, but this just isn't the right time or place.
"I'll tell you later Ciel. But now, I think you should just get some rest."
They walked out of Zero's room and down the corridor.
Ciel was silent beside him. When they reached her door, she opened it and stepped in. She turned to face Zero, gazing down.
"Zero...I..."
Zero sighed and shook his head, flicking his unrestrained hair out of his face.
Man, will she ever stop arguing?
"Ciel, I know what you're going to say. C'mon, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Just go to sleep now. In the morning we'll discuss it all you like. Look, I'm here to help you do what's best. After all, what are friends for?" He shrugged dramatically and smiled sheepishly at her.
Ciel just stood there, staring at him. Her mouth slowly curled into an amused smile.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. Thank you, Zero...but I was just going to tell you your pants are slipping. Better tighten them up before something happens."
Grinning, she hit the close pad and her door slid shut.
Zero blinked and looked down.
"...Zero..."
"Zero, it's me."
X?
"Yes..."
X, where have you been?
"I'm sorry, Zero."
Look, please tell me...
"No, I'm sorry, Zero. For now, it's best I don't."
What?
"Zero...I don't have much time. They'll come for me soon. Please listen to me."
Who are 'they'?
"Zero, you must find the Dark Elf. If they find her first...there will be no hope left in this world."
What? But we can't find her anywhere. What's going on?
"Come to me, Zero. south to the Lesiu Pass. We will be waiting for you. Hurry!"
X!
Zero woke up with a start and bolted upright in his bed.
"X?"
Silence. He looked around his room. Nothing.
Suddenly, an echoing alarm sounded through the base.
Warning! Warning! Attention all Resistance forces! Arm and assemble in shuttle bays! Prepare for deployment! This is not a drill! Commander Zero! Your immediate presence in the Command Center is requested!
Cursing, Zero slid out of bed and quickly donned his armor.
This doesn't sound good. Better get there quick.
He slid open his door and dashed through the corridors, his golden hair fanning out behind him.
He opened the door to the command center to see Cerveau and Ciel, who looked pale and shaken, waiting for him, along with several of the Resistance officers.
They all stood in the main pillar of the Resistance Command Center before the enormous display screen. He saw Sheela and Merem, the two operators, sitting in their usual seats before their holo-monitors, giving each other worried glances.
"What's going on?"
No-one said anything for a moment. Cerveau eyed Zero and then glanced meaningfully at the commander's chair, which had remained empty since Elpizo's death.
Zero's digestive unit did a somersault at the thought of what Cerveau was implying, as it was he who had sealed Elpizo's doom...but...
He glanced at Ciel, who implored him with her eyes. He groaned inwardly. Obviously, whatever it was, it meant taking this charade a step further.
Zero strode over to the commander's chair and sat in it, pulling his most serious expression onto his face.
Ciel spoke slowly. "Commander Zero...we've just received a distress signal from the Neo Arcadian capital."
Zero raised one eyebrow. "They're calling for help?"
Ciel nodded. "We should aid them, Zero. It might mean..."
"Commander Zero!" Merem interrupted. "We still have the transmission they sent. Shall we replay it?"
Zero nodded. "Put it on screen."
Sheela's fingers waved over the display screen control console.
"Replaying transmission."
The grey pool flickered and vanished to reveal a jade-green helmet and a familiar face.
Author: Whew, next chapter up. As usual, please R&R. Next chapter will flick to what happened in Neo Arcadia during this one. Can you guess whose POV? Anyway, love you all, readers.
Jim'Van