Chapter 4: A Skipped Beat

"No...my name is X..." said a confused X, his mind addled both by her greeting and the refreshingly surprising multiplication of her beauty when she moved, the soft lights on her suit sparkled when she did. He was wrong, they weren't neo-hallogen, he had never seen lights like those ever before, probably another one of Dr. Light's lost inventions. X watched her attentively as she scanned the room, saddened by the growing distress creeping into her countenance as her eyes wandered, lost souls searching for something tangible to grasp.

She certainly felt distressed, the last thing she could remember before going into the deep sleep of deactivation was Dr. Light's ancient, but jovial face gazing at her, a look of both exhaltation and sadness as his calm, benevolent voice soothed her. She had suffered a loss that would never be reciprocated, and her only consolation was the pod. She knew that she was also losing Dr. Light. Now upon viewing her surroundings, she felt another loss, the loss of the past buried deep down below the ground, tread upon by the denizens of what she still thought of as "the future".

She couldn't think of anything to say, or anything to ask of the two other people in the room. One, an old man who looked at her with quiet reverence, he was obviously admiring the handiwork that went into her. The other just admiring her. She admired him back, she had never seen him before, but he looked like Rock a bit, only taller and defined, like her he was a reploid, and at 40 meters you'd mistake him for a human easily. She knew Dr. Light had another capsule, but he hushed up when pressed about its contents. She suspected that he was the occupant, he looked so much like Rock that it brought the heavy feeling of oncoming tears into her throat, and yet he looked like so much more. In one deft motion he swept his fingers through his hair, the faint trace of coolant that he was perspiring making it gleam. His nervousness was obvious. X...his name was X...

"X...Can you please....tell me something...tell me anything, just talk to me okay?" X understood her need, he had made a similar request to Cain at one time. He looked around and found Cain was gone, he had left the site and was probably on his way back to the compound already, making preparations for her arrival. X admired Cain's sense of duty but worried about his having left, had he no immediate curiosity? X thought it would be less distressing for her, and less shamefull for him if they left this room and went where he could stop breathing the bitter air and she could see the daylight. "Would you like to come with me....somewhere else, so we can talk and be away from all this?" X swept his arm around the room as he spoke.

She closed her eyes and nodded, with enough hint of eagerness to make him hurry. The feeling of being hammered hit his stomach again as his hands brushed her lower back beneath her wings to guide her out, he gulped loudly wondering if she had heard it, or understood why. Of course she did, and it gave her a small smile. She couldn't help but wonder what he was like when he was sure of himself. She most certainly hoped that he was capable of being so.

As the bright sun hit her face and chest she stretched her self upwards, taking the small climb up a pile of rubble easily by fluttering upwards. Her wings were surprisingly powerful, and Dr. Light had made sure to make her as light as possible. She turned around and knelt down, enjoying the sun beating down on her back, and extended her hand to help X up. He didn't shy away from grasping her hand tightly as he climbed up. She smiled at him for his miniature show of confidence, hoping to see more of the same in the future. Not letting go of his hand she put it back where it was on her lower back, not only as an indication to guide her once again but also because she liked the feel of power and trustworthiness that she received from his touch. He blushed slightly as he guided her towards a transport, noticing that Cain must have taken another one back.

"So...I didn't get your name" he said to her, trying his hardest to work the nervousness out of his voice. He kept thinking to himself that if he could handle Sigma, he could handle anything, but of course he wondered if that was at all true. She looked at him when replying "Oh, I'm so sorry....I...I thought you'd know it. I'm Roll" Any amount of shock that X had previously experienced paled in comparison to what he now felt. X stopped solidly in his tracks and faced her, not being able to ignore the pleasure of looking at her face. "YOU are Roll?" he asked in his astonishment.

Roll giggled slightly and gave a sideways glance of shyness. "Well...yeah..." She realized that in "the future" all of her previous exploits were all ancient history. He smiled at her and remarked "I...I..you certainly don't LOOK like Roll...I mean....you're a reploid aren't you?" "Is that what they call us?" she asked "Dr. Light probably had a name for us in his mind, but if he did he never told me....I used to be a robot you know? But he transfered my memory and CPU into this body, he was such a genius." Roll realized that she had just formed an opinion, something that was probably her first "reploid" trait. She could almost feel her mind expanding past the boundaries that held it before she inhabited this body. She realized with a faint feeling of euphoria that she was now "free" in a sense, she could do whatever she wanted now, and it also left her with a pang of regret that she ignored.

X talked to her as they started walking again, he was agreeing with her. She heard his sentiment but not his words, she was enjoying the timbre of his voice, it was deep and assuring. She also enjoyed her own new, slightly deeper and human voice, but it was his that made her feel lighter in her boots. They reached the transport and he helped her in, they sat down next to each other on the padded seats and remained quiet for a while. Somebody had to break the silence, and the reploid transport offered no help this time.

X looked over at Roll and found that she was looking over at him, they both started laughing, this was awkward. Roll felt stupid as she asked "So...can you bring me up to date?" Stupid girl, she thought. That was about as smooth as Wiley's scraggy hair. Thankfully X understood her question and ignored the awkwardness it implied. X started to talk, the things he said all affected Roll in various ways, all in lesser degrees than just the sound of him talking. She wondered how he could possibly be a creation, and not a living breathing man.

Roll listened as X told him many things, about Dr. Cain, about the reploids and their contributions to the world. She listened as he told her about Sigma, Vile and the Mavericks. He told her about the wars and the destruction. She listened as he described his own heroics in terms that made it clear to her that he didn't think of himself as a hero. He told her how he and his and comrade Zero time and time again put an end to Sigma and his threats to the humans of the city. He told her about the Maverick Hunters, and his friends and companions at the compound. He told her about the Education center and he told her about the events of the last day up until she first opened her eyes. X slyly left out the humiliating incident regarding the search for her activation button.

Roll took it all in, and breathed in deeply, holding her lungs aloft and her eyes closed. X watched her chest heave upwards, the palms of his hands tingling, then she slowly exhaled with a slight sigh. She wondered...what now. She never thought of what to do, but she assumed she'd have some sort of job to do, some mission or purpose to fulfill. This seemed so terribly...human. She realized that she will have to make a lot of choices and not all of them would be wise. X turned to her and spoke as if he read her mind and knew what she was thinking. She liked the way he looked when serious, though she itched to see more of his smile. "The Reploid Education Center will help you" he proclaimed. She turned to him and gave a small smile "Will you teach me, X? I want to learn things from you."