The Realization of Loss Chapter One Part Two
"He's gone….."
It was the only thought left in Xavier's mind as he knelt on the ground, the reed flute clutched tightly in his hand.
"He's….gone….."
Heavy footsteps pounded behind him, the sound of several robots running towards their destination all at once. Xavier turned sharply, startled by the noise.
"Xavier! Thank the Goddess!!" Rock called out as he approached his face a mask of worry. "What in the Hell just happened here?? Zor said a gate the size of the entire city opened up, we were lucky to get out of its way! Are you alright?? Where's Zero??"
Xavier met Rock's gaze uneasily, a heavy, sick feeling spreading through him as he spoke the words.
"Zero's….he's……..he's gone…."
"WHAT!?!?" Rock cried in shock.
Zor's mouth fell open and he shook his head slowly. If Zero had fallen into that gate…there was no telling where he was now. Xavier closed his eyes, bowing his head in shame.
"I..I tried to save him but…we didn't make it. Lord Sigma took him. This was all some plot to get Zero…he took Zero!" Xavier spoke, half-enraged and half-choked with disbelief.
"Sigma took him?!? Where? Why??" Rock questioned.
"I…don't know…." He replied, opening his eyes to stare at the ground. "He said something about taking Zero far away where he belonged and that the world would be his now after waiting so long. I didn't understand any of it."
"Forte…take your men and search the area, look for any traces of the city or of Zero." Rock ordered.
"The city is long gone, dad." Zor chimed in. "When the energy from the gate dissipated, it had already vanished. My scanner isn't picking up on any biomechanical lifeforms except us now.."
"I want the area checked anyhow, just in case! I'm not going to accept Zero is really gone until we done a thorough search.. Call for a few more men to join us here Forte, we have a lot of ground to cover." Rock said, Forte only nodded and said not a word. "Xavier, I'll take you back home."
"NO!" Xavier objected, looking up into Rock's eyes once more. "I'll help look too, there has to be some clue to where they went! He couldn't have just taken Zero away forever!!"
He got to his feet quickly, still holding the flute tightly in his hand like a priceless treasure. Rock almost voiced an objection, not wanting the young man involved any further but held it back seeing the intense determination in Xavier's violet eyes. Zero was like a brother to him, he needed to be there even though he was too upset to be much help. Once upon a time, Rock had felt like that for the one he considered his brother too….
"Alright Xavier..but be careful. I'll have one of the Enforcers go with you."
"I will be." He replied with a slight nod.
"Zero….
I'll find you…"
The fiery afternoon sun was blazing over the quiet clearing in the woods as the groups Rock had sent out finally met up again after several hours searching. None looked as if they had any good news to speak of. Rock bit his lip as he went to speak, hesitant to ask what had been found. He already knew the answer.
"I'm sorry dad." Zor spoke first, before he even inquired. "There's nothing, the city is gone, Zero is gone."
Rock bowed his head for a moment at the words. He had expected this but it still made him ache painfully. A child had just vanished without a trace….this was a disaster.
"I see…..did anyone here find otherwise?" He asked, hoping against reason that maybe there had been some clue even if it was only a small one.
"Nothing."
"Empty.."
"No sign of him."
"I'm sorry sir."
"Damn it!" Rock cursed quietly under his breath. "What are we going to do now…"
He sighed deeply and glanced back to the robots gathered before him. It was only then that he noticed the obvious.
"Wait….where's Xavier?"
"He won't stop searching." Forte snorted. "I called for Korjo to come back but the damn kid won't give up."
"I thought so. Tell me where they are and I'll bring them back here." Rock said with another heavy sigh.
"About a half a mile east." Forte replied. "Korjo is losing patience.."
"Alright…take Zor back to Hakari City then meet me back here, we'll have to close off this area."
"Fine. Consider it done..sir." Forte spoke, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Rock pretended not to hear the patronizing tone. He'd let Forte slide this time, if he had not been so focused on the crisis at hand he might have said something about the Wily bot's attitude.
"Study those samples you took when you get back to the lab Zor and tell your mother to look after Xavier for me, Ryoga won't be back from his dojo until tonight." He said to his son as he began to walk away.
"I will, I'll do what I can." Zor answered.
"Let's hope it's enough." Rock replied softly.
"One more sweep..please! I think I saw something!" Xavier pleaded to the stony faced Enforcer.
Korjo gazed at Xavier sternly, folding his arms over his dark armored chest.
"Please…! It was a glint of gold, it could be Zero's hair."
"Don't be foolish." The Enforcer replied. "I saw nothing, we've patrolled this area five times already at your instance. It was probably a wildflower just like last time anyhow."
"No, It didn't look like a flower petal. I've got to check it just to make sure." Xavier insisted.
"It's well past the hour we were suppose to reunite with Commander Forte, we're late enough already." Korjo shook his head.
"But…I just know we have to be close, I can feel it in the air." Xavier insisted as he headed back towards the forest.
He was not going to wait for Korjo's approval, not when Zero's life was at stake.
Korjo let out a frustrated growl. He was half tempted to just grab the young man and drag him back to the rendezvous point before Commander Forte came looking for them both but he'd surely be in more trouble if he roughly handled the youngest prince of Meika.
Either way he was screwed.
"We don't have time for this!" He called out to Xavier, his impatience evident in his tone of voice.
"Just one more sweep!!" Xavier called back.
The Enforcer shook his head. That kid was stubborn, beyond reasoning, and unfortunately he was stuck with him for the time being. A light tap on the shoulder stopped him from moving forward to catch up with his charge.
"Korjo, go to the rendezvous place." Rock spoke softly from behind him, nearly giving him a "heart attack" from his sudden and unexpected appearance.
Korjo turned quickly out of instinct and training, assuming a defensive stance until his eyes met with Rock's and he knew for sure that it wasn't a trap. He immediately saluted the Lord of Meika out of respect.
"I'll take care of Xavier, you're dismissed."
"Thank you, Sir." Korjo said, acknowledging the order with a slight nod before teleporting away in a flash of color.
Rock gazed out over the open field before him, sighting Xavier by the base of a huge tree where the dense forest began. Even from this distance, it wasn't hard to see the determination written on the young mans face as he pushed aside the foliage, looking for some clue to lead him to his lost friend. He wasn't going to give up easily, Rock knew all too well that it meant accepting Zero was gone and in Xavier's current state of mind, he just couldn't face that.
The grass rustled softly beneath his feet as he approached his stepson. He could already tell this was not going to be easy. If there was one thing Xavier had inherited from his human father, it was his determination. Very alert and strongly aware of his surroundings, Xavier glanced up when he heard the movement of the grass, brushing his sweat soaked purple bangs out of his face as his eyes met Rock's.
"Rock!! You guys found Zero??" He called out excitedly.
Rock was hesitant to answer him.
"Xavier, c'mon we need to head back to the rendezvous point."
"GREAT!! So you did find him!!" Xavier cheered. "I knew he was around here, thank the Goddess!"
"Xavier….."
"So is he alright?? I bet he's really freaked out. I'm going to be so glad to get back home with him, I don't even care how much we both get punished!"
"Xavier…Zero's gone, we didn't find him."
"But…..you guys had to, you looked everywhere right??" Xavier blinked.
Rock sighed deeply, his gaze falling to the grass for a moment as he tried to think of the best way to say what he had to.
"Well, we'll just keep searching until we find him!"
"No Xavier." Rock's blue eyes met Xavier's once more. "He's not here, the city isn't here. There's no use in continuing to search this area for what's long gone. We're going back to Hakari, Zor's going to run some-"
"You want to give up!?!?" Xavier interjected. "No! I know Zero's still here, I can feel it!"
"There's nothing here except us. We're searched and scanned everything, if Zero was here his energy readings would have shown up. Xavier, Lord Sigma and his Repliroids are gone, there's nothing more we can do from here." Rock spoke with regret. "I'm sorry.."
Xavier's features twisted in anger at the words he did not want to listen to.
"Then I'll look by myself!" He scowled, turning to go deep into the forest.
"Xavier!"
Rock's small but strong hand gripped Xavier's arm and pulled him back firmly. The young man gasped in shock and spun around quickly to voice a protest.
"He's not here Xavier." Rock spoke willfully, silencing him before he had a chance to object. "If Zero is here…then he's dead. There are no life readings except our own! We have to get back, your brother is going to figure this out in the lab and I am not leaving you here."
Xavier shook his head in denial, his lip trembling as he bit down on it. No, that just couldn't be! He didn't want to even think about that possibility.
"………"
"Xavier……Zero is where ever that Lord took him. We're not going to find him or the city here." Rock said softly. "Let's go home, Roll's probably worried."
"Sigma wanted Zero for something…" Xavier mumbled.
The scene played itself out again in his mind.
"We're going away and Zero is coming with us. We've been waiting for this moment for five hundred years. At last..the world will be ours again!"
The city is gone..
Sigma is gone…
Zero………
He closed his eyes as the inevitable truth he had tried to deny for the past few hours washed over him.
Zero..is gone……
Zero..isn't here anymore..
He realized with a sharp pain that any further searching in this area was futile. The only way to find Zero would be to find Arasa and it was obvious the ancient city wasn't here anymore.
"I don't want to give up……." Xavier spoke aloud to himself.
"We're not, I refuse to." Rock replied. "We will find Zero and I'll take care of Lord Sigma. There's just nothing else we can do here right now. That city had some pretty unique readings, if it's anywhere on the island Zor will locate it"
"But…what if it's not?" Xavier opened his eyes as he asked the question.
"Then we'll search the seven worlds until we do find it." Rock answered.
The idea of that was mind boggling, they could literally end up searching forever! Did it matter? There was no way Xavier was giving up on Zero, he didn't care what Hell he had to put himself through. This was his fault, he had brought Zero along. He had even insisted on it. Whatever happened to his best friend was entirely his responsibility. He was to blame.
"C'mon son." Rock gently urged. "Let's get going."
Xavier nodded slowly, Rock was right. There was nothing else he could do here. He took his stepfathers' hand and they both teleported away.
Rock, Forte, Roll and others are copyrights of Capcom of Japan – They don't make crap!
Xavier, Arasa and others are copyrights of Roll Chan Productions – We make crap because it's fun!
No profit was made off this fic (Like anyone would really pay to read it)
Next up – You were wondering about Zero…weren't you?
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