Loved and Lost
Chapter 2
"The Curse"
By MegaManX411
By the time Zero had finally managed to get the horrifying dreams to leave him alone, morning had already come. Zero sat up in bed, staring outside his window. His shirt hung loosely off his body, exposing his muscular chest. His blonde hair flowed gracefully all around his body, painting a picture of what seemed to be perfection. But Zero's eyes shone with a certain sadness that seemed to throw the rest of the image off. His eyes didn't seem to have that same fiery determination or aggressiveness.
Zero just stared outside lazily, almost in a trance. After a few moments had passed, he shifted to the side of the bed, stretched, and got up. For some reason, he felt like he was lacking the motivation to even start another day. What was the point? Normally he'd already be suited up and ready for another mission, eager to do his best. But this particular day he moved at a slower pace, losing himself in thought during every step of the way. Once Zero was finally ready, X had already come knocking to his door.
"Zero? Are you in there? What's taking you so long?" asked the blue hunter.
"Nothing. I'm coming," Zero responded coolly.
Zero opened the door to see X's worried visage. Zero almost couldn't say anything for a moment. Even though he had mocked X sometimes for being emotional, he had to say that he felt some kind of envy too. X was so open with his feelings, and he was able to express himself on a deep level. Zero, on the other hand, kept everything bottled up inside so it wouldn't interfere with his line of work. Even his love affair with Iris was relatively low-key, especially in comparison to many human relationships. But now that she was gone, he felt like he had to do something or he'd simply burst. He just had no idea what.
"Zero?" X asked, breaking Zero's train of thought. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Zero quickly shook his head to break free from his thoughts. Reason started to sink back in, and he quickly concluded that he must have just been feeling under the weather. That had to be it, or so at least Zero hoped.
"Yeah, I'm just fine. What's up X?" Zero asked, trying to redirect the conversation.
"Well, there has been word of a new navigator arriving at Maverick Hunter HQ…her name is Alia. She does seem very nice. I've already gone down and greeted her. Maybe you should go and make her feel welcome too Zero," offered X, looking more cheerful now.
Zero grimaced in amusement at how carefree X could be, and shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure, why not?" replied the crimson hunter.
Zero walked alongside X throughout Hunter HQ, trying to regain his composure. He prided himself on being extremely focused and dedicated, so he wasn't about to give that up now. After running it through his mind, Zero felt that the logical thing to do is just go on with the day and find a task to achieve. If there's a mission to do, that's the top priority—nothing else matters. Just as Zero was finishing his train of thought, X motioned for him to stop.
"Hello Alia! I thought I'd introduce you to Zero, my good friend. I'm sure you've already read about him in your transfer report," stated X, calmly.
Alia bowed in a professional manner, and gave Zero an appropriate smile. It seemed like she was a dedicated worker no matter the task, even if it was just a greeting. Zero grinned back and nodded in response.
"Hey. You've probably already been informed of your job here, and my job here, so everything should be ok. I'm looking forward to working with you," said Zero.
With that, Alia walked off to her designated work area and was given data to input into her personal terminal. She began typing at a furious rate, putting in information faster than X or Zero had ever seen. X looked over at Zero with a childish smile.
"Wow, she sure works fast!" X exclaimed.
"It'd be better if we had something to do. Our job doesn't require us standing around," Zero replied, looking a little tense. "I think I'll head down to the training room to check my ranking. See you around X."
"Yeah, see you later," answered X.
Zero slowly turned towards the training room and entered. He was the only one in the room, so luckily for him, that meant he had the opportunity to try any training program he wanted without being annoyed. He strolled over to the control panel and inputted his Hunter identification and his user settings. He set the training difficulty to the highest level. At that instant, the lights in the room faded away, leaving only the dim neon glow in the floors. Zero breathed deeply and closed his eyes. In the next instant, there was a loud buzzing sound, and Zero opened his eyes, saber in hand.
The enemy before him was "Training Level Rank S", a hologram of a mechaniloid with the capability of physical damage. The training system prohibited any fatal blows to be made, however, the enemy was still tough. The main reason for that was it assumed different forms for each battle based on past fighting data of defeated Mavericks. The one that appeared before Zero looked a bit like Vile, only with darker features and a more shadowy appearance.
The training system wasted no time in making Zero work for his victory. The Vile-clone shot a triple burst of plasma energy from his shoulder cannon. Zero quickly used his saber to deflect the first blast, and used his speed to dodge the following two shots. However, the Vile-clone quickly followed up on his attack with a dashing tackle. Zero tried to sidestep the maneuver, but was clipped from the side, making him spin out and fall to the ground. The Vile-clone tripped from his assault, but quickly regained footing and tried to slam Zero against the ground with a stomp.
Zero rolled out of the way, readied his saber, and slashed the Vile-clone clear across the right leg. The clone staggered, hobbled a bit because of the damage to its right leg, but shifted its footing more to the left to keep balance. Zero hopped back on his feet with an agile flip, and rushed at the training program with all his might, saber ready. The Vile-clone quickly fell to the side, avoiding Zero's rush, and shot him at point-blank range with his shoulder cannon. The resulting force knocked Zero clear off his feet, but he managed to regain control before hitting the ground. In one swift move, Zero flipped himself back right side up, and dashed at the foe again.
This time, the enemy was not able to dodge Zero's attack so easily. When the clone attempted to move out of the way again, Zero guessed where he would go and aimed his slash accordingly. The training simulation was struck across the chest in one violent stroke. It fell to the ground, but as it did so, grabbed Zero by heel and dragged him down too. As Zero smacked the floor face-first, the Vile-clone blasted him with a dose of his stun gun. Zero was held in place by a wave of binding energy. He gritted his teeth and struggled against the force. But that's when something disturbing happened.
The Vile-clone reached up and removed his helmet. The face under it was very familiar to Zero.
"N-No…that's impossible….who's messing with the goddamn machine? What kind of prank is this?" Zero yelled, looking around the room.
In the next instant, the lights in the training room flashed, and the hologram program ran a background simulation. The room was changed to look like the interior of a space station. More accurately, the Final Weapon that Zero knew all too well. Zero struggled against the force that was binding him, realizing that something was horribly wrong here. Zero looked back over to where the clone was standing only to realize that it was gone. In its place was a heap of blood and circuits on the floor.
"Zero. You killed me. Now you will feel suffering beyond anything you could ever know," announced a voice.
A flash of bright light filled the room. Zero clutched his helmet, screaming in agony. When he awoke, the room returned to normal and the nearby computer screen read: "TRAINING LEVEL COMPLETE!". Zero slowly got off the floor, more scared than he ever had been before.