Death and the Vibrant Architecture of Rebirth

by goldenyuusha

A century had passed since Zero had sealed himself away. After being awoken by the Neo Arcadian king X, Zero finds himself in an unfamiliar, perfect world with no one to turn to but his old partner. But cracks start to form in the perfect things he once held dear, and Zero must accept that they may be set in stone forever. An MMZ AU where Neo Arcadia finds Zero before Ciel.

6. Chapter Five

AN: Geez! Okay, this took forever, but finally, the main crux of the story is kicking into gear. Things! Happening!

Also- thanks to everyone who's enjoyed the story so far! General notes for this one. The word 'human-likes' refer to both reploids and organic humans. Humanoid might've been a better word to refer to this, er, polyphyly, but humanoid is a word that means something in the MM universe, so, pah. Also, there are dates- let it be known that this is a canon divergence. The events of Command Mission have occurred in DAVAOR, and act as a bridge between MMX and the Elf Wars. Therefore, this story largely takes place in the late 24th century.

Another note - this chapter contains major character death, and philosophical musings about things such as sex and violence and idealism and human nature and *trails off*

If it so tickles your fancy, song of the chapter is Waiting Still - The Family Crest.

---

CHAPTER 5

"X!"

With an earth-shattering roar, Axl slammed the boardroom door open, the former Maverick Hunters of the Neo Arcadian council snapping to attention at his sudden entrance. Standing at the head of the round table was Master X himself, standing tall and unfaltering, with his hands clasped behind his back. His chilling, unrepentant gaze was damning as he stared down the furious copybot.

"Axl. So you decided to show up." X's voice remained cool despite the suffocating tense atmosphere that smothered the room upon Axl's arrival. "Alia was convinced you bailed on us. Take a seat. There's a lot we have to discuss today, what with the maverick scourge plaguing the outer circle-"

"Oh, eat shit, X!"

Signas stared with wide eyes at the scene, the former commander looking back and forth towards X and Axl. In a subtle show of offence, X narrowed his gaze, crossing his arms at his chest.

"H-hang on, what's going on?" Douglas spoke what everyone was thinking. Axl's emerald glare was ablaze with hatred, the copybot slamming his fists down on the round table and sending a flinch jolting through his comrades. The council members inched back in their chairs, shrinking back in a bid to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"What, haven't you told them?" Axl screamed, sticking his chin up towards X. "Are you too much of a pussy to admit what you've done?"

X tightened his jaw in a scowl. "What are you talking about?"

"Jesus, fuck off with that bullshit, will you?! Don't play dumb with me, because I've had it up to here with you," Axl snapped. He looked around to the council members, addressing them with a denunciatory glare. "Well? What has X been telling you people?!"

No one on the council spoke a word for an agonizing moment, Axl's flaring anger intimidating his colleagues into silence. Alia swallowed down her nerves and squared her shoulders.

"A maverick threat had been detected in the outer circle and has since been dealt with," she reported with a pragmatic cadence, trying to keep a level head for her friends' sakes as tensions boiled over between X and Axl. "We should… be able to progress with the human settlement program shortly."

Axl scoffed. "I see. I get it. X, why don't you tell them what you did out there?" his tone was ugly in how accusatory it was. Marino pulled Cinnamon to her side, the angelic reploid hiding her face in her hands.

"There's nothing to say," X insisted. Axl growled his frustration, incensed.

"How audacious of you! Really, you have the balls to lie to us after all we've been through? I saw it, I saw what happened with my own two eyes." Axl leaned in. "Tell them what you did or I will."

"Don't speak to me like that. I exterminated the maverick threat with lethal force. So what? They know that already," X remained firm in the face of Axl's heated adversity. "Peace through justice. The Maverick Hunter way."

His enunciation slowed to a condescending crawl. Axl breathed out hard, letting his internals cool before they overheated. Signas looked to X with a palpable concern. His hands were shaking over so slightly as he clutched them at his chest.

"W-what is he talking about, X?" Signas asked, a waver in his voice. X sighed, scrunching his nose and shutting his eyes, turning away.

"Axl? What… What did he do?" Alia pleaded, anxiety thick in her quiet, strained words.

Axl cocked his head to the side, provoking X further. X didn't give into the instigation, casting an unempathetic look back at his found son.

"Then tell them." X was speaking through grit teeth. "I can't stop you."

"Coward…" Axl stood upright and resolute.

"...Axl, please," Signas murmured, helpless to prevent him from self-destructing with this fight. Axl set aside the bond he had cultivated with his father over centuries with a raised fist.

"You've gone maverick, X!" Axl shouted, his temper listing. "You murdered a human in cold blood!"

There was a silence as the Neo Arcadian council paused to process his words- but even an eternity wouldn't be enough for any of them to accept that notion. Alia shook her head, torn up by the devastating revelation that began to set in.

"...Tell us it's not true," Alia eked out. "X?"

X's eyes darted back and forth as his council turned to him with abject horror. That human… was just another maverick. Another obstacle X had to eliminate if he were to see his glorious mission to the end.

"I saw you kill him, X! I saw you snap his neck like his life meant nothing to you," Axl continued. "Why? Why did you do it?!"

"Because he was a maverick!"

It was rare that X ever raised his voice, but when he did, it moved mountains. His council recoiled at his sudden erupting wrath.

"That man was a maverick, just like every other pitiful, vile reploid I killed out there! What, does that bother you? We've been doing this for years."

X was pacing back and forth like a predator psyching up its kill.

"Why does it matter to you that he was a human? What's the difference between our species anymore? He was in the way of my vision, he couldn't accept this new world. He stood in the way of righteous justice for the maverick vermin he sought to protect. He had no place in Neo Arcadia! If I let him live, he would just infect more innocent denizens with his maverick agenda. I'm this world's king, I will not let corrupt men like him ravage my life's work- I will not let another goddamn ungrateful maverick lay ruin to my fucking legacy! If he wanted to be a maverick, he will die like one."

He stopped at the other head of the table, facing Axl down from his end. His voice dwindled from an outraged roar to a soft, bitter whisper. "There's something Zero taught me, Axl. There's something he taught you once, too. Mavericks… mavericks must perish without hesitation."

Axl was silent as he went through a thousand conflicting emotions at once- he was appalled, disgusted, disappointed. The sickness he felt in his soul at X's beliefs wasn't something he could describe with something as limiting as words.

"I hate you."

Axl asserting that much wasn't something X was unfamiliar with. This time, however, he knew he meant it with every fibre of his being.

"I did what I had to do. He valued the lives of mavericks over the lives of humans. And I'll do it again and again until this world knows peace!"

"You're a monster and you know it. You let this shit get to your head. What's wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!" X slammed his fist on the table, cracks rippling from the impact like a spider's web. Cinnamon whimpered and clenched her eyes tight shut, wishing she could disappear where she stood.

"I wish Zero was here-"

"-You keep Zero's name out of your mouth." Axl knew he had hit a pressure point. He didn't care anymore. If it meant the other former Hunters could bear witness to X's true colours…

"You don't even feel guilty, do you?" Axl remained incendiary.

"Why should I?"

"You're nothing like Zero. At least he fucking cared, X." There was a broken lilt in Axl's vocaliser. "God… I wish it was him who lived instead of you."

"You think I don't feel the same way every day of my life?!" X was starting to grow wild with anger. "I wish he was with us but he isn't. Don't you dare use his name like that ever again, boy."

"I loved him too, X!" Axl denied his demands, "he was always there for me, even when you refused to accept me. Even when you hated me! At least he actually loved me. You… you're just cruel."

"I've heard enough from you."

"Good. I'm done, X."

Axl reached for the brace around his neck and unfastened it, throwing it to the ground. X straightened upwards, glaring incredulously at the copybot, the council members whispering nervously amongst themselves.

"...So you've turned on me?" X figured, his face drawing taut.

"I can't do this anymore. I will not serve your madness," Axl announced.

X paused to let his anger settle, shutting his eyes, burning air releasing from his cooling vents with a hiss. "Then you are an enemy to the state. A maverick."

"I don't care," Axl brushed aside the label. "Maverick… What meaning does that word have anymore? Because to me, it looks like you'll call anyone who doesn't submit to your rule a maverick."

Axl turned to leave, parting ways with his father one last time. Signas and Alia jumped up to chase after him, but X gestured for them to sit back down. When Axl looked over his shoulder, meeting X's gaze in the shadows of the boardroom, X's scowl deepened.

"Run, Axl. Run away," X commanded, "this city will be your enemy." His crimson glare darkened.

"Run, because when we meet again, I won't hesitate to kill you."

---

Axl knew this was an inevitability. He was prepared for this outcome, because there was no point in hoping for any other.

In shackles and chains, a newgen-restraining bolt clasped around his wrists, he was led from a helicarrier in the dark of the night alongside his fellow captured Resistance brethren. Rain was pouring down as soldiers with electrified batons herded their captives into the brig's assembly point like they were livestock rounded up for the slaughter, where they stood shoulder to shoulder in the cramped cell as they awaited processing by the reploid officer behind the plexiglass.

Resistance soldiers lined up for their turn to be tagged- a steel band branded with a prisoner number and barcode buckled around their ankle, before they were guided to their cells. They knew there was no point in running, they would be shot on sight. It was either they die a gruesome death here, or enjoy a swift, clean execution at their trial.

Axl looked to Neige at his side. She was a hardened, tough woman, her frown unwavering even in the face of Neo Arcadian military bots, her delicate skin covered in cuts and bruises. Fierce, but in the midst of so many reploids, she looked awfully fragile. She was pulled by her arm to stand in front of the officer behind the plexiglass, her details quickly recorded by the firm-faced administrator.

Despite being so vulnerable- a mere human woman, the Neo Arcadian military manhandled her like they did every other reploid. It didn't matter whether a maverick was a human or reploid any more, the government treated them all the same, as subhuman. That much was clear to Axl.

"Axl…" Neige whispered, pulling him out of his reverie. "Please… stay safe."

If Axl had to be honest, he knew he couldn't make any promises. "I'll try. Just don't get your hopes up, Neige."

An officer prodded him in the side with his baton. "Shut it."

"I don't know if I'll make it out of this one alive," Axl continued anyway. "I think… It's the end of the road for me."

"Axl!"

The administrator waved her away, having finished documenting her identity. Neige was dragged away by merciless soldiers, her thrashes doing little to falter their grip. Axl watched on, knowing it was likely the last time they would ever speak again.

"Goodbye, Neige."

He could still hear her shrieks through the gates that shut off the assembly point from the rest of the brig. He was next in line, shoved forward before the administrator by an obviously frustrated soldier.

The administrator addressed him with an unfeeling glance, before his attention was absorbed by his monitor as he entered Axl's details into the prison logs. A baton was held to his throat, ready to taze him if he dared act out, as another reploid secured his prisoner ID band around his ankle.

"Well, well, where have I seen this sorry sight before?"

Axl couldn't bite back the growl of contempt at the sardonic voice. He looked over his shoulder to find X on the other side of the assembly point's barred walls.

"X…" Axl hissed his name, lunging forward towards X. "What are you doing here? You've come to patronize me one last time before you kill me?"

"I'm not going to kill you. Not yet. I come with a proposition," X corrected. Behind Axl, a large, former construction-build was being processed while he had a moment with Neo Arcadia's king. "I'm giving you one last chance to return to the Neo Arcadian council-"

"No. You've dug your grave with me already, now lay in it!" Axl was quick to refuse him. X just snickered, as if he expected that response all along.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn…" X lamented, shaking his head. "Think about it! We could have it all. We could be invincible together."

"Never," Axl was unconvinced, as always. "You're a monster, X. What would Zero think if he knew of all the evil you've done?"

"Evil… pah, you make it sound so sinister," X said. "I'm doing what is best for the people. Zero can see that… it's a shame you can't do the same."

"You really believe that?"

"Every word of it."

Axl huffed a laugh, because if he wasn't laughing, he'd be crying. "You're delusional… using Zero like that. Some man you are."

"Oh, Axl…" he rolled his eyes and harrumphed. "Always one to stir the pot. Troublemaker." His glare grew steely-eyed, his gaze gleaming with a predatory glow. "You were like a son to me once… it'll hurt to see you go."

"I'm sure it will, dad."

The construction reploid was growing rowdy as he was led from the assembly point to his jail cell.

"You know damn well you gave me little choice. Get him out of my sight."

He beckoned the guards to take him away with a flick of the helm. Axl didn't break eye contact with him for a second as he was dragged away, boring into him with a damning glare and imparting a vivid reminder of his past and present sins, before he disappeared behind the gates into the halls of the brig. In the corridor, the construction Resistance reploid was starting to get aggressive, refusing to be led into the brig in shackles, striking and thrashing at his captives like an animal in water.

X studied the scene with sick intrigue. To his side, a reploid of cold disposition, cloaked in ivory white and glistening gold, stepped forward.

"Master X, sir…"

X cast a fleeting glance at Hellbat Schlitt, the Mutos Reploid addressing him with the empty magenta stare that all the Gentle Judges possessed. The guards called in reinforcements as the lumbering reploid broke through his shackles, driven by an unyielding will to live.

"I want you to expedite Axl's trial," X commanded, still observing the maverick as he powered through electrocution by countless batons, throwing Neo Arcadian soldiers aside like they were nothing but fleas. "We begin session at sundown tomorrow. Let Kelverian know."

The captain of the 51st unit shoved aside prisoners and comrades alike to reach the unruly rebel, a massive blaster slung over his shoulder. He kneeled down and steeled himself, charging a plasma bolt aimed straight at the Resistance bot's head.

"Clear the area!"

Soldiers scattered away at the captain's word. For a second, the maverick thought he had a chance to escape as his assailants sprinted away in a flash.

Hellbat winced, turning away with eyes clenched shut and audio receptors set to mute when the captain fired. X remained steadfast and unflinching, watching the contents of the rebel's helm splatter on the wall.

By the second he had fallen, soldiers were already crowding around him and dragging him away, a trail of oil, cables and shrapnel left in his wake. The administrator called the next Resistance prisoner over, confident the situation had been resolved. When Hellbat felt as though the gruelling, uncivilised violence had passed, he opened his eyes and readjusted his audials.

The sight of an execution had elicited something within X, stoking the embers of his lust for vengeance. "Go. I don't want to drag this on any longer than I need to." He turned his back on the brig, on Axl, making his way back to the transerver room. "I want him dead by the end of the day."

---

By the break of morning, Zero was already up, rushing through the halls of the citadel, pressing forward through the busy morning crowd.

His entire being was seized by panic. Panic, because he knew that if he didn't act fast, Axl would be dead.

In his heart of hearts, he knew that there was little he could do to stop what was already set in stone. He didn't even know where the brig was, nor did he know how to get to it. Even if he did, he was sure X had set precautions in place to prevent Zero from meddling with matters as egregious as these. It wasn't like Zero had the strength left in him to resist X's citadel guards.

For Zero's entire life- before he was even conceived, when his creator was creating him as a vessel for his wretched vision- he was used to solving issues with brute force. It was how he was built, a warmachine, set on the path of destruction as he sought out victory. When such violent animal machinations failed to prove useful, he could always turn to X's logical mind. Yet, now he had neither his strength, nor did he have X. At least, not as who he remembered him as. It seemed hopeless.

Still, even if he couldn't save him, he at least wanted to see him one last time. He cursed himself for abandoning Axl with X all those years ago… if only he had to foresight to see what X would become.

Indeed, without Zero, he had fallen… he had fallen far. Zero couldn't help but wonder if he was predisposed to this sort of deterioration. Human-likes weren't meant to persist for centuries. The original humans could only live so long until their cells fell victim to senescence. Trying to circumvent that set limit gave rise to selfish, malignant growth. A cruel ailment- cancer.

There was a similar darkness inside X. Zero wished he could've realised that fact when it had first manifested before it could metastasise in his absence. There was a point where there was little one could do to reverse such an egregious pathological infiltration, and Zero feared X's morals had long since descended past that terminal threshold.

Zero didn't want to believe X would execute Axl. He couldn't! Axl meant so much to him. They shared too much history together- they had fought countless battles, both on and off the field. It was Axl who had mended their broken relationship after the Nightmare Incident.

Now X was throwing it all away, simply because Axl had challenged his absolute power. He couldn't even begin to fathom how deep their conflict had grown over the century he had been in stasis. To think the ever virtuous and kind android that X was would be so cruel as to order an execution like this. Even as Maverick Hunters, X resolved to only use lethal force when absolutely necessary, when every other option had been exhausted.

He saw the good in everyone, even mavericks that were obviously far too gone to be rehabilitated. Zero shut his eyes and steeled his resolve. He couldn't lose Axl like he had lost Iris all those years ago… yet, in a way, Zero was sure X would've preferred not having to share him with anyone else. Not Iris, not the Maverick Hunters. Not even their own son.

"-Careful!"

A resonant voice cut through the cacophony of the busy citadel crowd. Before Zero knew it, he found himself flush against the chest of a colossal white and gold reploid.

The reploid had caught Zero before he had the chance to crash into him. After regaining his composure, Zero stepped back and away from the gigantic stranger, scanning him up and down.

He was like nothing Zero had ever seen before. Tall, bulky, square and powerful… but somehow, completely benign. When he analysed him, his combat systems found him to possess a negligible potential threat. He was a special build. Someone important, unlike the muted servants and feckless soldiers that littered the citadel.

"Master Zero? Are you alright?" he kneeled down somewhat to align himself with Zero's eyelevel. His cadence was slow, but his words lingered long after he had spoken. "I ought to be more careful, walking around here without looking-"

"-Yes, yes, I'm fine." He didn't have time for small talk… not unless this reploid had something he wanted to know. "...Who are you?"

The lumbering reploid paused, staring blankly at Zero, before coming to a realisation. "...Ah, shoot. We haven't met yet, have we?"

"...Er, no?"

He smiled warmly, but his eyes seemed vacant. "Well, I suppose I should stop being so rude and introduce myself, yes? My name is Tretisa Kelverian." He offered a hand for Zero to take. Zero allowed it, earning a brief, yet firm handshake from Kelverian. "I am the Chief Judge of the Neo Arcadian' State Supreme Court. It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Zero… I'd hazard a guess you haven't met the other judges… we'll have to find the time to arrange a proper introduction! I'm sure they're raring to meet you."

...Chief Judge? If Axl were to be trialled, it was Kelverian who was to preside over the court.

"You're here to prosecute Axl, aren't you?"

The softened expression gracing his squarish face was quickly dropped, guilt invading his features in lieu of it. "I'm afraid so…" he confirmed. He looked to the floor and let out a heavy sigh. "You and Axl… you two must have been close."

Describing it as such did their love a disservice. "More than that…" He covered his chest with crossed arms, as if it would protect his vulnerable heart from his own emotions. "X and I, we loved him like he was our own. He… he was the son we could never have."

The look Kelvarian was suddenly casting him looked shockingly sympathetic. Sympathy- that was hard to come by in the citadel.

"I understand… I'm sorry, Zero."

Kelvarian was unsure what to do with himself, aware that he wasn't on good enough terms with Zero to offer physical comfort. The best he could do was provide spoken consolation.

"I know how it feels, to see your children in peril," he disclosed. With how his resonant tenor faltered, Zero figured he was telling the truth. "It is my duty to be as honest and compassionate a judge can be. That will remain true until my dying day. It's just… Master X has the final say in matters such as these. We can sway him, yes, but he is the ultimate arbiter. I may suggest fair punishment. He decides." He looked downwards, forlorn. "Considering the bridges X has burned with Axl, I… I can't promise you his safety."

Zero's eyes widened. He was programmed with a propensity to strategize using the worst case scenario as a baseline. As long as X had Axl in his custody, he was as good as dead.

"He's not going to make it…" Zero concluded. "I can't let that happen."

"Zero, what I can promise you is that I will ensure it will be as fair a trial as circumstances as extreme as these will allow," Kelvarian assured. "I can't say X will do the same."

"And he has the final say…"

"It has come to this in recent years, unfortunately. With the sorts of matters so deeply personal to X, well… my hands are tied."

Zero didn't want to hear it, but it was the truth. He swallowed, feeling his vocaliser strain with sorrowful desperation. "I have to do something."

His sorrows effortlessly tugged on Kelvarian's tender heartstrings. "I'll do what I can."

An incoming message came flashing on Zero's HUD. A list of coordinates. Directions. A floor and cell number, and an identification code.

"X won't want you there," Kelverian advised, "but I do. Be careful, Zero."

Zero gasped, unsure of how to express his gratitude at such a profound gesture of kindness from a stranger. He managed a rare smile. "Thank you, Kelverian."

"It's nothing…" he set a huge hand on Zero's shoulder. "Just- if anything, tell your son you love him. I ought to get going, X has me on a tight schedule…"

With that, they parted ways, Kelvarian lumbering through the busy crowd and disappearing into the hallways. Zero was quick to follow the directions Kelvarian had sent to his internal depository, turning on his heel and rushing for the guarded military transerver rooms.

Axl was living on borrowed time. The least he could do was speak with him one last time.

---

It was far from Zero's proudest moment.

Babbling in a panic to an unassuming, nameless guard at the gates to the transerver room, begging to be let past with a sob story for the ages. He wasn't sure how much of it was just a show to garner pity from the reploid guard and how much of it was genuine desperation.

The thing was, as humiliating as it was for Zero to regress to using his emotions to manipulate the people around him into doing his bidding, it actually worked.

"Please, I don't have much time left. I won't be long, I-"

"I'm sorry. Only authorised personnel are allowed entry past this point-"

"I am your king! Am I not authorised personnel? Please… my son- he needs me. He'll be dead soon! I just- just need to see him one last time before that happens. Let me in, just this once…"

"Master X will have my head…"

"X doesn't have to know. I need this, I haven't spoken to Axl for a century… I need him- he needs me."

"...Master Zero, sir…"

"Just one time, it's all I ask of you…"

"X- he'll have me castigated for disobedience… Everyone knows what happens to soldiers who don't follow orders around here."

"I won't let that happen."

"..."

Why did he have to beg in his own citadel? Did he not possess a right to freedom of movement to his own home, regardless of X insisting they were equals?

The door to the transerver room opened, the polite, obviously green reploid at the guardpost looking aside to avoid Zero's anguish-stricken gaze. Zero let out a light sigh, offering a small, appreciative smile.

"Thank you."

"Just go before they see me."

Zero didn't need to be told twice. He made haste, rushing to the transerver command console and punching in the warp coordinates Kelvarian gave him. If he was in his right of mind, he might've been more suspicious concerning the legitimacy of the information he had, but he had no time for such reservations.

Upon stepping on the teleport pad, Zero was gone in a flash, reappearing in a different, but similarly monotonous, brass toned transerver hub. A young soldier standing guard at the door startled at the sudden arrival, jolting upright at attention with his rifle gripped firmly in hand.

"Master Zero?"

Zero had no time for this. He pushed him aside and soldiered on into the brig's entry hall. The guard trailed close behind.

"Master Zero! Th-this isn't a safe place for you to be-"

When he reached to grab the red android, Zero whipped around and slapped his hand away.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

He hoped it didn't come out sounding as woeful as he felt internally. Regardless of how Zero's voice quivered on the delivery, the guard clammed up, holding his rifle tightly to his chest and making an electrical squeak.

"A-apologies, Master Zero!" He visibly swallowed through his nerves. "…It's just that this is a maximum security facility. There are A-class threat mavericks detained in this sector-"

"You think I don't know that? Who do you think I am?"

Zero knew well that he couldn't win any battles in his current state. He was sure he probably wasn't very popular among Neo Arcadian mavericks either. The reploid shrunk back further with his metaphorical tail between his legs.

"O-of course, I apologise, sir, I shouldn't have been so disrespectful. I'll be better, s-sir."

"Well, you can start by doing me a favour. I need to get to cell A07 on level 13. You wouldn't happen to know where that is, would you?"

It took a moment for the request to compute in the guard's head. He perked up at the realisation. "Ah- y-yes, um…" he looked around to establish his bearings. "Elevator's up ahead past the lobby, straight ahead from here, can't miss it. The A block should be a left turn from where you get out of the lift."

He gestured vague directions with his hands. Zero gave a forced smile, patting the guard on the shoulder.

"Thanks. 'Least you're good for something. Get back to your post."

The guard didn't seem to register the backhanded remark. He just gave a dutiful salute. "Yes, sir, of course, sir!"

With that out of the way, Zero made quick work to find the elevator and ascend to his destination. Even in such a frenzy, the most briefest of assays made things clear- the conditions of the brig were incompatible with life.

Unlike the polished, marble and gold confines of the citadel, the brig was a concrete labyrinth of endless corridors. He could hear the distant anguished screams of prisoners uselessly begging for freedom. There were cracks in the walls, murky water dripping from fissures splitting the ceilings, and impact craters with old stains that alluded to past, violent conflicts. The elevator opened with a ding, and Zero rushed past a soldier on his way to Axl's cell. He didn't turn back to see the guard abandon his post to alert his superiors.

It was a brief trip. The cell labeled A07 sat in solitude at the end of a corridor behind a locked door. It didn't take Zero long to elucidate the passcode to let himself in, with how the paint on the number keys wore down in a particular pattern.

The gates opened up to a small room, no bigger than the cramped bedrooms at the old Maverick Hunter residential sectors, enclosed with thick, impenetrable bars. A flickering overhead lamp was all there was to illuminate the cell.

Hidden in the shadows, hunched over on the cold, hard floor of the decrepit cell, Axl sat in isolation. He didn't bother moving when Zero entered.

"Axl!"

That made him shift ever so slightly. A pair of gleaming green eyes in the darkness stared back at him.

"...Zero? Is that you?"

His shackles clashed together as he got to his feet. Axl was uncharacteristically slow as he emerged from the shadows, weighed down by his restraints. Zero rushed to meet him up at the gate to his cell, gripping the sturdy bars with a palpable desperation.

"Axl…"

The copybot looked older now. Much older. His features were hardened and sharp, his face covered in new scars. His once clear, ever spry voice was strained and husky.

The way he stared back at him with a glassy, tired stare, it hurt Zero. It hurt him more than anything he had endured on the battlefield. He looked tired. No longer did he have that youthful fire burning in his soul. It had long since been extinguished by the deeds of his father. Zero knew that empty feeling well. After Iris' death, he had lost so much of his bite… he was sure Axl was much the same.

No matter what, he was still his Axl.

"I was losing hope you'd come visit, you know." Axl gripped the bars with shackled hands. "I… I missed you, dad."

Just those words was enough to make Zero choke up and break down. He pressed his forehead into the bars. Axl did the same, their helmet gems pressed against one another's.

"I'm sorry, Axl…" Zero's voice was taut. "I never would've thought it would end up like this. I never would've left had I known X would be this way."

"I-it's okay, dad… it's not your fault," Axl assured. He took in a quivering breath and wiped the tears forming at his eyes, venting out a sigh. "What happened has happened. I still love you."

"But, I… I failed you, Axl. I left you with this monster," Zero insisted. He couldn't cry like Axl and the other reploids could, but he shivered and panicked and sobbed like a distressed animal. "And now- now I'm scared. I'm scared of what X is going to do to you."

The reminder crushed Axl's dwindling spirits. He stepped away, his half-lidded, melancholy gaze fixed to the floor. Zero came to the acute realisation he had said the wrong thing. "What, you already know how this is going to end?" He crossed his arms and exhaled sharply. "Then… I'm glad we could talk one last time before I die."

"No! No..." Zero rattled the bars. "I won't let that happen! I…" his grip faltered, and he shrunk back down, resigning to futility. "X… X can't do this. You're- you're our son. He can't…"

Axl shook his head and snickered, the hollow laughs an obvious cover for his deep-seated hopelessness. "Zero… I thought you'd be better than this. Smarter too. I really did think you would've come to terms with the nature of the X's leadership by now. I sacrificed everything to get to you, but maybe I'm too late. Maybe X has already put too many lies in your head." Axl looked Zero dead in the eye. Zero was taken aback by just how cold a glare the copybot managed to muster, his brow furrowed and lips drawn in a damning frown. "X wouldn't hesitate to kill me. At least, this X wouldn't."

Zero inched back, slowly shaking his head as disbelief and denial filled his weary heart. "No… he wouldn't… he can't do this," He chanted his denial mindlessly, as if it was going to change anything. "He couldn't. X is-"

"-I'll tell you the truth, Zero. X… X is a cruel, ruthless, bloodthirsty maniac who will deem any man or reploid who so much as thinks to cross him a maverick that deserves to die. He'd kill me a million times over if it meant ensuring his control over his 'oh so perfect world'. That perfect world, upheld by a prison population of millions, upheld by fear, for even the smallest transgressions will have you executed as a maverick, upheld by reploid slaves who work until they collapse, and you know what happens to useless reploids? They die, Zero. Thrown into recycling facilities and churned into raw materials like their lives meant nothing. Reploids, humans, they're just property to X, things! Why do you think X would need a brig like this, a military of this magnitude, if his world is so perfect? He's lying to you. It's so obvious, it's almost funny! Has it not clicked for you yet, or are you too blinded by your love for him?" He took a moment to settle and breathe. "It was hard for me to accept it too, back then. He was my hero… I-I wanted to be just like him. He isn't the same anymore. Something happened. He lost his way. I refused to follow him down that path, and he couldn't accept that."

Zero couldn't respond, not for a long time. Instead, they stood at opposite sides of prison bars, letting the truth sink in. What was there for Zero to say? What was there even left for Zero to do? He wanted to deny it, but denial wasn't getting him anywhere. Denial wasn't going to save Axl from X's wrath, but he couldn't do much of anything else. Evil ran deep in Neo Arcadia's very foundation, and he didn't have the strength needed to change it. Ever since his awakening in Neo Arcadia, his keen instinct for destruction at any cost had vanished. He was left feeling hopeless, and most of all, useless. He sank to the floor with his head pressed into the bars.

"This isn't you, Zero. You're not X's pet, but you're gonna be that if you keep letting him do this to you. The view from X's ivory tower is beautiful. But stray further from the citadel, and you will see this world for what it really is. X lost sight of serving the people. He only cares about power. X will doom us all to extinction if he isn't stopped."

Zero quivered on the ground, his skin crawling. "I let this happen…" he murmured. "How has he become this way?"

"Maybe- maybe he's always been this way."

It was hard for Axl to admit, and even harder for Zero to accept.

"N-no… this isn't him! He was… he wasn't like the rest. He couldn't- he was good, he was pure, he was different!"

"Dad, I don't know what happened to him either, but the X you loved is dead. When he kills me tonight, you'll know he's too far gone to be saved. This is the real X!"

"Enough! Axl..." Zero got to his feet. "I won't let you die. You mean too much to me." He leaned in. "Listen, I'll find a way to break you out. It can be an accident, and you can hide with your Copy Chip-"

"Don't try saving me, Zero. I'm not lost. It was always gonna end like this. 'Sides, I've run long enough. There's no hiding in Neo Arcadia. I bet X's got a thousand eyes watching us right now. Whatever you wanna do, it's no use. I'm dead by nightfall."

To hear Axl speak so flippantly of his own mortality broke Zero's faltering will. They let the silence between them speak for itself. If what Axl said was true, and X was an indiscriminate, senseless monster, he needed to be stopped before he could hurt anyone else. Yet, Zero wanted so badly for it all to be a lie. He didn't want to believe it. He didn't know what was true anymore. If it was true, what could Zero even do about it? He couldn't even come close to overpowering X when he wanted to have sex with him last night. Fighting him? It was a death sentence. All other options seemed worthless. X was a stubborn man who was staunchly set in his ways.

Zero sighed. The reality was setting in, and it was hard to keep it together.

"Axl… do you know?" Zero muttered out through utter despondency, "What happened to everyone? Our friends, the old guard."

Axl couldn't help but laugh at X's predictability. It was so like Master X to keep that a secret from even Zero. "Really? What do you think? Take a guess."

Zero wasn't laughing. Nor was he answering Axl. He didn't want to say what was obvious, as if it would make it any less true. Axl rolled his head to the side.

"Jesus… they're dead, Zero! Why, you think X would let them live, knowing they threatened his rule? He killed them. All of them- he killed them with his own hands and erased them from the memories of Neo Arcadia's denizens. Now I'm next. It's inevitable."

Zero's eyes widened. His mouth was open to speak, but the words failed to escape his vocaliser. Mere words weren't sufficient to express his turmoil, regardless. He shut his eyes slowly, shaking his head. He felt melancholy, fury, and shock coursing through his systems all at once, and he wasn't sure what to do to help himself. He knew what Axl was saying was true, but he couldn't bear to think it over. He felt ill just knowing that the man he loved had such little qualms with killing those he cherished, just because they stood in his way. He was forced to do that once. Iris' demise still haunted him.

He whined a pathetic sob. He could only ask one thing;

"...W-why?"

Axl was angry, but Zero's misery was infectious. He dried his eyes with the heel of his palm and breathed in with a quivering breath. "Because… because he could. So he did. And now he has absolute power."

Absolute power corrupts. Zero was familiar with the saying, because X touted it so often. Zero was a little more pessimistic. He knew absolute power revealed the evil man's true nature.

"This can't… that's not true. It can't be."

"Proof's in the data logs. Floor 87, room L31, authorised files sector 3NL."

The facts were written in stone. There was no use in deluding himself anymore. "Why didn't… X tell me?"

"Because then you'd start to question him. Then you wouldn't be happy being his obedient little pet."

Zero would've been offended at the idea he was nothing more than a thing X owned, but he couldn't argue the fact. His leaving hours were restricted. He was supervised constantly. He was paraded around as a pretty face for Neo Arcadia's populace to gawk at and admire and locked away again when his use had expired for the day. He brushed his fingers over his neck brace solemnly. X loved him still, but it was obvious, even to someone as blinded by love as Zero- X no longer saw him as an equal. He was a prisoner in this relationship, and X had all the power.

"You know… the Resistance, we searched for you for years. X, he only revived you because he couldn't bear to think of anyone else but him having you. And… and I think he knows that you're the only man alive who could stand toe-to-toe with him. He's afraid of you. Of your power."

Zero remained silent. There was nothing for him to say. It was Axl's time to speak- he spoke ugly truths Zero didn't want to hear but needed to know.

"Zero… I'm sorry for being angry. But you'd be angry too, if you've seen what I've seen and know what I know now."

"Axl, it's alright. This- this is my fault. You deserve to be mad. Had I just stayed-"

"It is not your fault, dad! I missed you too. We all did. X let himself become this way." He tightened his expression. "Look. Listen, loss changed all of us, okay?! It's just that X was obsessed with it. He was a slave to it. He let it change him into an animal!"

It failed to sway Zero. Axl stepped forward, reaching his fingers as far as he could through the bars with his wrists tied, digits grazing Zero's face.

"It's not you… I love you. It's this world I can't accept. And I don't know if I'm strong enough to change it like you could-"

"-Stop. Axl… you already have." Zero slipped his arms between the bars to cup Axl's cheeks, pulling him close, pressing a kiss on the bridge of his nose, in the centre of his X-shaped scar. "I don't know how I'm going to fix things. But I'll find a way. I won't let you go quietly."

Axl smiled. His features were a glowing respite in the darkness of the prison cell. "I know you will. I believe in you."

X couldn't keep him obedient. He wasn't an animal for him to be tamed. He would challenge the world, just as Axl did, for he would never be able to rest easy, knowing he had failed his dear son.

They both knew there was nothing they could do now to stop the inevitable death Axl was to be subject to, and there was little Zero could do to make it up to him. Nothing carried as much value as a life- but if Axl's defiance could live on in his actions, Zero would feel at ease, knowing Axl would be proud of him. It only took one match to light a fire. If he had to, he would burn this whole world down.

"I love you," Zero murmured.

"I love you too, dad. I wish things turned out differently..."

Zero's touch, made to be savage and destructive, was nurturing incarnate, as soft as a prayer. Axl wanted to drift off in the safety of his father's embrace and stay there forever, and Zero was much the same.

"Master Zero!"

The two androids jolted away from each other as soldiers burst into Axl's cell. Zero shook his head, turning around to face them and backing away into the bars. If he had his way, he would've phased through the bars to be in the cell with Axl.

"N-no!" Zero begged to deaf audials. "Not yet-!"

"-This is no place for someone of your nobility, Master Zero! Master X was looking all over for you!"

A guard grabbed at his arms and manhandled him away. Zero thrashed and screamed, but his assailant's grip was unwavering. The guard's colleague struck Axl with the butt of his rifle, knocking him back away from the bars.

"And you, maverick, should know better than to liaise with Neo Arcadian officials!" The guard reprimanded the copybot, coaxing him back with the threat of his weapon.

Zero clawed at his attacker's arms, but it did little to stop him. He could only shriek and cry as he was dragged away from Axl, outstretching a hand fruitlessly, pleading to hold him one last time as he disappeared behind sliding doors.

It was over.

"-AXL!"

---

Floor 87, room L31, authorised files sector 3NL.

The day was drawing closer to its close. Zero was painfully aware of each passing second. Time was precious, and running out fast. By the time night fell on Neo Arcadia, a father would be burying his son.

Zero had to be on high alert after being humiliatingly dragged back to the citadel. X, who much to Zero's relief, either didn't know he met Axl during his absence or simply didn't care, chewed him out for endangering himself and left it at that. Despite that, Zero could barely look X in the eyes after what Axl had revealed to him. He coped by tuning out his audio sensors and dissociating himself from his circumstances, letting his body be a machine whose sole purpose was to get from one situation to the next. In fact, he only just managed to weasel his way out of a lunch with X and the Gentle Judges, saying he was feeling ill.

It wasn't exactly a lie on Zero's part, either. He couldn't stomach being in X's midst, knowing what he knew now. Now, he was on a mission to discover all the wretched truths his beloved was hiding from him.

Zero had to take care to avoid the guards. They were to report any incriminating behaviour to X or his guardians, and he was certain that making a mad dash to the data banks would rouse their suspicions. It was difficult for the former berserker- stealth was never his forte, being the type to always charge headfirst into a fight, but he managed, eventually finding himself in the doorway to a massive athenaeum, where towering shelves of data logs radiated out from a main console directory in the center of the circular room.

It was dark, save for the stark blue glow of active datapads and guiding screens denoting specific sectors. There were a couple archivists and curators milling about, rearranging logs and keeping general order, all under the watchful eye of administrative supervisors. When Zero got to the directory console, he could feel all eyes honing down on him.

Zero swallowed nervously when he caught the gaze of an archivist, the short, owl model reploid watching his every move with wide eyes, before returning to her task after getting an audial-full from her overseer. The warbot hoped that they hadn't caught wind of X's orders to report Zero's activity back to him. Even if they hadn't, it was clear he was not supposed to be here, judging by the looks on their faces, but they didn't question him.

The directory opened into holographic screens when Zero set his hand on the console, offering an index of sectors and general information on the files held within.

The authorised files sectors were locked behind a DNA scan and a manual passcode. Thankfully, his genome was accepted- he'd have to thank Phantom for thinking of him when he registered his DNA details into the government systems. The passcode was another beast altogether.

...Unless X was as predictable as he remembered him being.

18-09-20-32

Maybe to the new generation, the significance of that date was unclear. Zero and X were perhaps the last living human-likes from that time period. It troubled Zero to think about. Regardless, it worked, and he was granted access to a catalogue of datalogs, filed under different sector indexes. He searched for index 3NL.

Inside, there were files dating back to 2321 AD. Execution logs, attributed to April. Zero breathed in sharp.

He closed out of the directory and dashed off, guided by the object identifier code associated with the logs. They were hidden behind locked doors, which were no hassle when his DNA markers were registered in the system.

Inside, he pushed aside a hapless archivist and grabbed the rolling library ladder until he reached his destination. He climbed up the shelf, swiped the datapad off the bookcase and slid back down. He had what he was looking for.

Axl had spoken the truth. On the 25th of April, 2321, Master X had the Neo Arcadian council removed from power and executed for treason.

The list of names was long, winded- painful. There were familiar names. Some, not so familiar. It didn't matter.

Signas, Alia, Douglas, Layer, Palette, Marino, Massimo- all retired for mutiny. Cinnamon reported missing on the same day. Soon, Axl would join them. All of a sudden, the room felt cold. His mouth felt dry, his hands trembling with the datapad still in hand. It felt like a dream, but he could recognise real, waking fear.

He pulled up Alia's file. Her image was just as Zero remembered her as- blonde, fair skinned, with a sharp, stern look about her. She was listed as a Neo Arcadian governor before her removal from parliament and subsequent death. Signas too- the large, but always gentle operations commander looking as he did in Zero's memories.

How could X be so…

So…

His internal dictionary littered off a list of fitting descriptors; ruthless, cruel, heartless. Most damning of all- he was… inhuman.

He was an animal- killing off every threat to his dominance, driven by nothing more than selfish intentions. The only threat to his precedence over the realm he permitted was Zero.

Was it because he loved him? X loved his friends, his son, too. He loved until it was a flaw- that was how X was. Zero couldn't stand him at times.

Maybe it was just the sex that captured him. Maybe X wanted to keep just one thing from his past. Was that all that Zero was now?

A thing?

A thing owned by a manic animal. Did X even like the sex anymore? Or was it just about possession? Confinement? Where did love end, and ownership begin? Or were primacy and humanity fighting for the same territory?

It wasn't lost on Zero that he could meet the same fate as the old guard. If the cost of keeping him outweighed his use to X, he would be disposed of too. All his efforts… a waste. It could happen to him too.

His fate may be not death, but complacency. Giving up his body to X might keep him alive for now- but was he really nothing more than that? A tool that enabled X's venereal desires, his vices from an otherworldly, bygone time when they were nothing but feral beasts?

The rushing stream of consciousness was overwhelming Zero's processor as it flowed on by. He dropped the datapad, the tablet falling with an empty clink. If X didn't kill him, he would be under his control until either he or X died. If he joined the Resistance like Axl did, X would no doubt raise hell trying to take him back. He couldn't run- he had nowhere and no one to turn to. X was the only person he was going to have left, whether he liked it or not.

The only thing left to do was turn on X, and tear this world asunder, starting with him. As unthinkably evil as X had become, Zero's stomach twisted in knots at the very notion. X was the one who taught him love, compassion, humanity- things he was not programmed with initially, but things X knew he was capable of feeling, even when everyone else dismissed him as a stupid, barely sapient warmachine, a thing that was good for nothing else but combat.

X was not that man anymore.

"Zero? Oi!"

Zero startled, his thoughts instantly dispersing as he came to his senses. Hidden Phantom was standing in the doorway, the archivist having summoned him for help. For the first time, the soft-spoken shinobi was standing upright, not hunched over. The databank was his sanctum, and it granted him rare confidence.

"Heyheyhey! HEY! Please, do not meddle with confidential data logs without an authorised administrator!" Phantom berated, stomping over hastily. At his full height, he towered over the other reploids around him. "This is not a public library, these are classified government documents!"

The barbs Phantom threw went through one audial and out the next. Instead of heeding his remarks, Zero grit his teeth, steeled himself, and ran past Phantom, shoving him aside with a stiff arm as he did.

Before Phantom could express his indignation, Zero was already gone. The shinobi creased his brow behind his mask and pouted, bemused by the scene he had just witnessed. He turned his attention to the datapad left on the floor, plucking it off the ground and dusting it off.

He would've thoughtlessly slotted it back in its rightful spot, had he not caught a glimpse of the tablet's display.

The reason for Zero's distress was clear to Phantom now. He held the tablet close to his chest, sighed, and slotted it back on the shelf.

Soon, his eldest brother would too be only remembered in an execution log.

---

A storm was rolling in from over the horizon.

The sun was getting low in the sky, casting its blood red light over Neo Arcadia. Zero was starting to get hysterical. Axl said he'd be dead by the time night fell. He was running out of time. Moreso, he was running out of hope he could even do anything about it.

Surely, compliance was what X wanted from him. And yet, it was what Axl demanded of him too. It felt like they were both trying to make a point to Zero, and Axl's life was the basis of their rhetoric. Zero wanted to grab the sides of his head and squeeze and squeeze until…

Zero gripped the horns of his helm and pulled his head back, groaning in frustration. Suicide wouldn't fix anything. If he died, Axl's life would be lost to the wind, and the world would forget he had ever existed. And that was ignoring what X would do to the world if Zero ended things forever.

Anyway. Self loathing had to be set aside for another time…

No one was of any help in the citadel. He had traversed through the labyrinthian tower, searching for anyone who even looked to have any significant amount of influence. He tried to seek out Kelverian, but he had only found two of the lesser judges, Blazing Flizard and Cubit Foxtar. Despite being his subordinates, they were of little help, telling Zero that Kelverian was in a private meeting with X. The guards knew nothing of legal procedures- they were just military reploids who promptly returned to gossiping over their various escapades after Zero left.

No one would permit him entry to the brig. X's orders. Instead, he resigned himself to his bedroom. It was the only place Zero had left under his control. Lost, unmoored, and yet, still fettered to his confines.

He sat on the side of his bed, slouched over and he stared out the window helplessly, watching the city from where he perched atop X's ivory tower. Society continued to thrive, even in the face of apocalyptic circumstances, ignorant, or perhaps uncaring, to the violence that propped up X's control over the world, of his animalistic, carnal vices.

Or maybe, society possessed no power over violence or sex. Maybe society existed to uphold primal instincts.

As machine as they were, reploids were nothing more than novel animals, and Zero was not immune to stooping to that level. If he had his saber, or even his buster, he could stand to save Axl from his fate. Violence was always his go-to answer, back when tacticals governed his every action.

Of course, that would mean turning X's grand army against him. X still exercised control. Even if he didn't kill Zero for his insurrection, the alternate options he had to deal with him seemed even worse. Zero was still unsure whether he'd be happier dying, or continuing to live as a prisoner to X's wiles. Perhaps it would be more worthwhile to break X down from the inside out, using his body, using sex, as a weapon.

Zero rolled onto his back and sagged in defeat. These sorts of thoughts, they were unbecoming. Was this really what he was spiralling into? Was he destined to follow in X's stead, becoming a thoughtless beast?

He clenched his eyes tight shut, scrunching up his nose, bared his fangs. No. This wasn't him, at least not anymore.

Zero rolled off his bed and shook off his fatigue, heading for the exit, storming into the citadel. Of course every animal was born with a natural propensity for violence and sex, but it was what human-likes did with those instincts that made them different from the rest- for better or for worse.

He woke up an animal. His body was a tool, a machine he relished in during his fighting days. X was what tamed him, made him human. Things were different now- no one else would tame his body but him.

Did Zero trust himself to change?

Two reploid soldiers stood leaning against a marble column, lazily guarding the elevator. They had their rifles slotted away in holsters, not held tight in their arms- for once.

"You know, Azik was telling me about that underground place down in South Sector A3, the one with the neon light flamingo. They brought in a new girl."

"'Course he'd know, that creep. Reploid or human?"

"Reploid, you blockhead. You think there are any human courtesans left? That's dirty work."

"Courtesan's a very nice way to put it. You seen her?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm on patrol duty there with Azik every second Tuesday. Most beautiful woman you'll see in your life."

"You'd say that."

"I'm being for real this time! She's got this look about her, these fierce blue eyes, her skin's like… like milk. She's got the most gorgeous flaxen blonde hair, too, like down to her butt. I saw her outside once, when Azik went in to ask for a time slot, she wore the most fiery red armour. When she stands in the sun, it's like… looking into a flame."

Zero breathed in deep. He tucked a tress of flaxen blonde hair under the brow of his helm and looked down at himself, at the way the sunlight glistened on his red armour… like looking into a flame. Was this how X thought of him? His body was betraying him.

"And when she works, she… it transcended just the physical- It captures you. It's like oblivion."

"Don't tell me you paid for her time-"

"God, no! No way. I'm not stupid, prostitution is illegal. Azik did. I'm just repeating what he said."

The smarmy soldier smirked and leaned in.

"I'm just saying… if you ain't averse to bending the rules, I heard she bites."

Zero saw red. He lunged forward and grabbed the reploid by the collar.

"You!" He barked.

"Eeek! M-Master Zero!" the soldier had shrunk into himself, cockiness ablating in an instant. "I-I swear, I didn't- I was just saying- it was Lieutenant Azik, from the 38th patrol unit-"

"I don't care. Where's X?"

It took a couple moments for the request to click, the soldier's thought processes too mangled by shock.

"Ggh! Level 267, in the high court! He's trying that maverick commander- I think!"

Zero froze. He let the soldier go. Was he too late already? How would he even spare Axl's life? He didn't exactly have a plan. His tactical algorithms relied on him having a weapon on hand.

"Thank you," Zero said, punching in the key for the elevator. It opened swiftly, and Zero left the crude soldiers behind.

The high speed elevator ascended like a speeding bullet, but even then, it wasn't fast enough. Nothing could be. The outside world passed by in a blur of crimson and indigo. Zero could feel himself getting lost in the shocks of colour.

The doors opened with a ding, and Zero was nearly tripping over himself in his frenzied rush. This floor didn't have winding corridors like so much of the citadel. There was only a single hallway spanning from the elevator to massive glass doors that opened up to a loge.

Zero sprinted up the hall and slammed open the doors. X was there already, standing tall and proud, his back turned on the red warmachine.

The azure king looked over his shoulder with large eyes, surprised to see Zero at first, before his shock dissolved in lieu of a pleased grin. The loge overlooked a large, circular court, where the lesser Gentle Judges stood atop adjacent balconies, and Tretista Kelverian sat at the head of the court behind the judge's bench. Guardians hovered around the edges of the court, keeping guard with watchful eyes.

Standing in the middle of it all, shackled and chained from head to toe, was Axl. He was covered in his own blood, obviously having put up a fight as if it would do anything else but delay the inevitable. Zero rushed to the balcony's balustrade and caught Axl's damning gaze, burning like an emerald inferno.

"Axl!"

X set a hand on Zero's shoulder and stepped forward, standing triumphant at his partner's side.

"Zero! Well, I didn't expect you to join us today," he cooed, slipping his grip from Zero's shoulder to take his hand. "Glad you could make it, dear."

Zero flinched back, stealing his hand back from X's grasp. "X, you can't do this. This- this isn't you!"

The gentle smile on X's face dropped, brow furrowing in an unimpressed frown.

Not even angry, not even offended. Unimpressed. He scoffed.

"Oh? Zero, this is justice!" He countered. "I'm doing what's right for Neo Arcadia as its leader. This is exactly who I am."

Zero recoiled, stricken by the assertment. X didn't care. He didn't care that Axl was once their ally, friend, son, and he didn't care for Zero's vehement opposition.

Kelverian struck the gavel to bring order to the court. The crowd quietened to a heavy silence, and without their chatter to fill Zero's mind, he could feel the cold grip of fear creeping up and taking hold.

Axl is glaring up from where he stood below. The only sound that filled the lull were the high pitched clashes of his chains as he squared his shoulders and stuck his chest out in staggering defiance. He fixed an incensed glare in X and Zero's direction, disappointment plain to see in his expression. Zero couldn't blame him. He was disappointed in himself for letting his love for X blind him for this long.

Zero could see now. It was just far too late to save Axl from him.

"The Neo Arcadian Military Tribunal is now in session," Kelverian announced. "The accused stands present before the court today."

Another reploid, a small, childlike model, clad in white and gold at Kelverians side, cleared his throat and spoke, reading off a tablet. "The Neo Arcadian State - against - Former Neo Arcadian Commandant of the Marine Corps and Parliament Member 'Axl'- build model /, original identification code unknown."

"I shall now read the judgement of the Neo Arcadian Military Tribunal," Kelverian began. "This tribunal was established in virtue of and to implement the Abel Declaration of 2114, and the Neo Arcadia Declaration of 2259. The Abel Declaration was jointly released by the President of Abel City, the Prime Minister of Gigantis and the President of the National Government of the Republic of Laguz, and reads as follows… hem, the several vassal nations, present and future, have agreed upon future military operations against the Maverick threat to restrain and punish dissident reploids for their aggression. These nations covet no gain for…"

Zero had heard this spiel far too many times during his 200 year stint as a Maverick Hunter, and he was certain X had too. Axl's frown deepened.

"X, please-"

X cast a silencing gaze towards Zero. "Not now, Zero."

"Don't do this, X. You have to reconsider!"

"...Why should I?"

His voice was laced with disdain, simple words leaving a vacuum in its wake.

Kelverain looked up from his tablet, catching a glimpse of the quietly bickering rulers, before returning his attention to the proceedings at hand.

"...On the 14th of September, 2378, an indictment was previously served and lodged with the tribunal. The indictment charges the accused with fifty eight counts of Crimes of Terrorism, Crimes against Peace and Crimes against Humanity between the periods of November 23rd, 2355 and August 28th, 2378. They will be surmised as follows-

"In Count 1, the accused is charged with conspiring as leader, organiser, instigator and accomplice to planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression for the purpose of military, political and economic domination of Neo Arcadia and its adjacent territories. In Count 2, the accused is charged with conspiring with terrorist militia to have the Resistance and Rebellion militia movements mutually assist each other to secure complete domination of Neo Arcadia and its adjacent territories. Count 3 to 9 charges the accused with the mass murder of disarmed soldiers and civilians at Fortitude Harbour- Count 3, Stormweaver Tower- Count 4, Frontline Ice Base- Count 5..."

As Kelverian listed off indictments, Zero could feel himself detaching from the reality of the situation. Even if it was in the name of justice for those wronged by X's rule, Axl's actions were undoubtedly unacceptable, and in the eyes of the Neo Arcadian tribunal, punishable by any means necessary. What could Zero say to stop the inevitable? Playing the devil's advocate was a fruitless endeavour under X's iron rule.

"Count 12 charges the accused with conspiring to cause serious interference with, disruption to, and destruction of critical public infrastructure with intentions to influence the Neo Arcadian government by intimidation to advance an ideological cause…"

"X, you can't do this-"

"Be quiet."

"Count 14 charges the accused with initiating unlawful hostilities against Neo Arcadian military establishments in breach of the Sigma Convention III, relative to the opening of intra-reploid hostilities…"

Zero pulled at X's arm. "What's wrong with you? You can't do this to him, X."

"He did this to himself," he snapped back, his biting tone making Zero wince. "What do you think I'm going to gain by sparing his life? He's a maverick, Zero."

"Is that all you think of him? Just a maverick?"

"Count 15 charges the accused with providing training connected to terrorist acts…"

"Quiet! You have no jurisdiction in this matter. Do you understand?"

"How could you say that?" Zero's voice broke with desperation. "This is Axl. This is our son! Have you forgotten what he meant to us?"

X narrowed his gaze with a slight disgust. "Don't tell me you're asking me to sympathise with a terrorist."

"How can you expect me not to?" Zero swallowed his anger before he could raise his voice. "Why are you doing this? You love him! I know you do!"

"Are you trying to sabotage this trial? Because if you are, I will not tolerate your hysterics." X lowered his helm, his hollow stare starkly obdurate. "Behave, or I'll be forced to remove you from this proceeding."

The accusation made Zero's temper flare, composure dissolving under the pressure. "What happened to you?! This isn't you! This isn't like you!"

"Count 21 to 32 cha- oh?" Kelverian interrupted himself sharply, realising that all eyes had turned to Neo Arcadia's rulers. He lightly tapped the gavel. "I apologise, Masters. I must call for order during this proceeding. If you happen to have an issue with how this trial is progressing, I request you say now before I resume reading the tribunal's judgement."

Zero's roving eyes snapped to and from X and Axl. The copybot remained silent, watching X's every move with an acrimonious frown. X crossed his arms.

"I apologise for the disruption," X expressed, though Zero picked up the iota of cynicism in his stiff tone. "My partner is confused, that's all."

Being misrepresented so egregiously caught Zero flat-footed. "I'm not-"

"Let me reiterate why we are here today for you, Master Zero," X spoke with an acidic cadence. He stood before the tribunal at the balcony's edge, addressing the court with an oppressive and formidable aura. "The accused who stands before us today is an old friend of mine, someone I once thought of as family. To the tribunal, he might be nothing more than a former Neo Arcadian governor. Regardless, he has turned on our glorious city, making a name for himself as a figurehead in the Resistance extremist movement. You've heard the Chief Judge- his crimes are too numerous to comprehend- terrorism, mass murder, conspiracy, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity!

"Axl, you were once so loyal to this city- to me, and now you've let yourself become amongst the most vile of maverick extremists! Tell me, do you know how many innocent lives you have claimed in your horrific attacks on Neo Arcadia's people? Because you'll have to forgive Zero for being ignorant to your terrorist behaviour!"

"Objection, your honour; argumentative," Flizard raised cooly.

Kelverian nodded. "Objection sustained-"

After an unbroken silence from the copybot, Axl spoke up, lunging forward provocatively. "X, There are no innocent lives in Neo Arcadia!" He scowled. "Every complacent, sycophantic bastard here has blood on their hands and they know it!"

X gritted his teeth as his anger threatened to bubble over. "This is a paradise! And yet, you desire more than what you have been gifted. You have let greed and spite ruin you! Axl, you threaten the peace that we have worked so hard to achieve. The future that you and I worked so hard for."

"How dare you call it paradise when you've built atop the bodies of innocents who questioned you, of rebels like me?! Your path to 'peace' was paved with the blood of a who saw through your fascist bullshit-!"

A single ringing bang of the gavel silenced the court.

"Order," Kelverian demanded curtly. A soldier at Axl's side threatened him into compliance with his rifle pressed into his back.

X did not cease his attack in spite of Kelverian's call for order. "And you suppose you are any better, then?" He asked, "seeking to overthrow me by killing innocents- murdering unarmed soldiers and civilians? This government was established to implement and uphold the Abel Declaration by any means necessary to prevent aggression such as yours from running rampant. By your violent opposition to this decision, you are by definition, a maverick!" There was a darkness in X's gaze that Zero had never witnessed before, so slight, and yet enough to terrify the red warbot. "And mavericks… must perish without hesitation."

Such an absolute statement made Zero's bristle. That sort of automatic black-and-white thinking- it wasn't X at all. He was stunned- this went infinitely deeper than he could ever have anticipated. There was no changing the inevitable sentencing.

Zero wanted to run away and escape having to watch Axl's fate be decided- but his legs failed to obey him. Even if they had, such an act of cowardice would haunt Zero to his deathbed.

Grabbing onto X, Zero chanted his pleas. "X, please, at least spare his life-!"

With a frustrated groan, X shouldered Zero off, nearly throwing him to the ground. It only took a meager sliver of his strength, but it took the red warbot off guard as to just how powerful he had become.

"Stop it," X admonished, "Do you really think you're gonna change my mind being a nuisance? Did you honestly expect that by coming here and asking, I'm just gonna give up my work- my views- for one maverick? You think I'm just going to submit to your whims peacefully? Don't be so selfish. Not everything can be about us! Axl is a threat to humanity, end of!"

He faced the tribunal. "Kelverian, let Zero know of Axl's transgressions, will you?"

The Chief Judge startled at the sudden addressal. "Very well, Master X. I will now resume reading the judgement of the Neo Arcadian Military Tribunal. Count 21 to 32 charges the accused with conspiracy to commit largescale murder of disarmed soldiers. Count 33 to 36 charges the accused with conspiracy to commit largescale murder of civilians…"

Zero couldn't deny that Axl was a maverick. He was dangerous. He was a violent rebel. He conspired to wage war. War was an inherently evil thing, its effects not confined to the belligerent individuals, but with wide scale ramifications for innocent lives.

But… he was Axl.

He always fought for the right thing- all his destruction, all his violence, was to return freedom and choice to the people of Neo Arcadia.

Zero dipped his head as conflict swept through him. All he could do was withstand the agonising wait as the indictment was read, his consciousness retreating.

"Count 43 charges the accused with organising the attacks on Phoenix Airport between August and October of 2368…"

"Count 48 charges the accused with organising a covert weapon smuggling operation with intentions to arm terrorist movements…"

"Count 53 charges the accused with organising the bombings of Neo Arcadia's Southern Marine Corps' residential compounds…"

"Count 58 charges the accused with initiating the destruction of public infrastructure with intentions to illegally smuggle human-likes from the country."

Kelverian held his head high as he concluded reading the indictment. Zero kept running his tacticals as the trial progressed, only to come to a roadblock every time. He didn't have the physical fortitude to act on his strategies like he used to.

"The Tribunal will now proceed to render its verdict for the accused. The defendant, Axl - has been found guilty under fifty one counts by the Tribunal. There is no evidence he took active part in counts 13, 23, 27, 29, 34, 35 and 51. In the course of the hearing of this evidence, it has been proven beyond a doubt that Axl is a highly dangerous criminal and terrorist. The defendant has pleaded guilty in a previous hearing."

X spoke again. "And would the defendant seek to deny his guilt at this moment?" he asked- more so provoked, "Have you no defence, no alibis you would like to offer?"

Though he was unwilling to submit to X and his lackeys, Axl embraced his maverickism with pride. "No," he answered, "I have no defence. Why would I?! I don't want to be pardoned by someone as evil as you! You know what you're doing is wrong, X. Everyone knows it. It's just that I had the balls to do something about it. Your wanton goals only serve yourself!" He quivered with barely contained rage, looking around at the Tribunal. "Are all of you even aware of your own thoughts? Or are you as vacuously unaware as a fucking insect?!"

Kelverian's stern disposition visibly wavered. He looked aside, lost in thought. There were mumbles amongst the crowd. Sensing the growing unease, X filled the air with his voice.

"Guilty… what say you good people?"

The Tribunal exchanged pensive looks and murmurs. The Judges provided their answers to the child-like, hareish reploid, who relayed them to Kelverian.

Kelverian steeled his resolve before answering. "The Neo Arcadia Central Council shares the views of the majority judgement. As Chief Judge, I generally share the views of the majority. I have provided a brief statement of my reasons, and some of the general factors that have influenced my decisions. These documents will be available to all it may concern."

"All of you, all so fucking spineless!" Axl snapped, thrashing in his restraints. "How about sacrificing something for the betterment of the people? For a goal that's bigger than you are? Isn't that why you are a part of this Tribunal?! X! You know better than anyone else that you will never find peace in your pursuit of mammon like power and status!" The copybot was pulled back by his chains. "Zero! Do you understand the situation? We are trying to make a new world, free from X's ideas of archaic dominion! We don't care about the sacrifices we have to make, because in the end, they will be vindicated! We will live in a better world, one worthy of pride!"

X shook his head and harrumphed. "Such a shameful waste of energy. Kelverian?"

Axl spat and writhed violently. His breath growing shallow and laboured, the pump of blood rushing through him in his panic throbbing in his head, Zero inched back, his gaze never once leaving Axl's furious eyes. "Zero! This isn't you! This isn't X!" he screamed, "you are not a pawn! You are not a pet! You are not an animal to be kept! None of us are just animals! We are people! Capable of love and joy and pride and compassion and invention! Zero!"

Zero felt something inside him snap. "No-!"

"The Neo Arcadian Military Tribunal will now pronounce the sentence on the accused convicted on this indictment-"

"Zero! Tear this world asunder!"

"In the name of the true sovereign Lord X, accused 'Axl', on the Counts of the Indictment on which you have been convicted, the Neo Arcadian Military Tribunal sentences you to execution by firing squad."

"ZERO!"

"NO!"

Letting free an anguished cry, Zero bolted forward to scale the balustrade and descend to Axl's level, but before he could fall from the loge, X had grabbed his wrist and dragged him back onto the balcony, wrapping his arm around Zero and pulling him into an unyielding, oppressive grasp.

"Zero! You…" X bit back his ire. "Don't interfere!"

Zero didn't care that it was X anymore. He kicked and clawed and wailed, but X's unforgiving grip failed to give. "X, you can't do this!"

"Axl is a maverick, and must be punished accordingly!"

"He is our son!"

"Then it's such a shame he turned out this way. I'm beyond caring at this point. He has caused enough trouble for us! I have no problem ending his trash life right here."

Zero's mouth hung open in anticipation of a response that he couldn't muster. There was nothing he could say that would make anything X was speaking make sense, with what Zero used to know of him. He was speaking in birdsong. "X…"

A tall, sharp white and gold reploid called over a squad of soldiers brandishing rifles, the reploids marching and gathering in single file before Axl. The tall Judge kicked Axl's legs in, sending him to his knees.

"Stop! X, stop him!"

The riflemen steadied their balance and took aim. Axl held his head high, remaining militant until the end.

"Give the word, Master X," the tall reploid said. Zero screamed pleas for mercy despairingly.

"Don't! No! Don't do this!"

X remained obstinate. "When ready, Mantisk."

The mythic executioner- Mantisk, faced his riflemen. "Fire at my command."

In his last moments, Axl offered a slight smile in Zero's direction.

"Fire!"

"AXL!"

A volley of bullets pierced through Axl's back and out through his chest, sending his blood splattering on the floor.

With their shots lined up perfectly with the copybot's power generator, he was dead within seconds. The subtle glow of a reploid's eyes disappeared from his emerald green glare.

After his legs gave out, he lifelessly fell to the ground, blood pooling from his wounds. Zero was catatonic.

His world was nothing but shades of red.

"The Tribunal is hereby adjourned. You are all dismissed."

Zero was still a prisoner to his vacant shock as members of the Tribunal began to shuffle off, many visibly sickened and moved by the violent execution.

There was a fracture in Zero's mind. Like Iris- the feeling of loss, of guilt- the harrowing fissure that never healed.

X let him go from his grip. Zero leaped over the railing to kneel before Axl's lifeless body.

There was no pulse, no sign of life. Zero was waiting for Axl to do so much as twitch, but it never happened. He lay there, motionless, unanswering.

"N-no…"

Axl died with his jaws clenched in a snarl, damning the world even in death.

Blood was still seeping from his warm body. Zero collected Axl in his arms and cradled him, embracing him as gently as a mother would her newborn child.

Zero rocked back and forth, weeping inconsolably into the crook of Axl's neck.

"Axl…"

He was expecting an answer that would never come.

"Axl… I'm sorry. T-this is all my fault…"

His voice broke and quivered through sobs.

Axl…

All semblance of equanimity crumbled. Zero threw his head back and keened, wailing his grief into the sky.

With no strength, no weapons, no allies and no power, all he could do was scream his sorrows as he lamented over his son's dead body.

From behind, X had jumped down from his perch to join Zero's side. He kept ample distance from the red warbot and their lifeless son.

"Why do you weep for him?"

… A fissure.

Zero's world was red.

"He is a maverick. He always has been." X was hardly comforting. "Lupus pilum mutat, non mentem, Zero. The wolf changes its fur but not its nature."

"Because he was our son, X!"

X flinched back at the sudden snap.

"Why?! Why have you become this way? I thought you were different!" Zero didn't pull his punches. "Why?! You- you fucking murderer!"

The azure reploid's shoulders dropped, defeated. "Zero…"

"Was everything we were- was it all a lie?!"

"No-"

"Our family- it meant nothing to you!"

"Enough!"

X's bellowing roar lingered in the air. In the far flung horizon, thunder cracked in the distance.

"I do not dominate indiscriminately. Not in this life. We human-likes are careful, in that way. It's the natural order of things to be so… vacuous." He looked to the storm on the horizon. "But sometimes, old dominion must re-emerge, because there are stubborn dissidents who refuse to accept order. It is our duty to resist entropy."

He stepped forward. X eyed down Axl's corpse- still bleeding.

"To accept and uphold order… you taught me that, Zero. Our principles must surpass emotions- our animal bonds!"

…

There were cracks, splitting the world into pieces.

X's world.

Zero would tear it asunder.

"Get away from me," Zero whispered. X frowned.

"What?"

"I said get away from me!"

X backed away, incredulous. "You're not thinking like yourself."

"I hate you!"

That gave X pause. He shut his mouth and looked away from Zero's charged glare. He ruffled uncomfortably.

"...Alright."

He swallowed hard, turning away with his gaze fixed to the floor, and departed, leaving Zero alone with their dead son. He didn't even grieve for a second.

The distant storm was getting closer as the sun disappeared behind the city skyline. Zero sat vigil by Axl's side, even as a pattering of raindrops began to fall.

Zero's head spun, processor swimming with regrets. He wondered endlessly what he could've done differently. He should've escaped X's possession when he could- then maybe, Axl wouldn't have had to sacrifice his life to impart his message to him.

He had to make it out. He had to find the will to change like Axl had, and sever his ties with X. He had to change as Axl did, and as X did.

Zero was not a hollow warmachine. Before the advent of humanity, survival was governed by the individuals who possessed the most will. Society was shaped by those same people- Zero knew that. The doctors of centuries past who led humanity into a new age of machines, Sigma, Dr. Weil… X.

People who had the grit and wherewithal to supplant and override animal expectations of immediate gratifications and extol the distant future- the distant ideal. Axl didn't need his body- he was no mere man of lesser purposes, he could stand on his principles.

Even then… it didn't make Zero's grief any less real.

Little had changed. Everyone Zero once loved was gone- including X.