C. Cowboy: howdy, this is my first non AU X fic. This takes place after X6 but ignores the Zero hibernation thing. Firstly this is NOT a yaoi fic, and secondly this will have X/Alia and hints of Zero/Iris. For those who are reading Megaman: The X Factor I have not abandoned it, I'm just doing this because I thought it was a good idea and needed something to get the creative juices flowing.

Also this fic was inspired by Tuxedo Kamen's The Just and The Law, it's a great read so go and check it out if you haven't.

Anyway on with the show!

Disclaimer: Megaman X and company are not mine, so nobody sue me! Also the song When You Come Back To Me Again is owned by Garth Brooks.

Chapter 1: Ides of March

Zero slashed through a squad of maverick drones, but as easy as it was to turn the drones into so many spare parts, he was still having trouble making it to the inner sanctum of the Maverick base. His scarlet armor was covered with scratches and dings with little real damage, but he wasn't making any progress either.

"This isn't working, X!" Zero called over his radio, "Any ideas?"

"Maybe." A voice came back.

The next thing the Crimson Hunter saw was a hover bike shooting through the horde of drones like a knife through butter before finally exploding with the rider flipping through the air and gracefully firing shots into the army of robots.

"For a peace lover, he can sure kick ass…" Zero said, slashing his way behind the newly arrived Hunter.

Zero caught up and stood back to back with his fellow Hunter, fighting off Mavericks left and right as they went, "Nice move, Bro." Zero said with a smirk, "But Alia's going to be pissed."

"No kidding." Megaman X responded before firing a charged blast into large group of drones, sending scrap metal flying in all directions.

Suddenly the leader of the Mavericks at the base stormed into battle toward the two hunters. He was known as Hurricasaurus, a dinosaur type Reploid. He stood at a good fifteen feet tall and had to weigh at least six hundred pounds. His main weapon was a wind-based attack, but his teeth, which were the size of X's or Zero's arms, were just as useful.

"Are you Hunters X and Zero?" The Maverick asked through a growl.

They both nodded and readied themselves for battle, but what happened next took them completely by surprise.

"OH GOD, DON'T HURT ME!" He begged, getting down and bowing to the two in pure terror of what they could do to him, "I GIVE! I GIVE! JUST DON'T HURT ME! I DON'T LIKE PAIN! PAIN IS BAD! PAIN IS BAD!"

The two just stared in shock at the cowering titan. "You have GOT to be kidding me." They said in unison, looking at each other questioningly.

"Umm, Zero?" X asked.

"Yes, X." Zero answered, not taking his eyes off the Maverick.

"How do you take a prisoner?" He asked while blinking in disbelief, "I've never had to do that before."

Zero finally looked toward X with the same confused expression, "And you think I have?" Zero then pressed a button on the side of his Helmet, "Hunter Zero to Hunter Base. Alia, do you read me?"

'Alia here,' a feminine voice came back, 'What have you to report, Zero?'

"Mission complete…" Zero started before taking a deep breath and saying the one thing he never thought he would, "And we have the Maverick Leader in captivity."

'Roger that.' Alia responded while Zero and X looked at each other and began to count down on their fingers. Three. Two. One… 'YOU WHAT?'

X could just imagine Alia's jaw working up and down and trying to form words when she finally responded, "Wha… wha… how…you two…prisoner…how…"

"We know," X sighed, "This is a rare occasion for us, and advice would be helpful."

'Umm… stand by…' Alia responded.

The two hunters looked at each other and then back down at the whimpering maverick before Alia's voice came back to their radios, 'Ok, we're sending in a Recovery Group to bring in the prisoner, good job bringing one in alive for a change. Return to base and congratulations on a job well done.' X then breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that she seemed to have forgotten about his bike stunt, 'and X I'd like to have a word or two with you and Signas when you get back.'

"Somebody's in for it!" Zero teased the red faced Second Blue Bomber.

"Shut up; here's the team." X snapped as three pillars of green energy shot down and took the form of three Hunters carrying restraining devices. "We'll leave it to you guys." X said in a friendlier tone before he and Zero teleported back to base.

"So how bad do you think grouchy is?" X asked, as he walked out of the transporter room, but gulped when he saw Zero's deer-in-headlights look, "She's right behind me, isn't she?"

"Hello, X, Zero. Have a SAFE mission?" X turned and locked eyes with Alia giving her patented death glare.

"Oh…hi, Alia, yeah nothing out of the ordinary, no major property damage this time…" X said nervously.

"Is that a fact?" Alia asked with a raised eyebrow, "What happened to your new hover bike, X? Hmm?"

'Aw, shit…' X thought as he could literally see the anger boiling in Alia's blue eyes. "Come on, Alia, it was the only way to get through…"

"Zero, why don't you go have yourself checked out with Lifesavor." Alia said, seemingly ignoring X.

Zero smiled and nodded rapidly before turning and abandoning his best friend and partner.

"Come with me, X." Alia said sternly while turning on her heel.

X walked several steps behind Alia and could easily be compared to a puppy caught digging up it's owner's flowerbed.

"You know, X, I don't bite. You can walk beside me." Alia said as X cautiously made his way closer to her.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" X asked then mentally kicked himself for the stupid question.

"What ever gave you that idea?" Alia responded sweetly yet frighteningly.

X then dug deep for the courage he'd used for every time that he faced Sigma, stopped and looked into the girl-Reploid's eyes, wondering if it was enough for what he wanted to say, "Look Alia, I'm sorry I destroyed another bike; if there was another way to get past the Mavericks I would have taken it, but it was the ONLY way. I know, it costs the Hunters mucho zenny to replace the hover bikes, but it is war and sometimes in wars things get destroyed."

"Do you honestly think I'm worried about the damn bike, Megaman X?" Alia shot back, making him flinch at the use of his full name. If Alia had fire in her eyes before, now they contained a pair of 200-acre conflagrations, "X, Do you know how STUPID that stunt you pulled was? You could have been badly hurt or even killed? Did you even stop to think about what could have happened?"

"Didn't really have…" X started, but was cut off when Alia pushed her finger into his chest armor 'til he found himself trapped between an angry woman and a hard place.

"Don't you dare say you didn't have time to think because you always have time to think if you can come up with the hair brain stunts that you and Zero always pull!" Alia growled, "One of these days, one of your reckless stunts is going to backfire, and when that happens expect an 'I told you so' from me!"

"You know, Alia." X snapped, growing angry, "it would be nice for you to actually believe in me for a change! I never do anything I do not know for sure I can pull off without a hitch, so don't worry your little head about trying to find a replacement for me any time soon." X then almost forcefully pushed Alia out of the way before storming off to his quarters.

Alia watched him disappear into the hallway before leaning against the wall and sighing.

"Would it really be so hard to tell him how you feel?"

Alia's head shot up, "Zero?" she asked as the crimson armored hunter walked out of the shadows and leaned against the opposite wall with a knowing smirk on his face. "I don't know what in Light's name your talking about. Why aren't you being checkout by Lifesavor?"

"Admit you care about him." Zero said, closing his eyes, "He's my best friend, Alia; I really don't want to see him hurt in battle or worse, but I think you want it even less than me."

The blonde-haired spotter turned the color of Zero's armor, "Let the stubborn fool get hurt. I don't care." She snapped as she turned her face away.

"You're a worse liar than X." Zero chuckled, "We walk a fine line, X and I." Zero said, his voice turning serious, "A lot of things happen out there; some things are planned; some aren't. Don't wait 'til it's to late to tell him how you feel. I know what it's like to lose someone you care about without letting them know, and no one deserves to hurt like that." He walked off, leaving Alia to think about his words.

X stormed into his quarters and tossed his helmet to the floor beside his sleeping pod. "Hope I didn't hurt her feelings." X said to himself, "I really didn't mean to yell like that." Then with a sigh he threw himself into the pod. "I wonder… if the real Megaman ever had days like this."

"Yeah right, the real Megaman probably never argued with his friends." an inner voice spoke in the back of his mind.

"Yeah, some 'Megaman' I am. The Real Megaman fought everything head on. I just use cheap tricks, stunts, and dumb luck." X responded to the voice, "Maybe I should have my name changed; take Megaman out of it; let Zero or someone else be Megaman."

"Nah, blue isn't my color." A voice came from the door, making X jump and bump his head on the top of the pod.

"Zero, you scared the sparks out of me!" X snapped, "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"You know she's just worried about you." Zero said uncharacteristically serious. "And you have to admit that some of your little 'maneuvers' aren't the safest in the world."

"Hey, when haven't they worked?" X asked with a smirk.

"I seem to recall one Maverick by the name of Vile…" Zero began, but stopped with a laugh at the disturbed look on X's face.

"He only beat me once…"

"Twice. Remember, I had to save your ass twice, blue boy." Zero pointed out, causing both hunters to laugh.

"Yeah, well, who saved you from the X-Hunters?" X retorted, "no, wait, I beat the crap out of you, THEN I saved your puckered ass."

"Funny, I don't remember it that way." Zero smirked, ruffling his hair. "Seriously, X, what you were talking about earlier; don't let me hear you talking like that again. You've earned that name so many times over. In fact, I think you may even be better than the original."

"If you say so, Zero." X sighed as his partner stood up and walked toward the door.

"I do, X. And don't worry about Alia, I don't think she's mad at you." Zero said, opening the door and stepping out. He then peeked back in, "In fact, I think she LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES you!" Zero said while making kissy faces.

"NOT FUNNY, ZERO!" X yelled, throwing his helmet toward his now laughing partner.

X then watched to make sure Zero was gone for good this time before closing his pod for some well-deserved rest. And before drifting off to sleep, he thought, "Zero's nuts…she couldn't possibly like… me?"

The next day the familiar blue and red pillars arrived just outside a desert missile base very deep in Maverick territory of Asia. "Ok, Alia, who are we up against today?" Zero asked as he and X laid flat on top of a hill overlooking the Maverick rocket base.

"The Maverick leader is a rebuilt X-Hunter by the name of…" Alia explained.

"Let me guess." X interrupted "Overdrive Ostrich?"

"Uh… as a matter of fact it is. How did you know?" Alia asked a bit puzzled

"Let's just say we're 'old friends'. Overdrive made this base his home. If any X-Hunter was going to be rebuilt to run this place, it would be that goober." X said, showing little interest.

"Goober?" Zero asked, suppressing a chuckle.

"Any case, X, be careful. I have a bad feeling about this one. That goes for you too, Zero." Alia said, her voice sounding slightly different than usual.

"Don't worry." X said confidently, "I beat big bird once. I can do it again."

There was silence for a moment, "Alright, find out the nature of the maverick activity and stop it. Contact me if you need anything."

Zero and X looked at each other before nodding and arming their weapons.

They made their way into the base and to their surprise, not a single Maverick could be seen, "Alia?" X asked over his radio.

"What's the situation, X?" Alia responded.

"We must have missed the party. It's abandoned." X said, looking around suspiciously.

"That's weird." Alia said after a moment of silence, "We're still picking up Maverick signals in your area."

"They must have heard Megaman X and the Invincible Zero were coming and ran like little chickens!" Zero chuckled, getting a raised eyebrow from X.

"Something doesn't feel right." X sighed, "That bad feeling of yours is contagious, Alia."

"Just be careful…" Alia started.

"And don't do any of my hair-brained and reckless stunts, I know." X said harsher than he meant.

"About that X…I…" Alia started before X cut her off.

"Save it." X snapped, "We'll contact you if we need anything, X and Zero out."

"Don't you think you were a little hard on her?" Zero asked.

"I'll apologize later. We have work to do." X responded, walking deeper into the maverick base.

As the duo made their way farther into the proverbial den of lions, there were a few maverick drones to be discovered and easily disposed of.

They finally found the large avian maverick working at the control panel for a large stealth missile.

Overdrive Ostrich looked back at X and Zero, "Sorry Blue Boy, you're too late. Say good bye to Maverick Hunter Headquarters!" The large hyper-speed capable maverick chuckled as he hit the launch button.

"Falcon Armor!" X yelled over the radio and a moment later his basic, blue armor glowed and the Falcon flight armor appeared and attached itself over his current armor.

Then in a flash, X's enhanced dash jets ignited and shot up toward the launching missile. "X!" Zero exclaimed.

"X! What are you doing?" Alia yelled through the radio, "I thought you weren't going to try any of your stunts!"

"I'm not." X responded while dashing up the missile and holding on to the side, "I've done this before!"

X fired his arm cannon at the first section of the missile near the warhead, but unlike the last time, the blasts ricocheted off instead of damaging the missile. "Ok, this is new." X gulped, "Now what."

"Try opening the panel on the warhead and pull the wire to the guidance system. The missile will explode if any others are pulled." Alia suggested with an uncharacteristically shaky voice. "Please… please be careful…"

"Ok… All I gotta do is look for a red wire. It's always a red wire." X said as he opened the covering over the main computer of the missile; his eyes widened with a look of disgust. "Ok… this sucks." He sighed looking at the mass of monochromatic crimson wires. X then switched his radio to the shared frequency of his and Zero's private channel, "Zero?"

"X! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Zero panicked from the ground.

"Zero, I'm going to stop this missile one way or another. If this doesn't go well…keep an eye on Alia for me." X said seriously as he looked over the mess of wires.

"X…" Zero said sadly.

"Zero, promise me you'll keep yourself and Alia safe." X ordered.

"X…I… I promise…" Zero said, looking up at the rapidly rising missile as tears stung his eyes.

"Thank you." X said, his voice showing no fear or nervousness. The Second Blue Bomber then cut off his radio, reached into the mass of red wires, and gripped as many as he could. "Never know…maybe it won't explode." X said to himself as he roughly jerked the wires out of the missile and gripped his eyes tight.

"Hey!" X said with a smile when the missile's rockets stopped, "It didn't explode!"

'Click'

"That can't be good." X gulped as he felt the warhead begin to vibrate, and a second later, which felt like an hour to X, he felt the shockwave and heat of the flames as the missile exploded and he was able to get one last word out before his world turned dark, "Alia…"

On the ground, Zero looked away and shielded his eyes from the massive flash. He looked back and watched the ball of flames fall to the ground. Overdrive Ostrich and the Mavericks were all forgotten as the Crimson Hunter's face shone with fear, "X!" Zero cried out, pushing his dash boots to the max and rocketing toward the large crater where the remains of the missile were.

"X, WHERE ARE YOU? X? X?" Zero asked, looking around the wreckage frantically, until he finally spotted something blue under a large sheet of metal, "X, hang on! I'll get you, brother!" Zero pulled on the sheet with all his strength, threw it back, and looked down where it had lain. He then closed his eyes tight in a failing attempt to hold back the flood of tears as he looked away, "Oh X…"

Back at the Maverick Hunters Headquarters, Alia called frantically over the radio for X and Zero to respond, but only received static and became more and more frantic by the second.

The Satellite cameras showed the large rocket's liftoff, and then a short while later, its explosion. X was on it before it went off. 'He had to have gotten off before it exploded,' Alia told her self as she typed with trembling hands and continued to try to contact either of the hunters, 'He just had to…' she thought as tears threatened the corners of her eyes.

Signas stood behind her, watching as Douglas sat by her side with a hand on her trembling shoulder and a reassuring smile on his face, "Don't worry, Ally. The boy took down Sigma eight times; a stupid missile isn't going to even scratch his armor."

Alia mustered a nod even though she still couldn't shake the feeling something had gone terribly wrong.

"Sir." The Hunter running the teleporter spoke through the speakers, "Hunter Zero has returned."

"Is… Hunter X with him?" Signas asked as Alia spun her chair around to look at him with hopeful, tear-filled eyes.

"Negative sir." The hunter responded, "Zero's on his way to the command center to report now."

Alia set back in her chair with all color fading from her features. "Now just relax, Alia," Douglas said, catching her sickened look, "He might have just stayed behind to clean up a few extra Mavs or something." Alia said nothing and stared at the door, waiting for Zero's arrival.

The door finally opened after what seemed like forever and as Zero entered, the brokenhearted look on his face confirmed all of Alia's deepest fears. Zero stood before the group, holding something tight to his chest, his shoulders trembling, and his cheeks soaked from tears. Zero closed his eyes, took a deep breath and finally walked over to the shocked and fearful Alia. She stood up to face him, but felt as if someone else was controlling her body, and she was being forced to watch this nightmarish play.

Zero finally regained enough composure to speak as he placed the object that he was holding in Alia's hands. It was X's helmet; the once shimmering blue finish was slightly faded and dirty; the left side of it was almost completely busted out, and the edges were covered in cracks. She touched the inside of the shattered helmet, and then slowly brought her hand back and saw her glove covered in a warm, sticky, red liquid.

"I…I'm so sorry…" Zero choked out, finally breaking the silence in the control room, which was bustling moments ago.

"It's…it's not true…" Alia whispered as she looked up almost angrily into Zero's eyes. She then dove toward her communications station and put on her head set, "A… Attention all available Maverick Hunters… teleport to… teleport to…" she started, but Signas hit the cancel button on her controls.

"Alia, stop. Even X couldn't have…" Signas reasoned.

"NO!" Alia yelled as tears flowed freely. "He's still alive. I know he's still alive. He's just hurt; Zero never found a body, so he's not gone; he can't be gone! He just can't be gone!" Alia yelled; the usually calm spotter losing all control of her emotions.

"Alia…" Zero sighed as he closed his eyes, wanting so much what she was saying to be the truth, "Alia, Signas is right. X couldn't have survived that. He's gone, Alia. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Alia asked, looking up with narrowed eyes, "YOU'RE SORRY? You're supposed to be his best friend! And you just mark him off like you've already found a body! I can't believe he's gone. I won't believe he's gone!" Alia shot up from her chair and past Zero toward the exit, still holding X's destroyed helmet.

"Alia!" Zero called out and started to go after her when Signas placed a hand on the Hunter's shoulder to stop him. "Give her time." Signas said sadly. Zero stood there thinking about it before finally accepting what he said and turned toward his commander.

"Zero, what time did the missile explode?"

The crimson armored Hunter sighed, "Just a little before nine hundred hours." He whispered, fighting off a sob.

"Place a report. Maverick Hunter Megaman X was killed in the line of duty at nine o'clock A.M. on March the fifteenth, twenty one sixty three."

To Be Continued…