Chapter 5: Memory Lane

I was exhausted by the time I re-awoke. It'd been a week since my... incident to which that I'd gained the small (okay, okay, LARGE) fear of dying. That, and I starting craving for Axl's comfort. The only good note was that my strange transformation had worn off the first night after that day when I'd woken up screaming. Nightmares were becoming a plague, so much Zero had his capsule placed in my room, just in case I woke up at night drenched in sweat and screaming. Rarely did I scream, but I woke up every night. Of course, that did not mean I woke up Zero every night. In fact, I only did so the first night, three days ago. Three days without sleep was not rending my body good, so much that my scores were lowering during training and I was getting sloppy. But I refused to take a simple cat nat, like Pallette and Lifesaver had advised.

I was NOT going back to hell!

I stumbled my way to the usual cafe', causing Rock to give me a worried glance. "Are you doing okay, A?" he asked. I sent him a weak smile and nodded. "Tot-" I yawned loudly. "-ally. Just tired. I keep waking up early and my body has yet to get used to it," I stated. It wasn't a lie, well, the second part wasn't anyways. He didn't look fully convinced as I payed for the food, hoping to God I didn't crash in the middle of the hallway from exhaustion. I'd been passing out too often and it was driving me nuts.

I leaned on one hand, slowly chewing the cereal I'd chosen, my face an inch away from falling into my bowl. "A-"

"I'M UP!" I screamed instinctively, my body going straight and stilling. Hane sweatdropped slightly. "I can tell," she stated dully as she pulled out a chair and sat in it. I rubbed my eyes and laid my head on my arms as I said, "Oh, sorry about that, Hane. I've been waki-"

"Don't give me that BS." I flinched. She knew me better than Six sometimes. I spent way too much time with this chick. "How long have your nightmares been going for? Three days?" she demanded. I shook my head sadly.

"A week..." I muttered miserably.

"Commander Zero-" Zero had been placed back on duty, but only got to battle paperwork instead of Mavericks, the poor guy. "-told me to come talk to you and find out what's been going on. You've been dodging Commander Signas, Zero, and Six, (in all truths she is avoiding you) and I know you just as well as Six, so I told Commander Zero it was utter bullshit when he informed me that you'd been 'waking up early'."

I rose my eyebrows as I threw my cereal away and began walking to training. "Come down. I'll be fine once I outgrow th-"

I was cut off as two somethings were injected into my side. At first, I gained a sudden burst of energy. Then suddenly everything went dark. Only then did I remember that Hane was practically an Axl clone with her aim, hair, and attitude, and that my big bro had used the same trick on X all those years ago. "Bang, bang," Hane whispered as everything went dark.

Zero had not known how Hane was going to get A to get a good night's sleep, so when she'd walked into his office, carrying an unconscious A on her back, he nearly flipped out at the sight. Later on was when he chuckled about how Axl had done the same thing to X. But it was not later on, so Zero just stared dumbfounded as Hane lowered A into the spare capsule (the room had been X's originally, and ever since the incident of when Signas had been getting repair, they always kept an extra one in his office [reference of another Fanfiction I do not own]).

"She's been having nightmares for a week straight," Hane reported. He blinked, then sighed heavily. I figured this was the case, but I didn't think it'd be so bad, he thought. "And I think she was avoiding sleep because of the nightmares from either her incident or her surgery. I injected her with an energy booster, just so she didn't have a forced shut-down in the middle of the hallway, then added the nanos of which turned off her systems for now. By the time she wakes, she'll be perfectly rested." Zero stared at his vice-commander in something akin to shock and pride. For the past few days he'd gotten to really know the redhead since she'd been fourteen, she'd been extremely organized and well-prepared for almost any outcome. For that, he'd boosted her to Second-in-Command, which he now felt was well overdue.

"Thank you, Hane." She nodded, though her cheeks were tinted red slightly. "Um... Hane, are you alright?" he asked, noticing that this wasn't the first time that her cheeks had brightened. In fact, now that he thought of it, Layer did the same thing... "Oh! And sir!" Hane interrupted. She dropped a little box with a picture taped to it on his desk, causing his eyes to widen in shock. "This dropped out of her pocket. I thought you might want to see it." With a short salute, Hane left the room without a second thought, her cheeks still red.

Zero stared at the tiny box and picture for a long time before glancing at A and taking off the tape slowly. I didn't know... how long has she had this? It was the recorder that he'd used to tell A what she needed to know if and when she ever got on her first mission. He held it up and clicked the start button.

"Ah man, X. Really, you know I'm not good at this!" he heard himself complained. Someone hissed something in the background and he heard himself sighed. "FINE. Okay, um... A, listen. This is probably going to suck. You know very well I'm bad at 'talking out my feelings' as X puts it. But, let's give it a damn shot.

"Listen A, I really used to think you were a brat, especially that one day I saw you in the Med. Bay. Man was I pissed. But when X had asked me to take you to that damn carnival... well... I don't regret it. I found your fear of heights on the Ferris Wheel hilarious and you knew it too, so you spat on my shoe. That was totally Axl's fault for even teaching you that. But over-all... you were a great kid. You probably still are.

"You're a strong kid. A fire burns within you, and I'm not talking about that 'enigma' crap either. Passion, love, being human, you're lucky. You get to experience the full-joys of feelings. And-ah man. I'm starting to sound like X, aren't I? Well I better wrap this up, you're banging so hard on my door I think your indirectly threatening to pound it down." Zero couldn't help but chuckle at this part, knowing full well what was next.

"Zero! Let me in! You have all the leftover cotton candy from Tuesday! LET! ME! IN!" He full-blown laughed as he imagined A's beetroot face.

"Hold on you little brat! Let me finish something! Geez. You're such a pain in the ass, you know that? Well anyways. Good luck out there, kid. You're gonna' need it." The recording stopped.

Zero held the object limply in his hands, not too sure what to do. He remembered the day he recorded that. He remembered how pissed A had been after he forked over the candy, saying how he'd been "hogging it to himself." He had to laugh then, he couldn't help it.

Three days later of no sightings of A, Zero had been quick-cemented, covered in feathers, and sent to Lifesaver, X trailing behind him. He'd been pissed after that, but there was the unlucky factor that Axl had done this so many times, he knew every corner of the HQ like the back of his hand, meaning A knew every inch of Hunter Base, meaning he'd never find her. He never did, until a week later when-this time-Axl had placed himself in the infirmary. There she'd been, hovering over his chest as she tried fixing the crack in his chest-gem and his core. In the end, the chest-gem and his core were stronger (and nicer) than ever. One of Lifesaver's copies and Pallette had immediately become interested, and as it turned out, A was as good of a nurse as Lifesaver's copies. Impressed everyone in Hunter HQ.

After that, Zero couldn't be mad at the kid. That, and every time he thought of even touching her in a bad way his head started burning and throbbing. He sighed heavily as he stared at the young teenager in the recharge pod. Her eyes were clenched such, just slightly, with faint sweat covering her. He placed his hands in his hands. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but it was the first time where Hunter HQ knew they couldn't do anything about it, especially after realizing how powerful A really was.

Last time though was too close, especially that incident with Hane...

X and Zero walked into Hunter HQ, tired and worn out. They'd just finished their battle with Sigma and Lumine, and during the whole ride down the elevator, not only had they thought of what Lumine said, but of how they were going to tell certain news to a certain blonde, blue-eyed ten year old. "Commander X! Commander Zero!" a smaller reploid girl called, running over with her auburn hair flying behind her. Hane Hellfire of the Zeroth Unit, or otherwise, Zero's Unit. The small auburn-haired reploid ran up and saluted the two. As her eyes found Axl's comatose body, her unique hazel eyes widen in shock.

"C-Commander?" she asked quietly. Hane, since she'd been a human, still had the ability to grow. Every year she had to upgrade her reploid body to better suit her needs, thus having her grow like a human. At the moment, she was thirteen in mind and body. Zero sighed, signaling X to go on without him. The Blue Bomber nodded, adjusting Axl's weight in his arms, before continuing to walk down the hall, ignoring the piercing gazes of Rookies, Hunters, Navigators and the other staff at Hunter Base.

Zero led Hane aside, to where the prying eye could not see them. Hane had recently been upgraded four months back, to the extent she'd become what Axl technically was and became a prototype for the New Gens once the copy chip had been placed inside her. He sighed. "Hane, the New Gens have been going Maverick. You do know that the Government will do either two things-" He held up one finger. "-One, they'll force us to either shut you down or they'll do it." She looked horrified at the news, but tried to hide it as best as she could. Her eyes gave it all away though. He held up a second finger. "Or, you'll have to let Douglas use a virus to lock away your Copying abilities and have all your DNA data erased."

"I'm allowed to chose?" she asked uneasily.

"For now. Once the Government gets wind you're a New Gen prototype you'll probably be forced to shut down," he stated truthfully. Determination filled her eyes, clouding out the terror, causing Zero to smirk in praise. He had to give it to the kid, she was skilled at hiding her emotions, unlike a blonde Zero knew. "Please, Commander Zero, let Douglas get rid of my Copy Chip and the DNA I've collected," she decided. "I'm not done serving the Hunters yet." Zero smiled at her and put his hand on her face, messing up her hair. She yelped at the surprising gesture before complaining like the kid she was.

The nice moment was interrupted by the sound of someone screaming, "BROTHER!?" Zero winced, along with Hane, as the sound of running was heard, slowly fading in the distance. Zero cursed as he raced out after the blonde. "A!" he called, not wanting her to do something drastic. X looked pained when Zero had passed him. He clearly hadn't wanted A to see Axl in this state. The two had really bonded over the time she'd been with the Hunters, and they were almost as close as she was to Axl. It was too late, and it was bound to happen at some point.

Five floors and seven corridors later, Zero had lost his tiny blonde copy. He panted as he looked left and right. He really wasn't too sure how she'd been running for that long, especially since she was half human. Maybe she was just that upset that it kept fueling her, the like the Zero Virus had to himself. It would of made sense. In a way...

He sighed heavily as he decided to turn around. She knew the base better than he did himself, so he was never going o find her at this rate. Maybe she just needed time. That's what Axl needed. And major repairs. But Zero was pretty sure A didn't need repairs. For the most part. He made his way to the Medical Wing, and there was where he found both Hane and X. The two seemed to be talking. Hane kept responding with head gestures while X had a slight scowl on his face. Zero wished he could chuckle, but he just couldn't find it in him at the moment. Then again, it probably would probably come out weird, since he didn't do it often.

"Hane, we can convince the Government your no threat," X argued as Hane shook her head. "No, they won't believe it, even if you have saved the world many times, Commander X," she disagreed. Zero had to agree, even if it were silent. The Government wasn't going to sit down and not do more than they usually did. They'd barely accepted A as a member of the Hunters, calling her a reliability. X had argued she had amazing navigation skills, perfect memory, and was great with repairs. It was these things that had kept A with the Hunters, but only if she were trained to be one was the agreement.

That was how this all started.

Zero sighed heavily, reminding himself not to go down Memory Lane. That had been the roughest two weeks of his life. No one-not even Axl; once he'd finally been allowed to walk around with Pallette-had been able to find A for those whole two weeks. No signs of her going to one of the cafes to get food or water were reported, or signs of her being seen in the city by civilians. Just when they thought they'd never find her, Hane had walked down the stairs, completely calm, with an unconscious A on her back. Apparently, the blonde had camped out on the fortieth floor's balcony for the whole two weeks, and after four days of no food or water her body had a forced shutdown, which is why she never heard the news of Axl being okay. Ever since then, A and Hane had been the best of friends until Six came along and Hane was promoted.

Zero flipped the picture over, finally gaining the guts to do it.

Just what he'd thought. A, himself, Axl, and X, all in the park in the middle of spring for A's eleventh birthday. When X had asked what she'd wanted for her birthday, she said two things that he remembered almost as much as he remembered Iris: "What I want? Well... What I want is to spend the day with you, Axl, and Zero! Oh! And to see the Sakura* blossoms in the park!" So, X had asked Signas-who'd agreed almost instantly-and the three had taken A to the park all day. A had said it was the best day of her life. Three days later they'd disappeared from her life.

He sighed heavily as he stared at the picture. Sometimes, he couldn't help but go down the lane. Especially with Sigma back... He shivered. Brought back too many unneeded memories. He had to suppress a groan as his chest felt a phantom ache, and that the entire lower part of his body went completely numb. And this my friends, is why Zero doesn't go down Memory Lane.

So, how was the chappy? Good? Comment plz. I like knowing what you guys think.Okay people, 2 things. One, no, I did not give this story away. I promptly just deleted all future spoilers and am rewriting it to be better. Two, I AM UPDATING AS FAST AS I CAN! Also:

Sakura-Cherry Blossoms

Okay, yeah, really short. I thought I'd include Hane in there a little bit more, seeing as we barely know anything about her. Now we knows she is A-MAAA-ZAAA! (Naruto Spoof... excuse me). So, also, I believe that I might wrist a fic of Hane, too, on another account, but I'm not too sure yet. Comment what you think and see you next chp.!