Postlude: After the War

It was about the game. It was always about the game. No matter what happened, life always turned out to be some game where you lost or won, where strategy and luck were required. Altruism was only another strategy, usually a poor one as it helped others win and cost you more.

While some people could fool themselves into being ignorant of the game, Deo Midas had always thought of the game. Every identity stolen was done strategically: another face to fool with, another life's work to take advantage of. But whenever he won, the game continued. Winning was only a brief state before he had to keep playing. And there was always a higher goal to achieve, a greater win to pursue. When he finally got to the top, he would have to keep playing to stay in place.

He wanted that, though. He wanted to be at the top, the ultimate winner. And for a short time, it had seemed completely within his grasp. The supra-force metals were beyond any other tool or power available. With that backing him up, he should have been a shoo-in for the lead player.

And so, he had taken a risk. The plan had been to simply take over the Maverick Hunters and slowly build power to infiltrate the rest of the government. But then that seemed like such a low target to aim for. With both halves reunited, he had decided to gamble all or nothing. There were weapons in orbit that he could access with the knowledge of Redips and others. Enhancing that to be a fortress and keeping the SFMs for personal power, that should have secured his position for years to come. He could have won the game and kept that win permanently.

Instead, the gamble turned up snake eyes. He had not taken X and the others seriously when they had arrived; surely the power of the SFMs would make a win guaranteed. But they had taken it seriously. They had not played it like a game. They played it like business.

They had won. And in the fires of re-entry, he knew that he had finally lost.

This loss was permanent.

It was the only way to end things, she felt. What use was there in her continuing to live? Sure, she'd finally be free of obligations… once she testified for the innocence of the Rebellion, explained the real story, spread the actual ideals they wanted, and spoke with the others of Giga City saying that what happened wasn't really what should have happened at all. That could take years.

But could she really bear it? They were all gone. Jango, Incentias, Psyche… sure, that lot had changed when their revolution turned to war, but they had been like her, forced to conform to a mold without their input on the matter. And Epsilon was gone. He had known suffering all too well and he wanted to end it, along with other injustices the reploid race had to bear. All he wanted was to make things better, and he would put the needs of others ahead of his own in order to do so. For that self-sacrifice, he had been manipulated and pushed onto the path of war which he had been trying to leave.

And Scarface was gone. She might have been able to bear the loss of the others, even all of them, if Scarface had survived. But he too took his duty seriously, to the point where he put his life on the line and lost it. While he was a loyal and honorable man, he had died just like all the others.

Well, there was that Luna girl. But she wasn't one of Lagrano's reploids. She wasn't really one of them. And, she had been acting peculiar towards the end too. Perhaps she should have gotten to know her better. But it was too late to keep regrets like that.

No, Ferham was all alone. At one time, she thought she would fly away from the troubles of land and be free in the sky, but now she was falling, with the immense world filling her vision below. It made her feel rather small, and maybe not as powerful as she thought she was.

Up here, she couldn't really blame the Resistance or the Maverick Hunters. The Resistance had ideals too; perhaps they had been right to take up arms in defense of their human friends and in defiance of being made to stay separate. And the Hunters, they were doing their job. With the rampant destruction that Mavericks had caused over the years, they had unfortunately learned to react strongly against those who tried to break the system. Maybe this would teach them to cool down.

Ferham didn't mind that she was going to die. She was outdoors, in the sky, no longer tied to anything. And she was going to be with Scarface and Epsilon soon, if such a thing as the afterlife existed. Most of all, the SFMs she was holding onto wouldn't be around anymore for anyone else to abuse their power.

And that was good.

The elevator was still tilting, enough to make it hard to stand up straight. The elevator's shields were normally invisible, but with one of the engines blown, the upper damaged side was starting to turn pink. From this high up, the descent back to earth would take several minutes. But at some unknown point, the two SFMs outside would blow to pieces. They might get killed immediately in the blast, or they might immediately get corrupted from the powerful energy swarming around them. They might also survive both, but would they all?

Under that uncertain doom, no one knew what to say.

X stayed near the pilot's computer, trying to think. He was the leader of the group and it was his responsibility to see to the safety of the group. If anything happened to the others, he would take the blame for it (even if he was the only one giving the blame). But try as he might, he kept finding dead ends. The SFMs were too close, as he could sense both of them. Running the remaining engines was more likely to send them into a spiral that would make that eventual crash worse. As a last line of defense, it was possible to willfully resist a corruption… but sometimes even that didn't help. There were no shields on the elevator capable of blocking both the explosion and the corruptive wave… there was nothing.

Near the lowest wall, Zero was standing with one foot on that wall and the other on the floor. His eyes were closed, that dragon tail of his armor twitched, and his fist was clenched. This was so frustrating! He had no fear of dying, but to die after a victorious battle in a situation where he was helpless, that was shameful. Even worse, his friends, the old and the new, were all here. They could die or become Maverick and there was still nothing he could do about it. He wasn't supposed to be helpless. And that was one fear that he kept secret.

Axl paced around that room, looking at things and trying to think of a solution too. He had a few flight forms, but none big enough to save everyone. X and Zero were both capable of flight now too, but could they get the rest carried away? Zero's form didn't look too stable for carrying another person, and then there was the problem of Butler with his Massimo armor. Even if they could all get everyone in the air, could they fly away fast enough? And it would only take a moment of weakness to drop one of their allies and send them to yet another death. The worst part about this was that it seemed they couldn't do anything. Axl never liked standing still; this waiting and uncertainty were torturous.

Bracing himself against two walls and the floor, Butler was trying not to think how he would be if he was corrupted. If he were on his own, then he might not be much trouble. But with the Massimo armor, he would be very hard to stop. He didn't want to hurt people, but who knew what was going to happen? He also felt like he understood better how his mentor had felt, not wanting to hurt others by staying gruff and antisocial, but wanting to make up for the past by helping without expecting a reward. If the only thing he could do to keep from hurting others was to keep away from them (or at least detached in feelings), then he would probably do so no matter how tough it was.

In defiance of the tilting floor, Marino sat in one of the passenger seats. So this was it, she thought. After all her efforts to straighten out, she'd been caught trying to do something good and selfless and now forces were conspiring to get her corrupted once again. It wasn't fair. But even worse than that, the others here would be corrupted too, and they hadn't done anything wrong. They had been out to stop one problem and they had succeeded. But now they might be unleashing an even bigger problem if they all returned to earth as FM Mavericks. There probably wouldn't be second chances for this.

Cinnamon watched the others, trying to think of something to say. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to help them with. Cheer them up? Tell them everything would be okay? But it was so uncertain, and very unlikely that things would turn out okay. There was nothing out there that would make everything okay, it seemed. Maybe it was times like this that were the reason why humans had made up religions, she thought. In the event of a time of hopelessness, they might still hope that there was a greater force of goodness out there that would make things work out all right in the end. Not knowing what was out there, or knowing if she'd ever see her father again, that was the most horrible feeling she had ever experienced.

We can help.

Everyone in the room stopped or tensed at that voice. It wasn't any of them, but it seemed to come from in the elevator with them. "Who is that?" Marino asked.

"It's the force metals?" X said, sounding like he suspected it but was uncertain.

"Oh, the love metals!" Cinnamon said, bringing one hand up to her face. On the side of her arm where she kept her metals, there was a small white glow.

Don't be afraid of us, the voice said.

We just wanted to help, another said. Our purpose is to help. If we don't then we've failed.

But this will take our full energy, a third said. This will be the end of us.

But that means we've fulfilled our mission to help you.

Don't be afraid of us, or the others.

And then there were six cracks around the room as each of the love metals brought up a white shield around their hosts. This was followed by a double explosion outside as the two SFMs overheated catastrophically. Sparks filled the elevator's shields as it tried to bear the brunt of the physical blast. While it held, the whole structure shuddered.

For a minute, the six of them were witnesses to something peculiar. White streaks of light raced out from the explosion and straight through the elevator, as if physical barriers meant nothing to them. There seemed to be hundreds of them, briefly filling the space. When the lights encountered the shields, they spilled away from them like oil off of water. At the tail end of it, one light got hit by Massimo's and Zero's shields, slowing down enough that it hit the floor and skipped off it instead of going through it. It ended up by X's feet, where it quickly became dim and solid.

X knelt down, putting a hand against the wall to remain steady, and grabbed the item before it slid away. As he got up, he examined it. "It's a regular force metal," he said. "Protect 5, it seems."

"It feels normal to me," Cinnamon said. "So there's going to be millions of them out there, shooting across the sky like little stars?" She loved that image in her mind and wished she could actually see it.

"It seems so." After giving it a final look, he tossed it over to Marino. "You have the weakest defense of all of us; put that on and go hang onto Butler."

"Okay then," Marino said, trading it for another metal before getting up.

"Massimo you stay over there and hold onto that railing," X then said. "Try not to get thrown off; the elevator can take absorb much of the blow, but it's still going to be a rough landing. The rest of you, just get somewhere you feel secure. We're probably going to all end up with more damage from this, so brace yourselves."

Zero relaxed where he was. "Don't worry; it's easier surviving a fall in here than surviving a blast like that, so we're already at better odds."

And then, Axl laughed, really breaking up the tension. "Yeah, we three have already done this once, so we can do it again."

While the others laughed, Zero said, "But this is why I hate space elevators and the villains that insist on using them." He did give a brief half-smile though.

Not long after that, the elevator splashed into the ocean. It jolted all of them and X had to catch Cinnamon to keep her from crashing into Axl. Down below, they heard the rushing sound of water entering the cargo area. X used his Nova Cannon on the stairway door so they could all escape to the observation deck.

There was a giant crack down the middle of the deck, with many smaller cracks coming off it. Surrounding them on all sides was the vast blue ocean and the vast blue sky. Nothing else seemed to be out there. "This thing isn't going to stay buoyant for long and the depths of the ocean would kill us," Marino said. "What now?"

"I know what to do!" Axl called out, excited. He dashed to the edge and leapt off, letting a bright white glow surround him. Right as he hit the water, he transformed into a giant red sea monster, with a large armored body, long oar-like flippers, and an arrow-shaped head on a tall thin neck. "I've been looking for a practical use of this form for ages! Hop aboard."

Marino and Cinnamon were easily able to jump out onto Axl the sea monster's back. X and Zero had to use their armor's flight capabilities to help Butler get over, as the Massimo armor's hover boots wouldn't take him out that far. But once he got there, Axl seemed to have no trouble swimming at the surface with his three passengers.

X and Zero flew just in front of him. "According to the satellites, we're not too far from Giga City waters," he said, pointing north. "Gimialla Mine should be reachable before dark. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes!" came a call from the three Giga City residents. Axl gave a bellowing call, while Zero just nodded.

X smiled at them. "Good, then onward back home, crew!"

'As it turns out, force metals may only be the physical form of electronic life forms that can exist in a symbiotic relationship with reploids. While we are still trying to find out their true origins, they seem to have a compulsion and need to help others. They cannot fully be aware and existent without a host, thus they do all that they can to enhance the host's life. Research is still ongoing about categorizing and evaluating them, as well as discovering why some go demonic and corruptive. But used in moderation, these beings can be of great assistance to us.'

'It has been proposed to rename these beings cyber elves, for Electronic Life Form, and to differentiate them from the elf-folk of human legend.'

Professor Gaudile was going through this report carefully. He had been asked to write about current force metal developments for a popular science magazine, one that often had scientific laymen in its target audience. After years of writing purely for scientific journals, getting the language down to a clear relate-able form was a challenge. But it was important to share knowledge and now he understood that many people out there were willing to give him credit for his work, and respect him for it.

In that pause, the door to his work lab opened. "Professor, have you taken a break today?" Cinnamon asked, coming over with a plate and two glasses.

"Well I've got deadlines to meet, and the whole lab to get back into working order," he replied. "But if you're going to make me, I suppose I can tolerate one for a little while."

She laughed and set down her things, including the plate of crackers, sliced cheese, and sliced sausages. "If I don't make you, then who will?"

For a short while, it was almost like old times, just a pleasant afternoon chat with his daughter. But she was more independent and worldly now. She had her own opinions about things and wasn't afraid to speak them. And she was interested in the world beyond the forest lab too, wanting to see and do more, but always coming back because they were family. Gaudile felt that if he had felt like this about Dr. Lagrano, then his life would have been quite different.

But Lagrano didn't love him, or any of his creations. Instead, Cinnamon loved him as her father. He wouldn't give that away for anything else in the world.

"Oh, X has asked me to come back to the Maverick Hunter base," Cinnamon said at one point.

"To join them?" Gaudile asked. "It's up to you if you want that, but remember to come visit me."

She giggled. "No, not about that. He wants me to help him with some experiments with the cyber elves. You've been trying to get them less dependent on the metals, but he wants to see how well they can combat the Maverick virus. And due to that, they can only do the experiments there. Oh, but don't worry. We're going to take every precaution we can to prevent infections during the experiments."

"Of course he'd do that," Gaudile said. It was still a highly dangerous experiment to perform, and Gaudile didn't even know any details beyond what she had just told him. But X would know what he was doing, and he could trust Cinnamon. "As much as it worries me, it might be the biggest breakthrough yet if he can control the virus through cyber elves. I'll offer any assistance I can, and if you want to as well, that would be wonderful."

Cinnamon smiled. "Of course."

And he smiled back at her. "Just be careful around all those young men around there. Don't let them try anything on you."

Her smile widened as she held a fist up. "Oh if they do, I'm sure that when I tell them that Zero personally trained me, then they'll back right off."

They both laughed at that.

In the 775 Plaza of Giga City, the two tall lanterns had been replaced with lighted memorials to those who had fallen in the Rebellion and Resistance conflict. On one pillar, there was an abbreviated story of how the conflict came about, as well as the names of the Rebellion members who had their Maverick status taken away posthumously. It ended up not being a long list, but Epsilon was right at the top followed by Scarface and Ferham.

On the other pillar, there was a listing of the Resistance members who had died in the conflict. It was a much longer list and Butler had to search for the names he was looking for. There was Chief R and Aile on the top of one side, being the pair whom most people saw as the local leaders in the conflict. In the middle of one side, there was Joan and Michael; X had told him about them, a pair of sweethearts who had been sent together to Gimialla Mine after it had been taken. From their autopsies, it seemed that Spider in one form or another had found and killed them while they were trying to help the miners out.

And it was way down near the bottom, but there it was: Steel Massimo.

Butler was out of the armor at the moment, but he still had to kneel down to see it. He had said that he would rather die as an unknown prisoner, but Butler had decided that people should know the truth. Even after he'd let that knowledge become public, people asked him when the original had died and when he had taken his place. They were surprised to learn that indeed he had fought alongside X and the other Hunters the whole time.

At one point, X had told him that he could leave the armor behind and walk away from conflict any time he wanted. For some time, Butler wasn't sure what he wanted to do. But then it had come to him: it was either serving a few people in one household as a butler, or serving all the peoples in the world as a Maverick Hunter. That had made it a much easier choice.

"Butler!" a child's voice called out. The little girl reploid with red pigtails came over and hugged him.

He hugged her back. "Hello there Annette. How're things going?"

"They're going to start up school again," she said, letting go to look at him face to face. "I'll like being with my friends again, but I hope none of the classes are boring."

"They're only boring if you make them that way."

"I guess," she said, halfheartedly accepting the advice. "So, can I? Can I go with you?"

"Not for my training, no," he said. When she pouted, he rubbed her head. "But once I pass that and get accepted officially, then yes, you can come live with me and we'll make the adoption official."

She cheered for that and hugged him once again. She had lost her mother and he had lost the children he had cared for before. But they weren't replacing those loved ones; they were making their own family.

She had once saved the world alongside X, Zero, and Axl. Many of the recruits and the training officers knew Marino had been one of that group. But that didn't mean they took things easy on her. No, she got pushed harder and judged tougher than all the other new recruits. Well, except for Butler, and she didn't see him most days.

But as she ran through challenge courses and fought through simulated enemies, she could easily say that she liked that. When she had been in FM recovery, she had often stolen things purely out of boredom. She couldn't get bored in Maverick Hunter training. She was constantly made to test her limits and train until she was exhausted. And she felt good about it; her progress through the training courses was excellent.

She wasn't as thrilled with class and debriefing sessions, but recognized their importance enough to tolerate them. But they had their bright spots, such as the day that one of the instructors stopped in front of her seat. "And Marino, you were the only one in the class who attempted to get a surrender from the enemy. Would you explain why?"

She had been successful in getting that surrender, but declined on commenting that knowing that it would get backlash as ego-stroking. "I stole the safety ring off one foe's flamethrower and he quit using it. That told me that he was either clean as he realized it was dangerous and avoided it, or that he was one of the more dangerous ones that keeps their mind mostly intact as the infection develops. After a show of force, I gave them the option."

Although the instructor kept a stern look, he didn't discount her statement. "And you gave the correct judgment base on that observation. The ones who surrendered were clean of infections." This caused some discomfort in her classmates as the instructor went back to the front and center of the classroom. "There were other signs too, which I will elaborate on."

Marino kept her smile to herself; sometimes having experience as a thief was quite useful on the other side of the law.

Dr. Palei and Axl walked along the tunnel from the mass transit system. "Well sure, e-crystal mining is mostly stable right now, thanks to crystal sowing," Palei said. "But when those facilities get wiped out in large attacks, they're difficult and expensive to start up again. We're at a good position now, but if we don't make plans for the future, there may be an energy crystal crisis a few generations down."

"Like if those experiments in giving cyber elves e-crystals works?" Axl asked.

"Especially if those work out," she said. "Given that a permanent effect seems to require the destruction of the physical entity of the elf, and how they might be able to return, I think it would need a lot of e-crystals." She paused at the end of the tunnel. "Now let's see where he might be…"

The port they had arrived at wasn't as crowded as the one they had left, so it wasn't long before they found a man who was wearing a lab coat with a private laboratory logo on it. He smiled warmly to them and shook their hands. "Dr. Palei and the Maverick Hunter Axl, is it? It's an honor to meet you both; I hardly thought I would get the chance. My name is Dr. William Weil, but please, just call me Weil."

"Good to meet you too, sir," Axl said. It was odd, but he found himself thinking that Weil had eyes like X had: not in color, but in the way they expressed intelligence, observance, and attentiveness. It was an interest in people that made one feel at ease in talking to him.

"Well I'm pleased that you would take the time to speak with us," Palei said. "Especially about Dr. Lagrano."

He nodded. "Yes, about him… look, I'm terribly sorry for any trouble I may have unwittingly assisted in back in those days. I grew to admire him through his work and was greatly flattered when he took me in as his personal intern. But as time wore on, I couldn't ignore the signals that something wasn't right with the company. I didn't feel like I could blow the whistle on him, though, since I was just starting out and he was rich enough to ruin any potential future I had in vengeance."

"I know how that feels, believe me," Palei said.

"Were you able to get into his networks?" Axl asked, keenly interested in that part of this meeting.

"Yes, I was able to make some headway into that," Weil said. Then he indicated the doors. "Why don't we head over to my lab and residence, where I can show you specifically. I have got the list narrowed down to a few who might have best known your creator, or have even been that person. I've also discovered for files on the next gen technology which you may be interested in."

By the time they had reached his vehicle, Weil was already treating them like dear friends and talking readily with them. He was a fascinating person, in Axl's opinion. And he would likely be a great asset in the future.

When creating programming for a new reploid, one should take great care to make certain that it could accommodate unexpected circumstances. Far too many engineers still felt like a reploid could be programmed for their niche and left like that. X wasn't one of them. While he had a good idea what this one would be good at, he wanted to leave enough open-endedness for the individual to decide, when he was mature enough to decide.

"Back at your personal designs, huh?" Zero asked casually.

"Hmm?" X glanced over and saw his friend in the chair beside him. He hadn't noticed him coming in. After a glance over to make sure no one else had snuck in he said, "Oh, yes… while I have the moment. I really would like to see them through to completion, but who knows?" There had been something nagging at his mind that just now got through. Right, it was that time. "Are you ready for the experiment?"

Zero leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on an unused console. "Ready as I'll ever be," he said. "Are you ready to make me your guinea pig again?"

He smiled at that. "Just about."

"But one thing I want to know before we start," Zero added, "is what the heck happened to you after the Epsilon fight. You told me you diverted the force of the explosion through yourself, and that's why your Nova Cannon blew through the entire half of Grave Ruins, but what did it do to you to cause an emergency partial shutdown?"

X moved to save his progress. "That. It fractured my personality data."

"Fractured your personality?" X could detect hints of concern in that.

"Not fully," he said. "It's…" he put his hand up, thinking. He had to explain it right, so he had to shift his focus. "You know how you have different modes for fighting with various weapons? Not an actual mode change, but a change in behavior, thoughts, and reactions?"

"You could say that."

X tapped his head. "That's what's happened to me. My personality is still whole and now that I've done some repair work, it's stable. But I haven't been able to fully get rid of the fracture lines, so it makes mode shifts in me more pronounced. Like just now, I was focused in on the programming. This condition is letting me focus noticeably better than before, but it also makes it harder to shift my focus, such as switching from programming to telling you what's going on in my head."

Zero narrowed his eyes at him. "And it's making you less alert when focused."

Nodding, he said, "I know, sorry."

"So it's not going to make you have split personalities then?"

"Not as I am," X explained. "I suppose that if I got hit with a similar attack or energy, that would be a potential hazard. I might split up into five different people then?"

He looked surprised. "Five, huh?"

X frowned. "Well that's how many of these 'modes' I've noticed so far. The extra focus is useful for these experiments and planning, but I'd better get it fixed completely before I go back into battle. Actually," he looked back at his programming computer, "I've noticed that these reploids I've been designing, they'd be excellent fits for some of those modes. I would like the time to copy those out of my head and adjust it for them; it would make the process a lot faster and I'm almost certain that would work."

"Then they'd be like your direct children, huh?" Zero looked at the screen, seeing part of the design. It was odd to think about, but it suited X.

Looking thoughtful, he said, "Right. Anyhow, we need to get things started. Cinnamon should be along shortly. If this does work out, then we should be able to eliminate the Maverick threat entirely." He got up out of the chair and looked over the arranged equipment.

"And if that works, I want to be put into hibernation, like I've said," Zero stated. "I'm not meant for a peaceful world."

"Oh," X said, sounding saddened at the mention of that. "Are you still certain of that?"

Zero closed his eyes. One of the few doubts he had about that was what would happen to X. He didn't care much for what others thought, but X was like his brother after so many years. The idea that he would upset him about this made Zero feel a twinge of guilt. Then again, there were others out there who supported and were friends with X. He easily had more friends now than Zero ever had over his whole life.

"It's your decision," X said, sounding more neutral this time. "But first make sure that you won't regret it later."

The view from the top floor of Central Tower really was amazing. It stood so tall over the rest of Giga City, but was still dwarfed by the vastness of the sea and sky. And here she was, standing by the railing and so small compared to the tower. That wasn't even considering the depths below the ocean, and the vastness of the city's electronic network.

Nana shivered, even though the wind playing with her pink hair was warm. The city was greater than any one of them, but it depended on all of them. Human and reploid. After some initial hesitation, it was getting to be that way again. Humans had moved back in to the area and started to mingle with the reploids. But it wouldn't fully go back to what it had been. The war had changed Giga City too much for that.

A cheerful whoop distracted her from the view. She turned to see a reploid couple had joined her up here; they were excited and possibly celebrating. It was Kratos and Yellow Sunbee, two of the experienced fighters from the Resistance. But looking at them now, she almost couldn't tell that. They were acting like little kids.

As much as she didn't want to disturb whatever they had going on, she called over to them. "Hello and good afternoon, Sunbee, Kratos."

They looked at her a moment, then came over. "Oh, hello Nana!" Sunbee said cheerily. "Oh my gosh, I almost didn't recognize you out walking around. Are your new friends helping out with the city operations?"

She nodded. "Right, they're fully trained up now. We're putting in eight hour shifts, and with the four of us, we get every fourth day off. They let me take the first one."

"That sounds like a nice arrangement," Kratos said. "What are you doing on your day off, then?"

"I'm just out enjoying the sights now," Nana said, glancing off at the sky before turning back to them. "I've seen so much of the electronic inside of the city that I haven't seen much of its physical outside. It rather puts things into perspective." Then she smiled. "But what are you two doing out? You're acting like you've won the lottery."

They both laughed. "Well not quite that, but just as good for us," Sunbee said.

"We got our official pardons from the Maverick Hunters today, and they've taken every accusation of being Maverick off both our records," Kratos explained. "That means all of our restrictions are gone and we're free to pretty much be normal reploids now. It might not sound like much, but it's absolutely wonderful to us."

"Congratulations then," Nana said. "What are you going to do now?"

"I think we're going to stay in Giga City," Sunbee said. "It's still our city of dreams, you know, and we're going to help build it back up to what it should be."

"Right, it is," Nana said. "Everyone has to get back up and keep going ahead, to show that we're strong enough not to get broken over one conflict."

"That's the spirit!" Kratos shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Oh, and if it's you're first day off, you really have to go see the forest district."

"Yeah!" Sunbee agreed. "It's so beautiful over there. Come on, we can go make up a spontaneous picnic over there."

Nan put her hand on her chest. "Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on your celebrations."

"Don't worry about it," Kratos said. "We can be friends and celebrate together."

Yes, she was free to make friends too, Nana realized, now that she wasn't tied down to the city all day, every day. That was a sense of freedom almost as big as the panorama around them. "Of course," she said. "What should we take there?"

And so Giga City would continue thriving, welcoming all walks of life that came to it.

That's a better ending! Because, you know, it's an actual ending.

There is some debate on which X series game is the last one, this one or 8. CM makes more sense to me as the last, which means I got to put in little ties to the Zero series, such as Wiel and the cyber elves. The force metal to cyber elf transition came to me because they kind of do the same thing. The metal state would be their dormant form (for extended space travel by meteorite), and the elf form their active form after they've been attached to a reploid for long enough. I have also heard theories linking Cinnamon to the Mother Elf. If the force metals are dormant elves, and she can manufacture the metals, that might work out.

I've also seen talk about how the four Neo Arcadia Guardians coming about because of X splitting up into five cyber elves after some powerful attack from Wiel. Honestly, it sounds weird and I don't remember if that was supposed to be canon or not. I think it is, so I made some foundation for that. I'm not sure how that would work specifically, but having previous fractures made worse makes more sense to me than a spontaneous split. And yeah, this has been in this fic since the Prologue; remember when X and Axl were 'arguing' about the designs?

There is no clue about what happened to the Giga City crew after this game. Marino has a line about she won't be stealing anymore (except maybe on weekends), but that's it. Having Massimo become a Maverick Hunter or part of Giga City's security forces makes sense, as does Cinnamon staying to help her father. But this is mostly guessing on my part, building off of what is there.

And there you have it. I hope you liked this story! Sometime in January 2012, I'll be restarting The Maverick Prince, so be on the lookout for that!