Chapter 16: Mournful Aftermath


June 9th (We Think)
Beach

The war was finally over. Though it lasted only a handful of days, hundreds died and two races, humans and reploids, were shaken to the core by it's events. Neither one truly trusted the other and loyalties were being divided. Would it happen again? Could reploids be trusted? As for the reploids, they pondered if they were truly just slaves and had they really done what was the right thing by destroying Sigma, who claimed to be trying to free them from oppression.

The world itself, was shaken to it's core. And it would never be the same again, both sides knew.

X stood on a cliff over looking the base, watching as the base fell into the ocean, causing a large explosion that totally engulfed the structure. The water rose up out of the ocean from the impact and blotted most of the sky from his view, then it too sank back into itself, causing restless waves to move about.

Why? What was this all about? X asked himself, or perhaps to the ghost of Dr. Light, who had created him. Why must reploids and humans fight? And why must reploids fight reploids? What was it all about? Why couldn't the two races get along and find true peace? Was Sigma's way the only way to achieve peace, or was Cain's way the right way? Perhaps, was pacifism the only way? X shook his head mournfully, none of the answers coming to his mind right then, perhaps never to come. The only thing I know is that the only answer I do have is the blaster on my arm. I'll fight, I'll fight until the true answer to peace presents itself to me. And then I can rest.

He began to walk away from the cliff side down to the beach to find out who all was still alive after the devastating battle.

* * * * *

A few weary Hunter could be found scrawled around the beach, looking at the debree washing onto the shore with uninterested eyes. As X limped towards them, he realized he must have had the same dull, dead look on his face too. The results of a long, long battle, he supposed.

He worked his way around the few Hunters and scatter debree until he came across one standing on the shore, looking out. The reploid turned his head and looked at X with dull, sad eyes. "X?"

X blinked. Obviously this guy knew who he was, yet he couldn't share that privledge. "Uh... yeah." He limped over so the two stood there together.

"The name's Wildfire."

"I knew that..." X bluffed.

Wildfire smiled sadly. "I could tell in your face you didn't remember me."

X sighed. "Sorry."

Wildfire shrugged casually. "Doesn't matter."

The two stood in silence, watching pieces of Sigma's fortress wash onto the shore. Finally X turned to him. "What are you looking for?"

"My friends," Wildfire said. He explained what had happened earlier.

X nodded. "I see. So you're the guys who self-destructed the base. Thanks."

"It seems to have caused more problems than not," Wildfire mused, depressed. X looked at him and rested his hand on his shoulder. Wildfire glanced at him.

"Don't fret. I'm sure they're fine. Besides, you did what needed to be done. If Sigma's fortress had remained intact, who knows what kind of horrors he could have hidden in there."

Wildfire nodded, accepting X's wisdom. "Yeah, I guess you're right. At least we don't have to worry about him surviving the explosion."

They stood there a few more minutes. X sighed, exhaustion setting in, his systems low on energy and resources. His thoughts played back to Zero. And how he saved him. How he would never see Zero again, who's body was vaporized along with the rest of the fortress. His friend was gone. Yet X was still here. Why?

Suddenly he heard Wildfire give a startled gasp. Looking up, X spotted a figure swimming towards them. "One of your friends...?" he asked, unable to make out the person.

Wildfire nodded. "Yeah...please let Brian be okay, please..." he whispered. The figure came closer and closer, finally stepping onto the shore. Death Star panted, holding his side, looking at them both. "Oh, it's you..."

Death Star grimaced in pain and nodded at Wildfire. "Nice to see you too. Where's Carter?" he asked, looking between Wildfire and X.

Wildfire's face began to look worried. "What do you mean, 'Where's Carter'? He was with you last!"

Death Star was silent for a few minutes, gathering his thoughts as he looked at the sand. X gazed up at his face, coming to the conclusion that 'Brian Carter' must not have survived the explosion. He pitied them. He knew how they felt.

"We were both in the elevator shaft," Death Star began weakly. "Let me see...we both rammed the weakened wall and fell from the fortress as it exploded, plummetting toward the ocean. All I can guess is...he passed out and drowned..."

Wildfire shook his head. "You SAID you would get him out of there..." he accused bitterly. Death Star remained silent. "Bastard..."

X held out his hand between the two. "Calm down you guys. It's no one's fault, alright? We all lose people from time to time, it's fate."

A voice spoke out to them from off to the side. "Good thing fate decided I wasn't worth the effort today." They all turned and saw a wet Delta standing there, smiling. "I'm alive." Wildfire's face lit up and he grinned.

"YES!"

Death Star smiled. "Welcome back, Carter. I guess you're harder to get rid of than I thought." X grinned, glad that at least one person had survived this...unlike Zero.

He watched the three chatting and slowly worked his way back towards the communication's area to contact home. Somehow, he didn't feel he fit in with them. Almost like he was a loner. Death Star looked up briefly, watching him go, but looked back at Delta, continuing his conversation.

Besides, X was a hero...he could handle himself.

* * * * *

X finally managed to contact the HQ. "Yes? Zero?" came Dr. Cain's voice. Suddenly the sounds of a fight could be heard. Raising his eyebrow in concern, X watched Dr. Cain struggling with some shadow for control of the communicator. Finally, the other opponent won.

"X?! X! X, m'lad, you won! I knew it! Now I can collect my money from the bet I had on you," X1 said.

"...Bet?"

"You betcha. I bet them all you'd survive this entire fiasco. I bet my entire marble collection on it. Hah! That sucker! Now he has to give over his cards! Whooo!" X1 cheered. Suddenly he was tackled by Dr. Cain, who took the communicator back.

"How's the others?"

X sighed, trying not to break down now. He had managed to maintain his cool all this time, he could handle it a little longer. "We lost 3 Hunters. And Zero's dead too, sir." Silence hung in the air, as even X1 stopped making cheering sounds behind Dr. Cain. Cain himself looked sullen and glanced down.

"I see...so you defeated Sigma, then?" Dr. Cain asked.

"Yes."

"Good job, my boy. We're sending some transports to pick you up and bring you back home. Good job...good job..." Cain repeated, ending the transmission.


June 10th
Maverick Hunter HQ

Death Star stood on the roof, looking out as the morning sun rose. The repairs were going underway to fix the damage by Sigma's surprise attack. It seemed they had survived. The humans were calming down and returning to Mega City. There would be talks later this month about the fate of reploids. Sigma's little war had caused quite the stir.

As for Cran's group...they had remained respectfully quiet. Probably waiting until the big meeting on reploids popped up before making their move.

The Hunters themselves were low in number, less than a dozen left. They had been handed quite a blow. Most of them were on leave, seeing their families if they had any. That's where Carter was right now. With his family.

Others, like Dr. Cain and X1, were buried in work, trying to prepare some sort of defense for the upcoming meeting. They were set on seeing that reploids survived this little upcoming trial in the aftermath of the war. X1 himself had avoided X the last two days, despite his obvious happiness to see him. Even Death Star had noticed that and he barely liked or knew X1.

As for X himself...well, X had requested he not be disturbed and remained lock in his room, mourning. It came to no surprise, to Death Star at least, that X chose this course of action. After all, a few weeks ago, he was a devoted pacifist. Now he was a war hero, the one that managed to bring down the evil Sigma.

The loss of Zero was still an open wound to most of the Hunters. Despite his background, which hardly anyone knew or cared about anymore, they still loved him. Dying for the cause of mankind had made him an idol by many. Zero would never be forgotten, Death Star was sure. His reputation was already legendary.

As for Death Star...here he stood, with North Star, the first chance they had to talk in the entire aftermath.

"You said you had some things to tell me, North?" Death Star finally asked. His friend turned from watching the sun rise.

"Yes. I've been thinking a lot lately..." he began, glancing down at his right arm, which seemed limp. Death Star guessed the systems still weren't quite functional yet.

"About what?" he encouraged.

"About future. Fate. Me. You. The Hunters," North Star started, then stopped again.

"And?" Death Star asked.

"I've decided to quit the Hunters." The unexpected answer struck Death Star like a blow. He stepped back, aghast, looking at North Star in shock and horror at the same time, unable to comprehend what he just heard. I've decided to quit the Hunters.

"But WHY?" he finally asked as North Star stared at him intently.

"...When I suggested we join this group, my ideals were different. I wanted to fight and live out war just as I'd read. You, on the other hand, wanted to live a life of peace. You didn't want to be a warrior, like me..." North Star explained, looking away at the rising run. "When the lab was destroyed, I saw this as my chance for a taste of blood. To go out and fight and kill. Well, I got my taste of blood. My own."

Death Star remained silent, listening. Finally North Star turned around to look him directly in the eye. "But you, YOU, turned out to be the one capable of fighting this war. Your ideals are different than mine...you could handle it, because you're fighting for something, something I don't think either of us knows about yet. But you have that to keep you going. I don't have that. I found myself questioning why we were fighting and perhaps, maybe, if Sigma wasn't right himself..."

"You can't mean that!" Death Star protested.

"I do, I really do..." came the reply. The two stood there, staring at each other.

"So you're just going to quit and leave?"

North Star grimaced. "I plan on getting a place somewhere in Mega City. I still want to be close to the only person I have left as a family. You. Can we remain in touch still? It's all I have left..."

Death Star smiled and embraced his "brother". "Of course, North. You can count on me... I will fight and you can rest. But we'll be together, as family, right?"

"Right."

Oh, what a mournful aftermath... thought Death Star bitterly.


June 12th
Memorial Hall

The few Hunters had gathered, coming to pay their respect to the fallen dead. The main one being respected: Zero. His name was on a plaque all to himself, in the middle of the newly built Hall, which was undergoing construction before the war had begun. X stood off to the side of the plaque, constantly reading it to himself.

Dr. Cain and X1 remained toward the front. X1 had come as Cain's assistant and to pay his thanks for what Zero had done for X. Cain was there because, as the leader, he had to raise morale and make a speech for the fallen.

The few Hunters present, including Death Star, Wildfire, and Delta, stood off toward the middle, hands bowed in a sign of respect. Death Star, not seeing North Star, felt isolated and alone, a cold feeling residing in his stomach. All he had left now was to fight for whatever he had... and he still had no idea what that was. Wildfire paid his respects as a Hunter, not knowing Zero especially well, but wanting to show that he too cared for a fallen comrade. Delta stood there, wondering why fate had it that Zero would die when others, like himself, had survived the battles?

And General Cran, along with Spade, were off to the back, almost like jackals watching a fallen prey. Neither of them were there to pay their respects, but to merely observe the twists of fate that had struck a blow to the Hunters...that had taken their best.

The press was located off to the side, snapping pictures, making their comments for their little videos, but not bugging any of the Hunters at this moment. They had, over the past few days, tried to attain interviews, but had been brushed off, pretty roughly in fact. Death Star himself had used a chair in his demonstration. Cain later told him that was a bad idea, though effective. X1 had used the tactics of actually answering the questions, but in such a way that the reporters fled in a record amount of time.

Finally Dr. Cain wobbled up to the front of the crowd, leaning heavily on his cane as he looked out, seemingly very weary. He hadn't sipped a drink since the end of the war. Most were very surprised that he was sober right now. Though many, including most of the Hunters, knew it was only a matter of time before he picked up the bottle again. Especially when the question about reploids popped up.

Taking a deep, ragged breath, Dr. Cain addressed the gathering. "Welcome. As you all know, we are here to pay our respects to those that have fallen in this war. However short, it was a war that would determine the fate of this entire planet's course. I hope, in this aftermath, we can remember those who laid down their lives and make the right choice so their sacrifices will not be in vain.

"When a soldier dies, we shouldn't look at just his death and mourn for him, while that is just. What we should do is look at what that soldier was fighting for, either if it matched our ideas or not. We should respect that someone was willing to give up their life for the cause they believed in. And we shouldn't let their death go out in vain, to let their ideas go out the door without so much as a consideration.

"Death is only a part of this cycle of life. While we may not see loved ones again, we shall keep them close to our hearts. We shall remember things about them and perhaps it'll make us sad, but we should be thankful for those memories we have. Because, in the end, that's all we'll have left when it's our turn to die," Dr. Cain told the group, finally stopping his speech. "I'm not much of a speech maker, so that's all I have to say..." He stepped down, swaying and using his cane for support, and made his way over to X1.

The group of Hunters remained quiet, looking at one another, then began to break apart, each going their own way. Wildfire and Delta walked up to Zero's memorial, bowed their heads briefly, then walked out the door, ignoring the press. Cran turned to Spade, said a few things, and they too left, giving the press a few words to "eat up". And finally Dr. Cain and X1 left, leaving only X and Death Star in the room. Neither one of them spoke at first, not even looking at the other.

Finally, after several minutes passed, X turned around and eyed Death Star, sizing him up as if seeing him for the first time in a long, long while. "Lieutenant."

"Commander."

X blinked in surprise. "I'm a Commander now?"

"Well, yeah, you missed the past meeting, but since you defeated Sigma, they made you Commander," Death Star informed him.

X seemed to digest this news, his face looking down. "So, I have Sigma's old rank and Zero's old rank?"

"I suppose so. The highest rank, besides General Cain's, but he doesn't really give out orders well in times of crisis, so we referred to him as 'General'," Death Star corrected.

X smiled sadly. "Yes, yes...Zero was quite the leader..."

"Aye." The two sat in uncomfortable silence. "You're still a Lieutenant, aren't you?" X asked cautiously. Death Star chuckled. "No. Captain."

"I get them confused. Is Captain higher than a Commander?"

Death Star grinned. "Well, it depends on what military unit you use," he began, not even surprised at their line of conversation, especially Zero's memorial. It sounded like some conversation Zero, X, X1, and Death Star would get into. "In some groups, Captain is higher than Commander, but the Hunters, Commander is higher than Captain."

X's face twisted up into an almost comical puzzled expression. "Why are we different, again?"

"Cain, sir, Cain."

"That explains it all," X said, smiling lightly, looking back at the memorial with Zero's name. "We didn't even retrieve his body, Death Star..."

Death Star frowned, sensing X was in more pain than he was letting on. Emotional pain, such as Death Star's. In a way, they had both lost someone. Only in X's case, the situation was more permanent. "I know, sir...it was a shame. But I have a feeling that Zero wouldn't want his parts buried in any case."

X nodded. "Yeah, he always liked to have an air of mystery about him. I still don't understand why he did what he did..."

"And what was that, sir?" Death Star asked.

"Saved my life when he should have been the one to fight Sigma." They both remained quiet for some time, each thinking over X's words and why fate had chosen that course.

"Maybe...sir, he saw in the end, the only way we could have won is if you fought Sigma. Perhaps, he saw past things you yourself didn't even know about, and knew you would win the battle, while he, maybe, knew that he couldn't," Death Star said, carefully choosing his words.

X glanced at him. "He could have beat Sigma."

Death Star nodded. "I'm sure he could have. But you did, too."

X studied him warily, then turned toward the exit, where the press had left, to chase after Cain and X1. "I don't see why he did what he did...I'm still looking for so many answers, I don't know if I can win this..."

"I just have one bit of advise, then..."

"What is that, Captain?"

"Search for your answers, always, but don't let it get in the way of what is here and now. And when you finally think you've found your answer, don't let anyone persuade you differently, hold onto that answer with all your heart, and let it guide you, no matter what the path might be..." Death Star told him.

X smiled sadly. "I'll remember that, Death Star..." he said. With that, X walked out, leaving Death Star alone.

He turned to look at the memorial again. "I have a feeling, this is far, far from over..." he muttered to himself. "I just hope Sigma doesn't become a myrtar in the eyes of the reploids and a whole new breed of chaos breaks out..."


June 17th
Dreamworld

X stood on a field, or so he thought. It wasn't your typical beautiful field, but a scorched, wasted field. Nothing grew here. Nothing lived here. Only death surrounded this area. And someone had caused it.

Looking to his left, X saw cities on fire, burning. People were running and screaming, trying to escape the horrible chaos that had ensured. The earth itself was literally on the verge of madness.

But, in the center of it all, was a calm, a controlling force. X felt compelled to walk there, to find out what it was. Walking along the burnt field, he came to a place of skulls and skeletons, all dead. Some reploids were mixed in, broken and bashed beyond repair. Still, X felt himself compelled to find out what the cause of this was.

Working his way up the skulls and skeletons, he found it on the top. The answer to the only true peace in the galaxy. The one and only absolute way to peace. And X fell down the skulls and skeletons, his eyes wide open in fear. When he finally stopped sliding, he looked up, and saw his own face, looking back down at him. And with that, X screamed.

X's Room

X powered back online, looking around the room. For some reason, he couldn't remember what the answer was...like it was hidden from the back of his mind. But despite that, he knew something was wrong. Something terribly wrong.

He looked around, as if expecting there to be someone in the room with him. But there was no one, no one at all...

Until, finally, in his head, he heard a low, dry whisper. I cannot be killed, X...my true form is that of a computer virus...I shall never die...and I will come again, X...we shall finish what we've started...and I will fulfill the prophecy...

Though X didn't know who spoke that, he felt a chill run up his spine.

Could it be...?

Sigma?