Zack Rello: While Thunder Hawk and Quinn Manta are being punished for their insolence…
Thunder Hawk (off stage): For the love the love of all that is holy, make it stop!
Zack Rello: I found a replacement. Flare Kitsune!
Flare Kitsune: (walks on stage) Yes?
Zack Rello: Would you be so kind as to do the disclaimer?
Flare Kitsune: Certainly. Zack Rello has no ownership what so ever of Mega Man X, or anything else otherwise copyright of Capcom. What he does own, however, are any and all original characters and weapons in this fan fiction.
Zack Rello: Very professional sounding disclaimer. BTW, this chapter has references to X7, so you might not understand what I'm talking about if haven't already played it. Also please remember that italics are thoughts and dreams. If there are "" in dreams, that always means some one is talking. And now I present you: Chapter 8!
Shadows of my soul
Chapter 8: A New Nightmare
Axl yawned tiredly as he headed to his room. It had been a boring Friday night so Axl had decided to turn in early since he was off duty. "Geez, for the last two days Signas has had us all working so hard I never even got a chance to sleep. I know I'll probably have nightmares, but right now I'm too tired to care." he thought tiredly as laid in his bed. Falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, Axl was lucky enough not to be tortured by his old nightmare. Instead, he had a different dream.
Axl was standing in Red's office in Crimson Palace, listening to Red lecture. Axl stood a little ways from Red's desk and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move. Meanwhile, Red was still talking but no sound is coming out of his mouth. His double beam scythe was resting against a window and outside the window is a blinding white light. The light got brighter and brighter and Axl wanted to shield his eyes but he still couldn't move. Just when Axl couldn't stand the light anymore, Red started to laugh soundlessly. "It must be funny." Axl said, but no sound came out of his mouth either. Suddenly, Axl can hear Red's laugh, and it doesn't belong to him. "Sigma!" Axl sneered as Red and the desk morph into the Sigma body Axl first encountered. (A/N: That body is gunner Sigma or Sigma's first form from X7, if anyone's confused.) Still laughing, Sigma took off and flew out the window. Axl could now move, but he didn't have his guns, so he ran toward the window to follow Sigma. However, the white light simply became a wall and Axl couldn't get through. He punched and kicked the light as Sigma shrank into the distance.
Axl began slashing at the light with Red's scythe when he suddenly heard a voice behind him "Axl, why you kill us, ya?"
Axl turned around and saw something that chilled him to the bone. There stood Solider Stonekong, Wind Crowrang, Flame Hyenard, Vanishing Gungaroo, Splash Warfly, Ride Boarski, Tornado Tonion, and Snipe Anteator; Axl's comrades from the vigilante Hunter group Red Alert. All them looked normal, the way Axl remembered them being before they had gone Maverick. Axl turned to Tornado Tonion and answered his question "I had no choice. You had all gone Maverick and were a danger to everyone. It was the only way to stop you guys from being Sigma's puppets."
Ride Boarski snorted "That's just an excuse! We took you in and gave you a home and how do you thank us? By slaughtering us all like pigs, with out even a second thought!"
"Yeah, what he said!" Vanishing Gungaroo chimed in "And besides that, you abandoned us, your friends, and for what? So you could be Maverick Hunter like your "heroes" X and Zero. I bet you even knew you'd have to kill us if you went to the Hunters!" The other members of Red Alert murmured in agreement.
"No! I swear on the Red's grave that I never wanted to kill you guys. If there had been any other way, I would have done that over killing any of you in a heart beat." Axl said in his defence.
"And who was it who actually killed Red, eh?" asked Wind Crowrang. "You were the one who delivered the final blow! You were the one who triggered the dead man switch on him that destroyed Crimson Palace, so we know it was you! And why did you do that? Because your "friends" in the Maverick Hunters declared him a Maverick, that's why! Red was like a father to you, he took you under his wing!"
"Not all of us liked you, punk, but at least we respected our leader." Splash Warfly accused "We made exception for you because Red said that you were ever bit as good a member of Red Alert as we were. Want know a secret boy? Red was only one of us who was never exposed to the Maverick virus. It's true we were Mavericks, but Red never was! Yet you never even gave him a chance! You simply assumed he was a Maverick and killed him, because he was labelled a Maverick by X and Zero!"
Axl stood shocked at this revelation. He had only one weapon against this assault: denial. "It can't be true. You're all lying to me! I wouldn't have fought with Red if wasn't a Maverick. I get it! This is another nightmare, isn't it? Nothing you guys say to me is true, and eventually I'll wake up at Maverick Hunter H.Q. and everything will be back to normal. Soon I'll recover from my battle stress and nightmares like this will fade away."
Solider Stonekong shook his head "Your right about one thing Axl, this is a nightmare. However, everything we are saying to you is true, no matter how much you try and deny it. Maybe killing us was justified, but you shouldn't have run away from Red Alert. Real friends stand up for each other, they don't run away things look bad. Besides, killing Red was uncalled for. I'm sure if you had given him half the chance he would have gladly joined you in your fight against Sigma. I can hear him explaining his reasons now: he want to get revenge on Sigma for killing us. He never blamed you, X, or Zero for our deaths, you know? He said it was Sigma's fault because he made us Maverick in the first place. He'd also want your forgiveness because he used you. Not a day went by when Red didn't feel guilty about what he had done to you and the innocent reploids we had attacked for their D.N.A. data. But you never gave him a chance, did you?"
As Stonekong finished his speech, Flame Hyenard started chuckling "Heh, heh, of course you didn't give Red a chance. He is a Maverick "Hunter" after all. It's his job to hunt down and "retire" them, not help them or try and reason with them. That's true, isn't it? Remember when we fought in the lava energy plant? I was in so much agony from my malfunction. Sigma told me that to end my pain; all I needed to do was rip you all limb from limb." Hyenard's laughing grew quite, but gained a dark undertone. "When I told you this, you said you had just the cure. Then shot me…again…and again…and again. Heh, heh, well I guess I got cured all right, it's hard to feel pain when you're DEAD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"He may be having a metal breakdown, but he makes a good point." said Snipe Anteator. "The purpose of the Maverick Hunters organization is the destruction of Mavericks, and that is all. This essentially makes you a professional murderer. Still, you think what do is right, and why shouldn't you? No one has ever questioned what the Maverick do, because they follow the orders of humans. You know, about a hundred years ago, when machines first developed consciousness, they were still considered inferior to humans by all but a few people. Now that we reploids are at an equal with humans, the humans need to assert their authority over any reploid who questions them. That's why they need people like you…murderer…murderer…murderer…" He said as the other members of Red Alert joined in his chant.
Axl fell to his knees and clutched his head "No…I'm not a murderer. I'm not! I didn't want to kill any of you! I'm so sorry. Why are you tormenting me? Please, just go away. Make it stop!" He screamed. Suddenly, Axl's guns appeared in his hands and he rose to his feet. His arms, as if they had a mind of their own took aim at the targets before them. "No!" Axl whispered, but it was too late. His guns fired upon the Mavericks, each bullet that hit causing more violent damage than the last. Within seconds Red Alert was reduced to a bunch of mutilated corpses, their synthetic blood staining nothing in the room but Axl. Axl screamed, and the world exploded in white light.
"Ugh, what a nightmare. That's the last time I eat cold pizza before bed." Axl said to himself as he slowly came to. When he was full awake, he realised that he wasn't in his room. In fact he was in the Command Center of Hunter H.Q., only now it looked like the gates of hell had been opened there. Everywhere Axl looked was blood, blood and more blood. This would be bad enough, but when Axl saw the sources of the blood, he threw up. All around the room where his friends, all of whom had met extremely gruesome deaths. His friends had been decapitated, slashed, burnt, impaled, and basically looked like something out a horror movie. The worst part, though, was when Zero appeared from out of the shadows.
"What the hell have done, Axl? I can't believe you've gone Maverick!" Zero said as he drew sword.
Axl backed away slowly from the red hunter "What are you talking about Zero? I just got here, and certainly didn't kill anyone. Why are you accusing me?" he demanded.
"Liar! You slaughtered your own comrades in cold blood! The Hunter surveillance shows everything." Zero explained as the main monitor activated. A video began to run, and Axl watched in horror as he hunted down his friends; slowly and painfully killing each one with a huge grin plastered on his face. Once the video finished Zero said "Now you see why I have to retire you. This is for everyone you killed Axl!"
Axl rolled and barely avoided the Z-saber slicing off his head. He came up and drew his guns, firing a single bullet into Zero's shoulder as he rose. To Axl's surprise Zero's entire left arm exploded into a blood red mist and the reploid screamed in agony. "What the hell is going on around here?" Axl questioned aloud. "First Red Alert, now you guys. This has got to be the most realistic nightmare I've ever had. I'd better get my head examined after this."
"What are you babbling about Maverick?" Zero asked as he used his good arm to pick up his saber. He took an attack stance and dashed at Axl, ready to impale his former comrade right through the core.
Axl prepared to dodge the attack and jumped into the air as Zero dashed under him. With his hover jets activated Axl turned around, and the world went into slow motion. Axl's arm moved against his will, taking aim at Zero's head. Axl's mouth went into a grin then spoke in a voice that didn't belong to Axl "Say hello to Iris for me." it said as an Axl bullet flew through Zero, splattering his blood everywhere.
There was nothing but blackness. As soon as Axl had killed Zero at the H.Q. everything had just melted away, leaving Axl trapped in an infinitely dark place. Axl, however, seemed calm, he had a feeling he knew who the voice that spoke through him was. He looked around in the darkness and yelled "Show yourself Lumine!"
Footsteps approached from Axl's left, and their sound was more haunting then anything the young Hunter had ever experienced. Axl vainly tried to make his guns appear, but he remained weapon less. As the footsteps got closer they were joined by an equally chilling, the sound of Lumine clapping. There was huge flash and Axl stood in a white abyss. "Bravo, Axl. You finally figured it out. Maybe you're not quite as stupid as I thought." Lumine said sarcastically. He stood a whole foot or so away from Axl, still clapping his hands and giving a smile that made Axl feel sick to his stomach.
Acting on some sort of instinct, Axl leaped and tackled the white new generation reploid to the ground. He threw a quick set of punches and then grabbed Lumine by the throat. He hoisted the Maverick to his feet and held their faces inches apart, his fist poised to take another punch. "Lumine, I'll give you two seconds to explain what the fuck your doing in my head, why you're tormenting me with these God damn nightmares, and why the hell when I wake up I shouldn't just blow my own head off to finish you for good?" he demanded.
Lumine simply smiled and pushed Axl off him, sending the Hunter flying. The white Maverick then teleported and delivered a fierce diving kick that sent Axl crashing into what must have been the ground, even though it was indistinguishable from the rest of this white zone. Lumine then landed gracefully beside him and placed his foot on Axl's chest with devastating force. He looked down at Axl and replied "Axl, such foul language, my virgin ears they bleed. I think you should be nicer to me. After all, we could think of ourselves as roommates, or rather, that I'm temporarily renting you're your body."
"Sorry, you don't pay rent, so I'm gonna have to evict you." Axl joked as preformed a sweeping kick. As Lumine fell, Axl delivered a piercing side kick to Lumine's gut and sent the white maverick flying. Axl charged at him and prepared to hit him square between the eyes with well placed haymaker.
The now recovered Lumine got to his feet and grabbed Axl's fist. He pulled the young reploid close and elbowed him in the stomach. What he hadn't counted on was Axl using the hit's momentum and then head butting him. The force of the blow knocked the two the ground, and that was the last thing Axl remembered as everything went black.
Axl's eyes snapped open and he leapt out of his bed. He ran to his bathroom and turned on the water. After splashing cold water against his face for a few minutes, he caught his breath and looked at the bathroom mirror. "What the hell have you done to me Lumine?" he yelled at his reflection. His normally black armour was now a pure white and the red sections were transformed to a purplish blue. The grey areas of his upper arms and legs had turned to purple, while the gems on his head and chest had turned to a very light blue. Meanwhile his hair had turned a light purple and his eyes were orange amber. Axl blinked a few times and looked again, relived to see that his body had returned to normal. "O.K. either that was the strangest hallucination I've ever had or Lumine is possessing me like in an old horror movie." "Hey, Lumine! If you're in there, do me a favour and get the hell out!" Axl said aloud, tapping the side of his head.
Getting no answer and feeling that he wouldn't be able to get any more sleep even if he tried, Axl headed to the command center, the only place in the H.Q. that was still active at 4 in the morning. As he walked to the command center, Axl reflected on his strange dreams; desperately trying to make some sense of them. No matter how hard Axl tried he couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. "I wonder if I'm ACTUALLY possessed by Lumine. What if he takes over my body and tries to restart his plan to annihilate humanity. If that happens X and Zero would have to retire ME! No, that can't happen. I remember Zero explaining to me that Sigma was actually a virus and that's how he was able to revive himself so many times. Lumine may have had Sigma's data, but he wasn't a virus. So he couldn't have taken over me by infecting me! Well that makes sense, so I guess I have nothing to worry about." he decided as he came up to the command center.
The first thing Axl noticed was how quite it was. Normally one could hear the muffled sounds of the command center in the hallway, but everything was dead silent. Axl immediately decided that something was wrong and opened the doors.
Everyone lay around the command center, but thankfully no one seemed dead. Axl quickly activated the Maverick alarm and checked the reploids in the room. Everyone was simply unconscious, and they were covered in a yellow powdery substance. Axl knelt beside his navigator Palette and wiped the stuff off her face. She started to come to and Axl used his optics to do a basic scan of the powder. "Pollen?" Axl wondered as X, Zero and several other Hunters came through the door.
"Axl, what happened here?" X asked as he gazed across the room. Whoever had done this was very skilled: Hunter H.Q. had some of the most advanced security systems on the planet and yet someone had managed to get past it and attack it.
Axl stood up and faced X "No one's dead and our systems are undamaged. Theirs this weird pollen on everyone that knocked them out. Brush it off and they should come to." The Hunters began doing just that as Palette came to her senses. Noting this, Axl helped her to her feet and asked "You alright?"
"I've been better." She responded groggily. Suddenly her eyes went wide as she said in a panicked voice "But they kidnapped Alia! This weird ninja appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her. Then the guy sent out this weird pollen and knocked me out!"
X dashed beside her and asked "They kidnapped Alia?" When Palette nodded, the blue Hunter clenched his fist. "God damn it! I should have known this would happen! Why wasn't I here to save her?" he questioned to no one in particular.
"X, there wasn't anything anyone could have done. The alarm was never activated till I got here, so no one knew. Don't worry, we'll find her and save her in no time." Axl assured his friend.
Zero walked up to his friends and handed a data disk to X "Sooner than you think. The guy who did this left a data disk for you X. Play it, hopefully then we'll know what this is all about."
X nodded and handed the disk to the now recovered Signas. The leader of the Hunters put it in a computer and the main screen began to play the video…
Review Responses
Youshou Leviathan: Haven't heard from you in awhile. Nice to hear another review from you. As I mentioned in an earlier Review Responses Zero and Layer won't get together in this story because I am a fan of Zero and Iris (But I'm also a bit of a fan of Zero and Ciel if it's done well). As for Axl… and Palette… (Laughs hysterically). Sorry, but I will never put those two together. I will let you all know now: I hate Pallette with a passion! So, sorry, but no, these pairings are not in this story. Anyway, please review again, and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings (no, I'm not being sarcastic).
Erckie: Sorry if my romance chapter was a bit too mushy, but I did warn you that romance is not my strongest area. If I ever try again, hopefully I'll do better. I hope you're happy that Miami will be appearing later in this story. Please review this chapter.
MyGBAcanTalk: Thanks for the review. Glad you thought the date was O.K. Hope you like Axl's dream.
PRIVATE: Hi. Well, did say this was an action/adventure story, so that will probably be the last X/Alia only chapter. As for what's going on between Axl and Lumine, I don't want to make Axl himself "evil" and at the same time I don't want to kill off Lumine (One of my favourite villains). So hopefully what I'm doing in my story is a somewhat original way to get the best of both worlds. Please keep reading, I guarantee the best stuff is still to come!
Racegirl: Thanks for reviewing. The Netherlands sound a lot like Canada. Cold, not enough school breaks IMO, and not enough anime I like on T.V. Still, I wouldn't want to live anywhere except here either. Besides, we have (somewhat) free health care!
Prjct. WAR: I hope you're not too upset I ended this chapter with a cliff hanger as well. I try not to do that to much, but sometimes it's the best coarse to take. I have to admit, you sound lot like my friend krotosbeatsyou (author name). He says he feels evil all the time. Anyway, please review this chapter!
A/N: I hate this! I'm going to have to put this story on temporary hiatus soon because I'm moving on the 14th. Hopefully I can get at least one more chapter done before then, but still, I won't be able to for awhile. Quick note, anytime Lumine speaks in this story his text will be bold and italic like so. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter it, it may be the last one I get done before then. Hope to see you all soon!
Next Chapter: Wild Fire