Rose
Fingers brush idly through chocolate brown strands of smoothly flowing hair, the young girl could have opted to use her bedside brush but something about the action, the mere gesture of using one's hands just seems more...human.
The young reploid smiled amidst herself, sometimes she gets too engrossed in such humanlike mannerisms, she could almost swear she's truly human and not a synthetic made reploid constructed by the very organisms she wishes to emulate so much, lost in her thoughts for a moment the young girl did nothing more than continually hand brush her hair ,contented, as she continues to mule on her thoughts, this went on for several minutes before she accidentally passed a chance glance at the red rose by her drawer vase and suddenly, her whole demeanor changed, with reflexes she didn't know she had, the navigator jumped away from her chair as if electrocuted and went straight to her bed, rolled over it with her back facing the offending red petalled plant, all the while still wearing her bell skirt uniform carrying the day's rigor of wear and tear, not to mention all the icky dust and grime to go along with it, she would have a hard time cleaning her puffy pink bed later on, but she couldn't be bothered for the moment.
Iris grabbed a similarly pink fluffy pillow to squeeze on as she buried her face into the soft material, "This is crazy" she thought, she knows the offending plant can't do any harm to her, much less attack her, such a harmless object shouldn't have made her feel such trepidation in the first place, but then she sighs, peeking her green eyes out from the pillow for a moment
"No...that's wrong..."
Of course it wasn't the flower, but more on the person who gave her said flower in the first place, a certain red reploid to be exact and here Iris can't help herself as an all too familiar blush creep through her cheeks yet again, she should be fined for how much she's doing this lately, but any other action seemed incompatible whenever she thinks of the the red clad hunter, who also happens to be her commander
"Oh hey, I got you something."
"Uhhh wh-what is th-tha-?"
"It's a flower silly, you like them right?"
Iris face at this point is going supernova with how much heat she's emanating from remembering the memory, though her blush subsided quickly enough as the memories came flooding back in.
It all started as a simple mission by both Hunter HQ and Repliforce to commemorate an area won back by both factions to the public, the whole ceremony was a congregation of thankful individuals, of which Iris shared the sentiment as well, it's nice to have to attend the field on peaceful terms and not as a navigator for the combatants in the middle of battle, and at this Iris had to smile, basking in the same peace loving happiness as everyone in the ceremony, "this one's going in the memory banks". And of course, the commanders were asked to make a speech, Zero included, she remembered him mentioning it being a pleasure and honor to serve the people, of which the brunette navigator believe wholeheartedly, despite what everyone was saying about the ex-maverick, she believes that Zero isn't as bad as most people and reploids say he is, why else would he risk life and limb to ensure the safety of everyone? Zero then concluded his speech saying that given the option, he'll gladly risk his life for everyone again, it was emotional, and dare she say, inspirational that Iris found herself applauding with everyone else despite her aching feet and inwardly smiles, she knew, she always knew, that Zero was a good person underneath it all, and she can't help tearing up a little bit. As Iris basks in the moment, she notices several people, some even sobbing, giving flowers to the actual combatant reploids who took part in the mission, both young and old expressing their heartfelt gratitude towards the reploids responsible for saving their lives to live another day, and even though Iris was only backup support, and even though the mayor only deemed it necessary to display the combatants as the heroes, she can't help but puff out her chest with pride, happy that this battle was won for everyone's sake. Speaking of battles, Iris clearly remembered the part about some female reploids AND human girls giving flowers to the combat reploids ,Zero included, moreso with Zero even , complete with eyelash batting and elbow shoving from some ladies wanting to get to Zero first, not that she can blame them, I mean, what's not to gawk, at which point Iris promptly buried her face in the pillow again
"No" Iris thought, loosening her hold on the pink material
that's not the actual issue that bothered her at the moment
Feeling a bit left out , Iris remembered how her fellow noncombatants sighed after the 5 hour long ceremony finally ended, it had been a long day for everyone after all, not that Iris minded, a day to commemorate peace is always worth standing in, and she had the muscle aches to boast about it later too.
The ride back to hunter HQ was bittersweet at first, mostly because she had to say goodbye to her brother who's going back to Repliforce HQ while she to Hunter HQ, after which the rest of the travel home was spent in silence from the noncombatants who thought that the mayor's decision was unfair whilst the combatants talked amongst themselves animatedly, and as the transport vans, hover bikes and other vehicles finally arrived and made their way to the parking area, the conversation dwindled down as reploid personnels make their way to their duties whilst others are off to recharge before their next shift, Iris yawned, hands creaking way above her head, and was about to call it a day before she suddenly stops. Something golden just whipped out of sight from the corner of the opposite direction of the HQ's entrance, opposite from where everyone else is going, Iris cocked her head to the side, there's only two other reploids she knows who has blonde hair, one was Alia, and hers wasn't nearly as long and puffy as the one she saw just now, which leaves only one other suspect, at this point Iris could have just gone on towards her room, without even finding out and wondering what her commander is up to, he's entitled to his privacy after all, despite what the whispers and supposed unheard of conversations from the human government, some humans and even some reploids think otherwise, or so she thought, before she knew it, she suddenly found herself just around the corner hidden from Zero's plain sight, a mere few meters away from him, seriously, should she go any further, she'll have to arrest her own self, this is borderline stalker behavior, Iris can't understand what possessed her to follow the red hunter into the incineration area in the first place...
Wait, something is wrong...
As Iris watched Zero push down some levers, Iris can't help but wonder.
Why the incineration area? what...exactly...
At this point, she could only gape speechless as the flames roar with an almost unforgiving animalistic growl, Iris was shivering at this point though she was unaware of it, something's not right...what would he want to
Then it felt like time stopped for Iris, and as far as she's concerned, for the world itself
As Zero gazed into the flames, he took the bouquet of flowers he had been given, looked at it for just a split second, the beautiful assortment of petals and leaves laced with the humans and reploids heartfelt gratitude and hope for a better future, Iris thought it one of the most beautiful things she has seen in a long time, but as she chanced a glanced at Zero's face she almost gasps to see a void in his eyes, no emotions whatsoever, Iris was holding her breathe not daring to breathe,
no...no he couldn't...he just wou-
And without hesitation, as if it meant nothing at all, threw the whole bouquet, the symbol of every dreams for the future of the people and reploids he protected, into the mouth of the raging flames in front of him, which increased in heat and intensity, fully accepting it's fuel, bits of charred petals and minute embers emanated from the incinerator, some even singeing Zero in the face, but even then, he didn't flinch, eyes, everything about him, remained unfeeling
This was too much
Zero heard someone gasped and with lightning quick reflexes, saw green eyes before they darted as quickly as they can around the corner, he recognized those eyes
Iris ran a few corners before she had to take a breath, she can't believe her eyes? Sure they were only flowers, she knows that, but the sentimental value the plants represent were priceless, throwing them, nay, burning them, on the very day they were given, like they were nothing seemed such a heartless thing to do, she slaps herself mentally, "No, no..." Zero must have a good reason for doing so, "Yeah that's it..." otherwise
Iris remembers Zero at the podium, of him saying how much the people's gratitude really mean to him
Iris felt physically sick to her stomach and she had to heave to ease her discomfort
Iris remembering again of Zero's genuine smile, on how drastically different it was from Zero's emotionless ones from mere minutes ago
Iris was shaking at this point, scared for reasons not completely unfounded
Was it all an act then? Iris can't think clearly at this point, gotta get to my room gotta go back , gotta-
"Hey Iris."
Iris stopped, literally, skidding her feet and almost stumbling in the process
Just as she heard him a few inches behind her
and of course, she dared to chance a glance behind her, expecting a mere applianc-
"Don't go there!" Iris accidentally whispered out loud
"Uhh, don't go where?"
And here Iris had to blink, embarrassed, before she realizes the one replying to her back was Zero, her commander nonchalantly standing in front of her, as if...nothing happened
They both stood there in silence, Iris willing herself to say something anything, to alleviate the awkwardness
but then,
the utterly unexpected happened,
Something vibrantly red and green suddenly invaded Iris' frontal vision and she had to blink once, twice, three times, four times even
before even realizing what's in front of her
A rose
Scratch that, one of the prettiest she's seen in weeks held out in front of her, the one that survived and didn't get tossed out like garbage, and at the other end of this lovely thing, was none other than the flower killer Zero
"I got you something."
"Uhhh wh-what is th-tha-?"
"It's a flower silly, you like them right?"
Iris rolled with her back on the bed this time finally letting go of her choked pillow and sighed deeply, and this time she swiveled her head so she was looking at the rose Zero has given her, she couldn't remember much of what happened after, her mind was a blank during the whole exchange as far as she knows, all she could recount was her absentmindedly accepting the plant, and before she knew it, she was all alone in the hallway, before her mind worked again and she ran to her room and began doing her bed time rituals immediately to try to forget the events of the day before this whole introspection thing began
Iris softened her eyes as she watched the flower in her vase, it was beautiful no doubt, the way the smooth petals ruffled together to form an artistic array in a sea of blood red, but forbidden enough by the piercing thorns it held, and here Iris can't help but see the similarities,
beautiful, deadly, and almost giving off an air of mystery about it
Just like him
She closed her eyes, willing to find the answer herself on why Zero acted the way he did, she was confused at this point, what kind of person tramples and throws away everyone's sentiments but is apparently thoughtful enough to give her one of her favorite things in the world because yes, she does love flowers after all, Iris grabs the pillow again and hugs it inwardly to herself, but the more confusing question she has is how, instinctively she knows that Zero might have a reason for acting as such after all, and that the even more confusing thing is that despite it all, she still held these feelings for him. As she's slowly falling asleep, one thought kept repeating itself
Zero, who are you really?
Unbeknownst to her, things are just starting.
Dang, I'm on fiyaaaaah *sings*, and on a roll it seems ., well yep, PTSD Zero's fun to play with, not much to say here except maybe I could have connected the previous drabble with this somehow, but hey it's a drabble so yeah, I just love the interaction between these two btw, so good :)
Again, R&R and critiques peeps and have a nice day!