X slowly climbed out of the stasis capsule he'd been resting in. Dr. Cain, upon seeing them, had immediately taken Mega to be worked on, but at the same time told X to get repaired too. X had argued, not wanting to take the time, but he'd been out voiced by Break with one firm, "Go!"
However, X had convinced the docs who'd worked on him to just take care of the worst of it, then leave the rest for later. They'd understood his desire a bit more, and had agreed on the sole condition he nap in a capsule for forty-five minutes after. X had agreed.
Now he felt less pain, though his leg ached some, and his chest was fixed up nice. He got to his feel, and limped out.
Everything was quiet, as it usually was in the Med Wing so close to the end of a battle. Practically all the people in here now were either fixing up Hunters or were said Hunters. He saw no one in the hallway, so he decided to head towards where he last saw them.
"Hey, X!" Zero's greeting startled X a bit, but he smiled, glad to see a friendly face. Zero looked X over. "You convinced the docs to short change your repair, didn't you?"
"It wasn't 'short changed,' Zero. I just told them I wasn't that bad off."
"Well, at least you got cleaned up a bit." X was almost afraid to ask, but had to.
"How - how is he?"
"Don't know. Dr. Cain rushed him right into surgery. I took Break Man, Roll, and the others to one of the solitary waiting rooms, so they'd have some privacy, and some went to get repaired."
"Any really bad off?"
"I'd say Diadem - er, Ring Man - was the worst, and he walked himself into repairs. Seems four of the bastards ganged up on him. Held his own, though." Zero was sincerely impressed. "Only one survived to run off. they're all powerful Reploids."
"More experience than all of us put together, I'd bet," X replied as they turned the corner into the hall where the enclosed waiting rooms were. These were soundproofed, and the only window was one of the lockable door, affording privacy lacking in the other open-air waiting areas. X had spent a lot of time here, when Zero or any of his other close friends had been under major repairs.
A lone Reploid, one named Data was one of X's 17th Unit, was standing guard at the door. He looked over and smiled, giving a small salute.
"Glad to see you up and about, X," he greeted.
"Seems you fared the battle well," X replied. "But why are you standing guard?"
"To keep curious Hunters from bothering them. It was Zero's idea." X looked at Zero.
"After you left, some of the Hunters kept trying to offer their sympathies. Break Man was getting annoyed, so I put them in here, and posted Data as a guard while I got fixed up myself so no one would bother them, trying to be nice. It's not what they need right now." Data moved aside, and X peered in.
He saw Break Man pacing back and forth, his yellow scarf snapping behind him after each turn. Roll sat in the center of the couch, Rush laying head in her lap, being petted. Every to her left with his now and them X saw her take a deep breath, and wipe at her eyes as if trying not to cry.
"You gonna go in?" Zero asked.
"Go in?" X echoed disbelievingly.
"Yeah."
"I couldn't! I'd be... intruding."
"Intruding!" Zero whapped X upside the head. "X, man, think! This is your family! You should go in." X hesitated, glancing inside. Just then Roll happened to look up, and saw him. She spoke to Break Man, who peered out, then motioned X to enter. Zero gave X an 'I told ya do,' smile before X turned the knob and stepped in. With the Lights were Pharaoh Man, Bright Man, Dive Man, and Skull Man, albeit they were altered from their historical pictures, since they were upgraded.
"Hi, X," Roll greeted with a smile.
"Hi." X couldn't help but feel a little awkward as he took a seat on the couch to Roll's right. Rush whined softly, getting a scratch between the ears.
"How ya feelin?" Break Man asked.
"A little sore, but I've been through worse. Where's Ring Man?"
"Diadem," Pharaoh Man - Ra - continued. "We've all taken secondary non-combative names, the same we used in the band." Roll weakly laughed.
"Seems I'm the only one without a battle name. Even Blues and Rock prefer their original names that father gave them." X muffled his flood of questions when she said, 'father;' it wasn't the time for another time.
"Diadem's fine," Blues answered. "He's just resting in a capsule. Should be here soon, though." He looked X over with a clearly criticizing eye, and a small smile appeared. "Just as father had hoped," he said. "He'd be proud." X felt a wash of pleasure at that.
"We all are," Roll added. "Especially Rock. When you knocked on the van door, it was all we could do to keep him from bursting out. He wanted to talk to you - so - much..." A fresh wash of tears filled her eyes, and her shoulders shook. Without thinking X pulled her into his arms to let her cry against his shoulder.
"Rock will be fine!" Blues insisted, though it sounded like he was trying to convince himself of it.
"He will," agreed Naki - Dive Man - confidently. "That Dr. Cain didn't look like a second-rate student to me."
"Dr. Cain is the best," X agreed. "He's put Zero back together from being more or less totally destroyed, and patched me up lots of times."
"Speaking of which," Blues put in, "you're limping."
"I'm fine," assured the Hunter. "I - needed to be here, brot-" X cut himself off, unsure if the appellation would be welcome. Blues paused, seemingly startled, then smiled.
"You can say it. After all, we are family... brother." Hearing that word applied to him gave X a warm feeling inside, like he'd suddenly found a piece of himself. He smiled abruptly at Roll as something that had been in the back of his mind suddenly snapped into focus.
"Now I know why some of the songs made me feel like you were trying to tell me something." Roll managed to smile, sitting up to dry her eyes.
"Rock's idea. He thought that if we couldn't say everything we wanted, we could say it another way."
"Well, after he's fixed up, I'll just have to tell my big brother was I got the message, even if I didn't quite understand it at the time." As X finished speaking, the door opened and Diadem entered, smiling, to greet his 'siblings' and to nod at the Lights and X.
"Call him that," Blues put in, "and you'll make his century." Just then, there came a knock on the door. Zero opened it from the outside and came in, followed by Dr. Cain. Instantly everyone fell silent, and stood up to receive the news.
"How is he?" X asked.
"We were able to repair the damage, but he lost a lot of fluid. He's in a stasis capsule." Dr. Cain sighed, sounding very tired. "It's up to him now."
"Can we see him?" pleaded Roll. "Us being there might help him."
"He's in the D-Wing." Neither X nor Zero could hide the wince. D-Wing was the section of capsules where you went if you were really damaged. Only about one-quarter of the Reploids put there walked out.
"I'll show them where," X instantly said. Dr. Cain nodded, and the Lights, Cossacks, and Zero left, following X.