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Forte hastily exited the medbay, wounds patched, oil finally stopping from bleeding.
He made his way to Central Command, where he met eyes with a familiar azure reploid.
X looked exhausted to say the least. He looked like he was on the verge of collapsing.
There were many injuries to his body, such as cuts, scrapes, bruises. Heck, if he was a human, there would be so many physical scars.
One thing reploids and humans had in common was that they could have mental and emotional scars.
One thing that Forte hated.
The black armored reploid studied the other and eyes widened as he saw a familiar buster.
“Where did you— where’s Zero?” Forte asked, a surprise present in his voice.
X was saddened at this and looked away.
“Where. Is. He?” Forte pressed on, he saw X shut his eyes before speaking.
“He’s gone.”
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
Forte’s eyes were wide as he squeezed one hand with the other.
“He—” X choked out.
“He died in my arms”
Forte gasped quietly as he then clenched his jaw.
“Who did this?” Forte asked.
“Vile. I couldn’t defeat him with his Ride Armor. So Z…he self-destructed as an attempt to stop Vile but…it only destroyed his Ride Armor…” Forte cursed.
“That idiot. He was always way too reckless.” X frowned.
“But it’s also your fault. You could’ve stopped it.” X’s eyes widened.
“How is this—” Forte cuts him off.
“YOU COULD’VE STOPPED IT!” X jumps by Forte’s sudden outburst.
“Maybe if you weren’t so damn weak he wouldn’t have died.” A tear falls from X’s cheek. Forte clearly doesn’t care.
“You think I wanted this? You think I WANTED this to happen?!” X yells suddenly.
There’s a tense silence until Forte says.
“I never liked you. But now I hate you. Zero isn’t dead. I know he isn’t. If I wasn’t still recovering I would tear you to shreds. Thinking about it though, Zero wouldn’t want that.” X steps back, clearly angered.
Forte smirked.
“Made you mad? Good. Now you know how I feel. You wouldn’t hurt me though. How could you hurt Zero’s brother? His family?” X growled as Forte walked closer to him.
“You can still come. To the funeral.” X feels forced to say, Forte shakes his head.
“No. Because he’s not dead. I’m going to find him and prove you wrong. I’ll prove you all wrong.” X’s eyes widen as Forte walks over to the teleporter.
“Don’t go after me. I won’t be so nice next time” is the last thing Forte says before inputting some coordinates and teleporting away.
X stares at the floor, angry. Both with himself, and with Forte.
He didn’t want to hate him. He really didn’t. Although Zero never admitted it, he cared for Forte.
X even swears he’s heard Zero say he loved him.
What would Zero think of him right now? What would he say while he’s in this state? What would he say about his emotions? What would he say about everything?
X doesn’t know. His knees give in and he sinks to the floor.
He hugs himself. X looks at Zero’s buster one last time before sobbing.
X didn’t know how long he kept crying.
He didn’t know when it was that he blacked out.
He didn’t know much at the moment. Or care.
Zero is gone. And he can’t do anything about it.
He could’ve saved him.
But he was too weak.
Zero is gone.
Gone for good.