MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ Strings of Fate ❯ Determination ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Deya_X
The situation concerning Zero has been exposed....and the flames of the Black Tiger's valiance rise to the skies.

Anime/Manga: MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.28.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.9K | Visits: 470 | Status: Completed

Author's Note: The OOC problem has been fixed. Thank you for your patience. Please enjoy the rest of the story.
The Maverick Hunter base was filled with the extraordinary beauty of starlight-it looked as if there were a million stars, lingering in the cold, calm air....and it was as if they knew about the emotions inside of the young Axl's heart. The young reploid felt as if they were listening to him somehow.....and he knew that he certainly wasn't listening to what X was saying. The legendary Maverick Hunter was taking him on a tour of the Maverick Hunter base, but Axl's mind was on the conversation that had just taken place about Zero.
What was wrong with Zero?
Not being able to figure something out bothered him.
X was carefully showing him every inch of the base, but the words of the great Hunter were falling on deaf ears. The look Zero had on his face was glued in Axl's mind.....and so he could think of nothing else at the moment.....
“All employees have their very own dormitory here. The dormitories are located in the West Wing, which isn't too far from here. We'll have to get you one, so you can have a place to sleep. You may use your dormitory in anyway you wish to use it. The observatory is quite close to the dormitory area. The monitors inside of the dormitory display the activity of outer space, so whenever you would like to take a look at what's going on outside of the Earth's atmosphere, head for the observatory. It's a very nice place to be if you want to take a break.”
Axl looked distracted, but the Blue Bomber either didn't notice the look on his face, or he just wanted to keep himself distracted.....
“This is the Maverick Hunter laboratory, where our friend Gate conducts many experiments along with his crew. Projects concerning the Earth and its activity are done inside of here. They also assist Douglas and his crew when it comes to making up new equipment.”
The level of anxiety was rising higher and higher. It was almost at vehement, fiery level.
A soft sigh escaped Axl's mouth. A part of him really didn't want to ask the question that was on his mind....but the other part of him wanted answers. His heart went out to his new friend-the young Reploid felt as if he had known him his whole life.......
And so he wanted to help him.
“X?”
“Yes?” X asked him, not really wanting to hear what was going to come next.
“What's wrong with Zero?”
Silence dive-bombed into them for brief moment, making them both feel uneasy. The look on X's face made Axl feel bad for asking the question that had been tugging on him, but....
“Sorry, but........”
“No.” X held up a hand with a smile. “It's all right. I guess I'll tell you....but are you sure you want to know? This......really doesn't concern you. I don't think we should burden you with anything. You're already dealing with Red Alert and Sigma.”
Axl smiled back at him, touched by his thoughtfulness. There was a warm smile on the Maverick Hunter's face.....but his eyes were tainted by sadness. There were gemstones...drowning in ultimate, complete darkness......and the Hunter had no desire to add more worries to his new friend's agenda.....but the young runaway really wanted him to know that he was there to help.
Friends helped each other out, right?
The former member of Red Alert's smile became brighter-it shamed even the brightest star. “I'd like to know. You can tell me. Maybe I can help out with something, y'know? You never know.”
X's smile became even warmer, but at the same time, the sorrow in his eyes increased. Looking at him was like trying to look at an abandoned puppy. In other words, it was pretty hard. He sighed heavily, trying to figure out if he would have enough strength to tell the tale of his best friend.....maybe he would just get right down to the nitty-gritty.
“I'll make this short. There's a virus inside of Zero......and it's killing him. Slowly.”
A small gasp left Axl's mouth, and looking at X was still excruciatingly hard. The Hunter was holding back so many emotions.....and his eyes were so sad.....
“Look at it this way. There are two voices inside of him. One's telling him to become the bloodthirsty, mindless killer Sigma wants him to be....the other is telling him to let the virus kill him. Guess which one he's listening to.”
Shock, fear and sadness became one in Axl's bright, vivacious eyes. A deadly virus was locked inside of Zero's body?
Horrible. Horrible news.
X saw the look in his friend's eyes and sighed again, feeling lost and hopeless, like a rat inside of a cage. His gentle, soft voice was burdened by thunderous grief and pain. “See? I shouldn't have told you. You have enough to worry about....and nothing can be done anyway.”
Confusion joined the other emotions inside of Axl's eyes. “What?”
“I said, nothing can be done. We can't do anything about the virus.”
“Wha-have you tried to get it out? There has to be something you can do!”
X smiled and chuckled at him weakly. It was like watching the sun make an attempt to break out from the chains of a black storm.
“We've tried everything. All options have been exhausted. The virus can't be transferred over to Sigma, since he has made himself immune to all viruses. Zero won't allow me to take the virus-I suggested that and he almost killed me. Douglas, Gate and all of our other researches tried to have it removed, but none of their attempts worked. Nothing worked.”
The shock in Axl's voice was strong. And so was the disgust.
“So it's glued inside of Zero's body, correct?”
“Correct.” X hung his head. “I would gladly cut off all of my limbs to get rid of the virus, but.....I don't know. Nobody knows. Nothing can be done, and that's all there is to it.”
What Axl said next surprised him, and it made him realize that the runaway wasn't just any other Reploid.
“You're wrong. All of you are. There has to be SOMETHING. There just has to be way. Where there's a will, there's a way, right?”
For a minute, X had no response to that, since Axl's words were completely unexpected. His friend's face had determination stamped all over it-it was an amazing sight. He had never seen such courage.
“I'm not trying to say that you guys aren't trying hard enough. I'm just saying that there's another option out there. We just have to find it, that's all.”
“We?”