1. Introduction
Grandmother looked fairly pleased at Mega Man X that afternoon. With her were eight Reploids, no two the same size or shape- two of which were more animalistic than humanoid.
“Are you sure that these are the Reploids the Mother Elf chose?” X questioned, although he knew full well that Grandmother would never lie about such a thing.
“I saw her kiss them myself, sweetie.” Grandmother agreed with a wide smile. “These are the Reploids that she wanted to be part of your judgment council.”
X shifted, still not assured at this. The eight Reploids remained in their row, looking back at Neo Arcadia's leader with a stillness deemed uncanny for humans.
“Would it help you if I introduced them to you?” Grandmother then offered kindly. X looked over at her and gave a small, timid nod.
“Please…?” he requested, to which Grandmother only offered another kind smile.
-
2. Freedom
Fogginess, that's all Mega Man could see. Some figure loomed over him and a voice that belonged to it, they all seemed familiar in some way. He struggled to see, to understand, what was going on.
“Roll...” he quietly spoke, unsure if he was even speaking at all, “Roll, is that… is that you…?”
“Yes.” came the equally soft voice of the figure above him. “I'm here.”
“Did… did it work? Am I… free… now?”
Something wet dripped onto Mega Man's face, but it did not come from him. If only tears could heal like they did in fairy tales. “Y-yeah...” Roll agreed, sniffling a little, “I think you are...”
“Finally.” Mega Man sighed as he closed his eyes again in peace.
-
3. Corruption
Juno glared over the rather pathetic group; slowly losing her patience over the whole ordeal, there had to be some way to phrase the obvious to them.
“Model O corrupted what you saw,” she told them once more, the irritation not lost in her voice, “Changing your motives to suit its own. Don't any of you remember what you originally fought for?”
At this thought, the entire room went into a dead silence.
It was Siarnaq who spoke up, uttering a single “Sycorax.” in a tone that indicated he wanted to say something further, but did not. The silence overtook the room again like a harsh wind.
“I wanted to put a whole city back in the ocean...” Thetis offered in a small tone. “Sounds kinda stupid now, doesn't it?”
No one answered him.
“But what about you?” Atlas then demanded to Juno. “What did you want that could be oh-so easy to manipulate for Model W's plan?”
“What do I want…?” the woman repeated, looking as if the mere thought hurt her in some way. “I want the current Red Mega Man to live in peace, that's what I want. I want him to grow old, have a happy family, and die with those that love him surrounding. That's already more than what you sad lot have to work for.”
“And how could that be perverted?” Aeolus inquired with a raise of his eyebrow.
Juno gave him a rather undesirable glare. “Are you familiar with the term 'yandere'?”
-
4. Guardian
There were many guardians in history- the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia, for example, or the Guardians (named after said Four Guardians) that operated above Kirjath Arba after Ragnarok’s fall. Over-1 did not consider himself a guardian of any kind. He found himself more as a meddler than a savior. He couldn't get rid of Aero, so he unintentionally grew around her before she would grow up herself and regard their journeys as a dream.
He could have gotten rid of Aile though, at any time he wanted in fact. Over-1 didn't have to watch over Aero's child; he didn't have to remove her memories of him either to prevent a paradox of some sort in the long run. Perhaps he only cared for Aile due to Aero no longer being a major part of history, and he wanted some solstice that her story had come to a proper end. Because, let's face it, Ciel was never the best at planning things through.
-
5. Magic
“I believe in magic.” Ashe proclaimed as she precariously balanced on the stone fence. It had to have been higher than six feet, at most. It was high enough for her to get seriously hurt if she wasn't paying attention, that much was a given at this point.
“Magic isn't going to save your hide when you fall off that thing.” Lazarus grumbled at her, refusing to look in case her inevitable Humpty-Dumpty fall would ring true.
“Magic isn't going to save your hide when Momma finds out that you let me fall off either, now is it?” Ashe then retorted with a mischievous smirk. Lazarus suddenly stopped at the suggestion, never once before thinking of Mrs Bonne's reaction to her daughter getting hurt. No one would have minded the freak getting hurt -some folks around the black market actually dreamed of it- but everyone still kept close eye on her in fear of her mother's wrath.
“Besides,” Ashe then sing-songed to herself, “My bones are made outta steel anyway. I can't get hurt.”
Lazarus looked at Ashe. “Bruises still show up, don't they?” he rebutted in a cold tone. Ashe's only answer was a not very reassuring snicker.
-
6. Courage
At first glance, anyone would have thought that the pub was closed for the night. The dimly lit sign said otherwise, and a worn Vent wandered in without much thought. Besides the bar tender, there was some person off in the corner asleep at the table. Vent went straight to the booth.
“What can I get you?” the bar tender asked Vent.
“I don't drink.” the young man said with a wave of his hand.
The bar tender snickered. “Then you're in the wrong place, aren't ya?”
So lost in his thoughts, Vent looked up at the bar tender in confusion before realizing where he was.
“Do you have any tea?”
“Sure- mixed in three tablespoons of vodka. What kind of brew you want? Black? Green? White?”
“Whatever rooibos is, I guess...”
“Red it is.”
The bar tender didn't take long and gave Vent his drink in record time. Vent took a disinterested sip before giving a shudder at the alcohol content. While doing this, the bar tender made some observations.
“You've seen some Maverick outbreaks, haven't you?” the bar tender guessed. Vent gave a little snort.
“Something like that.” he admitted.
“Well then,” the bar tender then decided, “Take another shot of courage bub, it's gonna be a long night for you.”
Vent looked up at the bar tender and gave a weary smile. “Thanks...” he croaked before taking another drink.
-
7. Strength
Fighting Fefnir hadn't touched his twin cannon busters in awhile. He forgot why he had left them alone for so long, but knew that it had to be something regarding the little criminal activity in the city.
Roughly considering, it was actually a bad thing.
Cannon busters, such as his were, were designed with bulk and weight in mind, due to the immense power that cannon busters were built for. They were heavy. Very heavy. If one wasn't adjusting for the weight compensation on routine, then what good were you to even own one?
With a faked pitiful groan that only he heard, Fefnir got up and went to the training room to practice.
-
8. Rescue
Dynamo looked over Aero Sephira with interest, much to her disgust and discomfort.
“X sure did pick a pretty one.” the bounty hunter smirked at her. “He'll be here to rescue you in no time, I bet.”
“He's gonna kick your ass.” the human warned the Reploid darkly.
“Oh I know that.” Dynamo snickered with a wide, boyish smile. “Honey, once that blue bomber comes through the door, I'm out. You really think Sigma's paying that much for me to fight a raging boyfriend? Not even close! Ha!”
Aero looked the Reploid up and down warily before putting on a smirking smile of her own.
“Hey, Dynamo?”
“Yep hun?”
“Don't take this the wrong way and ignoring certain circ*mstances, but I like you.”
Hearing this approval while being held his prisoner, Dynamo gave a wider smile before agreeing, “I like me too honey- I like me too.”
-
9. Rest
Girouette lost track of time awhile ago. Like, he lost enough track of time that he couldn't even determine when he lost track of time. Yeah, it was kinda bad.
Juno, young but far more observant that what was normally given credit for, noticed this as she watched him. Giro's office was also his bedroom, which -on most days- wasn't that big of a deal. But for days like this when he didn't (or maybe couldn't…) stop to take a single break, it was something that led to concern. So as the Reploid sat at his desk, sorting through bills, submission forms, feedback letters, and whatever else that helped make the transport service function properly, Juno sat on his bed in observation.
She tried being subtle about getting him to take a break -honest!- so when she deliberate walked over to him to get his attention, she found it rather annoying that Girouette looked at her in some form of surprise.
“Juno...” the Reploid started, but his voice faltered before he could finish his sentence.
The girl took Giro by his sleeve and tugged. She tugged hard enough that the Reploid decided to relent, allowing her to get him off the seat. Juno then led him to his bed- it was then that Girouette stopped her.
“Juno, I have paperwork to...” Giro started to say, but he was cut off by the wagging of Juno's finger.
“Seven hours.” she told him. Her voice was still and faintly authoritative. “Rest for seven hours, and you can work again.”
It was at that moment that Girouette realized that he may have been working too hard. Not that was going to stop him from doing it again on a later date…
“Alright.” the Reploid eventually agreed. “I'll rest.”
So Juno then watched as Girouette got into his bed and started to relax. When Giro thought that maybe she had left in knowing that he had done what she requested, Juno then crawled up on top of him.
“Seven hours.” the girl informed him. “That's when I'll get up. No cheating Giro, got it?”
Stunned for a moment, Giro then let out a rather short laughter. “Of course.” he agreed. “No cheating. You might have to wake me up though, is that alright Juno?”
He went unanswered as the girl had already gone to sleep herself.
-
10. Pain
Sycorax was in pain, Siarnaq was smart enough to analyze that. What he couldn't comprehend was that she did not want aid in reducing (or even removing) said pain. Sycorax was ignoring her pain, but to what end? Wasn't it a more bothersome concept to keep the pain than to remove it? At this rate, he had calculated, Sycorax was going to ruin their mission if she allowed the pain she was experiencing to fester more.
“Sycorax...”
“No.”
“But…!”
Apparently he angered her, because she then threw an ashtray at him that the motel had on one of the nightstands.
“I said no, Siarnaq!” Sycorax demanded. Sycorax was a Reploid as well, but never had Siarnaq seen a face so red as hers on any Reploid in existence ever.
“Mission failure estimated to 95.8% likelihood at current conditions.” Siarnaq informed her, cold and mechanical as usual.
“Don't give a damn about your freaking likelihoods...” the Reploidic woman grumbled. Siarnaq arched an eyebrow, an artificial attempt to give some emotion of cynicism. It was enough for her to catch herself- forcing herself to quickly defuse in lieu of keeping the idea of being calm.
“I'll be fine.” Sycorax then informed Siarnaq, standing straight to affirm her authority. “Reliance is a weakness, remember that.”
Siarnaq, still not comprehending her resistance, only gave a small nod of acknowledgment.
-
11. Recovery
“How's he doin' Min?” Thetis asked his sister as she worked over a temporarily shut down Siarnaq. For the past month or so, Minas had been trying to restore and recover Siarnaq's very much broken software. There had been days, long nights even, when she refused to take a break in fear of losing any progress she had made.
“Well,” the older Reploid started to say, giving a long exhausted sigh, “The defragmentation almost didn't start up, his power core is losing more output than what I can put in, and I swear one of his eyes is lopsided at this point and I can't tell whether I did it, or it's from everything else.”
“So… is he…?” the younger Reploid slowly began to ask, looking over at his fellow Mega Man with a bit of fear. Minas looked up at her brother and almost went a bit pale herself.
“We'll get through this!” she promised him. “It will just take… longer, than what we thought at first.”
“Oh...” Thetis mumbled in dismay. Minas looked over her brother again and came to the conclusion that she didn't like seeing him so upset, so she placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
“Your friend will recover, Thetis. Promise.”
Thetis looked up at Minas, and in seeing her sincere expression he started to smile as well.
-
12. Caged
“I'll be here… forever?” the Mother Elf inquired to X, who refused to look at her. The Elf Wars were at their worst and this was X's last hope. If there was a way where he couldn't chain the Mother Elf in her main chamber, then he wouldn't have.
“It… was the safer option, Mother.” X distantly informed her. “Grandmother even agreed that this was the better course of action.”
The Mother Elf went silent, but the air around them was tense. It was making X even more uncomfortable and filled with regret than what he already was.
“I'm sorry Mother...” he quietly said to her before leaving.
-
13. Fire
It had only been a few minutes, but so far there was nothing Atlas or Fighting Fefnir could say to each other. Some rather judgmental glares were being exchanged, other than that the two were silent, waiting for the other to talk first. At this rate, it was really starting to get on Over-1's nerves.
“Are you two really that much alike that you're communicating through brain waves now?” the time traveler questioned rather nonchalantly. “Speak you numbskulls!”
The glare he then received from them was a nasty one indeed before Atlas and Fefnir looked back at each other. Finally, with a roll of his shoulder, started to say,
“Some folks are born, made to wave a flag. But when the band plays 'Hail to the Chief', they're pointing the canon at you.”
At this, Atlas seemed a little surprised. “Some folks are born with a silver spoon in hand,” she then droned as if they were discussing the weather instead, “But when the taxman comes to the door, their houses look like a rummage sale.”
“Some folks inherit star spangled eyes.”
“They'll send you down to war.”
“But when you ask them, 'How much do we give?'”
“All they answer is 'More, more, more.'” Fefnir and Atlas finished together.
Over-1 looked between the both of them. “You know,” he then started, “When I said talk, I didn't mean recite Creedence Clearwater Revival.”
But the time traveler went ignored as the fire elementals gave each other approving smirks.
-
14. Sacrifice
“You didn't need to sacrifice yourself for me...” a drifting portion of Juno's soul softly bemoaned to her Superego- what remained of Girouette's physical manifestation. “I'm lost… A goner… I should be dead...”
Girouette's soft smile seemed to light up the area, but it did nothing around Juno's aura.
“I did it because I loved you.” he said to her, calm and subdued as always- and no less hypnotic. “You have the potential to change the world, too. Good changes. Beneficial changes. If I did not see that potential in you, then I never would have allowed this: our bond, your lifeline, all of it. Tell me you see a part of that my iris…?”
But she shook her head, troubled tears escaping through the side of her closed eyes. “I should have died… All those years ago, I should have...”
Girouette knew better. Always had. So he stepped closer to her, and cupped her face. “Rest your troubled mind Juno,” he soothed, “I've told you once, and I'll tell you until the end of time: I will protect you. Always.”
-
15. Ice
Fairy Leviathan calmly walked up to the pond and looked at herself in the reflection.
“Are you familiar with ice skating, Thetis?” the Guardian questioned as she took a side glance at the younger Reploid. Thetis did not answer her at first, too mystified by Model L's original consciousness to think of much else. Leviathan looked back over at the pond, pulling out her frost javelin and pointing the tip to the pond's surface. With the ripple that come from the contact, the pond started to freeze over at Leviathan's power.
When the whole pond was covered, Leviathan stepped out onto the ice. She tested the surface area by skirting around a bit- starting to gain enough speed, the Guardian then made a small jump in the air. She accumulated a bit more speed and jumped once more, this time spinning in air three times before landing on a single foot. Thetis could only stare in wonder and appreciation.
This -this!- was Model L. This is what she looked like. This is how she controlled her abilities. This was… this was how she had fun!
The siren slowed her pace down a bit before looking back at Thetis. “Well?” she questioned at him- not in a demanding way, but it seemed fairly demoting. “Are you going to join me?”
“I...” Thetis then blushed, “I'm more of a swimmer than a skater...”
Leviathan blinked at him. “Then let me teach you.” she offered, moving over closer to him and offered a hand out. Thetis stared at it, then at her.
“Really?”
The siren gave a rather firm nod. Now elated, Thetis took her hand and a wide smile crept across his face. And for a brief moment, Leviathan smiled right back at him.
-
16. Blood
She was bleeding; great. Just great.
Aile looked around for something -anything- that could cover the open wound enough for her body to send pathogens to heal the rest. Or maybe it was nanites. Only once had she seen her skin repair itself after it had been broken; but the repair process had happened so quickly, she wasn't even sure that she had hurt herself for a moment. Aile was no scientist, but she was fairly confident that when your blood started to clot, it didn't glimmer in the daylight like a piece of metal.
The pain from the wound was starting to sting a bit, reminding the girl of her current mission. “Stupid Reploid, never there when I need him...” Aile grumbled to herself before noticing a sign for a pharmacy. Raising an eyebrow but wasting no time, Aile went there hoping that they would have what she needed. Or, for the most part, could take pity on her enough to give her some gauze for free. That would have been nice.
-
17. Night
Bionka gave a lazy yawn as she spread herself across the artificial grass. Albert was by her with a rather long telescope, and holding a sketchpad that he was taking notes on. What he was taking notes on was debatable: from Neo Arcadia's light pollution, any stars that could be out wouldn't have even been visible. Bionka took a look at him for a moment before looking back up at the sky.
“Do you think we'll ever have a night so dark, we'd see celestial bodies without a bulky telescope?” she wondered out loud.
It wasn't even a second later that Albert answered with a dry, “No.” without breaking from his studies. Being the answer she feared he would give her, Bionka let out a disheartened sigh and continued to gaze at the blank night sky.
-
18. Moonlight
X had a surprise for Aero Sephira, and it was something he had to be careful about, as it needed to be done under moonlight. When time had come, the father of Reploids placed a blind fold around his consort's eyes and led her to the backyard.
“Alright...” X then said, growing more excited at each moment, “Here it is.”
Not a moment after uncovering her eyes, Aero stared at what X had prepared. The small cherry tree had tealights placed in the branches, and a small strereo had been paced near the tree's base. The rest of the area was lit only by the moonlight. X smiled, enjoying her reaction, before turning on the stereo- almost immediately a song started to play;
When I passed you in the doorway, you took me with a glance; I should have took that last bus home, but I asked you for a dance…
“If I may,” X said to Aero, offering a hand out to her as an indicator that he too would like to dance. She looked up at him and gave that smile he'd always love.
“I'd be honored.” she agreed, taking his hand. Together, they swayed to the music in unison.
But I'm dancing in the moonlight, its caught me in it's spotlight- it's alright. I'm dancing in the moonlight, on this long hot summer night...
-
19. Escape
The singular thought that the human man was more stupid that what he was cried quite firmly in her mind. Of course she pretended that his little moment of empathy didn't work- she was that smart, at least. The night went on, of course, after he left and no one was none the wiser to what had happened. (In retrospect, she could have avoided many repercussions that ensued had she taken out the security cameras at her leave, but she had been too eager to escape that it didn't occur to her.) When the Boss came in to the back rooms to activate her fellow Reploidic slu*ts, she could only imagine the look that flew across his face in realizing that she wasn't there.
She always wanted to see that face- the mere thought of it was too amusing to resist.
-
20. Injured
Blues hesitated for a moment. Someone needed to set Roru's bone back into her body, and for some reason Eddie decided that it had to be him.
“It might hurt a little.” Blues warned his friend.
“Obviously.” she snorted in return. She was anticipating the pain at this point, and she was getting more testy as Blues hesitated. “Just do it.”
Really wishing that he could look away, Blues took Roru's arm and in one single, swift motion he forced the bone back into the girl's body. The screams of hell couldn't have compared to Roru's screech of pain at the action- causing Blues to feel guilty for some reason.
“Here,” Eddie then told them, opening up his flip-top to reveal bandages and gauze to wrap Roru's arm. “We can make a quick cast with what I have.”
Blues gave a nod as he reached for the bandages. He was completely pale as he wrapped her arm up, tight enough to keep the limb stationary for healing but loose enough that it didn't cut off her circulation.
“Roru...” Blues eventually said in a soft voice. “I'm sorry...”
The girl didn't answer, attempting to hold back the horrifying pain she felt with harsh words.
-
21. Love
No one was quite sure when Zero first decided that he had loved Iris. At the news though, several members of the Maverick Hunters lost a far share of zenny from their failed bets.
It must have been something that the duo hid in fear of what Iris's brother, Colonel would say. As with most Reploid twins, Iris was the half that could not defend herself. If something happened to her, not only would Colonel had gone insane from her death, but he would have murdered humans in cold blood to avenge her. Should Zero -known for his own deaths for various reasons- had caused Iris to die, no force on earth would have stopped her brother's rage.
X seemed to have taken the news rather well, much to many folk's disappointment. Then again, X treated everyone more-or-less the same; again, much to many folk's disappointment. So when Zero loved Iris, X accepted it so his friend could be happy.
-
22. Hate
“You've got to hate something, princess.” Prometheus growled to Juno with a disgusted eye roll.
“But… I don't.” Juno related, almost sounding surprised at the revelation herself. “And you can't make me.”
“There must be some form of hate in you,” the Reploid argued darkly. “Why else would that asshole make sure Model O is leeched to your lifeline permanently?”
“Perhaps it's my lack of hate that allowed Albert to ensure Model O leeches my lifeline permanently.” the human offered. “Darkness becomes light while light falls to darkness, and all that.”
The look on Prometheus's face darkened. “He liked you...” he mumbled under his breath. “He hated us: used us as experiments, pawns… slaves...”
“And I'll never treat you two like that.” Juno vowed. “Never have.”
“And if you do?” Prometheus tonelessly questioned with a small arch on his brow.
“Then kill me.”
-
23. Disease
[From the notes of Doctor Ciel Roch-Roru]
There are only two reasons why I allowed Mrs Bonne to procure a child in similar arrangements as Crea and Prea: One was for repayment for keeping those two Biometals away from my lab for the time being, and two was so that I could figure out how the twins would grow. Granted, I did take several liberties in the creation of the child now known as Ashe Bonne. Mostly to induce a more traditional nine month gestation period than fifty years. Besides a 0.6% slower growth rate, she seems to live and prosper as well as any other creature on this earth.
This season has marked some rather high illness rates. Some have been outright deadly. I had rather extensive contact with Mrs Bonne during this period- it was to see how Ashe was faring. Besides some congestion issues and a fever that lasted six days, the girl seemed unaffected by the worse diseases. Mrs Bonne also reported a larger temper than usual, but if I were a four year old trapped in the body of a two year old, I'd have temper issues too. Regardless, Mrs Bonne and I have both decided that our little humanoids have a rather high resistance to diseases and such, perhaps even a shortened duration of experiencing the certain illness.
I have to remember to inform Girouette of this after I activate him.
-
24. Frozen
“Leviathan!” Harpuia reprimanded to his sister. “Release Fefnir now!”
The Guardian of Ice refused to look at her oldest brother, despite her other older brother being frozen in ice next to her. Fefnir's frozen expression was one mixed with anger and surprise- a byproduct of the argument he and the siren had gotten into not long before.
“He needs to apologize first.” Leviathan huffed, crossing her arms in defiance.
“He can't do that if he's frozen in ice.” Harpuia darkly reminded her. It took the siren a few moments to lull this over before giving in.
“Fine...” she finally grumbled.
-
25. Comfort
There was a sort of comfort doing things the 'old fashioned' way. The rain was expected to be pretty harsh, so Dr Weil had requested that Aero Sephira stay home today. She made her time by preparing a kettle to start making tea with. A blanket was placed in the dryer earlier so it would be nice and warm when her favorite rooibos tea was finished. Aero's cabin lacked a television set, though- so she would have to make due without a movie.
It was going to be a long day alone, but it was going to be a relaxing one.
-
26. Execution
The crowd was in a riot. Today, Sage Harpuia was tasked in putting down a Reploid deemed Maverick. The Reploid in question, they said, was nothing short of an exemplary figure: a philantropist with a strong love of children- human and Reploid. What many didn't acknowledge was hat he was also speaking against their benevolent leader, Mega Man X.
No one but Harpuia knew that the X they hailed as their leader was not the original. No one but him knew that this particular Reploid's scrutinizing was why he was being executed in front of his peers today. Everyone, including Harpuia, knew that this Reploid was -indeed- innocent and not Maverick in the slightest.
“Do you really believe in what your king decided?” the Reploid had questioned Harpuia as the decommissioning process began. The Guardian heard him, but refused to respond. A slow, skin crawling chuckle emitted from the accused Reploid.
“I knew it.” he snickered before shutting offline for the last time.
-
27. Hospital
Sonia wasn't a fan of the hospital. Not surprising, really, considering that she had seen her own mother die there. And yet, that's all she could think of at the moment.
It would have been easier to just cover a song about hospitals, but that was never Sonia's style. Besides, that's what karaoke night was for.
There was some phrase or another that she came across the other day- what was it? “In a hospital, you can find people having the best day of their life, the worst day of their life, the first day of their life, and the last day of their life all under one roof.” Was that it? Yes, it must have, it sounded rather familiar. Was it copyrighted under someone? She'd have to check.
As Sonia's mind slowly plotted out the notes of this song, she wondered how she was going to incorporate the phrase into the song. Would it be part of the hook? The chorus itself? Or maybe spoken at the beginning to set the tone? Sonia took notes of her thoughts as she went along, nearly half a page filled with notes still waiting for lyrics to compliment them. Did she even have to have lyrics? When was the last time she orchestrated a meaningful instrumental? No, no- she wanted to use that phrase, and she'd be damned if it wasn't included at least one in the song.
Preparing herself for a long night of brainstorming this new song, Sonia took a deep breath in when she remembered her mother's death for a moment. She remembered every emotion she felt when the heart monitor went flat. It was because of the emotion she felt that Sonia could remember the event so clearly. Suddenly, it then occurred to the young singer that she had never written a song in memorial of her mother before. This would be it. This would be her mother's memorial, and a proper one too, Sonia was sure of it.
-
28. Tears
It was a dummied out feature, Medea had decided. She was, at some point, able to create tears on demand as humans could. Like the great Mega Man X before her- if she had considered them on the same level of complexity. But she did not. She knew she was greater.
At this point, the Reploid was certain that she had spent nearly millions in artificial tears alone. Being human was one of her better disguises- it became even better when she would release nothing sort of a torrent of tears if someone accused her of something she likely did. That was what made being human such a fun disguise, even if she did have no regard for them at whole.
-
29. Nightmare
The child woke up in a cold sweat.
A nightmare. It was just a nightmare Vent, chill…
As with any other nightmare, Vent autonomously got himself out of his bed and sleepwalked to Juno's room. When he attempted to open the door, however, the seven year old quickly found that it had been locked.
“Oh yeah...” he half mumbled, half thought to himself, “Juno's gone...” With a small shrug, Vent had another plan and started to make his way downstairs where the room keys were kept. He made rather neat time, considering that anyone living in the apartments above Giro Express were surely asleep by now. Vent came back up the stairs and unlocked Juno's door with the skeleton keys- the draft that brushed against him when he opened the door almost made him go back to his room, but he continued moving in his half-awake ritual to what was Juno's bed. It was nothing more than a mattress and sheet now, but it didn't matter to him.
Giro found Vent the next morning curled into a ball in the middle of Juno's bed, covered in her favorite duvet and leaving very tiny traces of tear stains on the sheet.
-
30. Dream
[Excerpt from the Research Journal of Archibald Q. Weis, with special input from N4-T3]
It is of current knowledge that Reploids can not, in fact, dream. Several operational Reploids of the day lack the imaginative compatibility to produce excess visions while shut down. As with personal computers in the past, if a Reploid would go into sleep mode, there would be no output for them to project their earlier experiences.
However, that is not to say that the feat is impossible. In our history, there have been reported stances wherein Reploids have been able to dream. A feedback mechanism that may or may not be a part of the Reploid's initial programming. My assistant, N4-T3 (Nate, as I usually refer to him as) had reported to me a dream that he procured; in this dream, he informed me that I would burn myself on one of my larger projects. Of course, at the time I laughed at him -I know my experiments as well as the back of my hand- but wouldn't you know it, I did end up burning myself on one of my trickier experiments. A minor burn if there ever was one, but Nate's words hung back to me as if a light had switched on.
I know believe (and hope that I may convince to you too) that when Reploids dream, it is a moment of foreboding and observation that has not yet been seen in this world. It might even be tied with that rather 'mystical' side of Reploidic lore known as Cyberspace...
-
31. Mystery
“Aile, I've come to ask you something.” Grey said to his friend. The current head commander of the Guardians swiveled her chair around to face the Reploid with a curious tilt of her head.
“What's up?”
Grey lulled over his words for a few moments before questioning, “Are we dating?”
Almost immediately, Aile burst out into a laugh. When she realized that Grey was being serious, she immediately shut up. “Grey I don't like you like that.” she then told him, apologizing in some way.
“Oh, I know.” the Reploid nodded. “And I feel the same way. But regardless, there are rumors floating around (mostly contained here, in Guardian HQ) that we are seeing each other romantically. It is a mystery to me- so I sought you out directly to question it.”
At this information, Aile frowned. “I can assure you Grey that I have never heard that rumor before until now.” she sternly informed him. “If you want, you can find whoever is spreading those rumors and bring them to me: spreading misinformation in not proper Guardian procedure.”
“Yes Commander.” Grey promised with an acknowledging bow. “I'll begin right away.”
To begin his investigation, Grey started with the next logical candidate: Nurse Muguet and her assistant Rose. He was quickly able to learn how the rumor got started, and not even an hour later he had his suspect in the command center at Aile's feet.
“Chêne.” Aile dimly addressed, causing the Reploid Guardian to look at her feet, completely embarrassed, “We need to talk.”
-
32. Time
“Time rots everything, even hope.” Nero-L snickered at Over-1, “Doesn't it, Over?”
“f*ck off.” the time traveler spat at his shadow. But the other Reploid just smirked, as if he were winning an argument.
“You know that I am everything you hate about yourself. I know it. You know it. The whole universe knows it.” Nero let out a small chuckle being going on, “I wonder if that girl knows it too...”
“I said, f*ck off!” Over-1 demanded, his suit beginning his transformation sequence without conscious input.
{LOADING ARMOR O-2}
{ARMOR AFFIRMED: LOADING BATTLE MEMORY}
{BATTLE MEMORY AFFIRMED}
{ARMOR CHANGE COMPLETE!}
Now standing before Nero was a raged Over-2 with claws out, ready to attack at any moment.
“There we go,” Nero hummed with a malicious agreement, “There's the Over we all want to see so much.”
Over-2's only answer was a low growl.
“So the child isn't aware that she's the catalyst of destruction?” Nero then mused, calmly pacing around Over-2. “What if she did? You could change so much, Over. You could even stay with her forever...”
“The future can not change Nero.” the time traveler growled. Nero raised an eyebrow before remaining still, looking dead in Over-2's eyes.
“Then what will?”
-
33. Horror
“He… survives…?!” Zero demanded, the mere thought causing part of his functions to cease operating.
“Looks like it.” the time traveler agreed quite passively. “Sucks, doesn't it?”
Zero shook his head. “She looks so much like...”
“Yes...” Over-1 bemused, “The universe sure does has a funny way of showing its humor.”
“And is that… me…?” Zero then questioned, beginning to look more pale the more he saw this future.
“No. Think of him more as a son- he was built by someone you meet later.”
“Who?” Zero questioned, giving Over-1 a rather distrusting glare. “I need to know.”
The time traveler looked over at the Reploid with little emotion. “Why?”
Zero didn't answer. Instead he looked forward at the vision, keeping his expression vague.
“You're horrified. Aren't you?” the other Reploid challenged. Again, Zero didn't answer verbally, but his true thoughts were detailed in his face. He was horrified, and there was nothing he could do about it.
-
34. Fantasy
Trigger only saw the human once in awhile by passing through the area. The boy wasn't even sure if the human had a name, in all honesty. So of course it came as a surprise when the human called Trigger to his quarters on Elysium just to talk.
“My greatest fantasy is to see how the Beta units function on Terra.” the human said to Trigger as he served the young unit some tea. “It would be nice to even meet one, I think, to see how they live in their world of misery and death.”
Trigger nodded, unsure of how to answer and if he even was allowed to answer.
“When I was younger, I had more than a few malicious thoughts toward their livings. Now though… I will admit to being far more curious than what I first imagined.” the human lulled over his thoughts for a bit before turning to Trigger. “Never breathe a word of this to Mistress Sera, Trigger.”
The young unit looked up at the human with widening eyes. “Mistress Sera is horrifying.”
“Yes she is Trigger. Yes she is.”
-
35. Experiment
Mrs Bonne looked over Ciel impatiently and with a look of stern disapproval.
“You're giving the child a checkup, not running experiments on her.” the Reploidic woman huffed as Ciel extracted a small sample of blood from the wiggling infant.
“I am.” the human woman said, before placing the blood sample into a petri dish so she could further analyze it later. “I still wonder if she produces protein, so I plan on researching so later- if you do not mind of course.”
“Of course I mind!” Mrs Bonne snapped, netting a rather quick -but easily dismissing- look from Ciel. “No creature in the world wants to spend its first months connected to wires and whatever else have you just for your own experiments! If she dies, big frigging whop; you'll clone me another. For now, get your nasty hands off of her and let her eat- she hasn't been fed for hours now because of you!”
At this insistence, Ciel blinked. “Well then...” Ciel muttered under her breath, “You are her mother after all...”
Mrs Bonne stiffened while folding her arms in some form of defiance. “Damn right, I am.” she even uttered without a sense of irony.
-
36. Waterfall
Trill was ecstatic. “Onee-chan!” he cried out to Iris. “Onee-chan I found a waterfall made of pure data! It is so pretty Onee-chan, the data even sang!”
Iris, exhausted (in a good way) at Trill's excitement made her smile at the little Navi. “The data sang?” she repeated with a bemused little tone in her voice.
“Yeah, yeah!” Trill cheered as he took Iris by the arm and started to drag her. “Come on Onee-chan, I'll show you! It's so pretty, you'll love it Onee-chan!”
“I'm coming, I'm coming.” Iris informed the little Navi. “You don't need to pull so hard Trill...”
-
37. Forest
“Today's the day we find the Mother Lode, Barrell!” a young and sprightly Verner Von Bleucher said over his shoulder to his friend Barrell Caskett. The current lead they had on this Mother Lode was supposedly in a ruin near Mori Island, and the trees and vines around them attested to the island's name well.
“I'm going to grow old with you saying that.” Barrell smirked, looking up at his friend with some envy. Truth was they were getting old, but it wasn't just from Verner's constant need to find the Mother Lode. This trip was going to be their last together, for now any way. Verner might have been a single man with seemingly tons of cash to burn, but Barrell had a three year old daughter waiting for him back in town. This had to be their last excursion together- had to.
“One day we'll find it Barrell.” Verner then said, more to himself then Barrell. “And then you'll thank me.”
“One day.” Barrell agreed with a side smile. “Maybe one day.”
-
38. Swimming
Minas looked at the water as if it were obviously polluted. Thetis, who was already in the water, took no notice as he swam around with Model L attached. He was practicing the ice platforms, finding ways to make them last longer and giving them a larger surface area. Diving off the platforms was too much fun- that much was for sure.
Cautiously, Minas inched a bit closer to the water to tip her foot in, then immediately backed away with a shudder once the water touched her.
“H-hey Thetis…!” Minas then called out, “Can… can you help me with something?”
Immediately, the Reploid boy turned around- just as he was above to dive off his ice platform again. “What's up?” he inquired with a small tilt of his head. Under him, the platform was slowly melting due to him concentrating on his sister instead.
“Can you, um… Can you help me swim?”
Thetis studied his sister for a moment before a wide smile stretched across his face.
“Sure!” he beamed. Thankful, Minas gave a small sigh in thanks.
-
39. Sunset
Zero sat on top of one of the Resistance's search towers as the sun set over the horizon. Faint memories reminded him of a friend now departed: this was X's favorite time of the day, if he could recall correctly, because of all the natural colors that happened in a span of ten minutes or so.
A small squeak broke Zero's thoughts and made him curious enough to turn his head to the source. Shying away from him was Alouette, hiding a rather furious blush behind her stuffed cat doll. But Zero didn't make her leave or voice an objection to her being there, instead he offered a hand out to silently invite her to sit with him. The small Reploidic child looked from Zero, to his hand, and back again, still uncertain. Sis always said nothing but good things about the Red Legend, but there was just something so intimidating about him that always made Alouette skittish around him.
Eventually, the little Reploid relented and carefully made her way next to Zero. Alouette looked up at the sky and hugged her cat doll tight before noting, “This is the prettiest sunset I've seen in awhile...”
Zero looked down at Alouette for a moment before looking back at the sky with a smile. “Yeah,” he agreed, “It is.”
-
40. Cute
Di didn't keep much track of Ren, believing that it was her choice as a free Reploid to do whatever she wanted. He knew she appreciated the distance as well. So when she appeared in front of him with a new dress on, the act seemed to surprise him for a moment- first of all because he didn't even know she had cash on her, and second because she had looked rather cute.
“What do you think?” the Reploidic woman questioned to him, sounding prudent and faintly bored. It was as if she was doing this exercise to be more 'human', so to speak, and not out of genuine interest.
Di stalled for a moment. Calling her cute to her face wasn't going to be pretty, so instead he opted for “Very nice.” and it seemed to be the better answer for her.
“Good.” Ren decided. “Very good.”
-
41. Book
“Oba, wread me a boop.”
The time traveler took a look at the little girl with a neat raise of his eyebrow. “A book?” he mused, attempting to deceiver Aile's toddler pronunciation. The two year old nodded.
“A boop.” she repeated.
“Book.”
“Boop.”
“And where will I get this book, kid?” Over-1 then asked. “Town's in the opposite direction and we have no money.”
Suddenly, Aile's demeanor changed into sadness. “Oh...” she mumbled in a dismal tone.
“But...” Over-1 then started to suggest, “I could make up a story if you'd like.”
The two year old looked up at the time traveler curiously: he had never suggested to tell her a story before.
“Otay.” Aile agreed. “Tell me ta tory.”
Over-1 arched an eyebrow at the girl with the faintest of grins etched on his lips. “Once upon a time,” he soon started tell her, “There was a little girl named Aero Sephira...”
-
42. Falling
Marino had decided some time ago that is she was going to die, she would like to do it while flying. Most notably from a spontaneous combustion from the co*ckpit of the airplane that gave her no choice but to jump to her death.
A part of Marino liked the feeling of falling to certain doom- call it her one streak of personal Maverick-ism. The wind zipping pass you as it whistles its siren call into your ear.
It wasn't the actual falling that Marino dreaded, should that be the way she goes out. It was meeting the ground face first that turned her off on the idea. But, hey, at least she had a plan.
-
43. Hero
There's just something about that word… “Hero.” That is what they call me, but… I do not feel like it. I do not feel that it is my title to have. A hero is someone who has a purpose, a calling, to help others. X had that calling, even though he was not directly aware of it. The world celebrated at his arrival, and they cried with mine. They still cry to this day- I can hear them in the stillness of the night.
I do not need a redemption; I need a revelation.
I am not their hero.
But I can help them find one.
-
44. Monster
They say that I've become a monster. I like to think of it as a… humanitarian act. I am simply taking Reploids who consume more power than they need, and putting them out of commission. We could revive them again later, if we really wanted to.
Of course, keeping their useless bodies around still requires the energy we are so scarce of nowadays, so we dispose of them completely any way.
Mother is most upset with my decisions, claiming that they are not in the same vein as my original. In my opinion, she has become nothing short of a hypocritical bitch- I am fully aware that she has silently commanded my Guardians to search out those “Baby Elves.” I know full well that if she allows Weil a chance to control them and herself, then the actions I have committed will seem as child play.
If I am a monster, then she is a Lilith.
-
45. Don't let go
It was a phrase that X had tried to tell himself since Zero was first thought dead. 'Don't let go.' But what was he trying to not let go? His memory? His feelings? Some awful conglomeration of both?
But then Aero came, and stole his heart, and time… and maybe some of his reserve zenny too. Aero was a human, and he needed to let go of her at some point- he knew it, and yet… it didn't happen.
Something told him -a small, dark part of him that he didn't like- that if the Eurasia incident had ended differently, then he would have let go. He would have let go of Zero, and Aero (if he had known her then), and anything else that he never wanted to forget. If the Enigma had failed… If Zero had become outright Maverick… Would X had still found Aero after? Would they have found a way to bring Zero back again? The more he wondered, the more X did want to forget.
'Don't let go X, just don't.' a voice inside of him whispered. And you know what? He never did.
-
46. Scars
The question came out so suddenly in a moment of thought, that Juno didn't have time to think about it: “Do you have scars?”
Girouette looked over at the eleven year old curiously. “What do you mean?” he questioned.
Juno shifted a little, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. “I was looking up brain injures, and some other stuff like that. One article mentioned that some traumas, such as PTSD or concussions cause scars in the brain's tissue- figuratively and literally. So… I was wondering...”
“If I had any scars, figuratively or literally?”
“Yeah…?”
Suddenly, newborn Vent started to wail from somewhere upstairs, reminding Giro of something.
“I have scars...” he admitted in a low voice. Juno looked up at Giro with wide eyes, waiting for him to finish- he did not though, instead looking back at her. “I'll tell you more about it when you're older.” he promised before making way to check on Vent.
-
47. Angel
“Mother, you are an angel among the Cyber-Elves, did you know that?”
The Mother Elf's hologram raised a neat little eyebrow at Tekiya's sudden kindness. He wanted something, she knew that much, but normally he would ask for it upfront.
“My darling,” she finally said to him, “Being called an angel is such a nice compliment coming from you, considering you might have meant 'divine tool of righteous vengeance and wrath.' But it's all relative to the Cyber-Elves, am I right? Besides, they're only ghosts of the Reploids you murdered.”
It was then that Copy X went still, and the Mother Elf gave him a smile of only innocent origins.
-
48. Demon
It was Grey's turn to train with Model A today, and to be honest, the Reploid wasn't looking forward to it.
“Look, Grey,” Model A huffed after Grey kept going into his Merge pose but fell back three times over, “I can either be your best friend, or that little demon inside of you that conspires to make you do nasty, evil things. Which side I take really depends on you, you know.”
“But I was created to do nasty, evil things...” Grey lulled over. “Are you sure you'll be the one to derail that destiny for me?”
“Well… I dunno, maybe.” the Biometal relented rather sheepishly. “And… and if not me, then you've got Ashe, and Aile, and maybe even Vent…!”
Grey thought this over before a corner of his mouth made the faintest impression of a smile. “You're right Model A. Thank you.”
-
49. Fangs
“Check these out.” Axl said to Ashe, sticking a pair of vampire teeth into his mouth before turning to face her.
“They're not bloody enough.” she decided with a tilt of her head and a mild grin. “Here, try these.”
Looking over Ashe's pair of fake fangs before giving an indifferent shrug, then spat his current pair of teeth out and off to the side. The Reploid then took the vampire teeth from Ashe to place them into his mouth. He adjusted them a little bit before giving Ashe a wide grin.
“What beautiful veins you have my dear.” the Reploid smirked, attempting to put in an exaggerated Transylvania accent. “I can not resist such a sweet snack...”
Ashe tried hard to hold back her laughter, but burst out in a loud snort. She ended up laughing so hard that she fell over and still continued laughing. Axl looked over to check for a moment to see if she was alright.
“It wasn't that funny.” he mumbled to himself, now wondering if Ashe wasn't at least slightly crazy.
-
50. Lost
“You're lost, aren't you Axl?!” Pallette screeched into his headset.
“What, me? Lost? I think you're mistaken Pallette.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Uh… no?”
“Good, because Zero's laughing at you.”
“He is?”
“Yes. We had to remove him from the command room because he was laughing so hard. It was rather distracting.”
“Really?”
“Affirmative. So, once more I'll ask (because I'm nice like that); you're lost, aren't you Axl?”
“Yes ma'am. Yes I am...”
-
51. Waves
[From the research notes of Kelvin Stelar]
I've come to the conclusion that electromagnetic (EM) wave vibrations have existed before our current generation of electronic successes. That isn't to say it hasn't always been there -as I sometimes fail to emphasize to my more scientific colleagues- but they never existed in such a magnitude before this era.
If one were to call on the butterfly effect, I would say that it started with the creation of the Personal Exploration Terminal (or PET), and even then with the development on the BrotherBand system. With this small change, we now have a massive EM vibration surge that could yield life on its own. Possibly… (and this is a big 'possibly') maybe a human could merge with an EM wave.
Maybe.
I think I have to observe other celestial bodies for EM wavelengths similar to our own for the answer. I really hope (heh…) Hope won't be too angry with me for staying late again.
-
52. Afraid
“You're afraid of something, aren't you Over-1?” the Mother Elf teased. “It's not because of her, is it? Are you scared of her… or what she became?”
The time traveler did not answer her, looking away as if in shame.
“Don't give me that pouty little face,” the Mother Elf then teased some more, “It's alright to be scared, even when there's nothing to fear.”
“What are you afraid of then, Mother?” Over-1 then inquired. The question made the Mother Elf recoil a bit. Over-1's passive expression did not change at knowing her response. “Now you know how it feels.” he coldly told her.
-
53. On the Run
Axl skid around the corner and looked behind him for any of Red Alert's members. He wasn't being tracked. Yet.
“Red's gonna kill me when he finds out I split...” the young Reploid mumbled to himself. “But the guys' have changed. What they were doing was wrong, I just know it...”
Taking a deep breath in as the weight of what he had done dawned on him, Axl glanced down at his buster guns as if they were the reasons why he was now on the run. Looking up at the sky, the Reploid gave a pained groan. “Red's gonna kill me...”
-
54. Lightning
Dry lightning crackled across the sky, mildly surprising the 90 year old woman.
“Oh my...” Grandmother even muttered to herself before she went to her window to close the curtains. As she walked back over to her chair, she then said to herself, “I hope that our Guardians aren't having an argument with their Mother. They all know that they can't win against her wit.”
“Not for much longer, I'm afraid.” a voice spoke up from in the shadows. Grandmother looked up at once to see her intruder, and smiled on knowing who it was.
“Why do you always visit me when it's dark outside.” she inquired to her visitor with a shake of her head, although there was an undeniable smile on her lips. “Come sit Nero, I've made tea. I'm sure we'll need it for what you would like to say.”
The time traveler's shadow gave a smile that almost seemed out of place on him before doing as he was told. “I have much to tell Grandmother.” he informed her. “And if Over won't do it, then I will.”
-
55. Storm
Helena carefully reclined as the storm passed over the luxurious beach home. A strong gust of wind made rain pound against the window, sending a shiver down her spine and giving her a phantom pain where her left leg once was.
“Miss.” Bertha, her live-in housemaid and long time nanny, addressed, bringing herself to Helena's attention. “Sir Harishma-Malay is outside in the storm, asking to be let in for a few. Do you want me to turn him away again?”
At first, Helena opened her mouth to say 'yes,' but stopped. It took her a few moments of considering before saying, “Let him in, and fix him a cup of coffee.”
“And what if he asks to see you?”
“Tell him that I'm too tired. I do not want to see anyone at the moment.”
“Yes ma'am.” Bertha agreed with a grimace that illustrated her disagreement with her mistress's orders. With Bertha gone again, Helena closed her eyes and let the rain beating against the window clear her mind.
-
56. Skeleton
“Hey lookit Prometheus!” Juno exclaimed from behind the Reploid, “I found a picture of your cousin!”
Uninterested and not wanting to comply, Prometheus grudgingly turned around to see Juno holding up a picture of a skeleton. A rather crude picture of an obviously plastic skeleton at that, obviously pulled from some digital source somewhere.
The Reploid looked up at the teenager, expressionless. “I hate you.” he informed her tonelessly. And although he had been serious, Juno laughed.
-
57. Rose
He had chose a white rose for his bride. Appropriate enough, he believed, as they meant remembrance, and he wanted to assure her that he had not forgotten.
Aeolus was lucky that Bertha still had some respect for him, otherwise he may never be able to give Helena gifts.
-
58. Mist
The early morning mist made him feel alive. The fallen bodies of Reploids scattered the ground to which he merely stepped on and over without feeling. The mist laid across the bodies like little sprays of blood. By the end of the day, there would be even more bodies littering the ground, both of Reploidic and human origin.
Soon he will be king. Soon, he would be the messiah to bring about the new world. Nothing could stop him.
Nothing.
-
59. Memory
I can recall many things. My first awakening, for example. The exhilaration of Merging with Biometal Model Z for the first time, and how our partnership has grown since then. I can remember the day I first saw two remarkable creatures, and I remember the day I had to choose one and allow the other to die.
Of all things though, I'll remember the first night Juno and I shared. I was horrified. Juno, my iris, was so young when I meet her. In all respects, I raised her. I saw her grow and blossom. And then… then I deflowered her innocence, all in a single one night stand- mind you. My memory is wonderful, no… rewarding, but I can't find a way to justify the experience when I have seen Juno blossom.
I suppose… what I actually fear the most was that I've completely severed her desire to choose a human mate. But as I recollect more of my memories with her, I also wonder if it was bound to happen regardless. I love my iris, however, memory makes it easy for me to regret...
-
60. Air
You could almost feel the tension in the air. Even Serpent couldn't have anticipated how… encouraging Model W was. Not a proper Biomatch to any established Models that he knew of, Model W had graced Serpent with some of its power any way.
Oh yes, there was tension in the air- a tension that brought a change with it. In debt to Model W, Serpent was adamant that he could bring that change to full force, no matter what it took.
-
61. Crystal
“What is it?” Sonia questioned to Geo, holding up the crystal cut bloodstone with curiosity. Held on a silver chain, the two kids stared at the stone as if it were hypnotizing them.
“Doesn't it seem familiar Geo?” Sonia then asked, looking up at her friend with wonder and confusion.
“I don't know Soe,” the boy admitted, scratching the back of his head. “I think it might just be you...”
“But it… But it reminds me of something...” Sonia continued, ignoring Geo to some degree, “Like… like a part of me wasn't as lucky as I am now… I was… sad. And there were two kids… My… my kids...”
Geo tilted his head at his friend. “I think you need to sleep Sonia, Warrock said he just found it laying on the ground. Some lady probably dropped it on her to a dinner party or something.”
“Y-yeah,” she agreed as she stuck the necklace in a pocket, “I'm tired or something, I dunno...”
But something in her voice alerted Geo that something still wasn't right, so -carefully- he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The young singer looked up at her friend and smiled at his kindness.
-
62. Heal
“Mother!” Harpuia shouted in mild surprise in seeing the Mother Elf standing between an unconscious Fefnir and Leviathan, a byproduct from their fight with Omega. It might not have been as surprising, really, but she was in full view with her secondary form. Now that her chamber in Yggdrasil was demolished, the Mother Elf had nothing to recharge her energy; she could die (as all Cyber-Elves somewhat do when their physical plane energy was spent) if she maintained her secondary form.
“Mother, what are you doing?” Harpuia then asked, asserting more authority this time.
“I'm going to heal my children.” the Mother Elf absently told him without looking at his reaction.
“Not in that form Mother.”
“According to whom?”
“Mother...”
At this push, the Mother Elf turned around to Harpuia. She couldn't cry, but it almost appeared that she had been.
“My griffin, I've lost a child, two are out of my reach, and these two are boarding the edge. And you… Harpuia, you...”
“I'll be fine.” the griffin informed the Mother Elf without emotion. “Leviathan and Fefnir will heal on their own. You need to save your energy- we may need it on a more important date.”
“You mean, to aid Zero in battling his true self?”
Harpuia averted his gaze from the Mother Elf's for a moment before agreeing, “Yes. For when Zero and Omega meet.”
Slowly, the Mother Elf's second form started to fade away, allowing her original Cyber-Elf orb form to become prominent. “Zero is our only hope now.” the Mother Elf softly said before taking her leave.
-
63. Drowning
Drowning in real life looks nothing like it does in movies. Shock fills your senses so that you're almost paralyzed as your lungs fill up with water. You can't scream because your lungs need air to speak, which of course can't happen if your face is under the water.
Drowning in real life is a lot like drowning in your own despair and anger. Not everyone would pick up on it at first, and not everyone could recognize what is wrong. Some times you're too wrapped up in yourself that you can't ask for help or show distress at all. Sometimes, you might not even be aware that you are in trouble.
But the humans of this world have drowned in something even more devastating: ignorance. Their ignorance gave way to fears- fears that some were able to acknowledge and others failed to see. But without their fears, would we have been able to have the world we have now?
-
64. Innocence
Innocence was dead in the Melville family.
Ayn, the adult, was a raving drunk. Well, more depressed than raving. Once upon a time, Ayn was a darling little thing who had a real powerful singing voice. But then prince charming seemed to come, knocked her up, claimed that she had come on to him, and her credibility as anything respectable disappeared in a blink. The bottle reminded her of those good times, and her disconnected mind failed to see her own flesh struggle too.
Atlas knew she was a burden, because that was her name. It was by circ*mstance the young woman decided to fend her little district of Mavericks. She came home to many scratches and bruises at first; once, she even broke a bone and still went out the next day to cut the very Maverick that broke her bone. Time made Atlas stubborn, resilient, and several degrees of mistrusting: no one knew Mavericks better than her though, even Master Albert could see that potential upon meeting her.
Sure, innocence was dead in the Melville family, but was it really much of a loss?
-
65. Hide
To her, it was just a silly little game. She was small enough that Aile could fit in almost anything, easily hiding from Over-1's view without much effort. Unfortunately, he didn't like playing games, and depending on the situation, hide-and-seek would net some rather grumpy behavior from him.
Today was going to be one of those days.
You see, Over-1's first mistake was letting the little girl scout up ahead. It didn't take long for her to go up ahead enough that she was out of view long enough to climb up a tree, and then wait for him to pass under, completely unsuspecting. Aile waited for just the right moment as Over-1 passed by to shout “Nova Strike!” while leaping out of the tree and onto the Reploid. Surprised, the Reploid was able to catch the child, but they both ended up falling backwards from Aile's sudden weight. Of course, Aile thought it was hilarious- Over-1… not so much, so when the girl saw his unamused expression, she instantly stopped her giggling.
“No more hiding.” he told her darkly. Embarrassed, and a bit bitter that the Reploid had no sense of humor, Aile only gave a nod in answer.
-
66. Imprisonment
“99 cans of xel on the wall… 99 cans of xel… Take one down, pass it around- 98 cans of xel on the wall...”
Marino had gone on a road of discovery within the past few hours. First of all, Neo Arcadia sucked. Second, their police force was stupid but their special security was brilliant. And third, she did not like being held prisoner (as it had never happened until now), but that only happened because she had to take a second look at the head of their 'shadow squadron,' or whatever it was called.
“I should have you executed.” a voice said from the darkness. Speaking of the head of the whatever- here he was in the flesh, Hidden Phantom.
“But I'm your prisoner instead, aren't you special?” Marino teased.
“Yes… You were rather impressive.” Phantom said to her, sounding distant.
“Gotta admit,” Marino then shrugged, “That was my first time getting caught, and placed in a prison cell.”
“Oh really?” Phantom entertained, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, so, um… What happens next?”
Hidden Phantom gave Marino a rather teasing smirk in answer.
-
67. Speed
“Done!” Ashe whooped as she finished the live course, setting a new speed record in the process. Vent (her supervisor on this course) gave a rather indifferent scoff before pulling up the mission report.
“Out of sixteen hostages you were to find and rescue, you only safely secured eleven.” he then informed her in a drone. “Two are considered deceased, and the other three's location is still unknown.”
“So?” Ashe questioned as she came out of her Merged form to look over the report as well.
“So,” Vent then darkly informed her, “Although you achieve the highest score for completing the mission, coming in on record time, and not having to retry- your score was diminished by not defeated the set amount of enemies, taking too much damage in the process, and failing to secure all the hostages. A missing hostage is considered a five point penalty, and any dead are given fifteen points off. For you, that means that you've lost 45 points.”
“I still don't see what the problem is.” Ashe huffed.
“These missions are not about your speed, mutt.” Vent snapped at her, while likewise still sounding fairly calm. “They're to help you understand what is important in a line of fire. And those hostages you failed to retrieve or let die are more important than whatever your speed is.”
“It would be if there was a bomb or something, then no one would have survived...” the hybrid grumbled under her breath. Vent glared at her, but didn't say a word.
-
68. Reptile
I've always had a certain kind of penchant for reptiles in my youth. I studied them while dabbling with support units. The chameleon's ability to blend in with its surroundings. The turtle’s ability to be its own shield in danger- not forgetting the tortoise’s ability to disguise itself among the rocks. The serpent's ability to change its skin when it grows too large for it.
Speaking of serpents…
It may be by either luck or irony that my creations have seduced a member of the Guardians to Model W's thrall. An… honorable Reploid in our newest society, no less. Serpent; as in the head of Slither Incorporated, one of the leading researchers behind this country's quick upswing from Neo Arcadia's fall. He wanted to utilize that… C.I.E.L. System for Kirjath Arba in hopes of not repeating Neo Arcadia's past. With Model W thinking for him now, such a notion is practically absurd...
-
69. Hunt
“Nope. Nope, nope. Oh, definitely nope!”
10,000 zenny was on the line for Marino. She had been sent on a hunt to find data relating to Professor Gaudile's FME DNA research, and it was actually more simple than what could let on.
Being in swell cahoots with Gaudile's greatest creation sure did come in handy sometimes.
“There you are.” the Reploid thief smiled as she opened the correct document. She skim read it a few times -casually deleting any reference to Cinnamon, and rendering almost all of the data useless in the process, naturally- before saving the information to her own drives for redistribution to her beneficiary.
Smiling to herself as Marino walked away from the information terminal, she realized that Cinnamon had been standing near the door, watching her.
“What were you doing?” the younger Reploid questioned with a neat little tilt of her head.
“What I do best.” Marino teased as she gave her friend a small salute.
“And what's that?” Cinnamon still wondered.
“Hunting for info, and trolling the politically desperate.” Marino snickered before taking her leave.
-
70. Eyes
It was all in the eyes. Masking the color like a lens filter, hiding the true personality underneath and leaving a distorted picture. So many can not tell, despite the feeling of unease, but it was the eyes that gave it away.
Some of us had green eyes.
Some of us had blue eyes.
Some of us had brown eyes.
Some of us had soulless eyes any way.
Some of us knew no other color.
Some of us refuse to change, and others are not aware that they have.
It was all in the eyes, because that was where it gained access to our souls.
-
71. Stars
I lost my father to the stars.
I saw it too, that exact moment. Since my father had pretty good security clearance at the station, and since everyone really seemed to like him, I was able to help track of communications. Sort of; there was only so much a bunch of trained professionals let a kid do.
While the station received confirmation of my father's location, the signal started to break. When it didn't come back after a few minutes, everyone started to panic- I remember that much pretty clear. At first, I didn't know what was going on, watching as the adults scramble to get the signal back. I just sat and stared as the little dot on the overhead map started to fade. It was then that I realized that he was gone.
It was then that I realized I may never see my father again. I lost my father to the very stars that he loved just as much as he loved me...
-
72. Spirit
He could see them, you know.
He could always see the spirits of Reploids long past. They flitted around him like little wisps, taunting him in some way or another. Some of them were encouraging, others didn't seem to care. He could sense and decipher their frequency without a problem, but could never translate it to a language others could hear.
That was one thing he learned while chained to Model W; the Biometal channeled out frequencies that it did not like. The spirits were one of them. So was Model P.
But why?
-
73. Cards
“Got any threes?” Ashe dimly asked Grey- bored out of her mind with nothing to do but play cards.
“No.” Grey calmly told her. “Do you have a seven?”
“Should have played double or nothing...” the hybrid grumbled.
Grey looked up at her for a moment before looking back down at his cards. “Only because strip poker is banned on Hunter grounds.” he informed her. Ashe looked up at her cousin both appalled and interested, before taking a quick note that Grey had smirked at his own statement.
-
74. Trap
“How do you know it's not a trap?” Juno inquired to her subordinate with an interested tilt of her head.
“When I take one step in that goddamn room and no alarm goes off.” came the bitter answer. “Better yet, I can walk from here to there with my head still in tact. Maybe even tap dance, who knows with this place.”
“Well then, start tapping Seuss.”
Prometheus took a look at Juno and gave a snarl. “I hate you.”
And, although most of her spirit was broken by Model O, Juno chuckled.
-
75. Bond
[Research Journal of Dr Yoshiya Cain, Subject: Reploid Pair Bonds]
...it is possible for Reploids to be twins, of course. The first completed pair was… Iris and Colonel, I believe. Reploid twins are very special, you see, due to their ultimate powers being divided into two; should the two powers combine, they could create a Reploid so powerful that anything could happen. The process to begin with was likely due to one of the Reploids exhibiting power levels that could be seen as potentially harmful, thus the other is born as an 'Eve' to the original Reploid's 'Adam.'
With the above example, Colonel was the Adam, and Iris was the Eve.
Do not be fooled though, this bond is extremely powerful and should not be tampered with. The duo could 'leech' health from the other, constantly allowing the other to brush off minor battle damage. Should one of the pair fall in battle, the other will go Maverick from the stress and despair. It only makes sense- have you ever seen your twin die but you survive the fallout?
-
76. Servant
“No.” Prometheus informed the committee.
“Why not?” the designer questioned, looking a bit pale- likewise, his fellows -Pandora, Juno, Vent, Ashe, and Grey- looked at him with their own confused glares.
“Yeah, why not?” Juno in particular repeated.
Prometheus gave them all a rather distasteful look, while simultaneously not looking at any of them. Eventually, he gave in and mumbled darkly, “I don't want to be remembered as a servant.”
At this, they all went silent.
Pandora (whose facial likeness was to be used in two special caretakers called the 'Mother Units') seemed to prepare herself to say something, but ultimately did not. It was Grey who spoke up, “You do not need to be remembered. There is no shame in being forgotten, either,” he decided in a soft, calm voice. Again, a hush fell over the committee.
“I… I can redesign them!” the designer interrupted nervously. “It might be a little late for iOS rehaul (they will be male), but we could adjust their physical appearances to better reflect their roles to the Mother Units!”
With this idea, Prometheus gave the designer such a venomous glare, that he shrunk a little in fear.
“Do it.” Prometheus soon demanded.
“All opposed?” Vent spoke up, speaking to the rest of the group. No one did, so it was settled.
-
77. Knight
I don't believe in white knights. Never have, never will.
I don't believe in someone coming to sweep a lady off her feet to prove his worth. Not all ladies need to be saved- not all of them care either.
Neo Arcadia waited for its white knight to come and deliver them, and they got one. They received a white knight that turned to be the harbinger of death and collapse. They received a terror that needed another terror to strike it down. If the phrase, 'be careful what you wished for' is proven to be forever true, then what did that say about Neo Arcadia itself?
And Craft… I did (once) consider Craft a knight in shining armor, destined to free me from imprisonment. I thought that I needed to be saved from what was an otherwise mundane life. But it wasn't Craft that I needed. When I realized this, it must have been too late as Neo Arcadia fell around us. It didn't have to end the way it did, but it happened any way. Craft hardly takes into considering what goes through a typical human female mind: hell, I don't think I even know what goes through a typical human female mind. But when we parted ways and only saw each other as friends, it dawned on me that I never truly saw him as my knight. I needed to be saved, sure, but Craft wasn't the one to do that for me- I needed to save myself.
I am my own knight, and the truth of it scares me. I can save myself. But some times I wonder… can I save myself?
-
78. Leaves
Master Albert had sanctioned Pandora alone to scout around Area A. The Reploid didn't have much concept of time, but knew enough from the leaves falling off the trees that it must have been autumn. In a moment of offhanded distraction, Pandora found herself picking up a leaf from the ground to examine it.
You can even stomp on them too. We just gotta get a whole pile of them. It’ll be great!
Scared from her own memories, Pandora shredded the leaf into tiny particles and quickly made her way out of the area.
-
79. Struggle
It had been awhile since Aile had left Guardian HQ, for any reason. With a day seeing little Maverick outbreaks and enough Guardians to pick up other, lesser things, Vent had convinced himself that Aile could survive a few hours around town. Of course, he would escort her, should anything happen.
“They've really changed things around since our excursion.” Aile nodded as they walked along Cinq Ville's main street. “Lots more lights… and neon.”
“Yeah, but it's still kinda the same.” Vent agreed with a small smile- a forced smile, if there ever was one. “The arcade's still down the road, the transerver's to the side: heard they put in a carousel though, to replace the water fountain.”
“Can we see it?” Aile quickly asked, spinning around to meet Vent in the eye. Her equilibrium was easily thrown off, however, and she almost immediately fell to the ground.
“Aile!” Vent proclaimed as he helped his sister stand up again, sounding even more worried than he looked.
“I'm fine, I'm fine!” Aile told him, attempting to shake him off. “Relax a little, would ya?”
“Sorry...” came the sincere apology. “I just… I can't help it. You know? I mean, we both know I'm not the oldest, but it's hard not to be responsible for...”
“What do you have to be responsible for?” interrupted Aile. “What happened was something I did. I'm not just some… struggling ladybug either. Yeah, sure, I might need some help with my balance and stuff, but it's nothing you need to be too worried over. It's not worth it.”
Suddenly, Vent went pale. He took Aile by her arms, surprising her, and made her look him in the eye. “Don't ever say that!” he told her desperately. “I'm your brother, it's my job to worry and it's always worth it! I can't lose you...”
Aile gave her brother a funny look as she tried to get out of his grasp. “You're hurting me.” she even said in a dull voice. It took him a few moments to realize how tight he was holding her, before letting her go.
“Look,” Aile then told Vent, “I'm going to see the carousel with or without you. So what's it going to be?”
Lost, Vent looked at Aile in conflict. She seemed to sure and unwavering in her decision- it was hard to believe that she was seriously sick…
“I'm coming with you.” Vent finally said before carefully hooking his arm into Aile's. The duo then walked on in silence, saying very little things to each other for the rest of the day.
-
80. Cursed
Everyone who had been under Model W's control knew what it was like to be cursed. Living with the ideals that what you were doing was right, but you didn't realize that you had forgotten your morals in doing so. Innocence was lost; where you wanted to save one person, the whole world burned to protect them. And what good did that do when Model W took them away, leaving you more miserable than what you were?
Where it seems no one is immune to this influence, there do stand particulars that can. Twin anomalies that contain the blood of a blue hero of ages past. A freak whose stubbornness shows no bounds but could lead to unstable conditions. A defective that can understand all and none in hopes of finding self worth. The joined souls of lovers that may not be able to stand the test of time. They were all cursed, really, they just didn't know it yet.
-
81. Light
By itself, the name 'Hikari' doesn't spark much inspiration. In Japanese, it translates out to 'light', which does have some significance- of course, Thomas Hikari used this to his advantage when making a name for himself in the world of robotic developments.
It was rather ironic for Dr Hikari to have such a name when so much of his life was spent in darkness. Depression with a small mix of delusions, mostly, from seeing his children and wife burn to a crisp because one of his experiments went haywire. However, through tragedy do we create, and boy, what did Hikari create...
-
82. Dark
I am proof that darkness lies in a Reploid's heart.
I am what the time traveler fears the most about himself.
I am what he hates, his insecurities, all of his doubt, personified.
I shouldn't exist. I'm a paradox.
Then again, neither should he, and we both know it.
-
83. Can you hear me?
They did it so often, it almost felt like routine. The boys wondered if it was just a bad habit, with a dose of paranoia for good measure.
“X, can you hear me? Axl, can you hear me? Zero, can you hear me?”
The boys always ignored the first ping- if only to annoy the girls. X would pick up on the ping after that, believing that it was too rude of them not to. Zero would only accept the transmission if he was stuck, or if the pings were starting to grind on his nerves to the point of distracting him from the mission. Axl never answered and there was no use trying.
Of course, how many calls they would get at all depended on the Operator.
Alia would gain an 'itching trigger finger', of sorts, when she knew the situation was growing dire. Layer tries rather hard not to call too often, but she knew her enemy's weaknesses- leading her to make sure that the boys knew about it too. Pallette doesn't call for anything real useful, and instead opts to yell at the boys if they make a wrong turn somewhere.
“X, can you hear me? This is Alia.”
“Yes Alia, I'm here.”
-
84. Collapse
Hour 31 of training. Every muscle in Atlas's body groaned in agony. Sweat had accumulated in every portion of her body that she glowed under the dim gym light. And yet, she didn't care one bit.
'Atlas, you need to take a break.' Model F's voice grumbled in the back of her mind. The human grimaced as she started to attack the training dummy even harder.
'Atlas.' Model F repeated. 'Atlas!'
“Why… do you… care?!” Atlas uttered through clenched teeth. “No one… cares... about… me…!”
Model F gave a sound similar to an annoyed snort.
'Then why am I still here, kid?'
Atlas continued landing punch after punch on the dummy, all the while considering Model F's words. The more she thought, the slower she would hit. With each moment, as she allowed her body to relax, Atlas's body started to sag from her own exhaustion.
'Atlas?'
Her breathing slowed until finally, Atlas collapsed.
-
85. Silence
After nearly three hours of getting at each other's throats, X had finally pacified Aero Sephira and Zero into silence.
They were still pretty pissed at each other, though.
X's mistake, however, was leaving them alone while he made Aero some tea. At first, it was just the occasional death glare from across the way- but Zero accidentally kicked the coffee table while moving his foot, bringing it less than a centimeter closer to Aero. Of course, the human woman assumed he had done it on purpose and shoved the table back at him, pushing it far closer to him than what it had been before. Zero pushed it back, purposely moving it close enough to her that Aero could barely move, netting her to push it back at him again. It was Zero's idea to push the coffee table to the side- but this new arrangement didn't provide a buffer between them, and so they were even more pissed at each other.
“Almost done, I'll be back in a few!” X shouted at the duo from the kitchen. Zero and Aero Sephira all but growled at each other. Zero stood up, planning on making his way out before X returned, but Aero quickly challenged him by standing up herself. It was an awful time to realize that she was, in fact, six inches shorter than him. Zero took this as an advantage and stood straighter, looking rather smug at the human woman. She looked back up at him with disgust, standing closer to him as if it would assert her authority.
Of course, of all times for X to come back, it was this time: “It's still hot Aero, so you may have too...” he started to tell her before trailing off. X looked from Aero, to Zero, and back again before finally muttering, “Why do you two do these things?” mostly to himself. Aero and Zero gave each other a passing glance before saying the only thing they could both agree on;
“Because we love you.”
-
86. Ambush
It was an ambush: Siarnaq had been set up.
“I'm sorry it had to end this way.” Sycorax said to him in a still tone. “But you are too strong for our society, we had to report you to the Trinity.”
Siarnaq just stared up at his ally. They were already pulling him away for punishment. In one moment of coherent speech for possibly the first -and last- time of his life, the Reploid warned her, “We will find you.”
-
87. Team
Axl was distracting the Maverick by raining bullets upon bullets on it, allowing Zero to attack it from behind and slicing it into two. The Maverick went down, but not without combusting into little fragments. Seeing the display had fired Axl up with satisfaction, having had doubted the plan earlier.
“Let's see X try to do something like that!” Axl whooped for a moment before turning to Zero for his reaction. The red Reploid looked at the younger one darkly.
“What?” Axl then questioned with a frown. “Was it something I said? Is there something on my face? What?!”
Without saying a single word, Zero teleported back to Hunter base, leaving Axl alone. The young Reploid blinked as if he couldn't believe what had happened.
“Hey Axl,” he then grumbled to himself, badly imitating Zero's voice, “That was some real great team work there. You would never be as good as X, but by God you're doing as best as you can! Good work today!” From there, Axl slouched a bit in his little tantrum, brewing over Zero's own bipolar issues. Then in his own voice, Axl then added, “Oh thanks Zero, it was your idea after all!”
After a short pause, Axl questioned, “What the heck is that guy's problem anyway?” before teleporting back to base himself.
-
88. Protect
“Don't talk like that Aile, especially if Vent happens to be around.”
“But he's not.” the crafty young woman challenged with a smug smile.
“You know what I mean.” Grey informed her carefully. “Vent will protect you with his life. I'm almost unsure whether he ignores the idea that you're dying, or he plans on dying with you.”
Aile gave Grey a rather confused glare before letting out a rather hardened sigh and leaning back in the commander chair.
“So you have noticed it?” the Reploid mused with a small raise of his eyebrow. Aile shook her head, choosing not to speak of it just yet.
“I don't know what to do with him...” Aile eventually uttered under her breath. “I can't even get upset about it Grey- not really. If what I learned is correct, stress will only speed the process. I can't do that to Vent...”
“He lived a life without you for 14 years,” Grey pointed out, “He can learn to do it again.”
But Aile shook her head, refusing to say a word.
-
89. Sorrow
[Transcript of a debate between Doctor Electar Mote and Sir Amos Nigel]
Mote: I would like to thank Slither Inc for allowing this debate to occur, and for allowing me to open for today's debate. Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, if I may begin the debate with a question: when was the last time you saw a Reploid cry? We all know what crying is, audience, do we not? When we humans express such strong sorrow, happiness, fear, or whichever emotion we have, we have a tendency to cry. Reploids -although originally sought to be as human as we are- do not have this ability, due to-
Nigel: If I could stop you right there doctor, I believe you are mistaken in no Reploid alive today can not cry. There are, in fact, a small handful of Reploids that are able to cry, to express deep sorrow, joy, fear, and whichever emotion have you. In recent times, this is due to a sort of competitive streak among Reploidic engineers; to create Reploids that can emit tears when the proper emotion associated is displayed. They use this as a means to measure their genius- if you will.
Mote: Yes… Thank you for that correction Sir Amos, but as I was saying...
-
90. Shark
Of the four of them, Grey was the card shark. It was rather disputable on whether he counted cards or not, but his poker face was unbeatable- even worse than Queen Elizabeth's royal guards. No one invited him to solitaire in the rec room on Saturdays.
Not that he minded; blackjack was better.
It was easier to predict.
-
91. Wires
Unconsciously, Grey lightly touched the wires located behind him. Mrs Bonne had called it a restraint collar, designed to keep Grey suspended in his status chamber. It served no use to anyone now- besides giving him a last minute defensive when he had nothing else. A restraint collar that looked more like a gorget on a knight.
Maybe that was why Ashe insisted that he keep it on; she always did like fairy tales for some reason.
-
92. Bat
It was Enzan's turn to bat next.
“Everyone, fall in!” Dex shouted to the rest of the baseball team. “We got a weak one!”
“You've got to be kidding me...” Enzan mumbled to himself as he tightened his grip on the baseball bat.
“Dex calls 'em as he sees 'em.” Lan, the acting catcher, informed his friend lightly. “Just keep a good grip and an eye on the ball, and you could knock it right out. Unless Dex decides to give you screwballs- then you'd probably be screwed too.”
“Lovely.” Enzan mumbled again, taking the typical stance to swing the bat. At the pitcher's mount, Dex licked his thumb in confidence before starting to pitch. Enzan watched and studied, almost unblinking, as Dex then threw the ball his way. Not a few seconds later, a resonating CRACK sounded throughout the field and Enzan ran toward first base without a second guess. While the rest of the opposing team scrambled to go after the ball, Dex remained where he was at the mount, scratching the back of his head in almost surprise.
“Well then… guess he wasn't so weak after all.”
-
93. Injections
[Notes on Reploidic Lethal Injections, as documented by Chief Judge, Tretista Kelverian]
Capital punishment and/or Mavericism is dealt with by lethal injection as first choice under the Reploidic and Humanity Law #EX21.12, Neo Arcadian Revision.
Humans are to be given, in sequential order, injections of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. This will serve as an anesthetic, induce paralysis and respiratory arrest, and stop the heart, respectively.
Reploids are to be given, in sequential order, lines of data to shut down their operating system, coded nanites that ensure that they can not reboot without a third party, and have their power core removed. Removal of R-DNA is optional for later study if so decided by the Judgment Council. Unless otherwise commanded by Lord X, bodies are to be smelted immediately in witness to any of the Jury and documented.
-
94. Mirror
I saw myself in a mirror today. It was as if a box of evils had been opened to me, so I looked away immediately. But I returned, drawn in by a certain curiosity and lust I couldn't describe. I looked myself over carefully; Juno said that I used to be the prettiest Reploid she had ever seen, until Albert fused us with Model W. Then, as she put it, 'our innocence was lost and so was some of the beauty.' I will admit… I don't quite understand what that means.
I hear often that humans develop an 'attraction' toward one another if they see another as a potential mate. Did Juno have an 'attraction' toward myself before Albert infused Model W into our bodies? Has that 'attraction' come back, now that we are free from Albert… in some sense. I understand that she is connected to her… boyfriend, but that can't last forever. Could it?
I took one last look at the mirror before shattering it. No one but Juno saw me as beautiful, and no one else ever will.
-
95. Mask
Weil had picked out a rather intricate butterfly mask for Aero to wear to the gala. But to his dismay, she refused it.
“I can't go with you.” the young woman told her superior. “Last time I went to a party...”
“Nothing like that will happen again my dear, I'll make sure of it.” Weil informed her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and his other hand clasping the mask a bit tighter. “I need a second, and Albert is too young.”
But Aero adamantly refused. “Sir, in all respect, I would rather die than go to another party.”
Weil looked over Aero and eventually gave in. “If you will not go to the gala with me, then please go out and have some fun instead.”
“Oh, I will!” Aero then chimed, pulling out a flyer from her back pants pocket. “They're having a memorial to Thomas Hikari in the same hotel as the gala.”
Dr Weil gave Aero a rather disheartened expression. She had been planning this from the beginning. She knew he would give in. She knew that he couldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to. Slowly, carefully, as if she would change her mind at any moment, Weil placed the mask back into its box before telling her, “I'll drive.”
-
96. Claws
Aero oogled Over-2's claws and gave a little shudder at them.
“Will you… ever hurt me with those?” she quietly asked the Reploid. Over-2 looked down at the girl with a rather emotionless expression.
“Do you want me to?” he questioned, his voice no less devoid of life.
“No!” Aero squeak-shouted at him, instantly jumping some feet away from him. Over-2 looked at her and then looked forward.
“We would never hurt you.” he then informed her. But just as Aero let out a sigh of relief, the Reploid then added, “Physically.”
-
97. Abuse
Atlas only took one offhanded glare at Thetis and immediately hated the look he was giving her.
“What is your problem?” she demanded without thinking. Thetis looked a bit conflicted for a moment before relenting,
“Were you abused at some point? Why are you always uptight? Even Aeolus has his moments of showing some amount of enjoyment in stuff...”
Never before had Atlas wanted to punch anyone (or anything, for that matter) so hard before.
“The f*ck would make you think that?!” she demanded, doing all it took in her to restrain herself from attacking the Reploid without giving him a chance to explain himself. Knowing that he was inches away from a brutal death, Thetis shrunk a little and didn't look her in the eye.
“I wanted to know who hurt you...” Thetis softly mumbled under his breath. “I wanted to know who hurt you to the point of not wanting to have any fun at all. Because… because I'd hurt them for you Addy. I would.”
Knowing this, Atlas only stared at the Reploid. Atlas would never admit to having friends -let alone one that was Reploid- but there was something to be desired about this soul.
“Let's get this straight,” Atlas then told Thetis in a dark tone, “I was not abused- I grew up in a crap town with crap security. And secondly, never called me Addy, or Atty, or whatever again. I hate it. Got it?”
Thetis gave a quick nod.
“And Thetis?”
“Yeah…?”
“Th… thanks...”
-
98. Metal
“Are you made out of metal, or blood?” Over-1 entertained as the Baby Elves flew around him, the same way children would gravitate toward someone they admired.
“Kill us to find out!” the blue Baby requested.
“Torture us to find out!” the red Baby eagerly agreed.
“Unfortunately for you, that's not my destiny.” Over-1 told them with a thin smile.
“You're no fun.” the blue Baby then told him.
“You're such a bum.” the red Baby chimed.
The time traveler allowed himself to give a soft chuckle of sorts as he brought his arm out, allowing the Baby Elves to rest on his arm for a little.
“Hey, Uncle-Over?” the Baby Elves then spoke at the same time.
“Yes?”
“Will we live forever?” the blue Baby questioned.
“Will we always be with Mama?” the red Baby inquired. Over-1 looked over the little orbs with a tilt of his head and contemplated their ideas. Giving a bit of a thoughtful sigh, Over-1 told them,
“Only time will tell, my little amalgamates. Only time will tell.”
-
99. Feathers
She wasn't sure, but Bionka thinks she saw the idea in a fashion magazine. It was a really old fashion trend (circa 1960-something, maybe) to tie feathers into one's hair. The girl was lucky enough to find five, then sitting in front of her vanity she started to braid them in.
Her end product looked a bit off, but she wasn't unhappy with it. Giving herself a small half smile in the mirror, Bionka then made a reach for her blush and lipstick.
I wonder if Albert would notice if I dressed up a bit more...
-
100. Relax
The moment X came through the door, he immediately started to take of his armor. Aero Sephira watched him from over her book as he then made it way to the couch. She moved her feet enough so he could sit, and when he was comfortable, she placed her feet on top of him. X stared at them before calmly beginning to rub the instep with his thumb.
“Same old?” Aero asked him curiously.
“Same old.” X agreed in a dismal tone, now using both of his hands to massage the human's foot. Aero's feet always seemed to be so cold, but incredibly soft to make up for it. He would have rather be here, relaxing with his other instead of slaughtering Reploids by the dozens.
“Did you get a pedicure?” the Reploid then wondered, just now realizing that her toes were painted three different colors; blue, red, and green. For a brief moment, X likened the colors to himself, Zero, and Aero before shaking the thought away.
“Yep.” the woman smiled. “A wax too. Felt kinda bad last week when you had to suffer through my prickly thighs. Tonight, it'll be much smoother.”
X gave a small smile to himself. Then, as he brought her ankle up so he could give it a soft kiss, he said, “I look forward to it.”
