DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related to the Mega Man franchise. Mega Man belongs to CAPCOM.

I stared intently at the screen in front of me, calculating the best route for the troops to take. There was a total of three possible ways to their destination-a clearing in the city where a mechaniloid had gone berserk. The mechaniloid had used some kind of transporter-jamming signal on the whole city, so that made teleporting straight to it impossible.

Instead, the troops of the 14th, 12th, and 17th Units had to get there by using land chasers. And that gave me a much more limited time to come up with a safe route for them-they were moving quite quickly, after all.

One route would have been a clean, straight path to their destination-except that the road was now under construction, making driving a challenge and not to mention illegal. The second route, while legal, was covered in dirt and boulders, making it a difficult terrain for a land chaser; even though they were made to hover above ground, those boulders made seeing where you were going almost impossible. Not to mention the fact that it would be extremely difficult to maneuver.

Which left the third option: the highway. That normally would have been the obvious choice, only... due to an incident during the war, the highway was still being repaired-there was still that huge hold in the bridge to deal with.

"Okay, troops," I said into my communicator, "The route with the least amount of obstacles should be right ahead of you. The main problem is that there is a large hole in the bridge-your land chasers should be able to jump and accelerate to the other side, but it will take precise timing. Your other options are a construction site and the terrain to your right. Which way to go is up to you, but whatever you decide, keep it organized. We can't have you scattered about all over the place; your strength is in your skill and numbers, after all."

"Roger that, Lieutenant Alia," one of the captains responded.

I sighed inwardly. It's not that I disliked being referred to as "Lieutenant", but I had gotten used to being just "Alia" on missions. X and Zero always dropped the "Lieutenant" even in more formal meetings.

It was X who started that, actually. When he first joined the Maverick Hunters, he had a hard time remembering the Navigators' ranks. Since a Navigator wasn't a rank in itself (as a fighter I'm still a B-Rank, actually), and since different Navigators had different ranks, X kept forgetting what he was supposed to call me. Eventually I told him that he could just call me "Alia" if it bothered him that much.

And then I guess Zero started to pick it up from X, although he was annoyed about that at first. Eventually, he accepted it, though, and I guess I had, too.

But back to the matter at hand. The troops had decided to take the bridge route, unsurprisingly. Now I just had to sit back and hope they could all make it over the gap in the bridge.

That was the hard part of being a Navigator. Everyone else was out there, risking their lives for the sake of everyone, and I was just sitting here doing essentially nothing to help. But of course, the sensible part of my brain knew that what I was doing was essential for the Hunters' success. After all, they would be nearly clueless about any traps they came across, not to mention the fact that they needed my strategic skills in serious battles.

So, I had an important role to fill. But sometimes, when a particularly dangerous foe appeared, I wished I could do more than give advice. Although, this was my specialty, wasn't it? X and Zero wouldn't have been able to make it through the hardest parts of the war without my support.

If there's the main role of Hunters retiring Mavericks and the support role to help those Hunters, then I gladly take the support role. They need it in order to stay strong and keep helping others, after all. No one can do everything by themselves.

"Keep attacking the joints! They're the only part that's unprotected by its armor!" I advised the Hunters. The mechaniloid had been giving them some trouble. The biggest problem was its size and the various grabbers attached to it. It had originally designed to help with construction, after all. They were meant to pick up boulders, but unfortunately, they were quite proficient at taking a hold of Reploids that were small in comparison.

Several of the soldiers had been severely wounded, but judging by their life signs displayed on a separate monitor, they would hold up for now.

In the back of my mind, I knew that if X was here, things would have been easier. He was probably the most skilled Hunter in the HQ, and that was true even with Zero here. The two of them were essentially matched in terms of strength in skill. There seemed to be nothing on Earth the two of them couldn't defeat.

But X wasn't on this mission, and Zero... he wouldn't be able to go on any missions ever again. It pained me to think that. I had gotten so used to hearing his voice over the intercom, and I saw him in the halls a lot-usually with X. It was just something I expected to see: the two of them talking about whatever happened to cross their minds.

But thinking about that wasn't necessary right now. It would only interfere with my concentration. And if there is one thing I simply cannot allow, it's losing my focus.

Especially since something strange started happening on the monitor almost as soon as I brought myself back to reality. Three Reploids jumped to the scene, none of them belonging to the Hunters, slashing and shooting at the mechaniloid like they were some kind of squadron.

I felt an inflating balloon of annoyance welling up in my chest. Vigilantes. I always hated them. I mean, if you have the skill and drive to do a Hunters' job, then for Pete's sake, become a Hunter! You know, where there are actual rules and you won't be treated like a criminal for doing what you think is right!

This wasn't the first time vigilantes had come out of nowhere during a mission, either. It happened a week or so ago, as well. And the last time, they escaped. I would have to make it clear to these troops that they couldn't make that mistake again.

And sure enough, some of the members of the 17th Unit-X's Unit-started going after the vigilantes in an attempt to restrain them. And as a Navigator, it was my job to provide an analysis to help the Hunters carry out their task. And thus, I went into full-scale Analyzing Mode. I had to look for weak spots, and determine how to get to those weak spots.

One of them was tall, wielded a double-edged scythe, and was missing one of his eyes. Another was clearly water-based, resembling a flying fish; he, of course, was using various water weapons. The third was smaller than the other two and used twin guns-they seemed to specialize in firing rapid shots.

I used the various scanners laid out in front of me to help discover any parts of their armor that was frail, or if there was an imbalance in their fighting style. I could hear various yells and a horrendous din from all the sounds of combat. It was something I had grown used to by now, but that didn't make it any less stressful to listen to.

"Alright-Alice!" I exclaimed. "The aquatic one appears to be sensitive to electricity. If you can shock him enough to keep him restrained, we can teleport him to HQ once we're done here. Remember, we have to keep them alive. Jacob, Steven, and Carlos, you three keep the scythe one busy. And stay out of swinging range!" I paused to collect my thoughts before continuing. Sometimes I feel like I give more strategic advice than their own Captains do. "Allen, Cifer, try to disarm the gunned one. The same goes for everyone else's targets!"

I took a deep breath. This appeared to be the same group as last time-the group called "Red Alert", I believe. I had to admit, their attacks were well-coordinated. They were successful in helping the Hunters take down the mechaniloid (whose collapse onto the ground was quite jarring with how loud it was) and they had already started their escape attempt. It made me angry, to be honest. They thought they could just come in and finish the Hunter's job for us? They had appeared in a lot of other incidents, too-most of the time, Red Alert had taken care of things before the Hunters even got there.

I could hear their conversation through my communicator, as well. It made concentrating on my job annoyingly difficult.

"Get back here, you vigilantes!" one of the Hunters yelled.

"Oh, great, now we've got some fifty Hunters on our tail. Was this really our best course of action, Red?" the aquatic Reploid asked sarcastically.

"We can discuss this later, Warfly. After we've made our escape!" the one called Red responded.

"Why can't we just attack them?" the gun-wielding one wondered. "I mean, I know they're the good guys and all, but come on! They're trying to skewer us over here!"

"Maybe we wouldn't be trying to if you hadn't been breaking the law!" a Hunter backfired. I really wanted to just yell at them to shut up and let me focus, but somehow that seemed both unnecessary and unprofessional. So I kept my mouth shut and focused instead on the mission itself.

To be completely honest, the vigilantes were making an effective escape. But I knew their success wouldn't last long. With so many Hunters chasing after them, there weren't many escape routes we couldn't cover. Still, I was growing concerned over the status of the troops. With the teleportation signal no longer jammed, I had transported the wounded to the sick bay, but the ones left were getting roughed up pretty hard by the Red Alert crew.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar sound over the communicator-a charging sound. In a whirl of energy, a charged blast had separated the vigilantes, somehow managing to avoid damaging the other Hunters. There weren't many people I knew of that were capable of making such a precise, well-calculated shot.

It was X. And he didn't look all that happy, either.

"I go on a vacation for two weeks and then this happens," he commented irritably. "I feel like some kind of babysitter for the universe."

There was humor in his voice, but there was a distinct amount of annoyance and a little bit of... hopelessness mixed in there, too. It made me worry a little about how he was handling the stress of being a soldier nowadays. Still, I was glad to see him help out again.

Of course Red Alert had appeared again while I was on vacation. Could my mind have no rest? Could I not even have time for myself, for my own grief? And really, why was I even surprised at this point? It was always like this. Always. No matter what happened, all the effort I put in protecting everyone had to be ruined by some other villain. And Red Alert interrupting my time alone, away from all that, had just sent me over the edge.

I let out a flurry of buster shots, keeping my aim focused on the scythe-wielding one before switching opponents. The three... jerks jumped out of the way, utilizing the nearby buildings as a means for escape. But they weren't the only ones who specialized in wall-kicking. I chased after them, and I noticed that some of the other Hunters followed my lead as well.

I was not about to let these-these peace-breakers ruin anyone's lives! No more of that! I've had enough. Six times more than enough. And I didn't care if they were supposedly trying to "fight for peace", they were doing it illegally, and I was just angry enough in that moment to not care about trying to find a diplomatic solution. Had the diplomatic solution ever worked before? Had it ever, in any point in history? No! So if these three wanted to be the subjects for me to direct my rage at, then you know what, fine. I've already had enough of their shenanigans.

Firing more shots at them, I managed to overhear some of what they were saying, but I wasn't really paying that much attention. The only thing that really got through was:

"Surprise!"

One of the vigilantes-he had spiky hair and two guns-suddenly stopped in midair, turned to face me, and the next thing I knew, I had recieved a face-full of pain. He had kicked me in the face, ruining my position on the wall and sending me tumbling downwards. I quickly regained my focus, using my midair dash to climb back on the wall.

So, the spiky-haired one could hover. I'd have to watch out for that in the future. But right now, I had to focus on the fact that the Red Alert crew had already made it to the top of the building and were escaping! Climbing up the building would take too much time now.

As if on cue, I heard Alia's voice through my communicator.

"X! If you can get through the window above you, you can get to the other side of the building and catch up with Red Alert!" she advised. I knew which window she was talking about. It was easy to slide open, and once through, I ran to the other side as quickly as I could, thanking Alia for her advice.

The window opposite to me was already open, so leaped out of it, attempting to locate my opponents. There! They were in an alleyway. They sure knew how to travel quickly, but the alley wasn't very far. I could make it there in time to catch them. I hadn't even noticed the other Hunters around me. It was just me and my enemies. And those enemies were going to pay for disrupting the peace.

Why was everyone so intent on ruining everything for everyone? What purpose could it possibly serve? They were all so absorbed in themselves that they couldn't bring themselves to care about peace. It's like they were all working together to make everyone's lives a little more miserable for their own horrid pleasure. Well, I already knew how law-breakers worked. That lack of respect they had would be the end of them-and I was going to make sure of it.

It was later that day. I was in the Maverick Hunters HQ, pacing back and forth, feeling both irritable and guilty. What was my problem? I had gotten so worked up in that last fight that...

Was it stress? Depression? Some combination of the two? I couldn't remember being that angry in a long time. All I knew was that I didn't like it. Sure, with my assistance, we had managed to capture one of the vigilantes-but something about it felt wrong. I already knew it was me, but on that note, what was wrong with me? I kept replaying the scene over and over in my mind, trying to figure out where that rage had been coming from.

The three of them had been cornered. With a wall on one side and a batch of hunters on three other sides, they looked about ready to fight. Which was just fine by me; they deserved to be pummeled for disrupting peace.

I charged, firing at will, keeping my aim focused on what I assumed were weak points. Joints were always important to hit, as well as any viewable power sources. Soon enough, everything became a whirl of energy bullets, slashes, and dodging. A kick aimed at my head? Dodge that. Follow it up with a halfway-charged shot to the face and they were left open for just a few moments. That was all I needed, really.

I heard screaming. Some of the troops were getting badly hurt. But I already was used to the screaming. I had done a lot of screaming in my time and had inflicted just as much on others, if not more. They were awfully grating on the ears, though, making it difficult to concentrate. But I didn't need to concentrate. I just had to fight. After all, that's how it always was. This is just how things go.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. Were they really trying to escape again? Well, not on my watch, they wouldn't. I tackled one of them to the ground before he could teleport away with the rest of them, and then everything became a series of kicks and punches. I'm pretty sure my face was starting to hurt, but I didn't care. This guy was not going to escape again. That's how they come back. That's how they continue to ruin everyone's lives.

I felt angry, like my blood was starting to boil. Which was strange, since Reploids don't really have proper blood, but that wasn't important now, was it? I vaguely acknowledged my opponent letting out a yell as I tore one of his arms off.

Funny. I was trying to get him to drop his gun. Which was evidently what ended up happening, but I guess I put a little too much force into that arm twist. But he deserved it! He was nothing but scum, wasn't he? They were all scum! Was there anyone in this world that wasn't?!

"X, stop! He's finished! We're trying to keep him alive, remember?!" Alia's panicked voice demanded from my communicator.

Wait... what? Keep him alive? He was alive. He didn't deserve to be, did he-no, wait... what was happening?

Snapping back to reality, I realized that some I was being restrained. By the Hunters? Why was I the one being restrained? It was that vigilante who was the criminal, not me. But... looking down at him, I realized just how injured he was. One of his arms was missing, his armor was cracked in various places, his face was badly bruised-had I done that all by myself? I didn't recall him looking very injured before now. His helmet looked like it had been bashed in, too.

What was wrong with me? Was I the criminal here? Oh, no... how badly had those wars affected me without me realizing it?

I wanted to kick something. I had unnecessarily harmed a Reploid-how was I supposed to live with that? Hadn't I always vowed to never hurt an innocent?

Yes, he was breaking the law. But it wasn't something that deserved that much punishment. Even when I was ordered to kill those members of Repliforce, they were at least doing something that deserved that punishment, at least in the eyes of everyone else. I hadn't wanted to kill them, though. The same for all of the other Mavericks I had to destroy. Why had I been so intent on... on killing this one vigilante?

And worse yet, how was I supposed to make this up to him? He was in the Hunter HQ brig at the moment, and apologizing to a prisoner was pretty strange. But he at least deserved something. I knew that much. An apology wouldn't mean much from someone who had assaulted you, but for my own peace of mind, I headed over to his cell.

Once there, I asked the guard to let me talk to him, to which he grudgingly allowed. I think he was worried I might attack him again. Either that, or he didn't like visitors. Or me. I don't know. It was probably me. Everyone seemed to have some issue with me.

The spiky-haired Reploid gave me a cold look as I approached. I hadn't even said one word before he started talking.

"Oh, look. It's my favorite person in the universe," he remarked sarcastically. "Are you here to execute me? You seemed to be awfully keen on that." I winced a little at his words, but tried to keep my composure.

"Look, um... what was your name, again?" I asked. It would be hard to apologize to someone without even knowing their name. He kept his glaring expression firm and almost unmoving.

"I don't know why you of all people would care, but fine. It's Axl," he replied. "And I already know who you are. You're X. You know, somehow this isn't how I imagined our first conversation. I was thinking a few less aching bones, a bit more of me acting like an idiot..." I felt a stab of guilt go through me again.

"I'm sorry about that. And I don't know what came over me back there; you didn't deserve that. So-" I was cut off mid-sentence by Axl.

"You're darn right I didn't deserve that! I mean, I know vigilantism is illegal and all, but jeez, I wasn't expecting to get disassembled for it!" he exclaimed. In spite of myself, I felt a bit of annoyance rise within me.

"I'm trying to apologize for that. I want you to know that for whatever happened back there, I regret it, and I'm sorry." I think my voice started to break a little at that last part. Axl didn't seem to notice and instead let out a brief, humorless laugh.

"Hah! Yes, because an apology definitely makes up for my temporary lack of-oh, what was it? That's right, my arm! You're going to have to do a little better than that, X." I sighed in annoyance.

"You're not exactly making this whole "apologizing" thing easy for me over here." I said. Axl waved his hand in a dismissive fashion.

"Apologizing is never easy. Maybe you should just go back to mauling people to death. You seem to be pretty good at that."

That did it. I felt like such a monster in that moment, I'm not even sure how to describe it. I wanted to yell at him, to say that he had no idea what he was talking about, but in reality, he was right. I had become so good at killing that it was becoming an instinct. How else could I explain my outburst?

I turned and ran out of that cell room at fast as I could. What was I supposed to do? I was becoming nothing more than a weapon. A weapon! I knew how to kill people, Reploids, all of them! What was going to stop me from doing that again?!

But where could I go? Where would people be safe from me?

That's right. Zero. I had to get to Zero. He would know what to do! He had been through all this before, hadn't he? When he discovered what he was originally made for? He could help me. And that force field around him would protect him from me at the same time. Yes. I knew where I was going now. I just had to get there, first.

When I finally reached my destination, however, I realized the cold, hard fact that I had almost forgotten in my race to get here.

Zero was still dead.

I collapsed onto my knees. This was more than I came prepared for. I was losing control of myself, and the one person who actually knew what I was going through could not help me. He was gone. And he wouldn't be coming back.

There wasn't much left for me to do now except let out a frustrated, sorrowful scream.

I was looking for X. I had seen him storm off yesterday, but I didn't know where he went or when he came back. But it was likely that he returned to his house. He seemed to be spending a lot of time there, actually. And I was worried about him. It wasn't good for him to spend this much time alone. He needed someone to be there for him, and I was willing to be that someone.

I hesitated when I approached his front door. What if he wasn't home? Then again, I had searched just about everywhere else, so this seemed to be the most likely option.

I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. Still nothing. Maybe if I said something? That might get him to open up.

"X? X, are you in there?" I asked aloud. I didn't hear a response, but part of me wondered if he was just ignoring me. I wouldn't be surprised; yesterday had gone pretty terribly for him after all. I took a deep breath.

"X, if you're in there, then I want you to know that I forgive you. We all have our outbursts. With all that you've been through, I can't say I'm surprised. You must have had this building up for some time, now..." I paused. "I'm not saying it's okay for you to take your frustrations out on other people. But I know this is all somehow connected to your own sadness, and I think you need someone to help you out, here.

"If you don't want to talk to me, then that's fine, too. I just need you to know that you're not alone. I'm still here, you know. And you can talk to me about anything. I may not be the best emotional support, but we're friends, right?" I paused again. Somehow, it was stress-relieving, saying all this out loud instead of thinking it silently towards him.

"I know you miss Zero. We all do. And I'm not just saying that to make you feel better about yourself: it's the truth. I may not have known him as long or as personally as you did, but trust me when I say that you're not the only one who's been saddened by his loss."

I took a moment to think that over. It really was true, wasn't it? That Zero was gone, and I would never get to see him or hear his voice again. I was closer to Zero and X than I was with any of the other soldiers. I saw Zero as a friend; losing a friend always makes you feel terrible. What's worse was that, for a while, I felt guilty for it. Yes, it was his decision, but once again, I couldn't do anything to stop him.

"I want you to come out of there, X," I said softly. "We've already lost Zero. And as horrible as that is, I don't want to have to lose you, too. You mean too much to me."

One thing I had never been able to tell X was exactly how much I cared about him. I wasn't sure how he managed to do it, but from our interactions, he had pushed my feelings for him beyond even that of friendship. I remembered how many times I had tried to tell him, only to lose my confidence and quickly change the subject. I don't know if he ever caught on.

"Alia? What are you doing here?" a voice said from behind me.

I let out a yelp and quickly spun around. What was X doing here? Wasn't he inside the house?

"Um... I was looking for you, actually," I stammered, "I assumed you were in your house. Where have you been?"

Apparently that wasn't the best question to ask, because as soon as it came out of my mouth, he looked troubled. And, well, I figured that now wouldn't be a good time to push him, so I quickly changed the subject. "Well, never mind! Do you want some tea? You like tea, right?"

He smiled.

"Sure. Tea sounds good right about now. Here, let's go inside."

Tea with X, huh? Thinking about it now, that wouldn't be a bad way to spend the evening. Especially if it took his mind off of everything that was troubling him.

Author's Notes: I like writing from Alia's point of view. I don't know why. Also, apparently X loves tea.

I always felt like X would have some sort of violence-based trauma. I mean, the guy has been in six wars by now. SIX WARS! And they were all being orchestrated by the same person! If that doesn't leave you feeling like there's always an enemy to fight (not to mention feeling 5,000% done with everything) then I don't know what does.

Also, I cannot write action scenes. Motivational speeches and angst, now that I can do. XD

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review! :)

EDIT: AAAAGGHHHHHHH I'M SO SORRY YOU GUYS! I ONLY JUST NOW REALIZED THAT I SCREWED UP THE ENTIRE TIMELINE. ZERO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PUT IN ANOTHER BODY DURING THE ELF WARS, NOT BEFORE! I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT! THIS IS NOW OFFICIALLY A MINOR AU. GAH. IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE AN AU. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO FIT NICELY WITHIN THE CANON. HHHNNNNNNGGGGGG-!

Ahem. Sorry about that. I hope the canon errors don't make this story any less enjoyable for you! So sorry about that! But I'm not going to rewrite it because that would throw off everything I've been setting up for later chapters. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!