Authors note: Well…I'm back. For those reading you may ask where this is going, well for starter it is going somewhere…very revealing huh? Like many stories what good is it if there is no struggle? The guy and girl can't end up together…not without obstacles thrown in their way. Some couples may not like each other at first, for others it may take some time to notice the individual. Keep up the reviews and thanks to those who have already sent some, for the readers I'm always happy if you do read. Let's jump back into the Encephalon as we continue the story.

CH.2: Holding onto you

After Captain Matthews finally went to sleep the whole room was once again filled with dreaming whispers and loud snoring. The room that was next to it was occupied by the girls. One in particular with pink hair had the most trouble sleeping. "Get out of me…leave me alone…" Her eye twitched and her hand held onto her chest.

"MOMO are you ok?" Shion Uzuki was residing in the bed across from MOMO and worry filled her green eyes. The same nightmare apparently had been troubling poor MOMO'S sleep ever since that evil man Albedo had searched her for the Y data.

"I detect a high amount of stress building up in the Realian's blood system, further continuance of this may result in an overload," KOS-MOS was still lying on her back, but her scanning seemed still top of the line.

"I can feel him…inside me…" MOMO gritted her teeth and her eyes were struggling to shut out the vision of his fiery eyes and white hair. Shion immediately did not hesitate; instead she rushed to the bed and picked up the Realian.

"MOMO…you have to break free of this," Shion urged her, "Albedo is only there if you let him be, fight against him…let him be nothing more then the nightmare itself." Shion looked over at KOS-MOS, but saw no more movement from her armored android friend.

"I-I'll try to Shion-." MOMO opened her eyes to their fullest and red lettering seemed to appear in her yellow eyes. Shion backed up a little and watched as the MOMO'S body began to glow an orange red before easing down once again.

"There is no more need to worry Shion," KOS-MOS said emotionlessly, "the presence known as Albedo is gone. There was a High probability that the one known as Albedo was in the vicinity, a calculated 4.5."

"That's a little too close for my comfort," Shion said, her body received goose bumps just from the name Albedo. At the age of 22 she was flying around in space with an armored android, a Realian, a U.R.T.V., a drunken Captain, a hormonal pilot, a picked on navigator, a lovesick Assistant, a mysterious man filled with too many jobs to list, a cyborg who traded his human parts for cyborg, and a Chief…in over head. "Are you ok now MOMO?"

"I-I'm fine now Shion," MOMO replied, she looked around the room and once her eyes settled on Shion she relaxed. "Shion do you ever have nightmares you wish-?"

"Uh…sure MOMO," Shion replied uneasily, "I mean if I didn't I'd be sleeping as calmly as the men next door," Shion gave MOMO a smile (hopefully convincing, other wise she'd have to go into far more detail then she liked), which MOMO bought.

"Shion," MOMO got out of Shion's arms and sat at the edge of her bed, her yellow eyes trained on Shion, "do you think Realians can feel love?"

"Oh…I'm sure they do," Shion sat next to MOMO and gave her a friendly pat, "if you can laugh, or even feel sad, then the feeling of love shouldn't be excluded. Realians aren't that much different from us humans, I mean you have nightmares for starter-."

"I hate it when he enters me like that," MOMO balled her hands into fists and struggled to hold in her anger. "He has no right…I-I just want him to leave me alone."

"MOMO," Shion gave her friend a caring look, "the thing about nightmares is-is well, they tend to overstay their welcome. But the thing is, nightmares are memories that involve bad times, the only way to get rid of them is to replace them with happy ones."

"That sounds fun," MOMO eased herself into her covers and began to close her eyes. Shion ruffled up the Realian's pink hair before she sent herself to bed. As she sat on her own bed; however, the nightmare of that night where KOS-MOS had ended her past, that sent a shiver down her spine. The images of KOS-MOS stabbing her long time boyfriend Kevin still haunted her.

"Every hard working Vector personnel needs sleep," Shion mumbled into her pillow, "if no sleep is available…work yourself to sleep." So Shion swung her legs over her bed and with careful steps walked out the door. The Elsa was drifting in space on autopilot and the only things up this late were Captain Matthews's droids.

"Well hello Shion," leaning in the open doorway of the boy's room was a smug looking Tony. "I guess you couldn't find the sandman either-."

"Don't be ridiculous Tony," Shion shot out, "I was merely going to get a night cap," she held herself hoping her lie would fall through, the pilot of the Elsa cocked his head to the side and grinned.

"You're going to get a nightcap…right," Tony ran his hand through his dirty hair and walked forward until he was in front of her. "If you are…you don't mind if I tag along right?"

"U-Uh…sure…I mean if you're not busy," Shion averted her gaze from Tony knowing the pilot had a flirtatious smile on his dry lips. Get a grip Uzuki, she shouted, your grieving over Kevin…that means no flirting! Even though he is hot…shut up!

"Oh my poor Shion," Tony put his arm around Shion's waist and gave her a longing look, "I'm never too busy to buy a drink for my special friend." Tony began walking towards the bar…with Shion in a position not to say no.

"Good evening Shion and Tony, what may I serve you?" Tony indicated the Number 2 and Shion ordered a Number 3. As they sat at the bar both quietly sipped their beverage brew.

"Sooo…what's the real reason you're up and about?" Tony shook his drink a little and watched the mixed chemicals swim around. "I know it's not to have a night cap…seeing how you have only taken a sip of your drink."

"Boy your perceptive when you're drunk," Shion smiled and drained half of her Number 2. "I actually was having trouble sleeping…so I was hoping to get some work in-."

"Whoa…did you say work?" Tony set his drink aside and gave her a disgusted look. "Ok I can understand why you want to work…I mean your background and all, but what you have to realize is its nighttime! Look at me…I'm the pilot of the Elsa, pulling off crazy stunts everyday…but at nighttime…it's time for shut eye. You get my drift?"

"Tony…you can easily go to sleep if you wanted too, but I-." Shion felt her eyes glisten with tears, so to try and avoid any pity from Tony she turned around.

"Hey…I'm sorry if I said anything mean," Tony hesitated from touching her so he sat there giving the back of her head a consulting look. "You know I have trouble going to sleep," Tony said, "what I said i-it was only to cheer you up-."

"What nightmares keep you up?" Shion found herself intrigued by the pilot, mainly because in the heat of danger he was the only one determined to fight the odds. But now…it seemed like he had a heart, something actually was living in that body of his.

"W-Well," Tony scratched the back of his head, gave the empty bar a good once over, then returned his attention to Shion, "you know how I claim to be the best pilot in the galaxy right? Truth of the matter is…in flight school I actually was 2nd."

"Tony…oh how horrible," this won her a glare from the pilot. Keep your sarcasm in Shion, again she scolded herself mentally, best to let him have it out in the open; that way at least one of us will sleep tonight.

"Flight school was a time for me to shine, during my childhood I could beat my friends in any vehicle, even the ones with the fancy engines. This school was my chance to prove who I really was," Tony's eyes became large with excitement and Shion felt warm in his excitement. "However, my good buddy Shawn also happened to go there-."

"Wait a minute…who the heck is Shawn?" Shion was amazed when for a minute the pilot seemed lost in that one word, Shawn. Then as if the name were haunting him he got a crazed and maddened expression on his face:

"That damn bastard…he had to outdo me on the last course!" Tony slammed his fist onto the counter and his muscles tensed. "Shawn and I had an agreement, whoever won the 2nd to last race would forfeit the following race. That way both of us got what we wanted, I wanted top position on a top of the line cruiser, he wanted a job on a luxury cruiser. But he turned on me, we tied in the 2nd to last race…the one he was supposed to win…then during the final race he clipped my wing-."

"That must've been so awful-." Shion held her hand to her mouth and smiled apologetically at the pilot. "Anyway, please go on."

"I could feel myself begin to go into a spiral," Tony continued, his body began to move and in the swivel chair he began to spin. "I managed to divert power to secondary reinforcers…but that just managed to make things worse. My only shot at taking 2nd was to make a dive to the ground…then pull up to catch what wind support there was. Shawn by now was miles ahead of me, so with no further delay I executed the command into my console and boosted to the surface. My engine was on fire, my left wing torn to shreds, but I was desperate. With my hands tightly secured around the flight controls I pulled up…and it worked…I flew safely to the finish line…then I crashed."

"So Shawn got the Cruiser position…and you, the luxury cruiser right?" Tony's leg caught the leg of Shion's chair and stopped his motion.

"Shawn did get that position," Tony's voice held much drunkenness now and his body was swimming in alcohol. "But it wasn't till Captain Matthews came looking for a pilot…that I was found. I tried finding work…but the nightmares kept me unstable-."

"The betrayal of you to Shawn has been keeping you awake this many years?" Tony nodded his head, but resisted the urge to latch himself onto Shion. "Tony…do you know what ever happened to Shawn?"

"Actually I do Shion," Tony turned away from Shion then to muster up the courage to talk, "it was about a few months before we picked up KOS-MOS, you, and the dorky guy Allen. We were doing business for the Little Master when we received a priority message. Since it was sent to me I decided to take it in my room. The news was-."

"Hey Tony…it's me Shion, you can trust me," Shion made her intent clear by placing a hand on his shoulder. The pilot smiled weakly before continuing.

"About my friend Shawn, you asked what had happened to him…h-he was killed during a Gnosis attack. Something must've called the Gnosis there…and it happened to be on the luxury Cruiser…the same one he had decided to go against in the race. It seemed he turned down the job on the top of the line Cruiser…for his original dream. He even sent me a message saying the top of the line Cruiser was mine. But I felt it was pity, so I flat out refused it. If he had just taken the top of the line Cruiser…he'd be still-."

"Now it seems that you have resentment for your friend…but also guilt," Shion gave the pilot a brave smile, to which he seemed uncertain how to reply. "It seems from what I've heard is that you two were always competitive, and to me it looks like he wanted to make you mad, in a way that is just who he was. He never wanted that battle cruiser-."

"Then he should've told me! Damn Shawn, you know he always took the present I wanted, but the following week he'd return it because he got what he wanted?" Tony put his hands to his face and wept loudly into them. "I miss him so much!"

"Losing someone close to you is always the hardest thing to feel," Shion saw Kevin's bloody form again and this time she couldn't face away from Tony. Feeling there was no one else to hold she pulled Tony into an embrace. The two clung to each other and wept loudly onto the other's shoulder.

"So, whose tab will this drink and weep evening be on?" The robot behind the counter still had a business to run, and it made sure the two knew it was serious.

"Put it on my tab," Tony volunteered, he then began to speak again when he saw Shion about to protest, "listen, I owe you this much for listening to me. Though: we can call it even if you don't tell anyone about this."

"Alright Tony," Shion released herself from the hug, knowing full well that if she had clung to him any longer she would've regretted what would've happened.

"Man oh man," the robot's voice startled Shion and she faced it with a questioning glare, "I never thought Tony would tell his story. He's the only crew member besides Chaos that never spilled the beans about where he was before the Elsa."

"I-I just happened to be the only one to listen," she began to walk away, "truth be told he probably tried to talk to the crew, but being pilot makes social time difficult-."

"Or maybe he was waiting for the right person," the robot shot back. He would've smiled (if robots could) at the look he received from the human female. The look was a mix of disgust and surprise.

"Ugh I'm surrounded by morons!" Shion stormed off to the room and as she plopped onto the bed she buried her face into the pillow. I can't move on, she thought hopelessly, Kevin was my first and true love…getting over that won't be easy. Sure many guys have taken an interest in me (including Allen) but I'm not ready. I wish they could see that. Without another thought she drifted into a slumber.


Jr. woke up the following day feeling like Albedo had hit him with his powers, that pain alone caused him to wake up screaming, "ahhhhhh get the hell away from-!"

"Jr. get a hold of yourself," Chaos grabbed Jr.'s shoulders and shook his friend until his eyes returned to their blueness. "You had another nightmare."

"I-I did…I'm sorry Chaos," Jr. looked down and felt embarrassed, "it's just he's making me so angry!"

"Yeah I can understand that," Chaos looked around the cabin and gave the other occupants a grin, "I mean we all have people that get under our skin. The solution is to go into the nightmare itself and face your thorn."

"Hammer what are your shoes doing on my bed?!" Tony was glaring across the room at the sleeping navigator with burning hate. "Captain did you see that?"

"Tony stop bitching and deal with it! Hammer…get to the bridge before your ass is sent out into space!" Captain Matthews watched the startled navigator jump a few feet off his cot before doing a mad dash to the elevator.

"Hey Captain…do we have a heading?" Tony looked over at Chaos and Jr. then made eye contact with Matthews. Though he seemed strict at times, he really was trying not to say too much mushy stuff.

"Well…it so happens there's some festivity occurring on Second Miltia, so I figured we'd pay a visit. The one thing the Captain of the Elsa doesn't need is a wound up crew, so pack up what belongings you own, and get a move on!"

"Hey that's not a bad idea at all," Jr. wore a wide smile and his blue eyes shined with interest, "I mean with our constant struggle against the Gnosis, why not take a break?"

"Maybe the Chief and I can go out and-," Allen stopped in mid sentence as he found the male occupied room was grinning at him. "Oh it's not what you think its-."

"Oh Allen you don't need to make excuses," Tony walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder, "I mean we all know you have the hots for Shion, and the fact that a little fresh air will help her out. I mean, c'mon she just needs someone to talk to and-."

"Tony, did you talk to Shion?" The pilot felt his cheeks flush red and the sudden attitude of the room became full of questioning looks and curiosity. "And if you did…when?"

"Oh…it just happened she needed someone to talk to last night…and I happened to be going for a drink," Tony averted his eyes from the startled man; "we had a few drinks and talked…nothing else."

"Why didn't she come to me?" The question seemed to be directed at the whole room, but no one was willing to answer. Hanging his head he sank onto his cot, his eyes downcast and his shoulders became slumped. "I've been with her for a few years, how come-?"

"You know I think I hear MOMO calling," Jr. inched his to the door and soon as he got there he rushed out once it whooshed open. "Crap, how am I going to talk to MOMO when I'm horrible with girls?"

"Jr. how are you doing?" Jr. became antsy when he heard the voice of the one person he could not approach. "So, do you know where we are going?" He seems so tense, I wonder if he wants to be alone, MOMO thought with worry.

"W-Well I'm doing fine," Jr. put his hand on his head and shook his head, "and to answer your next question, we happen to be heading to Second Miltia on…er…vacation."

"A vacation…but we're facing a dire situation involving the Gnosis," MOMO'S yellow eyes seemed to narrow at the sweating Jr., "a vacation now may involve more planets' suffering-."

"Whoa easy with the worse case scenario," Jr. placed his hands on MOMO'S shoulders and gave her a grin, "Captain Matthews said it would ease what stress has caught a hold of our fragile bodies, I mean if a human doesn't get rid of stress-."

"The stress will eventually consume the human body and cause tremendous ripples of anger and sadness," MOMO'S facial expression remained neutral, but as she looked at Jr. she could recognize the signs of worry etching his face.

"Look MOMO," Jr. stepped back and folded his arms, as he looked down he couldn't help but smile, "if it wouldn't be too much trouble…would you like to go on a trip?"

"You want me to go on a t-trip?" I can detect an irregularity in his voice pattern; apparently what he says isn't the truth. Therefore it must be something else, but what?

"You know if it isn't in the way of anything you're doing," Jr. felt his legs buckle and his eyes still couldn't look in the Realian's eyes. He cared for her a whole lot, which made him feel silly for picking on Allen all the time.

"If there is nothing to do on the Elsa, yeah I'd love to," MOMO smiled a bit and Jr. grinned. He had intended to ask her out on a date, but in his head there was something interfering.

"Great, the Elsa will reach Second Miltia in 2 hours, make sure you bring something comfortable to w-wear," Jr. blushed, but the Realian seemed unfazed.

"I'm afraid I only have one outfit available," MOMO looked at the red haired U.R.T.V. with a look that was worrisome.

"That's no problem, go ask Shion I'm sure she has nothing to do," Jr. realized right then that Allen had intended to take Shion out, but if he was to get anywhere with MOMO, he had to get her out of her single dress lifestyle.

"Ok Jr. I'll see you when we land." As she left Jr. stood there with a look of regret and happiness. The Elsa would land in Second Miltia in 2 hours, till then he'd need to get some help with speaking to girls, on a personal level.


Authors note: Well this happens to be it for Chapter 2. Please be kind with the reviews, though I have no control on what you say. I recently beat Xenosaga Episode 3, and boy that was great. This whole series is great; I hope to bring out the characters to the best of my ability. If I was lacking in something or did something wrong to your favorite character, let me know. I know everyone who reads these are tired of them, but thank you (the readers and reviewers) for your time. Chapter 3 will be up…when I get more ideas.