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“-And you’ve been having this dream for how long? I mean, I’m glad you’re telling me, but why me? You haven’t told this to anyone else right?” Axl asked, his normally optimistic face frowning a bit.
Zero was too preoccupied to think about the setting, the maverick hunter’s cafeteria. The food, reploid energy in the shape (and supposedly, the taste, but he didn’t have taste buds) of eggs and toast. He was plenty energized. He turned away and stared out the large windows, the view of Abel City breathtaking.
“To answer your question… it's been... too long. As for your other question, simple. I don’t have anyone else to talk to.”
“Yeah." Axl didn’t disagree and gulped down his miso soup. It was made of components like zinc, iron, and energen, and apparently Axl liked it.
“How does the dream go?”
“...It’s always the same. I hadn’t had it in a while but… it drives my processors insane when I do.”
“Okay, so… how does it go?” he asked again.
Zero closed his eyes and sighed, vents exhaling some hot air from his systems.
“... I’m in a cold, dark room.”
And there he was, the cold biting his synthetic skin. Then it bloomed into a gorgeous lush meadow. The sun shining brightly in the blue sky, beaming onto him. Small flowers broke up the endless green, he’s never seen so much green before.
“Zero….”
A voice calls to him. It’s sweet and gentle, masculine, and a twinge digital- a male reploid. He followed it, and as he did, the grass got thicker and thicker, the flowers blooming into rich deep violets and clusters of yellow. And taller still, sunflowers rose above his head, and the dappled sunlights passing over him. He squinted, the light blinding him. Zero passed through the flowers into a flat clearing. A blue reploid smiled.
There was something about him, and he smiled back. Something rested on the tip of his tongue, a word, a syllable, perhaps a name. The reploid suddenly looked saddened. Pouting in a way almost human-like.
“Find me…” He says. “In a field… A meadow of daisies.”
The dream goes to black, and just like that, he's awake. Normally he feels different afterward, more… at peace.
Axl blinked at him. “Weird. I don’t know anywhere like that. What does the reploid look like?”
“...He’s short. Not very tall, I estimate about 5 foot, 3 inches-”
“That’s oddly specific.” Axl chuckled.
“I’m measuring it based on my observations, in relation to my height.”
“Right, carry on.”
“And… he has bright green eyes.”
Zero imagined him for a moment, staring soulfully at him.
“His blue armor matched his helmet, which has a bright red power gem in the middle.”
Axl hummed, lost in thought. “And you’ve never seen him before…?”
“Never.”
“Do you think he actually exists?”
“I’ve never considered that he would. As far as I know, the dream means nothing. Dreams are just when your body is cleaning the unnecessary data clogging your systems. The leftover images are random linings of code.”
Axl perked up, suddenly grinning. “If that were true, why is it always the same one? Have you had a different dream before?” Zero hesitated but quickly realized he hadn't. Not once do his files indicate he had ever dreamt of someone else. “No,” he said.
“Well!” Axl stood triumphantly, both hands on his hips. “I think we should investigate.”
“You mean… The reploid in my dreams…?” Zero stared at him in serious disbelief, as if the suggestion was far more outlandish than it was. As if he were suggesting something much more outlandish. Such as Gate’s wild conspiracy theories about deadly computer viruses or that their commander was secretly a leader of the Mavericks (at least, from what Alia told them about him.)
“Precisely!”
“Okay… How do you plan that…? It isn’t much to go on.”
Axl paused for a moment, and then snapped his fingers. “Alia! I bet she knows.”
“You really should stop bothering her with stuff like this.” He felt like a mother scolding her child (but truthfully he didn’t know why).
“I won’t stop,” he said with a hint of seriousness and then frowned, whining. “Come on, aren’t you curious. What if she does find something?” Axl cut him off before Zero could respond, “And if she doesn’t, does it really make a difference?”
“I suppose not,” he mused.
“Might as well try then!”
Zero shrugged, feeling a little uneasy. His logical systems kept nagging at him, and his emotional processor didn’t exactly know what to make of it. But he agreed, concluding that it mattered to Axl for whatever reason. “Alright, if it will make you feel better.”
“Uh, dude, you can’t tell me the dream you’ve been having for years doesn’t matter to you.”
The emotional processor confirmed it did.
But instead of admitting it, he just sighed, restraining himself from rolling his eyes.
---
Alia calmly sipped her cup of battery acid, in a special non-corrosive container. Her big blue eyes peered at them, shoulders slightly hunched as she listened, one hand still typing away at the computer… as if the hunter base would explode if she stopped for two seconds. When Axl finished wildly explaining, waving his hands about, Alia swallowed and cleared her throat.
“How come you’ve never addressed it before?” she asked Zero.
He paused for a moment, and said, “It wasn’t logical to bring up. “
Both of them rolled their eyes. Zero could hear the other navigators in the background, tittering away instructions. The room was dark as evening set in, but the navigators really didn’t get a break. Each of them focused on their blue glowing screens, the only source of light.
“Right. I might be able to find them… Describe him again?”
“Green eyes. Blue helmet with red power gem. Light blue in color.” He didn’t know what to call the shade, but it reminded him of the big and expansive sky. His emotional processor sometimes made him feel small when he thought of it.
Which was logical. He was small in the face of everything. But he digressed. Alia chewed on the edge of her cup thoughtfully and then set it down.
“That sounds familiar… Hold on.” She turned to her computer screen, fingers typing across the holographic keyboard so fast her hands were a blur, and the whole keyboard just about lit up blue. She sighed, turning back to them after a moment, brushing her hair aside.
“Does he look like this?”
She turned her computer monitor around and Zero’s eyes focused intently, frozen.
It was him. He was smiling slightly in the photo. He turned to Zero, green eyes brimming. His white gloved palm outstretched out from the screen, transcending the 0’s and 1’s that trapped him inside, and said, “You found me, Zero.”
He shook his head rapidly. Axl gave Zero a strange look that read ‘you-okay-dude?’ But Zero dismissed him. The photo on the holoscreen was still, the words and gestures just an illusion.
“I’m judging by your reaction, that's a yes…”
“Who is that?” Zero asked a little too quickly. His emotional processor was ringing bells and whistling loudly, overriding the logical systems.
Alia looked a little confused. “You don’t know…? Axl, surely you know…”
Axl shook his head. “Nope. Never seen him before. Why? Should I know him?”
“He’s X…”
X.
X.
A single syllable, a single letter. He was the one that called to Zero sweetly in his dreams. The name that was always on the tip of his tongue, but always eluded him. Finally. He finally had his name. Zero’s gaze turned back to the photo. On closer inspection, it was a file from the Hunter Base.
NAME: X
RANK: B-CLASS
PROTOCOL: NONE
SERIAL NUMBER: 00000 (class: invalid)
The rest of the page was cut off.
Zero immediately scowled.
“No protocol, and a non-existent serial number? Who is he?”
Alia’s eyes drifted to the screen, and then back to the Hunters staring at X's picture. Zero, with enough seriousness to make someone shiver, and Axl with wide curious eyes like a puppy.
She sighed.
“You really don’t know…? Well, I suppose it’s old news by now… X was the first reploid.”
Axl’s jaw dropped. “No way! The first?! How come I’ve never heard of him before?!”
“He used to be pretty well known. When I was a scientist, just about everyone knew his name.” She chuckled. “There was a pretty big buzz when he joined the Hunters. That’s why we have his file on hand. I guess you haven’t heard of him because nobody talks about him much these days… Unfortunately, I never saw him in person, but my colleague, Gate, met him when he was supposed to be talking with Dr. Cain.” Zero stared. Was he supposed to know who that was? “...Dr. Cain was the person who discovered X.”
“Oh!” Axl’s eyes lit up, the processor in his head buzzing. He snapped his fingers, “I saw his name in a headline the other day! He just died, right?”
Alia nodded.
Zero chewed on the information, adding it to what he now knew about the person in his dreams. “Where is he now? Why haven’t we heard of him?” he pressed.
Alia bit her lip, silently scrolling down to the rest of the file. Zero’s eyes glanced to it, and he read in silence.
STATUS: M.I.A.
He felt something peculiar. His chest clenched roughly, and his teeth grit. He tried to keep his expression neutral so they wouldn’t ask questions he didn’t have answers to, and continued reading.
ADDENDUM: X, discovered by Dr. Cain, is well known for being the first reploid, in which all reploid designs are based off of. Information on how he was found is classified. On January 1st, 21XX he was welcomed into the Hunter Base and assigned his first mission 5 days after. Reports indicate he performed poorly on assigned missions, as attached in reports from Hunters, under file 14-DD. Additional information on missions attended to are included in files 12-BB. For battle, weapon, and armor specs, see 13-CC. Outside of emergencies, approval from Cain Industries is required to view design and internal blueprints. They are heavily protected and copyrighted, leaking of these sensitive files will be met in harsh punishment. (Warning 0019)
X was assigned to a solo mission by his commander Sigma. If these files are being accessed with the precedent of searching for information on Sigma, nice try Mavericks.
Zero scoffed at the line.
Sigma assigned his mission on May 15th, 21XX. Coordinates and location specifics can be found in file 11-AA.
For transcripts, see above.
After a week of the search, X (serial INVALID) was presumed dead and his status was changed to M.I.A. Information on his location is labeled a GREEN-LEVEL priority-
The lowest level priority.
-and should be contacted to Commander Sigma over line 54309 Labeled NON-PERSONAL communication.
Axl stared for a long moment, as Zero was still processing all the gathered information, and reading the status line over and over.
“So he’s scrapped?”
“Presumably. I’m sorry… That must be disappointing. You were dreaming about him for so long-”
“Alia, could you send all the files mentioned in the addendum?”
Both stared at Zero.
“I suppose I could. I’m not sure how much use they will be.”
“Dude, what are you going to do with those?” Axl was giving him a concerned look again.
“...” Zero wasn’t sure. It wasn’t as if he would have any luck in finding him with the basic information in his files. It was… “Curiosity.”
“You? Curious?” Alia smirked at him, seemingly relieved.
Axl gasped, “I was about to say the same thing!”
She went back to typing. “Alright, they should be sending in a moment- Oh, but, I was just thinking, the both of you are very similar…”
Zero's head tilted to the side, and he waited.
She continued, “Oh well, both of you were found in mysterious capsules underground and, it is to my understanding your systems cannot be analyzed- God, you really upset one of the Lifesavers after your last injury. He hates that he wasn’t able to analyze you.” She furrowed her brows in concentration, babbling at this point, “I wonder why that is. Of course, when I was a scientist, that was the question on everyone's minds: how X's systems are incompletely studied. They are so mysterious, Dr. Cain wasn’t able to fully understand them. Even though we all share a piece of him, which is strange to think about… I mean, if we reploids had begun to study him, it would be like studying ourselves. Or like human psychologists studying the brain. Unfortunately, none of us ever got the opportunity. It also makes me wonder... how similar are our designs in the first place?”
Axl made a face, “It kinda makes us sound like we’re his kids. Alia, that’s weird.”
Alia rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t phrase it like that. We aren't meant to be exact copies. We each have unique schematics and coding... even if it is based off of his. Although… I feel as if we are missing something… I suppose that means Zero is the only reploid that shares nothing with X.”
Axl turned to Zero. “Maybe that’s why you’ve been having dreams about him…? Maybe you share the same creator.”
Zero seemed to think it over, but it didn’t… feel right to him. He shrugged, while Alia shook her head.
Axl tapped his foot, a little irritated. “I’m guessing 'no'?”
“No,” she agreed. “It’s known that X’s creator is Dr. Light, who was a deeply regarded founder of robotics.” Alia looked away, seemingly into space. “He also created a series of ancient robots, who made the first steps in free-thinking and decision making that reploids are so praised for being advanced in. X was discovered with a message from him. Zero’s capsule was so heavily damaged that there was nothing identifiable to his creator other than a ‘W’, which would be a stretch to say it had anything to do with Dr. Light….” She flushed. “Sorry, I did a lot of analysis of his work while I was still in the scientific community… Honestly, I’m a big fan of his work. A lot of it, including the ancient line of robots he created, has been lost to history. But you can still find a few old news files about him talking about his creations.”
“Heh. Not just that, you sound like a fan of Zero’s, reading up on all his files.” Axl grinned at him. Zero was unbothered by that, it wasn’t as if that was information he was hiding.
“Well… I suppose…”
There was a ping. Zero checked his internal messaging, and the files from Alia were there.
“Thank you, Alia. If you'll excuse me, I’ll go and review these.” He left without waiting for a response.
---
When Zero went back inside his recharge pod that night, his thoughts were clouded. He felt…
His emotional processor poked at him, sadness, it rested in his abdomen, and his optics felt dry. He stared at the ceiling of his small, tidy room, the only light coming from the faint blue of the energy circulating in the recharging pod. He wanted to see and hear that X was all right. His logical processor was digesting all this information, and he couldn't help but think that it was unlikely he would have even liked X if they'd met.
FILE 14-DD. He read that first. Most of the negative reports were from Vile, who was an asshole. Zero knew him vaguely, occasionally sneering at each other when they crossed paths. Fortunately, Vile was away on missions often enough that, despite both being S-class, they didn’t meet often. He had to agree with a few things.
FILE 13-CC. His specs were… fucking- Zero didn’t swear often, but holy shit. The blaster power on his buster was amazing, and according to the files, he had extremely efficient fuel and energy containers, more efficient than his own, maybe. His armor could withstand almost as much as giant animaloids that were built like tanks.Yet he was very compact, not very tall (okay he was short) Then again, his dreams could be wrong… In any case, with the specs in the file, for his armor and buster-type weapon, there wasn’t much of an excuse for the poor performance on his record.
Then again, he couldn’t hear his side. He never would…
FILE 11-AA. This file was most dull. He didn’t learn anything about X, despite the Navigator transcripts. Apparently they didn't bother to include X's responses, even though he had clues, on what they were he hated that. This, however, Zero found much more valuable:
3.4653° S, 62.2159° W
Those were his final coordinates. The location was a forest in a national park. He could believe he disappeared inside the place. It was lush with vegetation and wildlife nowhere else… In fact, the entire island that the Maverick Hunters HQ was part of was swallowed up completely by technology, except the beaches of the smaller southern islands. Tourist traps.
There was so much he didn’t quite understand. Why was he dreaming of X for so long? Why was it always the same message? It should be simple, it meant nothing, but it could mean so much more that he was unaware of.
His systems lulled him into recharge, insisting when his levels reported low. He knew, when he curled into the recharge pod, there was nothing he could do. X had been gone for a few years now. What could he do now?
Even still…
“Zero…”
There it was, that haunting voice again.
It was dark. His eyes were closed and he could not open them. Around him, he could hear the swishing of grass, it was…
“Zero… I can’t hold on much longer… please…” his voice broke, and Zero's eyes opened, the image of X sobbing on the ground stirring up emotions he didn’t think were possible. His eyes widened.
“Eh…” the syllable left his lips before he could stop it, “X.”
X stopped, looking at him, eyes watery and glittering like stars. “Z-Zero… Please… Please, help me! Find me. In a field of… a meadow of flowers… sunflowers… poppies… violets, and vines with heart-shaped leaves…”
His eyes flew open.
Everything was silent, only one thing was on Zero’s mind.
3.4653° S, 62.2159° W.
---
Sigma looked at him, his eyes glowing.
“I’m surprised.” He straightened his papers on his desk, adding them to a neat pile, and folded his arms. “Workaholic Zero? Requesting a day off?”
Zero didn’t see the humor. “Yes, sir.”
“It’s a rather short notice, you know.” His expression was unreadable. “You’re asking for today off.”
“Yes.”
“...I could say no.” Zero’s arms folded around his back, and his fists clenched, gripping his arms. He had to go now, today. He had to find X. He’d waited too long to say or do anything. Even though it was illogical, even though it made no sense, he felt it strongly. He had to see X. He likely wouldn’t, it would be foolish to assume that he could find him, after years of search.
Sigma sighed. “What would you do if I said no?”
“Sir…” he hesitated, “I would go anyway.”
“Well, I see it’s important to you. It must be. I’ll grant you this day off, since you’ve never requested one before. And I believe you would go, even if I didn’t let you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Zero said stiffly, itching to go. His feet were already pointed in the opposite direction.
“Just don’t go crazy.”
He nodded and didn’t have enough time to think about that. As he stepped out of the office, he sent Axl a message.
“I’m going out to the coordinates where X was last seen, so I won’t be around that much today. Keep out of trouble.”
There was a reply not a minute later.
“Wait! I’m coming with you!”
Zero froze where he was and waited, tapping his foot, impatiently. He got a message a few moments later.
“Er… Where are you?”
“Down the hall, outside the commander's office.”
A few more moments. Then Axl appeared, apparently having run the whole way. His face was lined with coolant, and his vents exhaled. Zero frowned slightly.
“Okay-” he huffed, “where are you going?”
“I’m sending you the coordinates.” Truthfully he’d rather be alone, but was grateful to Axl for asking about X in the first place. He doubted he ever would have, had Axl not stepped in.
“Ah, the coordinates… That’s all the way on the side of the world?”
“And? It’s no different than going on a mission.”
“Well…”
“If you’re already busy-”
“I doubt they’ll miss me,” Axl shifted, “I-I mean, they got an S-class with them to…”
Zero’s eyes narrowed, and he stiffened. He relinquished the glare and decided not to press.
“Fine. I’ve done the research, and I advise you to prepare yourself for the heat.”
“Huh?”
“It’s 102 fahrenheit, or 38 degrees celsius.”
Axl made a face, “Man, I’ve been in lava pits or whatever but that is hot.”
---
It was hot, blistering actually. A breeze blew by, but it did nothing for them. They could withstand the heat, that was not a question. The discomfort, on the other hand... Zero swallowed. They were at the exact coordinates, and there was nothing. Their only saving grace was that as they progressed, the trees got thicker and thicker.
“Man, I didn’t know places like this still existed.” Axl looked around like he couldn’t believe all the flowers. “I mean, wow, there’s no machinery like, anywhere?”
Zero was inclined to agree. There were few national parks left in the world, besides those left from before the times of reploids, and no one seemed keen to add more. The ones that existed were more like an exhibit at a man-made zoo than something like this. He stared at the sky, and at the figures of trees blocking the sun. They were somewhere that had nothing to do with man.
He wondered if X would have appreciated this. The first of his kind, lost where he shouldn’t be. Zero discarded the thought.
Still, everything seemed confused. The scenery could fit cleanly into his dream, but it wasn’t his dream. Nothing quite fit in. It was a different piece to another, unrelated puzzle, one that just happened to be the same color. It irked him. He was already impatient and yet nothing was quite right. He recognized the trees, and some did have vines, and some had heart-shaped leaves, but it seemed to be more coincidence than anything.
Axl caught his attention and pointed down through the growth. “This way looks promising. He says he’s in some sort of field right? In the dream? It looks like a clearing that way.”
Zero nodded and let Axl take the lead.
The bark on the trees was a dull grey and the fallen leaves piled up… Many years had passed,the ground covered in a thick mulch of dead leaves.. The humid air made his hair heavy, like it was drenched in water. He wiped his forehead of accumulated moisture and loathed how hot it was under his helmet, which was conducting the sun fairly well. A butterfly flew past him, and suddenly he was fixated on it. It was bright blue and black in color. His toes pointed towards it, and before he knew it, he was following the butterfly instead of Axl.
Then it all clicked into place, he was sprinting, no, he activated his dashers and left Axl in the dust, protesting behind him. He darted into the tall grass, past the sunflowers, and the earth slid under his feet, and-
He was in a meadow of flowers.
He could hear Axl racing behind him, but he already caught the flash of blue under a tree, and crushed the flowers under his boots, ripping vines away from the figure half-buried in the soil.
It was him.
It was him.
It was X.
Axl gasped.
X was overgrown with leaves and vines that swallowed him into the ground. Zero had no idea what happened to him, and he wondered how nobody had found him. His body was limp like a rag doll, and one eye was slightly open, eyelid drooping a bit. It revealed nothing but solid white. The other was a dull shade of grey, looking to his left.
Zero thought he was beautiful. A word that was unfamiliar to him.
X was beautiful. He was still blue, although the color was a little bleached out by the sun. His ruby-red gem was still sparkling as well, although it was almost more salmon-pink than red. Zero’s eyes drifted to his shoulder, wires protruded from it, and he could see the unattached arm, dirty and almost completely covered in moss.
Zero reached for X's arm, ignoring the vines that grew around his body, covering his face somewhat.
“Zero, what are you-”
He tugged. The plant's embrace snapped. X’s body was heavy, head rolling back as Zero lifted him. Zero wrapped his arms around him in an embrace for better grip and pulled harder. The vines of the plants suspended in the air, flowers blooming white and blue and yellow, they seemed to be tugging back, reluctant to free their prisoner. Zero gave a final sharp jerk, and the roots of the plants were drawn from the earth, finally freeing him.
Axl exhaled from his vents behind him, and picked up the detached arm. “I’ll carry this. I can’t believe you found him… I thought he was a lost cause, and we’d come home never knowing…”
It was a depressing thought, but a truthful one.
Zero drew X tighter into an embrace. All of him had stayed together, except for an arm. Unsure what came over him, Zero whispered quietly to him.
“I’m sorry. I have you now.”
Holding him close wasn’t logical... but it felt right.