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Commander's Room

"Has there been any activity from Omega and Weil yet?" Zero met with Ciel and the operators hoping to be able to get out of the base.

"It doesn't seem like it, Zero." Ciel was a bit worried. Zero seems a bit tense since that last mission, something's bothering him. "Why don't you go and talk with some of our new members.?"

There was a slight pause as Zero went out the room. Zero must be nervous about talking to Forte because of what happened. It would be a good idea to send Zero over to have a talk with him.

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Forte's Room

Forte was in his room thinking about what Alouette said to him when there was another knock on the door. Oh great, what now? Forte opened the door to find a crimson reploid there.

"What do you want?" Forte was slightly annoyed and amused at the same time that Zero decided to come here.

"I want to know about my past."

"I already told you, I was only around while you were inactive." Forte wanted to see just how much Zero wanted to know.

"You can still answer me what I always wanted to know," Zero seemed calm on the outside but it was something that was always bothering him. "Who created me and why was I created?"

"You were created 200 years ago by a scientist named Dr. Wily. Wily tried to take over the world eight times but was stopped each time by a robot named Rockman, who was created by another scientist named Dr. Light. I'm not sure if you remember this, but Dr. Light was the same who created X."

It took Zero a while to digest all that information. "I was created by someone who tried to take over the world? Why was I created?"

"When Dr. Wily created you, he only had one purpose in mind, to destroy Rockman and the new reploid Dr Light was working on, X. You are based off of X's design so you are a bit similar. After you destroyed the two targets, Wily wanted you to take over the world for him."

I was created to destroy X and help someone take over the world? How is it that I'm fighting with the Resistance now? "If all of that is true, then how is it that X and I became friends and I joined the Maverick Hunters?"

"I thought you lost your memories."

"Ciel told me a bit about what I was like before, although she didn't go in detail." Could it be that I was the one to blame for everything that's happened? It seemed like Ciel was hiding something when we talked about the Elf Wars.

"I see, that explains it. To answer your question, Wily didn't succeed in creating you with that purpose. X's designs were very complicated and Wily could not insert a purpose into you. You were just like X in the fact that you could make your own decisions. Wily decided to settle for something else and put a virus in you."

Wait, didn't Ciel say that the Maverick wars were called by something called the Sigma Virus? She said that a reploid went insane and created a bunch of Mavericks.

"This virus clouded you're systems and made you into a killing machine. That was how Wily tried to use you to fulfill his wishes. It seems that somehow you were stopped by Rockman and that another reploid got infected by the virus."

That one confirmed one of Zero's fears. That means it is my fault that we're all here today. Zero was about to leave the room, then Zero realized something that hasn't been answered yet. "Wait, if X was the first reploid and you were there before X was even complete, just who and what does that make you?"

"I, like you, Zero was created by Dr. Wily. I was one of the strongest robots he created and fought against Rockman many times, each time failing. I don't know why I bothered to tell you all of that, but I guess you deserve to know." Upon hearing all of that, Zero left and went to his room to think.

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Zero's Room

Ciel was walking by and saw that Zero had a very troubled look on his face. She went in to talk with him.

"What's wrong, Zero? You look a bit depressed." Ciel dropped by to see Zero with his head on the desk.

"It's just, after talking to Forte, I realized something," Zero explained everything that Forte just told her to Ciel. "I'm sorry, Ciel."

"Why are you apologizing, Zero?" Ciel hated to see Zero so depressed and confused like this.

"It's just, if I hadn't existed in the first place, none of you would be here right now." Zero sighed. "I was the reason the Maverick Wars started in the first place, and if that hadn't happened, all of you wouldn't be in this situation."

"You had nothing to do with it, Zero." Ciel wanted to do something for Zero after all he's done for them. "You don't know what the world would be like without you, maybe it'll be better, or maybe it'll be worse. There will always be somebody who searches for power, and as long as that person exists, we need a hero to stop them. I don't know how your existence affected the Maverick Wars, but I know we wouldn't be here without you. Besides, if anyone is to blame, it's your creator."

Zero smiled and noticed the heavy bags under Ciel's eyes. "Well, I guess I'll go to Cerveau and get some repairs done, you can wait here if there's anything else you wanted to talk about."

Zero left the room leaving Ciel to wait for him. I'm so sleepy right now, I guess Zero wouldn't mind if I took a short break here.

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20 Minutes Later

"Alright, Ciel…" Zero returned to find a sleeping Ciel on his bed. She looks really peaceful like that, I better not wake her up. Zero watched Ciel's sleeping form, and before he knew it, he fell asleep as well on the same bed.

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10 Minutes Later

"Hey, Zero, I was wondering if you've seen…" Fefnir went into Zero's room to find two figures on Zero's bed. Fefnir, lacking common sense in situations like this, laughed loudly. In that moment, Zero and Ciel woke up. The two of them realized what they were doing and quickly got off the bed.

"HAHAHA! I didn't know that you two were couples. Still, to go so far between all those missions and battles is pretty impressive." Fefnir was laughing wildly and Ciel turned a shade of red.

"It's not like that…" However Ciel was unable to continue her sentence and blushed even more. Zero, on the other hand, got out his Z-Buster and blasted Fefnir straight through the Resistance building.

"Well… I guess you better go back… to the Commander's Room." Zero was having a very hard time finding the right words to say.

"Yeah… I better go… now." Ciel tried to hide her blush and darted out of Zero's room with a speed that not even Forte could match after fusing with Prea. Zero was standing there when Fefnir woke up.

"Ughh, what happened?" Fefnir looked confused, "Why am I here?"

"Don't you remember anything that happened?" Zero was praying to God that Fefnir wouldn't.

"Last thing I remembered, I was walking in the hall." Fefnir looked behind him. "Why's there a hole in the wall?"

Yes, God does exist. I swear I will never doubt you again. Zero quickly managed to make up a story. "Well, we were training outside… and a stray shot hit the wall."

"Oh, okay, I see." Fefnir walked away. Zero breathed a sigh of relief and got some reploids in the Resistance to repair the damage.

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