Hero
"You're a hero to all of us, Zero."
Zero opened his eyes, sitting up from the recharge pod and gave Ciel the same, emotionless look he always gave. "You've said that before."
Ciel tucked her arms behind her, twining her fingers and looking girlishly coy. "You don't ever take a compliment well, do you?"
The blond Reploid swung his legs over the side of the pod, one resting on the floor as the other dangled. He almost looked casual. "A hero does more than save a handful of people. A hero does more than simply what's right. I'm not a hero. So... no. I won't accept that particular compliment."
Ciel's brow furrowed, losing her teasing air as she registered the graveness of Zero's tone. "Then what makes a hero, Zero? What makes a hero if not saving people, if not doing what's right and standing up for it, even if you may die?"
Zero shocked Ciel by closing his eyes and looking toward the ground, smiling. "A hero... a hero cares. A hero cares about the rights he is protecting, the rights he is enforcing. A hero worries and is afraid. A hero puts everyone above him. A hero stops and thinks, tries to use something other than force to get to the same goal. A hero loves, accepts love, promotes love and dies for everything he believed it. A hero has his own ideals and aligns them with the ideals of the world. A hero dreams, wants..."
Zero pushed himself off the pod, straightened his helmet and looked at Ciel without that sad smile, once more blank and emotionless. "X was a hero. X will always be a hero... Even if I can't remember him, I will always respect him. I will always think of him as my superior, because he is. A hero gives hope and delivers that hope, a hero inspires even those whom don't want to be inspired. X did all of that. I do what X does, because I don't have my own ideals. I took on X's, and I'm his shadow, doing the deeds he could have done much easier than me. I'm no hero. I'm just filling in for one."
This was the most Zero ever spoke to her, and Ciel felt slightly overwhelmed. This was a sore topic to Zero, she could tell; how many times did he have to bite his tongue whenever the Resistance members called him a hero? How many times did he turn the other way and refuse to acknowledge the praise? How many times did it remind him that he lost his best friend?
"I'm sorry," Ciel finally said, dropping her eyes. "It... must be so painful for you, Zero, and I never... I never thought of your feelings, I only ever considered your wellbeing and..."
Zero walked past Ciel without a word, but he paused at the doorway. The door slid open, waiting for him to pass through the portal, and Zero placed a hand on his hip and glanced slightly to the side, looking at the floor.
"Don't worry about it," Zero said, not turning enough to look at her. Ciel whirled around, staring at his back. "You know, you've the makings of a hero yourself, Ciel. Not all heroic efforts are on the battlefield... most of them are off the field, in the smallest of rooms, making miracles."
"Z-Zero..."
Zero walked through the door without waiting for her response, and it slid shut in Ciel's face, cutting off her vision of her personal hero.
We wait for a hero that changes the world;
See who will succeed in the end...
Dye the whole sky red...
Fulfilled someone's dreams...
This world needs to extol someone.