Thinking
That was me, at one point.
Zero's eyes snapped open, the black depths seeming to temporarily flash blue as he jerked himself free of the recovery pod. He sat up and bowed his head, hand pressed to his chest as he felt a familiar pain.
No. I was never like that.
Zero glanced to the table on the other side of his borrowed room, a bag of basic maintenance supplies and his usual weaponry accessories sitting on it. Somewhere along the way it was decided the key members of the Resistance would, more or less, go on a road trip and Zero had packed only what he needed.
He slid down the pod til his feet touched the ground and pushed himself out of it, walking to the bag. In all honesty, what was in the bag was really all he owned, except…
"I leave the world in your care, Zero."
"X." Zero placed a hand heavily on the bag, watching it flatten under the weight until he felt the containers therein.
Not only had he destroyed his own original body, and possibly any chance of truly remembering himself, but Zero lost his best friend again along with other possible allies. Since the battle he heard nothing of the Guardians… and could only assume he was the sole survivor of that horrific battle.
Omega's red eyes seemed burned in Zero's memory, and his other hand shot up to his forehead as he remembered the insanity in those carmine orbs. Insanity, feral emptiness… Omega did not have his own conscious. He was Zero's body with a battle program that had no mind, no soul, no heart in it… and if what few memories X left for Zero were any indication, Omega was truly what Zero would have been if he had not made key decisions in his life.
"Or would I have been worse?" Zero dropped his hand from his head, dragging the other off the bag along the cool surface of the metal table. "I would have a mind, a soul, a heart…"
He never showed it to Ciel or the others, for they would worry excessively, but Zero still had doubts and questions that plagued him. More so now than ever, having faced himself. What truly happened a century ago? He thought perhaps it didn't matter, and yet everything seemed to be coming full circle… all back to that point over a century ago.
Zero's hand drifted to the hidden drawer compartment of the table, and as he pulled it free, the faint light from the moon outside his window caught the sole item inside, sending a gorgeous scarlet shimmer up. Zero's hand reached in, lifting the cracked ruby and cradling it in his palm. X's helmet jewel, the only thing left of him in this world…
"You could have stuck around," Zero murmured as his fingers closed over the cold jewel, blocking the light to it. "But I guess it was finally your time."
From what Zero learned, he and X were inexplicitly tied together. In some ways it was as if they were the same soul, and if one half has gone, the other must follow soon. If it was X's time, than Zero's was fast approaching.
"I will keep my promise," Zero swore, staring at his hand. "But it won't be me cradling this world."
No. It would be Ciel… precious Ciel and her beliefs that the Resistance, that X… that Zero himself believed in. She could take care of the world, make it a better place. He never lied when he said he believed in her.
Zero opened his hand, staring at the glittering ruby, his eyes trained on it as if expecting some sort of sign from his deceased friend. He would fight to his last breath, and he wasn't sure when that last breath was coming… only that it was soon. How disturbing, to know the moment he would die, the world would be at peace.
"Anyway, X… even if we Reploids are destined to join the scrap heap when that evolutionary step does come about, we still have to fight, not only against Mavericks but our own destiny as well."
Zero smiled to himself as his own voice came to him, in the form of a memory lovingly left by his old friend. It was as if it were lying in wait, his own voice and words, ready to reprimand him.
Zero did not plan to go against his words. He fought his destiny in becoming Omega so long ago. He will fight his destiny of being a 'God of Destruction' and will bring about X's dream with his own grimy hands. And then he'll get a break, hopefully.
"Destiny's a fleeting thing anyway." Zero mumbled, opening a zipper of his bag and dropping the ruby into it. "Sometimes you don't even consciously fight it."
The world was on the verge of being destroyed, Zero knew, without Weil having made a move yet. But weren't all situations as such? It was always the most hopeless, the darkest, before the dawn.
Zero looked out the window. Speaking of dawn, the sun was coming up. He needed to wake up Ciel and get everyone moving. If he had to suffer this stupid road trip in the first place, he wanted to make sure he got a little satisfaction in everyone's disgruntled hatred of waking up early.