Chapter 24 – With Joined Hands
Hours later, after Axl had finally settled down, X withdrew to the shack to have a few moments alone, leaving Zero to keep an eye on their old friend.
"You didn't have to try to carry this alone, Axl." X mused. "And you won't. Not anymore."
The days continued to flow, slowly but inexorably. Unsure what else he could do to help Axl cope with his inner demons, X and Zero elected to give him some space, hoping he would speak with them again when ready.
Meanwhile, breaking past some of their hesitation, the Four Guardians began assisting the Resistance more openly, providing valuable scouting data and the location of other old facilities they uncovered while continuing to train Colbor.
A few days later, at the end of the morning…
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Ciel asked expectantly as she conversed with Thaddeus through a handheld radio while sitting at her kitchen table.
"I'm still going through it, but the handwriting matches other documented works." the older scientist confirmed.
"More of Dr. Cain's missing journals…" she realized. "To think they were lying around uncatalogued all these years..."
"It's a good thing I decided to inspect the physical condition of the material, starting with the history and archaeology collection." Thaddeus mused. "Still, it's funny."
"What do you mean?" Ciel asked.
"How something like this was right under everyone's noses." Thaddeus clarified. "And how I'd stumble across it now, when it's needed the most."
"I'll let X know." Ciel said. "He'll want to see those himself."
"I'll get a quiet room ready for him to examine the journals in peace." Thaddeus said. "In the meantime though, how are you all doing over there?"
"Still moving forward." Ciel said. "Some faster than others, I suppose."
"Is something wrong?" he asked, sensing the shift in her tone.
"Mother has gone to see Axl." Ciel said with concern. "She wouldn't say what it was about, but it sounded like there was something wrong."
Sitting on the living room couch nearby and within earshot, Cial divided her attention between hearing the conversation and trying out Zero's ancient game console that X had retrieved from Hunter HQ, playing some sort of co-op platform game with Alouette.
"Sis, watch out!" Alouette said, pointing at the screen as Cial's character nearly fell off a ledge.
Snapping back to the moment, Cial quickly corrected her motion.
"I know what you're thinking." Alouette said, glancing at her.
"Clever girl." the former Head Administrator said with the hint of a smile.
A few minutes later, at another location...
"Didn't I tell you?" Leviathan asked with a satisfied grin as he finished a lap through one of her training courses without breaking stride. "Mind trumps specs."
"I think I'm starting to believe…" Colbor noted.
"Good." Leviathan answered.
They were then interrupted by Harpuia entering the chamber.
"Sis, we have some matters to discuss."
Colbor froze in place, still not fully accustomed to being in Harpuia's presence.
"I suppose you can come too since you're already here." the Guardian added.
"What's going on?" Colbor asked.
"An opportunity to make ourselves useful to our Master." Harpuia said.
The next day, around noon, X, Zero, Ciel and Samus gathered in the workshop to do some brainstorming, cross-referencing X's notes with the newly discovered batch of journals.
Cial was conspicuously absent, and the others had not seen her for several hours, while Lune had left that morning, saying she had something personal to deal with. Still exhausted by his emotional outpouring after keeping things bottled in for so long, Axl had not left his room since them.
As the group were discussing the most efficient way of covering the remaining sites and trying to deduce logical priorities, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Are we expecting anyone else?" Samus asked.
"I don't think so." X said, shaking his head. "Axl asked us to leave him alone for a while."
As X headed to the door, he was greeted by an unexpected sight.
"You are not alone in this." Phantom announced.
Behind him, the other three Guardians were standing along with Colbor, Milan and Faucon. Cial stood in the back, again wearing an undecipherable expression, but with a glimmer in her eyes as she saw her plan set in motion.
"In fact…" the black-clad Guardian added. "We are rather cross at you for not telling us about this. We are supposed to be your hands, after all."
"You're not appendages." X retorted. "Not mine, and not anyone else's. But… I get what you're trying to say."
"Even if we're still on the fence about certain things…" Harpuia said.
"We can all agree that you need a few more pairs of hands on the job." Milan added.
"You guys…" X tried to say, at a loss for words after feeling so touched by the display of solidarity.
"I did say I would step in if I thought you were being unreasonable." Cial chimed in, stepping forward. "I can understand that this a personal matter, but considering that you already have people coming from so far away to lend a hand…"
"Telling them all the details at this point would just make things needlessly convoluted…" Cial thought. "But I see no reason for two or three people to try to scour hundreds of sites on their own."
"Consider this field training." Leviathan remarked, glancing at Colbor and Milan.
"Not like you guys need permission anyway, right?" Fefnir added. "Your outfit isn't a formal military or anything like that."
The sight of former enemies gathering for the sake of someone who had given so much of himself for the sake of the world brought a smile to Ciel's face. For his part, Zero watched the exchange, knowing that while X was reluctant to ask those outside his closest group of friends for help with personal matters, he also did not have the heart to turn down such eagerness.
"True, but we have to consider the whole picture." X said. "If we all run off on personal errands, the structure will fall apart."
"While we can't divert too many of our forces from their main duty of keeping the peace, this is something we want to be a part of." Milan said.
"That's right." Colbor added with unusual determination. "After everything you've done for everyone else, it's only fair that we get to lend a hand when you need it."
"In other words…" Cial added, staring intently at X. "No more sacrificing your personal life on the altar of duty."
"You'd better listen to her before she gets ideas about staging a coup." Ciel joked.
"Oh please!" Cial scoffed. "I do not want to imagine the paperwork that would require."
The Radiant Shard, which Ciel had mounted on a receptacle atop one of the workshop tables for further study, shimmered lightly.
"Interesting…" the presence spoke into X's mind.
X was a little startled, but did not let his expression betray it.
"I thought you couldn't sense anything outside the Shard." he answered, glancing in the artifact's direction.
"Not ordinarily, but being surrounded by so many strong presences is rather stimulating."
In his mind's eye, X could see the figure inside scratching his chin, gazing in the direction of the Four Guardians.
"So there are the infamous Four Guardians…" the replica of Usul noted.
"Yes… and?"
"It's funny… All this way from my point of origin, and still I find more shades of something familiar. The names and the faces may be different, but…"
"What are you talking about?"
"As I look upon their faces and countenances, I'm reminded of other beings… Ifrit. Garuda. Shiva. Fenrir."
"I'd rather you didn't compare these four to those monsters." X retorted, rather disgusted by the notion.
"You misunderstand. There were other beings bearing the same names and attributes in other worlds. Those counterparts were not Primals. They were not parasites."
"What were they, then?"
"Beings born from the living magic of their worlds. Some called them Espers. Others called them Eidolons. And some called them… Guardians."
"Are you pulling my leg right now?"
X paused to digest the notion, before silently voicing his opinion.
"I prefer to think of them as people. We are more than our abilities or the titles others give us."
"We are. But consider this. While you hate being called their Master, they made the decision of coming here for your sake despite the fact that they've been keeping their contact with the settlement to a minimum."
"And your point is?"
"They might have been reluctant to do it for themselves, out of guilt or shame. But once they knew you needed them, they came without hesitation."
"X, you're spacing out." Zero remarked, waving a hand in front of his old friend's face.
"S-Sorry…" X said, still a little overwhelmed. "I think I need to sit down for a bit."
Meanwhile, at Axl's quarters…
The boyish Reploid was still in bed, though he was not alone in the room.
"I guess now you know everything…" he said, resting his head on the pillow as he stared at the ceiling.
"I don't know how you managed to keep it all bottled in for so long." Lune remarked, sitting on a chair next to the bed.
"Disappointed?" Axl asked.
"About what?" Lune asked, a little confused.
"That I turned out to be just a sad clown?" Axl retorted with a scowl.
"My boy…" she said, knowing how strange it was to speak in such a way to someone technically centuries older than her, but not giving a damn. "Sometimes life breaks us. You did what you had to do and you still managed to pull through and continue helping others."
"Maybe…" Axl countered. "But I still failed when it counted. I was pretty useless on my own."
"That's not true, and you know it." she retorted. "You managed to become your own person after breaking away from Red Alert. You did a lot of good in the world and not only helped get your old friends back together but you also kept my girls safe… and lent an ear to an unreasonable woman who was struggling to move beyond her own past."
"I guess I wasn't a complete waste…" Axl conceded. "But I'll never be able to forget their faces."
"You don't have to forget." Lune countered. "I've been through my share of loss, but I'd never want to forget those people. The man I was going to start a life with. My friends in the project. That sweet, reckless boy who tried to be brave in the face of danger."
She stared intently at Axl's face.
"But you don't have to hide behind a clown's mask. You're not alone anymore."
"What, you trying to be my mom or something?" Axl asked with a sad smile.
"What's one more adopted child?" she scoffed, before patting his head.
That gesture of affection was too much for Axl to take in his current state, and he felt himself tearing up again. Lune noticed, preemptively wiped his eyes and pulled him into a hug.
"There there…" she said, trying to soothe him as she would often do with her daughters. "You said it yourself. Things are getting better. One step at a time."
A couple of hours later…
"I suppose it's a good thing we decided to move the discussion here." Ciel thought as the small crowd would never have fit in X and Zero's shared shack without everyone tripping on each other.
"I don't even know how you thought you could cover all this ground on your own." Samus said, sweeping her armored hand over the map. "Even in peace time, your Trans Server network just doesn't reach some areas. You can't teleport freely, and you don't have anything fast enough."
"He was always stubborn." Zero remarked, glancing at X. "I tried to help where I could, but you've probably noticed by now that he tries to pile as much work as he can on himself."
"Yeah, no." Samus said. "That's not gonna cut it anymore. Not if you want to finish the search before another hundred years go by."
"I concur." Phantom said. "Honestly, it would be more feasible if we were to split the search area by sectors and each of us focused on sweeping one."
That remark elicited an amused chuckle from Zero.
"What?" Phantom asked.
"It's just funny." Zero noted. "Usually, when shit hit the fan back in the day we had to deal with eight or so enemy leaders splitting up and taking sectors or important facilities. Now we're the ones doing it."
"I'll divvy up the areas." Samus said. "For now, I'll take the more complicated ones. The places that got buried or caved in. I've got all the gear I need for that."
"What does that leave for the rest of us?" Harpuia asked.
"From what I see on the map, the old Hunters had a bunch of shelters and outposts in central Asia." Samus noted. "A lot of ground to cover and plenty of mountainous areas."
"I'll take that one then." Harpuia said. "Terrain isn't a problem for me."
"There were a lot of naval outposts in the Pacific shores and Oceania." Samus noted, going through the notes again and updating the map with some additional pins.
"Guess that one's mine." Leviathan said, before glancing over her shoulder. "Colbor."
"Yes?" the Resistance captain hesitantly asked.
"You're not ready to head out on your own just yet, so you're coming with me."
Fefnir grinned at the remark.
"Wipe that look off your face." Leviathan said, glaring at her sibling.
"I didn't say anything." Fefnir retorted.
"But you were thinking it." Leviathan countered.
"What?" Colbor asked, feeling a bit out of the loop.
"Just ignore them." Phantom said, rolling his eyes.
"From what I've seen of the orbital footage, North America got hit pretty hard." Samus noted. "Plenty of ground to cover, with many different environments."
"And some definitely toxic or radioactive." X pointed out.
"This suit isn't just for show." Samus said, bumping her fist on her armored chest for emphasis. "I think we'd better split that area between the two of us though."
"Well then…" Zero intervened. "As much as X wants to have someone watching the home front, I'm tired of sitting around. Give me something to do."
"You can take Western Europe then." Samus said. "Part of the old continental rail is still intact, so you can just grab one of those hoverbikes and start from the nearest Trans Server terminal."
"It's been a long time since I rode one of those…" Zero said with a wistful expression that did not escape Ciel's notice. The mental image of him wearing a leather jacket and aviator shades, cruising through a deserted highway with his ponytail flapping behind him brought a smile to her face.
"Since Axl does not seem to be in any condition to do so…" Phantom said. "I will take up his role of keeping a discreet watch."
"You know about that then?" Zero asked with a frown.
"Only that he is indisposed." Phantom clarified. "It is not my business to pry."
"Well then…" Samus said. "There are some sites in South America that need-"
"I'll deal with those." Fefnir interrupted, before glancing at Milan. "And you're coming with me. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two."
"I have finished running a check of the Trans Server network." Cial informed, before placing a tablet on the table. "Some of the more remote terminals are still undergoing repairs, but new functional ones have been uncovered. We are making use of those to locate other bastions of civilization out there."
She expanded the map and elaborated further.
"Harpuia, there are a handful of functional terminals that should cut back on your flight time. Fefnir, the Amazon blaze forty years ago knocked out some of the local hubs and they ended up being abandoned, but we are getting a signal from one of them. You may be able to restore the connection to some of the others from there."
Leviathan glanced at the maps and her brow furrowed in concentration.
"I'm as fast underwater as Harpuia is in the air, but I won't be going alone."
"Guess he can just ride on your back." Fefnir scoffed.
"W-What kind of-" Colbor tried to protest.
"Ignore him." Leviathan said, glaring daggers at Fefnir. "He likes pushing people's buttons."
Cial nodded.
"Since Leviathan has a very large area to cover and will be traversing aquatic environments, I have a suggestion."
"Go on." Leviathan said.
"Communications may be difficult in such environments, so Colbor could help relay information and keep watch for any unexpected hazards." Cial reasoned.
"Funny that you mention that." Ciel intervened. "Cerveau and some of his trainees recently finished refurbishing some old recon choppers. Between the new reactors and the solar panels, they could stay in the air for weeks, maybe even months."
"I could handle that…" Colbor said with a nod. "But I think it would be safer if I got a little refresher course before going anywhere. I haven't piloted anything like that in ages."
"Those old skill programs I picked up from Hunter HQ should help." X pointed out. "We've already confirmed the discs are still in working condition and the control scheme hasn't changed that much since those days."
"It will take a couple of days to get everything ready." Cial said as she started updating her notes. "Supplies, communications equipment and so on."
"We can go ahead to our area." Samus said. "I've got everything I need in my ship."
"I'm sorry, what?" Ciel interjected.
"Right…" Samus realized. "I guess I didn't mention that."
With that, she stepped outside and activated the recall function in her suit's onboard computer. Moments later, a red heavily armored airborne craft, roughly the size of a house and with a frontal section design clearly modeled on her helmet, flew overhead.
"You're gonna have to let me take a look at that later…" Ciel said, feeling more than a little giddy.
"I'll think about it." Samus retorted with barely concealed amusement. "Well then, X…?"
"No time like the present." X said with a nod. "Stay in touch, everyone."
Samus nodded and stood directly underneath the ship. Some sort of teleportation system locked in on her, and with a flash she disappeared. X watched on, then did the same, and moments later found himself in the vessel's hold.
X glanced around, intrigued by the utilitarian design, not so different from the old Hunter facilities. What caught his attention though was the collection of mementos carefully laid out in some sort of display cases. Strange pieces of alien technology, exotic rocks, and even a few printed pictures.
"In case you are wondering…" a male voice chimed in, startling him.
X glanced around until he saw some sort of computer terminal, whose screen was taken by a prominent purple orb reminiscent of an eye.
"The items are held in place by localized gravity fields." the voice continued.
"What's this?" X asked. "An AI?"
"Hello." the AI politely said. "I am Adam. You must be X. Glad to finally meet you."
"I see you've met my partner." Samus remarked, peeking in from the cockpit.
A few moments later, Samus settled down on the pilot's seat and plotted a course. The ship started heading on its way and with little else to do for the time being, she decided to strike up a conversation with X.
"So, I know about Wily…" she said. "And you told me a bit about that Maverick Virus last time. But what about those Elf Wars?"
X sighed and stepped into the cockpit, standing behind her chair.
"After we beat Sigma on the moon, we thought it was over, since he had nowhere else to go." X said. "What we didn't know at the time was that he had left copies of the virus elsewhere."
"So he came back again?" Samus asked.
"Not exactly." X said, shaking his head. "This strain of the virus didn't have a will controlling it… and in some ways that made it even more destructive."
X's face twisted into a scowl as he recalled those dark days.
"A few years after the battle on the moon, the virus started spreading like wildfire, until it got to the point where it couldn't be contained. That was when we tried something new. Since Zero was always immune to the virus, an ancestor of Ciel's studied his structure and created a new cybernetic life form. The Mother Elf."
"Let me guess…" Samus said. "Things didn't go as planned."
"To put it mildly." X said. "The Mother Elf was tremendously powerful. She was able to draw in and contain the virus, purifying large areas at a time. In less than two months, we were on the verge of a complete cleansing… and then things started going wrong again."
X sighed, clearly reluctant to dwell on such memories.
"The next thing we knew Zero's body started malfunctioning. Eventually we discovered that Wily had left some hidden code in it as a failsafe, in case Zero ever decided to act against his orders… and there were still some AI copies of his personality hidden around. Then the Mother Elf started acting strangely too."
"Typical Wily." Samus spat. "I should have blown his head off back in the day. I know there were times when Rock was tempted to, but he was always too much of a softy and I wouldn't want him to get his hands dirty like that."
"It wasn't just Wily this time around though." X said, clenching his fists. "There was another scientist. Weil. Instead of freeing Reploids from the Maverick Virus, he wanted to use the Mother Elf's power to reduce all of them to his mindless puppets. He almost succeeded too."
"What happened?"
"He corrupted the Mother Elf." X explained. "Implanted a new vicious personality in her and placed her under his control. And then things got worse."
"How worse?"
"First Reploids started going insane." X recalled. "The Mother Elf soon became known as the Dark Elf when her power started driving Reploids insane and irreparably corrupting their personality cores. Thankfully Axl and I were immune to it, but we had a lot more fighting ahead. Then Zero started getting worse."
"I think I can see where this is going…"
"It got to a point where Zero's body was on the verge of being consumed by the Maverick Virus." X recalled. "And so we had to make a difficult choice. We shut him down and transferred his consciousness to a new body, but between the trauma of separation and all the checks we needed to run in order to make sure the new body wasn't infected too, he wouldn't wake up for a hundred years."
"And then what happened?"
"Then Weil stole the original body… and it became something else." X recalled. "What Wily had always intended Zero to become. A monster by the name of Omega. Somehow Weil figured out a way to control Omega, and through him he was able to override the Dark Elf's will completely."
"But wasn't he already in control?" Samus asked. "Sounds like he was just going the extra mile to be a douchebag."
"That's the thing." X said with a sigh. "Even corrupted, the Dark Elf still resisted and her power was out of control. Weil wanted functional thralls, not brain-dead zombies. Something in Zero's original system gave Weil what he needed to get absolute control… until Axl and I beat Omega. Since we couldn't figure out a way to permanently destroy him, we had to seal him and fire him into orbit."
"And how does this tie into this… Neo Arcadia?"
"I've been alive for a very long time." X said. "I've seen so much suffering and destruction, both from humans clashing with Reploids and Reploids fighting each other. I was sick of it all, and I knew we needed to bring a lasting change. I spent centuries fighting for a better way of running things, trying to find a lasting solution."
Again, X sighed, looking like the weight of his years was catching up with him.
"That was Neo Arcadia. The place I founded after the devastation of the Eurasia drop and the Nightmare Crisis and the Jacob's Ladder debacle. We were barely getting started before the Dark Elf crisis, and while we were able to set up the basics, it still took us two horrible years to subdue Omega. We banished Weil and set about trying to contain the Dark Elf, until we were able to construct a trap and seal her… using my original body and willpower as the lock."
Samus stayed silent for a moment, glancing at X over her shoulder.
"And I thought my life was complicated…" she remarked.
"While I was under, it looked like there was finally going to be a lasting peace." X said. "But then, even over ninety years later, there were still pockets of Mavericks out in the world… A couple of years ago, some of them managed to get into Neo Arcadia and attack a school."
X sighed, nervously pacing around the cockpit.
"I only learned of some of these facts long afterwards, but Ciel and her sister were students there. After that, they swore to do everything they could not to let something like that happen again… and that led Ciel to try to create a successor. A copy of me. Someone who could take up the mantle."
"I don't see that copy around." Samus noted. "Why is that?"
"Because there was a major energy crisis." X said bitterly. "Back then we didn't have synthetic energy crystals – not in the numbers we can produce nowadays. And suddenly that copy of mine decided that the needs of humans outweighed the needs of Reploids. He turned Neo Arcadia into a police state and decided that the best way to get through the crisis was to put Reploids down like animals and harvest their reactors."
"And people… just went along with it?" Samus asked in visible disgust.
"There were voices speaking out against it…" X said. "Ciel was one of the most vocal, but that copy was getting increasingly violent and paranoid… and he managed to get the Four Guardians on his side. In the end, Ciel knew it was only a matter of time before things got even uglier… and so she gathered as many people as she could and snuck out of the city with them. Cial stayed behind because she wanted to believe there was a way to turn things around… and because she was afraid things might get to a point where society would break down and people wouldn't even be able to feed themselves."
"Those four?" Samus asked. "I guess that explains why they look so high strung."
"They made a lot of bad choices…" X said a regretful expression. "And they paid the price for it. Not just in the defeats Zero handed them. They were driven by a misplaced sense of duty… and I don't think anyone can punish them more than they've punished themselves."
"You're definitely Rock's brother." Samus remarked. "Quick to forgive."
"It depends." X said, clenching his fists. "I will never forgive Sigma or Weil or Wily."
"You shouldn't." Samus said rather bluntly. "Some people are just trash and nothing will change that."
"Some people have criticized me in the past for being too soft." X said. "Myself included. But I'm no fool. I wouldn't have gone to such lengths if I didn't believe the Guardians were trying in earnest."
"Eventually, they realized that Weil and the insane copy were just leading everyone down a path of destruction... and so they abandoned Neo Arcadia. When that accursed orbital cannon was about to fire on the city, they came back and helped the Resistance get as many people out as they could. I don't think they're genuinely evil people. They've just made bad choices and paid the price."
"You know them better than me." Samus conceded with a shrug. "I've been around long enough to realize when someone has something eating away at them."
Two days later...
"Another dud…" X muttered to himself, realizing that the location in question, a small resupply station, had been razed to the ground long before his arrival. While the discovery of Alia's message and the considerable influx of extra hands had been sources of renewed hope, he couldn't help feeling a little frustrated.
"Maybe I should focus on the Megalopolis area…" he pondered, recalling Raziel's words.
"Any luck on your end?" he asked through Samus' radio frequency.
"One looted and empty, one destroyed, one completely gone in a rock slide." she informed.
"No luck on any of these either." X said with a sigh. "Outpost 37 was a reinforced bunker, but it didn't even have doors by the time I got there."
"I've been going through those journals." Samus noted. "This Dr. Cain sounded like a pretty big fan of your old man's work."
From what X had been able to piece together after another trip to the Resistance base to consult the growing Neo Alexandria project's records, there were rumors that Dr. Wily had attempted to weaponize with the ominous name of Evil Energy in that region. Records of that time period were scarce, and the name sounded frankly ridiculous to him, but he had also never expected to find himself in the company of Warriors of Light, angels and trans-dimensional travelers.
"When did my life get so weird?" he wondered, before realizing it had rarely resembled anything normal to begin with.
"I know you robot types don't technically need to rest…" Samus said, derailing his train of thought. "But I think for now we should head back and get a little downtime. Trying to do too much in one go isn't good for your head."
"You know what? I think you're right."
Meanwhile, somewhere over the Pacific...
The Guardians were not having much luck either, going from one dud lead to another, but they stubbornly pressed on, as if trying to make up for lost time.
"You don't have to stick around for the whole thing." Leviathan said as she took a break from searching old Hunter underwater outposts in the chopper's hold.
"I don't have to, but I want to." Colbor retorted, glancing at her from the pilot's seat with a determined gleam in his eyes. "You wanted me here to provide support, and that's what I'm going to do."
"I guess my training is starting to get results then." she remarked with a hint of amusement.
"What, were you expecting me to give up?" he asked, sounding a little offended.
"No." she retorted. "Don't be so touchy. It's been a bumpy road, but you're doing fine."
Hours later, back at the settlement...
While X had decided to go for a walk go clear his head, Ciel had invited Samus to take a break at her home.
"Nice place you've got here." the Huntress remarked appreciatively.
"We do what we can." Ciel said.
"It's nice to feel some solid ground under your feet again." Samus remarked as she plopped down on the couch.
"Wait…" Zero said. "Have you been living on your ship this whole time?"
"I've been spending far too much time in ships and space stations." Samus said. "I do own a couple of apartments and safe houses back where I'm from, but I haven't been there in ages."
"Make yourself at home then." Ciel said with a smile. "The kitchen is over there, and if you need to freshen up…"
"You know what?" Samus answered, suddenly perking up. "I think I'll take you up on that."
With that, she stood up and made her way to the bathroom.
Half an hour later, she emerged, clad not in her armor but in a very tight-fitting blue body glove that covered everything from her neck down but still made every curve in her elegant but clearly well-toned body almost painfully apparent. Her long hair, still not completely dry, was cascading loosely, reaching all the way to the middle of her back. Looking soothed, and possibly a little drowsy, she sat back down on the couch, practically sinking into it.
"You could grate cheese on those abs…" Zero quietly remarked, taking a moment from helping Ciel in the kitchen to cast a glance at Samus through the open kitchen door… and feeling a little inadequate.
"You could always change your design a bit." Cial pointed, trying to keep her voice down.
"Nah. I'm me, and that's all I need to be." Zero said, shaking his head. "Just… damn…"
"I just wonder exactly what kind of genetic augmentations she got…" Ciel muttered, glancing somewhere else and feeling a little inadequate herself.
"My ears aren't augmented, but I can still hear you." Samus remarked with an amused smirk, causing the three to stiffen uncomfortably.
"Besides, you're still young." she added, walking up to Ciel and giving her an earnest smile. "Much younger than me. Give it time."
"Just…" Ciel wondered. "No, it's rude to ask a lady her age."
"Yeah." Zero said with a nod. "Even if said lady looks like she's still in her prime."
"Well, if we're going to be honest…" Samus retorted, glancing at Zero. "You don't look so bad yourself, even for a robot. No wonder the little professor can't keep her eyes off of you."
"That's just one of his many qualities." Ciel corrected with a smile, trying to hide her embarrassment to avoid further teasing. "But I admit it can be a little distracting."
"So that's why you didn't want me walking around in my undersuit…" Zero realized.
"Maybe." Ciel said, a flash of crimson appearing on her face as she realized she'd said too much.
Meanwhile, some distance from the settlement…
"There you are." X said with a smile as he came upon the odd pair in a quiet grove, sitting on a large tree stump.
The boy quirked an eyebrow and raised his head to look at him. He was wearing far more normal clothes – a white winter jacket with matching trousers and boots, and a pair of goggles resting on his forehead. The woman, on the other hand, was still wearing a simple azure dress, seemingly unbothered by the cold despite the fact that it was still the middle of winter.
"How did you find us?" the boy asked, a little surprised.
"I guess I'm getting better at this." X said with a shrug. "Or maybe you just let your guard down?"
"I don't usually bother trying to hide my presence unless I'm on a mission." the boy admitted.
To his relief, X noticed that he seemed a slightly better. The dark circles around his eyes were nearly gone, though it would definitely take some time until his complexion reached a more normal shade.
"Just when was the last time you took a break from what you do out there anyway?" X wondered.
"I… can't even remember anymore." the boy admitted. "I should be helping with the search efforts, but to be completely honest, I could barely stand by the time we made it back."
"You've already done enough." X said, feeling emotional. "Bringing Samus here was more than I could have ever asked for. It's still going to take a while for me to get used to all of this multiverse stuff and all the other things, but for now I'm just glad to have someone around who can tell me more about by siblings."
"I suppose even I can do something right once in a while…" the boy said with a tired smile.
"How did you cross paths with her anyway?" X asked, a little curious.
"Oh…" the boy said, looking a little uncomfortable. "A long time ago, some idiot stole a prototype dimensional drive from a research institution in a far off world. I try to keep an eye out for that kind of thing since we have to be careful about who we allow to roam between universes."
"Just some mid-tier criminal." the young woman recalled. "But he definitely led us on a merry chase and ended up crashing his ship on some resort planet. Guess who happened to be there on vacation."
"Let's just say I was lucky not to get a Power Bomb to the face…" the boy said, his face turning a shade of crimson. "And leave it at that."
"An innocent accident." the young woman said.
"But she's definitely very good at what she does." the boy added, genuinely impressed. "She managed to see through my ruse with the suit and the voice modulator even back then. Maybe she tolerates my inept blundering because in her eyes I'm still a kid."
"For someone who has trouble connecting to others… you're definitely well connected." X noted.
"Simply because I try to make myself useful." the boy retorted. "You never know where you'll end up after an act of kindness to a stranger, but I doubt most of those people will remember me for long."
"Or maybe that's just your perception of things." X countered. "Maybe you need to give people a chance instead of rushing from one mission to the next. Take it from me, that's no way to live."
With that, X glanced at the minicomputer strapped to his left wrist and consulted the map.
"I have to get going." he said with a smile. "Watch yourselves out there."
"You too." the boy said under his breath as he watched X leave. "Good luck, my friend."
A nagging suspicion had been forming in the back of X's mind for a while, and he finally decided to act on it. Leaving the pair to their own devices, he headed to a more secluded location and then reached into his tunic's pocket.
"How exactly do you use this thing anyway?" he wondered as his fingers located the library card. "Do I just have to want to-"
And just like that, he found himself abruptly whisked back to that strange space.
"Ah, good." the archangel remarked. "I have not lost my touch yet."
"I have questions." X said with a furrowed brow.
"I would be disappointed if you did not." the being retorted with the faintest hint of a smile, before placing a marker between the pages and closing the book he was reading.
"If you are who you claim to be, then… do you have some way to speak to those who have already departed?"
"Provided the soul still exists somewhere, it is a matter of finding it." Raziel explained. "I did consider offering you the opportunity to speak to your maker, but such things take time to arrange, even for one such as myself."
X froze in place as he heard those words.
"There are definitely… a lot of things I'd want to ask my father." he admitted, having been too overwhelmed by their first meeting to even consider the topic. "But in that case, would it be possible for me to speak to some old friends as well?"
"I will see what I can do. But bear in mind that there are rules even I must follow. Preparations must be made."
"I see." X said. "Please do let me know."
"How does that thing work anyway?" X wondered, glancing at the large tome lying on the center of the table. "It doesn't look like an ordinary book."
"You are correct in that regard." Raziel said, sounding rather proud of himself. "The Ozar Midrashim is no mere book. It is similar in principle to the Akashic Records, and so it does not passively store what is written upon its pages, but instead actively draws knowledge from the fabric of reality."
"Akashic Records?" X asked, recalling having read the term somewhere in some books about esoteric theories a lifetime earlier. "You mean…"
"This is the ultimate Akashic Record." Raziel said. "While most of them do not actually contain knowledge of the future, this one still carries vast knowledge on a myriad fields... and some truths discerned by myself and penned by my own hand."
"Your own hand?"
"I have been around for an exceedingly long time." Raziel said with a nod. "You could say that I was one of the first scientists, though in those days there was no real distinction between the mundane and the supernatural. No separation between technology, magic and… other things."
"A scientist angel?" X pondered with a degree of amusement.
"Yes. This may be a repository of knowledge that countless masses would kill or die for, but it had its humble beginnings as my research journal an eternity ago."
"Where did you even come from? Is there a heaven out there? A supreme being as many humans have believed in the past?"
"Going directly for the far-reaching questions, are you?" the archangel retorted, scratching his chin. "You will come to know such things yourself, sooner or later."
"I suppose there's no rush." X said with a nod. "I have plenty to keep my head busy for now."
"By the way…" X added, as he prepared to leave. "I couldn't help noticing a thing or two."
"Such as?" the archangel asked, as if already knowing the answer.
"The boy. Caged Light, was it?" X remarked. "He came to my world looking for one of your missing pages, but you had already found it and didn't inform him. He's also the one who went and asked Samus for help… after meeting her in an incident involving another dimensional drive."
With a frown, X voiced his suspicions.
"Have you been manipulating him all this time?"
"I may have been selective with the information I divulged." Raziel said evenly. "And yes, I do keep tabs on those who possess or are close to developing the means of traveling between universes. But the choices were his. I did not make the suggestion of reaching out to the Huntress. He did that on his own after uncovering the connection between her and your siblings."
"But you did want him to meet me." X noted. "Why?"
"I think you already know the answer." Raziel said with a pensive frown. "Both of you have certain common traits… which can make you dangerous to yourselves without the proper support frame. Both of you are going through times of change and inner turmoil. I merely thought you would benefit from each other's acquaintance."
"And what about his companion? Does she know about this?"
"She likely suspects it. But she knows it is for his own good."
The archangel seemed genuinely downcast for a moment, letting out a deep sigh before continuing.
"I meant what I said earlier. I may not be much of a teacher, but it does aggrieve me to see my old friend's pupil so utterly lost. Yet trying to confine the boy would simply indispose him and undo what little progress we have been able to make with his issues."
"So you didn't put her up to this?"
"I did not. The choice to approach you was hers… and I am certain that you are already aware of her reasons."
"Yes." X said. "But is that kind of thing even allowed?"
"O, Child of Light…" the archangel said with evident amusement. "Even if it were not, do you seriously think it would not happen regardless?"
"You and her wouldn't happen to be related, would you?" X asked, a little surprised by his reaction.
"No, though most of our kind would seem rather eccentric by mortal standards, in one way or another."
"But why did you want him to meet me, specifically?" X insisted.
"Because while he may be older than he seems, he is still a lost child. You possess life experience he does not."
"And the Shard?" X asked, suspicious of the rather convenient timing of events.
"I may have aided some of the Warriors of Light in the creation of their Shards, but what they chose to do with them afterwards was their business alone. I do find it intriguing, however, that such a perfect match made its way to you."
"What do you mean?"
"If the presence in that Shard trusted you enough to show you those memories, then you already know. Both you and his original possess great compassion... and potential for growth. If you can master his myriad arts the same way you mastered your ability to replicate the weapons of your enemies, then you may very well become one of the greatest among your peers."
"I don't care about being called great." X said. "I just want to build a future for my world."
"And that is exactly where your greatness stems from. You do not seek it, but you grow into it for the sake of others."
"I never asked for this." X grudgingly said, feeling distinctly uncomfortable about such a being referring to him in such terms. "But I'll take it. The dream is still alive, and I will keep it that way as long as I live."
He then let out a sigh.
"If it is possible for me to speak to Palette, Layer and the rest of our lost friends…" X hesitantly said. "Or my father... you know where to find us. I have things to do."
With that, X turned around, grasping the library card. Once again it reacted to his intent, and in a flash he was back at the shack.
As Raziel resumed reading another of the tomes, the hooded figure stepped into view.
"What game are you playing here?" the hooded figure asked evenly with his arms crossed.
"I do not play games, child." the archangel retorted. "None of this is for my amusement or my benefit."
"Then what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Sometimes it takes an outsider's perspective to find solutions that are not readily apparent."
"By bringing wounded people together?" the hooded figure deduced.
"They have their own strengths, but imagine the possibilities they can create together."
"I suppose we all do what we can…" the hooded figure conceded. "For tomorrow."
"Don't worry kid." another male voice intervened.
A form clad in crimson stepped into the strange space, with a long yellow scarf fluttering despite the complete lack of wind.
"We all want the same thing." the newcomer added.
"We do." the hooded figure agreed. "The happiness of those we left behind."
"Word of advice though…" the newcomer added, glancing at the archangel. "Don't try to play games with X and the others. They're smarter than you think."
"I do not play games." Raziel reiterated. "But my people have failed mortals time and again either through excess meddling or indifferent spectating."
"And where do you draw the line?" the figure in red asked.
"I want them to grow… until they can resolve their difficulties without needing us." the archangel elaborated. "That is why I try to create the conditions for them to bloom but will not intervene directly unless absolutely necessary."