Archive of Our Own ^beta

“You know, I never asked you two if you discovered what you were in there.”

It had been a long and eventful year after the fall of Ouroboros. Grey and Aile had gone their separate ways to travel the worlds as they each intended. Grey and Model A had gone in search of the natural beauty of the world. Seeing vast canyons that stretched for miles, visiting forests with trees even older than the first reploids, and finally getting Grey to learn how to properly swim.

Aile on the other hand had done as she said and traveled the world with Prairie. They both visited cities and landmarks in each other’s company. Surprising each other with gifts and souvenirs from the locations, keeping a small collection in the Guardian base. Grey was actually pretty shocked to learn that they weren’t together yet. Even with his limited knowledge on social cues, he wasn’t that blind.

The two Reploid siblings had been catching up at one of the rest stops Aile and Prairie had landed at. Grey had just so happened to be there with model A, so now they finally got time to hang out after a year of peace.

“Hm? In where?”

Grey took a bite of the sandwich he had bought as Aile responded.

“In Ouroboros, did Albert actually tell you who you were? Or did he want to keep you guessing for the rest of your adventurous life?”

Grey chuckled a bit as he swallowed, his life had been pretty wild hadn’t it? First thing he had done when he woke up was escape a laboratory where someone had tried to kill him. Well not just someone, Pandora was a lot more memorable then any old Reploid he had faced. Along with her brother.

In all honesty he sort of missed them. When the ceiling had caved he wanted to save them both. They were still family, even if they were on different sides. But just leaving with only one of them felt cruel, saving one but not the other would have left him guilty and the twins broken. So he chose to just leave.

Albert…this could have just been avoided if he had landed a shot on his false body. Now was not the time to dwell too much on the past though.

“Yes he did. He told me that I was the closest reploid to a son he’d ever had. Which makes sense since he was absent for a majority of my life.”

Aile nearly choked on her own sandwich, trying to keep in her laughter. Grey could only chuckle again as he saw Aile get herself under control.

“You could say that again, and what about model A? What did he say about it?”

“He told us that it was modeled in his image, meant to store all of his memories and whatever. That the A in model A stood for Albert.”

He felt a disapproving movement coming from his pocket before a quiet ‘Thats not my name’ sounded off. Model A had woken up and had been listening to their conversation, he wondered if X or Z were listening as well.

[I hate that name Grey!! It’s not mine.]

Grey reassured the very anxious and upset biometal by giving it a couple pats. This little guy had been with him since the start of his adventure. He was glad the little bugger had chosen to stay by him, even after they could finally make their own destiny.

“I know you do, that's why I don’t call you that.”

Aile put her sandwich down on the table they had been sitting at with a very confused look. Was it something he said? Did he make a comment inappropriate to biometals or something? What ever it was it made Grey glance from side to side before looking back at Aile.

“Woah woah woah, Model Albert…? As in the Biometal he made, is of himself?”

“Yeah…? That’s what he told us…”

Aile looked completely dumbfounded. Like she had been told that she was biologically related to a fish. She stood up and nearly slammed her hands on the table which made Grey sink into his seat, he had a very scary sister.

“That’s not…that can’t be possible. You can only infuse biometals with the souls of past reploids…not your own!”

[Wha huh?!?”]

If Model A had expressions he didn’t know which one it would choose. If Grey had to guess, it would probably be shock, but maybe a bit of relief as well. Sharing a name with the guy who you were defeating wassss….not the best thing to live with…

“You two need to come with me, and no you can’t say no. This is important.”

Aile was branded with one of the most serious faces he had seen her have in a while. Did he fuck up?? If so, how bad was it? He picked up his sandwich and gestured for model A to float behind him, clearly this was important if Aile was so sudden about this.

They boarded the ship and Grey followed Aile around as she greeted people and led with confidence. After a couple of minutes they finally made it to the room that she was leading them to. A room mainly covered in monitors and computers. Filled with blinking lights and small pinging sounds. He’d never been in this room, he’d only briefly been on the ship since when he was taking down Albert. That was a while ago…

“Fleuve is off on vacation, so I have free reign of this room until he gets back.”

She started typing something or other on the big monitor as Grey and Model A just watched. He looked at the piece of sentient metal and shrugged. He knew just as much as it did.

“You know, I always wondered why Model A couldn’t access cyberspace on its own. It never made sense to me…”

[Even now I can’t!! It's bullshit.]

“Yes, because Albert can’t be your real name.”

Grey started to pay more attention to the screen as Aile searched for whatever. It was some sort of database on old reploids from long ago. Reploids that inhabited the casings of all the other biometals, Including model X and Z who had come out of Ailes pocket to watch. They must have gotten curious about this as well.

[What Aile says is correct, you can’t access cyberspace if you don’t know your real name.]

Model X spoke up as Aile was searching though possible options. Starting with reploids starting with A and glancing at model A every now and again. Probably looking at his color palette.

Grey zoned out for a bit as Aile continued to search. He didn’t notice that Model A had floated away from him and next to the other two biometals. Watching the screen intently for some sort of result. He finally snapped out of it when he heard Aile say his name.

“Grey you there buddy?”

“Y-yeah I am…did you figure it out.”

“Actually I think I did.”

Aile had this small smile on her face as she turned to the three floating biometals, she looked very proud of her research. Model Z and X floated next to her again, probably wanting to hear the news first.

“So I first started with Reploids that had A in their name…but that was a very long list of heroes and Mavericks. So I narrowed it down even more by pulling up a list of Reploids who worked closely with Zero and X.”

She clicked a button which made the list of potential candidates even smaller.

“I always found it odd how out of the blue Model A was…not part of the four Guardians set, but not X or Zero. So when I narrowed it down, it was almost undeniable to me who it was. You see, Signas, Vile, Cinnamon ect ect. While they worked with the two, the names didn’t match. And Aila, while her name started with an A, the color Palette didn’t line up. So that left me with one final option.”

Aile typed three letters into the keyboard and a Reploid who Grey had barely heard of popped up on screen. A reploid with Ginger spikey hair, Dark blue and White armor with Red accents, and a dual wielder of two pistols.

“...Its-”

“Model A, You aren’t being let into cyber space because of your affiliation with Albert. You weren’t being let in because you didn’t know your name, your true name. So take this as a chance to finally see it, Axl.”

~~

Everything flashed before Model A’s eyes all at once before he blacked out. Waking up moments later in a bright white void. Where the hell…? He’d never seen this place before, where was Grey? Aile? The other Biometals?!

A part of him really felt like he shouldn’t be here, but at the same time. A different part of him felt like he really belonged here, and that this was a thing that he had been missing out on for a long time. Not as Model A, but as Axl.

As he got up off the floor and started walking in a straight line, it all started to come back to him. Memories that his electronic brain and Albert had been suppressing for centuries. The home he found at Maverick hunter HQ, the friends he made with Cinnamon, Aila and Palette. But one of the most important things to him though, was the family he found in Model X and Z. X and Zero.

“AXL!”

He heard his name being called out by someone and spun around. He hadn’t heard it in so long that he barely recognized it again. He saw two figures running toward him, he almost didn’t recognize both of his parents as they quickly made their way to him. The spiky haired reploid couldn’t wait any longer for this reunion and started racing to them until finally they embraced in a long overdue hug.

Axl, understandably, burst into tears on Zero’s shoulder when the three of them hugged. It had been so long since he had heard their voices and truly found the meaning in them. He finally understood why they felt so familiar.

“It’s okay, let it all out buddy.”

Zero’s words made him cry harder as he hugged them both tighter, he was feeling so many emotions right now. He didn’t want to let them go.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for you to join us here, we wished we could have been there for you.”

X spoke up as Axl switched his focus from Zero to him. He felt like he could just cry forever, he had missed them so much.

“I-it’s fine…because I’m n-never le-leaving you guys again.”