Author's Note: Thanks to the anonymous reviewer who pointed out that I had accidentally replaced chapter 14 with something from a different story. I was doing some revisions for typos and accidentally put something where it didn't belong. Still not as bad as the time I accidentally pulled an entire chapter out of sequence and only noticed it months later. Now... on with the show!
Chapter 15 – Answers
The next morning...
X was feeling restless. Too many questions still burned in his mind, and an idea took form in his mind. Zero had run off somewhere again, likely on another of his walks, and while he was eagerly awaiting the completion of his new body, what he needed was located in Ciel's home, and accessing it would mean interrupting her work.
He strode across the street, enjoying the tranquility and gazing upon the clear sky above, eventually making his way to Ciel's door. To his surprise, he found her standing outside, leaning against the wall next to the door frame, absently drinking some juice from a large glass.
"I'm surprised you're up at this hour after last night." X remarked.
He had left eventually in order to give the twin sisters some privacy to speak with each other and their mother at length, and by the look on Ciel's face and the dark circles around her eyes he deduced that they had likely stayed up all night.
"I was just about to head to bed, actually." she said. "I just have to get something in my stomach first so it won't start bothering me."
"So… how did things go?" X asked.
"I think we're on the right track." Ciel said, her smile shining through again as her eyes started getting slightly moist. "I can't remember the last time the three of us were together like this… without arguing or getting angry at each other."
"Are they still here?"
She nodded and smiled.
"Yes… and fast asleep. I still don't know if they'll be staying around or doing their own thing, but I guess I may need to draft some expansion plans for the house later. It's a good thing all the plots were drawn with some extra wiggle room."
"How are you feeling? About having the three of you back together like this?"
"Like I'm back to my younger days. So much has changed, but some things never change… or shouldn't change. It hadn't hit me how much I missed both of them until they were standing in front of me."
She then yawned loudly.
"Go to sleep then." X said with a smile. "I'll be back later. I need to talk to you about the old library."
"Definitely something I want to dig further into once I have time." she said with a nod.
"I thought so."
She then looked at him with a tired smile and slightly glazed eyes.
"And by the way… thanks." she said, sounding a little emotional.
"For what?"
"Not giving up on all of this." she said, trailing off as fatigue took its toll. "Coming back for us. Showing us the real you."
She then yawned again, louder than than the previous time.
"And now I'm going to get some sleep before I start spouting nonsense." she added, smiling again.
With that, she turned around and went back inside, stopping only to place the glass down on the kitchen counter before dragging herself to her room. Not bothering to change clothes, she got in bed and once her head touched the pillow she fell asleep in five seconds flat.
X stood outside for a moment, smiling. Seeing this particular situation resolved in such a manner brought a warm joy to his chest, even if the body he was wearing was but a crude, limited imitation. He closed the front door, which Ciel had forgotten to in her half asleep state, and then walked away, wandering aimlessly until he eventually reached a pond not far from the fields Old Andrew had been so excitedly caring for.
Without much else to do at that hour, X sat down, watching a duck that was swimming through the pond followed by a small flock of ducklings.
"I'm glad I stuck around..." he thought with a grateful smile.
Around late afternoon, X came around Ciel's house once again. As Lune opened the door and ushered him inside, he found the twin sisters in the middle of a discussion.
"You may be the one with a natural talent for science..." Cial pointed out. "But I'm better at organizing things. Look at you, jumping from one project to the next without pacing or proper rest."
"Maybe, but you could learn a thing or two about empathy." Ciel retorted flatly.
"I do possess it." Cial corrected rather flatly. "I only try to look at the facts without becoming emotionally entangled."
"Admittedly, it did not end very well." she added.
"I'm not going to lie..." Ciel said with a frown. "Half the time I couldn't understand what you were thinking."
"Looking back, probably the same as you." Cial retorted with a bitter look on her face. "Never again."
"Never again." Ciel echoed, figments of a familiar nightmare dancing through her mind. "Yes… No more people living in fear of the future. No more maniacs trying to take over or ruin everything. No more… children's lives wasted."
"Yes..." Cial mused. "Looking back, that was the day when everything started."
"Looking back, maybe we went too far." Ciel pondered.
"The original idea had its merits." Cial countered. "It's only a pity that the result… well..."
"The way he changed..." Ciel recalled, her expression for a moment turning as bitter as her sister's. "I barely even noticed at first. I should have seen the signs sooner."
"Looking back..." X chimed in. "I can understand why my creator took so many precautions before releasing me into the world. It's not practical to keep every single new Reploid locked in a capsule for decades, but we have to find some way to prevent that kind of insanity."
X had spent the vast majority of his existence consumed with questions about why so many of his kind tended to go Maverick and cause untold harm to others and themselves. He was painfully aware that there was no simple answer, and that he couldn't simply lay the blame for all of it on a random glitch or on the distant specter of Sigma. His discoveries regarding his and Zero's past had explained much, but there was always a spark of unpredictable randomness, much like in humans, that could steer them towards either good or evil.
"Maybe we'll never know for sure why these things happen." he added. "But for now, I'm glad I got to live long enough to see this new beginning. The children playing outside and going to school together don't care if they're organic or synthetic."
"Your optimism is remarkable..." Cial noted earnestly. "Especially considering how long you've been around and how much you've seen. I still don't know if I can think the same way, but I'm willing to try."
"I have no delusions." X said. "Once, I thought I'd be able to build a paradise on Earth if I worked hard enough. An… Elysium. But that's not something one person alone can accomplish – or impose."
"You definitely have your work cut out for you." Cial remarked. "After the things I saw your copy do – not to mention Weil and Omega – I agree that you can't impose something like that. People have to want it and band together for it. One person cannot carry the world on their shoulders."
"But there has to be some kind of order to things." she added, glancing at Ciel. "Some kind of structure."
Ciel found the presence of spirit to crack a joke.
"Not planning to take over, are you?" she teased.
"No, but something still needs to change around here." she retorted dryly. "Starting perhaps with the division of work. You can't keep up this pace forever."
"I've been doing a lot of thinking about that." X remarked. "As much as I hate the idea of being in charge again, I'm not a coward. Maybe it's time I took a more active role in things. Just… don't give me any fancy titles."
"If anything, your hesitation does you credit." Cial remarked, looking pensive for a moment. "You are yourself, and that is all you need to be… and perhaps that's why you have achieved so much. Because you question, because you hesitate. I've seen where absolute, unflinching conviction leads."
"I… did not expect that from you." X admitted, caught a little off guard by the remark, which sounded almost like praise.
"I have eyes and a brain." Cial retorted. "I know where credit is due… and I do have the presence of mind to examine what went right and what did not."
"Just how did you manage to keep a low profile for so long anyway?" X asked.
"My sister does tend to get most of the attention..." Cial said with a sigh. "Especially from the dashing legends with a penchant for missile riding."
"Low blow..." Ciel hissed, feeling a slight rush of heat to her cheeks.
"That said..." Cial continued, not to show her amusement at her sister's reaction too obvious. "Ciel isn't the only one who admired your work. Having the real X back instead of the fake or the Head Administrator is already making a considerable difference. You have always known how to motivate people by example and presence, even if you did not realize it."
"Don't you think you may be giving me a little too much credit?" X asked.
"No. I've always had to get things done through hard work and willpower… because I don't have your kind of presence." Cial insisted. "My sister… is better with words and at connecting with people."
"Is that a smile I see on your face, Sis?" Ciel asked.
"She used to smile a lot more when you two were younger." Lune remarked. "In fact, I think I should go dig up those old pictures later."
X's gaze alternated between the two and their mother. Though they had spent some time estranged from each other, there were definitely some similarities beyond the physical appearance. He had already become aware of Ciel's struggles to overcome the past, and sympathized with her, but seeing the three together in the same place he understood that each of them was coping in their own way. The petite scientist, burying herself in work. The former Head Administrator trying to make amends much like the Guardians. The mother, also a scientist, trying to keep her remaining family together.
"You know..." he mused, feeling his old excitement for the future returning to the forefront. "I have a good feeling about all of this."
"Meaning?" Lune asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I think you two couldn't have returned at a better time." X explained with a smile. "Right now, the world is a bit like the ground after a wildfire. If we do this right… we'll have flowers blooming amidst the rubble of our failures."
"You are mixing metaphors a bit, I think." Cial remarked. "But I get your meaning. This settlement will become a new metropolis one day, mark my words. People are repopulating, rebuilding, expanding… and I'm eager to put my talents to use on a project that actually has a future."
"Right now, from what I've seen, people are building their new homes with refurbished metal and learning how to live off the land once again." Lune said. "Basic plumbing is already laid out and thanks to a certain someone the energy crisis is a memory."
She paused for a moment, running some calculations in her mind, and then her face lit up in a smile, extremely similar to Ciel's.
"Given another year or two, this place can become self-sufficient in terms of food. In less than three years, I predict we'll have some proper roads in the boundaries of the settlement… if we keep this up."
"Natural progression." X said, remembering his days assisting with the planning of what eventually had become Neo Arcadia. "The indispensable, the essential and then everything else. As long as people here don't lose their motivation, I do believe we'll have a new city before these two reach adulthood."
"Your estimates are a little optimistic, but possible to meet..." Cial remarked.
"But!" she added, staring at X. "Since our mother managed to talk me into coming back though, I'll do what I can from my side, discreetly… and I'll be the first in line to call you out if I think you're being unreasonable."
"I do appreciate that." Ciel said, feeling the burden on her shoulders already lightening. She knew that her sister was not ready to be completely open about her feelings, and that this was her way of showing that she cared.
"Just… don't expect me to be a public figure." Cial added. "Not everyone is as forgiving as you lot, and I will not be responsible for damaging your image by association."
"Don't be ridiculous." Ciel scolded.
"I second that!" Axl chimed in, peeking through an open window. "Hiding a face like yours should be a crime!"
"It looks like the circus is back in town..." Cial grumbled, her composure slipping again.
"Hey, if it's stupid but it works..." Axl retorted.
"Just how long have you known about my sister anyway?" Ciel asked, realizing that he had never shown the faintest hint of surprise at her presence.
"Don't forget, I lived in Neo Arcadia for a time too." Axl pointed out. "Different face and different name, so you wouldn't have recognized me on the street."
"Why the cloak and dagger act anyway?" Ciel asked.
"I wanted to see what kind of world my buddies' hard work and sacrifices would create… without having people treat me differently just because of who I am." Axl explained before his expression soured. "In the end, I didn't care for the result."
"So why didn't you come out in the open?" X asked. "Stepped in as the hero of the age? I thought you always wanted a shot at proving yourself."
"When I was younger and dumber, maybe." Axl countered. "But… it just wasn't the same without you guys and I had my own issues to deal with. So I did the next best thing and helped the Resistance get on its feet."
"Your shapeshifting abilities?" Cial asked, her annoyance momentarily giving way to curiosity.
"Among other things." Axl bragged before finally going around the house and stepping inside as well.
"There's a lot more to me than my devilish good looks and wits, believe it or not." he added as he stood in front of Cial and flashed a grin worthy of a toothpaste ad from the old days.
"If you say so." Cial retorted, rather unimpressed.
"Tell me one thing though." Ciel said, staring at Axl intently, finally voicing a suspicion she had harbored since first truly knowing him. "The information that led us to the lab where Zero was. Did you have something to do with getting that to us?"
"Maybe..." Axl replied with a conspiratorial wink.
"Anyway..." X chimed in, remembering the original purpose of his visit. "I was thinking about heading to the old Resistance base to have a look at the library material myself. I'll just need to consult the catalog first. Do you…?"
"Yes, I have the computers here." Ciel confirmed with a nod. "Can you believe the internal clock batteries still had power after all this time?"
"The model looked familiar." X said. "If it's the same we used to have at the old Hunter HQ, I can definitely believe it."
Ciel led him to another room, seemingly repurposed as a small workshop, where she had hooked up the ancient equipment to more modern monitors.
"I still need to take another look at the original monitors but these are easier on the eyes anyway." she remarked as she turned on one of the computers.
X glanced at the vintage keyboard set on the desk next to the central unit and silently lamented the limited sensory capabilities of his limited body. He did, however, still find the sound of the keys under his fingertips rather soothing in its familiarity.
"Maybe I'm just a relic appreciating another relic..." X remarked with a smile. "But this old stuff has a charm of its own."
For a few minutes he tried to search for specific keywords in the titles and subjects, searching for anything that might help him gain a better understanding of his power. The vast majority sounded far too vague or esoteric to be of particular use, but he still memorized the titles in hopes that they would provide good recreational reading material later.
"Well… I'm not sure if any of this stuff is actually going to help, but I think I'll head to the base anyway and look around."
"In that case, I'm going with you." Ciel said. "I want to take a look at the history books… so I can understand how things went wrong in the past and try to keep it from happening again."
"But before we go..." she added. "Can you show it to me up close? That… light of yours?"
"Fair enough." X said with a nod, before the strange white radiance blossomed in his right hand.
"How does it feel?" Ciel asked, staring with clear interest as her training as a scientist clashed with the childlike awe at something she could not explain.
"It's difficult to describe, considering the limitations of this body." X said. "But it feels… soothing. You know that feeling you get at the end of the day when you've just finished eating a plate of honeyed pancakes and are just lounging on a couch, with nothing to do and no obligations for the next day?"
"That's… strangely specific." Ciel noted.
"I guess they left some things out of the legend." X said with a mischievous smile. "Even in the middle of the constant fighting, the turmoil and everything else… I still kept my love for the world and many of the small joys."
"Next you're going to tell me you know how to cook." she joked.
"As a matter of fact..."
"Really?" she asked, unsure if he was joking.
"There's a reason why I have hands and not just Busters. I wasn't meant to be a fighter." X reminded her. "I was meant to become whatever I wished to… and my maker hoped the world would let me choose a peaceful path."
"Yes…" she mused. "I can see that… and the hands are some of the most difficult parts to get right when building humanoid robots… just like the eyes."
She hesitantly touched his glowing hand and soon felt a comforting warmth coursing through it, then through her arm and reaching into her chest.
"Your description actually makes sense now..." she realized. "But it's more than that. It's that feeling… that everything will be all right in the end."
X nodded, a serene smile appearing on his face.
"Yes… Exactly. All will be well. I still don't know if this light comes from me or from somewhere else, but it helped me keep my sense of self even after losing my body."
"Anyway..." Ciel said, withdrawing her hand before Axl or someone else walked in and decided to crack a joke at their expense. "We should probably get going. The Trans Server terminal isn't far from here but this could take a while."
Another mystery had presented itself to her in the form of X's strange radiance, and she silently decided to unravel it.
The two stepped back into the living room.
"We'll be back later." X said.
"Say hi to Rouge and Jaune for me." Axl remarked, with another of his grins.
"Do let me know if you find something interesting." Cial said, ignoring Axl, and her sister nodded in response.
Axl waited until the two had stepped out of earshot, then plopped down on the couch and glanced at Cial.
"Can I interest you in some hot-blooded robot action?" he asked with a grin.
She glared daggers at him, not bothering to dignify him with a verbal answer, and then, to her surprise, he grabbed the remote control and another of the old shows Ciel and the others had made a habit of watching together in the evening started playing on the screen.
"What did you think I was talking about?" he asked with a smirk.
Realizing that she'd taken his bait again, she planted the palm of her hand on her forehead and sighed, looking like she was on the verge of a migraine.
"Fine..." she grumbled. "I suppose I could use a distraction. That kind of ridiculousness should do."
"You really like seeing how far you can push your luck, don't you?" Lune remarked with a smirk.
"Don't worry Lady." he replied, his tone and expression betraying a sincere fondness. "I'd rather tangle with Sigma and Omega at the same time than offend you. That said, your girl really needs a good laugh. She's too tense."
"Well, you two had better stop it." Lune warned with a brief flash of steel in her eyes. "I won't have you bickering like children."
"Fine, Mom..." Axl grumbled, in a perfect imitation of a six-year old boy being told to clean his room.
Cial rolled her eyes and then suddenly touched her forehead again, looking visibly uncomfortable. Axl cast her a quizzical look, and for a brief moment he looked genuinely concerned.
"I don't expect an eternal brat like you to understand." she grumbled, noticing his gaze. "My mind… is restless."
With that, she sat down on the couch, keeping a good distance from Axl.
"Better than you think, Ice Queen." he retorted, before letting out a sigh of his own.
"You know what?" Lune added, before sitting on the couch as well. "Might as well."
She then looked at her daughter, edged closer and pulled her into a hug. Noticing that Cial visibly relaxed in response, Axl chose to stay quiet.
"Guess your method works better than mine when it comes to her, Lady." he thought with a smile. "But I meant what I said. That girl's gonna get white hair before she hits twenty at this rate."
With that, he reached for the remote again and picked one of his old favorite shows, then set it to play from the beginning.
Five minutes later...
"Why is that guy fighting in spandex?" Cial thought a little confused. "Why does the camera keep fixating on his ass?
To her annoyance, she found herself unable to look away.
Next to her, Lune simply watched, with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.
Axl simply grinned.
Ten minutes later...
"Why is he shouting all that nonsense about love, anger and sorrow?" Cial thought, leering at the screen. "Why does she keep putting up with his crap anyway?"
Despite her silent protestations, she was following every second of it.
Next to her, Lune seemed to be getting into the show.
Axl looked fired up.
A few hours later...
"WHY IS THAT HORSE PILOTING A ROBOT HORSE?!" Cial thought, utterly confused, with her eyes wide as dinner plates. "HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?!"
At this point, her mind gave up on trying to find any logic in it whatsoever.
Next to her, Lune was fighting back laughter at the absurdity of the scene.
Axl looked like he had just gobbled down an entire crate of candy.
Another few hours later…
"Oh…" Cial thought, her expression noticeably softer. "I guess... they really do..."
Even her mood softened before she realized it.
Next to her, Lune looked touched by the scene.
Axl smiled like an idiot and discreetly wiped something off his eye.
As the final episode's end credits rolled...
"I have… so many questions..." Cial muttered, looking a little dizzy.
"That was… interesting." Lune said. "What else do you have lying around?"
"I think that's quite enough for today, Mother!" Cial protested.
"Oh, come on!" Axl pouted. "Don't be like that. I know you liked it… especially that part near the end."
"Quiet, you." Cial retorted, bonking him on the head.
"As if I'd ever admit that to an idiot like you..."
Meanwhile, at the old Resistance base...
"Well..." Ciel noted, taking her head out of one of the crates. "We may not have found what you were looking for, but this..."
"Yes..." X nodded in agreement. "This will definitely keep us busy for a while."
"I think I know what I want to do once we get you and Phantom new bodies." Ciel said with a determined look on her face. "Neo Arcadia was a failure, but with all of this… we can start building a new Alexandria."
"Knowledge is going to be another weapon in the fight for the future." X said with a nod. "Too much has been lost and forgotten already. I just wonder if you'll be able to keep yourself out of the lab long enough to sort through all of this."
"With my mother and sister around… there's a very good chance of that."
The beaming smile on her face did not escape his notice. He understood perfectly that to someone such as her, such a trove was a treat sweeter than anything even the most accomplished chefs of the old world could produce. In the face of such a vast and diverse collection, X found himself fighting the temptation to extend their stay and just lounge about going through everything at his leisure.
"You know what?" he remarked. "When it's time to come get all of this in order… I think I might join you."
"Incidentally, did you notice?" Ciel asked. "The strange script on some of these crates?"
"I don't recognize the language." X said with a nod. "They definitely look like they've seen their share of use. Where do you suppose these came from anyway?"
"There's definitely more to those visitors than meets the eye." Ciel noted. "Another mystery I'll have to dedicate some time to later."
X turned his attention to another set of crates, opening them one by one and taking a cursory glance at the contents.
"Wait a minute..." he said with a surprised look on his face as he read the labels on the data discs.
"Is something wrong?" Ciel asked, glancing at him.
"Why didn't I think of this sooner?" he chided himself.
"Huh?"
"Library, Ciel." he pointed out. "You know what else some libraries collected back in the day?"
"Periodicals." he clarified, holding up a disc casing. "Newspapers, magazines, the chronicles of daily life."
As she saw the label, her eyes lit up in recognition of the year range printed on it.
"Oh… Oh!"
X hurried out of the storage room and headed back to Ciel's old quarters, where she had left some of the computers and basic equipment, ready to use in case they were needed again. The petite scientist followed close behind.
As the computer booted up, X cast another look at the disc case in his hand, looking almost hesitant for a moment… or perhaps simply anxious. As the computer finished booting up, he inserted the disc and started going through the contents. After less than a minute, he found himself staring at one particular article.
"This would have been worth the trip on its own..." he said, looking like he might be about to get misty eyed if his temporary body were capable of such.
On the screen was a centuries old news article about another episode conflict long forgotten by most… and the heroes of that age. In the middle of the text was an old color picture, showing a boy with a striking resemblance to X, wearing rather plain blue clothing. Even if he had not read the article itself, X would probably have instinctively recognized them. The brother and sister he'd never known in person.
"The eyes..." Ciel remarked as she edged closer to take a better look. "The look on his face. There's no doubt about it."
Next to the boy was a girl in a red dress and matching shoes, with the same sort of soft face and golden hair tied with a green ribbon. Her eyes were much like the boy's.
"I guess maybe this is one of the reasons why you and I get along so well." X quipped with a smile as he turned his gaze between the girl on the picture and Ciel.
A fleeting thought crossed her mind, and for a brief moment she couldn't help thinking of Alouette… and a particular boy clad in blue that she still was still trying to forget.
"If he hadn't turned out that way… could they have ended up like this?"
She surprised herself with such a random thought, and quickly shook her head, trying to push it out of her mind along with the sudden pang of regret.
"I'd like to think we're doing more than just repeating the steps of those who came before." she finally replied after a moment. "But that's high praise coming from you."
"Are you..." X tried to ask, noticing the shift in her facial expression.
"Yes." she said rather bluntly. "Let's leave it at that for now."
The two examined the image further and X felt yet another surge of emotion as he recognized the third person in the picture.
Standing behind the other two, with his large hands on their shoulders and a beaming smile X had never seen him wear in life, was another figure from his past, broad-shouldered, tall, with blue eyes very similar to those of his creations, graying hair and a majestic beard. A figure fitting to be crawling down chimneys once a year to deliver gifts, but instead clad in the classic garments of a scientist – a white labcoat, a white shirt and tie, completely plain trousers and shoes.
"Ah. Ciel said with no small amount of admiration. My distant predecessor."
Next to her, X looked like he was about to fully lose his composure, overwhelmed by the glimpse into a life he had never had the chance to know. She noticed this and did the only thing she could.
"There there..." she whispered, patting his shoulder. "I'm sure wherever they are, they're all proud of you."
"I hope you're right..." he said, with his voice cracking from sheer emotion.
Several hours later, after X had finally calmed down and the two had kept going through more of the contents of the old library, they ended up deciding to spend the night at the old base.
"It's strange to be back here like this..." Ciel thought as she slowly drifted into sleep in her old bed. "So much has changed..."
In Cerveau's old workshop, after making sure that Ciel had gone to bed instead of continuing her reading binge in the storage room, X tried to clear his mind of the countless thoughts swirling through it – even if for just a moment.
The next morning, before leaving, Ciel also took some time to check up on the general state of things and catch up with some friends and colleagues who had stayed at the base.
As they finally stepped through the Trans Server network and out of the reinforced metal shed housing the local terminal and made their way back to her house, a specific thought crossed X's mind.
"Don't forget, the next council meeting is in two days." he reminded her.
"Yes, and if I know my sister, she'll want to at least watch."
They kept walking for a few more minutes until they finally arrived.
"There you are." Lune said in a manner of greeting as Ciel opened the door to her house. "Don't you think you're a little too young to pull all nighters?"
"Don't worry, she got plenty of rest." X reassured her.
"With a chaperone like you, I'll believe it. So, did you find anything interesting?"
"Yes." Ciel confirmed with a nod. "But where's my sister?"
"Well, I may have mentioned the council's meeting schedule to her..." Lune said, looking a little sheepish.
Ciel stepped into the living room to find her sister going through a pile of reports and logs from the previous meetings.
"Get me as much concrete data as you can." Cial said in an eager, almost hungry tone, turning her gaze away from the documents for the briefest moment. "Stockpiles, population, everything. I'll show you what I can do."
Ciel smiled, recognizing the intensity in her eyes – just like hers when she stumbled into something new in the laboratory.
A few more days passed, until one late evening...
"Guys! You gotta come see this!" Axl shouted as he barged into the shack X and Zero had taken to sharing.
"What's going on?" Zero asked, still half conscious after being awakened so abruptly.
"I don't know." Axl said, looking serious for once. "Something's… falling from the sky. Come on!"
In hasty steps, Axl led the two to the watchtower where Ciel had taken to stargazing. However, on that particular night, something else was lighting up the sky.
"Oh. There you are." Ciel said, glancing over her shoulder before pointing at something in the sky above. "Look."
A streak of white, brighter than any comet or meteor they had ever seen, was hurtling towards the Earth, leaving a fleeting trail of white light in its wake.
"What the hell is that?!" Zero muttered. "Don't tell me it's another doomsday weapon we didn't know about."
"I don't know." Ciel said. "I've been trying to take a better look, but the light is too bright. I can't see any details."
"How big is that thing?" X asked, as old memories of the Eurasia debacle rushed to the forefront of his consciousness. "How long do we have?"
"Smaller than it looks at first sight." Ciel said. "It should touch down in a few hours, but far enough from here not to hit anyone or anything important. Still..."
"As soon as it hits the ground, I'm heading there." X said. "We cannot take any chances."
Four hours later, as the sun began to rise, X, Zero, Axl and Ciel sped towards the crash site on two hoverbikes, driving as swiftly as they dared without risking an accident. After a little over an hour, they saw the object's unmistakable white light over the horizon and knew they were getting closer. Then, another two hours later, in a rocky, uninhabited region, they found themselves standing in front of a crater.
"This little thing put up that whole show?!" Axl asked incredulously as he stared at an object in the center of the crater, barely bigger than his fist.
"Just… what is this?" Ciel wondered, looking at what appeared to be an elongated chunk of some sort of shiny crystalline substance.
"Don't get any closer." X warned. "We have no idea what this is. It could be radioactive, or still superheated from the crash. I'll go take a look."
"Don't do anything too crazy." Zero cautioned.
As X jumped into the crater, he felt a strangely familiar sensation. He paused for a moment to observe the object… and it was then that he felt it. A welcoming warmth, as if the strange artifact were inviting him, beckoning him closer. He took a few more steps and suddenly the chunk of crystal started glowing with a pure white light identical to his own… which then flared on his chest in response.
"X!" Ciel called out in alarm.
"It's OK." X said reassuringly. "I'm fine. But this thing…"
He hesitantly reached forward, knowing that while his temporary body's sensory range was limited, there was still a very good chance the heat of a freshly fallen meteorite might at the very least singe it. Instead, to his surprise, he felt no ill effects. In fact, he realized, he felt a strange lightness in his chest, as if he had momentarily returned to his original body. Then, as he fully grasped the object, testing its weight, he realized it was light enough for him to lift with one hand. As he did so, however, removing it from the earth, something else happened.
"At last..." a gentle voice said, seemingly out of nowhere, speaking directly into his mind. "After an eternity traversing the Void, a spark has been found. Stand and be acknowledged… Warrior of Light."
X suddenly found himself standing in what looked like outer space, surrounded by larger chunks of the same substance.
"What…?" he thought, briefly disoriented.
Then he realized that he was not alone. Standing, or rather hovering in place, at what looked like the point around which the chunks of crystal were orbiting, was what appeared to be a handsome young man, somewhere his his twenties or thirties, with a soft face, ruffled brown hair and a pair of striking blue eyes, smiling at him.
The figure before him was wearing strange garments resembling a suit of armor straight out of ancient times, fashioned from a white metal inlaid with what looked like silver or platinum. In fact, X realized, there was something about the suit's material that reminded him of the armor worn by the masked stranger he had met not too long before, the main differences being that this apparition was openly showing his face and his outfit sported a more archaic design.
X silently struggled to process all of this, wondering if he was having some sort of elaborate hallucination… and if a synthetic being was even capable of such.
"Warrior… of Light?" X repeated, finding the name strangely fitting.
Then the vision abruptly faded and he found himself back at the crater, with the strange object still firmly in his grasp.
"You back with us now?" Zero asked.
"What… just happened?" X muttered.
"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us." Ciel said. "You were just standing there, staring into who knows where."
"Did I imagine all of that?" X thought with a haunted look on his face. "No, it can't be."
As he lifted the crystalline object in his hand, he found only silence, and an enigmatic glimmer as the light of the sun reflected on its facets.
"Well now..." a woman's voice chimed in.
X, Zero and Ciel turned and recognized the statuesque woman and the man covered in the strange suit of armor.
"I thought it was going to rain." she said, looking at them with an enigmatic smile.
"Looks more like hail to me." the man remarked.
"What are you two doing here?" Zero asked, a little suspicious of their sudden re-appearance at a time like that.
"We thought to check up on your progress." the man said, sounding genuinely happy to see them again. "Is this a bad time?"
"Actually..." X said. "Maybe you came exactly at the right time."
He stared at the two and held the crystalline object clearly in view.
"Since you have this power too, answer me this. Have you ever heard of these… Warriors of Light?"
"Well now..." the woman said, looking a little surprised.
"We were hesitant to disrupt your tranquility by sharing certain knowledge..." the man mused, sounding rather conflicted. "But it looks like it's not in our hands anymore."
"What's this about?" Zero asked. "Warriors of Light?"
Ciel watched the exchange, taking in every word and trying to process the whole situation. The woman took notice of this and turned her gaze to her.
"I know that look." the woman said, still smiling. "I've seen it many times on a certain someone's face."
"To answer your question, yes." she added, turning to X. "We've heard of them. In fact, some might consider us among them."
For a brief moment, her entire body lit up with the same white light, though it felt different somehow, in a way they couldn't put into words. Her entire presence seemed to change during that moment, radiating a soothing warmth that transcended their physical senses, but also a strength comparable to their own.
"You do realize it'll take more than your word and a light show to get us to believe you, right?" Zero asked rather bluntly.
"You were never in any danger from us, silly." the woman said as she returned to normal. "My partner here is just not that good with people, but it looks like he's taken a liking to you all… as have I."
"But wait..." X realized. "How? Before you came along, I thought I was the only one like this. I'd never even heard of these Warriors of Light before this morning..."
"Oh, we know exactly what you have there." the man said, sounding delighted and a little amused. "A Radiant Shard. Priceless, to be sure, but not as rare as you may think."
"And how exactly do you know that?" Zero asked, still feeling that something was off.
The two outsiders exchanged glances and then turned back to them.
"Well… You see..." the man sad, before raising his right hand and snapping his fingers.
In a flash of white, their surroundings shifted, and they found themselves in what looked like some sort of observation deck, in a chamber fashioned from white metal not unlike that of the outsider's armor. In front of them stood a large window made of some sort of tempered glass, but it was the sight on the other side that caught Ciel's eyes. An endless blackness, dotted by countless lights… and below, a familiar sight, which she had beheld once before. Earth.
"We're not exactly from around here." the man finished.