"Past Life & Death"

Author's Note: Hey, this is the first episode of Megaman X. I want you to know that even if you have never played the games, you will still be okay reading this series. As you'll see, it will be a bit confusing at first, but let it be known that it is ten years after the last defeat of Sigma. This story is *VERY* loosely based on Megaman 1-8, Megaman X1-X4, and Rockman & Forte, so play these if you want to learn more about this series. As far as this series is concerned, the other games and television series involving Megaman never happened (to my knowledge this includes Captain N and the Megaman anime series). When I say loosely based, I really mean it. I summarized events in each game and then rewrote the specifics to make it much more realistic. As a last note, I am obsessed with Pink Floyd, so expect a lot of Pink Floyd references if you pay attention. I appreciate as much feedback as possible, because I want to improve what little writing skill I have.

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"For millions of years, mankind lived just like animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk." - Stephen Hawking from "The Division Bell" by Pink Floyd.

San Andreas Ballroom
Cluster One, Australia
November 2nd, 2093
The Present

    The room was slowly spinning in X's head. Lights stringed across the white walls seemed to be breathing, attenuating to keep everyone from low spirits. Soft string music was playing an instrumental piece that X didn't recognize, although it may have been Bach. Everyone was dressed in black, darkly contrasting the white marble floor. Red stairs behind the string quartet lead up into a dark area, closed off from the rest of the party. The plants along the walls drooped, feeling the negative energy in the room. The smell of warm bread and aged alcohol carried on the air to fill lungs around the table against the back wall. Reflections from the chandelier's lights above on the floor below caught X's attention as he sat there, slumped over a half-filled glass of red wine. The table was laid out nicely with a white tablecloth, and anyone to stumble in on this large ballroom would have mistaken it for an evening party. That is, until that person would see everyone's face. Everyone had just got back from the cemetary to pay last rites to Dr. Caine, who died a week ago at a very old age. It seemed that no one knew just how old the man really was. X didn't care; he was feeling older than Dr. Caine ever did right now.

     "You gonna drink that?"

    The soft, light-hearted yet dark voice stirred X from his memories and he looked up. Zero was sitting on the table facing the window, with his legs on the chair beside X. Zero was wearing a black tuxedo with a red shirt and lapel, much the same as X except X had blue highlights. Zero's hair was slicked back and came down to meet the top of his neck. Zero himself was holding a glass of white wine and staring out of the large sliding glass door behind X which led to the gray balcony.

     "I'm not sure yet," replied X.

     "It's funny isn't it? That's the last thing he gave us." said Zero, but the comment wasn't really to directed to X.

     "Yeah...I guess taste is something we won't ever take for granted, huh?"

     "Give it a century."

     The response gave X a large chill, but the physical aspect of the sudden cold was no match for his synthetic fibres and metal endoskeleton. Zero stood up and hopped down from the chair. He walked towards the sliding glass door behind X. X turned his gaze from the reflections on the floor and onto the outside balcony. Zero unlatched the hook and went outside. X decided to follow. Upon stepping out on the balcony, X realized just how much more the gray tones of the cement balcony fit his mood from the white room inside. The soft music followed them outside through the open door and mingled with the sounds of power running through the entire city. From up here, X could see the lights of all the buildings in the inner area of Cluster One. Looking over the steel rail, X could see nothing down below except the blackness which consumed the streets. The buildings higher up were nothing but a myriad of dark colors splashed against metal sheets. The bright city lights made the stars invisible, clouds hiding the moon. The cold temperature hugged X's skin, doing nothing but registering a number on his thermometer.

    "Days don't get darker than this," Zero said with a sigh. He seemed disappointed that the night covered in city reflections and not a pure nightsky.

    "So what are we going to do now?" asked X.

     "I don't know. I guess it doesn't matter much anymore. The Maverick Hunters disbanded five years ago. Dr. Caine finished his work regarding his research into your past and your enhancements, which were hidden all over Cluster One. It's amazing that Dr. Light could keep it hidden for so long without any archaeologists discovering it..."

    "An amazing man, he was. That much I can remember."

     X sighed and leaned against the steel rail. He breathed in deeply, bringing the scent of cold city air into his systems. X shook his head; there was very little he remembered about his early years as Megaman. He knew that Dr. Caine's work was now finished for good, but the results remained inconclusive, leaving X with an empty feeling about his mysterious past. Well, not too mysterious. At least he knew as much as history remembers. Megaman was a legend of an old age. Still, the details were vague, and X still didn't remember much about the events which history never records. Yet, when he awoke from the capsule over ten years ago, he felt as if he'd been re-awakened, not born. Up until now, he had pieced together what he could, trying to stem off the various attacks by Sigma and his Mavericks.

     The wind picked up and came over the balcony, rustling X's hair and blowing it across his face. Zero forced a weak laugh as X brushed it away and tucked it back into his black suit.

    "It took five years, but you finally have hair like I used to," Zero snickered.

    "So why did you cut it?"

     "I dunno...it just didn't feel right anymore. You know, you aren't the only one with questions about the past."

    X remembered quite well. Zero didn't have any idea where he was from either. Who built him or even how long ago it happened. All X really did know about Zero was that he was a good friend. That didn't mean he forgot Sigma's words about a dark fate from so long ago. Words which meant the end of this comaraderie someday. Zero seemed to be thinking this as well, and stretched with a loud yawn.

    "It's pretty late, and I think I need a recharge after the day I've been through. I'm running on empty. Guess I'll see you later X."

     "Yeah, I don't know." Zero hopped up on the rail, his dark red shoes glistening in the city lights. X widened his eyes, but not from surprise.

    "Zero, don't you ever exit normally?"

    "What kind of mysterious hero would I be if I did that?" Zero winked at X.

     "Right...Even on days like this, you're still the same as ever."

    "One last question X. Which doctor are you mourning for?"

    X stumbled from the rail when he heard that question, and the wind quickly envelopped Zero as he disappeared into the darkness. The question was legitimate, but X shaked it off. This was Dr. Caine's funeral, but was he thinking about him in the ballroom? What was he thinking? Before his memory banks gave him an answer, a high-pitched female voice came from inside. The voice sounded like it was normally cheery, but not as much today.

    "Rock? Hello!"

    X recoiled from the impact of the ancient name. He turned around from the steel rail and faced the woman the voice was attached to. She was dressed in a black evening gown with long black gloves, her short light brown hair was tied up in curls. Her face was small and cute. X analyzed her immediately:

_________________________

Perception report: 5'5"

Sonic report: 130 lbs

...analyzing face graph...

_________________________

    Within a picosecond of analyzing all records databases soon revealed that she was not known to X. She walked towards X, her heels clicking across the cemented balcony. She went up to X's face at 1.385 x 10E-1 meters away. X arched an eyebrow at her intrusion into his personal space.

    "Wow! You look exactly like Rock!"

    "That was supposedly a name of mine many years ago."

    "Uh huh. X was given to you just because Dr. Caine didn't know who you were though! Don't you think Rock is more appropriate?"

    "Not really. Too many lives have passed between Rock's and mine."

    The small lady gave him a quizzical look and started to lift X's arm and drop it.

    "This is amazing! I saw the specs, but never would have imagined--"

    "What do you mean?" asked X. This lady was really starting to seem weird, still she was somehow comforting to him with her amusing nature.

     "Well, you weigh the same, have the same height, even have skin. Your hair grows?"

    "Very well, thank you."

    "This is absolutely stunning! Dr. Caine obviously studied the specs well! Was he able to continue the work?"

    "He had yet to duplicate freedom of mind. The one thing that few reploids have. Something that is no longer valued," replied X.

    "You're right. Among all the machines on this planet, I believe you are one of the few to remain in existence. All other projects were halted after they realized that Dr. Light's specs were much to complicated and were probably inaccurately done. I think they've summed it up to mere miracle by now. That's too bad, because this is amazing!"

     The lady seemed to calm down a little bit. X wasn't one for history lessons and was starting to find her exuberance annoying in the face of the funeral. She calmed down and looked up into his clear blue eyes again.

    "I'm sorry, it's that I've never seen a machine that was so advanced as you...I guess I got carried away--"

     "It's okay, don't worry about it. Most people believe me to be human outside of uniform."

    "So would I if I didn't have your picture...look! You even exhale!"

    X diverted his attention to directly in front of him. His breath making fog against the cold night air.

    "It's my secondary aircoolant system," X replied quietly.

     "Oh. And your hair grows...do you have a heartbeat?"

    "Yes, it's from my micro-harmonic plasma generator. It pulses in waves in order to keep the system at maximum effic--Wait, didn't you study my specs?"

     "Well, I never believed them."

     And with that, the lady hugged her ear against his chest, and indeed felt a warm aura from his body as the pulse filled her head with noise. She giggled quietly and then backed up. X couldn't wipe the look of surprise off his face.

    "Wow, that made you feel...uncomfortable? You really are advanced!" exclaimed the small lady.

    Suddenly, she gasped.

    "Oh, I'm so sorry for doing that to you!"

    "I take it that my feelings have changed your attitude towards my specs?"

     "Well, I shouldn't have done that anyway. It was rude."

     "I wonder if you'd think that if I was just another reploid."

     X quickly realized just how impolite that statement was. His mind was full of the funeral and death, and his feelings on reploid treatment slipped out. The lady took a step back as if he had hit her.

    "Ah damn, I'm sorry...I have so much on my mind."

    This picked up her attitude greatly. A little too much. 'Uh oh' thought X.

    "You mean you blurted that out without thinking!?"

    "Um...well, it's just--"

    "Wow, that's amazing!"

    'Geeze, she's not going to leave me alone' X realized with quick speed.

    "Well, when I'm running on auxiliary, my systems have only one data stream. It's occupied by the funeral at the moment."

    "Why aren't you on full power?"

     "...Because then I think too much."

    The lady gave him a strange look. One that X got from Zero one day long ago when he mentioned that. She smiled and shrugged, looking up again to meet X's gaze. X finished his glass of wine with one swoop and looked down on her again.

    "How was the wine?" she asked.

    "It isn't the best year."

    "I take it that it's converted in your generator to a plasma state?"

    "Nice to have someone pay attention," replied X. "I'm going home now, goodbye."

     X just wanted to leave her and the mess of the funeral behind. He was just tired of thinking, tired of drinking, tired of caring. Now he was going to go home and regenerate.

    "Wait just a minute!" X turned one last time to face her.

    "I'll see you tomorrow morning at Dr. Caine's laboratory before it's reoccupied."

    The lady just turned away from him. X ignored her and left. He just wanted this day to end. He pushed through the crowds that wanted to talk to him about Dr. Caine. He finally reached the elevator before he remembered that he never did get to check his memory banks. He didn't need to do it anymore.

***

Petersen Apartments Penthouse Suite
Cluster One, Australia
November 3rd, 2093
The Present

    A chirping noise rang in through the apartment window from the outside. A small bluebird was on the ledge, singing in the face of the sunrise outside. The window was open and the curtains were drawn back, allowing the sunlight to pour in on the white sheets of the double bed in the room. The white walls reflected the stray light across the clean blue carpet and wood furniture. The lightblue silk blankets were drawn back and X was lying there in his tuxedo from last night. His eyes opened and quickly registered the bright sunlight on his face. The warmth of the rays spread over his body as he stood up quickly from his bed. He had left Dr. Caine's laboratory to search for an apartment four years ago, and went through many before he found this one. He had only been here a month, but found that the blue and white made him feel comfortable somehow. He had only been "sleeping" in the bed for a few weeks now since he had it installed. Zero had given him another one of his strange looks, but X didn't care because it felt right to him. Maybe he was just emulating human behavior.

     His primary diagnostics ran through a systems check quickly before he stretched in order to test all physical components. X sighed a breath of relief, for after the past few weeks of mourning, his days would slowly return to normal. X walked into the bathroom behind right next to his bed, and removed last night's clothing off his body. His hair draped in tangles across the synthetic muscles on his chest. He tapped on the control panel next to the sink in order to activate the shower unit.

     As the water ran down his body, his thoughts turned to Dr. Caine's funeral. He had never really known Dr. Caine, even after so many years, but he was grateful for all that Dr. Caine accomplished. Apparently now he has been replaced by some strange little woman.

    'Just who the heck was she anyway?' X thought to himself, realizing that he never did get a name out of her. He was much too distant at the time to care about it.

    The water stopped and X opened the glass door to the unit. The air rushed in to register across his entire system. He stepped out to the other side of the large bathroom and laid back against the blue tiles on the wall. A large whirring noise drowned out the birds chirping from the bedroom window outside, as the wall sank back to accomodate X's body. He straightened back up and the wall returned to normal. Now that his skin was dry, he focused on the sensations of the wind blowing into the bathroom from the bedroom across his chest. It hasn't been long since he's been able to really appreciate the feeling, and hoped that Zero wasn't right about taking it for granted. He slipped into a clean pair of dark blue jeans and put on a white dress shirt. After tying his hair back in the mirror, a distant knock filled the room.

    'Now who the heck could that be?' thought X.

     He walked out into the bedroom and closed the bathroom door. The birds were happily prancing about on his dark oak furniture, looking for something to eat.

    'Sorry buddy, no food anywhere here,' thought X to himself.

     He opened the bedroom door and walked out into the kitchen. The kitchen had white tiles surrounding the black counter with it's clean metal sink. A few oven machines were against the walls. X looked up through the skylight which was his ceiling. A few hovercraft flew overhead, distracting X to look out the large windows on the eastern side of his penthouse apartment. It was rather inexpensive, considering it's size and location, however it had absolutely no modern technological marvels except for the occupant, lowering it's price by quite a bit. X looked out upon the city, which was the same as last night, except now with a clear blue sky and a few clouds who threatened to ring in Heaven itself. X walked up to the window and looked down onto the far street below. Tiny blurs were moving up and down the sidewalks, and X realized that his optical systems needed to be realigned. A few hovercraft flew through the air, dodging the glass tubes which travelled between buildings. The construction of the buildings' connections reminded X of a honeycomb. He then remembered that his building was actually a hue of orange-yellow and let out a small laugh at the irony. Suddenly, the knock came at the door again, and X remembered why he had come out to the livingroom in the first place.

    "Just a second!" yelled X.

    He jumped up the few steps, which sank his livingrom into the floor from the kitchen across the room, and walked up to his large dark oak doors. He pulled them both open, revealing Zero standing behind them wearing black dress pants and a red silk shirt. His dirty blonde hair ruffled as usual.

     "Hey X, did I wake you up?" asked Zero.

    "Uh...no, not really." replied X.

    "Is that so? I take it you're growing a beard now to go with that hair?"

    "What the heck are you talking about?"

    X brought his hand up to feel his rough face. He had forgotten to shave for a few days now.

    "Why don't you finish cleaning yourself up and I'll meet you downstairs." said Zero with a grin.

***

     Author's Comment: Well, I thought that was an okay starting point. Unfortunately there are probably many questions and a lot of confusion. Don't worry, it will all get cleared up in time. I'm pretty sure referencing to X as 'Rock' threw off quite a few Megaman fans. Probably the less you know about Megaman, the less confused you are. Still, I think I did an okay job, any comments? Post them on the message board for me please!

Michael Raymond Vendittelli (LimousineDriver)