Velocity here. This is a darker take on Axl and his relationship with Red. Be warned: this is not a happy story.

Red's fists weren't that damaging, physically speaking.

Sure, sometimes they'd leave bruises on Axl's body, but it was nothing his auto-repair systems couldn't handle. Occasionally, when the situation got out of hand, Axl had to ask Soldier Stonekong or Tornado Tonion to help him reset bones or repair broken pieces of armor, but it wasn't anything Axl couldn't handle, really.

But the injuries left on Axl's spirit weren't quite so impermanent.

Red had been kind, once. He had been Axl's caretaker, the one who Axl went to with questions and problems. He had been the one to sit Axl down in Red Alert's rec room and tell spectacular stories of Red's exploits when he was younger, eyes sparkling with affection and laughter as Axl listened in wonder.

Something changed, though, and Axl noticed it right away.

Red snapped whenever Axl asked questions, and he paid no attention to any problems Axl came to him with, regardless of their severity. Even when Axl stumbled to Red's quarters with his internal fluids pouring down his face from an X-shaped scar carved between his eyes, the older Reploid dismissed it as Axl seeking attention and maybe being a little too obsessed with that Maverick Hunter, X. When Axl insisted that Splash Warfly had cut his face and threatened his life, Red snorted and told Axl to stop being insubordinate.

Things didn't improve with time. Red only grew worse. Harsh words turned to harsh blows – Red knew that Axl, desperate to please and loyal to a fault, wouldn't fight back like the other Red Alert members would, and so Axl became the outlet for Red's stress and pain.

And then Red tried something, something that Axl simply drew the line at. When Axl protested, Red took a flying leap off the slippery slope, reaching a whole new level of insanity.

"Obey me," Red whispered. His eye, angry and desperate and shining a little too much in the dim lighting, bore deeply into Axl's uncertain green gaze. "You're the only one who's loyal, Axl. The only one I trust. How can you take that away from me?"

"R-Red, I—" Axl stammered, but Red cut him off.

"You're going to betray me?" Red's voice rose. "I'm disappointed in you, Axl! I'm the one who cared for you, raised you, protected you, and you repay me with this? Obey me!"

Axl lowered his gaze and obeyed. He submitted, and he regretted every second of it.

Walking around Red Alert's headquarters the next day was painful. It felt like everyone was staring Axl down, knowing what he did and judging him for it. Axl wanted nothing more than to vanish, especially when Red looked upon him with cold disdain, even after what Axl did for him.

Axl had never felt so used, so damaged.

But you had to do it, he whispered to himself. Red's the only one who will ever give a fuck about you. He deserves everything in the world… whatever he wants… I'll do anything to give it to him…

It escalated. Axl was left feeling more and more like a worn-out toy, soon to be thrown away. Not only was Red Alert moving up to weightier, more violent crimes that involved more innocent than criminal deaths, but Red himself was getting so bad that some other Red Alert members were starting to fear for Axl's safety.

"You sure you're alright, sweetie?" Tonion asked Axl worriedly as the child stood up to leave the med ward. Tonion noted with concern the limp in Axl's step.

"I'm fine," Axl told Tonion with a weary smile. Neither Tonion nor Axl believed those words.

When Axl finally fled Red Alert, he thought he was escaping the pain and the shame, too. Fighting his way through the city was difficult and stressful, because he knew that one wrong step, one slipup and he'd be back in Red's arms with Red angrier than ever.

Maybe being led back to the Maverick Hunter HQ in handcuffs wasn't exactly what Axl had in mind when he flew the coop, but it was preferable to falling back into Red's possession.

Axl's hope grew when his eyes fell on Maverick Hunter X. If anyone could help him, it was the legendary hero.

But X's eyes were cold and judgmental, reminding Axl far too much of the looks he received at Red Alert. His heart sped up. Somehow, he felt like X knew everything Axl had done. Axl glanced nervously at Zero and saw the same calculating look in the hunter's eyes, and Axl suddenly felt very small and very scared.

When X started talking about sending Axl back to Red Alert, Axl wanted to scream. Not back to Red Alert. Not back to Red! Red's transmission that shortly followed X's quick and callous judgment confirmed Axl's worst fears.

Red wanted Axl back – or rather, he wanted his weapon, his tool, his outlet back.

"I don't want to go back there," Axl blurted out, and something must have been in the tone of his voice for both Zero and X to look at him like that. "I can fight. I can take Red Alert down for you!"

X's eyes focused on him sharply, and Axl shrank under that piercing, angry gaze. He's so much like Red, his muddled thoughts choked out, a shiver of fear running through his body.

"Talk is cheap. Prove it to me," X said slowly.

X scared Axl just as Red did. But like Red, X was someone Axl looked up to, and Axl would do anything to earn X's respect.

And so Axl found himself pointing a gun at the members of Red Alert – his brothers, the ones who held him and fixed him and comforted him. He found himself destroying them for X's sake. He found himself becoming a murderer.

Every day that Axl killed another precious piece of his life, every day that X narrowed his eyes and ignored Axl, Axl wanted to die just a little bit more.

By running from Red Alert, he'd thought he could outrun his worthlessness and inadequacy, but every insult from X, every emotionless look from Zero was shoving Axl closer and closer to the edge.

But someday, X had to see just how hard Axl was trying, see just how much Axl was going through for X's sake.

Like fighting Red, who had simultaneously been the kindest father-figure and the most terrifying force in Axl's life.

"You ungrateful little…" Red panted, wheezing as he fell to one knee. "I'll tear you to shreds… I'll rip you limb from limb! You know what I'll do to you for this! You're mine, Axl! You've always been mine!"

Axl's breathing sped up, and he stumbled blindly backwards, unknowingly bumping into Zero. He knew this tone of voice. He knew what Red did when he was this angry.

"Come on, the whole place is coming down!" Zero shouted, hooking his arms under Axl's.

The realization that Red was going to die if Axl didn't do something completely overrode the fear, because some part of Axl knew that Red still loved him – a sick, perverse, possessive kind of love – and Axl still returned that love, like an ever-loyal dog. "No! I can't just… Red! Red!"

Tears ran down Axl's face as Zero hauled him out of the collapsing building, and X scoffed and muttered something insulting.

Even taking out Sigma wasn't enough for X, and Axl just didn't know what to do anymore. There was no on he could talk to – everyone he could confide in was dead by his own hands. Awful thoughts, awful feelings were festering inside Axl, and he was about to break.

Helplessness was Axl's constant companion. There was nothing he could do, nothing that would stop the pain – it seemed like everything hurt; his mind, his soul, his body. X and Zero had a cold, condemnatory air about them, and Axl knew that if he told them, they would tell him he was weak, that he should get over it. He needed someone to talk to… someone to comfort him and tell him everything was alright.

But you killed everyone you could have gone to… You're a Maverick. You're nothing but a Maverick…

Axl couldn't take it anymore. Red had broken him, but X had taken those pieces and shattered them beyond repair. The pain… he had to make the pain go away. He had to find some way to end it, because pain never stopped. It had to end.

He needed it all to end.

The barrel of his gun pressed against his chin, and the sound of his door opening did nothing to stop him from pulling the trigger.

"Wha- Axl!" The loud bang! drowned out X's yell.

The blue Reploid could do nothing but stare as Axl's body, lifeless and limp, slumped sideways onto the bed. Stupefied, he watched as the fluids bubbled out from the mess that used to be Axl's skull, the child's face not even recognizable through the mangled remains of his head.

Five seconds, X thought numbly, still shell-shocked. Five seconds earlier, and I could have stopped him.

Five seconds extra in the control room to check in with Signas. Five seconds to talk to Zero. Five seconds spent walking instead of running.

Five seconds.

Keep in mind that most of this was Axl's skewed perception of things, and the way he saw X and Zero was a little different from reality. Of course, since I love Axl so much, I did end up writing an alternate ending where X was five seconds earlier.