((Warnings: Obscene language from Forte's mouth.))
A week had gone by since Dimitri had attempted to destroy Hana’s life - at least, that was what had happened as far as Xav was concerned - and things had gone back to normal for the most part. Except, he knew for a fact that it would take Hana a long time to recover completely, if at all, from what he had done. That sort of thing was something that no person could easily take, whether they were a young Reploid girl, or a trained fighter.
Xav stayed home for the most part nowadays unless he was visiting Hana or Cappy, both due to Zero scolding him for overusing his new core - as if it couldn’t handle the power output, but better safe than sorry - and because he just didn’t want to face the world right now. He was doing better, but seeing Hana in such a state had made him tense.
Talk about a long tiring week.
Forte had tried his damned best to keep himself distracted between patrols and reports and training, but damn it had been hard to sleep- and focus on said reports and patrols and training as a result. Not that he thought he had much right to complain about ‘hard to sleep’, all the same.
Funnily enough, for the most part it hadn’t even been night terrors keeping him awake. Just too many thoughts in one place all at once. Worry, of course, for how Hana was taking all of this, but…
Well, he decided as he made his way to his bioroid friend’s quarters and knocked lightly on the door, he wanted some answers dammit. And he wanted to check on Xavier too, to be honest.
The bioroid had been lightly dozing on the couch, the TV on with some cartoon show that he wasn’t really watching, and his eyes had been closed. At the knock on the door, he frowned, wondering who it could be - Zero would just come in - and got off, leaving the show on as he opened the door.
“Oh, Forte…” He didn’t sound disappointed, and opened the door wider to let the other in. “Come on in. What brings you here today?”
Granted, given what the two of them had done last week, he wondered if the other wanted to go check up on the twins today.
“Restless,” was Forte’s simple reply, the wolfbot at his side giving a quiet snuffle of agreement. “Restless-exhausted, more like. Figured I may as well be social about it.”
All the same, there was a faint, worried frown replacing his usual lazy grin as he and Gospel stepped inside. “Hope you’re sleepin’ better’n I’ve been.”
Leaning down, Xav scratched Gospel behind the ears with a smile, before standing back up and heading back over to his couch after he let Forte in. “Come on, sit down, I’m fine with company, just…” He yawned. “I’ve been the same, pretty much. Don’t want to do anything except let time pass me by.”
The bioroid managed a faint smile up at him, leaving him plenty of room on the couch - Sakura’s favorite couch. “Sorta. I’ve slept better, I can say that for sure. I might have overextended myself...”
Forte didn’t waste too much time in flopping down on the couch, Gospel curling up contentedly at his feet, and not for the first time Forte envied his support unit’s ability to sleep anywhere any time he damn well pleased. “Yeah, it looked like y’were puttin’ out a hell of a lot of power with the wings and the fire...thing...armor.” He stifled a yawn of his own, shifting to get a bit more comfortable.
“S’not even bad dreams or any’a that shit,” he added, trying to find a way to word his curiosities without seeming outright nosy. Even if he felt kinda nosy. “Jus’ too much t’think about all at once. Questions an’ no way t’find good solid answers, y’know?”
“My Seraph Armor?” Xav said, nodding with a sigh. “It was the quickest way I could think of to get past that trap and then after that, I… I think I decided not to hold back. I think I was also uncertain about… whether I could still output that much power without killing myself, and you have to say, it was… deserved.”
He tilted his head towards the Wilybot, letting one hand hang off of the couch as he grabbed the TV remote and muted the cartoon show. “Oh, really? I’ve… gotten used to bad dreams, I’m afraid, but I’d love answers to some questions, too.”
“Same on the bad dreams,” Forte agreed with a slow nod. “S’not as bad as it used’ta be, year or so back, but god damn. Waking up with y’systems overheating sucks ass.”
He frowned, rubbing the back of his neck and deciding to try and find a different approach. “Still damn glad y’were there with me. Bein’ able to split up was a fucking godsend.” He paused a moment, trying to word his next statement carefully. “And those drone bugs came in real fuckin’ handy. Hornet Chaser, yeah?”
“No kidding,” Xav sighed. “I used to get a lot of bad dreams when I was younger, sometimes I wonder how Rhythm was even able to handle me and my nightmares back then. They’ve… stopped for the most part, but sometimes, something happens to bring them back.” And he didn’t want to think about them in the least.
“Thanks, and it was really nice, knowing that my back was covered too, with you and Gos.” He adjusted his position on the couch, letting his eyes close for a brief moment -- before reopening them. “...Yeah. Hornet Chaser, one of the few that I still have.” He should have figured that Forte would poke him about it, but it was the easiest way to make sure that the drones got destroyed.
“Heh, well, that’s what Gos is best at,” Forte said, giving his support unit an affectionate nudge with his foot. “Coverin’ yer ass so y’can focus on what’s important.” So that had been what he thought it was...kind of amazing that he remembered it at all. Considering how long ago it was, and considering that most of what he knew of that war in particular was from archived footage and news reports.
That had been one of the few times he’d chosen to hide instead of fight.
“S’been a long time since I saw that used,” he added. “Not since Wily’s Ninth Uprising, f’I remember right.”
Xav chuckled, smiling down at the wolf by Forte’s feet. “I believe it. Gos is a good dog, he knows what to do.” He got the feeling that Forte wasn’t going to let it go, and by now, Xav was tired of simply lying by omission, and just tired in general. Secrets… got people hurt. He wouldn’t openly tell his life story to everyone, but if people that he trusted asked the right questions…
Well, no point in hiding it from them.
“Yeah, that’s right, that was from when it was. I kept all my old weaponry on hand just in case.” He’d tried to, at least, but issues had caused him to lose most of the data.
“So...y’been around all that time?” Forte said, tilting his head just slightly to one side. He’d...had a bit of a suspicion for a while, really, but he hadn’t seen a need to pry; it was none of his business. And there had never been reason to bring it up.
Curiosity killed the cat, but he wasn’t really a cat person anyway.
He paused a moment longer, sitting up just slightly and raising one eyebrow, ignoring Gospel’s mental prods of confusion. “Well...ya never quite were a regular X-alternate compared to the rest, were ya?”
Xav frowned. “...Yes and no. It’s a bit of a long story… one that I’m still trying to make sense of myself, honestly.” The huge gap between his activation date and his age was… something that he was still trying to come to terms with, given the odd circumstances.
He took a deep breath. And there it was.
“You’re right, I never really was. I mean… there were more differences between me and them than the rest of them had with each other.” They’d almost all shared traits that he just didn’t have.
“M’startin’ to see that,” Forte said, looking...more outright curious than anything else. “More like...I think yours is the first ‘verse I’ve been to where…” Wow, why was that so weird to think? And Gospel whining at him mentally was really not helping. “Where Rock’n X turned out t’be the same person, ‘stead of brothers. Least, m’assuming that’s right. I wondered for a while, honestly…”
Gospel lifted his head, opening his mouth in a loud, mournful noise of confusion.
Forte looked curious. Xav had to wonder if that was a good thing or not, but at least the other was still the Forte he had met and befriended in the multiverse, and not at all thinking that it was something to fight him over. “Hmm… yeah, I knew of one other world where we - I - damn, I don’t even know what word to use - were the same person.”
He had to hide a smile at poor Gospel whining. It was probably confusing to someone that hadn’t lived with it their entire life. “Awhile, huh? Guess I couldn’t help but be myself even while keeping it under the wraps…”
“Just little nuances I noticed here an’ there,” Forte said with a shrug. “Nothin’ that someone who didn’t spend more time’n he wanted to around Lightbots would notice.” He looked down when Gospel whined again, rolling his eyes and giving his support unit another nudge. “Aw relax, dumbass, it’s still Xav. He ain’t any different’n he was five minutes ago so shut it.”
He paused a moment, and a grin began to twitch at his lips. “Never thought I’d see the day when I’d end up bein’ close friends with Rock of all people, that makes two of ya now. The multiverse is weird as shit.”
“Hm, you’ve got a point there, there’d be some habits that are undeniably him, wouldn’t it?” He closed his eyes. “It’s nice to know that I’m not too damaged to be him still, I thought that wasn’t possible anymore.” A slight chuckle escaped his mouth at Gospel’s whine. “He’s confused isn’t he?”
At that, Xav tilted his head to seriously consider Forte, his own smile spreading across his face. “You’re charming, what can I say? And speaking as a Rock, we’re very persistent creatures when we want to befriend somebody.”
Forte couldn’t help but relax and let his own grin broaden, not even bothering to try and act grumpy about it. “Fucking tell me about it,” he said with an amused snort. “You fucking Lightbots are all a stupid level of fucking stubborn.” And yet oddly endearing. Not that he wanted to admit as much out loud.
Why, why did he attract so many goddamned Lightbots, seriously?
“Seriously though, I was just curious,” he added with a shrug. “It was naggin’ at me a bit, s’all. Y’still Xav, one way or another.”
“Aren’t we?” Xav said, his smile wide by now; Forte’s mood was contagious, he couldn’t help himself. “It’s why we’re befriending you like this. Before you know it, you will have an army of Rocks that have declared themselves your friend.” The mental image was ridiculous, and he couldn’t help but let out a snicker just at the thought of it.
“Not a problem, though, I mean, you’re my friend, and if you reacted badly… well, it’d show that we weren’t as good of friends as I thought we were,” the bioroid said. “Thanks, though.”
“Heh, don’t rub it in too much,” Forte said, deciding not to think too hard about the image of himself and Gospel being followed by a literal army of Rocks.
Or rocks.
Both of those were really weird images.
He leaned back a bit, relieved that at least some of his questions were satisfied. “Ain’t never met one with that Seraph Armor thing y’got goin’ though,” he added. “S’kinda cool. Fuckin’ flaming angel. Reminds me a little of my own X, he’s a pyromaniac if I ever met one.”
Xav snickered for a few more moments before he managed to stop himself. “Hey, I’m just saying.” Forte and Gospel with him and a lot of other Rock units would be funny as heck, though.
He crossed his legs, stretching his limbs as he considered that. “To be fair, I never really… used it, if that makes sense. I think I was too young to handle the power output at the time, or something. I used the double Busters once and damn near killed myself. And almost blew my arms off. It wasn’t fun.” And it had been quite painful, from what he could recall. “Oh yeah? I think I met your X once or twice a really long time ago. Glad I’m not the only one that has the affinity for fire.”
“Don’t go the way my brother went and constantly be blowing limbs off,” Forte said with a roll of his eyes. “An’ I suppose that’d make sense considerin’ you’re part organic.” From what he understood, Xav was actually capable of physically aging in a way full synthetics weren’t, so it made sense to him that a high power output could be dangerous. “He thinks it’s soothing. Watching shit burn, I mean.”
He paused, as if he’d gotten an image in mind that was...rather unpleasant. “Ergh...well...depends on the shit, I guess.”
Xav winced upon hearing that. “Yeah, no, I have no plans on doing that on a regular basis. I like my body parts intact, thank you very much, even replacing my non-organic parts unnerves me.” He was very glad that he’d been unconscious for both core surgeries. “Hm, really? I wouldn’t say its soothing for me, but… it has this weird way of making me think that everything is going to be fine. I don’t… really like thinking that destruction is great, if that makes sense.”
He tilted his head, debating whether he should pry, but then decided that it was probably for the best that he did not know.
“Nah, makes sense I think,” Forte said with a thoughtful nod. “Sorta. I mean, I’m not one to talk; breakin’ shit makes me feel better in the moment ‘cause half the time I just want somethin’ to take it out on.” Granted, he was getting better at wisely choosing what was appropriate to take said anger out on, but his point still stood.
Gospel lifted his head with another soft whine, standing up and stretching before plopping his chin on Xav’s leg with a quiet snuffle. “Keep gettin’ unfortunate reminders, I guess,” Forte murmured. “Of why ya shouldn’t piss off a Lightbot.”
“Well, true,” Xav nodded, as he thought back. “...Doesn’t mean that I like destroying things, but I suppose it is a form of stress relief if the right target is in front of you.” Namely, people like Dimitri, or simulations that wouldn’t cause too much trouble if they were destroyed.
He gave a faint smile, scratch the back of Gospel’s head to soothe the support unit. “...Hey. You shouldn’t piss off a Wilybot, either. We’re… I guess none of us are considered ‘safe’ if we’re angry. And frankly, there’s little you can do to make me that upset.” He doubted that Forte would get him that angry.
That was a special kind of anger reserved for very few people.
Forte shrugged mildly, seeming to relax just a bit as Gospel did; to this day, he still found himself feeding off of his support unit’s emotions for support at times. “Didn’t figure I would. And I’ve pissed off Lightbots before. Pissin’ off Blues, now that’s another story, but he’s a pain in the ass.”
He frowned all the same, reaching over to give the bioroid’s shoulder a light nudge. “I’m more concerned about the shift from cold as ice to giddy mid-barbecue, frankly.”
Xav just winced. “Even I didn’t dare piss him off, that was just a disaster waiting to happen. He could’ve easily kicked my butt if he wanted to.” Sometimes he wondered just why Blues was the way he was, but there was no point in asking a dead Reploid that question. He just knew that he wasn’t a match for Blues.
At the nudge, he looked over at him, before wincing. “Oh. That. I… was really upset. I guess you could say that I was.. inflamed with rage?” It wasn’t exactly something he could explain to people, not when he didn’t know how to explain it himself.
“Nice pun,” Forte snorted, sitting back and crossing his arms. “S’worryin’ seein’ someone y’friends with get like that, s’what I mean.” Gospel made a soft noise of agreement, giving Xavier’s knee a lick and fixing him with big sad mournful wolfbot eyes.
The Wilybot’s frown deepened a bit, part of him wondering just how far it was even right to pry. “I was too mad t’really notice at the time, but...y’looked really damn happy burnin’ someone to death.”
The bioroid snorted quietly. “Sorry, I had a thing for puns when I was a kid, and I sometimes slip one in if it’s appropriate.” He smiled back down at Gos when the other made the worried eyes. “I… I understand. I’d be creeped out if you or someone got like that…”
Wincing, the bioroid toyed with the scarf around his neck. “...I was more happy about getting rid of a threat, that-” He cut himself off. “It’s… I couldn’t save myself, Forte, from him. But I could, at least, do something for Hana.”
“Less creeped out and more concerned,” Forte muttered, seeming to...visibly soften regardless at the bioroid’s statement. Gospel made another, more insistent noise of concern, shifting to place his paw on Xavier’s leg.
Forte sighed, shaking his head mildly and reaching over to take hold of Xavier’s shoulder lightly. “Goddamn Lightbots, always that selfless aren’tcha…”
“Sorry,” Xav said sheepishly, leaning back against the couch so that he could relax. The bioroid looked down at Gospel’s paw, patting it lightly before turning his head back to the Wilybot next to him.
“...Heh. I guess some things just never change, don’t they? I always try to look out for my friends, no matter what world they’re in.” That, right now, included the Wilybot and his support unit too, even if he didn’t outright state it, it was implied.
“Are you two okay?” He remembered that Gospel had been hit with the electric trap, and Forte had fought Hana, so…
“Eh, tired but been worse,” Forte said, resuming his previous posture with his arms crossed. “Gos didn’t take too much damage an’ the fight with Hana- or whatever the fuck was controlling her- was...uh…” Was still something he didn’t particularly want to think about too hard. “I been practicing. Pressure points.”
Didn’t make having to fight someone like that any less gut-wrenching, but that was the life of a Hunter, wasn’t it?
Xav nodded as he heard that. “I could tell you have.” In more ways than one. “I wish that it hadn’t had to come to this, but not much that I could do about it now…”
Sometimes being a Maverick Hunter was a curse, and even if killing others wasn’t anything new to him, he never liked doing it. It made him feel unclean.
Forte sighed, nodding in almost tired agreement and closing his eyes, a half-grin tugging at his lips. “Heh...should’a seen the looks on everyone’s faces when I told ‘em. Damn gladiator looked like he wanted to kill somethin’.”
His grin faded into a half-scowl, Dimitri’s words still...a little too fresh in his mind. “Come to think of it, with the nonsense that bastard was spouting he prolly would’ve killed somethin’, knowin’ his crapsack world.”
Xav raised his eyebrows as Forte mentioned a gladiator, but nodded. It made sense to him that a person like that would want to kill something. “Yeah, I’ll bet that he would have… a lot of people would have killed him long before we would have. I don’t feel too bad though… I gave him a chance and he squandered it with his anti-Reploid ideals.”
Those kind of ideals made him ill. It was no different from all the other wars that had occurred in human history to ‘justify’ hating someone for being different.
Wait a second… Forte blinked, sitting up slightly and loosening his posture a bit. “Wait did’ja not- y’don’t know what all happened, do ya? In the world that older alt of Axl and Skrah are from?” Oh, if anyone had heard anti-synthetic garbage… “They...never said anything, did they.”
Xav frowned, trying to remember his various conversations with the older Axl and Skrah, but shook his head. “I knew that they weren’t… very happy in their world given how anti-synthetic it could be, but one of them being a gladiator wasn’t something that I knew.”
Well shit. “Anti-synthetic’s an understatement,” Forte said, Gospel shifting over to plop his head in his master’s lap seeing as how he was currently deprived of head pettings dammit pet me. “So much sentiment that they’re arrested n’told to kill each other jus’ so humans can get rid of ‘em.”
He snorted angrily, reaching down to scratch Gospel behind the ears. “Fucking asshole would fit right in, prolly be at the head of it all. F’you’n I hadn’t killed ‘im Skrah prolly would’ve hunted his sorry ass down an’ done it himself.”
Wincing as he heard that - because no place that he’d been to had been as bad as that - Xav felt terrible for Axl and Skrah. “That’s disgusting, I swear. What’ll it take for people to learn that we Reploids are people, too?” Even in his world they still weren’t completely equal, but it was nowhere near as bad as Forte was telling him it was in Axl and Skrah’s world.
“He probably would,” Xav grimaced. “I almost regret not leaving him for Skrah, but I couldn’t let a monster like that go unchecked.”
“Build somethin’ with emotions an’ then get mad at it when it emotes,” Forte scoffed. “Been there, done that with my lovely creator one too many times.” Grumpiness aside, he still seemed almost...tired, more than anything else. “Roundabout fuckin’ way t’get there, but the point of all this was t’ask if you’re okay.”
Or as close to okay as one could get, considering the circumstances.
“Humans are nuts,” Xav agreed, even if he put in a kinder way. “Anyways… I guess I’m alright now. Kinda have to be alright if I’m going to cope with everything that has been going on. It’s been a really busy past several months for me, both physically and mentally.” He lightly touched his chest, where his ‘new’ core was resting, and then pulled his hand away.
“You’re tellin’ me,” Forte sighed, a little more relieved than he’d like to admit out loud. Okay, so he had a soft spot for Lightbots, sue him. Apparently that extended to various incarnations of Rock of all people in general.
Who would’ve guessed.
“Wish it’d start shiftin’ to a less shitfuck kinda busy real damn soon,” he added. Dealing with constant patrols and Maverick attacks in his own world was bad enough, just add several other worlds onto it, cool, that was fine. “I need a fuckin’ vacation.”
The Lightbot turned slightly to Forte, smiling at him. Even if it was Forte, he at least had someone that would agree with him.
“Don’t I wish that would be so.” He closed his eyes for a few moments. “...I need one too. Hey - I still have that chocolate fountain that Svirel got me for Christmas… why don’t we make Hana some chocolate-covered treats with that? And eat a bunch ourselves?”
They could at least do something fun to get their mind off of everything.
“I think I c’n go for that,” Forte said, managing a smile that was much closer to his usual lazy grin. “Heal my aching core with more chocolate than a normal person can handle.”
Gospel lifted his head from Forte’s lap, thumping his tail and interrupting with a wail that was much louder than it needed to be. “I think Gos says he’s only in if he gets a treat too,” Forte snickered, patting the wolfbot’s head roughly. “He says he feels left out otherwise.”
“Chocolate is the best cure,” Xav said solemnly, standing up and stretching. It really was great medicine for when one was feeling down, and considering how much Hana loved chocolate, he was sure that a few chocolatey gifts would at least perk her day up a bit more.
Chuckling Xav reached down to pet Gospel. “Oh, don’t worry. I still have some bacon strips in the fridge that I could give to him.” He usually bought them given Cappy’s taste for bacon, but he knew that Cappy wouldn’t notice a few strips going missing…
“Fountain’s in my bedroom. Meet you guys in the kitchen?” he said brightly.
Gospel gave another too-loud noise at the word ‘bacon’, his entire backside beginning to waggle along with his tail. “Ya said the magic word,” Forte said with a chuckle. “Heh, sounds good. Have a fuckin’ day off t’relax one way or another, I fuckin’ swear…”
If nothing else, he was damn glad he had someone to drag through this with. Even if it was a Lightbot.
"Your days catching up to you?" There wasn’t a note of sympathy in the red and white Spartan’s question. Perhaps her voice would be recognized, but years had past, things had changed. It was unlikely.
"Well, I suppose old age wouldn’t be your kind’s issue, now would it?"
No sympathy, but perhaps there was some greed, some envy.
The only evidence of what had even just occurred
was the wet sound of the cough that'd burst from
her chest. Her tongue ran over her lips.
Tasted like copper.
"You're a year older than me."
She leaned back in her seat, gazing down her nose
at the now Spartan-IV.
"Get to the point. Why am I here?"
So Jess and I win the award for fastest post Burning Man unpack & cleanup.
This week was almost more intense than Prep Week. Just as we were getting comfy snuggling our little ninjas, we’re on a plane less than a week later to fly out east and see my rockstar of a family. That so called “staycation” I thought I was going to have was non-existent. It takes a lot longer than I realized to decompress from Burning Man but believe you me, we did it in less than a week! Champions! Talk about leave no trace, you’d have no idea we even went to Burning Man (please don’t look at the bikes out back). There’s dust on my boots, but that I hope not to lose.
Now, finally on the other side of the burning embers, giving us this warm afterglow, we’re headed out east to meet my new nephew (with quite a kickass name if you ask me), his older sister, and all the weirdos that I call my family. I’m really looking forward to this week. It’s been way too long and I think the timing of it is perfect. It should cool the fire a bit. … Of course, nothing really goes as planned with my family either, so…
Here we go
Here we go
Heere wee GO…
The sensation of her wounds was nothing
particularly out of the ordinary. Though the
stark contrast of bullets driven beneath her
skin, lodged within hard, unforgiving muscle
was significantly different than the burn of
plasma.
Trails of blood coursed over the surface of
beaten armor like streams. But it was difficult
to discern which was hers, and which was
of the Spartan's she'd slaughtered. Heavy
breaths came raggedly, straining wounded
lungs as her body seemed to aimlessly carry
her. Where was there to go? She didn't know
if there was even anyone else in this place.
And if so, they likely were not friendly.
Perhaps she was waiting for death.
Perhaps she was waiting to be reborn.
