Title: The Real Life
Summary: Can Ziggy choose between his past life and the present?
Notes: Shortest summary I've ever written. Anyway, this is obviously a one-shot and most likely a sad one. I fear those Rabid Ziggy Fans. I do believe they will hunt me down and gut me like a frog in a French diner. It's a good thing I've bought anti-Rabid-Ziggy-Fan detectors and set them up around the perimeter of my house. I feel safe now.
Um, this fic is rated for some little violence/blood, Jr.'s random potty-mouth and general evil villain creepiness. Speaking of villains, I decided to put some background behind Voyager, since we don't know much about him. Or it. It's hard to tell with a freakish face like that. So basically, since I loathe Voyager with every last atom that constructs my molecular structure, I really dished on the layers of 'super evil moron'…not that he acts moronic, 'cause I'd have to change the genre for that, and whoops, look, I'm rambling. In other words, mess with my favorite characters, mess with me. And since Voyager is a character, it is in my power as writer to kick his butt. Although not literally. Genre, people. Genre. Besides, I haven't decided whether this should be a tragedy or whatnot…so who knows what happens. (Actually, I have, but I'm not about to tell you. So there.)
The setting is the wreckage of an old federation ship. Why, do you ask? All shall be explained in the fanfiction…oooo…XD Okay, just read.
Disclaimer: I don't own it, you cow, or I'd tell you by now. (But you're not really cows. I just couldn't think of anything else that rhymed with 'now'.)
"KOS-MOS," Shion said wondrously. "Are you sure this is the bridge? It looks as if it was completely destroyed."
"Affirmative," came the android's response, devoid of any skepticism as always. Bits of wire and metal grated beneath her boots as she calmly walked into the ruined bridge's interior. "All computer subsystems are connected to this location. There is also a ninety-five point zero eight percent probability that the original Zohar was stationed in the hangar below us during the Gnosis attack on this ship."
"So what are the chances that any Zohar was on board this ship? Even if it wasn't the original?" Jr. wanted to know. He followed KOS-MOS, slinging his gun arm over his shoulder.
"There is a one hundred percent possibility that the hangar below our current locale was used for the storage of a Zohar relic. However, it is unlikely that the Zohar was an emulator."
"Huh," Jr. mused. "So this is where it all began…"
The 'bridge' was unlike most control systems. The lifts that had carried the group to this level were located in the precise middle of the circular dome. A vast sea of stars and scattered debris floated above them and in every direction. Large pieces of the partially metallic ceiling had crashed to the ground, leaving the nearly indestructible tile cracked and split. The only lights came from the glowing, red emergency insets in the remaining ceiling sections.
Shion took a few steps and paused. Her face was both illuminated with a soft crimson glow and the shadows of the poorly lit area. "Is this really a Federation ship…?"
One by one, they began to move towards the north end of the dome. Ziggy was mindfully tagging behind the group, keeping his eyes and his sensors on the denser pits of blackness. So far, nothing had given him proof that the deserted ship had ever harboured life. Nevertheless, he could not shake the feeling that someone was watching them. Them, and MOMO in particular. How he knew this was beyond him.
Hardly had threshold of the bridge's interior been crossed then a shaky breath caused him to stop in his tracks. Solemnly, he turned around to find a crestfallen MOMO, hunched slightly with her arms clenched tightly around her body. She was shaking noticeably.
"Ziggy…" she said quietly. "I don't like this place…it's really cold…"
He moved towards her, silently lecturing himself for becoming so careless. Instead of reassuring her in the depth of this icy, black hell, he had once again become distant in his effort to keep her safe. He tried to appear constructive by turning a smoothed expression towards her.
"Are you sure you don't want to return to the Elsa?" he asked of her. "You will be warmer and safer on the ship."
"That's okay," she replied a little disappointedly. She straightened with the pretense of regained courage. "I can help, too. Since I'm a 100-Series, I can do lots of things Shion and Allen can't…" Her voice trailed off for a moment as she lowered her gaze to the floor. "…Ziggy?"
He stared on gently. "Is something wrong?"
"No," came the unsteady reply, followed by a pause. "Sorry…it's nothing, I guess…"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," she assured him. "Oh! I think Allen's waving at us. Let's hurry, okay?"
"MOMO," he said, lowly enough for her ears only. "This is the third time you have begun to ask me a question. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"
Her eyes fell. "Well..." Another brief moment passed. "Promise you won't laugh?"
Ziggy nodded. "You have my word."
A smile appeared on her face. "I know it sounds selfish, but Mommy said it would be okay if I asked. I really like living with Mommy, but we never get to do anything together, because she's busy all the time. I hardly even get to talk to her. My sisters always have something to do, and they only listen to me because Mommy said so. No one ever talks to me, and…I feel..." Her voice drifted off.
He had a premonition about where this was headed. With a touch of amusement, he crouched down to her height. "Lonely?" he offered.
MOMO confirmed with small nod. "And...since you always listen, even when you don't have to...I thought maybe you'd come live with us...unless, you'd prefer to be on the Durandal-"
"MOMO," he interrupted gently. "If you're lonely, I would be more than happy to transfer as your personal guard. Dr. Mizrahi has offered to arrange it, I assume?"
Not even a searchlight could have made her face glow brighter. MOMO giggled. "Yes," she answered cheerfully. "She said you'd understand how I feel. Do you sometimes feel lonely too, Ziggy?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, a faint shadow took to his face. MOMO was not unperceptive of these odd changes of display he suffered from one day to another. This time, a pang of guilt and confusion made her regret having asked the question at all.
"I'm…sorry," she said, after an uneasy silence. "Did I say something wrong?"
Her voice appeared to draw him out of a peculiar void. "No," he said at last. He stood up. "I was just distracted for a moment. We should hurry and meet up with the others."
MOMO was slightly crestfallen, but she maintained her expression. "O…kay," she agreed tentatively. But when he turned his back and moved on, her eyes stung a little. Surprised by this mixture of emotion, she quickly rubbed at her rebellious eyes and ran forward to catch up with his brisker pace.
Soon enough, the entire group stood at the head of the circular room, facing a set of panels and seats. MOMO stood by quietly and watched as Shion and Allen began to investigate the dusty controls and the partially-ruptured display screens.
"Uh, so remind me why we're here again?" Allen ventured, covering his nose and mouth as a cloud of dust billowed around his head.
"Oh," snapped an irritated Shion. "Don't tell me you forgot what our mission is already? You do remember Gaignun, Allen, don't you?"
He threw her a plaintive glance. "That's not what I meant," he protested. "If Gaignun wants old data and video surveillance of the Gnosis attack, why send us? I don't mean to be rude, but…what's MOMO got to do with all this? And Ziggy? And for that matter, me?"
Shion merely tossed her hands in the air in a symbol of mock defeat. "This has nothing to do with MOMO at all," she replied irritably. "If you were paying any attention at all, you would have heard Gaignun say that MOMO's Observational system would be helpful in case we overlooked something important, or any incomplete data. Really, Allen, sometimes I worry about you."
Allen's jaw dropped in silent protest, but Shion had whirled around and was already heading towards another console. Jr. strolled up beside him, stretching his arms above his head. "Next time, try leaving out the part about you. Girls like guys to be fearless, y'know?"
MOMO giggled in the background, covering her mouth in order to prevent the sound from reaching Allen's ears. Allen just sighed heavily and set about his own investigation of the ancient equipment.
After another minute of soundless examination, Shion broke the silence by slapping a palm on the face of a panel. "Oh, come on! Why won't any of the controls respond? The computer shows that there's plenty of power left in the conduits!"
KOS-MOS, whom had chosen to remain quiet until now, approached the young engineer with intent. "Shion."
Shion lifted a surprised face to find the android standing right next to her. "What is it, KOS-MOS?"
"I request that I may return to the Elsa," KOS-MOS replied tonelessly. "Due to the small degree of counter-radioactivity in the space surrounding this ship, all communications with the captain and the crew of the Elsa have been cancelled. Also, I will require some maintenance in order to be of further service to your analysis."
Shion leaned on the console she had been attempted to operate. After a moment, she waved her hand. "I don't mind," she spoke tiredly. "But Allen has to go with you."
"W-What?" Allen exclaimed weakly.
"Don't look so angry," Shion scolded him. "Since our communications are out, I'm leaving it to you come back with any messages the captain might need to tell us. Is that okay, Allen?"
His mouth moved silently for a second. Then he dropped his shoulders. "I…guess," he said finally.
"Good. Bring us the good news then, okay?"
Allen scratched the back of his neck with agitation, but he turned around and began to grudgingly follow KOS-MOS as she began to walk towards the center of the dome. When the lift carried them both out of sight, Shion returned to her studying of the malfunctioning panel.
"Are you sure this ship has any power left?" Jr. asked after a while.
Shion made a thoughtful sound. "There's nothing wrong with the power grid. It may be very outdated, but this technology isn't known for lying, Jr. Something must be preventing the power from reaching the bridge. But…the only way to do that is to sabotage the feed lines that lead from the reactors to the subsystem controlling the ship's power."
"Is it possible that the Gnosis severed the link during the attack?" Ziggy voiced.
Another sigh was his response. "I don't see any other way it could have happened. There's no way any human, or even Realian would be able to disconnect it without experiencing a deadly backlash. This kind of power isn't as safe as the one we use on ships today."
As if on some timely cue, there came the dull, echoing sound of something being dropped on the metal floor of the bridge. The eerie clunk caused all four heads to turn towards the ceiling, where nothing but smooth metal and glass met their gazes.
"What…was that?" Jr. wondered out loud.
"Someone else is on the bridge?" said MOMO, scanning the dome with her eyes.
Shion gasped. "Not a Gnosis!"
"No," Ziggy was quick to assure. "I'm not detecting anything out of the ordinary. Whatever that was, it wasn't alive."
"Aw, man!" Jr. shouted angrily. "What the hell is that?"
Both MOMO and Shion exclaimed their surprise and craned their necks to the ceiling. Ziggy observed the phenomenon with a growing feeling of discomfort. The prickling of suspicion that had been hiding in the back of his mind was slowly coming to his attention, now a cold, sensible knowledge that once more invoked a fiery rage he was unaccustomed to.
It came in the form of a red mist. It emerged from no place at all, gathering in a space close to the floor of the dome. The strange substance swirled and joined in small sections, then joined again to create even larger, more humanoid shapes. Slowly, the form of a man in a black cloak appeared. His face was smooth and pale, his eyes red and emotionless.
Voyager.
The terrible images flooded his mind again. Memories he would rather no longer partake in; a set of fleeting pictures of nothing put torment. Ziggy was overwhelmed with this pure hatred. He did nothing immediately, although he knew that several pairs of alarmed eyes were set on him, expecting something…a reaction.
The cyborg allowed the tyrant's cold stare to pass right through him. He remembered clearly what had happened the last time he had attempted to exempt revenge on this man. There was a purpose for this. His own feelings would come later.
For the longest time, Voyager said nothing. Ziggy had never heard him speak, so to say, except for one time. And then, it was merely a sentence that posed no meaning. Those rigid lips, forming words. You have yet to experience real life.
And then-
"Why?"
That voice. It startled him – not visually, but the effect of the sound only stirred more anger.
"You have replaced him. With a doll. Why?"
Those words ended a silent war. For the longest few seconds of bitter eternity, it seemed as if a thousand or more unspoken sounds were creating an echo through the invisible walls of darkness. They loomed on the high walls, high above the place where the flawless face looked on, feeding the fiery hatred that already burned there. It gave dauntless strength to the anger that the cyborg held dormant.
"Ziggy…" Shion took a step, uncertain step. Her hand extended slightly towards him, but she pulled it back on witnessing his semi-blank stare.
From nearby, a pair of crimson eyes repeated their merciless shift between Ziggy and the group standing behind him. "I am here to bargain. The price is meager. The reward is worth far more than the…commodity. I can be fair when the need calls for it."
MOMO was the only one to suffer the flicker of those eyes as they briefly passed over her. For that split moment they held her gaze, an explosion of something beyond pain took place in her head. It was worse than the corruption Albedo had done to her before – there was no searching involved. Before, it had been careful nitpicking for the right kind of element inside her mind. What this antagonistic creature was doing to her was in excess of that. Instead of looking for his target, he tore open the door to her mind and attempted to force it out.
The results of this procedure caused her to both sob in alarm and cover her head with her arms, averting her eyes from that terrible hold. Everyone, excluding Ziggy, turned to her in surprise. Shion was immediately at her side. Jr. connected MOMO's sudden strife to the unmoving figure and those blood-red eyes; wasting no time to brandish his pistol at the stranger, snarling.
"You bastard! What do you want with MOMO?" he demanded, fingers lingering over the holster of his second gun.
Those eyes did not waver. "Your idle threats accomplish nothing," he informed stoically. "My desire for the Realian concerns none of you. I am most willing, however, to propose a valuable gift in exchange for her custody. It must be a fair exchange."
The silence following thereafter was a brief, but formidable. "You sick bastard!" Jr. shouted; his arm trembling as he cocked his pistol. "I'll-"
"Jr.," Ziggy interjected sternly. "Put away your weapon. He can't be harmed – you'll only end up hurting yourself."
"Huh?" Jr. jerked his head towards the cyborg in confusion.
"He's not of this world," Ziggy explained disdainfully. "Even combining our power, we are no match for him."
The red-haired youth lowered his pistol slowly, clenching it tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. "Not of this world…? Not like…a Gnosis?"
"The Gnosis are indeterminately existing on a sub-level of the stage," Voyager clarified with no hesitation. "They are not of this world or any other. I am merely a conductor, wishing to purchase a fine-tuned instrument."
"Shut up!" snapped Jr., leveling his pistol once more. "If you want MOMO that bad, you'll have to step over my dead body to get her!"
MOMO's eyes opened slightly. She managed to stand up and look past Shion's worried face, gazing in surprise at the gun-brandishing youth. "Jr…"
Voyager gently lifted his hands in a gesture of proposed innocence. "Now, that would hardly be necessary. Once you hear my offer, I have no doubt that one of you will change your mind."
It was at this time that Shion carefully pulled herself to her feet. For a moment longer, her head was bowed in wrathful tranquility. Then, she lifted it to gaze directly at the red-eyed man, who merely stood by with his own, apathetic stare. MOMO, sensing her distress, seized her arm in a silent plea. But Shion was fixated on one thing only – the man with red eyes.
Her voice cracked only slightly as she spoke. "There is nothing you could say or do that would make us change our minds," she half-whispered with a ferocity that only became of her in desperate measures.
Voyager nodded in listless agreement. "I suppose you are correct," he responded. "Therefore, I will 'show' you. Let us deal."
Outspoken as it was, his manner of 'dealing' was not something they could be prepared for. Voyager was standing no further than five yards away and had not moved a bare inch during their encounter. But his method struck anyway, swifter than the instant between a python's lunge and the moment its fangs sink into flesh. An undetectable arrow that no mechanical sensor could have prepared Ziggy for.
There were no words to describe it. Put poetically, the best way to explain the attack was to compare it to a mental sledgehammer. It was a compound taken from each one of his worst nightmares, crushed together in a crude weapon and dropped into every one of his senses. He began to experience each and every still-living memory of his past life in the same breadth of time. They blinded him, confused him, spilled into his mind like a river flooding a pond. He heard, saw, felt and thought every last experience he had before his death. Despite some of those memories being pleasant, they no longer felt the same way. They were empty – drained.
The image was distorted; the air surrounding the cyborg warped and contracted with no sense of clarity. Ziggy attempted to regain control of his thoughts – unsuccessfully, for beyond the one instant it took for the flood to seize him, he no longer knew control. The insane buzz of heretic memories overwhelmed him; he dropped, silence by confusion, the peal of metal against metal as he knelt roughly, pressing his palms firmly against his head. The silent battle for a kind of control far beyond his reach. Too far for even hope to spare.
"You…son…of…a…bitch!" Jr. grasped both pistols and began to fire at the perpetrator. He punctuated each shot with the foulest names he could think of. And despite his ferocity, not once bullet seemed to affect the red-eyed man. He never flinched.
MOMO was already kneeling beside Ziggy. "Please, stop! Stop hurting him!" she cried, finding no other source to his ordeal. "Ziggy!"
Whether Voyager had decided to grant her plea, or simply because he had accomplished his purpose, the distortion ended suddenly. Released from his temporary hell, Ziggy collapsed forward, managing to support his eight on his hands, if barely. Slowly, he rose to his feet, his vision momentarily impaired by the washed-over aftermath of the experience.
"I wonder," said Voyager smoothly. "That was rather unorthodox. Do you accept?"
Ziggy's hands clenched subconsciously, but the message had been portrayed perfectly. "I won't allow that," he spoke fiercely. Look, he ordered himself. My...body...won't respond. Why can't I look at MOMO? It can't possibly be...the same as before?
"Very peculiar," the even, steady voice remarked. "Your level of understanding far exceeds the expectations of my council. Every single one of those memories acts as a separate image. When combined together in at precisely the same time, they create yet another memory. You so erroneously called that child your 'son'. Why is this your most important memory?"
"Why should I tell you?" Ziggy demanded. "A soulless monster like you wouldn't possibly understand. You exist only to bring pain to others."
For a very brief moment, Voyager's eyes flashed with something other than cold indifference. "You accuse me of possessing no soul," he said softly. "The man with no organic heart calls me so. How unfair, to be blamed for inhumanity by a machine."
MOMO took a timid step back, her eyes wide with wonder. Her voice was barely audible. "Ziggy…"
The air inside the colossal dome suddenly seemed to grow even colder than its previous, bone-biting temperature. At the same time, the man with crimson eyes allow his arms to drift slightly away from his body – a gesture of impossible purity. "My proposition still remains," he said calmly. "I speak only to you, senseless cyborg. Give to me, that Realian child who quivers so worryingly in your wake; in return, I shall return to you what you have always longed for-"
"That's enough!" Jr. cried. "Shut up!"
"–your son," Voyager finished with a callous smile. A red mist seemed to bleed from the air as he gracefully left the ground, levitating to certain point. That cursed, revoltingly crimson fog was slowly gathering at his hands.
Ziggy was dimly aware of Shion's gasp. What did it matter now – the board was set perfectly in favour for the creature that rose so swiftly above their heads. Just like Miltia, he thought sluggishly. A human military officer, or an out-of-date cyborg. What difference does it make? MOMO…
He turned his head to look over his shoulder. Shion had her arms wrapped around MOMO's shoulders protectively – her expression was fierce and impassive, as if she dared him to even consider the offer for a moment. Death. Death was going to play some significant role soon. This, Ziggy confirmed in the reactions of his teammates. Slowly, he looked to Voyager again.
"Even if that were true," he said solemnly. "There are many people who care for MOMO -- including this soulless cyborg. I won't allow the fate of my son become of her. I would gladly die before I let that happen."
The mist burst into a brilliant flare. Voyager's expression smoothed completely, with a subtle touch of amusement. "You simple creations have no capacity to learn," he remarked. "Your inability to negotiate disappoints me. I will simply have to take the Realian by force."
There came a sound of crumpling metal, followed by MOMO's sharp outcry, "Ziggy, look out!"
A man-sized chunk of metal paneling dislocated from the wall, torn away by a set of invisible hands and showered with a shower of yellow-and-white sparks. The dome groaned a dark symphony of protest, and time was deathly still for the shortest duration of peace. Then the metal sheet jerked away from its futile bond of wires and bolts and flew straight towards Ziggy.
A flash of a steel blade and yet another show of sparks later, Ziggy stood poised and alert, having made no effort to dodge the projectile. Two halves of a freshly sliced panel lay discarded on either side of him. Deliberately, the cyborg stood straight once more and turned a grave face towards Shion and the others.
"Shion, take MOMO back to the Elsa, quickly," he ordered. "Tell the captain to launch as soon as everyone is on board. Do you understand?"
"Hold on!" Jr. interjected roughly. "You're not staying here alone, old man!"
"Indeed, the U.R.T.V. is correct," floated a somewhat gentle, frosty voice. The red eyes stared unblinkingly as Voyager made a short descent to the ground. "I am afraid the 100-Series Realian will not be leaving this dome for a very extensive period of time. Once I remove the 'weapon' that man installed in her memory, her body will remain here in cold stasis, until our council determines her soul free of her father's sin."
"Go!" Ziggy snapped harshly.
Shion jumped at the sudden, rare change of his composed character and hesitated only a moment before taking MOMO's arm, entreating her to flee as well. MOMO hung back, caught between obeying Ziggy and rushing to his side. "But-"
Hardly another word passed through her lips then a monotonous siren split the air. Like a creature awakening from a long, profound slumber, the entire dome-like bridge began to power up. Lights flickered on, crawling in a scattered pattern across the metal components of the ceiling. In a moment, the entire dome was alight with flashing warnings and barely operating consoles. An automated voice spoke above the buzz of the siren;
"Warning. Multiple hull breaches have been detected in sections nine through thirteen. Personnel currently operating on the bridge are advised to stand clear of all main and emergency exits. Personnel in sections four through eight are required to evacuate to the nearest safety hangar. Personnel in sections one…"
"Give me the Realian," Voyager said again, extending a graceful hand towards MOMO. "I grow weary of this benevolence. If you do not comply, I will be forced to puncture the exterior of this dome. If you do not wish the male child and the woman to die, you will hand over the Realian."
The bluff was well played. Ziggy side-glanced towards Jr. with no lack of discretion. Voyager clearly had him fooled to the brink of speechlessness. Ziggy did not doubt that, if Jr. Were given the flawless opportunity, he would contentedly fight for MOMO until the last breath. Even if that breath was lost in the frozen vacuum of space. The problem lay therein Shion's presence. No one was willing to make a sacrifice of their teammates...
Ziggy shook his head ever so slightly once he had the red-haired youth's attention. Fortunately, Jr. understood what this meant. Then he looked somewhat humiliated, as if ashamed of being gullible.
From across the dome floor, Voyager interpreted their silence with contempt. "Very well. I am unable to deceive you," he remarked. "You are correct. Despite my superior immortality, I am also a human being. I must breathe the elements of the mortals. Is this not what your savage breed entitles a 'stand off'?"
"Yes, it is," Ziggy replied heatedly. "I may be nothing more than an ancient combat relic. However, I realize now that I misused these past hundred years. Instead of facing my past life for what it was, I wanted nothing but to erase what little memory I still had. That is precisely what you wanted me to do."
And for what was more than a mere fraction of time, there was such an expression on Voyager's face that was almost indescribable. It was both pure anger, and horrid regret. "You are the cause of this," he spoke fiercely. "This is not my imperfection. I am raising your judgment, cyborg. Your transgressions are your sins, for which you will repent. It was your fist which struck the initial blow. What you have done is not exempt in mere death, Sauer. You will continue to pay until you have suffered as much as I."
"What?" Jr. nearly choked. He twisted his head towards Ziggy with a mild expression of confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Ziggy avoided that glance. "Nothing," he stated. "It is a personal matter between him and I. You of all people should understand what that means." Without allowing him to respond to that, the cyborg looked away and began to approach their red-eyed foe.
"Do you wish to kill me, Ziggurat 8?" inquired Voyager. There was no definition to his stillness. "Will you destroy me as well? Surely you know what will happen if you succeed. What will you choose? To win, or lose?"
Ziggy said nothing. When he was within a ten-foot radius of the man he loathed, he stopped. While no words were spoken on his behalf, there was no mistaking his lowered, placid expression for one other than hatred.
"Why not strike me now?" Voyager induced. "After all, I am the reason you have lived, that you have died, that you currently exist in order to destroy me. You must be angry, now that the boy's killer possesses his soul. Strike me. Am I not a helpless child, reaching out for your eternal support?"
Still Ziggy remained silent. This eerie, one-sided conversation seemed to have no affect on him. But seeming was just another word for deception.
Voyager also chose silence when he received no reply. A stare-down occurred. It did not live long.
"Your hesitation bores me," the red-eyed man said at last. "Perhaps you are not angry, after all. Perhaps you still harbour in your ancient, pathetic mind that there remains some goodwill between us. Let me ask you, Sauer – can you strike me now?"
The true beginning of the confrontation began in that moment, when a flash of light bound the dome in glorious, but heinous illumination. There was the roar of both of electric and fiery expulsion. After a fleeting second, the brilliance vanished. Ziggy's form land roughly against the metal plated floor in a cascade of sparks, many yards away from the unmoving Voyager. When all was quiet again, the cyborg did not move. It was clear why – the cybernetic components of his body crackled with live bolts of electricity. The damage was incredibly severe.
"Ziggy!" cried MOMO, twisting free of Shion's shocked grip. She started to rush towards her fallen guardian, but stopped short when her fingertips brushed something invisible; solid. She ran her hands over its astonishingly smooth surface, gasping at the liquid affect it had on the image in front of her. It was a barrier.
Voyager turned his cold, bleak eyes on her. "Ziggy," he repeated tonelessly. "What an adorable nickname. The machine, the weapon called…Ziggy." Slowly, he took a step forward. And then another. As he proceeded to walk, a brief transformation took place. As if stepping through an unseen gate, a silvery glow swept over his body and replaced the image of the blank-faced man with an exact copy of MOMO. He continued to approach Ziggy in his guise, without breaking stride.
"Jan Sauer," said the replica, using MOMO's voice. Voyager twisted her features into a cruel smirk as she leaned over the recovering cyborg; hands placed on her knees in the fashion of an innocent child. "That's your real name, isn't it? Why won't you just die? You don't have anything left to live for anyway, Ziggy. You might end up getting me killed, too! Just like you got Nevan killed!"
"No!" MOMO protested feebly. She pounded the barrier with no effect until her fists hurt. All she could do was watch as her face and her voice said these terrible things to Ziggy.
"You can't bring yourself to hurt me!" the fake MOMO accused. "You can't do it, because he's a part of me! That's why Testament aided me then – because he saw how weak and cowardly you were – saw my daughter's blood on your hands! How could you, Ziggy? Why?"
Then, as if her outburst had been nothing more than a demonstration, the replica's face went completely blank. "It wasn't me. It was you. I didn't touch her at all. I am not…violence…you killed her, not me…" Slowly, a smile crept onto the replica's face. "See? It's easy! Come on, Ziggy, smile! He's watching you right now, you know. Smile for your bastard son-"
The words died softly from her lips, which parted in a silent gape of surprise. The simulated persona of MOMO stood frozen with no less than a deathly expression. Ever so slowly, he arms sunk to her sides and she lifted her golden eyes – eyes that stayed yellow in colour for a moment more, before fading into red again.
Ziggy stood hunched, staring directly into the face that so closely resembled his charge – the young Realian girl he'd come to care about throughout this allegedly endless mission. Then, with a grimace, he extracted his blade from the replica's mid-torso. She stumbled back a step and lowered her gaze to the wound that was slowly seeping blood – not MOMO's blood, but that of Voyager.
A silver flare consumed the replica, replacing the false image with the crimson-eyed figure once more. His pale, blank face was indistinguishable for but a brief time. His rose to a stooped level, until he was glaring down at the cyborg with the bizarre impression of satisfaction.
"Reasonable," he spoke calmly through lips shadowed with a different kind of red. "Now we die, Sauer."
Those crimson eyes closed as Voyager turned and stumbled towards an unseen destination. Within a few steps, he simply froze. His black cloak faded into white, the skin of his hands gaining a pearly luminosity. Like a statue heated to the point before shattering, his unrecognizable figure was consumed by a blinding light. It continued to brighten steadily while Ziggy, unable to sustain his weight with his malfunctioning body, finally gave up and collapsed.
"No," Shion gasped, having lost the colour in her face. Jr. stared on quietly, but his expression was perturbed.
MOMO began to run forward, having broken through the barrier when the light consumed Voyager's body. The floor echoed beneath her feet like hollow bells. She cast herself on her knees beside Ziggy, gripping his organic shoulder in both hands. Her eyes stung extraordinarily as she tried to shake him awake
"Ziggy…Ziggy…please, wake up," her voice pleaded. She turned her head and lay her ear on his chest, wishing for the slightest detection of sound…
A white, blazing light filled her eyes. They widened with shock – the radiance that surrounded the body of Voyager had expanded to a nearly blinding phenomena, yet her vision was still as clear as day. It was as if she were looking into sun and not feeling the pain of being blinded, instead seeing the workings on the fiery surface of a star. Then, all at once, the mass of compacted light swelled.
MOMO had to shut her eyes against the silent explosion. Whatever the light entity had been, it abruptly broke into thousands of small, glowing orbs. At the same time, a momentous roar of voices filled the dome. Some were laughing, others crying, shouting, screaming for joy, some jeering spitefully at their vanquished, former subjugator. The orbs began to swarm in every direction, spiraling into nothingness, spinning about the hollow space under the dome in sheer glee. A few darted towards Shion and Jr., others flitting about MOMO and the unmoving cyborg. They whirled in circles about their bodies, dances that, in their own peculiar way, had a morbid sense of gratitude to the movement.
With fascination and fear, MOMO watched these antics, unknowing of what power they possessed and what their motives toward her were. Desperately, she tried to shield them away from Ziggy, putting as much of herself between them and him as possible. They weren't going to take him. She wouldn't let anyone take her guardian away. It was her turn to protect him
Yet they continued to effortless float about. In a short while, a scarce few of them broke away and passed through the nearest wall of the dome. They did not return.
And after what seemed to be an endless eternity of minutes, the orbs began to disappear in vast quantities. The voices died away with them. The very walls of the dome seemed to come alive with the flashes of small, astral bodies that broke free of the metal prison and swept on to a destination0, or many destinations, that were all mysteries.
Then, suddenly, they were gone. The bridge echoed eerily with the ghost of their noise, but it was all ghosts and no light. The strange, glowing orbs with human voices had vanished. All, but one.
It hovered silently in the center of the bridge, precariously close to the floor where Voyager's remains – a pile of white ashes – were scattered by the force of the explosion. Something about it gave an air of shyness, confusion and wondrous despair. It moved closer to MOMO, and stopped. It almost seemed to tremble in the way it hesitated. Slowly, it began to rise a few feet into the air.
The orb of light paused for a second. Suddenly, a startled cry of both joy and alarm broke the silence. It shattered – the orb broke into a thousand more parts, just as the mass had done before. But these tiny tendrils of light began to gather again, taking a solid shape on the cold metal floor. They formed legs, arms, hands, a slight torso and finally, a head. They took the shape of a boy.
The child crumpled as soon as the last, glowing wisps had died out. He scrambled to his feet immediately, displaying his dusty-brown hair and simple clothing, ominously bearing the marks of blood. It was difficult to determine his age – younger than MOMO, but older than seven or eight. Then his eyes landed on Ziggy.
"Dad?" he spoke disbelievingly. The sound seemed to be twice louder than it really was. He broke into a run, stumbling on the way. "Dad!"
MOMO hastily moved out of his way, her limbs struggling to respond due to her sheer astonishment. The boy didn't even glance at her as he dropped to the floor, his hands hovering gently out before him. He took in the completely alien image that lay before him, but appeared to disregard it quickly as a minor detail. He laid his head against his father's chest, face pale and placid with anticipation.
"H-He's alive…?" he managed to stammer after a painfully long moment. His eyes were now glued on MOMO.
She could not explain the abrupt rush of joy that overcame her. As if suddenly possessed with a million glowing orbs of her own, she sat back and clasped her hands in her lap. "Ziggy's still alive?" she echoed happily. "Oh, Ziggy!"
But the boy retracted somewhat, giving her a strange look. "Who's Ziggy?" he demanded to know. "What happened to my dad? Who are you? Where are we?"
MOMO smiled kindly, unable to stop herself from giggling. "You're Nevan, aren't you? You're Ziggy's son! I'm so glad!"
Nevan hung back. "Ziggy is…my dad?" he said skeptically. He returned his gaze to his father. Suddenly, his face contorted and he burst into a flurry of words. "Dad, I'm really sorry --- I-I didn't mean to go back to the park! I wanted to go home, but when Nex ran off, I had to go get him! You told me to never lose him, right? But everyone was running and making so much noise, I lost him – I'm so sorry, I won't do it again!" He buried his head in his arms on top of Ziggy's chest; his body shook silently with distress.
Something touched his shoulder, causing him to jolt slightly. At first, the boy assumed the strange girl with the bright, golden-yellow eyes was trying for his attention. He lifted his tear-streaked face to ask her to leave him alone, but…
It was his stepfather who had placed a firm hand on his arm. Ziggy was gazing quietly at Nevan, with eyes that spoke both incredulously and painfully. The boy drew back as the cyborg sat up, and such a time of electrifying incomprehension passed in the space of a second.
With strength only capable of a son's love, Nevan threw his arms around Ziggy's neck and clung there, as if expecting to disappear all over again. Ziggy wore an expression unbelievably dissimilar to his usual, distant guise. He held his stepson and listened silently as the young boy babbled on about everything under the sun that he was sorry for.
You have yet to experience real life.
No life, not even before he had lost it once, had been like this. This unexplainable joy. An uncontrollable urge to both laugh and cry at the same time. A feeling so unfamiliar, yet friendly to fill that irreparable void. And when MOMO hugged him around his torso, sharing that joy, it only intensified. Shion's delighted laughter, Jr.'s embarrassed chuckle…
All elements of life.
Ha. Tricked you.