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It was slow going the next morning. X took his time getting up and getting dressed. The atmosphere today felt oddly… relaxed. After getting something to eat, X walked around the halls for awhile before settling on the rec room. A quick game of something would be a good time waster.
The rec room was the same as it always was. No surprise. X hummed a bit as he dug through the board and card games for something to play. He was thinking something along the lines of a spelling game. Something he could easily play on his own without much thought put into it.
"No…"
The sound surprised X at first. It took a moment for him to realize that it had been a voice. Carefully, he tried to figure out where it had come from. He led himself to the couch. He peered over its side and nearly shocked himself in realizing that someone was laying there.
It was Aero.
"No." Aero murmured in her sleep. "No, I didn't help. I've failed. I failed them. No. No, no, no, no!"
X looked at her. Thinking on it, X looked around the room for a cabinet that held throw blankets in it. He pulled a blanket out and went back over to Aero to place it over her. That seemed to calm her a bit. She clung to the blanket in a death grip. But it wasn't long until she started murmuring again.
"I failed." Aero all but whined. "It's no use…!"
Watching her be in this much distress was starting to distress X in turn.
"Aero?" he carefully said as he shook her shoulder.
"I couldn't save them. I failed. It's too late for anything. I've failed. I failed. It's over, it's lost."
"Aero." X tried again, shaking her a bit harder. "Aero, wake up."
"I failed-!" Aero screamed as she catapulted from her sleep. Immediately disoriented, she blinked as she tried to take stock of where she was. She jumped in genuine shock when she saw X sitting there.
"X." she mumbled. "I don't know what you just saw, but…"
"It's alright. I think." he told her, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck. "I woke you from a nightmare. You seemed pretty lost in it."
"A nightmare?" she repeated. She looked down, as if it didn't make sense. "Just a nightmare?"
Aero visibly shivered. She then looked up at X- her body still weary.
"I'm sorry I worried you." she told him.
X shook his head.
"I couldn't watch you suffer like that." he admitted.
Aero gave a sullen half smile. She soon closed her eyes again and laid back against the couch. X bit his lip as he thought of something to make her feel better. Then he had an idea. It was a stupid one, admittedly, but it was an idea nonetheless.
X went over to the music player and went through its catalog. Finding a song he thought Aero would like, he put it on and turned the music up a bit. Hearing the music made Aero sit up and stare at X inquisitively. He only offered her a small smile. He walked over to her side to offer his hand out to her. Aero looked from him, to his hand, and back again. She shook her head at first, but did not object to the gesture. She took his hand, allowing X to guide her up and away from the couch and closer to the music player.
Then, they started to dance together. Slow and careful, it didn't take much effort to match each other's movements.
. . .
Layer had carefully laid out everything she needed in front of her. She counted, and recounted her supplies- even though she knew something would come up during the process. At the moment her project had never felt so daunting. Her sketch was a mess. She did her best to match the faces of her friends based on their photos. She even tried to replicate their poses too. It just looked… messy. There was no other word she had for it.
At least she could hope for something abstract? No one said she had to be photorealistic right away.
The hardest part of her drawing was that she had even tried to draw the deceased. She had nothing to go on anymore than their faces from the podiums in the auditorium. Layer couldn't even tell you what most of them used to sound like now. Massimo had been loud, but was it with pride in his voice or just a general loudness? Spider also had a particular gait to his voice, but for the life of her Layer couldn't replicate it now even if she wanted to. These small pieces of what once was didn't help with deciding their poses. She had to redo Cinnamon's pose at least six times before it looked like something Layer could be proud of.
Sighing, Layer picked up her paintbrush. She dipped the tip into the first color and stared at the sketch. She really hoped she wouldn't mess this poor thing up further. What else did she have to do if it didn't work out? Start over again? The thought of it was both assuring and terrifying.
"It's okay, you got this." Layer assured herself. She didn't know if it actually worked.
Her first stroke against the canvas had been too thick. Layer sighed again, forcing herself to relax. She closed her eyes, counted to 10, and let the tension ease a bit. When she opened her eyes again, she realized why her sketch looked so cluttered. It was because there were 14 people there. It was hard to imagine that many being here at some point. This was a reminder of what they had lost. Of who gave in to temptations and anger.
She may become one of them soon. She didn't know.
She didn't want to think about it either.
With that decided, Layer started to paint.
. . .
The two never checked to find if they could be heard. No one ever stopped them, or made mention to their actions, so it was easier to believe no one knew. When they were together like this, no one else mattered anyway.
"Zero…" Iris moaned. Her body writhed as his lips trailed down from her collarbone to the middle of her breasts.
Zero lifted his head up. There was a care in his eyes that no one else had ever seen before. Along with it was a sense of adoration that couldn't be matched anywhere else but here.
"Do you want me to stop?" he asked.
Iris very quickly shook her head.
"Keep going." she told him. After a pause, she added, "Please."
"As you wish," Zero agreed with a smirk. He came back up to kiss Iris's lips. She returned the favor with desire and need.
Zero moved her a little so he could place his hand by her thigh. As he trailed downward this time, his hand glided down her leg, wrapping it around his torso to further keep Iris in place.
And Iris sure wasn't to complain while Zero went from her breasts to her stomach. She loved when he gave every part of her body attention before the real pleasure began. It filled her with so much love and desire that it was almost hard to keep still. She could only wish to be in this much bliss on a normal day anymore. Zero was so attentive when they were alone like this. He wouldn't hurt her. He loved every bit of her.
Iris let out a sharp gasp when Zero kissed the most sensitive part of her body. They were reaching the point when more than his lips would be touching her. Iris shivered in ecstasy at the idea.
Seriously though, how could she bottle up this emotion for later? There just wasn't enough of it anymore.
. . .
Alia puffed her cheeks as she went through the library's shelves. The woman knew she needed some sort of exercise, but she also knew full well that she wasn't up for anything that was in the gym. So exercising her brain it would be. Walking through the rows also counted, right? Had to. It's not like she was just sitting down yet.
It kinda surprised her how many topics this library had hidden away in it. She read through some of the titles to find classics like Asimov and Shakespear. Then there were obscure books on data management and balancing a financial record. Suffice to say, Alia brought herself to the history books in order to find some sort of recognition through it all.
'The History of the Roman Empire'
'The History of War'
'The History of Language'
'The History of Mavericks'
That last one made Alia pause.
"Huh." was her first response. She pulled the book from the shelf and started to skim through its contents. She got pretty close to the end before a passage stuck out to her.
'Too many Reploids became Maverick in the decades that followed. In response, the Cyber-elves were created. The first and foremost of these was the one known as the Mother Elf.'
"Hmm..." Alia mused to herself, starting to read a bit deeper now.
'The Mother Elf had years worth of development beforehand. The final piece of bringing her to life came, not from the Reploids she would heal, but from a human soul. While history has forgotten their name, we know for sure that it was a female as well. A female, who, may not have even known the role she played in changing the entire world up until that point…'
Alia hummed as she reread the passage a few more times. Was she understanding this right? The world was filled with these things called 'Reploids' that became Maverick too? What was a Reploid? Why were there years of development for a cure? Was there a cure to becoming Maverick? Lumine sure didn't make it seem that way. But were they all in the same situation as those Reploids?
It made Alia's head hurt as her mind went through numerous questions. There had to be more information on this.
And she wasn't going to stop until she found it.
. . .
Axl was having a delightfully good time that day. His breakfast consisted of muffins with chocolate chips. There was a song in his head that was pretty darn catchy, so he hummed along to it. And he took a moment to realize how lucky he was to still be alive. All in all, not a bad day indeed.
But he was short one Aero. Aero would make this good day the best. But where would she have gone?
Still humming, Axl wandered around the dorms in hopes Aero would be in her room. Nope. He passed the rec room and had to do a double take when he realized someone was in there. What he saw nearly made his eyes bulge out of his head.
X and Aero were slow dancing in the rec room. Well, slow dancing was the kinder term for it. If anything, they were just hugging each other tight as they swayed back and forth to the music playing on the stereo.
Axl immediately got out of sight by tucking by the door. Curiosity still made him peek in, however.
X moved his head- for a moment, Axl feared he had been spotted. But X's eyes told of a strong love he had for the person in his arms. But what to do, what to do? Axl held his breath as X shakily asked;
"Aero… can I…?"
Aero moved her head with a small hum. She observed X for a moment, and without thinking twice, moved a bit closer so he could give her a kiss.
It was so gentle, so caring in its action that Axl got a chill up his spine. He shouldn't be watching this. Having them find out he was even here would land him in so much trouble. And yet…
"You go, Aero." Axl nodded. "I keep saying you need to be happy too."
With that, he could leave them alone for now. Maybe later he'd tease Aero more on the subject. He wouldn't do it with X in the room though- that would be too rude. He wouldn't push just X on the subject, because he had a feeling that would just make X clam up. That wasn't what Aero needed. Axl could tell that because he was Aero's best friend. Friends ribbed on each other all the time!
If only being friendzoned didn't hurt this much.
. . .
"Progress has stagnated, Professor."
The Professor did not need to be told twice. He had been observing the rats as close as Lumine has.
"I know." he growled.
"Is it time to push an incentive among them?" Lumine offered. "Something to rouse their Maverick behaviors?"
The Professor did not answer. He reviewed the current footage with intense focus. There were many little holes that he could enforce a behavior on in any one of the rats. The budding lovers were on shaking ground, the lone friend was vulnerable, a snoop was learning more than they should, even the two who held each other so close could be swayed elsewhere. It was just a matter of picking one.
"This experiment is not over yet."