Stephen kept a steady gaze to the saber that X held in his lap. Her face was expressionless as their bodies eased into the motions of the truck that passed through the rebuilding city. Wavering with every bump or turn or stop. But even in the silence, X could see the conversations in her body as she kept her gaze even on the weapon he held tight on his lap.

It was a conversation of vengeance. Of hatred.

A conversation that consumed the entire truck.

X could feel her will push against even his own soul. The malice that emanated from her was palpable as Alexander silently drove them to the location of where Asard was. The location of the coffin. The graveyard.

A now abandoned skyscraper. The steel frame had been prepared and the foundation had already been set. Had it been a month later, the external cladding and interior finishes would have been prepared for human settlement. Now, it was being held hostage by a blood thirsty Maverick among other reprogrammed machinery.

Blood thirsty wasn't quite an over exaggerated statement either.

Though there was pleading involved by both Stephen and X, on separate occasions, Signas had made Asard's crimes quite clear to the two of them. Two humans were what had been reported. But it appeared that more deaths were being mounted against Asard as time ticked against the Maverick Hunters.

The death penalty had all been eradicated against humans.

But the same couldn't be said for reploids.

Stephen's eyes finally met X's. And X had to wonder how long he had been staring at her. "You have to kill him," she finally blurted out. X wasn't sure if she was pleading or if she was making an obvious statement.

Even X knew that it was something that he had to do. The moment that Signas had told him that he would be the one joining 0th Squad on their mission to kill their companion X knew the exact hand that would end Asard's life. He who gave them life, the blueprints to begin the production of reploid-kind, to also be the one whom ended it.

Someone had once joked about that to him before.

It was quickly known to everyone not to ever joke about such a thing ever again to him.

"I know," X's eyes lowered to the floor of the van. His hands clenched the saber in his lap. Perhaps he searched for strength through Zero. Perhaps he wished for Zero's will to take him over like all those years ago. To wash away the sins of this place, to recreate the world that was meant to be. But even these prayers he knew to be foolish. To be nothing.

Because Zero was dead.

And Asard would be as well soon.

Stephen's gaze took for a spot just above X's head. "I hate this more than you, you know." A sneer slowly made its way across her face before she turned back to X. Their eyes met again. "I'd kill him myself if I could. I don't want to… I can hardly stand the thought of killing someone who I fought next to." Her hands slowly clenched into fists. She was practically shaking in anger. "I feel he's my responsibility… that all of this is my responsibility."

Alexander said nothing as he kept his eyes on the road. Basalt only stayed as small as he could in the corner of the van. The equipment rattled only slightly. Metal against metal. A disharmony in the air.

"I'm not sure if I should consider myself lucky or not."

"I'm sorry," X could only manage as his reply.

Basalt's eyes shifted open. X turned his gaze towards the large purple eye. He looked at X deeper than X himself. Deep into the ocean of his own soul. Could Basalt see how the clear beauty of it turned black with hate and pain?

"I feel more sorry for you," Basalt replied. Everyone took this as truth. As everyone knew the great whale could only speak the truth.

Even if everyone could think of this mission with contempt. With disgust. It was a mission that only people could feel sorry for. Sorry because the father of all reploids needed to kill. Sorry because the beastloid who avoided Maverickism for so long turned to one. Sorry because the machine who had saved them all had become the machine that would end them all. Sorry because it was the only thing they knew they could truly feel as truth. Truly feel as human as they possibly could.

"I wish one of us could be there to at least console him when he dies," Stephen whispered as she shuffled her wounded body.

That silence permeated the van again.

Even if they joked about it, even if it would come with laughter, they were all scared to die.

Asard the most out of everyone.

X jumped out of the back of the van with a grunt. He turned to stare at Basalt who still kept to his 'little' corner and Stephen who knelt at the edge of the van with a somber look. Carefully she passed a gun to X who took it gingerly. He offered his hand to Stephen next, but she refused him as she slowly slid down from the back. A wince made its way to her face before she breathed a sigh to hide it. Carefully she took the gun back before reaching into the van once more to grab the battery connected to the large rifle.

There was a deep inhale as she steadied herself. Basalt clambered over, staring down at the two of them. "Asard's parent company provided us a diagram of his schematics," he carefully pressed a few buttons that were on the van.

Stephen nodded her head as she reached into the van to tug at some wires, plugging them into her arm and allowing the data to flow. X did the same, but with less haste than her. The apprehension he felt was tangible, and he could see Stephen's questioning glances.

Basalt hardly noticed. Perhaps he chose to ignore it. "Stephen, the battery should be enough to take out his electromagnetic waves." There was a pause as he stared at her carefully. His eye glanced down upon her battered body, then to her face.

"I know what you're thinking, Basalt." Stephen gave an annoyed huff. Hiding her limp with the large gun. "We both know I'm the only option we have for this."

There was a low grumble from the whale. But he was quick to shift his attention back to the mission. "Be safe, then." Carefully he shuffled away from the door of the van as both X and Stephen shut the doors to the back. Stephen watched as the van drove away with her last remaining companions and X turned away with the heavy burden that he now carried.

As the distance drew further and further away, Stephen finally turned to look at X. He still held the saber in his hand. Gripping it tight. Hoping the spirit would possess him once more allowing all emotion to wash away. To become the machine like Zero would become. Allowing the system to wash into him. To feel nothing as he wished he could in these moments of turmoil.

"I have a favor," Stephen hefted the gun slightly. Her arm still weak.

"What is it?" X raised his brow at her.

"Be quick."

He knew what she meant by those words.

A quick and painless death.

"I don't want him to suffer like Driftwood." Stephen continued; her eyes scattered into the distance. There was pain in her eyes. A pain in her voice. A pain in her movements. A small laugh would escape her lips. A smile reaching her face, but X wasn't sure if it was from a memory that was sweet or bitter. "It's funny, isn't it? We talk so much about if this will be the mission that kills us and how nice it'll be to finally retire. But really, Asard is terrified of it."

Zero too was terrified of the afterlife. Yet, he joked about it much the same. Where would he go in those moments after death? Would he see heaven like a human does? Would he meet the very people that he had killed?

'I don't think I have a soul.' Zero would say so often.

But in those moments that X cradled Zero's lifeless body… it felt like he always had one. Perhaps he was a human too comfortable in the machine's body. Was he so scared to recognize that? It was a shame that X could never ask him that question.

"I'll be sure he isn't alone," X smiled at Stephen. His lips tinged with bittersweetness as she stared back towards him. There was a sparkle in her eyes, and for a moment it seemed as if she too could shed the tears that all reploids envied. But they would waft away into nothing. Her face was replaced with nothing as all emotion washed away into the emptiness of her soul.

All that remained was a Hunter.

There was nothing there but the look of a Hunter made to hunt down the wolf.

A Hunter made to put down a rabid animal.

A Hunter made to kill.

As X stared at her face, he mourned. Mourned for Asard's death. Mourned for Stephen's soul. And most of all, mourned for the new world that Zero left them.

Was this the legacy that Zero wanted to leave behind?

Stephen turned on her heels, marching forward towards the iron skeleton on the opposite end of the iron of the city. Slowly he traced his eyes over her as she slowly made her way up the spiderweb of iron. Her body slow, her movements ragged, and yet she still climbed.

Would he have prevented all this?

She climbed to hunt down the rabid dog.

Could he save Asard again?

Climbed knowing she wanted to let him live a life of peace. Out in the fields of flowers alongside his friends that were no longer here.

Or would he put Asard down like we are?

"X?" a familiar voice rung through his head,

He hadn't realized how long he had been walking through the empty city before his thoughts were brought back to the mission at hand. The buildings weren't familiar to him, all the same as the last, but his mapped marked one of particular importance. The one that Asard had made his nest in. To continue the killings.

And it showed based on the oil that stained those beams and the blood that dried against the metal. The smell of the place was sickening, enough for X to feel the need to gag. But he held his breath as he calmed himself to the waves of his soul. His body quivered with the excitement of death. The tragedy of it. The thrills. The sickness.

"Alia," he replied as his eyes tried to remain focus on the building.

"Stephen is in place to give you back up." She spoke carefully to X as if reading a report. "Basalt and Alexander have begun their assault on the other end of the block. It should leave most machines distracted for you to sneak in and deal with just Asard."

He could hear the pain in her voice.

Could hear the eulogies already echo throughout the HQ.

Could already hear the sobs from Stephen as she stood by his grave.

Could feel his hands hold everything that Asard might have held dear in his hands.

He saw himself, once again, standing in Zero's room. Could feel the grief beginning overtake him. The tears spotted his eyes, and he held back from stepping into that coffin. Held back the pounding of nails as he struck against the wood for Asard to be buried. Held himself as he had to endure the grief again. And again. And again.

To continue the killings once more.

"Roger that. Beginning the assault." The way he spoke sounded like a machine.

A rabid dog. That's what he had to keep telling himself. They were suffering. The only thing to save them was to kill them. Yet, it felt like every time the slaughter felt harder and harder. Worse and worse. More and more painful than the next.

X shook those thoughts from his mind as he took a deep breath to regain his composure. Now was not the time to think about the death that had not happened yet. Even if it was impending, it would all come after. Everything would come later. His emotions would have stay behind.

But even if he wanted to… he could not slip the mask of the Hunter that Stephen seemed to so beautifully wear. It was the same mask that Zero wore. The same mask that everyone at the Maverick Hunters wore. Yet, it was the mask X refused to wear.

Perhaps that was what made him so special.

Silently, he slipped into the iron buildings. He ducked his head below the shadows to avoid the line of sight of the machines that scattered to meet the hand of Basalt and Alexander. From a distance he could hear the commotion of metal against metal. The grunts of 0th Squad they continued their distraction as X came closer and closer to the epicenter of the chandelier of iron.

He jumped from one red pillar to the next. His breath heavy and eyes tired as he looked in every spot to find the snake. Carefully he scanned the metal, carefully he let his body sink into the machine, and still Asard was nowhere to be found. Slowly he continued his journey higher into the building. Towards heaven.

Did you know it would end like this, Zero? With everyone dead?

Maybe.

Carefully X landed a large platform atop the large skyscraper. The sun beat heavy on his brow as his eyes carefully stared down at Asard's glittering green body. He laid curled upon the makeshift floor in a fetal position. His tailed curled into his body as he hugged it close to him, eyes staring up into the sky as if heaven had been in his reach all along.

The snake seemed to have hardly noticed X as he continued to look up into that beautiful blue sky. The clouds drifted softly in the wind. The sun shimmered loud and bright in the endless blue. It was the same sky as they had always seen before, but perhaps this one was different to Asard. Perhaps he saw a future without death. Perhaps he saw the end that they all wanted. Perhaps it was the future that Zero wanted all along.

The snake's head shifted to stare at X. His eyes were vacant as they stared into him. His face empty of a soul. His body a desolate desert. "Finally, my chariot." His voice was just as empty as the rest of his body. His soul. His mind.

He seemed harmless laying in the middle of the platform. His body formed into his own sun upon the ground. Bright and beautiful. But it lacked all brilliance. A dull blade.

"Why did you kill them?" X stepped forward carefully. "Asard… why did you go Maverick?"

A shrill laughter would escape the snake as he finally lifted himself up. Though he towered over X, his body was ragged and weak. He held himself awkward and frail. Scales were peeling off of him, his mouth slack, and tail lacking the usual vibrant animations as it always had. His movements were erratic and malformed. As if it were something else controlling his mind making him do the things that he would have never done.

"Because… because what do I have left?" he howled to the sun. "Everyone is dead… and I couldn't even save the machine that did this to me." Slowly he covered his eyes, turning away from X. "Do you know what was in there? What they made us protect?" A laughter echoed from his mouth. A laughter that drifted on the winds to Area Zero. Where it all began, where it all ended. "Inside that truck… was Sigma!"

The name echoed with his laughter to the desert. Drifting in that same wind as X stood still at the revelation that echoed between the metal. The dreaded figure that haunted his nightmares. The one who slaughtered everyone whom he had loved. The one that turned his friends from angels to devils. The one who had created the beautiful landscape of Earth and turned it into a passageway to Hell.

He knew he could not be too surprised at such truth the snake spoke. Sigma was an endless bounty of information. It seemed obvious that the UN would want to take hold of it and use it for whatever wishes they wanted. And all machine-life would have to stand back and let them have it. Yet, to X who had fought against Sigma time and time again, it felt as if he had been betrayed by the very humans who he vowed to protect. For it was the humans that had begun to dig a hole into the gates of hell. To allow such demons to escape and wreak havoc on the beautiful land that he swore to protect.

Had X known, he might have blown up the van from the very start.

But it was easy to say those things now that it had happened. Would he have thought the same in that very moment he saw Sigma crawling all around inside that van?

"I see it in your face!" Asard bellowed. He pointed his finger at X with a smile. "You think the very same of humans too!" there was a chuckle from his maw as he carefully approached X. "Disgusting, pitiful creatures, made to rely on us!" He drew closer towards X. His body shook, his legs buckled. It was as if he was barely kept together at all. "When all humans are dead, we can live in heaven! We can—"

Asard's words were cut off as a thin red line sliced through Asard's body. It came quick and silent as the laser beamed through him. A scream echoed through the empty building as his tail fell to the floor and begun to writhe upon it. X snapped back to his senses as he realized that Stephen took a calculated shot with the large beam rifle that she had been provided with. It was not a perfect shot, but enough to severely handicap the snake whom relied on his tail to control his electrical attacks. He silently thanked her, even if he still wanted to bring the creature home.

But he knew that much wouldn't be possible. As soon after the snake dragged his claws down his neck. Tearing open his very own body, ripping scales from his beautiful slender metal, and allowing them to drop to the floor. It was an insanity that X had never seen before.

Is this the virus doing this to him?

"I'm living a nightmare because of you!" Asard screeched. "If you never been born, then everything would have been perfect!"

X recoiled back at those words, but he had no time to shout a reply as Asard jumped for him. The Hunter scrambled to raise his arm, now buster. He charged a shot but was too late to allow it to fire as the snake latched onto the beam that X stood on. Body wobbled as Asard's body hit the metal as he charged himself with electricity. He crawled onto the red beam attempting to grapple onto the Hunter, but X leapt off onto the main platform of the building that Asard had initially stood on. He charged another shot which successfully landed onto Asard's back.

There was a groan as Asard carefully crawled against the beam attempting to dodge X's buster shots. Again, the snake leapt from the beam onto the platform, then took another leap as he grappled onto X's body. The Hunter let out a gasp having underestimated Asard's gracefulness.

"Stupid…!" Asard hissed as he grasped X's neck tightly. It felt as if his head was about to pop off from the pressure. He felt electricity buzz into his body, overfilling his body, sending his circuits into a frenzy. A pained yelled escaped X as he gasped from the volts charging through him. The intensity sent his mind spiraling as he searched for any opening.

"Augh!" X yelped in pain as he felt his entire body soaked in the electricity. Even without the tail, the electricity that coursed through Asard's body was as potent as ever.

The Hunter gasped again trying to catch his bearings as Asard gave an experimental tug on X's right arm. The snake grasped onto X's shoulder, tearing into his body, and giving it a harsh pull as his ligaments tore themselves from his shoulder.

Another scream resounded through the buildings.

Another laser fired through Asard's body.

The beam only barely hit his body as the snake withdrew from X, discarding him to the side with a yelp. The snake's eyes traced the horizon, attempting to spot the sniper, when another shot cut through Asard's arm.

The snake leapt back again, another smile on his face as he stared down at the limp X. "Looks like your little friend is getting sloppy."

Carefully X rose from the ground, heaving as he stood as tall as he could. His right arm was mangled, practically hanging from his body. With his left, he tore the remaining part off and threw it to the side. "Asard!" X shouted. "You can end this!" His arm fell to his side, fingers brushing across the hilt of Zero's saber he kept at his waist. It almost felt as if it were whispering to him. Edging him to use it. "Stop!"

The beastloid only laughed again. The laughter echoed throughout their battlefield. Vibrating off the metal and building. X cringed at the noise. "Why would I stop!? I've been living a nightmare since the day Zero took me in!"

Asard leapt forward and X met him in kind.

There was a flash of green as X's hand was led towards the saber.

A burst of light.

A scream.

X turned on his heel as he landed on the ground. Eyes widening at the terrible malformed creature that now laid upon the ground.

Asard's left arm now laid on the platform beside the snake. But the beastloid itself screamed in an agony that sounded much different than the ones that X heard before. It reached Area Zero where the landscape met in kind with its own terrible noise. X could only stand gaping at the creature, pulsating, as if growing something beneath the scales.

"Wh—What!?" X took a step back as he stared at the 'thing' that was Asard.

Asard looked back at X, screeching in pain as the beautiful scales seemed to melt into his body. Sustained injuries sprouted wiring and circuitry from open wounds, encasing him in black and disfiguring him. "D-Driftwood?" the snake called out. Fear was heavy in his voice as his eyes darted each and every direction. Looking for an out, looking for an escape.

"X?" Stephen's voice came panicked over the com channel. "X, what's happening to him!?"

"I don't know!" X voiced back. He could only watch as Asard's body seemed to begin to transform into something else. As if the virus was not only rewriting his coding, but his soul.

"Driftwood!?" Asard called out again to X. "Driftwood… help me…" the malformed creature crawled towards X, now unrecognizable.

But even if X wanted to run towards Asard to comfort the scared helpless child, his legs were glued to the ground as his face gaped at the thing in terror.

"Driftwood… please…" Asard called out again. Its 'arm' reached towards X, but X could only step back away from it. "Why…?"

Another shatter of light broke through the battlefield once more. A purple arc cut through the two of them. X shielded his eyes from the brilliance, squinting at Asard as the purple connected with his body. It was an arc that X could recognize from anywhere. An arc made by the very same weapon that X held in his hand. But it was not his hand that laid such blow, but another's.

Eyes widened in shock as it pierced the snake's body, leaving a gaping hole. Another scream resounded through the area as he collapsed to the ground writhing in pain. Gasping and sputtering. Calling for Driftwood once more. It snapped X to his senses as he was able to stare down at the poor creature who writhed and grasped at its own body tearing away at the virus attempting to overtake it.

His death would be slow.

X scrambled over to Asard, cupping what was left of the snake's face in his hands as he suffered. The decay of his body begun to latch itself to X. Crawling over his hands.

Don't let him suffer.

X grit his teeth as he looked up at the person who stood aways from the two of them that cut through Asard's body. Perhaps he might have yelled out a question. Perhaps he might have saw this intruder with malice. For this battlefield was for X and Asard alone with the only spectator Stephen. But words would eventually falter. Thoughts would eventually dissipate. Everything would eventually fade away from him as his eyes widened at the figure who stood against the metal and oil, bathed in a beautiful black brilliance that only X could recognize.

"Zero!?"

'Zero' did not say anything. He turned, walking closer to X and Asard who laid upon the ground. He looked exactly as the Zero that X knew and loved. The movements, the appearance, everything. It was as if the other had been cut out of the memories that X had, and placed in the world that they knew as here. But X knew Zero better than X knew his very self. When his eyes met the other's gaze, it was in that moment that X knew that this Zero was no more than a mirage in life. Their souls did not touch, even if X reached out. But in those eyes, X knew it well enough that it was a soul not Zero's.

But the mountain of grief still weighed heavy on his soul. The longing for his friend that he had not seen in so many years. Even if in his mind he knew that this was not the true Zero, he still wanted to rise from Asard's body to embrace the emptiness.

As he drew closer to the two bodies on the floor, X could only sit still and gaze upward. His body was stilled, as too was his soul.

But his mind was brought back to a cruel reality as Zero hand grasped X's neck, squeezing it. He tossed the other to the side, blindsiding X who gaped up at the saint confused. A groan came from X as he roused himself to his senses as Zero raised his saber up high, poising it above Asard's body.

"Zero!" X shouted as he reached out towards the other. He still hoped it was the other.

But the name that was called out drowned in the echoes of screams that resounded across the building once more. The saber dug into Asard's body. Again and again. Digging into the creature as it squirmed and screamed. X could only stare sickened at the display before him. Tears were soon to fall from X's face as he leapt to his feet once more.

"Zero! Stop it!" he bolted towards the other, only to be kicked down once more. Before he could say another word a flash of light burst into Zero. The shot from the beam rifle became silent as Zero took the full hit. A groan came from his lips as he held where the laser had pierced his body, but it only made a dent in his armor. Eyes traced the beam to where Stephen had been stationed, then back to Zero who's eyes burned with bloodlust for the body he did not kill.

"Sympathizing with a Maverick?"

X furrowed his brow as the voice was different than Zero's and Stephen's. The other mirage looked around in confusion as well. A second later a shot hit Zero knocking him from Asard's body off his feet. He scrambled away, his tail between his legs. Finding that this hunt was not worth the trouble. X rose to his feet, scrambling after Zero who fled but stopped short as his feet took him to Asard's body who heaved barely holding onto what life he still had. Murmurs of Driftwood still echoed from his mouth, begging for the reprieve of death. To see his friend once more.

X begun to bend to his knees to cradle the poor reploid once more, but was caught off guard by a hand that pulled him back from the snake that wept.

"W-What?" X stumbled backwards as a heavy hand kept him more than arm's length from Asard. Wide eyes turned to look towards the towering reploid who stood beside X. Furrowed brows and confusion was plastered on X's face as he tried to brush the other's hand off him. Pushing him away to draw towards his companion once more. "Get off me—!"

The other reploid only regarded X with a sneer. "Don't bother with this filth. His mind is already gone."

"Who do you think you are?" X shoved the other off him again, reapproaching Asard who laid on the ground. The man did not try to stop him, but only watched as X fell to his knees and begun to cradle the poor beast who wept for those that had long passed.

"My name is High Max. I have been investigating the Zero Nightmare." He carefully watched X pet the poor creature. Watched as his life begun to fade away into nothing. Watched as the careful death throes receded into a lifeless stare. The chariot had come. But where he would go, no one was quite sure.

At least his nightmare had ended.

The rain would begin. Falling from X's eyes. A grief would take hold of him, a grief that everyone would see.

But this High Max did not care for the sanctity of grief. For he approached Asard's body and grasped the other's head, startling X from his mourning. "What are you doing!?" X watched the other in confusion High Max hardly regarded him with a second thought.

"It is as I said. I am investigating the Zero Nightmare." Carefully he begun to split Asard's head open as if it were fruit for him to sup on.

X stood in shock, shoving the other away once more. "Get away from him!" The other hardly budged from his spot. "Leave him alone!"

The other could only give a chuckle as he turned towards X. "What? This Maverick?" Eyes turned to look down towards the poor snake. "He was weak and could not resist the Nightmare Virus. I'm merely collecting his DNA to continue to research and investigate the new virus."

"Virus or not, that's my fucking friend!"

X and High Max turned their heads towards the voice. Stephen stood at the edge of the platform, beam rifle in hand pointed at the unfamiliar reploid who stood beside Asard.

"Another Maverick sympathizer…" High Max didn't roll his eyes, but his voice felt as though he did as such. "Is that why you were unable to kill Zero? Because you thought him as your friend? He was the one who wrought the virus on Asard."

"Zero would never do that!" X gasped.

"That man you saw was him," High Max glanced towards Stephen, assessing her carefully.

"I don't believe you!" X shouted back once more.

There was a smirk that slowly crossed High Max's face as he looked from X to Stephen. "It looks as though your friend doesn't agree…" he nodded his head towards Stephen, a smirk. X's eyes followed High Max's, looking at the rage that begun to layer itself into Stephen's body.

Was that the man she saw in the desert?

Slowly she lowered her gun, but the rage still burned deep within her. She tried to collect herself, but even from this angle X could see how impossible her emotions were beginning to entangle themselves within her soul. Much like X's very own.

He swallowed hard, directing his attention back to High Max once more. The tears still dropped from his eyes, unending. But he still put on a stern face attempting to hide the emotions fluttering across his face. The game that High Max was playing was beginning to become obvious, and all X could do was redirect it away.

"If you want Asard's body, you need to speak with the Maverick Hunter HQ." His voice shook with grief. His body heaved with rage. But he could not allow himself to appear weak. Had to steel his emotions for whatever came.

High Max turned to look at X. It was an answer to the situation that he did not like, but a command that the other had to obey. A frown crossed his face as he rummaged through one of his pockets, taking a card from it and flicking it out for X to grab. The other took it carefully, oil smudging into the paper. "The Nightmare Virus will destroy you due to your sympathy." He sneered down at X, "Play Hunter whilst you still can, but stay out of our investigation."

X kept a stone-cold stare as he watched the other turn to leave. Stephen threw her weapon to her side, running to Asard's side but not daring to kneel and touch the mutated creature who held within a virus that could do to her the very same. She stood still, staring at the malformed deity as her hands wished to plunge into it as prayer. A mournful look in her eyes as she traced every wound and hole that plunged deep into Asard's body.

That beautiful green metal now was soaked in oil. That beautiful face now torn apart becoming unrecognizable.

X could only stand beside her, watching as High Max carefully made his way down to the ground below. His eyes could not betray to look towards Asard. Towards Stephen.

"He suffered, didn't he?" Stephen whispered into the wind. Her body slumped forward as she could only 'weep' for what had been lost.

X couldn't reply.

"I told you that it was him."

X didn't want to reply.

"I'm going to do it. I'm going to kill Zero."

The wind could only howl in response.

"I'm going to get my due."

The echoes of Asard's screams crossed over the barren desert.

"Killing Zero isn't going to bring anything back," X whispered.

Stephen turned to look at X, her face still filled with thoughts of death and killing. But she knew that the words X spoke was truth.

Killing Zero would do nothing but perpetuate the cycle of violence even more.

But even if it would not change anything. Even if it would all remain the same. It would be the only thing to appease her soul.

And yet all X could wonder is if Zero could hear the wails of Asard across the desert.