Chapter Text
Promise me, Zero.
The words echoed in the back of his head even as he topped out his run speed, darting and bounding through the ruins like a man possessed. And maybe, just maybe – he was.
Not him. Not him, literally ANYONE ELSE but him–
“We’ve lost contact with X. All systems are running red - Zero, there’s only one person he - we - would trust with this.”
It was mere minutes ago the word had broke about the First’s fate but it felt like damn years. This couldn’t be happening, right? This was– bad data, he was just processing some bad data in a recharge state this was a bad dream, he was going to wake up and X would be fine and those eyes would be green not red–
His foot unexpectedly caught on a rebar and his whole body twisted trying to absorb the impact and get moving again. His shoulder armor instead had to withstand the shock and the crack he heard could NOT have been healthy but it didn’t matter right now, NOTHING but getting there on time mattered–
“We’ve set a time limit of one hour for you to retrieve him - after that, we won’t have any time left and will have to retreat to shelter. Any delay will be costly– now go!”
–he kicked the rebar away and was already back on his feet and running before the thought had finished, using the destroyed walls of god knew how many buildings as platforms to bounce between and cover more and more ground. Hell with it, if he got injured he got injured, it wasn’t like he was going to have to fight X in the end, right?!
…No, no he knew damn well it was a very very distinct possibility. One that was approaching him at a speed he could think of as a terminal velocity. But if he kept thinking about it, he wasn’t going to be able to keep going and hopefully find that he was wrong.
So, no more thinking about it. Only going forward. Only continuing to run and turning off comms so his Navigator couldn’t talk him into turning back.
Not that she could. Not that she would.
Not that anyone could.
By the time his sensor was giving him a closer read on the signal matching X’s, he’d found himself in what he expected to be the remains of a park: dark yet verdant, crawling with plantlife in a way he almost found eerie.
How could this much greenery still thrive when literally everything was so ravaged? Was that X’s doing, somehow? Helping it adapt…?
He’d never really thought about what X’s infinite adaptability would mean in context of him being Maverick, and he’d never wanted to. But… there was no denying that signal was X, and the way it was malformed said more than actual words ever could.
That was the man he loved in there, all right. But if X was so adaptable– could he adapt to the virus, maybe? Like a living antibody. If given time, could he essentially outwit it and regain control?
Zero wasn’t sure. And even then, he couldn’t call it anything more than a fantasy.
Deep breath, he tells himself in X’s voice as he starts following the path inward. The dirt under his feet is soft and the path is clear - like this space was welcoming him into it. If X was in there and had any kind of control of the space, he was clearly inviting Zero in.
He almost didn’t even think of his Navigator that he was now completely cut off from. Or the way the path suddenly became darker. Zero wasn’t going to turn back anyway, so there was no point looking to confirm the passage was now blocked.
The dense greenery continued to block out any and all light from the area - it was almost like he was going deeper into the depths of some massive beast, the pressure in the back of his head once unnoticeable now very visible to his sensors.
Non-barometric, Zero observed, and decided that it was likely his viral sensors trying to get him to go back. He’d have to bear it for now.
How much time was left? His internal clock seemed so much slower all of sudden. Was his clock still accurate? What if time had already run out and– the resulting stabilizing jolt of synthetic adrenaline and panic got it to catch up: still forty-five minutes. Good.
All he had to do was find X, and bring him home. Maverick or not, he was bringing X home.
Come to think of it, had those blue flowers always lined this path? They were getting more and more frequent– some of them, dangling from an upper branch, brushed against his helmet. Before he could push them away, however, a vine had slunk out of the darkness like a snake and lunged at him!
Fortunately, even if everything else felt slow, Zero’s combat computer was eternally primed and always at max speed. Typically it was a curse, but at this moment? It was a blessing, and his saber quickly found his hand.
Damn it– this must be another Maverick, not X. I don’t have time for– Zero prepared to lunge into an attack, only for his body to suddenly seize like it was held in place. As brief as the hold was, it was enough for the vine to get back into position and snap at him, the thorns raking across his chest and gouging the armor there.
As suddenly as he’d been held, his body went equally suddenly slack and he felt he could move again: just in time for a second vine to snap at him, sending a wave of plasma bullets at him. With so little room to dodge, he was going to have to take his chances on timing.
Zero bolted forward back into the first vine’s range, swiping upward with the saber in the hopes of cutting it - he got the external plating, at least, but not enough to cut through. (He’d never struck so weakly before…) The injured vine managed to get around his waist and heft him off the ground, creating more of that crushing pressure from earlier but now it was bad enough to physically feel.
What the hell happened? He wasn’t normally this sluggish– he quickly twirled his saber to get it back into slashing range but the second vine had gotten his wrist, and a third had wrapped around his neck.
Not like his situation was bad enough, he muttered in the back of his head, his internal-set timer reminding him helpfully he’d burned another five minutes he didn’t have– and his vision was going dark from the inability to vent, some of his systems were already flashing overheat warnings. His best way out was a well-aimed buster shot but good luck landing it blind–
“That’s a bit too rough, I’m afraid. Put him down.”
The command came from somewhere in front of him – he’d know that calm, warm voice anywhere even as it sent a shiver down his spinal strut. There was only one Reploid who had that voice, even if there was something uncanny about the imitation.
The vines released and unceremoniously dropped him on his ass, leaving him cursing as he opened his eyes to exactly what he feared: the path ahead had cleared, revealing a small clearing with something he could only call a throne at the back of it.
And perched daintily on it, hands folded, legs crossed politely at the ankle with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes– there was a wide-eyed X, crimson eyes gazing over at him like they hadn’t fully registered what he was seeing.
“Sorry, Zero. I haven’t quite got control of all of this yet,” he says with a breezy laugh like he hadn’t just casually admitted to using at least three known Mavericks’ abilities like they were natively part of his system.
X stood up, a subtle sway in the way he moved - something was wrong, even Mavericks didn’t move that– fluidly. It was near-human. “Put your saber away. Neither of us has any intention to fight the other, and it’ll be easier if you’re not staring me down with that thing glowing in my eyes.”
Zero smartly did no such thing. X in turn sighed, made a motion with his hand, and then a vine suddenly pushed out of the “ceiling” to slap the saber out of his hand. X seemed to wince at the sound of the impact and Zero’s yelp.
“Ah, sorry. I told you, I still don’t have very good control of all this yet. But in time,” he said softly, swaying gently as he began to walk over to Zero. “I’ll get it. Don’t worry.”
“X, what the hell happened? What’s wrong with you?” Zero hissed through grit teeth, immediately dropping into a lower guard to be safe.
“Oh, Zero… nothing happened, per se.” X sighed softly, shaking his head. “I’m completely fine. If anything, all that really happened was… well. I woke up.”
“I woke up,” X repeated with another oddly airy laugh, a hand on his face. “And now look at this. I’ve always been good at adapting enemy abilities, but never on this scale! It feels like I’ve unlocked something. My true potential, maybe?”
“Ah, I suppose it doesn’t matter,” X concluded, letting his hand drop with a small smile. “I’m happy like this, Zero. I’m not– I’m not stuck on what ifs any more. Everything’s clear.”
All of this– X had clearly gone Maverick, but Zero’s sensors just weren’t pinging him. It was like– like some part of him saw this as normal X, even if it wasn’t. X was definitely gone or at least infected, and–
“Zero?”
“X - you’re clearly not in your right mind, and we’re not exactly in a place where we have time. We need to go. We’re going back to the Maverick Hunter HQ, you’re going to Lifesaver, and this– it’ll be fine,” Zero said, more to reassure himself than X. A move that failed when he realized X was laughing.
“I don’t think so, no. I’m fine, Zero. In fact… I think I understand you better than ever now,” X drawled, slinking over to touch his headgem to Zero’s affectionately. (Wait, why can’t I– did he use Dark Hold on me?!) “I woke up. Now I think you need to, too.”
“You need to wake up, Zero,” X said more insistently, meeting him eye to eye. “Wake up and join me. I promise, it’ll be okay. It might hurt a bit at first, but it’ll feel so much better afterward.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Zero growled. “What the hell do you mean “wake up”?”
“Exactly what you think I mean,” X laughed again, pressing a playful kiss between Zero’s eyes. “You just need to wait here with me until you wake up. Once you do… then none of this will matter, all right? You’ll be able to fight until your heart’s content. And I’ll be there with you.”
“Can you imagine it,” X continued, voice dropping an octave as he wrapped his arms around Zero’s neck. “A world where you can always find a strong opponent to fight. A world where I’ll get stronger, too, so when you run out of people… you’ll always have me. And you’ll never need to worry about me being afraid, or getting hurt.”
“Because,” X leaned in to whisper into Zero’s ear. “I’ll be right beside you, hunting down the perfect opponents for you to destroy. Won’t that be nice? Zero?”
This wasn’t X, this couldn’t be X. All of Zero’s systems should be flaring, his viral sensor should be SCREAMING. None of them were so much making a peep.
Did he do this? Did he, somehow, by his very nature corrupt the one unwaveringly good thing in his life…?
X cocked his head sideways, long lashes brushing Zero’s cheek. “You’ll wake up for me, won’t you, Zero? I did it for you,” X paused to caress Zero’s cheek, turning his head to look at him. “So you should do it, too. If you don’t, we might have to fight each other forever. You might even have to kill me some day. Do you really want that?”
“Come on now, Zero. Wake up,” X said with a small laugh as Zero’s hand found his waist, seemingly automatically. “Wake up, just like I did.”
“Awaken, Zero. It’s your destiny after all.”