Metempsychotic

Things Will Change

"Aile!" Vent screamed as he ran to her, disregarding the fact that he was letting himself be vulnerable to any attacks Serpents might have had next.

Vent got to Aile's side and gently placed her in his lap. The girl lazily looked up at him before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and Model P ended the transformation between them. It was the same way Giro had left Vent before he...

"No Aile, please..." Vent then hopelessly started to plead, "Please wake up. I can't... I can't lose anyone else. You... you're my sister! You can't... not yet... not when I've lost my parents too..."

Seeing the boy mourn made Serpent emit a low chuckle. The noise quickly caught Vent's attention and he soon replaced all his sorrow with raw anger toward the Maverick.

"Serpeeent!!" the boy roared, ready to charge unrelenting at the Reploid, but his legs refused to move. If he wasn't seeing red at the moment, Vent would have realized that it was Model Z holding him back.

"It's just as Prometheus and Pandora said." Serpent snickered as he worked to stand up again. "You are the final key. Right now... you are being controlled by a powerful emotion..." The Maverick raised his arms, looking as if he was making a sacrifice to some invisible god. "Emotion so powerful it exceeds even mine!"

As Serpent started cackling once again, Model W released several bright flashes that made Vent stagger back in surprise. Just as sudden, Model Z demerged from Vent causing a surge of horrifying pain to shoot through Vent's chest. The boy screamed as he fell over, clutching his head to his chest- when he looked at his hand, he expected to see blood, but instead there was a small white and red orb, surrounded in a thick purple aura, that immediately made its way to the large Model W piece.

Now finding himself extremely exhausted for some reason, Vent looked back at Serpent. "What's... going on?" he asked between heaving breaths.

"The emotion driving you now..." Serpent victoriously declared, "That emotion is not bravery! It's not born out of some sense of righteousness. It's hate. Your hate for me and everything I've taken from you!"

Vent's face quickly went pale. "What?!"

Serpent did not answer as Model W started to illuminate a deep red- bright strings of light originating from the 'eye' of Model W worked its way around Serpent's body and surrounded him with its fully charged power. Vent only happened to catch the maniacal grin the Maverick sported as the light started to pull Serpent's body into the Model W piece. Despite this, the Reploid was still able to gloat, "The new age is beginning right now before your very eyes. The age of the Mega Man... The destined ruler!"

Vent watched in a mix of awe and horror as Serpent then appeared from the top of Model W in a completely different body. It emerged from the evil Biometal like a humanoid ink figure that struggled to break free from its chains. As Serpent pulled himself further out of Model W, the larger his form became until a bright flash of light revealed a new body to be part of Serpent and Model W together. Seeing the newly Merged Serpent, Vent nearly wanted to throw up.

As Serpent's body rose into the sky, Vent's mind started to race as he unconsciously turned back to Aile. Something told him that she was still alive, just barely, but whatever Serpent did next would cause her to be in the backlash. Looking at her now, Vent could feel a part of him missing- but it wasn't because she was just barely living. It was something... inside of him; a part of who he was... or had been.

"I... was the key for Model W's awakening..." the boy mumbled under his breath. "All of the pain... All of the fighting... It was just... destiny...?"