Maverick

Roru no Namida

 Pain.

It was the first conscious thought through Sephira's mind as she woke in the holding cell. The pain was all too familiar for her, and without a second guess she knew what had happened while she was under Sigma's control- the idea made her more furious than how much pain she felt through her body as she tried to move.

“Damn it!” Sephira screamed in pain as tears started to crawl down her face like worthless reminders. “Shit...! Damn it Sigma...”

“I... I didn't mean for it to end like this. I really didn't mean to start it either.”

Sephira looked up with pain, not realizing beforehand that she wasn't alone. At the end of the cot was a young woman with shoulder length blonde hair, dull blue eyes, and a pink female Navigator uniform.

“Roll?” Sephira asked out of first instinct, but the young woman did not respond to this. Instead, the young woman continued,

“I thought... I thought we would be able to finish it- but the war still rages about our heads without ceasing. And yet... children are still conceived and are born, men and woman die of natural causes, and some of us are still as nutty as a fruit cake.” the young woman laughed uneasily at this, but then continued in the same hollow tone from earlier, “I didn't know about Zero until late and there is nothing I can do now to prevent whatever programming Wiley has planned for him- but X's software is completely my own although he was designed by Hikari. Alia is... far different than Zero or X. Unlike them, Alia was not made or meant for battle- she is our daughter. She can not carry on our legacy in the human way, but she is a testament of what we were able to accomplish... even if it means the end of mankind. I... I'm sorry Alia... X... Zero... Kalinka... Proto Man... M- Roch... I... I failed all of you...”

Sephira carefully tried to get up, giving a small, surprised yelp in pain in the process. The young woman looked at Sephira with cold, but rather sad eyes.

“My name is Alia, X and I share the same software.” she told Sephira without tone in her voice. “Sigma hurt you, didn't he? It was because he wanted X, and hurting you was how he was able to hurt X... Sigma let his jealousy control him, but at what cost? He knows he is going to lose again, and again, and again...”

Sephira gave Alia a wary side glance.

“Who built you Alia?” Sephira asked.

“The same woman who changed X's initial programming: Roll.”

“Roll...?”

“Mommy...” Alia said, her vacant eyes starting to glisten with tears. “I... I failed all of you...”

“Roll didn't fai-” Sephira started to say, but was cut short by a quick moment of pain that shot through her body like a bullet. Alia looked at her dully as the twenty-something started to mutter a cluster of choice words that did not ease her pain any.

“You are experiencing vaginal bleeding,” Alia observed, “But it is not menstrual blood, nor does it indicate a sexually transmitted disease. Sigma... he... he really did hurt you...”

Sephira closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. It made sense, really- but Sephira wasn't sure how Alia was able to tell unless she was bleeding through her clothes. Which, again, would have made sense. At this point though, the only thing Sephira really cared about was finding a way to stop the hell sent pain that shot through her body at sharp and unexpected intervals.

Carefully, Alia started to get up, stood next to Sephira's side, put her hand on Sephira's abdomen and firmly pressed. Sephira winched, but it did dull the pain- if only by a small fraction. In the back of her mind, Sephira wondered if Alia's hand could warm up to function like a hot water bottle that helped to dull the pain.

“Go to sleep.” Alia instructed softly. “We'll find you new clothes when you wake up again.”

Sehira looked at Alia, wanting so badly to retort but found she did not have the strength. With a grumble, Sephira did do as she was told with some difficulty and was asleep in five minutes. Alia gently used her other hand to stroke Sephira's head- surprised for a moment that she could reach that far.

“You are a lot like her -maybe just a little broken- but the spirit is there.” Alia said wistfully with a small side smile.

. . .

You do not know what it's like to be dead. Dead inside, dead to life, dead to all the good things that come your way in midst of a storm. It makes you forget- it makes you want to forget. But you know you never can, and it makes every moment even more unbearable...

“This will pass my dear, just relax and we can-”

“No, I won't! My body was taken from me, I took a life away from a creature that wasn't even born yet! I can't do anything useful, I can't save anyone, I don't even know who I am! I... I...!”

Days have faded together, and everyone's face just seemed the same. Why go on is a world when you have nothing to fight for? Why go on when all you do is either murder an innocent, or murder yourself to protect the innocent?

“My name is Dr Barlet Weil, I understand you needed a job Miss Sephira? I know that an impromptu job interview is the last thing someone wants to do at a funeral, but you may enjoy what I am working on.”

Not all of these are my memories... she wants hers to bleed into mine- to show how much we are alike. But she too, like everyone else, is violating my rights as an individual.
“I don't need all of this. I don't care what the robots think of me. I want my friend back, and the moment this cast comes off I'm leaving Koshima and never coming back.”

“I am your friend, aren't I? And in case you haven't forgotten, I'm a robot too. Don't you care about what I think about you?”

Whatever it means to be an individual anymore...