Tatsu-ZZmage - X3 Be warned, it gets a bit darker in later chapters... like this one.

Ch. 6 - Death, inside and out

What happened next was a sort of blur... I met Ruxad again in the wasteland in the middle of the night, and we spent the remainder of the dark hours to put as much distance between us and the town, mainly in silence. My thoughts often turned to Sai, but since it was still night, no one was around to talk to in the hospital. Only when the sun came up did we rest, and even that was in silence. He didn't seem to care about an explanation or anything, so I was thankful for the lack of questions... The doctor came back into the room for a bit in the morning, so I chatted with him as I half-rested, regaining what energy I could. Dr. Hidero left, a rather nice nurse came, and then she left before Ruxad and I began to move again. Time passed, people came and left, Ruxad and I found ourselves in a desert... It sort of blurred together, as the days were almost the same until Sai recovered, and for some reason, we didn't talk much... I could see why the virus was dangerous; Ruxad steadily began to loose his self control, often slipping into various mind-states that all had one thing in common: paranoia. He was constantly watching his back, and it seemed almost contagious, as I caught myself doing the same thing, which maybe was a good thing...

"DIE!" The twisted, harsh cry came suddenly from my left, where Ruxad had fallen back a few steps. I tumbled forward, evading the staff that had offered to help me loose quite a bit of weight.

"Dude! What the hell?!" Evading another stab at me, I caught the weapon between my armored hands, struggling to keep the plasma tip away from my body. "Ruxad!" A strange, hysterical giggle escaped him as he jerked back with more strength than before, making me stumble in an attempt to not get stabbed. All the while, he was muttering random incoherencies, heightening the feeling that he had finally fully succumbed to the virus. Pulling my saber, I parried his blows, forcing him back as I remained defensive. Zet was watching, a bit confused; he had seemed to grow attached to Ruxad. Sai! Help! There wasn't a reply, and there wasn't any new data to help me. Maybe she just left the PET in her bag or something... Another strike blocked, and I countered against the insane Reploid in front of me. There was a small hiss, the armor giving way to my blade... Ruxad's eyes were sort of open in their insane, surprised gaze as he slumped to the ground, his core destroyed... Taking a step back, I fell over nothing, and landed on my rear. He was dead; I was safe... It was in that moment I realized something was horribly wrong.

My spazzing, my randomness, my carelessness; everything that had made life enjoyable, had disappeared when Sai had been hurt. Our lack of communication didn't help any, either... I always wanted to hear her laugh; it always let me know everything was alright... that we had done the right thing... A sob escaped me, and I bent forward, facing the ground. What the hell was going on?! Why the hell was this shit happening to me?! I felt a tear run down one cheek before rolling off my face, landing on my thigh, as scrambled thoughts cluttered my mind. Zet waddled over; I could feel his confused gaze on me as the virus-creature remained silent.

"dood?" He finally asked as I regained control of myself, and I gave him a weak grin.

"Dude's dead, Zet..." I whispered; it still seemed to be unreal to me; only now did the daze that had covered the past two weeks or so begin to lift. "It's just us from here on out, kay?"

"kay!" The creature seemed to be getting smarter, and it was a comfort to talk to... With one more smile, this one stronger than the last, I stood, wiping my face dry, and picking up my friend.

"How 'bout this... we find the nearest city, teleport home, and find out what's been going on there, eh?" Zet gave a small chirpy-like sound as he nodded. With that decided, I held him in my arms as I steadily started to jog. The phantom of a smile remained on my face, and I felt a small spark of hope: we would get through this.

As I approached the next city, hours later, the sun about to go down, I pick up a door opening in my mind. I heard a crash, and a shout, and in an instant, I froze. Sai..? No answer... Someone?! HEY! There was another cry of pain, and the sound of something being knocked over... A man's harsh voice gave a command, and someone cried out once more before it went semi-silent; it sounded like they were looking for something. Softly, I heard someone speak to me.

Run... sever your connection with this PET... or you shall doom both worlds. Said the voice, and I felt anger well up inside.

What's going on?! Answer me!

Go, Khayox. It's too late. Repressing the urge to shiver, I felt chills run up and down my spine. There was a brief flash of memory, but before I could recognize it, it was gone. It left me unnerved though, and I could feel panic rising in my gut.

What did you call me?! Where's Sai?! SAI!

She's dead; run.

What the-?! The connection went blank, and a strange, unwelcoming emptiness grew inside of me. Zet leaped to the ground as I slowly began to shudder. My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the earthen ground, violently shaking as I tried to breathe. Sai was... no... who was... voices... why... My thoughts steadily became more and more scrambled, and my energy left me, the world going dark.

When I awoke, it was in a dark cell of sorts, and around me I could hear various others arguing, complaining, or even breathing. It seemed to be a jail, perhaps... around me I could tell all those around were Reploids, and when I looked at their expressions, their eyes, I could tell they were infected with the Maverick Virus. I had been told by Ruxad that Hunters often times imprisoned the Mavericks they could, so they could try to find a cure... With a sob, I buried my head in my arms as my memories came back to me. Ruxad had turned on me... Sai... Sai was dead... according to the strange voice... who had that been? He had sounded familiar, but... A clang caused my head to jerk up, peering at the Hunter who appeared at the door to my small cell. How did I know he was a Hunter? Many had the same symbol on their armor... Hunters gone Maverick would scratch it off; that much I knew.

"Get up, Maverick." His tone suggested he didn't know my name, but there was a venomous sting to the way he said it. It would be easier for me to follow orders from here on out, I decided, so I stood on his command. He shackled my arms behind my back with rather heavy cuffs, and I steadily followed him from the hell-hole I had been in. It wasn't long before I recognized the Hunter base, proving my hunch that I had been found by them... Keeping my gaze down, I remained silent, even after he had me seated in a questioning room. I was seated facing the door, two more Hunters stood on both sides of it, ready in case I tried to escape or something. Closing my eyes, I let my head drop forward, my chin on my chest. After a few moments, the door opened, and I heard a few sets of footsteps.

A minute passed in silence before I opened one eye, tilting my head slightly. The guards had left, replaced by Protoman and Zero. Megaman and X sat in front of me, across the table. "Maverick..." X started softly. "Are you alright?" When I simply closed my eye and let my head drop again, he sighed. "It's been at least two weeks since you ran off; you were found half a day's walk from a dead Maverick, your Metool freaking out. What happened?"

"..."

"Maverick." This time it was Megaman addressing me. "There are people that care about you; please, talk with us." An ache was building around the hole within me. I could almost feel the helpless glances exchanged between the Megamans before Protoman spoke up.

"X, Zero, could you excuse the three of us for a moment?" Knowing Zero, he was about to protest when X stopped him.

"Sure, guys. Just holler if anything happens, okay?" Zero whispered to X angrily as the door opened, but he followed the Blue Hunter out. Once the door was closed again, Protoman walked over and sat down.

"Alright, Maverick: speak up. Normally, you'd be spouting off some randomness, or supporting our belief that you're insane and unstable. I know this is tough to deal with, but we're doing everything we can to get home without giving ourselves away."

"Have you gotten any news from Sai?" Megaman asked, and the question summoned the memories from before I had passed out. Again, I began to shake, unable to cry, and I gritted my teeth. I hadn't been able to do anything... they killed her... "Lan... what?" He asked his operator, confused by my reaction. Since X and Zero weren't here, he could speak freely... It was Chaud, I think, who answered, as two screens shimmered into existence next to the other Navis. His hair looked weird...

"... A teenage girl was found murdered in her room this morning, her father has been arrested, charged with her death; no names were released. A PET was found in her book bag, which she seemed to of been protecting, but no Navi data was found connected to it..." I could almost hear the 'what-if's they were thinking of, so I swallowed and whispered so they didn't have to wonder.

"Sai... Khayox killed her..." Now that it had been said out loud, a barrier broke and the tears ran freely. Looking up at them, I gave a groan as realization hit me. "She was protecting me from them... they're after me... She didn't know who I was... I didn't know..." She had saved me when I was on the verge of deletion, and I replaced her off-the-shelf Navi... Sai had never questioned me on where I had come from; maybe she knew I couldn't access my memories... Khayox... The stranger called me Khayox... I was... oh no... I paled, and my empty gaze held a hint of pleading. "Kill me..." I wasn't supposed to escape! I'm not supposed to exist...

"Maverick, calm down!" Megaman yelled at me, jumping to his feet. "You're still in shock about the whole thing; we'll figure this out. Lan, Chaud, we're going to go get the others..." They nodded, the screens disappeared, and Megaman went to the door, calling X and Zero back in.

"Well..?" X started, seeing my tears drying on my cheeks. I remained silent for a minute more before I looked to him, eyes hollow.

"Thanks for worrying... but it'd be best if I was dead..." My tone had gone cold, shocking him, and Zero narrowed his eyes. "I'm more dangerous to your existence alive; the Mavericks are after me... they will stop at nothing to obtain the data I hold..." With me still alive, Khayox could truly be reborn... it all started to piece together in my mind.

"Mav-!" Protoman growled, but he stopped in what he was saying. Something stirred within me, and when my eyes landed on him, he froze, then tensed up.

"Khayox will be reconstructed if I remain alive... please... kill me." With that, I slumped forward, completely unresponsive from that point on, temporarily shutting myself down. The pain... the emptiness... it had to go away... eventually...