The Middle of the Night

She watched as the blue light expanded farther into the sky. She heard Kamina's screams again and again, a never-ending symphony of pain ringing through her ears. Each scream was a pierce through her heart. She knew what was happening, and she wanted so badly to look away, but her eyes were uncomfortably glued to the scene.

The torturer sliced through Kamina as if he were a mere piece of ham and Gurren was the sandwich bread. Blood spewed everywhere, and if that weren't enough, now she had to watch as her first love at last fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

She remembered crying then. She remembered looking all around her and screaming at her allies.

"Why are you people just standing around?!" she cried. "Why can't you DO something?!"

But when she tried to move herself, her legs disobeyed. They wouldn't comply. All they did was shake, until she collapsed on the ground, sobbing.

After a lifetime of moments to her, she heard his voice pierce her ears.

"Who the hell do you think I am?!"

His catchphrase.

She picked herself up off the ground slowly, rubbing her eyes and wiping off any smeared makeup. There was no doubt that that was Kamina.

She regained her vision for just a moment, long enough to watch what was going to unfold next. As before, her eyes were glued to the sight before her.

Simon and Kamina combined again, just long enough to defeat the enemy. But she also noticed that they were charging up a humongous attack, one whose power would probably exhaust the already exhausted Kami –

"KAMINA! Are you really that stupid?!"

There it was. The gigadrill.

She remembered thinking to herself (or maybe out loud. She wasn't quite so sure of her surroundings at the time), "And you were going to pay me ten times back for that kiss?"

But that didn't matter right now. She watched as the men charged up their drill attack, pouring every fiber of their own beings into it. She was in awe of their power, but at the same time terrified, almost as if she could feel it pierce through her person.

Instantly after firing it, the Spiral King's general was felled.

But so was Kamina.

…

Yoko woke with a fright, sweat drops cascading down her face into her cleavage. Her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly, but she found herself closing them because of the tears forming in the corners.

Why did she keep having this dream, this recurring nightmare? She'd tried to push it away every moment that she could, but no matter what, it would just creep back up on her.

None of the other deaths had affected her this way. She had seen far too many in her lifetime – several people from her hometown had risked and lost their lives. But Kamina's was different for some reason.

He just meant so much to her. And neither of them realized it until it was too late.

It just wasn't fair. Why couldn't it have been her? Surely the world could do without her. She was a great shooter, but that meant nothing if there was nobody to fight with.

Without Kamina, she felt empty.

She truly loved him.

…

A lonely, redheaded girl found her way into the hallway where all the individual rooms were. She already knew where she was going; there was no need to scope out the area. She knocked once, then again, on a particular door, to no avail.

"Simon, I need to talk to you," she half-whispered. After all, it was the middle of the night.

No answer.

She took a quick look around to make sure no one was awake, and then sighed as she slowly reached for the door handle. She turned the cool metal and peered inside. The younger male seemed to be sound asleep.

She thought about it for a moment. Did she really need to bother him at this hour? This was silly; she didn't need his help. She'd handle this on her own with no problems. Right. That's what she'd do. That's what she always did.

Just as she was about to forget the whole thing and close the door, he spoke.

"What do you want, Yoko?"

She gasped under her breath. So he wasn't asleep.

It took her a while to formulate a response. She wasn't expecting him to pipe up anytime soon. She stood dumbfounded for a few moments, staring at various objects in the room. He'd already started his stone Kamina collection, having scattered them all throughout the room.

"I…I can come back in the morning" she replied, half-assed. Suddenly she didn't feel like seeing the departed friend, even if he wasn't real.

The redhead heard the bed shift, but she averted her gaze out of habit.

The boy now lay on his side, not facing her, but eyes fixated on Boota the pig-mole.

"I want to help." He paused, staring at one of his statues as if it were going to move. "That's what Bro would've done."

Boota squealed beside him in an attempt to cheer him up. The boy paid no attention to the creature even though he was now looking straight at him.

Yoko sighed in defeat and at last entered the room fully and closed the door behind her. She decided that if she was going to talk to him, she'd need to be physically close to him. So she took a seat on the bed next to his sideways form.

He had quite a talent with his core drill, she noticed. The stones were almost…lifelike. Down to the very last detail on his shades, the artificial Kaminas resembled him in every way. One could even see the determination in his carved eyes.

Neither spoke for a while; instead they sat in the dark silence until she almost thought he went back to sleep.

"You miss him, too."

It wasn't a question, she knew that much. That was a statement. And it was true. She just wished it didn't show through so much.

She nodded as a stray tear fell.

She didn't understand. She was supposed to be the strong one here. She was supposed to cheer up Simon – not the other way around. This was embarrassing. She was eighteen, and Simon was only fifteen. Adults help kids. It's not supposed to be the other way around.

"I miss him a lot," she admitted. She gripped the bed sheets and closed her eyes, teeth clenched. "I can't stop thinking about him."

Simon stayed in silence. It was hard on him as well. He hadn't even come outside in about a week. He'd just stayed in here with Boota now that even Lagann didn't like him anymore.

It seemed nobody really wanted anything to do with him now.

"You saw us kiss, didn't you?"

Now that stung. He'd really tried to forget about that, and so far he was doing a very good job at it. But now, having that resurfacing…

He thought he was over Yoko. After all, he and Nia had been getting along very well already.

"Yeah," he breathed almost silently. Apparently he wasn't just yet.

Yoko nodded to herself. She knew it was Simon rustling in the bushes that night. Nosy little kid.

"Before he left… he told me he would pay me back ten times over for that kiss." Her eyes glistened in what little light was in the room, shiny with fresh tears. "And then he just left! He's such a jerk, Simon! Why can't you just get over him?!"

Simon finally lifted his head to watch as the redhead had her breakdown. As soon as she started she stopped, instead resorting to crashing into his chest and clutching onto his shirt for her dear life. Her sobs were quieted by the fabric, and soon, he didn't mind that he was being used as a tissue. His mouth hung slightly open, unsure of what to do, until it just came to him to wrap his arms around the older girl, holding her close, whispering into her hair, "It's okay."

He supposed it was a good thing that she had calmed down, in more ways than one. After all, it was the middle of the night. People were trying to sleep, and if they found the two together like this, things might have spread.

It felt weird being the one comforting somebody. For so long he'd been comforted by Bro, Kamina. Even now he was spoiled by Nia, the sweet, innocent, pretty girl whom he found in the box.

He really didn't deserve such great friends as they were.

He wanted to snap out of this depression. He just didn't know how.

Maybe that's how Yoko was feeling now.

Simon looked down at the redhead, trying to keep his gaze away from her… beautiful assets. He blushed a crimson red when he realized he couldn't avoid them, though.

But this wasn't about him. This was about her. He had people to help him get out of this, and she was one of them. He just wanted her to know that he would be there as well.

He awkwardly pried her from around his torso and lifted her head up, gazing into her eyes. The fiery red-yellow orbs didn't seem to shine quite as brightly as per usual, and that upset him for some reason.

At that moment he forgot everything that was troubling him. He forgot about Bro, and how he lost him, and how his mecha, Lagann, wouldn't obey a word he said, let alone actions he made, and how much of a jerk Kittan was for stealing his job… None of that really mattered as he stared at the beautiful redhead below him who gawked up at him with a confused look.

"Yoko," he began, the blush now disappearing from his face as he became more serious, "is there anything at all I can do to help?"

Yoko didn't know what to think. She'd just suffered from a mental and emotional breakdown in front of the one person whom she couldn't afford to see her like this. Simon was the one who needed help. She just couldn't give it to him, even though she was supposed to be good at that.

But, just this once, she wanted to be selfish, to put her own needs above somebody else's for once. She'd always put others above herself, even though it might not have been evident in her travels with the boys.

She had to do something for herself.

Without permission from her brain, her body acted on its own and forced her face up closer to his, close enough to where she could feel his breath, hear it speeding up. She could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as she blushed dark red, still unaware of her own actions.

And she wasn't fully aware until their lips made contact, and then she sighed and closed her eyes, savoring every moment they were together. He seemed to enjoy it as well, or so she guessed based on his action to pull her even closer. She felt like she was kissing Kamina all over again – except it was somehow… better. Simon's lips had a taste of loyalty, of honesty. Mostly fighting spirit. It was nice.

And then she opened her eyes and realized just what she was doing. They widened, and she pulled back almost instantly, breathless. Simon scooted back against the wall with his mouth agape.

"That was…"

She frantically sprang up from the bed and yanked the door handle so that the door would open. Before exiting, she looked at the blue-haired male and shouted, "Simon, I'm so sorry! Goodnight!"

Simon was left like that when the door was slammed shut behind the redhead, and he wasn't sure how to feel. Boota climbed back up to the bed and circled around his master some before putting himself to rest for the night.

…

"What an idiot," she thought out loud, as she witnessed Kittan sacrificing himself for the good of Team Dai-Gurren. That seemed to be a new trend: people sacrificing themselves.

"Because they want to."

His voice still rang through her ears as if she could still hear it. She remembered that was one of the lessons that he told to Gimmy and Darry.

He gave himself up because he wanted to. She understood that.

But why did he have to do it now?

She couldn't tell herself the answer as she watched him fall into the pits of the space pressure, tears in her eyes as she realized she was getting left behind again.

She was only eighteen then. Maybe seventeen. She couldn't quite remember. Her first love was all but forgotten now. But why did it have to happen again?

"You told me you wanted to come home and see my 'kids,'" she thought. Of course it was a joke that they were her kids, but that didn't change the fact that he promised to meet her afterwards.

They all thought he'd failed in his mission at first, because Space King Kittan had shriveled up because of the high pressure. She remembered everybody's panic; the plan was going to fail!

But somehow, she wasn't panicking at all. She felt like Nia for a moment. She knew that Kittan would make his way out of this. He would find a way. He was Kittan. He didn't give up without a fight, and even then he didn't.

She closed her eyes, her faith in the blonde, and before she knew it, the people around her were gasping and some were cheering. Kittan had made it! The armor from Space King had worn off, and all that was left was regular old King Kittan.

She smiled. Even to the very end, he stayed himself.

She didn't need to watch to know what was going to happen next. She already knew; she had witnessed it before. One gigadrill. And one lifetime mourning for the one she loved.

Yoko heard the explosion, and she knew it was over.

…

She sprang up from the bed, gasping for air. She hadn't had a dream that vivid since…

"Miss Yoko! Are you all right? Miss Chief of Legal Affairs Yoko!"

She sighed in relief and relaxed a bit, lying back in her bed. It was just a dream. This was reality now.

"I'm all right!" she called out, though she questioned herself. She'd been having nightmares for a while now, although none had been that accurate or realistic since the actual event.

She heard footsteps retreat from the other side of the door, signaling that her rookie assistant had left her, no longer worried. That kid needed a break sometimes, she swore.

She wiped a few drops of sweat from her forehead and tried to calm herself once more. What was triggering these memories again? It had been almost a full year since they all were out on that adventure to the moon and everything. She'd long forgotten about that, about Kittan.

All she was to him was someone to leave behind.

No light was peeking through the window shades. What time was it anyway? She glanced at her alarm clock. Two-thirty in the morning? Pulling back the shades, she realized the clock wasn't lying. It was almost pitch black outside, the only light coming from the many buildings of the city and the moon.

But she was wide awake now. She couldn't exactly just go back to sleep. She felt like going somewhere.

Yoko tossed the sheets aside, getting out of bed. She stretched her twenty-five-year-old body before stripping down to put on something that was more decent to wear outside.

She slipped into some comfortable walking shoes and opened the door to the hallway, walking past the seemingly endless number of rooms on the way to the elevator. She rode it down all one hundred stories of the gigantic Gunman that was rebuilt within six months. She was still amazed at how fast everybody was at rebuilding Kamina City. It was truly something.

The elevator at long last reached the bottom and she stepped out, breathing in the fresh nighttime air. She didn't get a chance to do this very often. She'd originally wanted to go back to that small island and teach those kids again. But there was something more prominent that needed her attention, apparently.

She didn't walk very far at all before she saw a figure in the distance. It was two-thirty in the morning – who could possibly be outside? Maybe it was somebody who was just feeling the same way she was. They'd just needed some fresh air after waking up from a nightmare.

But… this figure looked familiar. For some reason, her feet carried her towards the person, and she noticed that around him was a cape that also looked very familiar.

It can't be…

"Simon?" she asked in a whisper. Apparently she was close enough for him to hear her, though, because he turned around and instantly recognized her. His jaw dropped a little bit before he closed it and smiled at her, the same determination that she always knew in his eyes.

"You look well, Yoko," he responded. Just within the past ten months, she could tell that his voice had changed. It had gotten… stronger.

"You do too." She returned the smile. And it wasn't completely a lie. She'd expected someone like him, who had been through so much, to be a complete wreck, turn into a hermit. But he wasn't, it seemed. He had been taking care of himself. He looked as if he was keeping himself fed – a thing she always nagged him about – and overall, he just looked… well, very handsome, to say the least. It was almost as if he'd grown even more during the almost-year that had passed when they hadn't seen each other.

But then she realized that they were the only two people on the street at this time. "Simon, what are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

His smile didn't falter. "Yes, I know." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just, uh… had a bad dream."

Her mouth dropped a bit. So her joking thought was actually correct? He was actually out walking, just like her, because he'd had a bad dream, just like her?

"I could ask you the same thing, actually," he added.

"Oh." She supposed that was correct. "Well, I'm the same as you. I'm prone to nightmares, I guess." She smiled slightly, trying not to worry him. She was used to nightmares by now. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Just this one… it was just so real, she had to get out and clear her head.

They resorted to glancing around the city in the dark, neither really wishing to speak what was on their mind. A chilly gust of wind blew by then, causing both parties to shiver.

She cleared her throat, breaking the silence. "Listen. Um, would you care to come inside?" She motioned towards the giant Gunman serving as the government's house and office.

He thought for a moment, then chuckled. "I haven't been inside this place since I was arrested with Viral." And he followed her lead as she laughed quietly as well.

She showed him around the place a little bit, pointing out differences in renovations and the like. It had been quite some time since he had been in the building, let alone served in office. It had to be overwhelming for him.

"Y'know, I've missed this place," he reminisced, mainly to himself, or so she thought. But she turned around when he continued. "Not just the building itself. I mean the people. Everybody here was like family to me, until the disaster, of course."

Yoko nodded, completely understanding. In the six months she had been serving in office here, she felt as if she had gotten much closer to everybody.

"Rossiu offered me the job that Kittan had after we returned. We had to rebuild everything, but it was definitely worth it."

She stopped in front of her door at long last.

"Do you mind if we talk?" he asked hesitantly.

She almost dropped her key when she stopped fiddling with it. What did that mean?

"O-of course," she responded, equally hesitant. She finished unlocking the door and let him step inside first, and then entered herself, closing and locking the door behind her.

"It's about Nia," Simon said, turning his back to her and staring at something in the large room. He was probably distracted by the window – Yoko had the second-to-last room on the left side of the hallway, meaning she wasn't quite on the corner of the 'eye' of the Gunman, but close, so the slant of the glass was very visible from her room.

She nodded and made a sound of affirmation. She knew the subject would come up sooner or later.

"Are you all right, Simon?" She set her keychain along with her keys on the end table near the door and looked at him, waiting for him to turn around. He didn't.

"I'm fine," he replied quickly. She knew that lie all too well; she had kept telling herself the very same one for so long.

"I just want to know something," he continued, now turning around. "Did you ever fully accept her?"

Well, that was an odd question. All this time that had passed – the previous ten months added onto the seven years they'd already been apart – and that's the question he wanted to ask?

Still, she was sort of taken aback. Why did this matter to him? Nia was gone…

"Simon…"

He turned back around and walked towards the window. "You never did, did you? You thought she wasn't good enough for me." There was a pause. "I heard you talking with Dayakka that one time. You thought I could have done better, and that I wasn't taking the time to appreciate what I had in front of me."

Yoko stared at the ground, not liking his tone. She wasn't sure if he was accusing her of something or trying to engage in normal conversation.

"I heard you tell him that you loved me."

And there was the accusation.

She fixated her eyes on her shoes, kicking some loose tuffs of carpet from where the door had scuffed it. She didn't know why it had to be such a big deal now.

Without thinking, she replied, "I loved Kamina and Kittan." She closed her eyes, willing herself not to bring up past memories yet again. She'd had enough of that to last her quite a while. Every other night it was the other guy. She couldn't get a break.

"I loved Nia," he retorted.

It took him a few moments to muster up the courage to say what he was going to say next. He clenched his fists, and when he finally did say it, it was barely audible.

"But I realized I loved you too."

Yoko's head snapped to attention, staring at the man who was staring back at her. Love…? Even after all these years? Even after not seeing each other for so long? Had he truly harbored the same feelings that she did?

"I…"

"I was torn between you and Nia. After Bro died, I didn't know what to do. I knew I would be betraying him if I went to you, because you two were together. After we all separated for those seven long years, I thought I got over you and instead devoted myself to Nia." Pause. "But there were all these doubts in my mind, all these thoughts that were lingering. I still loved you, Yoko. And I know that my Bro would want me to do what makes me happy, and that's being with you."

By now Yoko had tears in her eyes once more, but when she ran over to Simon and wrapped herself around him she didn't care. They had so much to make up for, so much time that was lost between them.

"I'm so scared, Simon," she said in between her weeping. "I need you to promise me that you'll never leave me. Can you do that?"

Even though, by this point, it wouldn't mean much. She had been promised so much before. She'd been promised by Kamina that he would return and make everything up to her. She'd been promised by Kittan that he would return and meet her students, and she took that as he wanted to start a life with her. And now here she was with Simon at long last, after waiting so long to realize that she still loved him. She was only waiting for his promise that he wouldn't keep. And then she would fall apart again, fall into the weak Yoko that only she knew.

Simon pulled away and held her face in his hand. She leaned into his caress as she gazed into his ever-loving eyes.

"The war is over now, Yoko. I don't have to fight anymore – we don't have to fight anymore. I'm not going anywhere."

When she started to cry again he leaned down and closed the distance between them, kissing her with much more passion than that one night seven years ago. He was an awkward teenager then. He'd had no real conception of love or what it was. He was taken aback when she kissed him so suddenly. And then they'd never spoken of it again.

Yoko yearned for more, even though every fiber of herself was telling her not to get too caught up. She had put up a wall for a while, but it proved to be ineffective against these kinds of things. She didn't mind, though, because for the moment, it was the middle of the night and Simon's lips tasted like a plague. It was a plague of bittersweet forbiddenness, and she willed herself to resist against it.

But she didn't want to stop.

A/N: If you ignore the epilogue this makes sense.

Also, I just feel like I have to point this out: I never liked Nia. Nevernevernevernever. I was a Simon/Yoko person from the very beginning, and although I felt extremely bad for him in the end because he didn't get his happy ending, I was also a bit happy, because it's sort of left open, and this is how I interpreted it.

Now they both get their happy end :)

Some details may be excluded or wrong, but frankly I don't care. I changed their ages, because they are way too old to be that young. Simon was 15 during the start of the show, and Yoko was 17/18. This puts them at 22 and 25, respectively. Anyway, this is the first story I've written in a while, and I just finished the anime today - a whole 3-day pillage, might I add - so the only thing I was really worried about was completing this. I'm rather proud of it. Hope you all enjoyed it!

~CGA