This fic was forgotten for over a month, but now I decided to get the final chapter. Call it my Valentine's Day present, even though it isn't a V-Day fic. There's a bit of AliaxXxNana and AxlxCinnamon here, too. Enjoy!

Zero's Happy Ending

Final Chapter: A Much Brighter Future

My life has been much better after what happened that day. With Iris by my side, I was much more open with everyone, and I wasn't such a stiff anymore. Signas gave Iris a position as a new navigator at the base, much to hers and my delight. We were more in love than ever, and never bothered to hide it. Some time after the Repliforce coup, Sigma showed up again, trying to crash the Eurasia space colony into the Earth. He unleashed this virus called the Sigma Virus in order to "purify" my body-whatever that meant. Part of my DNA was stolen by him and used to create something deadlier-the Zero Virus. After the final battle, I was severely damaged. Actually, that's an understatement-all that was left of me was my head, upper body, and one arm. A final blow from Sigma presumably killed me, leaving Iris devastated.

She got an even sicker surprise when something called the Zero Nightmare showed up, causing havoc and pinning it on me. X managed to crush that lousy copy, and then he got a surprise: me. I had hid myself away so I could repair myself after Sigma's fifth little stunt. Needless to say, everyone was happy to see me, especially Iris. When we saw each other again, we shared a kiss that was even more amazing and passionate than our first, and we didn't care who saw us, either. Gate, Alia's colleague and the person behind the nightmare, was corrupted by that persistent Sigma and forced to fight us. When we took Sigma down, we found Gate's battered body. X brought him back to the base as his mercy, but he wouldn't stay that way. Since his body was complete, we got Lifesaver on the job. Thanks to his New Life program, Gate was restored. We pardoned him for all that he did since he was under Sigma's control, and he joined the base as a researcher.

Some time after, our own X's doubts about peace led him to withdraw from the front lines of battle. Things went slow after that, leading to our job being taken over by this vigilante group, Red Alert. Douglas and Lifesaver had been transferred to another Hunter Base stationed somewhere else, so it was just me, X, Iris, Alia, Signas, and the other Hunters. I was called to the Central Highway for the first action in a while. It was there that I met Axl, a young Reploid that left Red Alert. He had the ability to transform his appearance, and he was being hunted by Red, the leader of Red Alert, because of it. We took him in to keep him safe. He wanted to become a Hunter, but X was not willing to allow it. Still, he fought with us against the Red Alert members. X snapped out of his funk during this fiasco, rejoining the battle alongside us. When we reached Red, he mentioned someone called the "Professor." After we beat him, the building we were in collapsed. Me, X, and Axl managed to escape, but Red was crushed under the rubble, much to Axl's dismay. Care to guess who this "Professor" was? Yep, none other than Sigma. We managed to take him down for the seventh time, and afterwards, Alia, Iris, and Signas convinced him to give Axl a shot at being a Hunter. After seeing him in action and how he acted toward injustice, he eased up accepted him as a Hunter, never regretting that decision.

Between two weeks and a month later, all heck broke out again. The Orbital Elevator, used to help humans migrate to the moon while the Earth was being restored, was seized by forces led by our "friend" Sigma. The annoying Vile was back, in his fifth version, and he kidnapped Lumine, the director of the Jakob Project, which made the Elevator. We were up against New Generation Reploids, which held Copy Chips like Axl, since he was a prototype of them. They were said to be unable to go Maverick, but they pulled it off somehow, because what I was staring at were Mavericks. We had two new navigators on our side, Layer and Pallette. I was pretty sure Layer had a bit of a thing for me, but she saw that I was with Iris and respected it completely. Eventually, after taking down Vile and a fake Sigma, we found the real deal-what a looker. We crushed him, but he wasn't the true enemy. It was none other than Lumine, who was using Sigma from the start. He was planning to destroy all the humans and "old Reploids" in order to further evolution. Such a freak could never win, as we all crushed him. However, Lumine's corpse lashed out and struck Axl. We brought him back to the base, and he made a full recovery. Based on words that Lumine told us, we believed that Sigma was truly gone for good. The world was at peace, but the future needed heroes, so we were all put in stasis: X, me, Axl, Alia, Iris, Gate, and Signas. As a surprise for me, Iris and I shared a capsule.

We awoke in the year 22xx, 100 years in the future. The Hunters had prospered in the years we were gone, becoming a worldwide-known group. They were officially linked with the Federation, the major law-making body in the world. Axl left for some time, saying he wanted to find the origin of his shape-changing ability. X and I were called to a place called Giga City by the Federation in order to stop a group called the Rebellion. Alia, Iris, Gate, and Signas all stayed behind. I assured Iris that I would be back, sealing that deal with a kiss. While there, we were betrayed by Shadow, a rookie uHunter that Hunter Hunter that was on a mission with us. I was presumed dead after I was blasted off a roof at Lagrano Ruins. That wasn't the case; I just hid for a bit. I infiltrated the Ulfat Factory to take down Mach Jentra of the Rebellion, but I couldn't do it alone. Luckily, X showed up, accompanied by Axl, whom he found in the factory. The three of us combined were enough to crush Jentra and his massive project, Duboar. X told me he had some "introductions" to make, but when I saw them, they were the dregs of Giga City! I decided to go it alone, believing they could go Maverick at any time. However, I met with them again at the Gimialla Mine, and they were fighting that traitor, Shadow. We took him down, but he tried one last shot. The team card shark, Spider, took the hit and dealt the finishing blow. He earned my respect after that, and I joined the team. Not long after, though, Spider sacrificed himself to save us. It reminded me of how I almost lost Iris. I felt so nerve-wracked that I called the base to see if she was okay. Thankfully, she was perfectly fine. We pressed on, and we took down the three main Cadres of the Rebellion: Botos, Ferham, and Scarface. Epsilon, the Commander, was strong, but we managed to destroy him. However, it was really Redips, the Colonel of the base we were sent to, that was the mastermind. He had the same copy ability as Axl, and he was Spider this whole time! He planned to rule the universe with the power of Supra-Force Metal. With the combined power of X, me, Axl, Massimo, Marino, and Cinnamon, we were able to defeat the so-called "Great Redips." We took refuge in an area of the collapsing base Redips was using, and plummeted down to Earth unharmed. Nana, the navigator for Giga City's base, New Hope, launched a rescue team, and we were found within a day. Everyone worked hard to fix up the base, and soon it was good as new. Good thing, too, as everyone from our base was coming by to celebrate. I was happy to see Iris again, as well as Alia, Signas, and Gate. We got an added surprise: Douglas and Lifesaver were with them. They had been put in stasis for 100 years as well. A massive party was thrown to celebrate our victory. During the bash, I slipped away to the roof for some quality time. I sat there watching the stars when she walked up.

"I thought you'd be here, Zero." I recognized the heavenly voice of Iris.

"You can read me like a book, can't you?" I asked her as I turned around. You'd be jealous of me if you saw how amazing she looked. She had ditched her armor and was wearing a beautiful sky blue dress with matching high heels. Her long hair in the nighttime wind, and the glow of the moon reflected off her green eyes, making them glisten. I was in a red tuxedo, because I had decided to dress up. My hair wasn't tied up like normal. She giggled at my question as she came to sit next to me.

"The sky's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked me.

"Yeah, but not as much as you." I replied. I turned back to the sky. "I never took the time to just relax and enjoy the scenery before."

"You know, you missed some funny stuff inside." Iris said, making me turn my head. "Axl's had a crush on Cinnamon for some time. Did you know?" I shook my head. "Well, he finally got the nerve to tell her."

"Let me guess, she didn't know what he was talking about?" I asked.

"Just the opposite." She told me. "Cinny had a crush on him as well."

"Whoa, Axl got a girlfriend? Remind me to congratulate him later." I said. "How'd Duckbill take it?"

"Gaudile nearly flipped, especially when Cinnamon flat-out kissed Axl on the lips." Iris explained. "Massimo had to hold him down to keep him from going off."

That made me chuckle. "What about X?"

"Let me put it this way: he's having double trouble with that."

"Does that mean he's got two people after him?"

"Yep, Alia and Nana. I'm not sure if it's lucky for him or not, but those two seem to want to share him instead of fight over him."

I chuckled again and wrapped an arm around her. "That kind of thing makes me glad there's only one girl after me." She giggled and laid her head on my shoulder. Just then, X came through the door.

"Hey guys, we're heading to this place called the Jounetsu to keep celebrating. You up for it?" He asked.

"We'll be down in a bit." I told him, looking back. He gave a thumbs-up and shut the door. I turned my head back to my moon.

"Hey, Zero?" Iris spoke up.

"Yeah?" I respond.

"What do you think the future has in store for us?"

"I don't know, but I do know one thing." We turn our heads to gaze into each other's eyes. "I'd take any future, as long as you're with me."

"And I'd follow you into any future." She said. We learned in and shared a sweet, passionate kiss under the light of the moon.

Yes, with Iris with me, I would have a much brighter future than I could ever dream of. Lifesaver was right; everyone deserves a happy ending. Thanks to him, when my story ends, I'll have my happy ending.

Zero's Happy Ending

END

Sniff... beautiful ending, right? This could transition into a fic named Jounetsu Setsuna by M. Hunter Traubel Trainee, only Iris would be in it. As a matter of fact, most of the X series fics I'll do after X4 will take place as if this story happened instead of the real story, since I hate what happened in the real story. Be sure to check out my other fics!

Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.