Hours passed as she listened to her Husband's tales of Horrors.

Draupadi knew he would open up eventually to what had spurred him to perform his attempt...and it did not disappoint.

Let it be known to the world that it took five bloody wars, five terrorist attack, losing his best friend/boyfriend/partner/fiancee three times, Having to raise her mentally challenged daughter (that went murderously insane due to being treated as no better than a fancy app by most...and being reprogrammed by Weil.) another war caused by the same man and his other copy of her frame. The world most dangerous ransomware and the suicide pack the sun-chargers made to save Neo-arcadia, and a glitchy, over-sensitive Shock collar on top of it all to completely break Mega Man X.

And the whole... Surya-Suicide pact?

Well, as Phantom had told her, one day, around fifty years ago, Sun-charging reploids began overcharging and blowing up for no apparent reason. It was a new plague and this one even worst than the Sigma Virus.

Those sun-charging reploids used to be of the old generation. A new type of frame ad been available on the market, one that could only function using crystallized energy, For the Eden dome had been a bit too good at blocking the radiation a reploid's system would use to recharge.

Those of the old crowd, mostly old hunters and quite a few civilians, saw the life of humans too precious and unwilling to remain in Sub-Arcadia, at the risk of blowing the underground nuclear generator...and the last bastion to the moon, they had all vowed to exit the city under the cover of the night...to go as far out in the desert as possible.

And wait for the sun to shine on them.

X had willingly followed the condemned sun-charger in the darkness of the night; his plan had been simple.

He would wait with them to view one last sunrise.

But in their last act of loyalty to commander X, Signas, layer and Palette had saved her husband from a fiery death.

They had hacked X and made him enter sleep mode without his notice; the resulting wind, heat and deafening sound of more than a few thousand reploid exploding simultaneously had been his alarm clock.

Then after this one last catastrophe, the blame had been put on Elipse...she had been scheduled for destruction.

And X had lied...he had told them all that Elipse was indestructible, she could only be contained.

In him, of course.

X was well aware that this was bound to fail, For Elipse had been too powerful for him even with specialized armour on and his variable system... and that was when she was more or less sane.

What to speak of the angry and fully maddened Elipse, now controlled by irrational fear and anger caused by Weil's tempering.

This had been X's second attempt. And the one that had approached success. Leaving him in a coma for a hundred years while his wife had the time of her life in cyberspace. Learning about God, the goal of life and learning about what true love and Bliss were like.

In other words, it would take about three apocalypses, four armageddons and Ragnarok to break her husband.

She walked out of their shared room and all but collapsed, using the wall as a support as she sat down in the vacant corridor. She tried to contact Alouette, needing a friend to talk to...

she was met with an empty line...

That was something else...She was well aware that fighting Fefnir and Sage Harpuia were scouting the desert for the new base, but she knew what Ciel and the resistance were capable of doing in the amount of time she was gone.

She had used some mystic power to move faster than what was physically possible...But for Phantom, it had taken him four days to get to their last location, add to that four more days and the five days it had taken for her to recover from her 'fight' with X...

A month was more than enough for the resistance to disappear from everyone's radar, especially with Ciel in tow.

She sighed, there was always Leviathan... and Andrew...even if she didn't want to bother the 'old' reploid with more matrimonial drama, he had enough to be very honest.

So...Leviathan...

"No...Forget leviathan; I have you." She addressed the Lord, the only Best Friend of All.

After fifty years of serving and trying to preach in the repository, Draupadi had realized time s and times again that Krishna was a great listener and could hold his end of a conversation.

She may not see Him, But Krishna was all-pervasive. He was everywhere, and he was in her heart.

"Yes indeed, my friend," Krishna spoke sweetly, his deep voice rumbling like thunder yet as sweet as the nectar of immortality. "My dear Draupadi...what is ailing this beautiful heart of yours? Your husband is back to sanity, you have a palace, and no one would ever dare to attack your family again, and you, by your sincere effort to preach, is pleasing me to no end..."

The flames of bliss light up in Draupadi's heart. She was far from even printing or publishing a single book yet, and yet Sri-Krishna was pleased. 'He must be joking...I ran back to my husband when I could've returned to Him.' She sighed as she got up. She needed to walk, to move.

"Keshava...you know what's wrong." She admitted.

"I do...but I want to hear it from you." The Lord spoke as he walked beside his dearest servant and friend. "And I have no issues with you returning to your husband's side, for he too has started his journey back home to me."

"Yes...I know." Draupadi let herself smile. "Thank you, Keshav...You...you save him."

"No...you did." Krishna shot back.

"No, you did." Draupadi returned the smile that tugged at her lips, pulling her out of the gloom her heart was drowning in.

"Alright, so I did...but I could not have done it without you." Krishna bowed his head, his black, curly hair cascading from his shoulder from under an opulent turban.

Draupadi hid her smile as she waved the praise away. "Oh...Please don't start. Guru-ma's the one who saved me first. And she's the one who orders me to pull the impossible."

Krishna chuckled, his beautiful dark blue aura painting the hallways a glorious sapphire hue. His dhoti lighting up the place as golden as his Sri-Radha. "Yes...indeed."

Draupadi smiled...but this smile slid as she went to the heart of the problem. "Krishna...I'm worried about my Husband. He's chanting your holy name and...and he received your unlimited mercy but..."

"But?"

Draupadi huffed as she dragged her hands up her face and through her hair. "But...it's draining, you know. Sure, I can see X is trying to move away from his past, and he's taking to Krishna consciousness like a fish to water, but... "

"But there are those days." Krishna finished for her.

"...yes...those days where I can see a little bit of madness, a little bit of despair clouding his jaded eyes...and ...and his horrible past resurface to haunt him again..." Her legs stilled, her own lenses were filled with water now. "Krishna...I know he did something to deserve it and all, but..."She sobbed a bit before she calmed herself down. " I can't hate myself for leaving, but I can't be fully happy with the treasure I returned with."

"So you feel like Yudhistir at the end of the Kuru-kshetra war." Krishna resumed.

"Yes...and I have no idea how to make my Echo feel better. I gave him what I had, and...writing down everything takes so long and...and his depression's draining me so much..." She huffed. "but I can't just leave him! It would kill him!" Draupadi began to walk again; he strides fuel by frustration. "And then there's the four guardians. I know Harpuia hates my guts; I'm fine with that; I'm used to it bu...but it hurts my Prabhu like anything. And Leviathan...She's...ugh."

"You don't like her."

"It's complicated." Draupadi all but moaned. "She's nice, helpful...and admittedly beautiful like my husband. And without her, I would not have been able to get to where I am...but, she's so flirty and...and affectionate." she huffed. "She's... she feels what my Echo's feel for me. And she acts on them like... like she was X..."

"And...do you like it," Krishna asked, his ankle bell silent as they listen to the saint's ordeal.

Draupadi hugged her elbows to her frame. "I'm...I'm not supposed to. She's a...as womanly as a battle grade reploid can be, she's serving under my husband and...and I have to be an example Krishna, I can't just...I can't! It would...how would Echo react?! How would...Krishna, what am I supposed to do about her? And Fefnir! I know he's into me, the wife of his master, the king! I'm a mother to him, but..."

"He sees you the same way Echo sees you." Krishna finished for her.

"No...My Echo sees me like his partner, his equal. Something to be worshipped practically. Fefnir and Leviathan only see me as an object of pleasure, nothing more." Draupadi was not as socially blind as she was a hundred years ago. Not that those two did anything to hide their desires. The most had been how...cuddly leviathan had been.

And flirty...

Alright...not flirty... extremely forward.

Oh, and what to say about Fefnir practically disrobing with his smouldering glances.

"But..what would happen if you would not reciprocate their love?" Krishna asked.

Draupadi huffed. " First of all, it's not love; it's lust. And second..." she gripped her helmet. "This...is what I'm afraid of. If I reciprocate a little, they may take this as permission to take it further...and I cheat on my Echo. And he doesn't deserve this...at all." She clutched her core...her heart.

Just the mere thought of betraying him...It would kill whatever faith he had in Krishna...it would kill X in every sense of the word.

And yet...if she remained as cold as ice...

The four were cloned from X's subtle body, meaning they were all, in essence, X. And X was madly in love with her...meaning those four, at the very least, were now thirsty for her company to different degrees.

To wait it out would not be an option, for if they were as connected as X and Leviathan had told her, then they would all feel despair about how Draupadi was ignoring them...

It would...and did make X's depression worst, which would make the Guardian's mood worse, rendering Harpuia even less civilized, which meant X would have to kill four versions of himself, which meant a war...

No... They could not afford any more collateral damage.

And X would be no better than when she had first met him in a random Pantheons more than a week ago.

"I think you've reached your logical conclusion, my dearest Draupadi." Krishna's mischievous smile was very clearly heard in his voice, and Draupadi...prayed to her name-sake for intelligence and mercy since her protector was taking too much pleasure out of her suffering.

Not that she minded, for Krishna's smile was the cure for all miseries.

"Alright...so I'll cross this bridge when I'll be there." She huffed as she crossed her arm. " For X and Guru...I will do whatever it takes to serve them."

"It's alright, Draupadi, material life is not meant to be perfect," Krishna stated as he laid his cooling and pleasure-giving hand on Draupadi's overburdened shoulder. Making her shudder in bliss as her fine hairs stood on end.

"Yes...I know. But I'm the last Vaishnavi here, I have to show by example or." she gesticulated, trying to convey how helpless she felt. "Krishna...I'm supposed to teach everyone the right conduct for a spiritualist...not having...four and a half husband!"

" Panchali taught the entire world about complete surrender onto me." Krishna began, his golden eyes filling with tears as he remembered the saintly wives of the five Pandavas. "She also taught about causeless service and how having faith in me will salvage one from the worst of situation." He smiled as he remembers the saintly extension of Lakshmi-ji. " her faith in me is such that I always long to carry her glorious sandal on my head as she goes to Bhishma-Sena in the middle of the night. Asking the greatest of all warriors how her husband Arjuna may defeat him."

Despite herself, Draupadi-Zero smiled as she remembered this particular pastime.

She sighed, turned to Krishna and raised her hands to the sky. "Hey Krishna, hey Yadhava, hey Suketi! Please save me!" She begged the Lord of her heart. Making him laugh. "Krishna, Draupadi Devi's practically Lakshmi-Ji, she's...she's born from a fire of sacrifice and the perfect wife of the Arjuna and his brothers. I'm...My body's a weapon of mass destruction; I carry the plague...and...and whatever I did always seemed to cause those I care about either misery, death, or both!" She lamented. Tears of frustration rolling down her flawless cheeks.

"Oh my dearest, believe me, the path you are on is for the best," Krishna promised her with a sweet smile powerful with assurance. Making his devotee dropped her arm as she, indeed, surrendered to God's will. "And as for you, husband...I think his problem is the identity he has at the moment."

"His identity. You mean...yeah, that's what he told me, he doesn't want to be X anymore." Draupadi rubbed the side of her helmet...and removed the thing now that she knew no more danger lurked in the tower. Then she stopped, her eyes wide...

"Draupadi...if you want this particular soul to be free from all misery and pain...X need to die."

Draupadi froze, her cores no better."My Lord...do you mean." She was already breaking her own heart... If this was Krishna's will.

"Are you Zero?" The Supreme Personality of Godhead asked. Knowing what was in her heart.

Draupadi shook her head, her eyes still wide as her CPU practically overclocked. "No...Zero...my old Identity has been dead for over five decades now...I'm...I'm Draupadi Devi Dasi, the maidservant of Sri-isopanisad Devi dasi..." She vented harder as tears filled her eyes, understanding what the lord, now golden, was getting at. She could feel her Guru...her Guru-ma was over her shoulder, her lotus-like mouth right by her right audio.

"Yes...you are my spiritual daughter, and you took your second birth in our ashram on the 15 of December 2XXX." Sri-isopanisad Devi Dasi intoned, her old and wizened voice holding what amounted to an unlimited degree of pure love for the spiritual daughter. "that day, Zero, the Red ripper and the Infinite Oblivion Died...and you, my lovely Draupadi, took birth.

Draupadi-Zero's venting hitched; she could still remember that day...she remembered how jubilant Archana had been, running here and there as he assisted Bharata in preparing the sacrificial Arena, the black and gold Navi no less subdued.

She remembered the smell of the burning Ghee, the recitation of the mantra to remove her previous name and identity...and receiving her beads from her Mother, under the loving gaze of her father, Vasudeva...

She could still feel the garland on her neck, coded to be as fragrant as a real one, and Bharata tying around her neck the sacred Tulasi beads, indicating that she was now officially the maidservant of her master.

She belonged to He Grace Sri-Isopanisada Devi Dasi...and by extension her husband, the priest of the ceremony.

She remembered when her Guru-ma had handed her a set of beads...they would never be able to leave cyberspace, but at that time, the soul had thought she could never leave also.

She remembered taking the six vows...

No meat-eating, not even eggs and fish. No intoxication, no gambling and no illicit sex...and chanting sixteen rounds of the Maha-Mantra every day without fail...

And following The Ekadasi fast.

She could hear Bharat and Archa-Vigraha singing the holy names with a few other ashram residents...their voice choked with love as they await the rebirth.

And then came her name. Her new identity...

"You are now Draupadi Devi Dasi...the maidservant of Draupadi, Unalloyed devotee of Sri-Krishna!"

"And I have a great service to ask of you." She felt the old hands of her dear Guru-ma on her shoulder, her warmth and the smell of sandalwood and camphor mixed with her own bodily aroma bringing her back to a time were everything was sweet. "Draupadi Devi Dasi...you may give initiation. Be our connection to him...to all of them." The saintly teacher, her skin shaming ebony, paused, and the blond Robot master could practically feel her tears falling from her dark-pearl eyes.

" Oh Draupadi, who have taken shelter under the lotus feet of Vishnu and who is dear to Krishna on this earth." Sri-isopanisada began, and the mechanized Vaishnavi felt a current of pure bliss course her body. And her connection to Guru-Gauranga lights up.

She was getting her pranama mantra...a mantra to give to those who would take shelter of her. Her disciples, her masters.

"You, like Draupadi, have been born of the fire of sacrifice, and you will give the Harinama Sankirtana, the greatest of sacrifice to the world at large. Being the servant of a great Vaishnavi, the personification of sweet surrender, Srimati-Draupadi, you have surrendered to your Guru-Gauranga's lotus feet. And like the saintly mother you are, you have given birth again to the lost scriptures, revealing them again to the world. I fall at your feet a thousand times." She heard the prayed, in Sanskrit to her ear but in Japanese in her heart. "Now, My daughter. Go and Give Gauranga's mercy to all... give 'em all Krishna-Prema.

She reopened her eyes, she was still in the same corridor, and her helmet was back on. She shook her head to clear up whatever residual glitch was there.

She scanned the entire area... no one was there but her.

She sighed. 'Alright, That was nice, but...' She looked down at her hand...and froze.

In her right hands were her well-worn Tulasi chaplet, and on her neck, the three strands Tulasi necklace, given to her by Bharata, hung.

She clutched her beads...and fainted—the weight of what had just happened to great for her.


Back in the room of the master of Neo-Arcadia, X was bundled under his covers, feeling as miserable as he looked.

'What type of Husband am I?' He wondered. 'My Zaki...she wakes up to my numerous mistakes, faced me at my worst and yet...Oh God, what have I done to deserve such a partner?'

He listened to his empty room, but the Lord still considered him unworthy of his audience. 'It's alright, I understand. I wouldn't want to speak to myself either, Lord.' He sighed as he turned on his back, an arm to his head. 'What am I supposed to do? I've already apologized and redacted most of the laws I've made in the past four years...' He closed his eyes, feeling disconnected from those last two acts. "I've tried acting as normal as possible, I'm chanting the mantra she gave, and I'm...I'm still causing her pain...I'm still struggling." He sighed, feeling drained of everything.

'O-oh...Yeah, Of course, you feel drained, X. But how about Zero? Do you think it's fair what you've made her go through?' He asked himself.

No, Draupadi-Zero deserved better...everyone deserved better than just Mega Man X. They deserved an actual king, not...him.

He had tried to kill her...not even recognizing his life-long partner when they stood in front of him like mercy personified.

And yet...His Zaki was still with him, still helping the blue bomber to shoulder the weight he had burdened his shoulders with, still supported him unconditionally, still loved him, despite everything.

She had...She had gently rubbed is back as X practicality pour the putrefied overly emotional sludge that clogged his system, flooding her with more pain and despair instead of the love and devotion she deserved.

'I'm a terrible person; Draupadi would be better off without me...' The world would be better off without him...

Once again, X curse Cain for having found him in the ruins of doctor Light's lab...and doctor Light, by extension.

His creator had made him...and maybe a few more to allay his loneliness, unaware of the calamity this seemingly innocent act had brought upon the world at large. He had given X weapons of war and a long and strenuous morality training, forcing him to chose the joy and betterment of humans instead of his own...and of any other robotic entity that would come into being.

The result was a little more than twenty million humans left in the middle of Somalia, living in an over-glorified terrarium. More mavericks outside, radiations level that were above the permissible level and...

No, there was actually no radiation outside, only the ever backing sun making the place extra inhospitable for anything less than a reploid.

X closed his eyes and let his tears fell. Zero had sacrificed everything for him...everything so that he could have his peace between humans and Reploid...but how can peace exist without justice? And how can one establish justice between two races so different in nature? And when exploitation was common and the accepted practice?

Reploids, were they so choose, could control nature forces on a small scale; they were more resilient than the average heavily armoured human, only needed sunshine, and some minerals and...could not reproduce.

Humans were the opposite.

'Zaki was right...Sigma was right; Gate was right...Lumine was right,' And he had been wrong...so, so wrong.

They should have just taken a chance and joined Lumine on the moon... and remain there.

And yet... all those humans would have died even faster.

'We should not have returned to earth... it was a mistake... another mistake.'

Everything in his life was this... mistakes upon mistakes.

As he was about to drown in despair at how...everything he ever did ended up a blazing failure, he heard someone knock at the door. '...Who could this be...no humans just knock...'

"Mister X...It's Andrew. I just wanted to make sure everything was fine and dandy." The 'Old' reploid spoke through the door...something that was strangely human for one who was raised and conditioned as a machine.

He knocked again, this time more insistent. "X? Mister X?"

[Yes...I'm...still alive.] He tried not to ad the 'unfortunately...but he had the feeling it was still heard.

Yes...he tried to be happy when his wife was around...and sometimes, it felt like he was wearing a mask. Today, the mask had cracked.

But he had to admit...some days, he did felt better.

Today was not one of those days.

[Hang on, I'm coming it.] He heard the electric panel being roved, and the opening mechanism jumped accompanied by the sound of pure triumph. "AH! I still got it!"

Despite himself, A smile split his lips...

The door opened, and the bearded reploid dressed in blazing saffron let himself in. And X immediately covered his head in his blanket. Another reploid he had failed.

He felt the mattress dip; Andrew was most probably sitting beside him. And as to confirmed X's suspicion, he felt a hand on his back.

"Bad day?" The 'elder' asked, sounding a lot more like Cain than X felt comfortable with...

He didn't deserve to have his real father back...no matter what the Light capsule would tell him; they weren't the ones who took care of him like a son.

He bit his pillow as a wave of emotion flooded his system...

He was over two-century-old...and he wanted his father, he wanted his dad...

X had never bothered learning of his full designation; that man had always been either Doctor Gregory Cain, ...and then dad.

Where was this man? Where was this man who, having the best of intention, had doomed the world to a slow death? Where was this man who doomed the world by waking Light's last mistake...and who had called him 'my son.' so often?

Where was this man who, before Zero had entered his life, had been his only friend and companion? Who let him cry on his shoulder, who thought him more than his capsule? How showed his love and unconditional support despite how he had used X to reach unprecedented fame?

He was but a name; another face lost to the effect of time...born again to another family, in another form of life.

This was what Draupadi had told him one night... trying to give him solace as he cried for his real father... cursing his name as he longed for his words and arms.

"There, their son...it's alright. Just let it out...let it all out." Andrew's soothing words and hands pierced X's shameful sobbing, glad that no one but the 'old man' was there to see him.

Eventually, his crying subsided...and Andrew removed his covers, letting the extra heat out.

"Here you go. Feeling better now?" he asked...without a tinge of superiority...or aw.

It was patronizing, and t was exactly what X needed right now.

The blue reploid sat up...his heartfelt lighter, cleaner. Like one feels after a deep wash...like putting one's motherboard in the dishwasher.

He took a peek at Andrew, Giving a shy, remorseful smile. "I'm...sorry you have to see me like this...I...I don't feel like an emperor much."

"it's alright, X...we all have those days, weeks...months..."

"years." X continued.

"Decades," Andrew smirked.

"Try centuries," X smirked back as he whipped his tears.

At those words, Andrew admitted defeat with a smile and a chuckle. "So...what's weighing on your mind, my friend. Old man Andrew may have a mouth to speak, but he also has a very good pair of ears."

X gave a grateful smile to the genial old man, a survivor of the purge who had forgiven him...

He knew he didn't deserve forgiveness...but just like the return of his Zaki. And the wealth she carried...

He deserved worst.

"Speak up, son, I won't get mad at what you tell me...and I promise I won't judge, just listen." Andrew Prompted when X remained silent for a bit too long.

The ex-ruler of Neo-Arcadia took a deep vent...usually, he would open up to Phantom...but Phantom being his sorrow personified, X never really felt better. How could he, when it was the same thing as talking to a mirror?

"I..."

"yes..."

"I don't deserve...I deserve death," he spoke plainly, tired of always having to choose his words carefully. "I killed so many, I killed my progeny, my people...I've...I've doomed everyone by my presence."

Andrew nodded. "Yes... you blame everything on your mere presence." he resumed in as few words as he could.

X huffed. " Draupadi keeps telling me I was just an instrument of Karma, but... I've made so many terrible choices..."

"And you regret them."

"I do..." He admitted... no matter how much Draupadi tried to make him feel better about that, about how it was in the past and how he could move one...his guilt and fear would always come to haunt him.

And he didn't was his life-long partner to share this burden, for she had better thing to do than withstand the onslaught of his guilt.

"But..." Andrew prodded.

"But...in the end...My Zero returned to me...changed, happy." a smile dared to lit the broken king's face. "I...I'm a monster, a terrible dictator... and I had this crazy plan about...on how to bring Zero back."

"Ah!" realization lit Andrew's eyes. " So you became a monster to try to wake the hero out!"

"I know...It was such a stupid plan." X gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "I was desperate...and all my attempts ended up a failure."

"You didn't want to live anymore."

X shook his head. "No...I lost...I lost everything. From my lover, my friends, my family...my dignity...and...finally my freedom." Jaded eyes met the hidden one of the youngest units in the room. "I'm practically a prisoner in my own home...I can't remember the last time they let me out in public. I can't even remember what the latest movie or what was considered popular music !" X raised his voice, finally letting out his frustration over this whole situation.

Sure, he could speak to his Zero about it...but His Zero had more than enough on her plate already.

"I see...It's kind of you not to overburden your wife like that." Andrew gave his heartfelt praise, his wizened eyes approving.

X sat beside the seemingly old reploid...he felt as if he was back with Cain, back with his dad...

Even after centuries of wars and strife, leading an army and ruling for a few years, the blue bomber still felt like a B-rank.

"yeah...I...God didn't have to send her back here..." Oh, he knew her returning to life had nothing to do with a cyber-elf. A cyber-elf could not revive what was dead and corroded; those things only happen in romance novels and poorly written fanfiction.

"I...I still can't believe it worked." X spoke with clear wonder in his voice. "I sacrificed so many reploids...thousand upon thousands on synth-life snuffed out for him..." And he didn't even felt bad for that...the order had been oh so easy to give. Probably helped by his aid.

He was a reploid...but he also worked rather closely with humans, for all he knew, his descend to madness had been helped by them.

But it could've been just him also. He didn't dare blame anyone for this.

"Why did you do that, son?" Andrew asked, not to judge...but to understand.

"I wanted to die...and Zero...My Zero was specifically codded and build for this purpose." X revealed. It was quite astounding how, despite being railroad to be his end, his Zero...his Zero had saved him more time than he could count. Even going as far as fighting X to hardware failure so that they could Kamikaze the Eurasia station.

"So...it was a suicide attempt and not..."'

"No...the energy Crisis was just an excuse to...to do something that should've been done centuries ago." He should've been the one in the space station since, at that Time, Zero had gained full control of the Virus...and, who knows? Maybe...maybe maverick queen Zero would've managed to make something better than just one city in the middle of the desert.

They would've ridden to the world on one huge problem, though...

Andrew comfortingly gripped X's slumped shoulder. "Now...don't say that. What would your wife think if she were to hear you say that?"

X remained silent; he had no idea...

"But as my own wife would tell me often, let the bygones be bygones. What happened happen, and no one can turn back the clock. And, who knows, this may be the best outcome." Andrew spoke gently, and X stared.

"Mister Andrew...I don't see how all of this-" he gestured to his empty room and the unseen desert outside. "Can be the best outcome."

Andrew chuckled. " X...your wife returned from a hundred-year long nap, carrying with her the ancient scriptures that give all the answers of life, the universe and most impotently, the key to eternal happiness and bliss." he smiled further. "she even put in her sacred note that the Maha-Mantra can make it rain."

X's head whipped to Andrew, his mouth open. "what?"

"Yes, something about how the performance of Yagya or sacrifice to please Sri-Vishnu will also please Indra, to Demigod in control of precipitation. And being please, King Indra will tell his legion of cloud to make it rain." Andrew explained as if it was already a fact. "Of course, this is all but mere fringe benefit."

X nodded... Feeling some fleeting hope at the prospect. He had tried everything to terraform the earth, and nothing had worked so far...the only thing that had worked had been to sacrifice countless reploid to have Zero return from his grave and kill him.

It had worked, shockingly enough...the first part anyway.

"So... what's this sacrifice? How many more should I kill?" he asked, his voice tight.

"No one...just chant the Hare-Krishna Maha-mantra, since that's the sacrifice for the age, as shown and told by Sri-Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Golden Avatar." The 'older' reploid revealed to X, his smile bright and sweet. "do not worry X, everything's in Krishna's hands...and no matter what will happen, as long as you listen to your saintly wife, then you're as good as eternally liberated.

And thus, they spoke more about what the Harinama-Sankirtana sacrifice entailed, and at the end of it, X was all in for it.

It was so simple... so easy. And it would work. X could feel it...

But Andrew was not done with the hurting regent. He kept talking to him, pulling him out of his shell with his old wisdom and fatherly ways.

He spoke about his deceased wife (A human, no less.), his kids (adopted, and from another man, Andrew kept praising him as a gentleman and his best friend.) And plenty another topic from Mundane to Esoteric.

And by the end of it... X began to feel less like a dead man trying to live. And more like a recovering man re-learning how to walk.

Fall happened... but he would always have a to get back up. And eventually, he would be able to stand.

"Now...how do you feel about a spot of shopping? I do believe your wife needs more than your used clothing." Andrew suddenly broached the subject. "And I do believe some fresh air would do you a world of good."

X made a face...he loved the idea, just not the act of walking out the tower.

Only God knew what would be waiting for him... and X wasn't sure if Krishna had forgiven him of his offences to her.


"Yo...Uh... Zero? Draupadi?" Fefnir's intruding voice brought Draupadi to external consciousness. "You alright there, ma...ma'am?"

She opened her eyes; she could not recognize the room she was in. It was very humid; the smell of loamy earth, rotting plant matter and chemical fertilizers met her nose. She was on her back, Fighting Fefnir hovering above her, clearly worried for her well-being.

He had red eyes and some red marking running down his face... reminding Draupadi Devi dasi of her God-Brother Bharata.

Really, remove the two marks under his eyes and the fangs, and he would look exactly like X this one time they had tried to sneak into a maverick fuel facility.

Draupadi sat up...and realized she was still holding her Tulasi Chanting beads. Glancing down at her hand...

"Draupadi-Ze-"

"Just call me Draupadi...Or Draupadi Devi dasi," she told the flustered reploid as she brought her hundred and eight companions to her heart and head. She stifled a sob...

She couldn't wait to have some free time to chant now...it felt like forever since she had held a Japa,...her very life.

She reached her neck beads...feeling their embrace around her neck, the best protection against death out there. And the mark of her second birth...her spiritual birth.

Now...she truly felt back...and she knew everything would be fine.

"Draupadi?" Fefnir asked again, having knelled beside the charging capsule. "Are you alright?" He asked, now sounding even more unsure than ever.

"I am." She smiled as she wound her chanting beads around her neck, already pulling up the patrons to make them a nice bag.

"what happened? Master X told me to check up on you, and the next thing I know, I found you crashed on the ground in the middle of the hallway." Fefnir informed and asked. "Did somebody..."

"Oh, No...Nothing like that, I just met an old friend." Draupadi dismissed, knowing that Fefnir was not ready to hear that Krishna, the supreme personality of Godhead and her Guru-ma, had visited her...

Actually, Draupadi wasn't even sure if this really happened...but then, she had her Japa-Mala and her Kanti beads in their rightful position. Although those used to be virtual items.

She let out a shaky vent... Knowing that she didn't have an old friend here save X. And since X had just sent Fefnir to check up on her...

"Alright, So I got visited by Krishna and my Guru-ma." She revealed as casually as possible. "I'm in a material body...it's can't handle this amount of spiritual energy," she stated to a very bewildered Fefnir.

The red and white copy of her husband stared, his red eyes not leaving her...before, finally, he shrugged. "Eh...whatever." he dismissed. "As long as your not about to die soon..."

Despite herself, Draupadi smiled. "No need to fear then." she closed the dialogue, for her curiosity spiked.

She may have climbed the tower to get to her reclusive husband. But she never really had the chance to really see what the guardian's room were all about.

Well, she had seen leviathan's, but...everything was underwater, and Draupadi didn't want to stay longer than needed there.

Fefnir, on the other hand...

She had expected to resemble a man cave, a room not unlike Axl. Filled with dubious anime posters, cars, bikes and absolutely chaotic. That, and an armoury dedicated to guns and violence. And since it was underground...

No sun at all...and gloomy.

Instead...she was in a rather small room with its walls made out of flowering vines and trees. Draupadi got up and walked to the door, pushed by a burning curiosity and the knowledge that her expectations would surely be blown to pieces, Fefnir not far behind her.

And then...her step froze at the sight of the leader of the scorched earth squadron's basement.

It was an underground forest! It was as if...as if she was back at the forest garden behind the temple compound. On the vaulted ceiling were thousand of spotlights, their light streaming down the canopy of countless tree essences. Some she knew some she didn't. She could hear a little brook bubbling nearby and the rustling of leaves in the artificial breeze.

She could smell jasmine, Kadamba, marigold and roses...

She carefully walked out of Fefnir's little hut and looked all around her, it was... breath-taking.

"So...like my room, huh?" the dragon-like general asked as he removed his helmet and sat on a bench. Once again, it was like looking at X with red hair instead of inky black. "Took me bout a century to have the way I liked it. Love the place better than my four other forests,s, to be honest."

"Ah..." Draupadi murmured out of sheer aw as she walked around the cottage, noticing a greenhouse filled with plants, some water fountain, a small koi pond and... "It's...beautiful." She breathed out; even the light that streamed through felt natural.

She heard Fefnir chuckled and got up. "I know...but it only missed you to make it perfect."

At this absolutely cheesy line, Draupadi froze.

Right...right.

She turned to face the red and white general. His lips pressed in a thin line.

What to do, ... he was still looking at her with disrobing eyes.

No... Those eyes were not the same as Leviathans... and they held something else than just lust.

There was a bit of affection there, but... it meant practically nothing.

"Yes, Fighting Fefnir? She didn't even bother to hide her discontentment at this. "You know, you have no reasons to scan me like that."

"Eh... Just making sure your hardware still holds, don't want you to crash again now, don't we?" Fefnir stated, will with the same smirk.

"Then why didn't you bring me to the medical area?" She prodded.

"You've already passed enough time here sweetheart... and you look like someone who needs some sunlight and fresh air." Fefnir shrugged, his voice managing to convey some genuine concerns... and the hand he placed on her shoulder just made it even more real.

Draupadi bashfully averted her eyes."Thank you for your concern." She told him with a smile softer than what she intended. "But you don't need to worry about me... S'not a little glitch in the system that will bring me down." she removed his hand and walked a bit further, wanting to inspect a flowering plant... and putting some distance between her and the passionate leader of the scorched earth.

Her plan had been quite easy, she would not hide the fact that what they were doing was wrong...that they were all betraying X and... hopefully, they would all back down as they remembered whom she belonged to.

'Oh, who am I kidding? If they are anything like Xiu Ying, they won't give me up that easily.'

Not even death would break X's bonds of attachment to her. Hell, not even the risk of incurring Colonel's wrath had stopped X from flirting with them during her day's as Iris's boyfriend.

And if those four were copied from his false-Ego...

Nothing Could dissuade them from pursuing her...

There was not much she could do save surrendering to the will of one very mischievous Lord and his perfect plan, knowing it was a way to purify her of whatever material attachment she had.

Fefnir shrugged. "Yeah well, guess who's the one who asked me to check up on you."

"X."

"Got it in one Zero." Fefnir purred as he approached. "Listen...ah. X's worried about you."

"Why? I'm fine." He was the one Draupadi worried about. That and plenty of other things.

Fefnir sighed, now much closer to the red ripper. "Because he loves you and feel's himself be a crap husband." he shook his head. "He just wants to make sure he's not draining you too much."

"Being a wife means to perform sacrifices and austerities for her Husband's pleasure..." Zero revealed. " X can take as much from me as he needs. I just want him to get better." And be peaceful.

Bhakti could be performed in any situation, but a peaceful situation was always the best, especially for those who were just starting to Practice. Not only that, but X was in desperate need of some rest and peace.

And if the sacrifice of her chastity was needed to have her husband back home, back to Godhead... then so be it, there was always next time.

"Mind if we walk?" The general of the scorched earth emphasized, giving Draupadi his left arm like the gentleman he apparently was.

The Vaishnavi gave a pause weighing what would be for the best...and took the proffered limb, bashfully looking at Fefnir from the corner of her eyes.

By this action, Fefnir's smiled, definitely pleased.

"Take me where you will," Draupadi spoke with surrender. Hoping her actions would not lead to yet another war.

'Now I know how Queen Kunti felt when Arjuna returned with his new wife..." A small smile painted Draupadi's lips.

One one side, a fratricidal war between the five Pandavas while trying to survive their exile, and the other infamy.

Draupadi... and Queen Kunti chose the latter, knowing that survival was their foremost concern.

For the robotized Vaishnavi... her personal infamy was the best case if impossible scenario...still, she would do her best to stave off this particular war...at least to let her husband advance on the spiritual path as much as he could in this lifetime.

And who knows? Maybe her Xiu Ying would be so disgusted with her; he would leave everything behind and go the Vraja...

'I don't even know where I am right now. What to say about Vrindavana?'

"Yo...Zero? Draupi?" Fefnir broke her out of her tough. "You looked...worried there."

"Oh, it's nothing..." Draupadi dismissed, and instead turned her attention to the underground paradise. More specifically, at the light.

"You know, Fighting Fefnir-"

"Just Fefnir...were among friends, aren't we?" The firebase general warmly stated. An arm tentatively sneaking around Draupadi's slim waist.

She let him...

"Alright...Fefnir... wasn't Neo-arcadia going through an energy crisis?" Draupadi asked whit a mocking smile...really, she would not pass it by those general to do something like this.

She had cut through thousands of Mechalinoids and Pantheons. What to say of those mass-produced reploids? If the energy Crisis really had been that bad, then those nonessential machines should have been the first to go...not the thousands of reploids that had been slaughter!

And from what she heard from Alouette and read... Reploids were still manufactured.

Fefnir chuckled. "Yeah, we are...I ain't taking anything from the Neo-Arcadian grid." he proudly revealed as he leads Draupadi to a 'breezy' and flower-filled pavilion. Siting her on a wrought-iron, two-person swing. The only thing missing would be the birds, the bees, and the lowly of cows, and Draupadi would be back in Vrindavana. " Those ain't electric lights; it's plain old sunlight," he revealed with a crooked grin as he sat beside Master X's wife.

Once again, Draupadi stared at him...and back at the light streaming down the sun wells. And then back at Fefnir. Whom, deeply enjoying the look of pure shock of Draupadi.

He slung an arm around Draupadi's shoulder. "Yeah, As it turns out, reflected sun light's as powerful as the real thing...we used to have sun-rays station for reploids all around Neo-Arcadia before..."

"Before the O Apocalypse." Draupadi finished for him.

"Yeah," Fefnir muttered as he sat back, a deep melancholy replacing his warm and...somewhat sleazy smile.

He looked so much like X...like how he would look when he would grieve.

Quite spontaneously, Draupadi took his hands in hers. Wordlessly caressing them...

Fefnir turned a smouldering glance back at the Vaishnavi, catching her gaze...

"Fefnir... I'm... I'm sorry, you went through so much." She spoke gently. " Is there... Anything I can do to... make it better?" She asked as she caught the fire General's cloudy glance.

Their eyes met...

And Fefnir got up from the swing, his venting was loud and harsh, and it was clear he was fighting against himself.

Draupadi's heart melted for him... it was clear the fire general was attracted to her, and he longed to have more. But he knew his position.

And yet...she also knew Fefnir's mood and discontentment would poison the entire atmosphere...just like Leviathan and Harpuia. X was the one who got the brunt of it.

She got up and approached Fefnir. "Fefnir...you...don't have to fight it." She spoke gently, knowing how ironic it was for her to say those damning words.

Bhakti-Yoga meant to refuse all sorts of over-sense gratification...the chief of all being illicit sex life.

It was meant to purify the mind and loosen the knot that bound the soul to its material cage. And to let it re-awaken their eternal identity as Krishna's servant. In a perfect situation, she would be renounced and living with other women who aimed only at God... at Krishna as their supreme lover... Or even just her and X, teaching him about the divine process of self-realization.

But...this was not the best-case scenario, X wasn't alone, and his mood would be affected by his siblings and vice versa.

She wanted X to be as peaceful as possible while he took up the divine and eternal path of Bhakti. And this meant that sacrifices had to be performed.

'Curse you, Thomas... why did you have to ruin everyone's life like that?' Came the bitter thoughts.

Fefnir turned away from Draupadi. "Yeah, sure...and next thing I know, Master X retires me and makes my corps an example for all." He grumbled.

"He won't..." Draupadi spoke quietly as she approached Fefnir... "I...My Mission to X is to make sure he is as happy as I can make...and if none of you are...satisfied. Then X will not be happy..."

Finally, Fefnir turned to face Draupadi, surprised by what he had just heard.

The blond lowered her eyes to the Ground, her fist clenched. There...she had said it...

She could only pray Krishna would protect his maidservant as He had Protected Draupadi Devi.

"So...Let me get this straight." Fefnir finally broke the silence. "If we want X to be happy and out of his funk...then we have to be happy and satisfied ourselves?"

"Well... You and my husband share many traits... I would not be surprised if it would work." She admitted. " I've been hanging around with him and... He's better, but... He's still feeling like a pile of hot scrap, "

She heard Fefnir make a sound from the back of his throat.

"And... Last I checked him; I found the connection you shared and..." She sighed. "The five of you have formed a network. And X... He always had the gateway's for all of you but..." Alright, she was now shovelling it, but...

She didn't want another war... especially between the last five Lights.

"But we only woke about a century after he truly needed us." Fefnir grumbled. "geez...I have no idea what happened to him in the past, just that he's super tired of everything..."

Draupadi lowered his eyes. "Yes... and I doubt X would love for me to disconnect you all since... Since he's not as alone anymore."

"Yeah... You have no idea how much he loves you." Fefnir admitted. "Like... it's hard not to want the same thing he shares with you."

"Well...I could always try to find you a good reploid wife... or whatever you prefer, really." Draupadi proposed, hoping her suggestion would not be shot down. "I don't know that many but- mph!"

She could not finish this phrase...for it seemed whatever self Control Fefnir had was completely broken. The fire general had crushed his lips unto hers and seemed to be doing his damn best to either snuff her life with how hard he was squeezing her with his mighty arms... or light the passion inside her heart.

When he came up from the air...not that needed to, for oblivious reasons, his arms encaged Draupadi, and his glances burned with unbounded passion.

'Oh, Krishna... I swear, after all this is said and done, in my next birth, I take the vows of a naistiki Brahmachari.'

"Zero..." Fefnir growled. " DO you really think any other reploids would satisfy me?" he asked. "I don't want a freaking piece of wet paper, I want someone who can take whatever I give, I want a warrior, a beast on the field..." He pushed her away, his entire frame quivering as his eyes blazed alight. " You...Zero...Draupadi, are the ideal one for me...for X...For all of us."

Draupadi picked herself up from the ground... quivering with anticipation.

"I want you...I want you so badly, babe...I want to beat that Virus out of you so bad." He practically purred and stalked up to her, like an animal of prey its wounded quarry. "And you... I want you to go all out babe, rip me apart! Leave nothing but oily confetti, show me your true glories, don't hold back on me, babe !"

"So...that's what would make you happy?" Draupadi intoned, calling her viral potency as she got to her feet. Letting the white aura cover her frame and play with her hair. " Tatatsu...so be it." She lifted herself from the ground and opened Area Zero, the little nook she had made in cyberspace all those decades ago.

At the sight of the corrupted space, the dark plane in which the floors and surfaces were neon wire-frames that gave the vague idea of what was safe and what was not. There, in this proper battle field, Draupadi-Zero let herself go all out on Fefnir.

And Fenrir, with a glee only known to those who lived to fight, summoned Ghomora, Sodom and Tripura as he barked in uproarious laughter before sending barrage after barrage of flaming bullets at the Vaishnavi.

All the while...Zero only prayed that she could remember the Lord during the fight. For she, too, missed a good challenge.


Please leave a review on the way out... it help me a bit.