That... had suddenly become a difficult question to answer. A couple years prior, and Harpuia could have responded confidently and proudly. Neo Arcadia was the paradise X had dreamed of; humans could live in peace at long last, and Mavericks were brought to justice under the fair and unbiased rulings of the Eight Gentle Judges and the X built to replace the one he was speaking to now. The Four Guardians, together since activation, stood united against all that threatened the utopia that the world had yearned for.
It wasn't a perfect existence... but it'd been a happy one.
Looking back now... there was a pervasive sense of bitterness looming over his memories. Tell X about himself? He was used goods. A purposeless, unnecessary machine. Stripped of his position, cast aside as incompetent, a traitor to the very establishment he'd loved with all his being. Neo Arcadia... had it really been the utopia he'd believed, or nothing more than a cardboard cutout, a soothing little lie that was all-too-easily snatched away by a power-hungry madman? The Mavericks he'd cast down in the pursuit of justice... had they been as innocent as the Resistance claimed, despite the verdicts of the Judges?
The loved ones he'd lost, the sleepless nights spent running over the casualties among his own troops, every last drop of coolant fluid Zero's saber had torn from his veins... he couldn't shake the thought that it'd all been without meaning. That he'd been little more than a Pantheon -- a mindless mechaniloid that existed only to shoot at whatever it was told to. What he'd believed from the bottom of his heart to be an ugly but necessary part of protecting the humans he lived for... had it really been anything but the pointless, hollow clashing of war machines?
It... it felt too heavy to discuss. The chance to speak with Master X was precious; he didn't want to taint this experience so soon with something as bitter as that.
"It might be for the best that I don't talk about things that, from your point of view, haven't happened yet," Harpuia replied simply, keeping his eyes trained on the hallway ahead of them. "I don't believe in time travel, but I also don't wish to influence you unnecessarily. Isn't the most important part of hope not knowing what comes next?"
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It wasn't a perfect existence... but it'd been a happy one.
Looking back now... there was a pervasive sense of bitterness looming over his memories. Tell X about himself? He was used goods. A purposeless, unnecessary machine. Stripped of his position, cast aside as incompetent, a traitor to the very establishment he'd loved with all his being. Neo Arcadia... had it really been the utopia he'd believed, or nothing more than a cardboard cutout, a soothing little lie that was all-too-easily snatched away by a power-hungry madman? The Mavericks he'd cast down in the pursuit of justice... had they been as innocent as the Resistance claimed, despite the verdicts of the Judges?
The loved ones he'd lost, the sleepless nights spent running over the casualties among his own troops, every last drop of coolant fluid Zero's saber had torn from his veins... he couldn't shake the thought that it'd all been without meaning. That he'd been little more than a Pantheon -- a mindless mechaniloid that existed only to shoot at whatever it was told to. What he'd believed from the bottom of his heart to be an ugly but necessary part of protecting the humans he lived for... had it really been anything but the pointless, hollow clashing of war machines?
It... it felt too heavy to discuss. The chance to speak with Master X was precious; he didn't want to taint this experience so soon with something as bitter as that.
"It might be for the best that I don't talk about things that, from your point of view, haven't happened yet," Harpuia replied simply, keeping his eyes trained on the hallway ahead of them. "I don't believe in time travel, but I also don't wish to influence you unnecessarily. Isn't the most important part of hope not knowing what comes next?"