Megaman X: Elysium Rising
Chapter 22: Night on the Town
BGM: U2 – City of Blinding Lights
By Genoscythe
AN: Thanks for the reviews! As for the whole Set/Thoth thing, I chose Thoth for a reason (and his appearance is loosely based on Salazar's robed henchmen from Resident Evil 4, because they're just too cool to leave out). In Egyptian mythology, Thoth is the one that kills Osiris and turns him into the god of the underworld. I don't remember the specifics, but I thought it would be a little ironic for Thoth to kill him again, eh? Also, I think Set had the head of a horse, which isn't that much more appropriate than a bird.
PS: I'm sure you've noticed the little thing that says BGM under the chapter name. This is a song that I think is most appropriate for a certain part of the chapter (this certain part is marked with a --- at the beginning), or maybe a song that inspired me when I was writing it. I've updated some of the earlier chapters with background music too, like chapter 15 and 9. I might add more as time goes by, but these 3 are all I can think of right now. This is pretty much a useless feature, but some of you might find it interesting nonetheless.
"It's a nice night," Marx commented absently, leaning against a green fence.
"Perfect for a crazy party," Zero responded, throwing back his head and chugging down alcohol at a rate that could kill a human. Marx gave him a dark look.
"Don't get too crazy without us. We're still waiting for X."
"And Alia," Zero added, twirling the now-capped bottle between his fingers. When Marx raised a questioning eyebrow, Zero explained with "His girl."
"His what?" This was news to Marx.
"Not really," Zero said regretfully. "Not yet, anyway. X is still hung up over his first girlfriend."
Marx chuckled. "I never figured X was such a playboy." Zero burst into laugher, his slim sides shaking as he tried to keep the noise down.
"X? Playboy? Man, I never thought I'd hear those two words in the same sentence." Zero took a short, resentful look at his bottle of liquor and dropped it on the ground. "Like I said, he's not really with Alia yet. He and the first girl were really close. I mean really close. In fact, I'm pretty sure he wanted to propose to her."
"So, what happened? She moved on?"
"I wish," Zero sighed. This was the part of the story he never liked to tell. "At the beginning of the Eurasia Crisis, when we destroyed the Sigma decoy and released the virus..." He glanced at Marx to make sure he was following along. "Neo Tokyo turned into hell, in the blink of an eye." Zero snapped his fingers for emphasis. "Reploids everywhere were going berserk, and Calliope was in the middle of it. She was running errands when the virus hit, and she was turned. I had no choice..." Zero closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "I killed her."
"You..." Marx muttered, his eyes opening wide.
"There was nothing we could have done," he continued. "She was infected, and she was killing humans left and right. Fortunately, X didn't get there in time to see her do it. He came just after I cut her down."
"So he knows?"
"He knows. In fact, he nearly tried to kill me that day."
"I had no idea. I mean, looking at the two of you..."
"We agreed to forget that part of the ordeal. Neither of us has said a word about it since, though I still let him talk about Calliope from time to time." Zero looked down.
"Wow..." Marx said simply. "How long were they together?"
"Long enough for X to want to marry her," Zero muttered, still lost in his thoughts. "Since the end of the second uprising."
"Wow," Marx repeated. "Poor guy. I can kinda imagine why he wouldn't want to-"
"Shut up, I think I see him," Zero hissed, elbowing him in the ribs. Marx doubled over and swore loudly.
"What the hell was that for?"
"X hates it even when he talks about her. He'd lose it if he heard me spreading the story around." Marx turned his gaze from the blonde reploid to a taxi parked on the adjacent street. Out of it emerged X, his light brown hair combed back. On the other side, a tall woman with smooth, shoulder-length blonde hair and an angelic face stepped out the door. She wore a milky white blouse and a lengthy black skirt that danced as she moved her legs. Marx shifted his weight and whistled.
"That's Alia?" He asked.
"That's Alia." Zero confirmed.
"You said he's not X's girl yet?"
"Don't get any ideas."
"I'm just, y'know...curious."
"Didn't you bring Nephtis anyway?"
"Don't get any ideas."
"Aww, but you two look so cute together."
"Yeah. Just like beauty and the beast."
"You seem to think you're good enough for Alia though."
"I never said I was the beast."
Zero chuckled. "I guess it's a good thing she's not standing next to you right now." Marx froze.
"You know it was a joke, right?" He said nervously, not even bothering to look. "Y'know, guy stuff."
"Sure, sure. I believe you." A new voice, light but firm, came from Marx's right. He turned to look at the golden-skinned woman.
"Seriously?" He asked, still nervous.
"Of course," Nephtis replied. "Because everybody would agree I'm not the beast here." Zero could see color rising on Marx's face, but he also seemed to be restraining himself. Not wanting to be nearby in case things got out of hand, Zero made his way to X and Alia, who were now walking across the lawn toward him.
"The party crashers are here!" Zero called enthusiastically. Alia gave him a disapproving scowl.
"Everything's ready?" X asked immediately.
"Table's reserved, and we're fully stocked," Zero replied, jerking his thumb at the cooler sitting down the street, with Axl and Selene on top of it.
"Not anymore. How many did you have already?" X said knowingly.
"Two. How'd you guess?"
"I know you far too well." X smiled, and Zero laughed heartily. The blonde reploid relished any way he could bury his past, if only for a moment. He led X and Alia to the entrance, barking at Axl and Selene to grab the cooler and follow them. As they stepped through the plain metal archway, they found themselves walking on wooden planks. Stretching out before them, hovering over inky black water, was a veritable labyrinth of wooden walkways, all interconnected by metal platforms. In the distance, a forest of umbrellas and heating lamps presided over dozens of metal tables. To their right, jutting out from the mainland, dozens of restaurants and similarly shaped buildings were bustling with people, reploid and human alike. Marx, who had been trailing at the back of the group, looked on in astonishment.
"This is what you call docks? Where are all the boats?"
"Before reploids were mass-produced, this harbor was used as a fishing port," X looked back as he explained. "When technology left places like this obsolete, it became abandoned. It was a few decades ago when somebody bought the property and turned it into what it is now."
Marx looked about. The docks kept going on into the distance, and he thought he could see a ferris wheel moving through the darkness. "And...what exactly is it now?"
"It's almost like an amusement park, or a mall. To be honest, I'm not sure what it is either. There's restaurants and stores over there..." X pointed to the rows of buildings Marx had noted earlier. "...and there's a ferris wheel and some other rides over there." He shifted slightly to point behind the stores. "When we find our table, we're just gonna grab whatever food we want and come back."
"...oh."
"Something wrong?"
"Uh..." Marx began unsteadily. "Do we need to pay for the food?"
"That's what most restaurants do, yeah," X said lightheartedly. "Why? You at least brought some pocket change, right?"
"Not...really. We, uh..." Marx glanced nervously at Nephtis, embarrassed at explaining their money woes. "We spent all our money. We've got nothing left." X nodded solemnly, fishing in a pocket of his jeans for something. When he found his quarry, he pulled out two hexagonal credits and flipped them into the air. Marx caught them and looked at the numerical value stamped on the front. "500 creds each? X, are you crazy?"
X chuckled. "I had a feeling this would happen. That should last the two of you for at least tonight."
"But...1000 credits isn't easy money. Are you sure about this?"
"Marx, I'm the oldest reploid in existence. I've had plenty of time to build up a small fortune, and 1000 credits is like pocket change now. Just take it. You should enjoy yourself tonight."
Marx opened his mouth to argue further, but he realized it was pointless. As much as he hated accepting charity, X's argument made sense. He pocketed one of the chips, then quickened his pace to catch up to Nephtis. As he approached, she turned around and fixed her dark eyes on him. He held up the credit, spinning it on his forefinger and grinning.
"We may not be going hungry tonight after all," he said as he came to walk side by side with her.
"Who'd you steal it from?" She asked, though to Marx's surprise her voice contained none of its usual steely venom. It almost sounded...peaceful.
"X," Marx replied simply, pressing the credit into the palm of her hand. His fingers lingered next to hers for a brief moment, before pulling them away and shoving them in his pockets. Their conversation quickly dissolved into small talk as the group moved across the reinforced wooden walkway. It wasn't long until they reached their reserved table, a long rectangle with more than enough chairs for all the Maverick Hunters present.
Everyone quickly dispersed to buy food, and when they returned, the party began. Zero heartily dispensed beer, almost as quickly as he drank it. To his dismay, nobody was willing to drink more than three, while the pile of bottles at the blonde reploid's feet were turning into a small mountain. As long as it took for a reploid to feel the effects of alcohol, Zero was already starting to feel tipsy. This was what Zero had waited for; the only way for him to escape his blood-soaked past.
Marx was starting to get worried. Nephtis hadn't said a word all throughout dinner, and the glances he stole at her told him she was in another world. She hadn't even laughed when Zero attempted to juggle six beer bottles at once, and hadn't managed to catch a single one. As the party began winding down, while Axl was finishing up a greatly exaggerated story from his days in the Red Alert Syndicate, Marx laid his hand on hers, giving it a gentle squeeze to see if and how she would respond. There was nothing. Her dark eyes were lost in the black sea just beyond their table. Marx sighed, not realizing that he hadn't let go of her hand yet.
He looked back at Zero to keep his mind off of her, and he saw the tall reploid walking from table to table, two beer bottles wedged into his mouth like glass tusks, and attempting to ask embarrassing questions of the tables' inhabitants. The image was so absurd he couldn't help but laugh with the rest of them. Finally, Zero came across a burly reploid that knocked him out flat after Zero had asked 'Have you ever had thex whith your panths on?' Spitting out glass shards, Zero walked back to their table, looking a bit diffused. Both Axl and Alia looked like they would choke on their own laughter.
"Marx?" Nephtis said next to him. He was relieved to hear her voice again. He turned to face her. "You're, uh...crushing my hand." Immediately, he remembered that he hadn't let go of her hand, and he did so now, feeling extremely embarrassed.
"Sorry about that."
"That's alright. I still have another one."
"Hey...Akila? Can I talk to you?"
"I thought this was considered talking."
"I mean alone." Marx looked about. Nobody seemed to notice that they weren't paying attention to the party. Nephtis looked away for a moment, then nodded.
"Okay," she said. He could tell that she knew what he was thinking. Her gaze drifted down the docks until she saw a particularly secluded spot next to the water. Without excusing or explaining herself, she rose from the table and walked off. For the first time all night, everyone else noticed her.
"Who was she?" Axl asked as Marx got up as well. Ignoring Axl's question, he followed her through the rows of tables until he was leaning against a rail next to her, the light of the docks nothing but a distant memory.
"So?" Nephtis questioned.
"I'm getting worried about you," he confessed. "You haven't said a word all night, and I can tell you're thinking about something. Care to tell me what it is?"
"Yes, I might as well..." Nephtis sighed, staring out at the cold black ocean. "I've been thinking of a lot of things. One of them being that I don't want to abandon Kontar's memory." Marx raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean, abandon it?"
"I've also been thinking about them," Nephtis continued, intentionally ignoring his question.
"X and his friends?"
"Yes. They don't know either of us very well, and they already accept us."
"Why shouldn't they? What's wrong with us?"
"I mean..." Nephtis's face contorted, struggling with her words. "I've never been able to trust anyone my entire life. Even before Tempest destroyed the Empire. It just seems impossible for them to just take us in like they did."
Marx laughed, leaning against the railing. "Not everyone's the same, Akila. Some people you can't trust, others you can. Two weeks ago, I used to think just like you. I thought all Maverick Hunters were reckless hot-shots looking for some cheap thrills. Now look at me. I learned the hard way that we can't judge the many by the deeds of the few."
"But, I...I can't explain it. I've had faith and good will shoved in my face so many times I decided it didn't exist. Living in the underworld redefined my views on life. Now, they're being redefined all over again, and I'm getting tired of it," Nephtis spoke as if she had suddenly become incredibly exhausted. Her head dipped over the rail, letting her hair fall about her face so that Marx couldn't see the expression she wore.
"No need to get upset over a good thing," he said consolingly. Gently, he put an arm around her waist, and he felt her twitch when his fingers touched her. He prayed this was a good thing, and not the opposite. "We're with people that care about us now. No matter what happened to us, no matter who screwed us over in the past, we've got friends right now."
"Friends..." Nephtis murmured. "Kontar told me that word was meaningless. For a really long time, I believed him." Finally, she turned her head up to gaze into his auburn eyes. "Not anymore. You showed me that. You showed me that friendship isn't meaningless." Before his eyes, her face seemed to brighten. "Even if you are a prick most of the time."
"Say what!" He gave her a mock-incredulous stare. "I invite you to dinner, give you money, keep you company, and all I am is 'a prick most of the time'?"
"Fine. Sometimes you can be a prick." She reasoned, and he drew her in closer to him.
"Okay. I can live with sometimes." She giggled, a sweet sound Marx never thought he'd hear out of Nephtis. Once again, she managed to surprise him. "Hey. You never answered my question. What did you mean by 'abandoning Kontar's memory?' And don't think you're getting out of it this time."
"Well...at the beginning of this conversation, I wasn't sure what I meant either." She replied mysteriously. He gave her a quizzical expression.
"You're making even less sense now. Can we just go back to 'abandoning Kontar's memory'?" She giggled again, and he drank in the melody.
"I loved him, and it's not easy to forget someone you once loved," she said softly. Wish I knew what that felt like... Marx thought grimly. "But now, I'm ready to put him behind me. I'm going to bury my past, starting tonight." She turned sideways, so that she was completely facing him. "I'm going to need your help, Marx. I don't want to start a new life alone." All at once, Marx understood. Quite a roundabout way to say that you love me, woman... Leaving one hand around her waist, he used the other to tip her chin up to face him. He was about to lean forward, but she caught him by surprise and leaned in first, brushing her lips lightly against his, as if testing if he was real. As she moved back slightly to launch into a full kiss, he took her by surprise when he locked his lips on hers before she even began.
Nephtis moaned, sounding more like a sigh of relief than anything else. What's she got to be relieved about? Marx thought as he caressed her divine lips. She couldn't be afraid that I might abandon her – could she? Right now, I don't think I could ever let her go... After what felt like forever, they gently released the intimate embrace and resolved to simply stand in each other's arms, Marx gently rocking the two of them. Her head lay on his shoulder, and suddenly he felt something wet stain his shirt where she lay. He realized with horror that she was crying.
"What? I wasn't that bad, was I?" He asked, trying to alleviate her tears.
"No...that's not it at all..." She murmured. "I just...feel horrible about myself right now. In all the time I've spent with you, I always felt you would reject me, or that you wouldn't be the kind, gentle person you seem to be. I lived my life around people that abused women for fun...heartless bastards that didn't care about anything except themselves. In time, I just accepted that all men were like that. Even when I met you, I couldn't shake that impression I had. Now, I'm sure you're sincere, and I feel terrible for ever doubting you."
Marx stroked her tear-stained cheek. "People have done worse than doubted me. I don't hold anything against you."
"I know, I just want to apologize."
"Don't. You don't need to."
"...if you say so," she said as she buried her head in his chest. "That was a nice speech earlier, by the way."
"Which one?"
"About people not being the same, and everything. It was really thoughtful."
"Thanks. I think I read it somewhere." She laughed.
"Why am I not surprised?" she said as tears began flowing again. This time though, they were tears of joy.
Zero watched with interest as Marx and Nephtis embraced off to his left, swishing his last bottle of beer absently. He had reset his systems after the incident with the big reploid, and was unfortunately sober. He sighed, realizing that the last bottle wasn't enough to get him drunk again.
Turning his gaze over to X, where he sat with Alia at the now-empty table. To his dismay, he couldn't hear what they were talking about. However, he could clearly see their emotions. Alia seemed to become increasingly nervous and distressed as the conversation went on, and X's expression was equally grim. Zero groaned. He knew at once what was going on. That idiot...he's telling her that he's not ready for another relationship yet. After what, 12 years since Calliope died? 10 since he promised to put it all behind him? I've gotta knock some sense into that thick skull...
As expected, Alia soon got up, an expression of disbelief and anger on her face. X looked up at her pleadingly, probably telling her to calm down. She would hear none of it, instead throwing a half-empty carton of noodles at his head and storming off toward the amusement park. Zero chuckled, despite his disappointment in his best friend.
As expected, once X wiped the stray noodles and sauce off his face, he came straight toward the blonde reploid. No doubt asking for advice, Zero mused. Time for cupid to go to work.Quickly, he looked away to avoid seeming conspicuous and took a deep swig of alcohol. Damn, the bottle was nearly empty.
"Still trying to drown your sorrow, eh Zero?" X called, his voice seeming weary and beaten.
"After what just happened, I don't think it's my sorrow we should be talking about," Zero shot back. Tossing the now-empty beer bottle, he faced the brown-haired reploid.
"You saw everything?"
"Yeah, but I didn't hear any of it. Gimme the specifics." And so, X relayed his sad tale to Zero, putting on a thoughtful expression. Apparently the conversation had started out innocently enough, but X had decided that he needed more time to work out his feelings for Calliope, and had essentially told Alia to back off and give him some space.
"...and then she said some pretty nasty things about my mother right before she threw the noodles at me." X finished, and Zero chuckled in spite of himself.
"Look, right off the bat I see two things wrong with this fiasco," the blonde reploid began. "First, you dumped Alia over a dead girl. Second, you did it in the worst possible way."
"Why? What'd I do wrong?"
"X...you flat-out told her that you didn't want to be with her. If there was ever a way to let a girl down the hardest, that'd be it."
"I was just being honest! I mean, it's not that I don't like her...just the opposite. But Calliope's memory won't let me move on."
"And that's the root of all our problems," Zero stated, his voice having adopted the tone of a psychiatrist. "Calliope. Now, I thought we went over this before. She died twelve years ago, and she sure as hell doesn't want to make you suffer now."
"You don't understand what it was like though," X countered. "I killed for her...I would have died for her, if I ever got the chance."
"But she's dead instead. And who says you can't keep her memory alive without being a bachelor? C'mon, I know you don't enjoy torturing yourself over her. I also know that you really do love Alia."
"You're right there. But-"
"I've heard enough buts from you tonight, X. Here's what you're gonna do," he beckoned for X to lean closer, and Zero formed something of a two-man huddle between them. "As soon as you can, go out and buy her favorite candy, or flower, or whatever. Both works best. Anyway, try to take it to her in person. If she's still too fired up about tonight, then leave it on her doorstep with a poetic love note."
"A...poetic...love note?"
"Yeah."
"That kind of thing actually works?"
"Sure it does. Especially for someone with the gift of the silver tongue like you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well...all the stuff I wrote for Iris didn't really turn out so great. It's the thought that counts though, so they always got me through the rough parts in our relationship."
"So I just buy her some flowers, candy, and write her a love letter?"
"Yeah. Just tell her what a huge mistake you made, and that you're ready to move on. You are ready to move on, right?"
"Uh...I think so."
"Not good enough."
"Okay. Yeah, I'm ready to move on."
"Fine. Whatever. That's pretty much all you need to do. If you need anything else, you know where to find me," Zero concluded, looking around in vain for another bottle of beer. Already, he was starting to see blurred visions of Iris, standing and pointing bloody fingers accusingly at him. These were some of the most horrible apparitions of Zero's beleaguered mind, but over the years he had almost grown accustomed to them. Where the hell can I get a drink!
He turned his attention to X, and the visions ceased to be. Without another word, his comrade began walking away, already deep in thought on how to apologize to Alia.
End of chapter 22
AN: Sorry, too tired to say anything right now. Thanks again for sticking with me though. Next chapter should be up soon, I already started on it since this chapter doesn't have any action (or does it? whistles at Marx and Nephtis). Well, I guess I did say something. Must not be as tired as I thought.