Chapter I: Reminisce

Disclaimer: I do not own the Xenosaga series belonging to Namco Bandai Games. I take no credit for their works.

Jr. looked out of the Elsa's window. He thought back to a happier time; back when the seven of them were journeying together. Now, they were never to be together again. Jin had given his life to protect his sister and her friends. KOS-MOS sacrificed herself to keep a Gnosis from interrupting the link to the Zohar. And chaos… None of them really knew what exactly became of chaos after the events on Michtam. What Jr. did know was that chaos was no longer with him, and this to him, was a fate worse than death.

These days, Shion and he wandered aimlessly in search of a place they knew nothing about. To the rest of the world, their search seemed hopelessly in vain, but to Jr, it meant everything. chaos' last request had been for Jr. to find Lost Jerusalem. Jr. believed that if he found it, chaos would be right there waiting for him. At least, this is what his heart wanted to believe. But now, after almost an entire year of searching, Jr's faith was being cruelly tested. On nights like this, he found comfort looking out at the stars, believing that chaos could feel the beat of his heart, as he still felt his.

"I promise I will find you. I'm alone, and afraid, but I know if I follow your voice, I will find you again." Jr. told himself as tears flowed freely from his eyes. "What should I do chaos? Do I keep looking for you? Do I keep wandering aimlessly in this search that has no end? I wish you were here with me, to give me the strength I need. Nothing is the same without you. I'm empty inside. I'm right back where I started when I first met you; heartbroken, hopeless, hiding from myself. After Sakura died, I never thought I would love anyone again. You changed that. I loved… no, I love you with all of what I am. I… I can't give up. I know you're out there. I know that if our hearts are truly one, we will find each other again."

A warm feeling overtook Jr. at that moment, and he felt another presence in his room. When he looked around, no one was there. He was still by himself in the dark, but for some reason, he didn't feel alone. He looked on his bed and found a white feather lying on top of him. Jr. was puzzled for a moment as he examined the feather and then realized that it belonged to Chaos. Jr. was startled and quickly got out of bed as he frantically examined his surroundings.

The Elsa's emergency alarm went off as Jr. put on the jacket chaos had bought him on Second Miltia. He decided to halt his search, and went to the bridge with feather in hand to discover the cause of the emergency. The bridge was in an uproar. Allen and Assistant Scott were running around like imbeciles, periodically stopping to pray they didn't die. Hammer and the Captain were arguing over whose fault this was, and Tony was about to pull the steering wheel out of place. Shion came in with a bundle of paper and her typical big glasses and demanded to know what was going on.

"Shion! We're all gonna die!" Allen said to Shion as he fell to his knees in front of her crying.

"Why? What's going on?" Shion asked Captain Matthews.

"We wandered into the gravitational field of a small black hole. We're in too deep to pull out, and if we don't do something soon, we're gonna be sucked in." Matthews said to Shion.

Shion looked very worried and went to the terminal across from Hammer, trying to figure out what to do. She was frantically pressing buttons, and began to break into a cold sweat. The front of the Elsa was beginning to warp, and it seemed like this would be the end of them.

Jr. looked at the feather he'd found on his bed earlier. He thought to himself: If I die now, I'll never see chaos again. I won't be able to keep my promise to the one I love. I won't give up now. I refuse to stop looking. I've come too far to give up on you now, chaos.

Jr. held the feather strongly, and the anger within him swelled. The Elsa began spiraling out of control. Their bodies began feeling heavier as a result of the gravitational pull, causing their legs to collapse beneath them. During the last few seconds Jr's sight directed to his friends who were sputtering in a painful descent of unconsciousness. Jr. felt a hand on his shoulder and the rays of a glowing light hitting him then all went blank.