Ars Moriendi
Chapter 9
Put It to Rest
AN: Apologies for this being so late, I've been focusing on a Final Fantasy X fic lately. And, I'd been meaning to really crack down on it on Friday, buuuut, well, I became an aunt last Friday and had to go see my niece, so I think you'll all forgive me.
He was going to demand a raise after this. Signas could argue until he was blue in the face, but Zero honestly didn't think he could bring himself to care no matter how mucg his Commander argued against it. This was supposed to have been an off day; he had to turn in some sensitive documents to Signas, wait to hear what the Commander had to say about his upcoming mission, and then he'd be free as a bird. Except he wasn't. Instead of relaxing at a beach somewhere, he was being held up in Signas' office by a madwoman with some sort of grudge against him, pacing around the room waving a beam knife.
Era was getting more and more unstable, and this current stunt of hers had him wondering, positive: She must have gone Maverick. Era's earlier behavior as his Nav should have been more than enough to get her transferred, or fired, or detained, but even with that in mind, angry or not, she should know better than to attack him this way.
Zero grimaced at that, ignoring her sudden shriek of outrage over something; he wasn't paying attention to her raving. She didn't like that he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't overly fond of her, but the idea of killing her wasn't appealing, not after knowing her for several weeks. And killing her definitely wasn't out of the question here. He might not have his saber or any other weapon, but he was still fully capable of killing her. Some Mavericks lost their rationality, and she certainly seemed like one of those, so the thought might not have occurred to her at all. It must be horrible, going Maverick; did the infected know they were falling to it? Was their consciousness still there at all? Or were they just animals hanging onto instinct, hate, and threadbare memories, scraps of personality data? Being kidnapped made him think like X, apparently. It was unnerving, not to mention unnatural given he preferred to not think about that sort of thing, not with all the people he'd lost to the Virus. Not with his unique relationship to it.
He sighed and propped his elbow on Signas' desk, jamming his fist under his chin. This was the shoddiest kidnapping he'd ever seen, though he had to applaud her for getting the entire wing shut down, and for acquiring high-level mechaniloids who were not listening to her. He wasn't even sure if they'd attack if any Hunters did manage to break through. They were impressive; he'd have to take one home with him tonight and have a look at it. Zero made a mental note to leave at least one of the mechaniloids in more or less one piece.
A boot promptly connected with his left shin. Zero grunted in surprise and glared up—only to be met by a furious red-eyed glower. Right, being held hostage by a crazy Maverick lady. How could he forget? Easily enough, judging by what had just happened. How long had he been spaced out to warrant her being offended by his lack of attention? Mavericks were strange, always ranting and gloating like comic book villains.
"What did you say?"
A spark of stupid, Maverick rage ignited in her dark eyes. She used to smile at him, he remembered that easily, but it had never seemed to reach her eyes. Maybe she really always had hated him—maybe she'd known she was turning Maverick. Did she blame him, in some perverse way, as being responsible for her fate? How had she even become infected? She was a Nav! She never went anywhere; she never interacted with the Hunters—except for him.
Zero squirmed in his seat as he realized that. Him? Had he done it? Had he really gone Maverick that day and tried to kill X? And then infected his own Navigator? A thousand possibilities revealed themselves, each more horrible than the last.
"I didn't hit you in the head; you have no reason to show me such disrespect."
"What makes you think you deserve my respect, or my attention?" Zero scoffed, crossing his arms.
He wasn't afraid of her. Sure, she was wearing armor and he wasn't, and she had her beam knife—which she was admittedly not terrible at using—but he still wasn't afraid of her. Mavericks were stupid and reckless when they were as far gone as she was. How long had she been infected anyway? Because she looked like she was in the final stages, where weaker Reploids devolved into smart animals and then died. X had once compared the disease to rabies, and he had to admit, the longer he was around to see it, and watch it change people, how it turned them, he agreed with the comparison.
The idea that he had been Maverick, more than once, and that he was the original carrier was more terrifying than he could properly process. Not just terrifying: Horrifying, repulsive. And to think that X had known and tried to befriend him anyway, knowing what he must have known, what Cain must have told him, even then. Maybe that was why he'd been so nervous when Zero had first known him. It wasn't because he was shy, it was because he knew he was standing within arm's reach of a blood-thirsty maniac.
"Do you know who I am?" She snarled, startling him out of his thoughts again.
He gave her an annoyed look, tired of being startled. She was almost as bad as X at snapping him out of his brooding—no, he was not going to go there, he was not going to compare X to a Maverick. Especially not this Maverick.
"You're the psychopath I got stuck with for a month because we were running low on Navigators," he answered blandly, giving her enough attention that she wouldn't snap and attack him.
Era growled at him, her white and teal armor flashing as she paced. She turned her back on him over and over again, and he was so tempted to leap and wring her neck. But he didn't, and he wasn't entirely sure why. If he didn't kill her, she might wound him—there was no way she could kill him—and then escape to rage a short-lived rampage that might wind up killing someone. And yet, he waited.
"I suppose he didn't tell you about me, did he? A few months ago, during the attack at the mall? You killed my lover."
Oh, Light, not this. He'd heard this over and over again from units who'd lost mates to the Virus, but never from another Maverick. Had she been Maverick ever since she came here? Infected by her significant other? What sort of slow-building strain of Virus were they dealing with now, if that was the case? Zero felt his chest tighten at the thought of it; it never ceased changing and growing, twisting into more hideous forms every time they felt they were on top of it. It almost felt alive, spiteful, in its behavior.
What was he thinking? Viruses don't have consciousness, and they don't feel spite or glee, no matter what he thought. He was starting to sound like a character in one of those fantasy books X liked to read: Utterly ridiculous and easily excitable.
"He was a Maverick," Zero grunted, not really knowing who he was, but he'd been through the scenario often enough. He didn't want to know who he was, or what he'd been like, or how kind he'd been. Because he'd killed the thing he'd turned into, and it was always best for a Hunter's sanity if they knew as little as possible about the Mavericks they killed. "I didn't offline him just to spite you."
"He's still dead."
Oh, she was coherent now? This was unsettling, she was looking at him and speaking just as she had when she was sane— "So I'm going to kill you for it!" Her gleeful whisper cut his thoughts short.
Never mind that, she was just unstable. That happened sometimes with the infected, sad and unnerving as it was, moments of clarity. Sometimes they begged for mercy, something they demanded to be killed. Era was apparently so distraught over the loss of…. Whoever he'd been—he remembered a tall, humanoid Reploid with no combat abilities, had that been him? Zero sighed and crossed his arms again, leaning back in his seat as he tried to clear the images from his head. She hadn't even cuffed him, honestly, it was all just pathetic.
"Era, Maverick, whoever you are now, I'm a Hunter, as you may know. I target Mavericks in an attempt to keep people safe. That includes your boyfriend—whoever he was—and you."
How she gone undetected was the frightening thing! But, wait, she'd gotten sick…. A little bug, she'd assured him, and the Lifesaver unit had as well. Was the Virus evolving beyond recognition, or was the Lifesaver a traitor? Or infected, that sounded likely—terrible, but likely. And if he was still running around… Well, a Maverick Lifesaver still working in the Med wing was enough to give any unit nightmares.
Zero pretended to listen to her as he surveyed Signas' office. Sterile, white and grey, Spartan save the medals and awards on the wall. The Commander didn't even have pictures on his desk, not that that surprised him. Few units had family and even fewer lived long enough to form deep friendships. Most everyone Signas knew was dead, including his family.
He grunted some response to a question Era posed—something about how she should kill him, he thought—and tested the channels he'd established with X, Alia, and (grudgingly) Axl. Era had some sense, at least, because all of his attempts failed to get through, and of course Signas' office had some way to scramble and block, he just didn't know where the controls were. Well, no matter, he'd finish her off and then go out and tell everyone he was alright himself—
Zero froze, shock and anger warring in him as he registered her words, something about her drivel that struck a chord. "What…did you say?"
"That's right, that little incident with X? I did that," she repeated smugly.
That day. X. She'd nearly killed X; it had been her, not him. Stupid relief was all he could feel for a few moments, relief that he hadn't purposefully or accidentally killed X by dropping him, or not requesting passenger clearance. Then there was anger: Anger at her for doing something so horrible, and anger at himself for not thinking of it sooner. He should have suspected her from the beginning, but he was too wrapped up in guilt to see it.
"And then, of course, when that didn't work, I sought to crush your spirit in other ways," she continued, her voice the sickly sweet of false innocence. "Oh, those little rookies! So adorable, they believe everything you say about anyone, especially when you're a Navigator for the person of interest."
The rumors about him trying to kill X, the ones that had jumpstarted his anxieties and guilt, Era had been behind those? And pity he'd once had for her was gone; whoever Era was, she'd been dead well before he met her. And all of her attempts—failed as they were—to befriend him were for what, then?
"So why did you grovel?" He ground out, trying to control himself so he didn't devolve into a fit of rage and start swearing every other word. He had to remain calm. "Why did you go through all that effort to try getting on my good side?"
She shrugged, pale auburn hair falling off her armored shoulders. She didn't even wear a helmet. "I was trying to make you let your guard down, but, to be honest, I was hoping you'd fall in love with me."
Zero almost wrinkled his nose in disgusted confusion. "Why?" Was she so distraught over losing her boyfriend that she wanted his killer to replace him? It sounded like Maverick logic to him.
"Because I know about Iris, and I know it would have crushed you. Ah, but all my attempts to get through that thick hide of yours keep failing, it seems."
She smiled at him, a vicious, angry expression that looked more like she was baring her fangs at him. How had he ever thought she was pretty? All he wanted now was to rip her head from her shoulders and punt it from the highest point of HQ. She was pathetic. All he had to do was wait for her to turn and—X would be scolding him for his arrogance. Maybe she was just pretending to be incompetent? X did something similar sometimes during training, pretending to limp or favor one side, leaving a vulnerable spot wide open and then attacking him when he darted in to take advantage of it.
He knew he had to act quickly, she'd tire of ranting soon and—Era turned, watching him coolly as she drew her beam knife. "Pardon me; it's rude to leave a guest waiting, isn't it? Let's get down to business…"
~X~
Tiny mechaniloids swarmed around him every time they noticed him, ready to alert HQ if he was an unregistered intruder. But they knew it was him, Commander X, definitely not a Maverick, after a moment of scanning and went back to their cleaning, leaving him to continue squirming through the duct in an attempt to reach Signas' office. He was one of few Hunters who could actually fit in here, along with one or two Navs, engineers, and a serpentine Hunter whose name escaped him. X himself just barely fit, and he was beginning to understand the common human fear of claustrophobia.
It was a little dangerous in here—more than a little, really. Besides the relatively harmless ventilation system, these narrow shafts led to more touchy machinery, like the defense system, shields and weapons and scramblers. He didn't want to do anything the little mechaniloids would find aggressive or else he'd be fried, or knocked insensate until someone crawled up to retrieve him.
X's hand spasmed in an attempt to shake one of the little spidery mechaniloids from his right hand, shivering all over. It was silly for a war hero to be afraid of spiders, but those creepy little legs. There should be a law against anything having limbs like that; they were only acceptable on shrimp, and anything that wasn't a spider. Or a spider mechaniloid. Look at him, nervous of spiders—were there real, organic spiders in here, too? Oh, Light—Zero was being held hostage by a psychopath and he could only think about his fear of spiders. At least he was very nearly at Signas' office…. if he'd taken the right turn, that was. Or maybe some of the engineers had gotten through the locks, or maybe the elite Hunters had forced their way inside now. Which meant he'd be doing this for nothing.
X paused in his progress as he encountered another detour, one with sizeable nook full of important-looking machinery. This was it. This was right over Signas' office, the source of the barriers and locks keeping them from getting to Era. Good, now he could just ease inside and begin emergency override, and then he'd crawl back out and be the last person to make it to the office. He'd never get his hands on her, would he? What was he saying, Zero would probably have her in pieces the moment she was off-guard. He input the code Signas had given him, effectively undoing some of the mess Era had caused, then slowly began to turn back around. X paused in shock as he turned to find a relatively large spiderbot staring at him, as if daring him to do something irregular: X merely backpedaled in surprise.
….The access tunnel mechaniloids should be bats, not spiders, but that wasn't up to him to decide, unfor—the floor fell out from under him. Too shocked to cry out, X tumbled out of the access tunnel and fell flat onto something simultaneously soft and hard, something that grunted in surprise. X fought the instinct to get up and fight, and the one that wanted him to stay still in case he'd damaged something. The thing—person, he'd landed on shifted and spoke in a tone that was so incredulous X almost started laughing.
"Did you just fall from the ceiling?"
X lifted his head, looking around in alarm. Zero. He'd fallen on top of Zero, who was still in Signas' office. Why hadn't he been murdered by Era yet? His eyes landed on the heap of white and teal at the foot of Signas' desk, pale red hair draped across her face and shoulders, almost obscuring the blackened hole in her chest, too small to be from Zero's saber. Ah, that was why.
"Yes, Zero," X grunted as he sat up, rubbing his head. "I fell out of the ceiling. I don't know how, given that access tunnel is supposed to be nearly indestructible."
Zero wordlessly pointed upward. X followed his direction and….. the hatch was open. "Oh. Can we blame Signas for that, or is it Era's fault?"
"Probably her fault; I could see her leaving it unlocked. She was beyond logic and reason, you should have seen her—she made every rookie mistake I could imagine."
"And yet she managed to kidnap you the moment Signas stepped out, and close the two of you off from the rest of us," X pointed out dryly.
Zero had the grace to look embarrassed even if he did sneer in response to the light scolding. "Do I need to bring up the incidents leading to the first Uprising? Because I will."
"You know better than to talk about that," X said slowly, green optics gleaming with something that definitely wasn't amusement. "I was a newbie."
"We were all newbies once," Zero agreed amiably. "But most of us weren't as stupid as you—"
The door slid open, revealing a hallway full of Hunters with a slightly annoyed Signas and a vibrating Axl at the fore. The Commander's gaze landed on the body in front of his desk, then shifted to the two Hunters who were slowly getting to their feet.
"It's good to see the two of you unharmed," Signas said, watching them closely to see if they really were uninjured. "What happened? X, you did a good job disabling defenses, but you're supposed to be back with Alia by now."
X wordlessly pointed at the hatch overhead, still swinging loose. Maybe if Signas upgraded to a sliding hatch this wouldn't have happened, and there wouldn't be risk of random engineers falling into the Commander's office. He had to wonder if this was the first time such an incident had occurred because Signas' expression was more annoyed than worried, but then, Signas was perpetually annoyed. Not that he could blame the younger unit.
Axl growled as he stepped forth, glaring at them both. "We thought you were in trouble!"
X noted with some amusement that Axl's hair was wet. "Axl? Did you run out of the shower to help Zero?"
The redhead glanced back at the other Hunters who milled around until Signas gestured for them to leave with a dismissive wave. "No."
Zero rolled his eyes, watching as Er—the Maverick's body was removed. He hated her, but he still felt…. Not remorseful, but uncomfortable at the prospect of her death. He had known her after all; she wasn't some nameless Maverick that he'd only brushed past in the hall.
"Zero," Signas called, snapping him back into reality. "Come here and give me an account of what happened. I left the room to get coffee and….?"
"Era happened."
X gave Signas a sympathetic look as Zero recounted how he'd been able to take the knife from her grasp with little difficulty, and then revealed what she'd said. The brunet shifted uncomfortably as Zero spoke. He'd known he never liked Era, but… to know she'd tried to have him killed? And that she'd been Maverick this entire time? Who else was infected, or was the not contagious?
X met Zero's gaze, and then Signas', and he knew it was going to be a long night.
-X-
And it was a long night. X had ushered Zero back home after they'd debriefed, with Axl trailing along after them like a duckling, hovering around Zero with suspicious subtlety as X made them coffee. The redhead watched X bring Zero his mug, smirking as if he'd just thought up something that would make X cringe.
"Run into any Mavericks in there?"
Zero groaned in dismay, prompting Axl to add: "Coffee's dangerous. Attracts Mavericks."
The blond snarled something at the smaller unit, and X quietly suggested that Axl go home and finish his shower, or whatever else he'd been doing before he got the alert. The redhead stalled, either trying to annoy them or genuinely worried about Zero; X suspected it was both. But he did finally leave, and Zero sighed at his absence.
X sat down in the recliner opposite him, sipping his cocoa. "Well, we've had an exciting day, haven't we?"
Zero grunted ill-temperedly and tested his coffee. "I'm going to have bruises from head to foot tomorrow, and they won't be from the Maverick."
X smiled apologetically. "If it makes you feel better, your knee drove into my stomach and now it hurts to laugh or breathe."
"Don't breathe then," the blond said, a little more sharply than he'd meant it to sound if his wince was anything to go by. "You're a Reploid, not a human."
X tilted his head, considering the swirls of lighter brown where the milk and cocoa wouldn't mix properly. "Isn't human a little more complicated than just being organic and able to speak?"
Dark blue eyes fixed on his with a mix of wariness and sternness. "X, I'm not in the mood for one of your philosophy lectures, alright?"
X nodded, trying not to smile again. He wanted to ask Zero a lot of things: If he was okay, how he felt about Era's death, if she'd injured him. He wanted to try to cheer him up by telling him Lifesaver had cleared him for active duty at long last. But he didn't say anything. Zero wanted peace, he could tell by the look on his face: Zero just wanted to relax and not have to think for a few moments. He wanted rest. So X would indulge him.
"Zero?"
The blond faced him with a weary expression, expecting to be interrogated. "Yes, X?"
"Drink your coffee before it gets cold."
Everything else could wait until tomorrow. For now, all their anxieties were put to rest.
—
AN: (I apologize for any mistakes, this was a little rushed given I'm three weeks behind schedule, trying to clean, and trying to finish up some coursework.)
I started Ars Moriendi over two years ago now. It was originally meant to be a 2-3 shot little slice of life thing. The slice of life aspect didn't change, but the original plot was lost during spring cleaning one day, and some personal ordeals delayed my progress in writing anything. And so, this once-tiny little fic underwent some evolution: It was going to be an epic, then mid-sized, then my inspiration abandoned me altogether when I realized I didn't have enough material or plot to continue on. And so, this is the end of one of my weaker works. I admit I wasn't very invested in it; I felt I could give my readers much more interesting, longer fics.
I went through several notebooks and found more fics (ones that actually have plots) and oneshots than I remember working on, so expect those at some point. I'm revising "Unlaced", and writing new chapters for "Dreamer" as well as another Classic/X crossover fic and a Final Fantasy X fic that's proving to be massive. And those are exactly what I'm going to start working on now! (I may post on my profile how each fic is doing, so keep an eye out.)