He couldn't remember Nightmare leaving. He couldn't remember heading back to his room. Once inside the four walls of his quarters, Zero fell to his knees in front of the doorway.

'I'll wait for you. You better come back!'

His body curled forward and Zero began to feel like something was choking him. Both hands moving to grab at his neck and eventually to rest against his chest. His breathing was more like gasping. Choking. Sobbing. He was unable to control his body. He couldn't speak. Only think.

'Why couldn't you have waited longer? Just a little longer? Did you think that was me? What Gate created? What he revived? What? Is that why you left?'

His breathing became too much. Zero's body jerked forward and his hands planted against the floor to keep himself from toppling over. ( Continue )

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The capsule Zero rested in every night shot open. Zero gasped sharply and leaned forward, about ready to just tumble out onto the floor. Had he the ability to sweat, he would have been soaked by now.

Instead, a hand slipped to cover his mouth and he closed his eyes. Breathing heavily as Zero tried to calm down.

Slowly, finally, Zero laid back again and stared up at the ceiling. It had only been a matter of time before his sleep would be disrupted from the memories of the battle with Axl-Zero. He had expected it. However, he didn't expect it to be mixed with other memories from the past.

"Damn."

Zero didn't sustain any serious injuries or anything that needed someone's attention. This left Zero alone to his own devices. Mostly his own thoughts. Without paying much attention, Zero found himself outside the townhouse under a tree. It was becoming a usual spot for him.

'Axl. I wonder what happened when I left you.'

He sighed softly. They were on a mission at the time of the accident after all. Even though Axl had gone ahead, Zero meant to catch up to him as quickly as possible. Since arriving here, Zero didn't even consider what that might have done to Axl.

'I stayed back to help those reploids. It was an accident. I didn't have control over it.'

Of course, there was also nothing stopping Zero from going back home. He wasn't even trying. And that was beginning to weigh on Zero's mind.

'I don't want to go back home. I can't.' Zero grew tense and brought up two fists to rest his forehead against. 'Axl.'

"X."

'I'm running away aren't I? Did he leave because of me?' He was rubbing his face now, 'I'm sorry, X.'

No matter how many times he said that, it never helped. Not even a little. His mind drifted back to Axl as his hands fell away from his face and his eyes stared at the ground.

'There didn't seem to be any reason to worry. He has the other hunters with him. But,' Zero thought back to the beast form he fought earlier, 'Can that happen to him?'

A few days had passed since Zero last saw X and he had been wanting to talk to Nightmare since.

Having never met Nightmare, Zero wasn't all too sure how to find him. He decided to stay the whole day at the Town House and hope to run into him at some point.