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Title: Mega Man X6: False Awakening
Chapter: Stage 00, part 2 "Grief"
Notes: Most of these parts are actually quite short.

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Coming out of the transfer was oddly jarring, as if his signal had been disrupted in the process of rematerialization. X couldn't quite resist the urge to quickly check whether he still had all his parts.

Looking around, X suddenly understood what had caused the strange reaction.

The entire area was saturated with the Maverick Virus, in all its mutations. But that wasn't what caused most of X's sensors to return nothing or complete nonsense and even his eyes to play tricks on him.

Rather, everything had been completely transformed into an unnatural space that couldn't have existed anywhere on Earth. Thick darkness covered the entire area, mysterious lights dancing in midair and running along the ground, which had taken on a flat, almost crystal-like texture. Looking up, he couldn't see the sky or clouds. A pattern of interlocking hexagons flashed overhead momentarily, like a barrier.

"What is this place...?" X wondered. "Am I really at Eurasia's impact site? Or... did I get lost in the transfer?"

It sounded fantastical, the sort of plot sci-fi B-movies used. But at the moment, it appeared as plausible as anything else.

Steeling himself, X closed his eyes and reached out for the feeling of "Zero" that lingered somewhere in his core. Turning toward that feeling, X raised his Buster and set out.

Ghost lights continued their dizzying movements, closer and further, in a pattern not unlike circuitry. They remained just out of his reach, like a mirage, and destroyed any sense of distance. He couldn't begin to imagine what the area looked like under the bizarre effects. His secondary sensors fluctuated so wildly that X was quickly forced to simply disable them.

That was probably not a wise decision.

X paused, narrowing his eyes. Another wave of lights flowed in front of him, and the shadow he had glimpsed behind came into focus. It was…

"Zero?"

The same ghost lights passed between them again, but X was certain the figure he had seen was his friend's. He rushed forward, stretching out his hand.

"Zero, I knew you'd be alright!"

X noticed only a moment too late that something wasn't right. It was Zero's form, certainly, but it wasn't his friend - simply a tinted hologram of him. It was the same as the Sigma Virus manifestations that had spread across the world. This was the Zero Virus that Alia had detected in the wake of Eurasia's crash.

As X tried to back away, the Virus lunged at him. It didn't bother with weapons or techniques. It simply reached for him, its energy field clashing with his own. In an instance, it dissolved, losing Zero's shape as it slid through his armor and penetrated his systems.

The Zero Virus was much more potent than the Sigma Virus, X knew right away. It took prolonged exposure to the Sigma Virus to even begin to affect him, and even then his internal protection dampened and purged the effects quickly.

The moment this Virus entered his body, X felt his systems seize up. With his internal signals thrown into chaos, his parts ground unnaturally against each other, no longer moving in concert as they responded to false commands. Then, his antibody programs kicked in, trying to fight back and delete the Virus. It felt as if molten metal had replaced his hydraulic fluids, burning through his limbs.

"...X... Hold on, just a little longer..."

He thought he saw a blue light.

Finally, the Virus was almost entirely purged from his systems, leaving him numb and shaking. As his disrupted systems realigned, X opened his eyes, blinking several times to focus them.

He stared, wondering if his visual input had been corrupted after all. In front of him was a fuzzy glowing hologram... but there was no projector, nothing at all in vicinity.

"D... Doctor Light?" X muttered, stunned. "...This is impossible..."

The image of the old man chuckled. "No, not impossible. Simply improbable," he said with a wry humor. "It's this place, X. Here, dreams and reality intersect. Because of the high concentration of the Virus, the walls between dimensions are thin, and even those without bodies can appear."

Slowly, X shook his head. "...I don't understand," he admitted. "Did I get lost along the way?" He shook his head again, sharply. "I don't have time for that! I have to find Zero!"

"Yes, your friend. He needs you," Dr. Light agreed. "He is here. That's why that powerful Virus was created. He is able to absorb and reprocess the Virus, but there is simply too much. So a counter-reaction occurred as well. When the weaker, unraveling strains came into contact with him, they merged together and took on his pattern and form..."

"This isn't Zero's fault!" X protested. "He never wanted anything like this! He risked his life to save the Earth!"

Dr. Light didn't take offense, only smiling at X fondly and a little sadly. "Yes, he chose his own fate. That's the ability I wanted you to have: to choose your path. I'm sorry that the two of you must fight so hard against the chains of the past," he said. "I wish you could just forget it all, the things that happened back then and the things it all caused..."

"No," X declared, almost abruptly, "I want to remember everything, even the painful things."

Dr. Light looked up in surprise as X shook his head and looked away into the distance, into the darkness and the shifting lights.

"'Just forget about it...'" X repeated. "That's what I said too. Isn't it better to just forget the past? …To run away." His eyes narrowed. "But I was wrong. The past isn't something we can just forget. It's part of who we are. ...I wondered for a long time, why you created me, what I was supposed to do." Turning back to his creator's image, X held his gaze firmly. "But, Doctor Light, I never once doubted whether I was grateful for this life. I always wanted to tell you... Thank you, for creating me."

For a moment, Dr. Light turned away, shoulders shaking faintly. Even if it was just an illusion, X wondered if it could cry.

"Yes, well," Dr. Light said briskly, turning back, his eyes oddly bright, "I never expected you to end up here without armor." Surprised, X looked down at his armor. It had indeed reverted back to its basic configuration. The armor programs, being periphery additions and not part of his main systems, were far less well protected and rather prone to corruption and damage. "It's too dangerous to go without adequate equipment, so I'll give you this, the Ultimate Armor."

He laid his half-transparent hand on X's shoulder, and X felt something warm flow into his systems, downloading into the armor and reconfiguring its shape.

The new armor was a little darker than his standard, thicker and lined in black and gold. X flexed his hand, skimming through the armor's parameter data. It was certainly powerful, and also very efficient with its energy usage.

"Thank you," X said, smiling at the figure of his creator.

"Don't depend too much on its power," Dr. Light warned him. "I haven't been able to test it as thoroughly as I would have liked." He looked away, into the shimmering distance. "It's almost over... Good luck, X."

X followed his gaze, expression tightening. "Zero.. hang in there," he murmured to himself. "Doctor Light, I..."

He trailed off, realizing that he was suddenly alone again. The hologram was gone as if it had never been there.

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Notes: Okay, so X's armors are clearly programs that are used to transform his standard armor. That's the only thing that makes sense.

Dr. Light is really big on just "forgetting about it." He tells Zero to forget about the crazy old man in his dreams, and then he tells X to forget (about Zero) in the worst ending.

This part was annoying because I actually had to make up new dialogue instead of cribbing it from somewhere. Woe is me.

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