ah, here goes nothing. I forget when I typed this chapter up. xD; A while ago, I think... Anyway...
They awoke the next morning, wrapped in each other's arms. X, and Alia. Alia had woke up first, surprised - albeit pleasently so - when she noticed just who she was so close to. Then the events of the day before hit her...
Death. She was dying. This would effectively be her last day in this world, unless the medic's came up with a way to stop whatever it was that was destroying her so slowly. Not only that, but her head hurt - it felt like something was inside, trying to dig out through her metal skull.
At the navigator's whimpers, X awoke second. Though he was still sleepy, hoping the news had only been part of his dreams, sweet dreams tainted with one, gloomy thing...
"X..." Alia whispered, curling up against him. "My head... Hurts." Her voice was strained, pained, and held a bit of panic to it.
So the news hadn't just been fabricated. It had been real...
X sighed, sad, worried, mostly for Alia but also for himself. He loved the girl - really, he did, although he didn't really, outwardly show it. He didn't really know what he's do if she... If she really...
He hugged her closer, and she didn't resist - she liked the contact. It was reassurance that she was still alive, not just in a world of pain, not just stuck in her mind. That she was still able to feel something, that she was still functioning correctly - so far.
"Ahh!" That had hurt! Whatever it was it felt like something kicked her head from the inside! A sharp jolt of pain that made her vision white out for a second or two... That can't have been a good thing.
"What is it, Alia!?" X inquired, pulling away slightly to get a better look at the navigator - his navigator.
A panicked, pained whimper was all he got in reply. That, and an explosion - though it hadn't come from the room they were in.
It had come from outside, somewhere around the lobby...
... Mavericks. Bad timing. Really bad timing. They just had to launch some sort of attack on the Maverick Hunter HQ, now, of all times?!
X was torn between staying with Alia and his duties as a Hunter. He wanted to stay with her, to comfort her - but... What if they needed him out there...?
Well, either way, he sure as hell wasn't going to leave Alia alone. X sat up, bringing a pain-enveloped Alia with him. It was going to be difficult to manuever her through the halls like this... Especially if that attack had been anything drastic. Moreso if there had been a group of not-so easily dispatched Mavericks...
Nothing he couldn't handle. He had to stay confident, for both their sakes.
"X! What... What?" Alia mumbled, eyes closed and one hand to her head as X started to carefully get her out of the bed and onto her feet. He was there every step of the way for support, so she wouldn't fall back down again.
"Sorry... HQ is being attacked. I have to go help... But I don't want to chance leaving you alone, Alia," X explained, waiting for a second for her reply. The navigator nodded, understanding, and opened her eyes a little so she wouldn't be so much of a burden.
The two made their way to the door of Alia's room easily, opening it and stepping out. It didn't seem too bad... No... Wait.
What was that?
X looked down the hall one way, then the other way. Running... He heard running approaching their location. Quick, heavy foot-steps closing in on them from the left. Well, he knew which way they weren't going.
He turned to the right, half-dragging, half-leading the pain-filled navigator along with him. They weren't going to outpace whatever was coming, but he might as well try to get Alia to a safe place, right?
No chance.
The footsteps stopped abruptly and something whizzed past X's head. He turned slightly to see what it was - of course, it was a Maverick. A heavy-built thing that seemed to have been made for construction. Damn...
He turned back to Alia, muttering his next words quietly and urgently. "Continue on forwards and try to find help. There shouldn't be anything down that way." It was only logical - if they were coming from one way, and the corridor only went that one way - for the most part - then nothing hostile could be in that direction. Alia nodded, and he let go of her and turned to face the new enemy.