Karuna Virus 17

Warning, death, child death, robot gore, angst, Crying Zero and much, much more.


They stood in front of the obsidian door at the bottom of the tower... were maverick corpses would be kept, and the Hero's would have their last rite performed.

X hated this place, Harpuia would stay there only when needed, and the rest of his Siblings agreed.

And the ex-emperor knew how Draupadi abhorred the place too.

" Are you ready?" X asked. Back in his customary armour.

Draupadi-Zero had discarded her casual cotton set and had redone her armour. She had a new armoured top and wore brown, baggy pants held up by a utility belt, were her updated buster shot hung of magnetic clips.

She stared at the door, her jaws clenched and her eyes sharp. The empress vented in and let it out.

"No."

X reached for her hands, twining his fingers with hers.

" Do you want-"

"No." It seemed the love of his life was back at answering everything in negative. "let's go." Draupadi stepped toward the foreboding door. And before they activated the lock, X heard her pray from strength.

"Vande Shri-Krishna-Chaitanya..." Draupadi uttered as she entered the death room, Tartarus.

It was a sterile room covered with tiles. There, plenty on gurneys were about...And on those gurneys were lumps of what X knew were what remained of the resistance soldiers.

"Master X." A reploid with tan skin and eye makeup addressed the retired ruler. "And Empress-"

"Just Draupadi Devi dasi will do." His wife interrupted the Egyptian-looking reploid. "and you are?"

"You may call me Input, the wife of Anubis Necromancess the fourth." The F-model stated with little to no negative emotions.

But knowing her husband, she was probably used to him dying by this point.

Draupadi Bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Madam. I'm the one who destroyed him."

"Oh, He's alright." Input waved off. "My Husband's nanites won't let him die that easily, and I can always fix him."

"But... his core." Draupadi protested. Before she made a face, "Ah... Let me guess, he has more then one body, right?"

"How astute of you, A small smile tugged at Input's richly painted lips. "Now, as much as you would like the delay the inevitable, I would rather we start the identification process... not that mavericks need-"

"None of them are mavericks," X growled for his wife, tired of this label. "Many of those are the followers of Grand Empress Draupadi-Zero."

Input raised her perfect brows as he gazes worriedly scanned X's wife. "Yes... the one who holds Neo-Arcadia in her grip."

"As long as no one threatened my husband and his hard-earned peace, I won't bother." The beautiful Draupadi shrugged. "So..." She turned her head back. "Oh, Andrew."

The reploid in saffron raised his eyes to meet with Draupadi for but a moment. "Oh, Draupadi Devi Dasi... what a blow, what tragedy." he openly lamented. "To think... to think the Lord would have let this happen." He shuffled inside, his whole body shaking with sorrow.

"Andrew... I don't know. But Krishna had a plan for them." X's glorious wife lowered her eyes as her own grief manifested. "Plans that... did not involve them remaining in their current bodies." She took a deep breath in and turned to Input. "Alright... let's get this over with."

"Come with me, Mistress." The Egyptian-like reploid lead her to another part of the vault, the few tabled that were there had been covered with a white cloth, a tilaka mark had been painted on them.

[Oh, Krishna.] X heard his dear Draupadi over the air. And while she was hiding it well, it was clear the sight drove the horrific implication further.

X put a gentle hand on his better half's shoulder. [It's alright, Zaki... I'm here; well, go through this together} he assured her.

[And how do you feel about this?] Draupadi asked as he walked to the first cot, looking at the form it obscured as if trying to divine who was under the white covering.

X sighed. It seemed his dear wife only felt comfortable with radio transition. [It's... my Karma, the result of my own madness... you did nothing wrong, Zaki.]

[I know Xiu Ying... I know... But...] Draupadi bit her lips as her frustration mounted. [I... Was my decision the right one? Maybe I should have stayed and lead them all to Neo-Arcadia, begging for amnesty. I'm used to begging now... it's so easy but-]

[And I would have killed you all.] X sadly informed his saintly wife. [Zaki... you did what was right at the time.]

[ And now... Krishna devotees are lying in pieces in a morgue...] She bit harder as she tried to rain in her emotions. [Oh my Lord... Please be merciful to them... let them enter your eternal loving pastime. Let me take on their Karma and stay here.]

"Zaki..."

Draupadi finally breathed out, his lips pierced by her sharp fangs. "Input... show them to me."

"Yes, Madam." The dark-skinned reploid bowed as she pulled back the shroud.

The body was in pieces and filled with sand, the pieces were scorched in many different places... and the core was gone.

A body without a core was as good as no brain. Meaning that this reploid was truly dead and gone.

He kept his hand on his dearest wife. Offering her as much support as he could while keeping himself grounded.

"Fesan," Draupadi spoke, her voice dead. Input lifted the shroud from the other reploid remain. " Etourneaud... Engoulvent..." She spoke as she walked from body to body. And by the end of it, X's bird name directory had expanded.

But as she walked through the rows of deceased reploid, X noticed that his wife seemed to be looking for someone.

"Draupadi... who's missing?" X asked quietly enough to appear intimate but still loud enough to clue in Input.

"Hibou, Paon, Coucou, Cerveau... Alouette." X heard His dear wife's voice crackle. "She's... a child model... five-year-old, blond girl, blue eyes... always hold a white cat doll."

X noticed Input's eyes widening by a small fraction, and dread filled his system as Anubis's wife turned her heel and discreetly went to the pile on miscellaneous objects yet to be sorted.

"Cerveau's the medic and my weapon guy... I could just bring him a piece of randoms scrap, and a day or two later, I have a new toy to play with... he's a M-model, average height, his glasses are part of his built, and he had bluish dark hair..." She went on describing the rest of her friends from the resistance until she arrived at Ciel. "Was there any human casualty?" She turned to X, and the father of all reploids knew whom his dear wife was referring to.

He shook his head. "No, Miss Ciel was not found, only reploids part."

He felt some tension leaving Draupadi's frame. 'Don't feel so happy yet, my love... the worst is yet to come.'

"Mistress Draupadi-Zero?" Input gained the couple's attention, and X braced himself for what would come next.

Draupadi turned to face the Egyptian-based reploid, she holds a tiny bundle in her arms. She sought out X's hand and squeezed it tight, almost breaking it.

X squeezed back, lamenting the fact that he was not holding her.

He closed his eyes and prayed for strength... if it worked for Draupadi, then it would work for him.

"Mistress..." Input began as she opened the bundle of cloth. "This is all we have found of Model-C48."

Draupadi took a sharp intake of air as she beheld...

A white cat plush... or the remainders of one. It was half-burned, and a tiny arm covered in what was left of a pink sleeve clutching it in its death grip.

Draupadi stared at what could only be... another grim confirmation, he venting straining as she tried to reign in her raging emotion. But it was already a losing fight, for X could feel her whole frame shaking, unable to tolerate the assault of grief.

His saintly wife reached for the shredded remains, her eyes pouring out copious tears as Input reverentially deposit it in Draupadi's awaiting hands.

"It's... S... Socrates." Draupadi managed to choke out before her system became overwhelmed with grief.

"Alright... that's the last of it." Fefnir sighed and stretched as the last truck full of reploids part was emptied by the specialized Mechaniloid.

It was very late at night, and after the day he had, the first thing he wanted to do was to catch of glimpse of the beautiful Draupadi before he would go to recharge.

He deserved a work of art after the hellish tableau he had the misfortune of seeing.

He... had been the one who had to pick up Harpuia's slack and find the goddamned grave. What he had founds were numerous body parts but no complete body. And whatever was left had been looted of all valuable pieces, like optics, nerves, cores and chipsets.

'Yep... raiders got to them. Harpy, why did you have to be so petty? That's just not you, man.' Fefnir frowned. Usually, his older brother would be efficient to a fault, always needing to be the best and foremost in everything. For the green sky general, his life was to always prove himself to be the most valuable to X.

He would be the first to finish writing his report. They would always have this ludicrous amount of details, inconsequential things, observations and suggestions about improving the place and the efficiency of others, usually putting himself in the limelight.

It was disgusting, but hey, X seemed to like it... like, tolerate it more then whatever Leviathan and he, Fefnir would do. No clues about how Master X felt about Phantom, though, but considering how he was the actual right-hand man of the legendary blue bomber, Fefnir was certain that the shinobi's quiet presence and service were more appreciated.

It was hard not to, for the black and white shinobi truly was the best of them. And the firefighter wasn't even mad about that fact.

As for himself and Leviathan... Leviathan hated fighting almost as much as she hated dust. And Fefnir was just happy to blow stuff up... and take care of his plants.

No, Fefnir didn't saw pleasing master X as a contest, for he knew it to be a lost cause. And Leviathan knew it also.

The fire general sighed as he ran a hand under his helmet... ever since Draupadi-Zero came back from the dead and... used her Hare Krishna Mojo on Master X, Fefnir...no, everyone realized that the master they had been serving had been a dead man all along. This X, the one without the pain chip, the one who would look at his gorgeous wife with love and reverence, the one who would get mad, get sad and get out of useless chatter with pricks... only to shoot the wind with a pardoned maverick and who could and would shut Harpuia up good.

Who would plan an outing to explores his city physically, who would rarely connect to the main cities hub, would wear normal clothes instead of his heavy robes.

This was X; this was how X had been. And this was how he would be.


Fefnir looked on as to were the last of the scrapped pieces were. Usually, this much dead maverick meant a celebration. But now...

It left a very bitter taste in his mouth.

Fefnir leaned on the wall ten meters in the oil-stained corridor, something... it was as if the dark cloud was back, but this time heavier.

He felt something wet roll down his cheeks. "... The hell? Why do I feel... so Crushed?"

Suddenly, a call came in, it was Hidden Phantom. [Yeah, Phantom, what's going on?" The firefighter managed to choke out. Either X felt like a splatter of vitrified slag, or Fefnir was regretting everything he had ever done in his life because it was making Draupadi sad... which was also X's feelings, all things considered.

[Everyone, get to corridor -4 da. X... and Draupadi-Zero needs all of our support.] Phantom sent, his voice thick as if he was holding back his tears.

Fefnir whipped his own, X's emotional state affecting him more then he cared to admit.

"Master Fefnir?" Anubis spoke from the shadows.

"What?!" The firefighter snapped; he hated showing weakness to his subordinate.

"Permission to accompany you?... my wife also requires my presence too." He explained, the fourth iteration of the recuperator folding his palms.

"Yeah... sure..." Fefnir straightened up with a sniff. "And if this ever goes out... what you just saw... t-there won't be a mack five. Is that clear?"

"Yes, master."

"Alright... let's go." And with that, the tearful fighter stormed away to the location of his master and heart-mistress. Mentally preparing himself for several things.

When he arrived at the locations, his legs were almost numb with the crushing weight, his vision blurry with his tears, and his heartbroken. "God... Goddammit!"

He could see his sister sobbing, holding to her spear as icy tears froze the ground. Phantom was beside master X; gone was his poise, the leader of the shadow blades was on the ground, silently weeping alongside his master and mistress.

Harpuia was not on location, but Fefnir had the distinct feeling that his green brother was hiding in a closet somewhere, sobbing for all that it was worth and hating himself for it.

Since... that's what Master X and his wife were doing at the moment, having collapsed on the ground from a lack of proper seating.

Since... who in their right mind would set up a nice waiting room close to the maverick triage area? Most commonly called the score room by Fefnir, Phantom and Harpuia.

X had somehow managed to gather his wife in his laps; both were clutching each other like a lifeline, and Draupadi Zero... what was left of a tiny arm and a white cat doll. Their eyes and face were drenched with tears of extreme sorrow.

Anubis, the fourth, walked past the reeling guardien, not even glancing at the sorry sight.

He glanced back at his commander; the 'suck it up.' was clear despite the deference.

And Fefnir did... he had to.

For Master X... and Draupadi's sake.

The fire guardien managed to turn off his overactive ocular duct and followed Anubis Necromancess to the score room. Or the place where all wrecked mavericks would be triage to see what could be taken from them for recycling.

Everything could be used from a reploid, just like any animal.

And they would attribute scores for how much they had killed, how well they did on raids and how quick they had cleared the place. And eventually, for how complete the body was...

Then they quickly dropped that one since destroying the whole thing would ensure they wouldn't have screaming zombies ambling in the score room.

Those were the good days, the fun, no-brainer days when everything was simple and neat.

There was no one to oppose them, make them think about what they were doing, and the mavericks were just a bunch of rogue machines, their AI nothing more than the zeros and ones.

Fefnir walked around the rows of body parts and core-less frames. Anubis's wife was silently putting tags on all of them...

Name tags, with their serial numbers and mundane designations. Most of them had bird names, while others were named after colours. Input had even bothered butting the wrecks in as much of a human shape as she could, covering them with a white tarp emblazoned with Draupadi's tilaka.

Fefnir fell to his knees. The horrible realization pushed by Draupadi's screams of agony and X's knowledge of the truth is enough to rob the fearless warrior of all strength.

Those piles of scraps... they used to be people... people with feelings, hopes and dreams... people who loved and were loved.

People who had families and friends... people who had been persecuted simply because...

Because X, at one point, had been seeing them all as possible mavericks...

Because humans... some humans hated them, only because of their long lifespans and abilities.

Because... Because...

[It's all Karma.] He heard X. [Global Karma, individual Karma... I've made plenty of terrible decisions, controlled by the material mode of passion and ignorance, destroying what I spent decades on building in a desperate bid to break out of my golden cage... Control by the seeds of my own previous actions and inaction.]

Fefnir raised his head, gazing at the corpses... seeing those he had slain carelessly strewn on sterile carts as their carcasses were tagged and butchered for parts.

[Nothing I can do can bring them back... nothing I can do will erase the fear, the pain and the hatred I have sown...] the sorrow and acceptance were clear in X's voice. [ Fefnir, Phantom, Harpuia, Leviathan. What you see in this room are not the bodies of mere reploids, but the second generation of spiritualists, God sent souls who would have assisted Draupadi in her divine mission were things different...]

[I... I'm the one who caused them all to leave Neo-Arcadia... I'm the one who persecuted them until they hid underground... and I am the one who made this rule... the rule that those who sought the truth in the holographic library and found it...to be killed.]

" There's only one survivor." X's voice reached Fefnir's audio, somehow drowning whatever wretched sound had previously filled the deathly void. "She informed us of TK31's atrocity and Ciel's knowledge of what baby elves can do."

Fefnir gasped in horror as he got to his feet, staring at master X, standing solemnly in the autopsy room.

The master of Neo-Arcadia's face had returned to its doll-like mien. His tired eyes never leaving Fefnir.

"I... I did this..."

"NO!" Fefnir vehemently denied. "Master X you-"

"I did my mistakes... and I will do my best to see that the situation is cleared up with the least amount of casualty this time." the blue bomber closed his eyes with a sigh. " I know monuments with all the names of those who lost their lives in my madness will do nothing... but dying from shame won't erase what I did."

"Master..."

heavy jade met fiery red, and once again, Fefnir stood in front of the master of Neo-Arcadia.

"Fighting Fefnir... I want you to plant a forest outside of Neo-Arcadia; every tree you will plant will be in honour of each victim you have killed..." He turned his heels. Leaving Fefnri to process all that had happened. "I will plant five times more... and maybe... maybe the next Generation can be freed."

The next morning, Draupadi was back in front of Leviathan's room. She had tried to fix Alouette's Socrates with some success. And the doll was now residing on the Vaishnavi's arm.

Short of the little reploid, this would have to make due.

She sent a ping to warn her... mistress that she was waiting.

The sound of heels met her audio, and soon enough, Leviathan opened the door and stood there.

She looked... tired, but otherwise glad that Draupadi was there.

"Hey there, Di-Zi... my, aren't you looking nice today." Leviatan hummed appreciatively.

Draupadi grunted, she still wore yesterday's pants, not having the strength to change once X and Phantom had managed to bring her to her husband's room.

Leviathan gave this light giggle as she brought the quiet woman into her room.

Draupadi could see that it was a bit more... lived in the yesterday. There was a blue couch, a white rug ( A terrible idea, Not even Tomas would let something like this in his house.) and a triangular table with an integrated monitor.

She quirked a brow... Everything Leviathan owned was underwater, so having some actual pieces of furniture raised many questions.

"Curious?" The lilt general asked. "Do you want to know why I got some antiques here?"

Draupadi shrugged. She just wanted to get it over with and return to her workstation... or the training hall to destroy something.

Maybe she should have done that in the first place, but Leviathan may not have appreciated the oils and other pollutants in the crystal clear water.

The Meekai General walked in front of the silent Draupadi, catching her eyes. "What's the matter with you? Don't you want to talk to me?" She pouted.

Another shrug, the blond servant had no desire to speak in general.

Leviathan puffed her cheek. "Listen, I have no idea what happened yesterday. I get that you and X are blaming yourself for what happened. But hey, your alive, aren't you?"

Yes, as the spirit soul in a material body, she would eternally be so... but emotionally...

Sure, Losing Iris had been hard... but this? Losing Alouette and her sanga?

It was one thing to survive what she did, but as Ramananda Raya had said to Lord Chaitanya; There's no suffering in this world... save for the separation from your devotees.

Oh... Draupadi was acutely aware of how true it was. Despite the fact that she didn't know them...

And now, she never would.

And before that, Draupadi had lost her Guru-ma and her Guru-Dev, then Archa ascended five months later... the Bharat...

Cyber-Kalia caught him... and that was the last she had heard of her brother.

She had remained, all alone in the virtual ashram for close to twenty-five years, reading, signing, and taking care of Radha-Manohara all alone.

Well... not really alone; Krishna and Srimati-Radharani were there with her, as was Silas-Prabhupada and the previous acharyas. Gauranga, Nityananda...Govardhana hill...

But it was not the same, Draupadi was still at a low stage, and she could not hear Krishna speak to her constantly, she could not enter his daily pastimes, and she certainly could not cultivate a sweet friendship with Sri-Radhika... she could not even enter the easily available pastimes of Gauranga in the eternal realm of Mayapur.

And Krishna... If Krishna hated to be completely alone, then so would she.

When Ciel awakened her, the shock of the resurrection reseted her body's memory reader. Bringing back to zero.

And Ciel pushed the identity on them, for she saw Zero as Zero... their only hope... and a weapon of destruction.

Those had been the worst weeks of her life... save for the time Alouette would be there.

The child-like model was a sweet as one, and the little blond had quickly taken to follow Zero everywhere she went.

She was this tiny, quiet presence that Zero found comforting instead of annoying. She had shown them around the underground bunker, gave him his first meal, showed them to the other...

By the end of It, Zero had been more then happy to collapse on his half-rotten mat. Yet content to have made this little acquaintance.

This little elf-doctor began asking Zero for Stories. She had no reason's to, and Zero, being an amnesiac, could not remember anything a child would like...

Or so 'he' thought.

Alouette, this little Godsend had triggered Zero's memory recovery. And every time she asked for a bedtime tale, the Srimad-Bhagavatam would manifest in its numerous stories.

She told her the story of Druva, Prahlad, Queen Rukmini, and Yashoda binding baby Krishna to a grinding mortar. Not that Zero knew what those stories were about.

And during the few weeks she had with the tiny reploid, both grew close... very close.

And then... Zero died for good, and Draupadi devi dasi, her memories now fully returned, took her rightful place.

A pair of frigid lips insistently pressed, massaged and bit Draupadi's own. Bringing her out of her recollection.

"Ah, Finally." Leviathan sighed breathlessly as she hung on Draupadi's shoulders. "You know, I thought I would have to go to extreme length to bring you back." The taller (girl? Woman? Reploid?) lamented, but it was clear she would not have minded.

"..."

"Come one, smile for me, Di-Zi?" The ice general asked... and the Vaishnavi tried to turn the corners of her lips up.

Leviathan stared at her. "...Or don't... if you don't feel like it." she puffed her cheeks as she took Draupadi's free hands in her own. "Anyway. Me and Fnaf went furniture hunting for your new office. But he was like so into this old-school aesthetic, and I'm like 'eww, dust-" The water general began as she all but dragged the shorter blond to the bathing area. Lamenting how short Draupadi was and how she would love it if she could somehow grow back to her full height.

She bath the shorter woman quickly and lead her to the couch again, straddling Draupadi's lap, not stopping her narration of how dusty and gross the antic store had been and how she managed to find some good deals at this one place she knew that had this sale in celebration for Master X's deletion on all the anty reploid laws he had put into place ever since his resurrection.

And Draupadi listened, holding Leviathan's thin waist as she let her droning voice drown out the burning pain in her heart. She leaned her head to the ice general's chest...

"tee-hee... So that's what you like." The ice general giggled as she kissed the top of Draupadi's head. " I never knew you were into a woman like that."

No... Draupadi just hated being alone while mourning...

She needed someone with her... someone who wasn't her husband.

He had better things to do then caring for his oversensitive wife.

The blond could have stayed like this, letting the sound of Leviathan's signing core chase away the dreadful silence of the autopsy room. But when she felt the ice general remove her top...

Draupadi pushed her away and onto the floor...

"Hey!" Leviathan yelped. "What's wrong with you?"

Draupadi got up and stared at the pretty ice general. Someone who only desired pleasure for herself and considered the question.

Plenty was wrong with her... Starting with the fact that she was actively cheating on the best of a man with his sister... and brother.

"... I need to go..." She managed to rasp as she all but ran to the door. As much as she hated the wind shower, she preferred it over Leviathan's blistering lust.

She didn;t have the Ram to deal with this... Draupadi... Draupadi was wasting her time by playing a dangerous game.

She felt Leviathan grab her wrist, and it took everything in Draupadi's power not to throw the overly amorous fairy in a wall. She grabbed Socrates, the only thing left of Alouette that was tasteful enough to carry around, and almost stormed out. Only to be stopped by the Lusty Copy of the husband.

"Di-Zi, wait!"

Draupadi turned to face Leviathan; the ice guardien looked surprisingly apologetic. "Listen... you still feel... like you felt yesterday, right?"

The blond hair reploid nodded, no use to hide it.

"...Me too," Leviathan admitted quietly. "I just... I just want to move away from this... terrible feeling." She took a deep vent as her eyes became clouded. "I... You know, we've never really had people crying for a bunch of mavericks. For us, those were just broken down machines... not really important to the whole humanity at large." she explained. "Yesterday... yesterday, I heard you and X cried and... at first, I thought it was stupid, you know."

Yes, crying for a dead body was ridiculous... but crying for a departed Vaishnava...

There was nothing wrong with crying in separation for a devotee... nothing wrong at all.

"But then... I realized... If I'm a reploid, and those reploids are copies of X... then this means... this means they are no different then me... and that... that if I have felt, they must also have feelings, and if I'm conscious of what's happening around me... then the same thing must be happening for them... right?" Leviathan's facade broke as warm tears dripped from her eyes.

'Ah... she emphasizing.' Draupadi noticed as she help leviathan back to the couch, this time offering the young guardien a shoulder to cry on as she experienced the reflected pains of others.

"I... I never thought... We were supposed to protect them." Leviathan held Draupadi close. "Were were supposed to... to bridge the gap between the synth and the organic... no... not make it bigger it." she sobbed. "What went wrong?"

"I don't know... just don't repeat it." Really, the best would be for everyone to take up the path of bhakti and use their purified intelligence instead of other people's corrupted hard drive. But who was she to force?

She remained with Leviathan for a bit longer, offering the ice guardien some comfort as the shame of her previous action caught up with her. And by the end of it...

Draupadi had almost forgotten her grief, knowing that, in Alouette's memories, she had to move forward... and give Krishna to all...

Somehow.


Once again, Max was in the broadcasting room. But instead of having a pair of human technicians, he was with Andrew and Phantom.

Being reploid, learning how to use audio-visual equipment was rather easy once the manual was downloaded.

"Are you ready, Max?" The 'old' reploid asked.

Max was about to nod... but after a quick run-through. "No... no yet." He admitted.

"Oh... how so?" Andrew asked, his concern shining through his wizened voice. "Should I get Draupadi?"

"No. I'll be fine for now." His dearest wife already had enough on her plate... and X felt... well, he would power through it. And it was not as if he had to appear as this angelic, absolutely perfect and unfeeling persona. "No, I'm worried about you."

Andrew raised his balding head and stared at Max from under his brows. "About me?"

"Yes. You've lost so many... and those reploids we found." He lowered his head in shame. "Those used to be family to you."

"...That they were," Andrew confirmed. " I stayed with them for the entire four years it took to find Draupadi..." he sighed. "I still don't know why they chose to keep an old codger around. A rambling fool fond of dying in the past."

Max snorted. "Hey, look who you're talking to." He grinned.

Andrew raised his head and chuckled... before letting out a gusty vent. "Eh... I'm still around a hundred years younger then you."

Despite himself, X let a smile slid.

His friend's countenance did not last long before his shoulder's saged. " I... I will miss them all. I missed them, but... I'm so old, I can't emote, and my wife asked me to move on from those who departed, for in the end..."

"In the end, It's never a goodbye, just a 'see you soon.'"

X raised his head and looked at his friend in a new light.

He knew now that the soul was internal and never could get destroyed. It would only change vessels, life after life. And life in this material world was a series of meetings and departures; for some time, people would come together for a time before parting ways...

Right now, his Zaki and Andrew had been with a group of people, they made friendship, stayed with them for some time, and now, due to Karma, those peoples were gone.

"Do you know what Draupadi Prabhu told me this morning after I've finished identifying everyone?" Andrew asked Max.

Max shook his head. "No, sir, I wasn't there." No, he had found his way to a garden outside the damn tower; there, in the morning air, the neophyte chanted his prescribed numbers as he prayed to God for the strength needed to support his saintly wife.

"She told me, Do not cry for those living like animals, for they have never lived. But cry for those who gave their lives for God, for in their association can revive the deads and they truly know how to live."

X remained silent as he mulled over what his old friend had told him... a sad smile lighting his face.

Yes... Draupadi had revived him. And this was more then a mere system restore, for she gave in the easy key to eternal life.

He took a deep breath in. "Alright..." and released. " Let's do it... Let's... try to... make amend." Again.


In a secret location, filled with people with a bright green triangle adorning the top of their red cloak, the congregation sat in front of the monitor. Their agent already streaming all that Master X would do and say.

So far, the supposedly incumbent emperor had been friendly and forthcoming. His shame and regrets at his actions, as reported by the body readers, were all genuine.

It was not the robot reading from a teleprompter they had witnessed for the past twelve years, seemingly alive yet dead inside. And those red eyes. The Zeroist had never taught a pair of warning lights could look so lifeless and dull.

Right now, those eyes were green, and while they were shadowed by grief, they could see the old determination Master Vava would always talk about.

Truly, they saw the result of yet another miracle performed by Saint-Zero.

X folded his palms and bowed. "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare." He recited, and it was clear he was asking for help to another power, the same power that had returned the Holy Swordsman back to this wretched world.

Now, their Absolute Mother.

The assembly did the same, for it was well known that their holy mother would chant this prayer also. So they, as her true followers, would do the same.

" All glories to L-" The so-called emperor stopped himself from saying those blasphemous words. "All Glories to Draupadi-Zero Devi Dasi, all gloried to Srila-Prabhupada, and may their light lead us back home, back to Godhead."

Hushed whispered fell on the assembly. They had received a report from their Prophet that Zero (the one who was nothing... the Nameless Hero. He who brought the evil to be null.) had gained a new name during their self-exile. And thus, were not that surprise... but they were at how X easily denied his creator and took full shelter of the Holy swordsman, the innocent devil. The scribe and analysts of the sect wrote everything down, from the reverence and gratitude in X's voice to the other title and names. Feeling divine shudders shake their frames from the roots of their hair to the bottom of their soles.

It would be reviewed later by their analyst, for one rarely stayed on topic when their Holy Mother was speaking through the mouth of the ancient one.

"This is from ancient Sanskrit." Their scholar said after reviewing it, marvelling at the words. " If My memory is correct, Draupadi devi is a legendary figure from the ancient epic, the Mahabharata. Devi Dasi means the servant of the Goddess..."

"Zero, the servant of the Goddess Draupadi." One said. "Do we know what type of Goddess Draupadi is?"

"No, She is listed as a Queen and the communal wife of five kings who once ruled the world over five thousand years ago." Another explained. "But, from what I have read, Draupadi Devi was saved twice by Krishna."

"Krishna... that's one name of the prayed she chanted."

"Yes... all of those names are names of Krishna. And this Krishna managed to feed the great Sage Durvasa and his thousands of disciples by himself eating but a single grain of rice." He made a gesture. "Of course, this is but a summary of the entire tale."

"Do we have the Mahabharata somewhere?" One cultist, A woman, asked. Beside her, her partner nodded.

The book holder scratched the side of his cheek. "Hmmm... We do have the data for the episodic version, an ancient TV drama made in India in 1988."

There was a whistle. "Wow, That's like... That's ancient!"

"Ancient?" The Hindu expert of the group ( He had been hired after Zero had broadcast his glorious return under the guise of standing by X... only to show that, indeed, She was the one who ran the show... as it should.) scoffed. "The scripture it portrays well over five thousand years ancient."

"Ok, we need to watch it."

"And how about the other miracle this... Krishna bestowed on Draupadi Devi?" The Master of the group return to the main subject. X requests to know all of those who were killed a pleasant background to the hidden worshippers.

"The other miracle happened after one of Draupadi's Husband, King Yudhistira, lost everything, including his very self to another king and a cousin of his, Duryodhana, in a game of dice."

A few gasps filled that room.

"And indeed, he lost all of his wealth, his armies, his brothers, his very self... and Draupadi devi."

"And then what happened?" One of the gathered cultists asked, thirsty to know more.

"Duryodhana sent his little Brother Dushasan to bring the Saintly Draupadi in the assembly. And the demoniac man did, by dragging the spotless woman by her hair. About to disrobe and rape her."

There was a gasp in the audience.

"Wait... if Draupadi has five husbands, then how is she still considered pure?" One cultist asked.

The script master hummed. "This... I do not know, but I suspect our Queen would know better then anybody else."

"Right! She's her servant, after all."

The group nodded.

"Indeed... and it seemed that Draupadi devi's God saw her as pure enough as when, desiring to expose her divine body to the assembly made of saintly warriors and unscrupulous man, with Dhuriodhana showing his desire to desecrate her, Krishna provided her with an unlimited sari."

"A sari?" A woman asked with a tilt of her head.

"A sari is an elegant dress made with six feet of unstitched fabric, and it is folded over the body and held by either a petty coat or a belt... I do believe we can find some example of it on the internet."

"Yes... Oh my!" One woman spoke as she hid her lips. "It's so... pretty."

"Indeed," her partner said. "and easily removable if one's pull enough."

The event that had transpired manifested in everyone's mind.

"Oh, by the way... who's Krishna?" Another cult member asked.

"Krishna is God." A woman said. "The supreme personality of Godhead and the master of all universes."

"And what are your sources?" Asked the master of the ceremony.

"Draupadi herself."

Needless to say, everyone now saw this woman and her reploid as a prime source of information.

In the end, X had requested the participation of all his citizens, for he wanted to know the actual number of reploid's slain unjustly over the last four years. And a memorial was planned for them all... for, unfortunately, not even Input and her Husband Anubis had the ability to resurrect those reploids.

Not as they used to be, but as mere drones no better then Pantheons.

Also... Draupadi's first Hare Krishna followers, the divine rebels... had met with an unfortunate fate.

In the hidden area between Sub-Arcadia and the surface, The Holy Name was chanted in support of the divine huntress, the Servant of Goddess Draupadi, Servant of Krishna, Draupadi-Zero.


In an unknown location in the middle of the desert. A wraith traversed a dark hallway.

A hundred years ago, he had been arrested and tried. A hundred years ago, he had been stuffed in a regenerative armour and left to wandered what was left of mother earth. Eternally burning under the ever-scorching sun, free of the ozone layer.

Thankfully, he had already planned for this eventuality. And thus had made himself a cozy little underground lair with whatever a man with a mission would need.

A lab, a reploid butler (Omega, fixed yet scared of his own sabre and buster... and violence in general.) and whatever a man of his calibre would need to piss on the pigs living in Neo-Arcadia, waiting for them to be fat enough to be joyfully slaughtered.

The wraith-like man in a machine gave a ghoulish grin. Yes... the wait had been long. Oh, so long...

It would be so worth it... it was already worth it.

His sister's work casting a looming shadow on his own aspirations... but no more!

No more...

Of course, his plan had experienced a bit of rerouting, that with X's ultimate survival and Ciel's miraculous reappearance. But no matter, it just made things more interesting for Alain, oh so interesting.

Zero was back and now chose to be a woman... and a Hippy.

Or a Hare Krishna, of all things.

Same. Difference.

Whether there were the real deal or another puppet in Ciel's menagerie or the legitimate object whose mind got bent, it meant very little for him.

Alain Weil slunk into another corridor, this one leading to his makeshift workshop. A few weeks ago, in one of his routine resource hunting, the mad doctor had received an unexpected windfall.

Reploids! Around a hundred of them.

It was clear those used to be more of Ciel's puppet, all civilian build saved for this one Neo-Arcadian spy.

He had left her back in the desert, Weil didn't need more spy at the moment, and the last thing he wanted was to repaint and replace the panelling of his workshop... again.

He walked past his maid; after X had been through playing with Omega, not much had been left to fix. Well, with all the time on his hands, Weil had managed the feat. But Omega would never rain destruction ever again, now too obsessed with cleaning for being anything but a Janitor-bot.

Really, that machine had absolutely no chill when it came to his lover's copy, and there Weil thought that the glorious ruler of Neo-Arcadia would find his gift fine.

A pacifist, he who hated violence...

Ah!

Oh well, Omega made for a rather performant cleaner-bot... if nothing else.

Somehow, X had managed to hack into Omega's system and delete the fighting Ai and emptied the frame of all nanites, replacing it with thick molasses before deleting the elf-rig, rendering the robot back to its factory setting. Then had sent it back to Weil with a post-it that read 'Try again, old man.'

Weil had taken this as a wonderful challenge... only to have all of his computers overtaken by twenty terabits worth of virus... ancient computer virus that no anti-virus knew how to deal with.

Not only that, but X had stuffed a GPS tracker in the copy, and the time it took Alain to get through the first viral wave, the guardien and the 'angel' of hope were already right on top of him.

Well... Weil had answered with the 'sunny-side boom' plague. And he had been more then eager to test his programming mettle with doctor Light's last robotic offspring, only to have the poor thing suicide on his via Zero's elf. Thinking it to be the cause of the pandemic.

Oh, and then there was Mother Elf's reintegration of her old frames, X returning to sanity and Zero's own sanity and identity put into question.

But those were but details, for Albert had yet another plane, another game to play with X and Zero.

He walked into his workshop, the expansive room filled with numerous tanks filled with almost as many reploids.

He walked past them all. Most were as good as destroyed, yet still fixable, but a few still held some life and no bomb.

One was fat, one had a crooked nose, the other had blue hair and... last but not least, was a tiny reploid girl, he blond hair frayed and burn, she was missing an arm, and he energetic uptaker was as good as scrap.

She was also... rather old, older then Zero. But it seemed that her designation had been mechanically erased. One thing was for sure, though, Albert Wily made her; Weil could recognize his masterful work from miles away.

But what was most interesting was the staggering amount of Data she had managed to stuff in her file system. It was an entire web directory filled with enough Audio to fill one's ears for a good century and a half, and numerous TXT files, images, videos and web pages.

Those were all unreadable by most since apparently, it had belonged to Zero at one point, and this robot didn't work like the rest of the population.

Alain rubbed his hands together; he loved a good challenge. And when all this lintel would be his?..., oh, He had plans for this little girl. Plenty of plans.

Under his conical glass prison, Weil began to chuckle... yes, the game of destiny would start anew, and Zero would have to play too.

It would be a wonderful game filled with blood, guts and tears. And Alain would be there to grab the spoils of war and finally have one over his traitor of a sister!

His chuckle grew louder as he indulged in maniacal laughter; he was evil, this he knew. And Alain never fooled himself into thinking otherwise. So he could and would indulge in evil laughter if he felt like it.

And he did.

For his part, Krishna shook his head.

Weil made his plan... and God had a good laugh.