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     1.2 +++ b/old/stories/superman.txt	Fri Feb 19 20:53:12 2010 -0500
     1.3 @@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
     1.4 +Hi everyone! ^-^ This is a songfic I finished while I was depressed over a few 
     1.5 +things and when I was supposed to be working on my ChibiUsa & Hotaru 
     1.6 +manga story. ^^;;; It’s about Zero from Rockman X and hopefully it shows the 
     1.7 +pain a ‘hero’ endures. I really hope you like it. ^-^ It's to the song
     1.8 +'Superman' by Five for Fighting.
     1.9 +
    1.10 +Superman
    1.11 +by Amazoness Duo
    1.12 +amazonessduo@hotmail.com
    1.13 +
    1.14 +
    1.15 +“I can’t stand to fly.
    1.16 +I’m not that naïve.
    1.17 +I’m just out to find
    1.18 +The better part of me”
    1.19 +
    1.20 +	Zero gazed across the ruined cityscape, his Z-saber still held firmly in 
    1.21 +his gloved hand as he surveyed the carnage. It was like some vision straight 
    1.22 +from a horrible nightmare. What made it even worse was that he knew he was 
    1.23 +responsible for a good portion of it. All in the line of duty, of course. But 
    1.24 +sometimes he wondered if that was enough. He was causing just as much 
    1.25 +damage as the Irregulars. What was the difference? Both sides were fighting for 
    1.26 +peace, but a peace that would fulfil their own objectives. And what was Zero 
    1.27 +trying to do? He was an Irregular Hunter, but did he really believe 
    1.28 +wholeheartedly in their ideals? He didn’t know anymore. They were good 
    1.29 +ideals. To protect the humans from those Repliroids that had turned against 
    1.30 +them. But the Irregulars had their own ideals. They wanted to have the freedom 
    1.31 +long denied them by their human creators.
    1.32 +	The blond robot didn’t fool himself into thinking that he believed in all 
    1.33 +of the Irregular Hunters ideals. The truth of the matter was that he had to keep 
    1.34 +fighting. He had to keep running. From whom or what, he was uncertain. But he 
    1.35 +knew that the only solace he found, his only form of escape was deep in battle. 
    1.36 +Trying to set things right. But he had no idea how he could ever possibly put 
    1.37 +things right. Things were far too complicated for a simple battle to solve. So 
    1.38 +Zero kept scrambling from battle to battle, continuing his war against the 
    1.39 +Irregulars. No, that wasn’t what he was fighting. That was a specification of his 
    1.40 +job as the leader of Zero Unit. His personal war was being waged against Sigma. 
    1.41 +That’s what had led him this far. Whether he was running away from his 
    1.42 +problems or head on into them, he only knew he had to keep going.  
    1.43 +
    1.44 +“I’m more than a bird,
    1.45 +I’m more than a plane,
    1.46 +I’m more than some pretty face beside a train.
    1.47 +And it’s not easy to be me.”
    1.48 +
    1.49 +	Zero was the ultimate warrior. He was strong, quick, very nearly 
    1.50 +unstoppable. A ruthless killer if he had to be. Someone who would accomplish 
    1.51 +the mission objectives no matter what the situation. But that wasn’t necessarily 
    1.52 +true. He was so much more than that. He was a lost and confused soul. He was a 
    1.53 +traveler, weary of his travels and where they might take him. He was a wounded 
    1.54 +child, hiding amidst the rubble, hoping someone would come along and save 
    1.55 +him. Yet he held up the image that he had projected around himself from very 
    1.56 +near his activation, hiding behind the strong warrior that everyone believed him 
    1.57 +to be. He could play his part well enough. It protected him in the same way he 
    1.58 +tried to protect those that he fought for. Let them believe what they wanted. It 
    1.59 +was safer that way, to be cold, to not give in to the emotions that boiled within 
    1.60 +his soul. He was calm and collected, always cool under fire.
    1.61 +	He was inches away from the edge of chaos, dancing ever closer to the 
    1.62 +ledge and just about to plunge into madness.
    1.63 +
    1.64 +“I wish that I could cry,
    1.65 +Fall upon my knees.
    1.66 +Find a way to lie,
    1.67 +About a home I’ll never see.”
    1.68 +
    1.69 +	His image was so close to shattering and no one noticed. Not the 
    1.70 +Irregulars that he spent so much time stalking nor his comrades back at the 
    1.71 +Irregular Hunters. In the end, they were no different. They were all lonely souls, 
    1.72 +fighting for their beliefs in an endless war that seemed to spiral out with him at 
    1.73 +it’s very core. He didn’t know how much time he could keep fighting. His will 
    1.74 +was slipping. After Iris’s death, he had to rethink just what he was fighting for. 
    1.75 +And he still didn’t know. X. But one day he would have to kill X to save 
    1.76 +everything. And he would do it in an eye blink. But in doing so, he would be 
    1.77 +killing himself as well, finally breaking the last pieces of whatever lay in his 
    1.78 +cold heart. And he would finally allow himself to cry. To fully realize the 
    1.79 +atrocities he had seen and been a part of. He still didn’t have any idea who he 
    1.80 +was. He had played so many parts over the last few years. Mentor, friend, lover, 
    1.81 +comrade, enemy. And throughout it all, he kept up the charade, always 
    1.82 +wondering how much longer he had before it slipped from his fingers entirely. 
    1.83 +He was running out of time. And he was no closer to finding out who he really 
    1.84 +was.
    1.85 +
    1.86 +“It may sound absurd,
    1.87 +But don’t be naïve.
    1.88 +Even heroes have the right to bleed.
    1.89 +I may be disturbed,
    1.90 +But won’t you concede?
    1.91 +Even heroes have the right to dream.
    1.92 +And it’s not easy to be me.”
    1.93 +
    1.94 +Zero didn’t know how long he could keep fighting. He couldn’t run 
    1.95 +much further. The demons were right on his heels, about to drag him down and 
    1.96 +finish him, to stop him from his pointless war. He knew it was only a matter of 
    1.97 +time before it was over. He thought he had grown numb to the battles, to the 
    1.98 +war, but he found himself growing distasteful of it, getting a sick taste in his 
    1.99 +mouth at the thought of battles to come. He had tried so hard to portray himself 
   1.100 +as a warrior, but even he couldn’t last forever. He needed a rest before his weary 
   1.101 +soul collapsed entirely. The fighting had taken its toll on the blond robot. 
   1.102 +Despite his best efforts, he knew that his time was almost spent. That thought 
   1.103 +gave him pause. Should he carry on? Was this really worth the effort? If he 
   1.104 +stopped running, would he finally have to face his past and the demons inside of 
   1.105 +himself? Was it impossible for him to ever get the peace he longed for? Or did 
   1.106 +he only live to fight? In which case, he may just welcome his death.
   1.107 +
   1.108 +“Up, up, and away...
   1.109 +Away from me.
   1.110 +Well it’s all right.
   1.111 +You can all sleep sound tonight.
   1.112 +I’m not crazy.
   1.113 +Or anything.”
   1.114 +
   1.115 +	A damaged Irregular attempting to drag itself away caught his eye as he 
   1.116 +stood on the edge. With a swift shot of his Z-Buster, the Irregular fell silent. He 
   1.117 +had accomplished his mission. But at what cost? What separated the Hunter 
   1.118 +from the hunted? When would the distinction blur to the point where it no longer 
   1.119 +existed? X was still grounded firmly in his pacifism, trying to cling to peace 
   1.120 +with all of his dear little heart. But Zero knew full well the dangerous line he 
   1.121 +was treading. He and Sigma had switched places on which side of the dance 
   1.122 +between Hunters and Irregulars they were both on, after all. Zero had originally 
   1.123 +been the Irregular, but now he was the one hunting Sigma. How long before 
   1.124 +there was nothing at all to distinguish between the two anymore? With every 
   1.125 +battle, it was an inner struggle to keep balanced on the fine line separating them. 
   1.126 +But there was something deep inside of him that he had struggled to control for 
   1.127 +years now. And his steel grip on it was weakening. He’d already lost Iris, 
   1.128 +Colonel, and Teal to the war. What would he do if he lost X? Could he afford to 
   1.129 +lose his last tie to sanity? 
   1.130 +
   1.131 +“I can’t stand to fly.
   1.132 +I’m not that naïve.
   1.133 +Men weren’t meant to ride,
   1.134 +With clouds between their knees.”
   1.135 +
   1.136 +	Every single day, Zero stepped out to confront the ugly conflict that 
   1.137 +threatened to tug the population of earth apart. He was always in the middle of 
   1.138 +the worst possible situations, getting his hands dirty in whatever needed to be 
   1.139 +solved. But he was only one man. And he was so tired... He’d already seen and 
   1.140 +done more than anyone ever should have to. It was too much. It was burying 
   1.141 +him alive and he couldn’t claw his way back to the surface. It was slowly 
   1.142 +crushing him under the immensity of it all. He knew that he would fall soon 
   1.143 +enough under that weight. It was simply too much for him to bear. He just 
   1.144 +wasn’t strong enough. All of his faith was placed in X, that the blue robot would 
   1.145 +somehow be able to put right what he couldn’t, that he could survive the trip into 
   1.146 +madness that Zero was starting to fail at. 
   1.147 +
   1.148 +“I’m only a man,
   1.149 +In a silly red sheet.
   1.150 +Digging for Kryptonite on this one way street.”
   1.151 +
   1.152 +	Holding his Z-Saber tightly, he looked down to the ruined city below. 
   1.153 +He was designed and built to be a war machine, to kill. Whoever had made him 
   1.154 +had planned for him to fight. And so that’s what he was doing. Parts could be 
   1.155 +added, pieces could be fixed. But his creator had forgotten the most important 
   1.156 +piece of all. His soul was being worn down by the constant brutality, the 
   1.157 +constant insanity that surrounded his every waking moment. No, he may be a 
   1.158 +war machine, but that didn’t mean anything about the man inside. He was 
   1.159 +foolish to be out here trying for a victory that he knew would never come. The 
   1.160 +vicious cycle would continue on forevermore. There was only so much he could 
   1.161 +take before the burden became too much. 
   1.162 +
   1.163 +“Only a man,
   1.164 +In a funny red sheet.
   1.165 +Looking for special things inside of me.
   1.166 +Inside of me.
   1.167 +Inside of me.
   1.168 +Yeah.
   1.169 +Inside of me.
   1.170 +Inside of me.”
   1.171 +
   1.172 +	What was inside the war machine? What was he besides a killer? He 
   1.173 +knew X could answer that, but the answers eluded him in the cold night. He 
   1.174 +knew he was weak and tired. But he couldn’t rest now. There was still so much 
   1.175 +to be done. Too bad he wouldn’t be around for the end of it. He had won this 
   1.176 +battle, but it would only be a downward spiral from there. Coming forth 
   1.177 +victorious from battle didn’t always mean he had made it through unscathed. He 
   1.178 +may be able to continue winning in his fight with the Irregulars, but his mind 
   1.179 +couldn’t take much more. The shell was about to crack and get to the soft insides 
   1.180 +of his soul. Just who was he? Had he really made a difference? Was he more 
   1.181 +than the war machine that everyone presumed he was? Everyone but X. But 
   1.182 +even with the smaller robot’s faith in him, he wasn’t quite so sure of himself. He 
   1.183 +didn’t think he could last much longer. He hoped that X would understand. He 
   1.184 +couldn’t stay around for him, no matter how much he wanted to. 
   1.185 +
   1.186 +“I’m only a man
   1.187 +In a funny red sheet.
   1.188 +I’m only a man looking for a dream.
   1.189 +I’m only a man
   1.190 +In a funny red sheet.
   1.191 +And it’s not easy...”
   1.192 +
   1.193 +	It was almost over. He didn’t have a lot of time left. He needed to 
   1.194 +figure things out for himself. Who he was and what was deep inside of him. His 
   1.195 +fight was almost over. But before it was, he would have to confront his past. A 
   1.196 +shiver went through him as his eyes shut tight, trying to keep back the torrent of 
   1.197 +emotions breaking through his cold exterior. Just a little further. He had to push 
   1.198 +himself a little further before he could call it quits. He didn’t know if he could 
   1.199 +last that long. But he knew he had to try. 
   1.200 +
   1.201 +“It’s not easy to be me...”
   1.202 +	
   1.203 +	Zero turned from the flames, walking silently into the night. His helmet 
   1.204 +hung limply from his fingers. Fighting didn’t hold anymore appeal to him 
   1.205 +tonight. He was sick. All he wanted was to go back ‘home’ and rest. And try 
   1.206 +desperately to hold himself together. Just a little longer.