Ars Moriendi

Chapter 8

An Expected Betrayal

_Z_

Zero sighed as he surveyed the tiny Mechaniloids below, darting around like lost ducklings. There really was no reason for him to be here anymore: The Mavericks had been dispatched, but he had to make sure he wasn't missing any dangerous Mechaniloids or objects.

"You're being moody again," his Navigator mused.

Of course he was moody.

"I want to be doing productive things, not sitting in a tree like a bird waiting for enemies that may or may not be here," Zero said testily. "Let some of the rookies clean up."

"You sound like a spoiled teenaged girl. You're not above menial labor, Zero," X stated, sounding amused. "You're vain enough to be a bird, though."

Zero sneered unhappily, though X wasn't around to see it. No, he was back at HQ settled comfortably in his little cubby hole staring at monitors, all nice and snug and safe. Zero could just see him now, leaning back in his chair with a mug of hot coffee, smirking like a smug little—

"Hey, hey, it's not like you to complain like this. Are you okay?"

Zero immediately felt embarrassed for his little rant, shaking his head as if to clear it of ill thoughts. He very nearly lost his balance and tumbled out of the tree, much to his alarm. "Yeah, X, I'm fine."

"….You're thinking guilty thoughts again, aren't you?" Zero resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. X could be such a mother hen at times.

"No."

"What is it then?"

"It's nothing, X, shut up and let me concentrate." He only felt a little bad for snapping.

Zero could hear his Nav's annoyed huff, tinged with real disappointment. Oh, that didn't make him feel terrible at all.

They went through several moments of utter silence, with Zero focused more on his Nav than anything else, birds singing cheerily in nearby trees. If the birds were singing then surely there wasn't a threat around, right? But then, he wasn't so great at understanding what animals did, that was more X's department. X was quiet, and then:

"Zero?"

"Yeah?" Zero jerked upright, listening intently.

"If you don't want to get your face blown off, you should move."

Alarmed, Zero glanced around wildly and then spotted the threat down below. A medium-sized mechaniloid was peering up at him from below, its bobcat-like maw gaping as energy gathered between its jaws. He cursed at himself for missing the creature, camouflaged grey and green or not he should have done better.

Zero let himself tumble down the tree toward the mechaniloid, missing the blast by a fraction—something smelled singed. The bot tried to hop away from him, but firing its weapon had cost it precious seconds. The head bounced once as it hit the ground, jaws snapping tightly shut in reflex, and Zero knew that if anything had been between them it wouldn't have stayed in one piece for long.

He nudged it with his foot, sneering in disgust as it gave one spastic twitch before it fell entirely still. Given its stealth and strength, it would be useful if it could be recycled—as long as it wasn't infected, and it didn't look like it was infected.

"Is your face still in one piece?" X chirped suddenly, causing him to blink as he remembered the other unit was there.

"Yes."

"Good. …What about your hair?"

Zero tamped down on the instinct to examine his ponytail; X was clearly teasing him now. He did have a sense of humor, despite what some of the rookies thought, and it was a wicked thing. Unluckily for Zero, he was often the recipient of X's teasing.

"It's fine, too, X. I know you'd die of grief if something happened to my hair or face."

"Oh-ho, so you think there's some truth to the rumors, my blond friend?"

Zero snorted and sheathed his saber. "X, come on, you're cute, but in a little kid way."

"Oh, not you, too!" He'd heard that from more than one person, apparently.

"What? You're short and scrawny and you look like jailbait."

There was silence on the line for several moments, and Zero feared he'd gone a little far. And then he heard X's threat:

"I'm going to put salt in your coffee."

"You're not that evil, X." The brunet wouldn't touch his coffee, surely.

"You know me well enough to decide that yourself," X quipped slyly.

He honestly had no idea if X was agreeing with him or denying his claim. And X could be quite evil when he wanted to be, most people could attest to that.

Zero made an odd, uncomfortable noise and adopted a serious mien as he wandered off to look for more mechaniloids. He was infuriatingly conscious of X's amused silence. How could X convey so much emotion through silence? It was like he could feel the older unit's smirk; perhaps it had something to do with knowing each other for so long.

He was ready to return to base, satisfied that every inch of the forest had been scoured for Mavericks and mechaniloids. But X interrupted him by finally speaking up again.

"So… about the girl…"

He almost snorted in amusement. "By 'girl' I assume you mean Era?"

"That one, yes."

"What about her?" Zero asked, voice tinged with wariness.

It was X, he had every right to be nervous when he got that thinking tone in his voice. When X started thinking, bad things happened—not as bad as, say, when Axl started thinking, but X actually had the ability to get things done without everything ending in a horrible fireball of failure. And, sometimes, that was even more frightening.

"I hear you're… talking, to her." Oh, he didn't like this.

"Yes," he responded slowly. "You heard that from me, remember?"

"Yes. I'm just curious as to why you're speaking to her after…. I don't trust her."

"Neither do I," Zero admitted, glancing around the clearing at the littered, sun-dappled mechaniloid remains.

"So why are you….?"

"To be perfectly honest, X? I'm not really sure." It was something that had confused him for a while.

Maybe he had just been lonely after X's bedridden days, and now he was too deeply entangled to simply leave her and never speak to her again. Of course, since she'd fallen ill he hadn't seen her on the grounds that he was a valuable Hunter and couldn't afford to catch whatever bug she had. If he was lucky, Era would be transferred somewhere else and he wouldn't have to deal with that delicate situation ever again

"So, are you and her…?"

"No, X," Zero snapped, scowling even though X wasn't there to see his face.

"I didn't think so. Lighten up, you're being cranky."

"You're one to talk about being cranky, X. And Axl's been bugging me about… the situation already."

"He's not terrified of you anymore?" X asked carefully, not really sounding surprised. Axl made sure most of his meetings with Zero remained "supervised" by X, at least until Zero stopped growling under his breath at the gunner. "And, Zero? I think it's time you came back, now."

Zero gave an affronted snort. "I would have been back a long time ago had you not been talking my ear off."

"You can teleport and talk at the same time, Zero."

"Not if you intended to keep digging into my personal life." A thought occurred to him. "Hey, no one heard you ask about Era, right?"

"Zero, calm down, I know better than that."

"I know, X, I know," he snorted, amused at the offense in the older unit's tone. "You're nosy, not a gossip."

"You're not getting any pasta tonight, I hope you know."

Oh, had he struck a nerve? Zero grinned wickedly, glad X wasn't around to see it. X wasn't cruel enough to deprive him of food, Zero knew that much.

~X~

He did feed Zero some pasta that night, contrary to what he'd sworn earlier. He wasn't as grumpy as he pretended to be sometimes, and Zero knew that. Axl being smug after hearing of Zero's "punishment" had almost earned Zero Axl's portion as well.

After dinner, X and Zero lounged about in the den, half-heartedly watching TV and trying occasionally to carry out flagging conversations. They were both too comfortable to really talk; X looked like he was about to doze off, and Zero was content to watch the news. Such moments of peace and comfort used to be rare for him, but now they were blessedly common. X's living room, the scheme of which was mainly pale yellow with a little light blue, managed to appear both clean and comfortably lived in. No small feat, especially with Axl frequenting the area; Zero himself tended to be absentminded when it came to keeping tidy, though he did hate a mess.

There was cozy silence for a quarter of an hour, until a particularly loud noise from the TV startled X wide awake. He gave Zero an affronted look, and the blond sheepishly turned the volume down. X sighed in relief and yawned, slumping back against the soft plushness of his light blue recliner. Zero thought he was going to go to sleep again, but the brunet surprised him by announcing:

"I have some boxes I need to move out of the storage room. I hate to do it, but I really need to clean out everything that's unnecessary."

Zero eyed him warily. X hated getting rid of anything unless forced at saber-point; X's last attempt to get him to clean out some of Cain's old things had ended in utter disaster. This time—thank Asimov—he had an actual excuse.

"I've got an appointment with Signas in the morning, so I won't be able to help you with that, sorry." And that wasn't a lie; he really did have an appointment. Something about paperwork and a special mission, if he remembered correctly. He was intrigued by the later, the former? Not so much.

X eyed him with suspicion, clearly believing he might be trying to weasel out of the job. "Oh, that's alright. I'll manage, really."

"I'm afraid I'm going to find you in a mountain of rubble when I get back," Zero admitted, concealing a grin behind his usual expression. "You pack-rat."

"Nonsense, I'm well-adept at this by now—hey, this stuff has sentimental value!"

Zero snorted at X's verbal dodge. "Sure it does, X. You're just afraid you're going to do something you regret."

He always was when it came to throwing things out, and in other situations, of course. Zero didn't usually have that sort of foresight; sometimes he was grateful for that, but other times? He was just glad he had X around to add his own opinion otherwise he'd have been perma-dead years ago.

"Fine, fine," X waved a hand dramatically. "Go home. Leave me, I'll manage somehow."

Zero snorted and punched X lightly in the bicep. "Drama queen," he accused X as the brunet let out a little 'ow' of disapproval.

"I am not a drama queen," he protested. "Your love taps would tip a cow."

Zero pushed himself off the couch with some difficulty, not wanting to leave the soft warmth his body heat had generated. He stretched, not bothering to look back at X. "Yeah, yeah, you're tiny, I know. Good night, you cranky old man."

As Zero saw himself out, he was hit in the back of the head by a flying pillow.

~Alia~

Luck was with him that day, it seemed. Alia had the day off due to the presence of new Navs—thank Asimov—and her help had quickly been enlisted. The blond had adopted an expression of dismay as she surveyed the mess; it wasn't her first time seeing it, but seeing it and sorting it all were two different things. She gave X a disapproving look.

"Have you ever cleaned this room out?"

X offered her a sheepish smile. "Yes, just not recently. Which is why I'm doing it now."

Alia made a sound that was somewhere between annoyance and amusement as he yanked the nearest box out into a clear spot. It was apparent were some of the mess had come from; the box was full of stuffed animals, most likely gifts from fans. X seemed to garner the most attention from the human masses, likely because he was the most human out of all of them.

X gestured for her to sit down beside him, and soon they were picking through the overflowing boxes, trying to determine the worth of every item they pulled out. It was arduous and unsurprisingly sentimental—especially since some of the people who'd sent the cards and stuffed animals were dead. Alia left what little belongings of Cain's and Light's there were to X: He didn't get rid of any of those, naturally.

By lunchtime, they'd gotten through almost a third of the boxes and had cleared up a substantial amount of space in the room. Alia insisted they get out and have lunch somewhere, and X reluctantly agreed. It was hard for him to snap out of something once he'd been doing it for a while, but lunch sounded enticing enough for him to go with little fuss. And it was definitely worth it, given how he lauded the sandwich she suggested he get; he was adorable when he got excited about food, absolutely adorable. Someone as old as he was shouldn't be allowed to be that cute, it wasn't right.

"You've got a strange look on your face, Alia," he stated, amused, catching her expression as stood. "What are you thinking about?"

She started and stood up with him, shouldering her purse. "Oh, just how many more boxes we have to go through."

"Oh," he blushed as he heard that, weaving around patrons. "I really should try to clean out before reaching the crisis-point."

"The crisis-point being boxes of junk up to your optics?" She asked wryly as he leaned on the door to open it for her.

He just sighed in embarrassment, but he was amused as well. "Maybe Zero's right and I am a hoarder."

"Zero's rarely right about that sort of thing," she insisted.

"True."

It became apparent that something was wrong the moment they entered the lobby of HQ. There was shouting, rookies skittering all over the place, exuding nervousness. Groups of Hunters were visible in the halls; Alia and X exchanged a puzzled, worried glance before edging forth to try to figure out what had happened. Had there been an attack? A botched mission?

Alia spied a familiar pink-haired Navigator and poked her insistently on the shoulder. The Reploid whirled around in surprise, recognition lighting up her violet eyes. "Alia! Commander X? Oh, thank goodness, we were worried you were in trouble!"

"What's going on here?" Alia demanded, shifting nervously beside X.

"A Maverick got into HQ," the Nav said quickly. "Well, not really got inside, she wasn't found out in time—she's barricaded herself in Commander Signas' office and…. She's got Commander Zero."

X wasn't sure if he was anxious or furious, but he had a sneaking suspicion. "It's that girl, isn't it?"

The pink-haired Nav gave him an uncomprehending look. "Her name is Era?"

X swore angrily. He knew that girl was bad news. Was all her attempt at befriending Zero just to lure him in close enough and catch him off-guard? Zero did not deserve this, especially after Iris. Was her illness merely the first symptoms of the Virus coming forth? It must have been a new strain then, he realized, if the Lifesavers hadn't recognized it. Still, he wasn't at all surprised that she'd wound up hurting Zero again.

He only hoped Zero was equally unsurprised.

"I'm going to deal with her myself." If Zero didn't beat him to her, that is.

AN: I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I'm struggling with both flagging interest in this story and a horrid case of writer's block. Those two are an unholy matrimony, I swear. There's about a chapter left; the next fic is going to have much more attention paid to it, I promise. Oh, and I am working on other things as well. I'm actually working on a Final Fantasy X story, as well as some oneshots, and (infrequently) a Mega Man EXE collab. Please review if you can.