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fallen-savior-mmz · 2 years ago

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Fallen Savior Chapter 3;

As long as he's safe...-

X stood by Zero’s capsule, watching him as he slept.

The last conflict he had had with Omega left him needing longer repairs than normal, and their opponent would not wait for Zero to recover.

X knew what he had to do, but now being faced with the task at hand, he was having trouble finding the courage to do so.

“Axl, I’m sorry to ask you to do this.” X started, still looking down at his sleeping husband, his new armor looking so different than he was used to, yet still somehow fitting.

Even with almost an entirely new body, he was still Zero.

“But you need to take Zero and run. You have an hour, gather everything you need, anything you absolutely have to take with you. You can’t stay here, and neither can he.” X finally looked to Axl, the young hunter staring in shock at him.

“X, are you crazy? Omega will kill you, and if he doesn’t, the Dark Elf will. You can’t stay here by yourself!” Axl exclaimed, incredibility written all over his face.

“There’s a chance that the Dark Elf could possess me, and use me to destroy everything. Zero is the only one who could stop me at that point, and I won’t be responsible for everyone’s deaths like that. Yours included.” he turned to face the reploid that he called family.

“I can buy you and Zero time to get away, to hide so Zero can repair himself, and so you can repair yourself too. But you have to leave now Axl, find somewhere remote, somewhere far away. You can’t tell me where you go, they could use me to find you. Leave here and save yourselves.” X finished, his heart breaking with every word.

Axl put a hand to his head, trying desperately to think of a way out of leaving, “X, I can’t leave you here, you’ll die! There’s gotta be another way, when Zero wakes up we can-”

“AXL, THERE’S NO TIME!” X’s shout startled the young hunter, staring wide eyed at his father figure.

With a shaky breath, he walked forward, hugging Axl against his body.

“Axl, I’m not commanding you to do this. I’m not asking as your mentor, your leader, your father. Nothing like that. I’m asking you as your friend. Please, take Zero and hide, don’t return until it’s safe.” X stepped back, looking into the young reploid’s eyes.

Axl’s eyes watered, but he nodded, stepping towards Zero’s capsule to begin getting it loaded onto a transport for them.

X turned to leave, unable to watch the two people he cared about most in the world get sent away.

“X, what about you?” Axl called after him, his voice uneven as if he was trying to keep from crying.

X straightened his back, pulling himself together before turning to look at Axl one last time.

“As long as you both are safe, I’ll be fine.” he spoke with conviction, willing to do anything to ensure their safety.

As long as he’s safe.

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X cried out as he slammed into the ground, his armor sparking and melting where Omega’s plasma saber had sliced him.

The reploid with his husband’s face grinned wildly, holding his hands out to each side.

“X, why can’t you see what I’m doing? I’m trying to save you! Every single being on this planet is capable of sin and evil, you all cause pain and suffering!” Omega spun around, facing the setting sun.

X tried sitting up, his body protesting as he did. He just had to keep Omega monologuing long enough for his self repair to kick in, give him time to escape.

“If I kill everyone, no one can hurt anymore! You won’t hurt anymore X, I can free you!” he looked back at his opponent, his face split with a smile of pure glee.

“I AM THIS WORLD’S SAVIOR, X, I AM YOUR SAVIOR! I AM THE MESSIAH! LET ME SHOW YOU A GLIMPSE OF THE WORLD I HAVE ENVISIONED!” Omega called out to the sky, his head tipped back as he laughed.

The Dark Elf revealed herself above him, spreading her “wings” and opening her eyes.

X watched in horror as she opened her mouth, her scream piercing through his head. Everything felt like it was on fire, the pain so great that he thought for sure it would kill him.

He didn’t know when he had lost consciousness, merely realizing it when he finally opened his eyes.

Omega and the Dark Elf were gone, X was laying on his side in the dirt and rubble of whatever city this had used to be. It was well past midnight at this point, judging by how dark it was.

With a groan, X sat up, unsurprised to find his body protesting any movement at all.

“Alia? Are you there? I need a status report, where did Omega go?” the android pulled himself to his feet, his head throbbing from residual pain.

He trudged forward, not heading in any particular direction. He just needed some shelter, to get himself repaired a bit while he waited for evac.

X waited for a response, but was met with silence.

“Alia? Come in Alia, I need help.”

Nothing.

Panic began to rise in his chest, Alia was always there when he called!

“Maverick Hunter HQ, please respond, I need assistance.”

Silence.

X shuddered, his panic getting harder and harder to push down.

“....X….come in X…”

A voice came over his comm, not Alia, or a voice he recognized, but a voice nonetheless.

“Yes! Yes, I’m here, please, I need a report, what’s going on?” X was almost breathless with relief, leaning against some shattered remains of a wall.

“X? Oh thank god, we need help! Omega did something, we’re getting reports of mass casualties!” the mystery navigator sounded tearful, their voice breaking over the radio.

“W...what do you mean mass casualties…?” X’s words shook, panic taking hold of him again.

This couldn’t be happening.

Omega’s words rang out to him, letting X see a glimpse of his world.

Was this what that meant?

“Hunter casualties are at ninety five percent, they’re all gone, they’re all dead! The commander, all the navigators, everyone’s dead! We’re getting reports of civilian casualties too, the numbers won’t stop going up! Reploids everywhere are dead!” the voice broke down, sobbing as they exclaimed their horror.

X fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

Dead?

Everyone?

Where was Signas? Or Alia?

Did this person really say all navigators?

“What’s the percentage of casualties all together…” X whispered, unable to make himself louder.

There was silence over the line for a moment as whoever else was there gathered themselves as much as they could.

“Reploid casualties en masse are at eighty-seven percent, they’re still going up.” The voice was small, clearly just barely holding themselves together.

“X...what do we do?” the voice asked.

X didn’t answer. How could he? What could he say?

“X….please….”

Axl....Zero...did they make it out? Were they okay? Nothing felt real, it had to all be a lie. Omega and the Dark Elf couldn’t have killed that many people remotely...could they?

In one agonizing moment, X realized that not only could they, but they did. Everyone was dead, they were all gone. Alia, Layer, Palette, Signas, Douglas, Axl…

Zero.

X fell forward and screamed until he couldn’t scream anymore.

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Was that a dream...or a memory? He couldn’t be sure. All he could feel was the pain of the memory as he floated in some void of awareness.

X drifted in and out of consciousness, hyper aware of the pain his body was experiencing in the moments of lucidity before blacking out again

He could feel someone touching him, something that made his mind recoil in disgust and rage. He didn’t want anyone to touch him, never again.

X really couldn’t do anything about that however, his body refusing to move. He supposed he would have to handle it once he could move again.

If he could move again. This might be the last time he was even alive enough to care.

Only time would tell.

He drifted back out of consciousness.

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“Damn...that kid looks rough, is he the one you pulled out of the ocean?”

A voice woke X this time, his pain receptors flaring up to remind him that he still was very much NOT okay.

“Yeah, he is, and I’d show a little respect, Doigt, that’s no kid. That’s Mega Man X.”

Another voice, this one much closer. He must be the one touching X, another fact he was being made unfortunately aware of.

“Holy shit...that beaten up reploid is X? What about the one we saw makin’ that announcement this morning? Was that not X?”

The first voice, Doigt, sounded astonished. X wondered what he looked like right now to make them not recognize him.

“Cerveau...what does this mean? What are you going to do?”

A female voice this time, she sounded so solemn.

X wanted to say something, to move, to do anything.

He wanted Zero.

“Z...ze…” his voice was hoarse, words not forming properly. It seemed that the beginning of his husband’s name would be all he could manage, as his mind faded into blackness again.

He didn’t hear his rescuers' responses.

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X’s eyes blinked open slowly when he woke this time, adjusting to the light directly above him. He didn’t feel as immediately panicked as he had when he woke on Weil’s lab table, but the fear was still there.

He turned his head as carefully as he could manage, trying to gauge his surroundings in case he needed to make another run for it.

He was met with a reploid’s face looking back at him, having the appearance of a middle aged human.

X grimaced for a moment, trying to get the pain in his head to dampen for a moment so he could attempt a conversation with this person.

“Well, good morning to you too.” the man huffed, folding his arms in front of his chest.

“What are you...doing to me…?” X’s voice was scratchy, either from trauma or misuse, he didn’t know.

“Saving your life, trying to put your organs back where they belong.” the man spoke, a note of sympathy lacing his voice.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone was trying to strip you for parts, and while you were still alive.”

X winced, sucking in a sharp breath at the memory of Weil’s hands pulling him apart. The memory felt too fresh in his mind still.

“Hey, shit I’m sorry, that wasn’t very smart of me. Look, my name is Cerveau. I’m an engineer from the lower districts of Neo Arcadia.” The reploid, Cerveau, drew the conversation away from X’s memories, bringing him back to the present.

“It’s fine. Just don’t touch me anymore. I don't want to be touched.” X mumbled, his face still tight from the phantom feeling of being opened up.

“Right, how am I supposed to repair you from here on then? You may be the legendary Mega Man X, but you aren’t immortal, and right now you’re a mess.” Cerveau snorted, looking X up and down.

X pulled a face, not particularly enjoying this conversation.

“I don’t want you repairing me, I want to be left alone. Go away.” X knew he was acting immature, but something in him really didn’t care. He was tired of being nice when he was uncomfortable.

“Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t care who you are, Rocinolle and I can’t just let you walk around half dead. You need repairs.” the reploid reached for his tools, clearly ready to get started repairing X again.

“Don’t fucking touch me. I mean it.” X seethed, glaring at Cerveau.

“Look, I’m not real fond of you right now either. Your policies on mavericks and what classifies a maverick got some of my friends killed. A lot of reploids really don't care whether you live or die lately, but…” Cerveau trailed off, looking away from X for a moment.

“I can’t in good conscience let someone die when they’re clearly in need of help. So shut up and let me repair you.” He reached again for his tools, but gave pause when he saw X’s face.

“What do you mean by my policies on maverickism… ” X’s eyes were wide as he looked at the engineer, mind racing.

He hadn’t put any rules or legislation into place on Mavericks, he hadn’t done anything like that in over a century, not since the Maverick Hunters were still around.

Something wasn’t adding up, and X had a nagging feeling he knew who was behind it.

“Any reploid found participating in suspicious behavior was to be brought in for questioning and possible retirement under suspicion of maverickism. It’s been happening for a few years now, but it’s been steadily getting...worse…” Cerveau hesitated, watching X’s face morph from confusion to horror to sickened realization.

“Oh my god, you didn’t know did you...you had no idea this was happening…” The reploid sat back, his tools falling from his hands.

X turned to face the ceiling again, tears falling from his eyes,

“I’m such a fucking fool. This was happening right under my nose, and I was so wrapped up in my own pity, I didn’t even notice.” X hiccuped, his body pulsing in pain from the seal and Weil’s tampering.

Both reploids sat in silence, stewing in their own thoughts. Cerveau was the one to break the unpleasant void they had found themselves in.

“Well shit, there goes my justified anger. Guess we’re all fools then.” Cerveau chuckled darkly, moving to stand up again.

“If you won’t let me repair you, let me at least get the tools you need to do it yourself. I tried to patch out whatever virus that was that's tearing up your code, but nothing would work. I just patched the firewall that was messed with instead.” He explained, walking around the room and gathering various tools and pieces of metals.

“Whatever that thing is, it’s nasty. I’m sure you can feel it breaking you down. It’s gonna keep doing that until it either rewrites your code entirely, or kills you. It’s going to cause you a lot of physical pain, but I can help you fix th-”

“No. I can’t mess with it more than you already have. I’m the only thing keeping her at bay. I’ll survive until I can get the original code back.” X interrupted Cerveau, sitting up and reaching for a soldering iron.

“You idiot, did you not hear what I just said? It’s going to kill you, after putting you through hell and back. Is that what you want?” The engineer grumbled, pushing the equipment closer to X and turning it on.

“Yeah, I heard you, I just don’t give a damn right now. I just need to focus on getting back to the sanctum and fixing all of this.” X grunted, beginning to solder down the wires in his arm, one that had been shredded by the grenade. The wounds looked so old, hadn’t they just happened a day ago?

“How long has it been since you found me in the ocean?” X asked, wincing as the metal and wires began fusing. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, but considering the amount of pain he had been through recently, and the Dark Elf’s influence still harassing his code, he really didn’t find himself caring too much about the sting of heat and metal.

“It’s been about seven months, I honestly thought we were going to lose you there for a while.” Cerveau faced away from X, searching for something.

X paused, processing the absurd amount of time. Seven months? Had he really been gone for so long?

“I’ve...been gone seven months? And no one’s noticed my absence?” He turned to face Cerveau, his mind racing.

In all that time, the Dark Elf’s seal remained closed, how had Weil not busted it open at this point?

“They have a very convincing body double for you, X.” The man shook his head, his own world view being thrown.

“That bastard...I hate him.” X’s voice was dripping with venom, anger flowing through him. Weil truly was something else, and X wasn’t sure how much damage he had let the man get away with at this point.

“We’ll worry about that later. Since you won’t let me help fix you, and I’m guessing you won’t let Rocinolle help either, the least I can do is craft up some new armor for you. You can’t be walking around naked like that.” Cerveau stood, walking towards the door.

“Don’t make it white...I hate white.” X called after the engineer, earning himself a chuckle.

“What, should I make it red? Like the legendary reploid, Zero?” Cerveau called back, looking over his shoulder. X felt his whole body tense up, his husband’s name something he couldn’t say out loud.

“Don’t. Don’t say his name.” X’s voice was barely above a whisper, his hand clenched tightly around the soldering tool.

“Make it blue...I like blue. I miss it…” he wouldn’t look at the engineer. Tears dripped down his cheeks, landing onto his bare lap.

“You got it, blue it is. Your hair is really long too, do you want Rocinolle to cut it for you?” Cerveau’s voice was soft, clearly taking the hint that Zero was a big no-no subject to X.

“No, I want it to stay long. Thank you though.” X reply was final, willing his tears to stop so he didn’t make more of a fool of himself

Cerveau said nothing as he left the room, closing the door to his lab with a quiet click.

X put his tools down, reaching up with his one functioning arm and wiped his tears away.

I swear, I won’t let you make me cry over you anymore Zero. I will not cry over the past anymore.

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Dim electronic lights hummed and crackled overhead, the energy crisis becoming more and more dire everyday. The spartan lab turned personal quarters felt cold and unappealing, dirty silvers and muted greys covering most of the room. The only splash of color was the former leader of Neo Arcadia.

X rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve the pain there. It had been a while since the last flare up, the Dark Elf continually finding ways past his firewalls.

He hoped that nothing would happen today, their last few missions going a little rougher than he had intended.

Cerveau and Rocinolle had done a fine job creating new armor for him, his chest covered in a deep blue vest with an X on the front. His greaves and gauntlet-like armor had been replaced from that irritating white to rolling deep indigo.

X was grateful that his helmet had once again survived the changing of armors, only slightly changed to remove the wings that Neo Arcadia had put there. He had made it a point as well to let his hair stay down, the long black locks drifting down between his shoulders. His bangs were so long that they fell from the front of the helmet, falling over his nose and peeking out from the sides of his face.

It felt right, donning blue armor again and letting his hair fall where HE wanted it to.

He stood, looking around the room.

Maybe it was silly, for an ancient hero like X to have formed a resistance group against the people he was supposed to lead, but Neo Arcadia had forced his hand.

After months of recovering, gathering supplies and rescuing humans and reploids alike, he now had a safe haven for anyone fleeing from Weil and Neo Arcadia’s tyrannical ways. X’s departure from the city had opened the floodgates for even stricter and crueler rules against Reploids, to the point now where even some humans had begun to question the shady behavior.

X shook his head. There wasn’t really anything he could do to change that right now, his main concern was getting people out and getting them the help they needed.

Cerveau had begrudgingly become somewhat of a field medic, assisting Rocinolle in keeping any refugees healthy and in working order. Doigt...helped when he could, X found him more useful in helping run supplies through the base than at Rocinolle’s side. He was a fine budding engineer however, and definitely helped keep Cerveau from drowning in projects, X being his constant headache.

X regretted letting some reploids pick up weapons, but they needed to defend themselves, especially on rescue missions and raids. Young men like Colbor and Milan helped him with missions. It made him sick letting them fight.

He used that anger he felt as fuel to push through the pain of the Dark Elf and his still-healing body, determined to save as many people from his mistakes as possible.

With a huff, and an adjustment of his vest, X retrieved his buster from the table of his room.

He strode briskly through the hallways, lights flickering and the smell of dust filling his nose. Few reploids scurried around, attending to their own tasks to keep the Resistance base in working order. The single elevator in the middle of the base led out to the surface and below to the engine room.

X selected the latter, letting the mechanism lower him deeper into the base. If he wanted to, he could slide down the walls of the elevator shaft, letting the boosters in his legs help him descend faster like he did when he was younger. The thought instead left his legs aching, grumbling to himself that he was too old for that kind of crap.

The elevator stopped with a metallic groan, the doors opening with a squeal. X sighed, he supposed he’d have to look at that and make sure the damn thing wouldn’t fall apart with some unfortunate reploid still inside.

He strode through the engine room, looking over the supplies, doing last checks before their mission. A young woman walked up to him, her long brown hair pulled back by a red headband.

“Master X, I have the latest information from the scouts, the refugee targets are three reploids, one child repoloid and a human girl.” The woman spoke, reading out from a small datapad in her hands.

“What? A human girl? Why would a human be with a group of reploids to be executed?” X faced the woman, his brows knit in confusion.

“I don’t know, she was seen holding the little reploid girl, and she appeared to be trying to protect the other reploids. One of the Four Guardians apprehended her, according to reports.” She shrugged, looking distraught at the mention of the Guardians.

“Thank you Rouge, I appreciate the reports. I’ll be heading out soon.” X watched her leave with a dip of her head and a look of gratitude on her face, wincing at the subtle spike in pain in his body.

“And when you return, I’m taking another look at your back, Master X.” A voice chided behind him.

“Cerveau, I’m really not in the mood to hear you lecture me about this again.” X grimaced, turning to face the man as he walked out of his lab, Doigt trailing behind.

“Regardless of whether you’re in the mood or not, Old Man, you are still healing, and pushing yourself like this will only get you killed. After this mission, we’re looking at your back again.” Cerveau crossed his arms, the only one in the entire base brave enough to talk to X like that.

Probably because he had basically brought him back from the dead.

X sneered lightly at being called ‘Old Man’, but let it slide.

“I’ll get to my back when I damn well please, Cerveau. And if it kills me, then good, maybe then I can rest for a while without someone breathing down my goddamned neck all the time.” The android sassed back, turning and walking back towards the elevator.

He could vaguely hear Cerveau insult him before the door closed, Doigt waving goodbye and smiling sheepishly next to the engineer’s angry shouts.

X knew Cerveau was right, but he couldn’t really stop to care about himself now. There were too many innocents suffering because of his mistakes, and he would fix them even if it put him in the ground.

The elevator rode up the shaft, taking him to the Trans-Server room. When it opened, X made a note in his head again to make sure to look at it at some point when he got back and moved away from it.

Milan, the ever faithful young man, jumped up from his spot on the floor, the other reploids following suit, when they saw X step out.

“Commander X! We’re ready to deploy, Joan already gave me our report.” Milan trailed behind X, going over their own details of the mission they had received.

X was reminded momentarily of Tria, walking him through their patrol route before being murdered in cold-blood in front of his eyes. That wasn’t a fun thought to have before starting another mission.

“Thank you Milan. I want you and your squad to deploy first. I’ll follow behind and get to the captives. Keep them busy.” X spoke, his buster humming as he prepared it for battle. He didn’t look Milan in the eyes as he gave him his orders, best to keep him at arm's length.

Milan nodded, signalling to his other squadmates to head through the Trans-Server. He watched them as one by one they deployed into Neo Arcadia’s holding cells, ready to engage with his city as ‘terrorists’.

Once all of the reploids disappeared, X stepped forward, readying his buster. With a sigh, his boosters in his legs hummed to life, ready to dash immediately as he arrived.

“Transfer!”

A beam of light struck the android, and in a split second, he was gone.

#fs-chapter archive #ch. 3 #fs-chapter update #mega man zero #xzero

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