Kirby/X chapter 12.
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̛̞̰͕̣̅"̖͖̩͉̖̽̆̀͠ḧ̷̝̤͖͚̠̤I̷̱̭̯̞̦̽͌r̛̟͓̈̏ͦO͎͈̬̬̯̤̭͗̆ͯ̎͟h̤̪̐ͦ͋͝A̸̮̯̙͆͛ͫ̆Å҉̠̟͎͍̻̹A̧̝̘̬͙̞̝͓̪̎̐Á̛͇̻̹̩̼̤̩A̰̟̪ͣ̐̈́͡A̡͎͔͋A̵̞͓̩̥̞̣ͦͫ̾́a͂̈́̀҉͓̟͈̙͖̯͙ͅA̷̤̰̮͗ͅȃ̷͕̖͉̿ä͖͎̠͇̱̠̠̒͂͝ͅa̮͕͙̼̬̠͊̀ͅa̸̬̣̼͚̠̥ͬ̆ạ̶͓̦̟̪͉̹̯̽a̶̘̱͌ͯĀ͉͍̱͙͍̳͉̀Ā̶̻̪͕̠̫ͤA̹̮̣̙͆̑̊͟!̵̢̗̟͉̠̞͔͎͒ͦͣ͒̈̅"̗͙̯̬̝̦ͦ̔̀
Zero screeched as he lunged at Lor-Ruah, unmindful of the heart spear that had pierced where his heart should be. His rage was such that once again, Madan-Mohan was knocked unconscious.
Would he be awake, he would curse the Jamba heart over and over again until his stupid heart-shaped abomination would be deleted from existence; being an empath sucked.
But since he was once again knocked out, he could just flop on the ground as his poor brain got blended by 0² gut-wrenching rage.
Would he not be born from Landia's DNA... Well, it would be infinitely worse.
Not that 0² cared at the moment, his only goal was to throttle Lor-Ruah, to kill the damn thing.
Dharadhara had a hunch as to why, and to be honest...
If he were in 0²'s shoes at the moment, he would do the same thing.
What she did... It went against everything the Dhanur Veda stood for and what to say about the Bhakti-Shastri.
0² had a past, no use denying it... but everyone came from somewhere, and all had baggage to lug around.
And Zero's Baggage... was damn heavy.
The generator of the Dark Race could've killed Kamala on so many occasions; hell, the earth was practically his, his children having found the perfect host.
But no, 0² rejected his victory, his conquest of Dharma-Kshetra and instead tried to fix his mistake.
Funny how easy it was to empathize with a monster once you saw his human side.
The air had turned bloody red around them while barcode-like structures swirled around the perimeter. No platform where to be had, all they could do was to stand on the sphere's outer edge since gravity was what 0² made it to be.
Dark Matter spawns watched on as their generator rushed at the weapon meant for his destruction, never letting the pressure as he called the Z-blade again or something that resembled it.
But Lor-Ruah was no slouch in fighting, for it was clear that the Ancient Chozo made weapons, which had given her all of their fighting knowledge, and the data she lifted from watching Axl and X train and compete in her battle simulation.
It was brutal, bloody... and wholly unnecessary.
Their only saving grace was how Kamala-Kanta stayed his nubs, unwilling to attack unless all of Zero's lore was known.
In the meantime, Madan-Mohan had to be fished out of the dream water before something ridiculous happened...
like turning human...
'Actually... maybe I'll let him stew in there for a bit...' The water turned red, black and oily.
Dharadhara cringed as he pulled his best friend out of the water and floated the hell away from the corrupted dream water.
They had enough of one Nightmare, they didn't need a second, more powerful one.
"And that's what happens when you get Zero mad." He grumbled as he watched with a tired type of resignation at what had been hidden under the guy of the blond reploid.
It was 0², and honestly, Dharadhara was about this close to beating his head on any remaining vertical surface about how blind he had been to all the clues floating around.
(Having hung around for as long as he had, Dharadhara had grown an exceptional resilience to anything that had shown itself to mister Lovecraft. That, and some of his Waddle Dee... may not be 'just' Waddle Dee's.)
Meanwhile, the fight was at a brutal standstill; while Lor-ruah could send at Zero plenty of techno-magic missiles, Zero would bat them off harmlessly, and when he failed, he would soak up the attack and then heal rapidly.
He even lost his head once.
He regrew it, along with his long blond hair.
The fight kept going, and the only thing Dharadhara could do was... to hide like a coward.
Not that he had all that much choice, since Madan-mohan was still out.
And by out, he meant, bleeding from his eyeballs and probably suffering from his species' equivalent of an aneurysm.
Joy...
there was also the whole... thing about whose side he should take.
Should he give his support to 0²? The poor man had been grieving, but until he knew what his wish had been, something only Madan would see, he would stay his hands. But it didn't feel right to give support to Lor-Ruah either, since Kamala had elected to sit down and watch the whole fight with a frown on his face.
And the look he's given Dhara, the small shake of his head as he disapproved of the whole thing.
There was also the fact that, so far, 0²(was it really his name?) only had eyes to Lori, and as per following the Vedic rules of wars,
Suddenly, there was a scream, the Lor had managed to pierce his chest with a heart spear, the same that had been Jabbed in Void's prison, the Jamba heart.
The poor thing (yes, poor thing, being a Devotee meant that your heart would soften to a ridiculous degree... and damn if Dhara didn't feel the pain the scourge of the Galaxy felt at the moment.) was spazzing violently as he screamed in pain.
"Kirby! Now!" She Ordered, taking the spear and investing more energy into it.
The Hyper-zone distorted as its maker writhed and cried... tears of blood flooding the battle filled as they once again were in the heart of Nova.
Kamala looked at Zero, letting out a quiet poyo, his eyes filling with tears as he raised X's crystal buster.
At the sight of his dead lover's buster, Zero four could not hold his rage. Screaming to heaven a screech that seemed to rip the soul out of everyone's body, staggering Lor-Ruah and Kamala, Zero lunged, forming an energy sword.
The demon dance formed sword beams almost too big to be dodged. Kamal had experience in escaping this type of destruction... but Not Lor-Ruah.
She screamed as one of her legs was shorn off. She sent a barrage of energy spheres in retaliation toward the eldritch being.
Zero batted them all away, his skin burning once in contact with the solid light... but he didn't flinch.
He wanted her dead.
He wanted her gone.
Only primal rage filled him...
it was a rage born from a speck of the Lord's Anger when his beloved and servants weren't shown the respect they deserve.
0² had nothing else to live for; out of grief, he had lost all mental capacity, returning to his source code.
To Zero, the Scourge of the Galaxy, the eater of a thousand stars.
But Lor-Ruah wasn't done; she blew the dancing sacrificial demon away with a swish of her sail. And while she did receive another hit for her trouble, Zero was not unscathed either.
"Oh, this is bad!" Kamala said to Dharadhara. "I've made it worse!"
"He's... grieving." Madan-Mohan groaned as he returned to a certain degree of consciousness... enough for him to speak, but not to move.
How could he, when the grieving Zero, whatever was flooding him with his grief, pain and wrath?
"Well I didn't notice, knight." Dhara sassed. "And Kamala, why the hay have ya eaten X, for God's sake I thought you'd grown outta dat phase."! He drawled, his accent slipping along with his rising anger.
But before Kamala could answer, Zero roared in pure wrath as he managed to shoot down Lor-Ruah, who, now covered with the beast's corrosive blood, had to return to her vessel form.
But being a boat didn't mean that she was weaker, quite the opposite really. For now, she had full access to all of her artillery without the constraint of the human form.
And the first thing she did was to send her cutter wing in an attempt to slay the still dazed Zero... and terrible result.
The blade struck his weeping chest, sending him in a mess of wires that had once carried the Wish-three's power to the whole of the Nova, now dull and dead after the death of the legendary three.
The room turned silent... a sort of deathly din that happened after a horrible event as if to truly imprint the Trauma onto one's brain.
Madan Gasped as he jumped off Dharadhara's back. "Oh, Krishna, save us. We have to leave now!"
"Wha-" But before Dhara could finish his one word... the dead nova began to shake violently; the water basined, once black, turned red and... raw nerves erupted from
their depths.
The coppery smell of sick blood filled the air, somehow filling the cavernous room with a miasmic atmosphere. And from the dept of the desecrated cup arose...
Zero four in its full glory. His wings connected him to the Nova, the eldritch being having taken the place of the Kalpa Vriksha; his... old and unused eyelid had torn open, revealing a gaping maw dripping with blood and golden ichor... and a reploid core.
And Zero's one eye... was filled with Nothing but wrath and pain.
Gone was the sorrow; he just wanted to see her gone.
A fleshy membrane replaced the smooth wall of the Nova, then they turned bone-bleached white.
And then... crimson eyes opened, their black pupils trained on Lor-Ruah.
"Kamala... Dhara... what is going on?" Robobo asked his old friends, his innards telling him that whatever would happen... wouldn't lead to a very happy ending.
"Prajapati Zero's making a reversed womb," Gandharva informed the star team with the same intensity he did when he realized Hygness was about to revive Void by sacrificing himself and his three daughters to the Jamba heart.
"A reverse-"
"We need to get out!" The blob took his form as mock matter and flew away... only to return in panic, his one eye filled with fear. "There's no exit!"
"Oh..."
"Master Kamala, I am currently scanning those membranous walls for a cinch... I cannot find one..."
"Oh, It's alright. We had a good run anyway." Kamala dismissed. "So, who's ready for Kirtana? Dhara?"
"... yeah, sure... if this... reverse womb can really kill this body," Dhara grumbled as he laid Madan down and picked up his Karatala. "Am leading until next time we meet, yah hear?"
"Hai!" Kamala-Kantha das cheered, unafraid of death...
why would they, for they knew that death was never the end?
They could hear Lor-Ruah screech as she tried to kill Zero, wounding him more and more... not that he cared anymore.
Dhara began to sing, his deep booming voice the Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra, ready to go through his final exam, the sacred sound vibration bringing fearlessness, serenity and divine promises reaching even the god of destruction...and then...
And then a star-shaped void tore itself open, and a huge clawed hand, its wrist held aloft by a sun-hexagon, emerged.
A familiar, Magical hexagon of whitish-blue light.
The clawed hand grabbed all the Vaishnavas, then tried to reach for Lor-Ruah, only to have her attack it, forcing it to retreat.
And not a moment too soon, for Lor-Ruah only had enough time to curse the name of her parental figure before all eyes filled white light, and the room turned bright... and her body turned into dust, deconstructed to an atomic level.
~0~
...
Dharadhara took some time to get accustomed to the vacuum of space after being held in an artificial atmosphere for some time. Not the most pleasant of experiences, but it contained nothing compared to remembering that, oh hey, Krishna wasn't there! And he still didn't have any love for him!
He was a soul, for crying out loud; he had nothing to do with this body! He had nothing to do with the world of matter either, so why...
Why was he, after millennia of Knowing Krishna's stomach, the king of dreamland, still attached to his title and body?
Still... floating in the ocean of forbidden air for an unknown amount of time wasn't appealing to Dhara; there were so many souls to give Krishna to, so many pilgrimages to be had, and temples to be built! what to say for all the Sankirtanas and book distributions and-
Besides, with how freakishly long he would live, Dhara didn't think he was good enough to meditate on the form of the lord for that long. He was not this type of devotee, he wasn't a pure one!
"Oh, Krishna..." The powerful king folded his palms as he began to pray for salvation... or for he Lord to get him out of his body before King Dedede's mind dissolved into an incoherent mulch, preventing the soul from even remembering his name.
"your majesty... isn't it a bit early to fear like that?" Madan telepathically asked with an unimpressed quirk from his brows.
"Madan, we be floating in the vacuum o' space. I'd rather the Lord take me out of this hell than float with nothin' to do for all eternity.' Dhara Argues back, careful not to point out how the strongest warrior of the Galaxy had been a dead weight.
You wouldn't rag on a man whose hyper-sensitive psyche made him vulnerable to powerful espers... especially if the guy had been and is still known to duke it out with Kamala's angelic brother.
It was like shitting on a vet's Inability to handle enclosed space because of his PTCD or his chronic pains and lack of limbs.
Instead of answering, Madan't eyes turned amused pink with a bit of annoyance. And...
"Well, Hullo king Dharadhara das, fancy meeting you here!" Robobo conveyed with joy as he held the drifting king and his knight. In his hull was Kamala, Mangalananda had taken his full mater form (only reserved when he had to go all out.) Ghandarva floating beside him as a mock matter. and in his hands were a rather white washed Axl and a helmetless Vava, both of them waving with a crooked grin... that fell a few moments later.
Axl Mouthed oh fuck, and Vava face was filled with pure, unadulterated Horror.
Dharadhara managed to turn his body toward the nova moon, the glorious Earth now facing him. But unlike the dusty surface of the uber space computed, nerves and blood vessels crawled on its surface, followed by flesh and finally titanium white skin. White growth emerged from the flesh, and from them, blood red... disjointed 'fins' emerged.
And, if the group would have the earth at their back, they would have faced the hollowed out eyes of a Nova, a bloody, clearly robotic red eyes filling its cat like mouth.
A halo of stars appeared at the apex of the sphere, finishing its unholy transformation.
The group of warriors watched in dread, mutely (save for Axl who was muttering a storm of unheard curses and slurs.) stared in Horror.
They had thought Sigma would be the one taking over the Nova...
They never expected Zero to pull this off, let alone a dear friend they had made.
'Zero... what is it you're-" But before Madan and Dharadhara could have a banter about the why of everything. A lethal beam emerged from the front of the nova...
And struck the Earth.
Robobo quickly moved behind the bulky false moon, on his back, the true moon seemed to weep at the loss of Mother Earth.
There was no release of energy, no sound... no scream.
Axl and Vava could only screech soundlessly as their home world became but another casualty of 0², the God of Destruction.
Wordlessly, Robobo, along with Kamala and Mangalananda flew through the sea of ether back to the now corrupted Nova, having no other physical shelter... save the lord, of Course.
But they all knew... Even Krishna, the Husband of Mother Earth was mourning his beloved.
~0~
When they entered Zerova, sound returned to the magical atmosphere. And with this, Vava and Axl's gut wrenching wails and sobs.
The two reploids, forgetting rank, age and power clung to one another like lifelines.
The rest of the Vaishnavas... had to take some time to process the horrific events. Hours, really.
It wasn't like they were pressed for time anymore, their main objectives had already been achieved... and their next one was...
it was...
"No, I refuse to believe it!" Madan-Mohan exclaimed as he paced around in another part of the Mozzarella-smooth surface of the Zerova, his brows furrowed. "Mother Earth is a Goddess, none other than Sri-Varahadeva's auspicious wife and Karma-Kshetra, there's no way, just no way her divine husband would've let 0 destroy her. Kill all life on her surface? Sure, it wouldn't be the first time it happened, but even then, it isn't the time for a dissolution! IT'S THE GOLDEN AGE, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"
Dharadhara stood there quietly, mulling over the event as he leaned his chin on the handle of his mallet, letting the pain ground him during this time of distress. "I... don't got a clue there, Madan. But... yer right, we didn't see the Earth get blown up. Fer all we know..."
"For all we know, our schedule was wrong, and this wasn't a Golden Age of Kali..." Madan-Mohan shook his head. "Which is complete and utter bullshit! We were there for Nitiyananda's birth in Ekachakra dham. We played with him, fed him, ran after him as he was dressed with nothing but the wind. I followed him during his first-ever pilgrimage. And we were there, in the Jalangi river, when the full moon was eaten by Rahu, marking the start of the golden age, and the birth of Gaurangadeva."
The golden Lord, the most merciful of all, the hidden avatar for the most fallen age... had been (and always will be.) a little shit growing up.
And it was glorious!
From stealing food to playing with poisonous snakes to locking people in their homes when they had to answer the call of nature in a time when interior bathrooms were nonexistent. Those moments of the Golden Lord were as sweet, if not sweeter, then Krishna's own.
Really, the old Vaishnava had been blessed... he had been blessed by God's presence, hell, he'd even been in Sri-Vishvambara's Maha-Prakasha-lila in which the golden Grammarian had revealed to be Sri-Krishna himself for nearly a day.
"No... I don't think the earth's all blown up, Bhudevi, Dharani's still there..." Dharadhara spoke with conviction. "Her Husband, sri-Varaha deva would neva have abandoned his wife like that. Zero would've died on the spot, no question asked."
"But... what about the fate of all of those living on her surface?" Madan asked, emotions colouring his voice.
Dharadhara was about to give the poor psychic knight hope when a white form emerged from the perfectly flat and featureless planes.
It was... Lumine. And yet...
He had taken Zero Two's features, his eyes were blood red, and blood-filled slits littered his body. But what really caused the king of dreamland and the most powerful warrior in the Galaxy (not counting any types of Avatars or Hanuman, that is.) to pause was the emotions he displayed.
It was sorrowful acceptance; the dark liquid oozing from his eyes as a parody of salty tears just drove it even further.
But before anyone could react, they heard Axl let out a pain-filled war cry as he unleashed a volley of bullets before throwing his plasma guns at Lumine's head before lunging at the corrupted bot, letting out what could only be a feral scream of pure, unadulterated rage.
As he pummelled on the red and white new gen, more reploids emerged. All had the same look... all looked at the Vaishnavas with sorrow, as silent as tombs.
"Huh... Guys?" Vava asked Gandharva as he aimed his cannons at the...
Zombies? Dark Minded beings?
Whatever they were, it didn't seem to phase Axl at all, the grieving Reploids destroying them one by one with his bare hands, despite them getting up again, and again.
And yet... none of those Zero Two like reploids retaliated.
"Well... that's not normal." Dhara mumbled as he kept his mallet ready. "Mangala... Gandhi, any clues?" The king of dreamland asked the two. "Kamala? Gooey?"
"They want us to follow." Gandharva spoke, having returned to his form of mock matter. "Father... is waiting for us."
"Dude... it's... what the fuck going on?" Vava asked, his eyes wild as he tried to understand what, for him, must be one hell of a fever dream.
Mangalananda, who was still in his Matter form, gently patted his back with his massive hands. "This... is usually how it goes with Kirby... also, Father... err, Zero wants to see us as soon as possible, so he sent a welcoming party, don't worry, none of them will attack you... and yes, I knew you have questions, and I will make it my mission to answer them all." the abomination bowed.
"Alright! Enough talking, I have around 700 billion human lives to avenge." Axl grumbled, his now white armour covered in... blood and Energen.
Mangalananda and Gandharva remained curiously silent about Axl's declaration, but from them, and the hundred or so processed reploid, sorrows and shame ebbed and flowed.
Lumine got up, looking... well, horrifying from his wounds, and floated up to Axl catching up with the grieving replica.
"Follow me... I will show you the way." and with that, Lumine turned on his heels and led them to another random part of the perfectly smooth ball of misery.
Then... the ground opened, and the elevator opened.
With no other option, the group entered, leaving behind the hoard of zombified new-gen up above.
~0~
"So... mind explaining to this old man why y'all changed colour? And how 'bout you Mangala, what in the name of Srimati-Radharani's favourite ankle bells happened to you, did... is that the master crown on your head?" The moment Dharadhara mentioned the master crown, Kamala-Kantha and Madan-Mohan tensed up, ready to fight the interdimensional abomination again, Robobo not far behind.
But Magolor... dropped down, his eyes growing sad.
"Guys... I... it's alright; that's how I really look." He explained as he tried to look as non-threatening as possible despite taking half the room. "I... I'm an N-Z, I was born of Zero millennia ago... I saw you all jump over me back in dark-star."
Kamala and Dharadhara stared. "Ah... good on you fer yer amazing memory?" Dhara stated as a question.
"Basically... yeah, I survived my planet blowing up, got taken by the Jamba cultist, learned about Lo... About the Lor Starcutter, the ancient Chozos and well... ran away from the bastion, got taken down by Landia, then I met you guys..."
"But... Why did you take this form again, Mangala? Are you... are you turning evil again?" Kamala asked the last part in as close to a whisper as you could get without being one.
The spherical body of the transdimensional abomination expanded and deflated. "That's because my master... is using me to lead you to him." Mangalananda stated as he erected a shield, just in time to stop Axl.
"God, can you be more annoying?" The eldritch being muttered. "So, as I was saying, Zero is using me as his herald, since it's clear you won't just follow Lumine around like a bunch of idiots. So, he... asked me, your friend despite everything to escort you to him."
"Why? So he may kill us?"
Magolor remained silent, and instead, gently ushered everyone in a lift. "... No, and that's all I can tell you."
without any other choice, the group followed him, the atmosphere like a heavy fog over them all.
The descent happened without much fuss, Axl was brooding, probably planning Zero's painful demise while Vava had curled up against the corner-less wall, his face buried in his hands and he shook like a leaf.
It was a far cry from the insane maverick who was in it only for the schadenfreude and overall mayhem.
But then again, who could've prepared the poor reploid for... this, you know?
Thankfully, Gandharva was keeping the breaking man's company, serving as a therapeutic slime for the old warrior.
Madan had approached Mangalananda, and the two exchanged telepathic messages. Mangalalnanda asked Madan-mohan how he was holding and if he could spell his migraine away, and Madan gracefully agreed, knowing that this was not the same Mangalananda that tried to crash an artificial dimension on their head in a bid to kill them.
He had admitted that it was at this moment Mangalananda realized that trying to use Kirby as a means to regain his true heirloom and power was a terrible, terrible idea, since the pink puffball, for all of his friendliness and soft heart was also the best of Yogi and rumoured to be Sri-Krishna's all-powerful and independent stomach. And thus, had a bit of a 'kill it with fire!' moment.
All had been cleared up in the end, and yes, Mangalananda had built something for Kamala.
No, not a theme park; this was how Mister Sakurai and Mister Miyamoto had... neutered Mangalananda's beautiful gift of love.
He had taken a part of the land in Popstar, and he'd built a temple in the name of Radha-Krishna. Then he surrendered his life to them and begged Kamala-Kantha das to teach him about bhakti.
He had asked... humbly, with head bowed.
So no, it wasn't a theme park, why would Mangalananda build a theme park for Kamala-Kantha, Kamala had been a Vaishnava for as long as people could remember, and Vaishnavas found no fun in capitalistic things like a loud, polluting and ultimately useless theme park.
But a temple? A temple with a fully stocked library, a pair of Ashrams, gardens, grazing cows, and farmable land?
Yes, please!
With such a sincere plea, Kamala had readily forgiven Magolor of his previous infractions, and, it helped that he had been the one to find Baratha-bhumi again, a planet Earth covered with life...
and the Mercy of Gauranga.
"Kirby... you still remember this time?" Mangala asked. "Aww shucks... wish... I wish it wouldn't have to come to this but... That's my Karma, it seemed." The Anomaly said dejectedly.
"It's Alright, Mangala. You're still my friend." The tiny warrior covered in Crystal assured his now long-time friend, patting his hands.
Mangalananda's one eye filled with tears. "Yeah." He choked out. "You... you too... even..."
"Even?" Madan-mohan asked, his eyes turning Yellow.
But Mangala once again began silent, moving away from the group.
"It's... something I can't say, Madan..."
and that was the end of all meaningful conversation.
~0~
Ten minutes later, the lift stopped its downward movement.
Robobo had calculated that they must've reached the Nova's core again.
When the door opened, the ensouled robot could've sworn he'd heard Kamala muttering under his breath 'And here we are.'
Odd, but it must have something to do with an adventure he had after Robobo had been ejected to outer space.
Waiting for them was a long corridor, the furthest portal was fully open, revealing the form of Zero Two, hanging from a chaotic mess of wire in an all too white room. What had once been red eyes were now black and hollow, and the smell of Ozone was still overly present.
A grim reminder of what had once happened in this room.
The group entered as a procession, Vava following behind.
The poor dear, it was clear he was not used to the Kirby brand of evil.
And Robobo would readily admit that after a star dream, floating in space, and meeting this one flying blond with the Vina had felt like a well-needed vacation, a mental health care vacation.
"Vava, my boy... stay strong, I'm here with you..."
Vava's footsteps faltered, and Robobo was quick to catch him as he faltered, holding Vava under his arms as he lifted him with the help of his jet pack.
"... and here we are." Mangalananda spoke in front of the last barrier between them and Zero Two, a thin, glass-like Material. "Kamala-Kantha... none of us hates you. We know your nature... and you know ours." The one-eyed abomination said as he turned to the tiny pink ball, his frown fearsome for those who knew his true power. "I know it may sound like a trap... but... progenitor Shuniasura desires to... face you alone."
Cries of discontent arose among the group, but Axl merely grinned, gripping his recovered gun tighter.
"It's alright, I can take him by myself. Besides, Axl, you're too hurt emotionally; you won't be able to make a good decision." Kamala told the grieving reploid.
"Fuck you, I'm fine." he spat. "Besides, I know how it'll go: you get in there, you use your super, super move and kill the guy dead. That's how it goes... and that's what I need."
"And this is why, Soldier, we can't let you fight!" Madan-mohan snapped, using his commander's voice. "Once again, those video games arenot reality, Kamala has killed fewer people than those works of fiction portray!" The knight spoke with great emotions. "A demon will kill indiscriminately for his own pleasure, to feel above all else... to be in control of other's lives. Hero the likes of Kamala-Kantha das and Dharadhara das first try with sweet words, bribes, warnings and finally, if all else fails, they will fight to the death. But not until after exhausting all other avenues!"
"but this is boring!" Axl stopped the ground like a brat. "And why should we listen to this traitor?! Huh? He destroyed the Earth! We have no more home to return to, no Layer, No Alia, no Palette no-"
""̵̪̟̪͉̓́́͆̐̂̉͑͊́̓̅̇͋W̷̢̨̢̡̙̞͕̝͚̗͔͈͕̗̃͗͌̈́̑͐͒̌̉̊̉͑͝ḥ̶̛̛̦̩̣̳̬̱͇̠͚͎͍͊͛̽̔̽a̸̭͖̣̫͙͓̼̞̭̮͌͆͜t̸̫̻͚͙͖̖̹̂̅̄̀̅̃̽͑̑͆͝?̵͙̩͚̞̱͇̣̦̟͇̺̺̊ͅͅ"̴̡̧̨̙̤̣̼̟̻͕̱̪̜͗͋͂́̔̌ͅ" Mangalananda squawked.
But before anyone could decipher his shocked question, the glass-like partition slid open...
and Axl, being the fastest (Not counting Mandan-mohan and Kamala.) wasted no time and dashed toward the hanging figure of his old mentor and friend, ready to end his life.
And yet, despite the scream of pure rage and the plasma pistol shots hitting him, Zero did not move. He remained hanging from what remained of the Nova's heart container, still quiet despite everything.
At least, Until Axl came close enough to Zero's severed arms. The two dead pieces of demoniac technology, made a grab at the feral reploid, who then began to shift forms in a bid to escape their grasp.
But, it was all for naught, nothing could work, for Axl was still a prototype and thus could not change his size.
"Axl." Zerova croaked, his body still slumped in its wire harness.
"NO! LET ME GO!" The young reploid screamed as he struggled for freedom. 'LET ME GO, YOU GLITCH!" He kept cursing and fighting.
Zerova... just looked sadly at the struggling reploid, the one he had once taken under his wing, his second student.
The air was tense, Kamala had the legendary XCG prime and ready, despite his heart breaking.
He could not help it; even if Zero had been a demon as big as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, the tiny devotee of the Lord would still feel pain for him.
Zero raised his head (with difficulty, it seemed that even in the low gravity of the satellite, the white angel of destruction had barely enough energy left to move.) and glared at Kamala.
The Tiny Star warrior jumped to his feet, his eyes furrowed.
"Zero... Ya got to let him go, please." Dharadhara said as he gently approached the beast. Still remembering the conversation, he had with him. "What do you want, Zero? What can we all do for ya?"
"Sir Zero..." Madan began, only to trail off.
"Poyo..." Kamala-Kantha spoke up, his little chirp conveying a whole conversation...
Zero let out a feral grumble, unearthly growl as he held Axl closer; the poor bot was doing everything in his power to have Zero release him from his deadly embrace, his red, red eyes focusing solely on the pink star warrior wearing the copy of X's armour.
The air hummed with power, Zero two's blood arose from the ground, and from them, Dark Matter spawned, their cruel eyes never leaving Kamala.
Kamala took his stance and...
Zero loosened his hold on Axl, and for the briefest of moments, a look of relief passed his unique eyes.
Of course, when you were in a robotic body made by the Haltman company, the briefest of moments could easily be transformed into long enough to be thoroughly analyzed by five AIs running at full render simultaneously in the course of five days.'
In other words...
Kamala raised one of his stumps high and got up on one foot, Zero released Axl and let his arms fall as he closed his eyes in pure rapture, awaiting his long longed death, ready to be released from his accursed mortal coils.
Robobo could cry again if he could. He may not know that much about who this person is. Only that he had been inside Zero... and this person had loved X so much that even the false moon could not survive his anguish.
Kamala-Kantha began to glow like the sun; Zero closed his eyes.
~0~
Zero closed his eyes.
He was... tired... so tired of the pain, the miseries that kept hounding his heels ever since he'd opened his eyes in the middle of the sacrificial arena.
Nothing went right, he always seemed to make the worst decision, and no matter what he'd tried, he could... not be.
And for Ninety years, he'd thought he'd met his soulmate, the one that, by his mere presence, could make any situation better and who could, just for a bit, make the miseries a bit more tolerable.
But... as with everything in his life, X was taken away from him... By Lumine...
But... rendering Lumine as a mentally broken doll, having reached the fabled yet cursed state of Nirvana Buddhists longed to reach, had done nothing to alleviate his sorrow.
Who would've thought?
And then Lori Happened...
For once in his eon old life, he had been about to perform a selfless act.
X had always dreamed of seeing the earth flourish again and protecting it.
Once again, this hope had died... and X's dream.
But... he'd still managed... he'd still managed to make it happen... and now, the only thing he longed for was sleep.
Besides, he was guaranteed to take birth as a human in his next life... so there was no big loss there.
From the back of his eyelids, Zero could see that the light grew dimmer until only darkness remained.
Now, it would be ridiculously easy for him to think that this was the end, but Zero was so old and had seen so much, including how death truly worked for the embodied living entity that he knew...
He knew it was not the end.
Well, it was the end of Zero Two, the one born of the second failed Yajna... his life would end in a flash, and that would be it; the body of Zero would be no more, and he, the soul that had been trapped in the cursed body... and no, there was not a reunion with the departed loved one, for they had already moved on...
First, to Pluto, where their sins would be judged by Yamaraja, then they would be sent at the bottom of the Bhumandala systems, where the hellish planetary system resided in layers. There, they would suffer through, well, Hell until all the excess bad Karma would be burned through torture, and after tens of thousands of years, they would retake birth, most of them as Animals, plants, and microbes until they once again reached the ever so rare human form of life.
He'd seen it, he'd been there... and if humans had heard of this place, they would deny its existence since nowadays, all humans, saved by those rare pious souls who knew the true ways of the world, would go there.
Every action had a reaction; every death, even the killing of the most insignificant cells and amoeba, would produce sinful reactions.
It was divine justice... and yes, it was fair.
Everything worked perfectly, good would be rewarded, and bad would be punished... as a mixed bag of the two.
His skin felt prickly, the cables that had merged in his back painful as they upheld his useless shell.
He heard a Gasp, quite a few, really. But he was so tired... the act of opening his eyes seemed about as possible as reviving X.
And there was this annoying buzzing sound in his ears, making it near impossible to hear, and he was so tired, the only thing he wanted was to sleep and forget the shit day he just had... and his whole life, while he was on the topic.
He felt something soft touch his face, fingers that held both the searing heat of the light and the coolness of moonlight.
And the heartbreaking energy that had once coursed X's Body... Niru-Lor-mapop body.
'Niru-Lor-Mappop... Wait... heavenly hope of void or...my divine hope?' Then 0² banished this silly, silly notion. It didn't matter anymore; X was gone... everything was gone...
He leaned into it... one last... just... one last memory...
All fade to black.
Little did he know...
~0~
That he would wake up again...
...
...
He kept staring at the ceiling; it was... a very average ceiling, painted a matte white so as to not cause the eyes to strain...
It was a ceiling...
Zero... wanted it gone.
He wanted... everything to be gone.
He was still alive... still there. Not even in a coma, just...
there.
Laying on a relatively comfortable mattress that could even accommodate his monstrous wing spans. His highly sensitive tail comfortably curled on... yes, velvet; Zero wondered what went wrong. And why did Kirby not kill him...
Maybe... Maybe he knew he never really meant to kill the kid; sure, Axl was an annoying little shit at times... but he was just a kid who didn't know how to cope with all the murder and pain of losing his old family to Sigma.
To be honest, Axl still had plenty to look forward to, especially now, since Zero somehow managed to turn himself into a temporary desire three.
X's wish had to live on, even if it was the last thing Zero would do.
Actually, Zero wished it had been so... a parting gift, as it were, an apology for his existence and his inability to save people.
And, you know, this whole 'consume everything in sight and end all life because if you can't feel love and bliss, no one will.'
...
They would have a future... a better future free from the terms 'Mavericks' and 'Reploids.'
A future where their children would not have to sell themselves for extra oxygen; they would run barefoot in the grass, learning from Dharadhara das and Kamala-Kantha how to grow their own food, respecting Mother Earth earth for what she truly was.
Oh sure, Axl and Vava were still around, but if Kamala still remained on Earth, then there was nothing to worry about.
And yet... Kamala left him alive... despite this star warrior's numerous victories over his kind.
Alive... on a ship plying the ocean of air (or gasses that were not oxygen.)
Knowing himself to be alone and probably in a sealed room, Zero began to sob, curling in on himself.
He felt... so alone.
So tired... so tired of his own rage, he could not even muster the strength to scream, so he sobbed weakly.
He didn't have to wear a mask anymore... actually, he wanted to cry like this ever since he had to end Iris' life... and when he realized he had lost all control of his spawns.
Zero... The reploid was dead... his armour, his strength... his cold heart...
He was now barren to the world, free of any covering saved his shredded pride and
He had always been alone, with no one to give him love and warmth, no one to hold him and tell him that, despite his birth... Despite what he did...
Zero sobbed harder... no, of course, he didn't deserve any mercy; he didn't deserve anything good.
He had killed countless lives over the Eons since his birth... eaten planet's worst of pious entities, and consumed all lights until all was a dark as him.
This is Karma, plain and simple.
He had made so many mistakes...
"Oh, God... Oh God, I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." he sobbed and wailed as the bed he was in turned into an ocean of cursed blood.
He... didn't think he had the ability to cry like that, for usually, there would be this numbness that would cover him like a thick blanket, in which he would just... be.
It was hell, but... he wasn't crying...
Or maybe he had, and he couldn't make a difference anymore.
No thoughts...
He felt... and by God's sacred envoy, he hated it.
He was Alone... so alone.
He had no one, no way Kamala would let him be, and he had practically confirmed that Sigma had nothing to do about the start of the war; Zero had been the one who spread his spawns to all those fancy dolls and possessed robots, letting them all play and destroy to his heart's content.
He had once wondered why Vishnu had not descended to end his pitiful existence... but now, he knew.
Oh, Zero knew why God didn't bother; Kirby, the Ashayavatar, had been deployed.
An Avatar didn't just drop down for the fun of it... well, Krishna would drop in for the fun of it, sometime, on top of enacting amazing pastimes to attract fallen souls back home, back to Godhead... and to kill demons like Hiranyakashipu and his twin, Ravana, Kamsa…
But no, Avatars like Kamala came here for a reason, they had a Job only God, or a divinely empowered entity could perform.
Like Killing him, the Nameless one.
And... Zero, Just like Ashwatama, was cursed to live until Lord Vishnu breathed all the universe into his body again, ending them all...
The fabled end of time...
In his sorrowful spiral, Zero did not hear the door slide open and the gasp that followed.
"Zero!"
"Zero... Zero~ Zero? ZERO!"
"Please X... Leave me... Leave me!" he pleaded. "I'm Sorry... I'm-"
Something heavy climbed on his bed, and a pair of hands, purifying hands... X's hands grabbed him, pulling his soft, gel-filled, Moshi-like body onto another that radiated life and the ray of the Chozo's weapon.
But no... no... It could not be; X was dead, Zero had failed him.. Like he had failed everyone in his life.
Someone was holding him... someone who felt like his departed lover... the one that had just departed.
The one he had failed.
He felt a gentle hand play in his hair. Up and down, up and down... along his... er...
Wait, Zero, in his true form, didn't have a spine... well, he had something there...
His... err... back nerve?
Whatever it was, it was a touch that didn't cause pain; it was gentle, just like X; it was kind and sweet.
And Zero leaned into it, letting all the pain and loneliness that had plagued him eons ago seep out of his wretched body as he shamelessly cried in the lap of an illusion...
At one time, his mind came up with the theory that this must be Axl... but why would Axl be there, letting him bleed out his grief in his chest? And that person...
Felt like X...
Eventually, Zero cried himself to sleep, too tired to feel bad about his weakness.
He had had enough of being strong.
~0~
X, now covered in bloody tears, laid beside his beloved. Keeping his head tucked under his chin.
"It's alright, Zero... I'm here, and I'm not going away anytime soon."
Author's note.
No, Kirby is not an Official Avatar of Krishna; he's not described in any holy Scriptures, nor was he reaveld as such. I just thought that, at his power Level, he might as well be. (Seriously, nothing else but God or one of his avatars can have the potential to destroy Universes, not a pink, cuddly videogame character. If you are interested in the topic of the Official 24 avatar of God and other such issues, please PM me, and I will gladly give you more information.)