Stormy Weather (Zero/Iris)

To say Iris was displeased with her new job was the understatement of the century. She was upset enough that she considered adding Rocinolle to the very short list of people she hated. The process worked as follows: Iris was assigned to treat Zero’s injuries after he got back from a mission. Rocinolle would keep a close eye on her to ensure she stayed in line. Inevitably, Zero would make some offhanded comment that would cause Iris’s temper to snap and result in her either physically or verbally assaulting him. Then, Rocinolle would drag Iris aside, give her a lecture, and proceed to assign her to Zero again until she learned her lesson.

It was a vicious, never-ending cycle that Iris tried her best to break free from, but never could. It was pathetic. All she had to do was get through one session with that jerk without blowing up, and she couldn’t even manage that. It certainly didn’t help that Rocinolle had the eyes of a hawk and ears that could detect even the quietest of curses.

Even worse, Iris’s constant assignments to Zero created all sorts of rumors. She would never know who started them, but there were plenty of Reploids jealous of the fact that she always got to treat Zero’s injuries. Some Reploids believed that Rocinolle had made the assignment a permanent affair and was just performing an elaborate cover-up. Others believed Iris was putting on an act just so she could keep treating Zero’s injuries. Worst of all, some Reploids whispered that Iris secretly had feelings for Zero and was doing all of this in an attempt to get closer to him.

The rumors both embarrassed and enraged Iris. How could anyone possibly think such things when she’d made it clear on multiple occasions that she couldn’t stand Zero? She’d sooner fall in love with a Pantheon than with him. These thoughts remained on her mind as she stomped away from yet another botched session with Zero. The stares, the whispers, the teasing; when would it stop?

“--fesses within the week.”

Iris stood stock-still at the voice. It sounded like it was coming through a nearby door. She had a bad feeling about this, but she couldn’t stop herself from pressing her ear against the door to listen.

“Nah, she’s too shy to say it this soon. Two hundred says it’ll be at least a month.”

“Hey, that’s not fair! We’re using maximum time limits!”

“All right, all right… Fine. How about within three months?”

“Heh, you’re both idiots. Iris is clearly playing hard to get. Five hundred says Zero confesses first.”

BAM.

Iris stormed into the room, her face contorted with rage. “WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN HERE?!”

The three Reploids in the room cowered in fear. Iris glanced at the piles of E-crystals on the floor before turning her furious gaze on the Reploids. “I can’t believe this! You three were making bets about my relationship with Zero! Well, you’re all wrong! No one’s confessing! I hate Zero, and that’s final!”

She turned on her heel and stomped out, muttering curses all the while. She couldn’t believe things had come to this. She decided right then and there that she needed to get away from the other Resistance members for a while. Her room was an option, but it would only be so long before Rocinolle dragged her to her next session with Zero. Iris wanted some peace, and to get it, she would have to go to a place no one would dare believe she’d go. She’d have to leave the Resistance base.

She knew it was a risky move. Since she was unarmed and had no combat abilities, she’d be in big trouble if she came across Neo Arcadian forces. However, Iris believed it wouldn’t be a problem as long as she chose a safe enough location and lied low, and she had the perfect place in mind.

The first thing she did was return to her room and gather several days’ worth of E-crystals. Rocinolle would probably kill her when she found out, but Iris didn’t care. She felt that a few days away from the base--and away from Zero--were exactly what she needed. She snuck to the base’s Transerver and repeatedly checked to see that no one was watching before getting on top of it and booting it up.

“Now, how does this thing work again?” she mumbled to herself. She pressed various keys on the Transerver to try and figure out what they did. After five minutes of fooling around, she managed to select where she wanted to transfer to and activated the teleportation. Just before white engulfed her vision, she thought she caught a glimpse of someone passing by, but she was unable to tell who it was.

Iris arrived at her destination and stumbled off the Transerver. Teleportation was so disorienting, but she made it. The building she was now in was the very lab the where Resistance had found her. She figured that if Neo Arcadia hadn’t discovered it in the past century, it was doubtful that they were aware of its location after only a couple more months. The building would make a safe, quiet place for her to hide for a few days.  The only thing that worried Iris was the person she spotted just as she teleported. Hopefully, that person didn’t see anything.

Iris began wandering around the lab. Since she was here, she wondered if she could find any clues about Professor Dahlia or her purpose for existing. She checked every computer, but they were all in disrepair. Cerveau could probably fix them, but Iris didn’t want to trouble him, and there was a strong chance that any data they contained would be long gone by now.

She trekked deeper into the lab and soon came across her old resting place. The metal capsule was in the same state as she had left it, except that its insides had gathered dust from being left in the open. Iris traced her finger across the cool metal and allowed her thoughts to wander.

“I wonder… If the Resistance hadn’t found me, how long would I have slept? Would I have been discovered by Neo Arcadia? Or would I have stayed inactive for all eternity?”

She turned away from the capsule and continued to wander. She was sure there was a lot more to the lab than this room. A bit of exploring revealed a corroding door, which Iris opened with a little effort. The corridor it led to was filled with several more doors and hallways. Curious and eager to learn more, Iris explored everywhere. Some of the rooms contained machines used for research and testing, others were break rooms, and still others were offices. All of them had degraded to the point where nothing worked.

Iris was frustrated by her lack of success, but she was also not surprised. She suspected that the lab had been abandoned shortly after she was sealed, and a century of disuse had not been kind to the lab or its equipment. It was a wonder the Transerver still worked.

Upon opening her fifteenth door, Iris was nearly blinded by an intense light. She shielded her eyes and realized that she had found the lab’s main entrance. The inside of the lab was so dim compared to the sun that her eyes took several moments to adjust. Once she was able to see again, she noticed that the sun was low on the horizon and that the sky was painted shades of gold, orange, and vermillion.

“So this is a sunset…” Iris murmured. “It’s beautiful.”

A small smile worked its way onto her face. The sunset was a drastic contrast compared to the barren landscape around her. There was no sign of any other buildings, and the only road that led away from here was crumbling and barely recognizable. The earth was hard and cracked, having lost all its topsoil thanks to the lack of any plant life to hold it in place. She was literally in the middle of nowhere. No wonder this place had avoided discovery for so long. Or perhaps it had been discovered, but Neo Arcadia didn’t think anything worthwhile was here. Either way, she believed she was safe here.

Iris leaned against the building and watched the sun set. It was mesmerizing how the sky gradually darkened as the sun sank lower and lower. As amazed as Iris was, she had the odd feeling that something was missing, something that would make the incredible sight even better.

“What is it? What’s missing?” she mumbled to herself. She brought her right hand to her chin in thought and glanced downward. Her eyes unwittingly landed on the bandage wrapped around her wrist. Zero’s image instantly appeared in her mind and smirked at her in a teasing way. Iris blanched at where her thoughts were going.

“W-what am I doing thinking about that jerk?!” she cried. “The whole reason I ran off was to avoid him! And why am I still wearing this stupid bandage, anyways?!”

She quickly undid the knot and unraveled the bandage from her wrist. The skin underneath was pristine, and she suspected it had been like this for a while. How could she have been absentminded enough to forget to take off her own bandages? Zero must’ve driven her so crazy that the whole thing slipped her mind.

“Stupid jerk… Bugging me even when you’re not around…” Iris scowled and sat down with her back propped up against the building. The sun was almost completely gone, and the stars appeared one by one overhead. The moon was clearly visible, and it provided a silvery light that was less brilliant but just as beautiful as the sun’s.

Iris didn’t expect the night to carry such serene beauty. All she had known of nighttime before was the near pitch-darkness of her room. This was something different altogether, and she really liked it. The celestial bodies above her were a great comfort, and unlike the sun she could look directly at them without being blinded. She admired them until drowsiness won over. Feeling peaceful and relaxed, she easily slipped into slumber.

------------------------------------------

The sun awoke Iris the next morning. The bright light that met her eyes confused her until she remembered where she had fallen asleep. She stood up and stretched in order to get the kinks out of her body, especially her back.

“Ugh, how does Zero do it…?” she groaned. “I’m never sleeping like that again.”

Once her stiffness dissipated, Iris noticed that she wasn’t as hungry as she usually was in the morning. She scanned her systems and discovered that her body was absorbing and using solar energy. While she could also use energy from artificial light, it wasn’t nearly as much as what the sun provided. Iris wished she had known that she could use solar power a long time ago. It certainly would have helped during the E-crystal shortage!

Sighing in frustration, she ate a couple of her E-crystals for good measure and redirected her thoughts to figuring out how to spend the rest of her time off. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in an ancient laboratory, but she wasn’t ready to return to the Resistance base yet. After a few minutes, she decided to explore any areas that she didn’t get to yesterday. Once that was done, she would comb over every room once again to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

Iris reentered the lab and allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness before continuing where she had left off. There were only a few rooms left, and most of them were like the previous rooms Iris had explored. One of them, however, was completely different. It was filled with metal shelves, and the shelves were filled with strange objects. More of the strange objects were littered around the floor, and Iris picked one of them up in order to examine it more closely. It was thick and heavy, and was filled with many thin sheets of a fragile material. The object was in terrible shape, so Iris took extreme care as she flipped to one of the sheets. To her surprise, words were imprinted on the material. They were too smeared and faded to read, but something had obviously been recorded here.

The female Reploid became excited. She had discovered how humans recorded their data before computers became commonplace. A search of her database revealed a name for these objects: books. These things were priceless treasures! Eager to see what sorts of information the book contained, Iris flipped through the pages to see if she could find anything legible. The one she held turned out to be too damaged to read, so she picked another one off the shelf. This one wasn’t in much better shape, but at least it was readable. It seemed to be a book used for research, and Iris quickly became engrossed in it. The next thing she knew, half the day had passed. She giggled at how easily she had lost track of time. At least she no longer had to worry about being bored.

Iris placed the research journal back on the shelf and sifted through more of the books. There was enough material here to keep her occupied for months, but disappearing from the Resistance base for that long without telling anyone wasn’t feasible. She decided that if necessary, she could sneak back to this lab, smuggle a book or two, and return to the base before anyone knew she was gone.

With that settled, Iris returned to browsing the books. She determined that most of them were meant for research, but there was one shelf that was very different. All of its titles had unusual names. Seven of them had to do with someone named Harry Potter, and a curious Iris picked the first of them out and read the summary. Seeing that the book involved magic and other illogical things, she realized that this section consisted of stories humans had come up with and shared with each other.

She opened Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and started reading. The length of the book and the vocabulary used suggested that its target audience was human children, but Iris found herself enjoying it. She read the entire book in a few hours and was eager to see how the rest of the series was, but it was getting late. Like the other rooms in the lab, this one was lit by sunlight streaming through the holes in the ceiling, and soon it would be too dark to see the pages.

“Come to think of it, is it just me, or is it darker than usual for this hour?”

A distant rumbling answered her. Iris shuddered. She never liked thunderstorms. Although she had only experienced a few of them during her short existence, the sound of thunder scared her.

She placed her book back on its shelf and went to find a place to sleep. She traveled to a nearby break room that held a couch just her size. She lied down on it and was pleased to discover that it was squashy, but much more comfortable than a wall. Iris took a deep breath and tried to relax so she could sleep through the storm. She shivered when another boom of thunder echoed through the lab.

“Breathe in, breath out, breathe in, breathe out,” Iris chanted. She knew it was stupid to be scared of a sound, but logic did nothing to quell her fear. A pattering on the roof informed her that the rain had started. It was light at first, but the noise grew louder and more frequent as time passed. Iris also heard a steady dripping as rain leaked through the cracks in the roof. She moaned, knowing that sleep was going to be impossible.

The wind howled outside as the thunder and lightning became more intense. Iris flinched and whimpered at every boom. Several thunderclaps were loud enough to make her scream. She covered her ears and buried her head in the sofa in a vain attempt to block out the sound. She knew the logical thing to do was return to the Resistance base, but her terror rendered her immobile.

Fire. Destruction. Death. There was nothing but chaos around her. Explosions rang out left and right. In her current state, she was helpless, and she knew she would soon become another casualty.

“Iris?”

The female Reploid was brought back to reality by the familiar voice. She dared to remove her hands from her ears and peeked away from her shelter. “Z-Zero? H-how did you f-f-find me?”

“I saw someone use the Transerver yesterday at an unusual time,” Zero explained. “I didn’t think anything of it at first, but when no one could find you today, I checked the coordinates the Transerver had been set to at that time.”

“F-figures…” Iris grumbled.

“Why did you run off like that without telling anyone? Everyone’s been worried sick.”

“It’s none of your--AAAAAH!” Another clap of thunder rang out, and Iris’s head retreated into the sofa cushion.

“Iris… You’re afraid of thunder?” asked Zero.

“S-shut up! O-of course I’m not!” Iris yelled as she tried and failed to stop trembling.

“You blockhead. I could hear you screaming from down the hall. I thought you were being attacked until I came here and saw you shaking like a leaf on the couch.”

“Y-you j-jerk,” Iris sniffled. “I c-can’t b-believe you have the n-nerve to m-make fun of me at a t-time like this!”

“I’m not making fun of you,” Zero protested. A hand, gentler than she expected, stroked Iris’s hair. The surprised female Reploid allowed her head to turn towards Zero. She could see his intense sapphire eyes in spite of how dark the room was. He really did seem to be concerned about her. And although she hated to admit it, ever since he arrived, she had felt the knot of fear within her stomach loosen.

“Zero?” she called softly.

“Yeah?”

“You…you can sit down if you want.” Iris pulled her knees to her chest in order to make space for Zero on the sofa. She buried her face in the cushions again in order to hide her embarrassment. Another crack of thunder caused her to flinch and curl up tighter.

“If you’re that scared, I can take you home,” Zero offered.

“N-no, not yet. Everyone’s g-gonna be asking me l-lots of questions, and I’m n-not in the right state of m-mind to answer them,” Iris mumbled.

“All right. If you say so.”

Zero removed his hand from Iris, and she became alarmed when she heard his footsteps over the pouring rain. Her head emerged from the sofa as she cried, “W-wait! D-don’t go!”

“Calm down. I was only going to sit down,” Zero assured. “I won’t leave you, okay?”

Embarrassed by her outburst, Iris hid her face again. She felt Zero’s weight settle next to her on the sofa and relief filled her being. It was ironic that the person she hated most was the one currently helping to quell her fears. She should have been angry that Zero was butting in on her personal business for the umpteenth time, but for once, she was glad he was here.

Iris gradually uncurled herself and tried to sit up. She flinched at every rumble of thunder, but she didn’t give up. She firmly told herself that she was doing this in order to not look like a whimpering child in front of Zero. She didn’t want to give him yet another thing he could use to tease her.

“Feel better?” Zero asked once Iris was fully upright.

“A little,” she responded timidly. She was still hugging her knees to her chest, but at least she wasn’t trying to hide anymore.

Silence hung between the two Reploids. Normally, Iris would have found the situation awkward, but right now she was grateful for Zero’s presence. She glanced over at him and saw that he was staring off into space. Her gaze drifted down to his lap, where his hands rested on his knees.

She had a sudden urge to hold his hand and promptly had a furious mental debate over whether she should follow through on the feeling. The insecure part of her won, so Iris’s left hand inched away from her leg and towards Zero. Her face grew redder as her hand drifted closer to his. Five inches to go… Four inches… Three inches… Two… One…

BOOM!

Iris shrieked as the loudest thunder yet exploded right over their heads. She instinctively dove towards the nearest cushion and clung to it for dear life. Her trembling resumed full force, and she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me…” she whimpered. An arm encircled Iris’s body and pulled her closer to the cushion.

“Iris, nothing’s going to hurt you. You’re safe.”

The female Reploid calmed down enough to realize that something wasn’t right. Zero’s voice was coming from right above her. Wasn’t he seated beside her only a moment ago? And why was this cushion…moving?

Iris slowly opened her eyes and to her horror realized that her “cushion” was actually Zero’s chest. Her face went redder than the ex-Maverick Hunter’s armor. She opened her mouth to protest, only to scream and bury her face in Zero’s chest when another clap of thunder rang out.

She had never felt more pathetic in her short existence. Here she was clinging to the person she hated most and sniveling like a child. She would have laughed if she hadn’t been so scared.

“It’s okay. You’re safe,” Zero repeated. He wrapped his other arm around her body and tightened his hold on her. “I’ll protect you.”

Iris gasped. All of a sudden, she felt completely safe. The storm seemed far less threatening now. After a moment, she remembered she was supposed to hate Zero and considered spiting him for making her briefly forget that, but she changed her mind when she heard more thunder. She didn’t want to leave the cocoon of warmth and safety and face the weather alone again.

The female Reploid shifted her head so her ear rested against Zero’s chest. The humming of his core soothed her and helped muffle the rain and thunder. Her eyelids drooped, revealing how tired she was.

“Iris, if you’re tired, go get some sleep,” said Zero.

“I don’t wanna fall asleep yet,” Iris muttered.

“Why not?”

“‘Cause being the jerk you are, you’ll leave as soon as I do. I don’t wanna wake up alone if it’s still storming.”

“You blockhead,” Zero sighed. “You really think I’d do something like that?”

“Actually, I don’t know,” Iris admitted. “That’s why I have to stay awake. To make sure you don’t leave.”

Zero slid his finger under Iris’s chin and forced her to make eye contact with him. “Then I’ll make it a promise. I promise I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He spoke in the same tone he had used when he said he would protect her. That alone would have been enough, but the look in his eyes sealed the deal for Iris. She saw nothing but sincerity in their azure depths.

“All right. I’ll get some sleep,” she consented. She rested her head against Zero’s chest and closed her eyes. As she felt herself drifting off, she mumbled a final statement. “Zero… Thank you.”