Chapter 2: Letting Go

"NO!" Zero yelled and sat up in his capsule. He looked around and found himself in his quarters. "X…" Zero sighed and got out of bed. "Two in the morning. Slept longer than I thought I would." Zero slowly climbed out and walked out into the unsurprisingly empty hallway.

"Hey, Zero." A very familiar voice called from the stairway.

"X?" Zero asked, walking up the stairs and out onto the roof of the Hunter Base. "Is that really you?"

Zero couldn't help smiling at the blue armored titan leaning against the railing. "Yeah, it's me, Zero."

"I wish I could be here to stay, but…" X started, "Thanks to you I have to go soon. I just want to say thanks for watching Alia for me. I know you'll keep her safe, third time's the charm."

"What?" Zero asked walking closer to the Last Son of Light.

"Zero, I would really like to know." X said with a friendly smile on his face, "I don't blame you, but…why couldn't you save me? Why didn't you at least try to stop me? You could have, so why didn't you? Why didn't you save me?"

"X…I… I…" Zero stuttered, backpedaling 'til he hit someone. He looked around and a smiling, pretty girl Reploid with long, brown hair looked up at him lovingly.

"I'd like to know the same thing." She said, walking over to stand beside X, "Why didn't you save me, Zero?"

"I-I-Iris?" Zero gasped.

"Answer the question, Zero." A third voice came from behind Zero, and before Zero could turn around Alia walked to X and placed her arms around his waist. "Why did you let her go, Zero? And why did you take him from me?"

"I didn't…" Zero stuttered as he kept backpedaling, "I did my best…I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry!"

"I'M SORRY!" Zero yelled, jumping and gasping for breath. "J-just… just a nightmare…" he gasped, looking around at his quarters. "Just a nightmare…"

Meanwhile in another area of the base, another Reploid was suffering from a nightmare, but this was one nightmare Alia couldn't escape. She had snuck into the main control room. As expected, no one was there. The base and Maverick activity was being watched by the several sub-control stations. She sat at her station, listening to the static of the 17th team's radio frequency, silently willing X's voice to sound and signify that everyone was wrong, and X was still with them… with her.

"Hunter Base to Hunter Megaman X. Hunter Base to Hunter Megaman X. X, if you are getting this, please respond." She requested in a begging voice, "X, Please respond." Silence. "X, please give us something, anything, please!" her voice was beginning to break and once again she broke down into sobs.

'He's gone, and never coming back.' A voice in the back of her mind spoke.

"'No. I'll never believe that, not 'til I have proof that he's… that he's…" She responded, not even able to think of that possibility.

'Face up to it Alia. Megaman X is DEAD!' the voice shot bitterly, 'And it's all your fault.'

"No…" Alia whimpered, fighting off a sob.

'Oh yes, it's all your fault; you were his spotter.' The voice explained hatefully, 'you should have known every detail about the situation he was in. You should have been able to tell him how to stop it from exploding or at least keep it from taking him with it.'

"I…I did my best…"

'If you did your best, X would still be alive.' The voice shot, 'You screwed up, Alia, just like you screwed up with Gate.'

'Gate…' Alia thought as a tear slid down her cheek.

'You're like a black widow spider, Alia.' The voice chuckled in her mind, 'any man you love, you kill.'

"I killed them…" Alia said; the tears were flowing freely now, "X… Gate… I killed them both…"

"NO!" A booming voice caused her to jump, "I will have you discharged from the Hunters if I EVER hear you say that again!"

She spun her chair around to see Signas looking at her sternly. She tried to respond, but looked down sadly, "But we both know it's true…"

"No, Alia," Signas said, his usual, strong voice melting into a more comforting one, "We both know that it's not true."

Alia said nothing as her commander and friend walked over and sat down in an empty chair at her side, "Alia, Gate was killed because he gave into the Virus. He was dead before X and Zero began their attack on his fortress. The only thing you did was put a suffering man to rest. And X… Alia, X knew the risks. He knew that he could have been killed when he summoned the Falcon Armor and went after that missile."

"But…" Alia started, but went silent when she finally looked up at Signas' face. The commander-in-chief of the Maverick Hunters was as strong at keeping his emotions in check as X and Zero were strong on the battlefield. In all their years working together, this was the first time she had ever seen tears running down his cheeks.

Signas then sat back and chuckled lightly, "You know… X and I talked about this very situation a few weeks back."

"What?" she asked in a soft and childlike voice.

"You know who he thought the most about? Who he least wanted to leave behind if something happened to him?"

"Zero?" Alia answered quietly.

"Hmmm, one would think that. They are… were nearly brothers." Signas said, reaching into the inside pocket of his uniform's jacket, "But if he was thinking of Zero, why… would he want me to give this to you if he… were to fall in battle?" He said with a faint and teary smile while holding a shimmering, gold medal in front of Alia.

Her trembling hands reached up and took the golden medallion in her hand and she looked at it in awe. On one side, it had the Maverick Hunters' symbol, and on the other side was engraved 'Presented to Novice Hunter Megaman X for actions above and beyond the call of duty'. "This… this is the medal he got during the First Maverick conflict."

"Yes it is." Signas said, the sadness returning to his voice, "It's truly a shame." He sighed, "X thought very highly of you, Alia. And what I'm about to tell you, I do not mean it to upset you, and in no way am I saying that this is a reason to hate yourself, but you didn't kill X, Alia. You saved him."

Alia cocked her head to the side, "What…. What do you mean?"

"X told me three weeks ago when he gave me that to give you." Signas explained, "he told me that during after the first uprising, he blamed himself for not being able to save the mavericks and being forced to destroy them. He treated death like a close, personal friend, Alia. I got the impression that the events of today would have been welcomed just a few years ago."

"Why… not today then?" Alia asked, choking on a sob and mentally kicking herself for showing this much emotion to her superior.

"You." Signas said simply. "X connected with Zero on a brotherly level, and they were close, but going out and meeting potentially certain death head on really isn't good for the psyche. He needed a friend, someone whose 'life didn't revolve around explosions'. Someone, as X said, 'who was into the same interests as him, someone who appreciated a good game of chess without taking out his Z Saber and cutting the board in half, someone who shared his interest in science and computer technology'." Signas then took his large finger and made the girl look at him, "You see, Alia, you were his reason for coming back from the battles.

"Signas?" Alia asked, still fighting the war with her emotions, "Did he really say all that?"

Signas nodded, but mentally added, 'and then some.'

"Then… why did you say it was a shame?" Looking up at him, her blue eyes held the curiosity of a child.

"Uhh…" Signas gawked, 'Damn it, I said too much. Might as well get it out.'

He looked down, not able to meet her teary, sapphire eyes, "I just said it was a shame because I'm sure you two would have been a magnificent couple, one that would have added a lot of light to this depressing base."

That did it; Alia's emotions rushed her defenses and broke through with a surge of sobs and a flood of tears. Signas brought the trembling girl into a friendly hug and gave his shoulder for her to cry on. He patted her back gently as he listened to her tears flowing, and let his own grief over the loss of his friend fly. She would never accept it, but she now realized X was gone, never to return.

Meanwhile several hundred miles away, night had fallen on the desert around three miles away from the rocket base where Megaman X met his far too early end and a mile and a half away from the crater where the bulk of the missile hit, a large pile of wreckage lay with smoke still slowly rising from it. Slowly, some of it began to shift and move as a single figure rose from the preverbal ashes, his armor destroyed, and blood slowly flowing from his many cuts and body damage. Gasping slightly, he stumbled out of the wreckage, brought his hand to his side, and felt a large piece of metal puncturing his side. With a loud cry, he jerked the shard of metal from his body.

"E-eject…Falcon Armor…" he whispered as the destroyed, silvery-white armor fell from his body to reveal the remaining, heavily damaged, blue armor. He brought his torn, white glove up to his forehead and flinched when he touched the open gash above his brow. He then brought his wrist up to his face. "Hunter X to Hunter Base, Hunter X to Hunter Base, do you read?" he asked over his secondary radio, but got nothing, not even static. "Great… Helmet radio gone and wrist radio destroyed, just marvelous."

X's vision began to blur, but he tried to shake it off as he began to walk or more accurately stumble his way to what he hoped was civilization. He walked for hours, despite his pain and the emergency warning in his head, saying that his body had taken critical damage and would shutdown if the damage was not repaired immediately.

As the sun began rise, he spotted some greenery at a small oasis. He walked, hoping it wasn't an illusion, and as he was a few feet from the water, the damage to his legs became too much and the Second Blue Bomber collapsed on the ground. How long he lay there, he didn't know, but he could slowly feel the life draining out of him. "Alia… Zero…" X finally gasped, excepting that this was his end, "I'm sorry… I didn't…make it… home…"

As if on cue, he felt two hands slowly and gently roll him over to face the sky. X's weak eyes slowly opened and looked at the person now at his side. At first he couldn't recognize the person, other than the fact it was a long-haired, feminine figure. Once his eyes focused, he smiled at the familiar face, "Funny… I… always thought Angels… were just a human fairy tale… But I'm really not surprised you… made the cut…" he then gave a weak chuckle as he began to black out, "I'm glad God sent a friend to get me…"

To Be Continued…