***WARNING***

This one-shot fiction occurs AFTER the sixth episode of Vandread: Second Stage. To all who have NOT seen it yet, this story WILL have a very large spoiler for those who have not seen thus far.

Disclaimer: We all know who Vandread belongs to. Certainly NOT to me or else I'd be a very rich and very satisfied young man right now, having Dita cook me food while I watch the other 150 women on the Nirvana frolic in a LARGE pool on my private estate….*puts hands behind my head* okay so I'm a fanboy…heh. Vandread and Vandread: Second Stage belongs to Gonzo and all affiliated parties so pleaaaaaase…! No lawsuits.

Smile, Smile

By

Stryder/Arakan7

It had been a rough day. Then again, everyday had been rough. Ever since she took over the Register…

Barnette sighed to herself, swiveling around in the chair as she poured over the updated list of the remaining ammunition supplies on the Nirvana. The list was not long; never was long to begin with. As a Dread pilot, she never had realized just how difficult it must have been to outfit the Dreads and keep the supply at a steady rate. She put the LCD pad down and propped her head up on her hand, her eyes roamed over the now empty Register. She could place every girl at her station now with her eyes closed and even know what their particular displays would read out as they filed in the commands for the 'Topping Gate'. "Gasco-san, how did you do it…?"

Only silence answered her.

She knew that the one person she wanted to ask the most would forever be silent. No longer would that strong, confident, easygoing voice be heard ringing around the Register, reciting her favorite mantra, "smile, smile," to a down-n-out crewmember. No more seeing her laugh after beating Hibiki at yet another game of cards…and hearing his repetitive answer of "One More Time".

Barnette rubbed her eyes and sat up, pushing up on the desk to stand to her feet. She adjusted her jacket and put her hands on her hips. "Well, tomorrow's another day. I better get some sleep soon myself." She looked at the clock in a remote corner of the wall.

1:30

She ran a hand along the table's edge as she walked towards the automatic doors, feeling the smooth plastic polymers underneath her fingertips. The Register desk didn't have the same feel as her Dread's cockpit. Not quite the familiar, comforting smell of the electronics and the handle grips… The Register chair was less confining than her Dread seat, which was narrow and didn't allow a lot of movement. She found herself not swiveling around as she could, but just lifting her head to look if someone came up behind her, as if she was still in the cockpit seat…

She shook her head. No use moping, she chose to follow in Gasco-san's footsteps and take over the Register. Someone had to, right?

Dita couldn't do it for the sheer reason of her overly-bubbly and sometimes absent-minded nature.

Meia was the Dread Leader and no matter how much the blue haired girl had admired Gascogne, she'd never leave her position to take over the Register. Besides, she was needed where she was.

Jura…?

Barnette gave a dry chuckle as she exited the room and slid her key card and typed in the code for the locking mechanism to activate. As much as she loved her friend/partner, Barnette was pretty sure that Jura wouldn't go for this job either for the sheer reason in that no one would see and 'admire' her flawless beauty. Barnette hid a snicker as she got to her room. If anyone knew Jura's flaws, it was her, and anyone with a half-way decent brain to notice them as well, but she loved the blonde young woman anyway.

She got to her room and opened the door, standing in the doorway to look around it. Immediately, her eyes fell to where the flower pin that she used to have on her hair band lay on her dresser drawer by her bed. Jura had given her that pin as a present for becoming a Dread pilot as both of them passed the tests.

Taking off her jacket, she tossed it on the floor and sat down on the edge of her violet colored bed and picked up the simple pin. To her, it symbolized her as a Dread Pilot…the main reason it was not on her headband now. She put the pin back down and let herself fall onto the springy mattress.

In her mind, she replayed Gascogne's last hour through her mind, feeling familiar tears well in her eyes…

~*~

The woman had just taken some hard hits in the Re-Supply ship after saving Barnette from the Copy-Nirvana's grip. She had watched in horror, frozen in place from the shock of seeing Gascogne power up her ship's engines one final time to spear Copy Nirvana right into the Mothership that had borne it…engulfing both the huge enemy ship and herself in an incredible explosion.

Nothing in the world could describe the sheer…emptiness that she had felt at that moment. The lump in her throat felt like as if she had an entire apple lodged there. She couldn't move…couldn't even breathe except to whisper her name…

"Gasco-san…"

…then to scream it out in disbelief, in fear…

"GASCO-SAAAAN!"

~*~

Barnette opened her eyes, a thin trail of tears leaking out, despite herself. "Gasco-san…nan de…I never even got to thank you…and say…I'm so sorry…" Her voice broke at the end, causing her to cover her mouth as small sobs wracked through her body, weeping for the woman who was her 'Big Sister' in every way.

A few minutes had gone by before she dried her eyes with her hands. Funny, she had managed not to cry since Gascogne's death but today was different. She got up from the bed and began to discard her clothes in preparation to take a shower. As she stepped into the cool stream of water, her mind went over the day's events in review.

Hibiki had wandered into the Register that day, just before the Dread teams were launched to attack the enemy. It seemed that the two managed to find time for talking a lot more since the accident. At first, it was very awkward, with Barnette not having the savvy people skills of her predecessor and Hibiki, obviously remembering her own quick-fire temper, not wanting her to berate him for 'shooting off his mouth' and not doing a thing about it. Barnette had apologized to him for being so mean-spirited just after Gascogne's death. Thankfully Hibiki had seemed to understand that she had been very upset at the time and didn't let her harsh words bother him anymore. He had even admitted that it was her words that gave him the fire to plan the counterattack on the Harvestor Fleet that they had been fighting.

--"Sure, ya got me mad and all, but it was true. I just shot off my mouth to look cool but when the chips were down, I was too weak to help her when she really needed it, and that was after she helped us so many times too…" Hibiki's gaze hardened, but not from anger. His eyes shone with the new strength of his resolve that Barnette found herself staring, feeling lost in his eyes, yet at the same time, she as if she had found something precious to her as well. "I won't let it happen ever again. I promise that, as a man, and as…" His voice dropped so low that Barnette could only speculate to as if she had heard his words right. "And as…a friend…"--

Barnette was surprised, relieved, and immensely grateful for his words, going so far as to give the Tarak man a hug, crying silently as she felt Hibiki's own arms clumsily wrap themselves around her body, almost fearfully. Little did he know that she had made the very same promise to herself. The two had talked together for a long time, sharing their experiences with Gasco-san before Hibiki was called away to scramble for battle. As he left her, Barnette remembered Meia's words to her shortly after she had offered to take over the Register…

--"Forgiveness for something that you had done wrong is a 50-50 deal. Half is with the person you have wronged, the remaining half," the Dread Leader turned her gaze to the nearby window where they both could see their reflection on the glass, "with your own conscience."--

The olive-haired young woman gave a chuckle as she dried her hair with her towel, stepping out of the shower. Meia was becoming just as insightful as Okashira nowadays. It was a definite change for the better, in her opinion. Although she was also beginning to give off-handed smart aleck comments just like Hibiki – a comparison that earned her a blushing scowl the first time she brought it up.

Slipping into her sleeping robes, Barnette took a longing glance at one of two simple picture frames by her bed. One was a picture of herself and Jura, laughing together in the Bio Park in the Magnobidan Hideaway, near Mejale. The one she was looking at now was of Gascogne, her ever-present wire in her mouth, winking and giving a thumbs-up sign with a great big grin. The other hand was on a younger Barnette's shoulder, smiling almost shyly at the camera. Jura was there, her arms around Barnette, delighted at her best friend's promotion to the rank of 'Team Leader'.

Sighing, she picked the photo up and studied it. She had just been nominated under Meia's appointment to Dread Flight Leader alongside Varona. The party was thrown by Jura in the wake of the announcement. Gascogne had just turned Barnette around to face Dita, who was waving the camera in the air, calling for a picture. Needless to say, Barnette was caught off guard but Gascogne told her the fateful words that resounded in her mind…

--"Hey, Barnette. Smile, smile."--

"Smile…" Barnette found the corners of her mouth twisting upwards at the memory. She almost reverently returned the photo back to its place on her nightstand and slipped in under the covers. She gripped the pillow, her eyes still locked onto Gascogne's grinning face. "Gasco-san," she whispered, even as her eyelids grew heavy with the need for sleep, "I'll never forget you. I will keep on smiling – for you, for everyone, and for myself."

Author Time – Okay, I wrote this one a loooong time ago for the Vandread Library. I'm actually surprised it's still up. So I cleaned it up a bit and now re-submitting it for here. Enjoy.