(Warning: Spoilers for the Megaman Zero games kinda.)

(Music is kinda for later-)

<-Lucina's POV->

"Get away from me, you stupid robot!" I yelled, glaring at the black armored reploid in front of me.

"Well sorry, I can't exactly. Leo ordered me to guard you when you're outside the rebel base," he replied, an edge of annoyance in his voice. He didn't like this any more than I did.

I groaned anyway and kicked at the sand, annoyed at the redheaded mechanic. The desert surrounding us stretched on forever, a city spiking up out of the horizon. The utopia for humanity, Neo Arcadia.

Of course, I was human, but my family was against the laws that retired reploids, so we came to the rebel base. My parents became soldiers, while my brother, Jasper, and I remained housed at the base, assisting whenever we could. I couldn't stand the stuffy interior of the base any longer, and had come out to catch a breath of the late afternoon. But I couldn't be out without the attack reploid on call, Brandon.

Brandon sighed and looked around, scanning for any Pantheons. He really didn't like me, that's for sure. And I hated his circuits. He was just a waste of parts. An unnecessary project someone actually took time to make.

"You know, I could be inside being productive right now, but you just have to get your fresh air," he scoffed, and my face twitched out of irritation.

"Well, maybe stupid robots like you don't breathe, so you can't appreciate the relief of fresh air!" I retorted, but he wasn't looking at me. His gaze was set on the horizon line.

I didn't look where he was, but I grabbed his arm. "Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you, you bucket of bo-"

A hand was suddenly over my mouth, an arm around my waist, and the jolt of leaving the ground. I panicked when I could no longer feel the sand beneath my feet.

I attempted to struggle out of Brandon's grip, but wresting a robot is a lot harder than you'd think. His wings were out and his face showed a mix of fear and determination, a look I've never seen before.

Within second, we hit the ground again, this time behind a spike rock formation. He set me down behind it, looking directly at me. "Stay here," he ordered, and he flew back out. I tried to stand, but the sound of gunfire startled me, making me fall back to the ground. Patheons! Panic coursed through me as I took a chance and leaned out from my hiding place. The blue Reploids were poised at the sky, blasters firing into the air. Brandon was their target, diving and slashing at them with his bare hands whenever he could. He wasn't a fan of weapons, so he was programmed with a form of "clawing", using a form of energy alteration to create concentrated plasma. The Patheons bodies were easily sliced from the intense heat of this attacks, and their body parts quickly littered the desert.

But I could see more of them approaching in the distance, an endless stream of blue, mindless fighters from Neo Arcadia. Brandon was beginning to slow down, his core overheating from all the flying. But still, he remained in the air, above the Patheons, evading, striking and fleeing, repeating this over and over. Brutal determination was all that fueled him, and he didn't care if he ended up blowing himself up in the process.

But I did. He was fighting so hard to keep me safe, a human that mistreated him and he seemed to have no regard for. But now, I knew he was fighting for me. For my safety. I didn't know why, but this stupid heroism, while flattering, was pissing me off just as much as it scared me.

"Moron! What the hell do you think you're doing! We have to get to the base!" I screamed, coming completely out into the desert sun.

The Patheons took a mere glance at me and, realizing I was a human, began to run for me. Not firing their busters, but running to me, to take me back to Neo Arcadia. I had decrypted this action in a split second, and that split second was spent frozen in fear. A split second in which Brandon's attention was turned away from the fight and directly at me, bolting for me.

"Lucina, run!"

His call to me was probably the reason he was struck from the sky. A charged projectile landed on his side, propelling him into the desert ground. Shocked and afraid, I turned and ran, obeying Brandon's desperate cry of warning.

I wasn't very fast, really. I couldn't run that fast for a long time, and I learned that running from Patheons in heels and through sand made this task about 10 times more difficult. Within seconds I was already panting, tripping and falling, numbing fear nullifying any pain I may have felt. Neo Arcadia was the last place I ever wanted to be, and it became painfully apparent when I was this terrified.

<-Brandon's POV->

I groaned in pain as I opened my eyes. I had crashed to the ground, my side burning painfully. My vision was blurry, and I staggered to my feet, trying to see where Lucina was. Leo had ordered me to protect her, and Jasper would have my head if those Patheons took her back to Neo Arcadia. Not only that, but she did mean something to me...

Shut up, stupid robotic brain! I scolded myself, shaking my head to clear the obvious short circuit. I did have to save her, though. I began looking again, and this time caught sight of her running from the Patheons. Panic coursed through me, and simultaneously electrical energy return to me body. I leaped up and dashed, the activation of my wings sending me flying several times faster than I expected.

I was practically on top of the crowd of Patheons before they noticed me, and by then, it was too late for them to react. I activated my pre-programmed Plasma Slash, and practically flew straight through the mindless androids. I put my feet to the sand, skidding to a stop, then doubling back, plowing through the front line of them.

I'll be completely honest, I had no idea I had anywhere near this kind of potential. It felt totally knew and unchecked, a unrefined power hidden in me. I just suddenly flew into action when I saw Lucina was in danger. Why would I have this sort of capability when she, of all people, the one that hated me the most, was in the crossfire?

Either way, the fight was over as soon as it had started. I probably wasn't consciously fighting most of the time, since I was savagely slicing the mass produced sentries to bits. All I really remember was the beginning and the end. And Lucina. She was sitting on the ground, probably from tripping or something, staring at me with absolute awe. I stared back for a second, breathing a little unsteadily, then turned slightly away. What... what did I do?

All around me, smashed helmets, disembodied torsos and malformed limbs sat in heaps or dispersed on the sandy plain. I felt liquid running down my arms and face, and I held up my hands to see red oil, Reploid blood, dripping onto the ground. My breath caught, and I looked back up at Lucina. She didn't look scared. I think that scared me more than anything.

The fact that she didn't look scared told me something. She was more focussed on me than on the destruction I had caused. I think she was really thankful, actually. But she didn't say it. She just stared at me, amazed, probably dazed, and unable to see the wreckage of slaughtered Patheons.

I think both of us got uncomfortable after a while, because she stood up as I attempted to wipe the blood off my face. I didn't blame her. Her and I were probably standing there for a good minute before either of us decided to move. She walked over to me stepping over the blue body parts and stood in front of me, as though she expected me to to do something.

She sighed and pulled my hands down from my face, and began wiping the oil off herself. "You're just making it messier," she grumbled, and I blushed red, like the sun that was setting over Neo Arcadia.