Chapter Two

MOMO bounded up to chaos when he returned from awakening KOS-MOS. She beamed at him with a pretend-pouting face, tugging at his sleeves and pointing to Jr. relaxing on the bar's couch, "chaos, Jr. won't play Dress-Up with me. I don't have any other girls to play with me, so I just asked him to wear a ballerina tutu for my skit!"

Jr. scowled with his arms folded crossly, "I ain't going to play some dumb game like that. I have some dignity, too."

chaos stifled his laughter, "It looks like Ziggy doesn't."

He tried to stop chortling at the much more sober Ziggy sporting a salmon pink dress and brushing a doll's hair cruelly, "I owe MOMO for helping me with my repairs. I don't know if I'd still be walking around without her assistance." The cyborg nodded at MOMO to show his gratitude, but even more so to continue playing doll house.

Everyone was interrupted by Shion's unexpected gasp. They initially stopped what they were doing and looked in her direction. Her pale green eyes widened at the new information before her. Turning to the rest of the company waiting on batted breath, she paused once again, probably for even more dramatic effect, "…The Miltian Government is calling for…me." Her company seemed to fall over in immense disappointment. Jr. recovered first.

"So what? Don't they call you all the time???"

Shion gave him the cold shoulder, also disappointed that they didn't react the way she had primarily thought they would at the news, "Yeah, but after seeing Voyager and defeating Sergius, this summon could land me in hot water. No one could exactly pinpoint Priest to taking the Zohar to aide the Gnosis' activity…" She purposely left out the failure of saving Febronia's sisters; she couldn't even find the words to talk about that incident.

"I'll see you guys later, then."

KOS-MOS spoke up, "Shion, do you require an escort to Miltia? Chances of Gnosis attack is 67.421."

"Sure, thanks, KOS-MOS." The 23-year old nodded in appreciation in wait for KOS-MOS to leave before her.

MOMO wondered in a quiet voice, "chaos, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just feeling a slight headache, that's all." chaos put on a bright face to cheer and erase her concerns, and it seemed to be working. While she continued to play with Ziggy (and Jr.) again, chaos slipped out of the room unnoticed.

"This can't be true." Shion Uzuki stared at the ground in disbelief. Could Vector possibly have something to do with the Gnosis attacks? Based on all the data that had been given to her for a midterm 'project', this seemed like a plausible explanation for all the shady things Vector hid from me during the last few years… My own father… KOS-MOS!" The android responded to her frustrated orders, "We're leaving-my duties here at Miltia are over." She turned to stomp away to vent out the rest of her perplexity and anger, when she realized that her escort wasn't following, "KOS-MOS?"

The solemn android was gazing off into the mass crowds surrounding the café shop. With her attention back on Shion, she nodded without a single change of emotion, "My sensors are in need of another tune-up. They incorrectly directed my attention towards a familiar individual when no one is truly there."

"What?" Shion took a step backwards to examine her efficiency rates, "Everything is maximum or exceeding 100."

KOS-MOS ignored the counter evidence, "If we continue to lose pace, the approximate time to return to the Elsa ship will increase by three to six minutes and thirty-five seconds. Advice suggested to keep on moving to maintain schedule."

"W-wait, KOS-MOS! How could you misread your own status???"

Shion had no other choice than to keep up with the blue-haired droid.

When she returned within the same time KOS-MOS had predicted, the group once again had her full attention. Shion raised her head high, though trying to suppress tears from the after-effect of this betrayal, "Everyone, I have decided to quit Vectors Industries after the meeting with the head of staff from the Government of Miltia."

"W-why, Shion?" MOMO looked up at the distraught woman in evident worry, "I thought you loved your position."

Shion kneeled to the Realian's level to look her in the eyes, "Yes, I did, but MIltia has taken us as fools all along."

"What are you talking about?" Jr. demanded-he was always short on patience and quick to anger.

Ziggy added, too, "Does the administration have something to do with the Zohar as well?" Shion nodded.

"I heard that my father had a huge role in the Gnosis appearances…and their origin. If I continue to work with Vector Industries…you know, I could have been helping them in the further studies of Gnosis development! I've been sending in the data of those hideous monsters for as long as I could remember. I'm such a fool to not realize this until now…"

chaos shook his head; he always offered comforting words to his friends, "Don't blame yourself. Even if you figured this all out before, what could you possibly have done to delay their progress?"

Shion threw her hands at her sides in despair, "I could have destroyed all the data! The original Zohar was near my grasp during my whole stay aboard the Woglinde! If…if I knew all of this…" She fell to her knees and let the tears come, "I'm to blame for countless deaths caused by the Gnosis. They've become even more powerful…with my help!"

"Shion."

She glanced up at KOS-MOS, who was the only person not sharing her pain and sympathizing, "Emotion code: 7011 also known as shedding tears of sadness will not benefit to the situation at hand. Please proceed to detailed explanation of who the main target to approach to solve this immediately before you show more regrets." chaos stared at the cold robot in unspoken agreement. No matter how shrewd KOS-MOS acted towards others, she would usually end up being precise…about everything. Even about circumstances she never quite understood. Who ever heard of emotions organized and identified through strict codes? Maybe he should ask Shion to install some real human emotions in her. Or better yet, maybe he should teach/show her some himself.

Yes, there's a lot of incorrect facts. That's because I wrote this fan fiction before playing Xenosaga III. So...sorry. I finished the game now, so I am armed with knowledge. D