A/N: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm not crazy at all. Nope. Surely I'm not letting you guys know that there's a poll up right now concerning this story… Surely not… That would be insane... Almost as insane as someone willing to make two separate timelines of the same(ish) universe at the same time.

In all seriousness though, I've been doing a bit of research over the past few months and I've determined that there's a core group of people that really, really don't want to, in our Prince of Emos - Kylo Ren's words, "Let the past die." Gotta appreciate you guys for sticking with it even after all this time. I'm someone who will continue a story even if just a few really dedicated people want to see it, so here goes? Maybe?

The dedicated group in question is going to have to convince me that this is worth continuing though; if I just get a bunch of static for a little while I'm going to divert all my efforts into NEO World of Advent and the book I'm making (not the one mentioned a while back) again. NEO World of Advent is still being continued, I just had to take a break from things and sort out life. That tends to happen a lot with me, but I go through a lot as well, so it kind of makes sense that I would have to.

World of Advent: The Original

Chapter 19.5

The last five hours had not been kind to Xavier. When he had heard that Venti and Specter, the two missing regents to a future in which he might experience the outside world freely, were within his grasp, he could not resist the surge of furious desire that led to him joining Zazhong aboard the metal wasp his city called a hovercraft. It had been a successful raid, Xavier reasoned, but with most great victories, it had come with a price.

Upon recovering the malcontent members of the Top 4, a violent bout of oversol sickness overcame him. The grey seats of his hovercraft held a medical pack in each of the back pockets, so it was not as though his attendants were ill prepared. Each one held a bright assortment of needles with red liquid held tightly inside which would, when injected, give Xavier a faintly pleasant, hazy sensation and reduce the severity of his symptoms. The serum had managed to slow the decay of Xavier's flesh, but even he could not have anticipated for the scale of damage that had resulted from his use of oversol.

Milky-white veins shot from the tips of his fingers and grew into great fat cords of congealed blood and an oily, organic substance the scientist Ciel had created in order for Advents to integrate with their mechanical half. While most Advents' use of oversol could hardly be described as hazardous, even utilizing the X-buster could result in a backup of oil that would last for days if he weren't careful.

"Are you alright, sir?" Zazhong's voice rang in his ears like the sound of wind chimes shattering from having fallen from a great height. Xavier's vision spun and he cursed.

"Sit back down," he hissed. "I will have this under control soon enough."

"Yes," Zazhong said eagerly. "Your doctors are preparing the cure to your - your condition as we speak."

"Good," Xavier gasped. "Now be silent." He could not tell which Zazhong he was talking to now; there appeared to be four of him now. Xavier shook his head free. "No," he murmured. "I am in control. I am in control."

"Are you though?" Xavier's teeth gnashed together at the sound of an all-too familiar voice, one that he had hoped very much he would not be hearing that day. It looked to him as though that small wish was too much to hope for.

"Sir?" It was Zazhong again. "Are you alright?"

"SIT DOWN!" Xavier shrieked. "I am in control!" He slowed his ragged breath. His heart pounded at a sickening pace and he felt faint. No, Xavier thought. I am just imagining things. Surely he could not be -

"You don't seem to be alright," the voice said again. Xavier's eyes flickered instinctively toward the source of this statement. In the seat directly next to him hovered the transparent form the figure of a blue reploid whose incorporeal form spilled data from the crown of the red jewel atop his helmet. He wore a simple cloak with the outline of a red cross over it. "Your subordinate is only looking out for your wellbeing you know."

"Quiet," Xavier said. "You are not the real X. You're just… Wrong. Yes," he said with some satisfaction. "You are simply the wrongness of my body. And when I am whole I will no longer be pestered by your presence."

"I'm not the wrongness,' as you call it," X said mildly. "I'm here because I care about you. I don't want you making choices that you might someday come to regret."

"No," Xavier said in a low moan. "Lies. Father told me… Father," he said in a hoarse whisper. "It is talking to me again. What should I do?"

"That man is not your real father," X said with the barest hint of steel. "You should know that very well, Xavier. He does not want what is best for you. Please," the elf said, "Reconsider contacting the Resistance. Your mother-"

"I have no mother," Xavier spat. "I have only a father and my duty. And he is not you," Xavier said venomously.

The elf said nothing. For a second Xavier thought that he might be left to his thoughts, to deal with the dull throb of his veins in peace, before it spoke again. "If you could only talk to her," X said, "She would understand. It was never her intent to abandon you."

Xavier lifted his arm - the one whose veins were not popping out of his skin - and took aim. Before he could fire, he felt the prick of something pierce his skin and the muffled sound of Zazhong's distant voice, ordering them to see the Master. His heart pounded with a deep loathing as he glared at the fading form of the cyber elf before him. Soon, however, the tranquilizer took its toll, and he could hold on to his dying grip on consciousness no longer.