If anybody told him that he would become a legit Ghost, he would… get disturbed, wiki binge until Zero got annoyed and drags him away from his terminal by any means necessary.
… he missed those times.
Now, though,?
Well, Being a ghost was a horrible experience, and X would Never wish this on anybody else, not even Sigma.
Hell, being a Ghost was probably the reason why Sigma turned out the way he did and why he had so many bodies around in case of him being back as a soul in a broken mind covered with a false Ego and material intelligence.
He still had a form, the one he had when he and Lori had first met in her environment. Nothing had changed there, save for the fact that his cooling body was sprawled on the ground and, save from seeing, smelling, and hearing, X could not feel anything.
He was watching his best friend and Lover fall apart in his rage, going as far as to destroy his outer armour.
It's not that X was… surprised knowing that Zero was part organic. Hell, he had seen his weirdly plant-like tail when he blew himself up. What he didn't know though, was that he was a super ancient Extraterrestrial life form…
No, not just a mere E.T… but an Angel like those described in the book of Ezekiel.
His Zero was either a Seraphim or an Ophanim. An Angel of the highest grade, fallen from grace and stuck in a body of metal.
He had seen this being destroy Lumine from the inside out, breaking his mind with very little effort… Avenging Nill-Lor-Mappop in a way that mesmerized and terrified the blue bomber.
And he had seen him; he had seen his Zero break down in tears over his cooling body, big heaving sobs like he had never seen from his love save this one time.
Iris's death.
Oh, how did it break the Crystallized being to see his Zero suffer so much over his death. Despite X, Axl, and Alia - Zero only confided in X.
Some would call it unhealthy, practically codependent… but X knew what Zero went through with the war, and Zero knew what X went through.
No other reploids could quite grasp Zero's underrated emotions. For most, he looked aloof, brooding, and unapproachable.
But X… He knew he had been struggling with his mental health, both of them were.
And now, with the new information that came in…
Apparently, Zero had suffered that for much, much longer.
And thus, X had to helplessly watch as Lor-Ruah attacked his life partner with extreme prejudice, despite how it was clear Zero had no desire to fight. Heck, He was running away from her, something his old buddy would never do.
He watched as the Lor starcutter pursued Zero and killed Vava and Axl in cold blood. And no matter how hard X tried to rationalize what had happened, despite his budding knowledge of Bhakti and the intricate working of Karma, he could not begin to fathom why Lori, who had now taken X's reploid form, had done such an unnecessary act.
And then…
And then she goaded Kamala-Kantha Das to eat his old, mangled body.
Sure, X theoretically knew how Kamala's power worked, but he'd only heard of the tiny powerhouse having consumed a missile once, but never a reploid.
So, to see the pink puffball consume his dead body… somehow put things into perspective.
Axl had tried to Copy X, but had quickly figured out that X's touted 'unlimited potential.' was not a feature, but a warning.
He had tried once… and that had been enough.
But… Kirby didn't just eat X's entire broken frame without getting cut or sick. But X himself, in his ghostly form.
And there he was, floating in an ocean of stars and other luminaries and planets made out of all that Kamala-Kanta had eaten. On them, he could see creatures going on with their lives.
Suddenly, the vision changed, and…
No matter how hard X tried to render what he was seeing, it proved impossible, the only thing he managed to compute was … it was.
He had unlimited heads, unlimited crowns, unlimited eyes, unlimited ears, unlimited noses, unlimited arms, unlimited, hands, unlimited, trunks, unlimited this, waist, feet, genitals fingers and toes and unlimited mouth, many of them filled with the fire of the universal dissolution, his unlimited teeth crushing and grinding all that exited, all life, all forms, everything in it's sharp, unforgiving teeth. Gorging themselves on all, nothing was spared by the being.
He just kept eating and birthing, eating and birthing all… never ending, never stopping…
X kept screaming, he kept falling on the ground over and over again begging for his life, for his very existence.
For it to stop!
For it to End!
Krishna! Krishna!
"Poyo?"
X's eyes flew open, and his eyes settled on Kirby, the Pink Puffball being the only thing that made sense, the only thing that could save him from the eldritch… thing.
X grabbed Kamala-Kantha's feet, for he knew the diminutive being had a history of dispatching outer gods. The legendary… no, the poor, poor mortal, unable to love at the sight of the outer god made manifest, begged at the greatest of all Heroes. Begging him to save him.
"Poyo… that's not an eldritch thing, that's the Virat-rupa, God as everything in the material world." The pink ball stated." But… It's not very pleasant to us Vaishnavas."
At those words, sweetly spoken, X raised his head to stare at the diminutive star warrior, only now realizing that he too was part of the Universal form of God…
He was…
"You're… God's stomach…" X whispered as pure awe and veneration filled him.
And then… it hit him…
He… a Robotic entity, someone who had just recently turned his inquisitive mind toward God… was seeing him.
He had spoken to Him, Had him on his lap…
"Um, no… I'm not fully God, just a tiny, insignificant part of him." Kamala admitted humbly. "Krishna is the full form, he's the one with all the qualities."
Of course, meeting with any Amsamsha of the Lord meant that X had gone catatonic with divine rapture.
Knowing that this would not be conducive to this past time, Kamala-Kantha, the Ashayaavatara of the Virat Rupa, and eternal associate of the Lord in various forms, swallowed X again.
And when X opened his eyes, instead of seeing the supreme reality of the material world; he saw space, filled with stars and planets made of everything Kamala had eaten in his life, all inhabited by adorable little monsters milling around as they went along their days.
"Are you feeling better now?" Kamala asked from a tiny golden star. "You had me worried for a moment."
"W-what was that? Was that you? Was that-" X tried to ask, but was too shaken to form a coherent phrase.
"As I told you, this was the Virat Rupa, Krishna's universal form." Kamala explained calmly. "It's Krishna's… well, Vishnu's temporary form of this universe. It's basically everything and… well, no Vaishnavas like to see him, not those who wish to love Krishna as Krishna."
"Oh…" was X's intelligent response. "And… you're his stomach?"
"His expansion. It's… complicated but, I'm part of the Lord, and I can perform most of the things he does since I have most of his Qualities… like sixty point one."
"That's oddly specific."
"I have a bit of Krishna Sweetness, something no Vishnu-expansion has. But I don't have his all attractive forms, his sweet flute nor his sweet pastime with his devotees… and a bunch of other qualities either, that's why I'm just an Amsha of Narayana, nothing more." Kamala explained in all humility. "But, I'm sure you have many questions, X. and I would be happy to answer them all, it's not like we don't have enough time, you know?"
X swallowed thickly; there, in front of him, was a being that was, for all extent and purpose, God.
And indeed, he had many, many questions for the divine being.
"Say… what does it mean to become one with God?" X asked after discarding about twenty different questions that had already been answered.
Kamala Kantha, the personal manifestation of Bhagavan's stomach, gave the jiva stuck in a robotic body a bright, happy smile. "Becoming one with God means to desire the same thing he does and to share his feelings. We're still ourselves, but our will and his are the same."
"I see, like the Maverick hunters. We are one with purpose and desires, but we still retain our individuality."
The tiny piece of God nodded.
"Ok… Why are we in the material world if we are all spiritual? And why did Krishna make the Material world so miserable if he loves us so much?" this had kept X up at night for longer then he'd dared to admit.
"You came to this world to enjoy your senses without me." The Lord spoke through his Avatar. "A mere handful… no, even less than that have chosen this path, and I let them be."
"You don't control us?" X asked.
"I do, I am the supreme controller, the master and orchestrator of everything… but you Jiva, being an infinitesimal part of me also have some free will… but the further away you are from Me, the less free will you have." He explained. "And you suffer more."
"But… why this suffering?" X asked louder than he had intended. "You made this world for us, you let us play here and… and you don't impose yourself, so why, oh God. Do we have to suffer away from you? Is it a punishment for wanting to be you?"
"Yes."
…
…
…
"X." The Lover of Kamala spoke, and gone was the pink round form; God was standing in front of the reploid of the conditioned soul's aiming to return home.
A seeker.
"X… I do not get pleasure by punishing you like a good father doesn't find pleasure in chastising his sons and daughter." the Lord explained, his smile turned a frown, and lotus-petals-like eyes dewy with tears. "But… I have to."
"To teach us how to be proper, right?"
The lord nodded, his shark-shaped earring glinting in the waves of his blackish-blue curls. "Yes, my main goal is to have you all come back to me."
"Back to serving you."
"Yes… but know this, X. It is not a one-way street." Krishna spoke with an ecstatic glint shining in his deep-blue eyes. "Those who serve me, I serve them also. Those who see me as a friend, I become their best friend. Those who see me as a son, I become their pet child. Seeking protection and affection for them. And those who love me as… them." The Lord closed his eyes as his body erupted in goosebumps. He sighed in exultation, unable to continue for his eyes were filled with tears and love.
He shook his head, making his long, curly hair dance like treetops dancing in the wind, whipping away his tears.
"Depending on how someone sees me, I treat them accordingly."
"So, this is why no scientists saw you, not even the astrophysicists."
The Lord shrugged noncommittally. "What can I say? In their preconceived notions, I don't exist. So even if I were to show myself in my full opulence, they would still find a way to deny if not my whole existence, my identity." The lord pursed his ruby-red lips. "I… won't show myself to fools and rascals, why bother with them? Besides, I fulfill everyone's wishes and desires, if my separated parts and parcels desire to forget all about me and my nature, then I will make sure they stay in the darkest pits of darkness."
"And if they want to see you again, then you show yourself-"
"In the form they can understand… whether as an all-pervading light, my representatives like Yeshua, Mohammed, and finally, my Senapathi-Bhatka, Bhacktivedenta-swami." The Lord pressed his fragrant hand to his hard, his palms are red as the early morning dawn X had once seen one winter morning… very, very early; right before the sun came up during a cloudy dawn.
This delicate appendage, attached to a powerful arm (his arms were reaching his knees, no humans had arms this long.) the color of this same morning sky.
Neither blue nor black. But pleasant to look at…
Or… like a raincloud on the verge of bursting, those who were a staple of the monsoon season.
Right… he was still talking.
" As my Archavataras, my numerous deity forms, pictures, my own names and other manifestations. And, of course, I sometimes advent myself to establish the path of religion for the age and please my devotees." Dawn took birth from the cheek of the primeval lord in the form of his blush. "I will admit, the last time Krishna appeared as himself, he… didn't establish the pancharatrika since he was too busy playing and pleasing his surrendered devotees. He had to come back as his full form of Sri-Krishna-Chaitania-Mahaprabhu to show the actual Yuga-Dharma, Harinama ." The… Perfect Devotee of the Lord; his Amsha, Kamala Kantha, Kirby of the Star spoke as the form of the Lord turned Gold, then finally pink and perfectly round.
X bit his lips, feeling that his time for questioning was closing. "Say… I know Zero's a… Fallen Angel of some sorts, and I know he killed thousands and… a-and that he started this whole maverick mess and you know… but.."
"But?" Kamala asked as he tilted his whole body with an all-knowing smile on his lips.
"But… would Krishna… save him too? Like… like if we were to practice Bhakti-yoga, would Krishna accept his devotion despite his past?"
"Well… Neither you nor Zero are fully part of the Varnashrama. You may be warriors, but neither of you can perform the birthing ceremony. And neither of you are women, meaning that neither of you are truly householders."
"Oh…" X's shoulders slumped.
Of course, being gay and robotic was a sin. And sinners could never-
"But I don't care about that." Krishna's voice returned. But instead of the blackish-blue youth who had lent a bit of his hue to the void of space. Instead, he had taken the original colour of all things bright, starting with pure molten gold and passing by the sun on a spring day… or during the golden hour when everything took on a new beauty.
The Reploid, no, the soul in the reploid body, stared hard at who could only be Gauranga, Gaura-Hari…
The Most Merciful of Avatars.
The Lord, who was Krishna and Radha in one Body, the original form of Godhead, fully complete in Himself, smiles like the Ocean of Causeless Mercy he is.
"What I care about is that you… All of your Jivas stuck in the world of matter reawakened the pure, unalloyed love of God that sleeps in your heart. I don't give a fig about your material disqualification and such. You are souls; you are all my unlimited parts and parcels. Eternally one and eternally different. Separated, yet together." The Golden Lord spoke with great love and passion. "I want Zero and you to chant Hare Krishna; it is the process to attain Krishna and his eternal abode, irrespective of your so-called flaws and temporary material designations. I will ignore them as long as you don't blaspheme my other servants who have dedicated their lives in my service, even if they are not perfect," he instructed.
X, eager to learn the way, opened his audio port and committed to everything the Lord said. "What else should we be careful about?"
Gauranga gave a life-giving smile as he shook his head, making his shark-shaped earring dance in the ocean of his shiny, black locks of hair.
"Sadhu-Sadhu. Very good, Very good." he grinned, showing off his row of pearl-shaming white. "Do not consider the names of other demi-gods, like Shiva and Brahma to be equal to Sri-Hari's name. Bhagavan's names are eternal, filled with bliss and fully spiritual. He is his name, while the Demi-gods names are that, just names."
X nodded, prompting the Golden Ocean of Mercy to continue.
"Never go against the order of your spiritual Master; either your initiating one or your instructing one like Kamala-Kantha, Gandharva, and Dharadhara."
"Wait… do I need a spiritual master?" X asked, coming up with another concept.
Gaura-hari nodded as he raised a hand up in the universal hand sign for knowledge giving. "Yes, everyone requires a spiritual master, a teacher who will show you the path back home to Goloka. Not everyone can follow the same footsteps, since all souls are unique and have unique challenges, which is why a living Guru is a must. A bonafide Vaishnava dedicated to Krishna Service and willing to serve his servant is a must for any spiritual advancement."
"Hmm, I see…. Who's my Teacher then?"
"My big brother, Nityananda, will manifest through… him. I don't want to spoil it, you know." Gaurahari gave a teaching wink. "But fear not, Nir-Lor-Mappop, your and Zero's Guru is indeed still on earth, and you won't have to wait for long until he manifests."
Hope grew once again in X's heart, tears filling his eyes as he covered his mouth lest he let out a few sobs of joy.
"My other golden order is that you never blaspheme any of the Vedic scriptures or scriptures in their pursuance. Those are my words, and it was my servant Vyasadeve's best attempt to bring you conditioned souls back to me… even though it was somewhat 'flawed'."
"Flawed?" X asked.
"Yes… Well, not really; for it did happen by my will and the four Vedas and the Mahabharata do explain the duty of the human form of life, it barely glorify Bhakti-devi and give reason for all of my conditioned souls to get tangled further in the web of Maya. The best of the Vedic scriptures are those in the modes of Goodness and are headed by the Srimad-Bhagavata, which directly deals with the Lord and his servants. And…" Gauranga sighed. "And his pastimes in Sri-vraja dham. The best of all abodes."
X nodded eagerly. Finally, he felt that he was going somewhere. His life was not just a series of tragic events leading to his ultimate corruption and death.
No… he had something more now.
Suddenly, Sri-garuahari's smile… began peculiar, almost self-deprecating.
"There is more I can teach you, my dearest friend… but I would rather my servant teach you and Zero everything himself." The Lotus eyes Lord winked, his broad eyes resembling a moon hiding behind a wind-moved branch.
"Wait! But I have-"
"All the time in the world to learn all you want to know. Remember, you are my friend, and to those who have a little bit of faith in me, I give everything they need and desire… by my own will and leisure."
Understanding what he meant, X pouted. How could he note, when God was standing in front of him like the divine golden mountain he was, with knowledge, true knowledge no books of knowledge could hope to hold yet… clamming up like a clam.
… Gauranga was clearly the source of all, for he knew how to hold a secret and would hold it together.
"I know you want to be instructed by me… but you are needed back on the phenomenal world, my friend."
"The Phenomenal… but how? My body's no more… Unless you want me to take birth again? Poor Zero, I don't think he'll survive that." he muttered the last part. His life partners had lost so much… but there wasn't much X could do, understanding that his Karma was… X had come to an end.
He heard Gauranga chuckle, and this chuckle became louder and louder until the Supreme Personality of Godhead was laughing out loud, his peals of divine laughter purifying all the directions and Nillor's heart.
And then, the Lord took a deep breath… and swallowed X.
In the Lord's stomach, X saw… well, everything in the universe. From the planets to the constellations and black holes. X realized that Astrologers were wrong about… most of them.
Alright, all of them.
"Pah!"
He was, for lack of better words, spat out by Kamala, hovering in the air with renewed strength and vim.
He felt rejuvenated, just as when Lori updated his frame and purged out his third-party upgrades.
But this wasn't the time to relish the feeling… oh no, for it was clear he had rebirthed in…
Well, he wasn't in Sigma's palace anymore.
"X!" He heard Axl scream in anguish and relief, but the youngest of the hunters wasn't X's main problem at the moment.
No…
It was… the being hanging from a mess of wires and… what seemed to be raw nerves and blood vessels.
They were stark white, stained with blood. His chest was but a bulbous suggestion of human anatomy, a garish maw that suggested what used to be an eyelid had been torn open, from within spilled out wired and a rather loose and dim reploid… no, robot master core.
On what looked to be his head was a very familiar gem now stained red; his eyes were but a pair of dots painted on the snow-white surface. From his mouth, a copious amount of blood flowed before floating upward in tiny black bubbles. On his back were a pair of…
X had no idea if those were supposed to be wings or frayed nerves tangled in a mess of wires, it was clear those fat cables, wires and beams were holding the being aloft.
There was a halo in this mess, still glowing black and red, like a dying sun. Reddening soiled locks that had once been as golden as gold itself.
The being… had no legs but… vine-like appendages that pooled on the bloodied ground, beside them were Zero's arms.
X… knew them…
This was 02…
And 02 was…
"Zero…" he whispered in horror. Moving forward in life partner for over nine decades. "ZERO!"
He ignored Axl's scream and grabbed hands as he attempted to stop the crystal bomber.
Axl… didn't know his Zero… and X had no idea why his beloved was in this state, finally freed from his Zebranium prison.
X could still remember the day Vile had caught his then Senpai in a cage, a bomb glued to his vent.
The bomb... had been programmed to blow up the moment it picked up CO2, hopefully, breathed by humans.
Zero... had triggered it as he'd tried to kill Vava, way back when.
But instead of seeing Zero's spilled parts burst and twisted by the extreme heat, he was met with a scene only a Master of Horror could conjure.
There was blood…
There was blood everywhere.
Including on X.
It was warm, cooling off in a sticky mess of gore, staining the blue bomber, the father of all reploids with his mistake… with his sin.
And with… a shocking revelation.
Zero… wasn't a reploid. He wasn't like X or Sigma.
He was a cyborg, something that…
No… this notion had died faster than the blast after one glance at what was left of his senpai.
One arm was gone, his legs were vaporized and…
A burnt… cactus-like tail, covered in blood and sooth, emerged from Zero's torso, attached to some white fleshy… thing. Burnt to a crisp and bleeding rivers.
And yet… Zero had still been lucid.
'X… X… It's Over for me… Please… Take my buster… give Sigma hell for me…"
There had been so much blood and the reality that Zero wasn't…
He was another.
This had been the true reason for X to desperately pursue the… oh, what were their names… those who stole Zero's body from Sigma's palace ruins.
They could not… they could not get their hands on Zero's corpse.
And yet… X had never seen his Zero without his external covering, save for his hair and X only knew those hairs were attached to flesh when he pulled on it a wee bit too hard.
And, from what he was seeing right now, Zero really had blond hair, the only part of his… costume still intact.
Still, this was the first time he saw his life-long partner without anything on… and honestly, X would've loved for it to be in a more intimate setting with his lover being conscious and not… interfacing with a Nova as he was most likely bleeding to death.
Right…
X rushed at his Zero, who, despite having shed his more human form, still retained his iconic hair.
Hair X loved to play with, Hair X loved to braid… connected to a curiously squishy scalp.
Hair Zero had kept long despite them being a liability on the battlefield only because X liked to play with them when he was anxious.
"Zero! Zero! It's me! X, oh Krihsna help him. please open your eyes!" the crystalline Reploid begged and pleaded, gently shaking him.
But instead of waking up, Zero's body grew limp.
"No! Zero!" He screamed as he floated up, trying to alleviate the strain of all of those horrible cables imposed on his Angel's battered body.
He desperately turned to the Star travelling group, noticing that a one-eyed abomination was rapidly approaching him.
"X, my dude. It's me, Mangalanada das…" The being Mangalananda revealed. "I know, I look like an evil crisis form, Zero's my… err… Generator, yeah, that's sound's right."
"Just help me; we need to get him down and soon." X pleaded as he watched the crowned form melt back into the mischievous little mage that had saved his life.
The tiny imp manifested a sword to test the strength of those cables, then switched to a laser, quickly yet efficiently cutting away at those thick cables. Engi Kriby and Robobo soon joined.
The tiny pink ball caught X's viridian eyes; understanding passed between the two ancient beings as they worked in silence to free Zero from his deathly cradle; X gently held him, noting how… soft he was under his human-like armour.
How long had he been stuck in there… a hundred years? No… it must've been closer to two hundred at this point, and from what he was feeling, armorless Zero was a tad bulkier than armoured Zero.
But oh-so softer… as soft as Kamala, he'd gather.
Speaking of which.
"Say… Kamala?"
"Poyo?"
"You and Zero… you feel… sort of the same." he carefully said the last sentence as his amazing computer made some interesting and life-altering connections.
"You… both of you are big eaters, and both of you are invincible." The one time he had seen his life partner… dead-ish was after his onboard battery had blown. But even when Doctor Cain kept the 'robot Master' under glass, Zero had shown signs that he had not been as… dead as he was supposed to.
Hell, this had been when X had received his first… rather bloody kiss.
…
X pressed his lips on Zero's eyelid, unmindful of the bloody tears drying, feeling his heart skip a beat as he let it flutter like a waking butterfly. "It's alright, partner. I'm going to take care of you… Thank you."
"But… Zero Two he… The earth-'' Axl sputtered; their junior looked so lost and confused.
"She's fine, kid." Dharadhara's powerful voice resounded. From the access hatch at the front of the room, still hidden from view. "Took a gander when… things got too much."
Hope floods X's heart.
"He… That was Zero's final wish, kid. Thought you knew your superior better than that!"
X could easily imagine Axl's cheek reddening with embarrassment. Truly, the youngest reploid… robot master had more of X then Zero in this department.
Once again silence descended as Kamala and Mangalananda, with the help of Robobo, worked at untangling Zero's wings and hair from the mess of wires he hung from, and after what seemed to be an eternity (so long, in fact, that Kamala had started a Kirtana, despite being chronically tone deaf.) the Fallen being, a Demon born of a failed sacrifice, was finally released fully into X's arms.
His life partner was… disturbingly limp, boneless even. But X could feel something beating in his core… not strongly, but it was there.
"Let's bring him to… oh." Mangalananda began to propose, probably to bring the wounded angel back to the Lor Star cutter for medical treatment, only to remember that Lori… had to be…
That she got her due and that he had left her behind to face 02's righteous wrath.
And from how his ears were drooping… it was hitting him harder than expected.
"Uh… guys?" Axl began, staying a bit away from X and Zero, but not that far that he was fearful. "How do we get out of here?"
This caused everyone to stop dead in their trap.
They had arrived on the Lor StarCutter, and judging by all the static and other interference and other audio artifacts clogging his channel, it was abundantly clear that no Radio signals could be received or sent from the false moon.
On the other hand, it was wonderful news, for it meant that there was some Radio communication going on on Earth.
Meaning, that humans and reploids were still down there… or what X was hearing was delayed transmission, the last message ever sent.
He heard a grunt and was surprised to see the great King Daradhara Das jogging to them in nothing but his hat.
Thankfully. He was a bird.
"Ah…"
"Madan's in it." the King dismissed without expending on it. "But I may have a solution for our transportation problem."
"Meta Knight's Halberd?" Axl asked with childlike glee.
"Not today, Kid. Madan-mohans'... indisposed at the moment." The blue penguin said as he looked back to where he came from, a concerned frown at his brows. "But, we have a secondary means to travel," Dharadhara spoke as he turned to Kamala. "Kamal, you reckon our first foray into the cosmos?"
"Our first, or my first?"
"Wait, yah went to space without me?"
"Uh-huh! When the sun and moon were fighting, and I'd lost my ability to copy– I still have no idea what happened back there. I even met another Nova! I wanted to ask him for the sun and moon to stop fighting, but then Marx stole my wish." the pink puffball spoke bitterly. "I thought he was a friend."
"Bah, let go of that fiend. But no, Ah was talking 'bout my first outing, yah know? With Bandee, Adoline and yah little girlfriend."
"Oh." Kamal blushed at the thought of Ribbon, and then the lightbulb clicked, and then there was light. "OH! Nillor!"
"Huh?" X grunted inelegantly, Zero's heart beat has taken his mind.
It was so weird seeing him without the perfectly normal human face(™)
"Nillor! You're the Crystal we all rode in."
"THhs make no-"
"OM MY GOD!" Axl gasped as he pulled at his hair, staring at X as if his true divine nature had been revealed to him. "You… The Crystal shard! X, YOU'RE A LITERAL DREAM BOAT!"
X pursed his lips; he was getting only further agitation. "Axl, I swear to God." Whom he'd just met, apparently.
"No, please, hear me out." Their brat said as his 'Kirby lore Mania' face filled X with dread.
Even more, so that he now knew that the Kirby lore wasn't… Eldritch light but truly historical accounts.
"X, in Kirby 64, the crystal shards, Kirby, Adeline, Waddle dee and RIibon travelled across the universe in a blue crystal MacGuffin!" Their regional export in all things, Kirbyy spoke meaningfully, his eyes never leaving X. "X… you are the crystal; you can open star portals and travel through space."
X blinked, once again reminded that it was not a mere human who built him but the ancient Chozo race.
"Ok, so… remind me, how am I supposed to do this? It's not like I can ask Lori about this anymore."
At the moment the mention of Mangalananda's fallen daughter was made, the tiny magician's ears dropped as a pained expression twisted his seen features.
"Maybe… umm… try to go into your Bios? Or… maybe your terminal?" Kamala asked with a full-body twist. "Robobo, who to you… err…"
"I believe looking into yourself is the right way to explain. Think of it as meditation."
X chewed on his bottom lips; this was a good tip, but…
'Aw heck, why did Lori have to turn on us… Zero, why did you have to avenge me?'
Then, the answer came to X…
Zero loved him.
Zero… had lost his once precious person, the only other being he felt safe enough to be vulnerable about many things and with whom he felt safe enough to remove his helmet around.
And, looking at the long locks of hair…
He had touched the only past of Zero that had not been covered by a false Identity; he had been as bare as he could be.
Really, X could not blame him for killing the Lor… Grief makes people… do things.
… he huffed, this wasn't working.
"Say, son." The great king spoke up, giving X this intense calculative look, complete with a profoundly pensive rub of his bottom beak. "Ah Can't say I've seen you personally in action but… Yah can change modes, Can'tcha? Like… copying them Mavericks an' using their power against others?"
Suddenly, it clicked.
"The variable System." X breathed out; he had completely forgotten about it when he'd regained his original form.
And indeed, his prompt was still there, unchanged, ready to lead him into the internal menu.
And he did, and call him an old fool, but going into his internal directory felt like the first time he performed this feat.
Oh, by Gaura's grace, everything was there. But different.
His flight mode was always on; it was called Dancing Crystal Fairy. He has a fire mode called blazing, an ice mode called a snow bomb, Light bulb, lightning rod…
Dream Boat mode.
It took everything for X not to burst into hysterical laughter… or sobbing.
Whichever came first.
He returned to real-time. "Ok, found it… but I think it be wiser to go outside." X spoke wryly, letting the moisture in his cheeksfloat in other space.
"Very wise of you," Mangalananda said. "Come one, let's mosey out of here!"
Taking this as their cue to move, the group did just that, picking up a rather… traumatized Madan-Mohan wrapped in Dharadhara's robe, along with Gandharva and Vava.
Gandhi played the role of the emotional support slime ball to the shaking reploid.
Apparently, being a crazy, human-killing reploid never prepared him to face an eldritch abomination.
Fair… since not even Humans would be able to remain sane in the face of such planet-sized abomination.
Well, Axl seemed ok. But since he was a fan of the Kirby series, for all X knew, he, and by extension Layer, were immune to it.
Nevertheless, X was more than ready to get out of the Nova's corpse, the Kalpa-vriksha-powered star was now nothing more than an empty, dead-flesh-covered corpse.
Yes, X really wanted to get out of here before this could turn …educational.
Perhaps another one would be interested in this hands-on study, but the crystalline being would rather focus on Bhakti-Yoga and to re-know his partner of ninety years. And hopefully, help him heal and finally get his answers from his…
'Is he even… can I even consider him as my father now?' X wondered as he and the small group made their way out to the star-filled expense.
Once at the top, they were met with all of the new Gen, kneeling with their heads bowed, their eyes closed, until X and his Cohorts came into range.
" You chose mercy." The leader of the… Zeroed… Reseted New-gen said. Lumine… or whatever was left of the personality of Lumine said as they raised their heads. Their red eyes filled with a muted type of wonder.
"I did… my duty not to Kill Zero," X said.
As he had been digging in his menu to see if he could turn into a boat, he had stumbled upon his prime directives.
"My prime directive is to love him as unconditionally as I can," he said with a soft smile on his lips. "To protect him and care for him, to become his companion in life, so that the suffering one may not feel the pain of loneliness anymore."
Bright smiles appeared on the New-gen's neutral face. "Thank you, Lor-Nill-Mapop… Zero's hope sent from heaven.
"Oh, so that's what his name meant," Mangalananda whispered to himself.
"Right… just doing my job, nothing special," X said with no inflection.
And yet, he knew his choice was still his. His prime programming, the one he had to slavishly follow, was as said above, but this prime directive only told him to love Zero, not how.
It never said to love Zero romantically, or to fall in true romantic love with him, only to cherish him.
Besides, despite his rough start, Zero was lovely, if a bit cocky. Quick to enter the fray and slow to exit, he loved to fight as much as he loved food.
He was a bit messy, somewhat casual, and could also fall into bouts of depressive thoughts, losing hope about the whole Maverick situation, and while he did start it, Zero's goal had been to end it…
He held the love of his life closer… He had gone through so much, and at any time, Zero could've easily left, shed his metallic body, ditched X and all of humanity and escaped back to the stars…
He tried once… but came back.
Zero always came back for X.
'Zero… you… got attached to me. You love me…' X thought as he turned to Magolor, Mangalananda.
"Say, Mangala. Could you… please return to your one-eyed form?" The crystal bomber asked. "You're the only one I trust won't drop Zero down."
Mangalananda got to X's height, his yellow beady eyes looking unsure as he rubbed his hands together. "Umm… you don't mind?"
"No, I don't." X shook his head. "I mean if your Traveling with… Kamala-Kantha, then I don't think you're evil… You just had a rough start.
"An' he likes to swindle people." Dharadhara spoke up. "Likes to perform microtransactions with peoples from other universes."
"Hey, I have a whole amusement park on top of a soon-to-be sustainable land to maintain; give me so slack here," the NZ scolded. Only to cause the great king to chuckle.
"Yeah… all the more reason why yah should be the one holdin' up on Zero, that's and yer massive enough to hold'em comfortably."
"Right." the mage said as he summoned the conquered crown.
"Still can't believe ya ain't spooked by it," DDD said with a shudder. "Learning the damned thing would make your bad guna's your whole character trait."
"Not anymore; Misstlestain knows who his master is and won't cause me any trouble… they should know," he said as he gave the terrifying crown a good shake.
"If yah say so."
"I know so. Beside, Lord Narashimadeva is protecting all of us… and Kamala."
"Poyo!"
Not wanting to dawdle any longer on this accursed planet, Magolor once again donned the crown, slapping it as he did so.
(X caught the cowed ruby eye of the golden cursed object. Base Mangala was more than enough to show the dinky piece of Chozo merch who was boss.) and once again grew big enough that he could easily hold Zero and not let his… tail touch the ground.
Then, X took his distance, and once he felt he was far enough to safely change mode (he had no idea how big he would be. Would he be bigger than Lori? Would he even be a boat?) and then Change.
One moment, he was on the… fleshy other sheath covering the now-dead Nova; the next, he was in a futuristic command center, not dissimilar to the one in the lore.
"Huh…" he breathed out, touching the main console in awe. "It… looks the same."
"That's because it's the same," Lori said.
X wasted no time spinning on his heel to face his… sister model, his arm in position.
No busters came into being, and no weapons or modes were available either.
Lori, still looking unchanged, snorted. "You're in lockdown, until you unlock your … hacked code; you can't get rid of me… and I can't-"
"Kill me, I get it. I betrayed you all by falling madly in love with our target." X said as he indulged in Axl's favourite sport: teenage eye-rolling. "Well, big whoop, it's not like I knew who he was!" X railed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't know him as I do; you haven't seen him in the rubbles of what used to be a hospital, destroyed by a maverick, sitting with a miles far stare. You haven't held him as he cried and learned to navigate grief. You haven't seen him sacrificing his life."
"It was an escape attempt," Lori Argued.
"But he chose to stay. He chose to stay, and he chose to try to clean his mess."
"Lori… Sigma didn't; Sigma never felt any remorse… and so many humans also don't feel it, instead fighting to keep their bravado up, thinking we should feel bad for them when they made others suffer. But Zero… Zero, I could feel he'd grown; he let his feelings grow and mature, and he owed up to his mistakes every single day."
A soft smile drew itself on X's face. "Lori… I know, I know I was programmed to love him specifically. But…" he raised his head. "But… in my code, me loving Zero is a suggestion, not an order. It was my choice to befriend him, my desires and will, that I decided to pursue him." a bit of white lies, but at the same time, the order had been vague enough for X to interpret it in the most wholesome way possible.
"It's not your original code."
"No… I tampered with it when my body was stored on the Ripple star. And you know what? I don't regret it."
"But-"
"But it's in the past, and my Zero… he matured, he grew out of this phase."
"He's a violent beast." Lori spat. "He's filthy, rage-filled. Have you seen what he did to Lumine? Have you seen what he did to this poor Nova?" She said as she tried to evoke sympathy for a dead piece of metal.
"And have you seen what he did to the earth?"
Hope shone in Lori's eyes, and X… shamefully yet gleefully shattered it.
"He took over Nova only because it was the only way to get his wish through."
"DON'T TALK AS IF YOU WANTED THE EARTH DESTROYED!"
"Destroyed?" X parroted as he tilted his head in amusement. "You, as the Lor Starcutter, are equipped with so many life sensors and radars, and yet, you don't even know the state of Bhumi devi?"
"I don't need to." Lori sniffed, and X had to fight the urge to throttle her.
She was already dead, her body and subtle body back into atoms. " I know Zero two; his only desire is destruction. he was just playing with you until he could reach the nova and wish to return everything to nothing, and he did." Lori said, somehow managing to sound smug through her bitterness.
X just stared at his sister unit and, still maintaining eye contact, brought up the live image of the earth to show Lori.
"Really? What is this, then?" He asked, his one turned to be smug.
Lori turned her eyes and… froze at the image of Mother Earth, now restored to her former glories.
Gone were the endless deserts covering where the Amazonia and Borealis forests once stood, their plants turned into bioengineered monstrosities replacing their life-giving functions.
The earth was green, no broken parts of dead satellites to muddle up the night sky. There were clouds in the sky, some so thick it was clear they were dousing the ground with endless tones of water.
The ocean … all the gross patches of plastic and oils were gone.
The forest was green again, same as the prairies.
Despite being in his virtual body, X could not withhold his tears.
This.. had been Zero's dream.
Yes, he trusted his beloved partner, but… to see it.
Zero… could've easily wished X back among the living, and X would've been off his disk with anger. How dare the man who lived over ninety years with him be so selfish that he ignored X's deepest wish?
But now… Zero had been willing to sacrifice everything to have X's vision realized.
The light construct reached out to the screen, touching the image of the beautiful Bhu-devi in all of her glories. "I love you too…" he whispered.
…
…
He turned back to the curiously silent Lori, only to realize nothing about her was moving.
She was frozen.
On a hunch, the father of all reploid approached her and logged in her terminal, hacking her.
She had done so much damage and had wounded Zero, aiming to kill him. (Not that X thought it was possible, not by her hands, anyway.) She had no more right... she had even less right then the worst of maverick, in X's eyes.
And then… it hit X, it hit X harder than Zero's unbridled punch when his lover had tried to return to his villainous roots.
He could hack Lori… Lori…had lines of codes.
Zero never had any lines of codes, and from the amount of time X had lurked in the medical bay, he also knew full well that the reploids codes were just a mere movement, pressure, and spatial positioning calculator and a... basic Ai, compared to X, at least.
Which… made sense since all of X's 'children' were ghosts in shells, bodiless entities forced in a prison made of carbon steel and plastic.
And yet… X had one, but something told him that he was using it as a guidance.
He had found out his main directive in a . And it told him to love and care for Zero.
It may seem asinine, but… the more X thought about it, the more he realized that this was a reminder to love and Care for Zero.
Lori… had a terminal, and in this terminal, there was the sub-menu for Ai function—something X didn't have since the whole submenu was corrupted to gibberish.
Lori's AI directories and environments were all there, and all were working perfectly.
Lori… was a mere Ai, a calculator with too much power, given imperfect logic learned by calculating data gathered by the Ancient, the Chozo.
Bird people who had bioengineered the worst plague they could.
The methods.
Only to get rid of parasite X by eating it.
And eating everything else.
…
Honestly, X could think of different ways to engineer the metroids better, but for all he knew, Parasite X was dark matter, and the Chozo had been exploiting and hunting them down to near extinction before themself being eaten by their accursed creation.
Another creation stood frozen in front of X, her logic unable to calculate and adapted to the fact that Zer02 got some character development.
X understood, Axl… X had no idea how he would react, but from what he'd seen from him and Vava…
He would have to check them, to make sure. The world had been ruined by AIs, unfeeling calculators able to imitate humans in such a way that they were seen as equals.
Of course, X also knew that those who took birth from him… of the Machine that came with him were spirit souls in mechanical bodies but still…
The Lor Star Cutter's onboard AI could not fall in anyone's hands, If those who swore it would be for good, X knew it could be used for bad…
No weapons stayed dormant and unused, after all.
So, with a kiss on Lor's forehead, X erased the AI.
Away from them, in the abandoned zero chamber, a gem driver, the one surviving part of the Lor Starcuter, grew dull and cold, averting an even greater disaster.
Now that X was truly alone, the last of his kind…
'No!' He realized. 'I'm not alone… I'm never alone and am not the last of my kind.'
He was a spirit soul, a spiritual being in a body of matter.
And while his model would never be reproduced, he was not the last of his kind.
With a grin, X opened a star portal, and without further ado, Kamala-Kantha, Dharadhara Das, Madan-mohan dan, Mangalananda (still holding Zero.) Robobo, Axl and Vava hopped in.
"Lumine, come on."
The red and white reploid shook his head. "Lumine is gone, and I and my kin desire to remain on the dead Nova, to keep guard on the slumbering ones… worry not, it is nothing nefarious. We will merely live on this moon in peace, or as much peace as providence will provide."
"All right… but I swear to god, if you ever start crap-"
"You, along with our father, will punish us severely. We know, and we will respect your wishes." Lumine.,.. If he even was Lumine, bowed.
Feeling this to be the end of the conversation, X closed the portals and flew his crystalline vessel back to the rejuvenated earth.
—-
After that, it was just a matter of settling everyone down and letting DDD take care of Madan, who, due to some… rather traumatic experience with unwilling robotization, needed some time away from anything that would remind the war-torn knight of his unfortunate stint as a cyborg.
Speaking of cyborgs, X checks up on his slumbering life partner.
No, he wasn't disgusted or repelled by who he had been.
She had once heard the great Raja-rishi DDD mutter about how all saints have a past and all sinners have a future.
Zero had one Hell of a past, and hopefully, by Krishna… no, Gaura's will, a brighter future.
As he turned his internal sight to the room he's prepared for Zero's recovery, the cyber-being froze at the company.
Zero… was crying, his bloody tears having soaked the soft mattress X had deposited him on.
He, the planet eater, the grand demon, was curled up like the world's most miserable marinara shrimp; he had wrapped his body with his wings and even his hair, and from how he shook, X knew he must be sobbing and weeping.
Being the stoic one in their couple, one would never think his Zero could go through so many emotions. But it was wrong.
X was easier to make cry, yes. But he also had more control over his emotions. For him, a loss was sad, but he could move on.
Why cry for the bygones? What was done was done, and nothing could be done to change it.
But for Zero, his beloved had the nasty habit of bottling everything in, until his true emotions would burst forth, either in great upheaval of rage, or deep depression, or what he was doing right now.
And right now, he must be mourning for X, the last friend and the holder of his heart.
Without waiting any longer, X manifested outside Zero's room and flung the door open.
"Zero!" He exclaimed over the din of Zero's wail of despair. He jumped on the now blood-flooded bed, gathering up his Husband of ninety years in his arms, cooing soothing nonsense and gently petting his soft hair.
Obliviously, Zero had no idea that X was back among the… well, not entirely living, but being in a material body.
He waited for Zero to fall asleep in his arms before X kissed his head and curled around his beloved eldritch abomination as if to protect him from whatever pain his Karma would yeet at him.
And for X…
It allowed him to Cry, for he had met God; he had met Sri Krishna Chaitania Mahaprabhu.
The combined form of Radha-Krishna in whom all innumerable universes floated is his Stomach.
In Kirby.