-6-

Vivian and Zero rode the lift down to their apartments in an uncomfortable silence. Zero was silently fuming in his head. After a while Vivian broke the silence.

'Are you still up for coming to my place tonight?' she asked. Zero's head jerked up, as if he had forgotten she was even there.

'Oh. Yes, if you don't mind,' he said.

'I think I still have some of your clothes at my apartment, so you don't have to go back to yours, if you don't want to.'

'That would be nice. Thank you.' Zero gazed vacantly at the elevator door. It opened.

'Come on then,' Vivian said. She grabbed Zero by the arm and pulled him out of the elevator. He followed for a few steps, and then stopped.

'Sorry. I have... a lot on my mind.' Zero hesitated.

'Why don't you discuss it with me, then? Better than stewing alone in your apartment.' Vivian held out her hand.

'Okay. Sure.' Zero took her hand, and she began to lead him onwards.

'So,' Vivian said, trying to make conversation. 'What do you think of those black Spartans?'

'Them? Like nothing I've ever seen before.'

'Like nothing I've seen either, though that goes without saying, I suppose.' Vivian laughed hesitantly, and then stopped when Zero remained silent. She sighed.

'They didn't seem to be very effective. They'd probably be better in larger numbers, and in close quarters,' Zero said, absentmindedly.

'Yes, I noticed that as well,' Vivian said. She stopped by her apartment door, and opened it. Her apartment was spacious for a soldier's rooms, a mark of her long service. Doors led off to a bedroom and a bathroom, and a kitchenette stood in the corner. A table for four lay between it and the door. A sofa and a television sat against the other wall.

'Their armor modifications made no sense.' Vivian led Zero into the apartment. She walked into her bedroom, and turned around. Zero was still stood by the door.

'Damn it Zero, snap out of it!' She walked over and pulled him into the bathroom. 'It's Gigolo, isn't it? That's what you're thinking about.' Zero started, guiltily. For the first time he seemed properly aware of his surroundings.

'It's just-'

'No!' Vivian grabbed his shoulders. 'Shower. Get changed. I'll put some clothes under the door.'

'Okay...'

Vivian walked back out of the bathroom.

Zero showered slowly, thinking about other things. He seemed stuck on one problem. The black Spartans were a distraction, irrelevant now. He had to sort out Gigolo. With a start Zero realized that he was obsessing over Gigolo. Zero quickly put all thoughts of the other spartan out of his head. It was things like that which had ruined his relationship with Vivian the first time, and he couldn't let it happen again. Eventually Zero finished showering and dressed.

'You took your time,' Vivian said with a smile as he walked out of the bathroom.

'I seemed to have forgotten what a good shower felt like,' Zero said, returning her smile.

Vivian laughed. 'It seems like it loosened you up a bit as well.' Zero nodded. 'Take a seat, please.'

Zero sat down, studying Vivian. She never seemed to age, like he had. She still looked as young and vibrant as the day they had first met, over 30 years ago. Zero caressed her body with his gaze, taking in her strong yet slim figure, her shoulder length brown hair, and her stern yet pretty face.

'You're staring again,' Vivian said, startling Zero.

'I don't mind,' Vivian said, a hint of a smile on her lips. 'After all, its nothing that you haven't seen before.'

Zero felt a pain in his chest. And nothing that I'll ever see again. No matter, though.

'Did you cook tonight?' he asked, trying to change the topic.

'Uh-huh. I know how much you like my food.' Vivian placed a plate filled with hot food in front of Zero, then set one for herself. She walked into the kitchen to collect the cutlery.

'I'm sorry.' Zero said when she came back. 'Very sorry.'

'What for?' Vivian asked, putting cutlery on the table.

'For not being quite here. Just now, I mean.'

'Don't worry about it. I know how hard Gigolo is being on you.' Vivian sat opposite Zero. 'Please, start.'

Zero picked up a sausage and tried a bite. It was really very good. Another quality of Vivian's that hadn't aged. He sighed. 'It doesn't excuse my behavior.'

'I just said don't worry about it,' Vivian replied, exasperated. 'Anyway, lets change the topic.'

'Um. Well, I hear Meier is looking to wrestle some more power from June,' Zero said.

'We won't let him. She defers to him on military matters, but when it comes to running this clan, everyone knows that June is a better president.'

'I don't know about that. Since she became president out situation with the Scorpions has only deteriorated.'

'It was going to happen anyway. The Scorpions don't bother with diplomacy.'

'That may be so, but-' Zero stopped mid sentence. Vivian looked at him.

'Is something wrong?' she asked.

'Who am I fooling?' Zero asked. 'I don't care about this sort of crap anymore. I want to talk about us.'

'Us?' Vivian said the word like it was an oath.

'Yes, us. What happened to us? Why? Where are we going?'

'Zero,' Vivian began. Zero tried to speak again but she shushed him. 'Zero, you manage to be so smart, yet you can never understand anyone else. I've moved on. '

'Then why did you invite me here, after all these years?'

'Because I wanted to see if you had as well. Until you do, you can never be happy.'

'That's...' Zero's voice faltered. Try as he might, he couldn't help but see the truth in what Vivian said. He couldn't rationalize his actions to himself any other way. 'I'm sorry. Again.' Zero put his cutlery down, and stood up. 'This was a mistake. Mine, as well as yours. Thank you for the meal.' He turned to leave.

'Zero...' Vivian called after him.

'Yes?' he answered, turning around in front of the door.

'You used to be the most amazing person I knew. You still are.'

'How?'

'You amaze me with how stupid you can be. Leave, I won't stop you.'

Zero stood at the door, silent.

'Go, then, if you're so eager to leave. Come back when you know how to laugh again.' Silently, Zero turned and walked away from Vivian.

-7-

Elesa awoke to a room of silence. It was how she liked it. She quietly got out of bed and tiptoed to the shower. A quick glance around the living room showed no evidence of any of Atlas's clothes scattered anywhere. He must have not come back with Midori, then.

After showering, Elesa walked over to Midori's room and poked her head round the door. Her best friend was still asleep, the covers in a knot over her body.

Elesa left the apartment she shared with Midori, quietly locking it, and then walked towards the elevator. At this time in the morning very few people were awake, and the base was near silent. Elesa savored the moment, knowing that in an hour more people would be awake and going about their business. She got in the elevator and selected the practice center.

The doors opened a short time later and Elesa walked into the foyer of the practice center. The man on the desk nodded to her; he knew not to talk to her in the mornings. She picked up a cereal bar from the dispenser and walked into the changing room.

Once kitted up in her armor, Elesa went to the target range. For half an hour she practiced sniping targets; through walls, moving, in vehicles. A few early risers came to watch her in silence. Like the man on the desk, they knew her well enough not to try and talk to her.

After some time more people started to trickle into the practice center, some of them people who knew Elesa well. As she finished her practice, a vague friend sent her a message asking her to join his combat practice. With nothing better to do, she accepted.

She ended up in a group of 16 Spartans, including herself. Two people volunteered themselves as leaders, and picked randomly to decide who was on each team. Elesa ended up on the red team. Silently she followed them into the game room.

The game room had been set up to provide a balanced map based around a jungle, meant to simulate fighting in the Eastern continent, not that anyone ever expected to go there. Two ruined stone forts stood at opposite ends of the room, holding each team's flag. The game was started, and five of the red team Spartans went to try and capture the flag, while Elesa and two others hung back to defend. Elesa found a spot perched in a tree where she could see two of the four entrances to the base.

After a few minutes, she spotted movement. A blue team spartan moved cautiously through the waist high scrub between the jungle and the base. He looked around suspiciously, as if expecting to be shot at any moment. After a few seconds, he seemed to relax slightly, and sprinted the rest of the distance to cover. Then what Elesa had been hoping to happen happened- three more Spartans moved out of the Jungle and towards the base. They jogged, obviously believing that they were safe.

Elesa held for a moment, to make sure that there weren't any more, and then fired at the spartan in cover. He was hidden by a thin stone wall at an angle to where Elesa was crouched, which provided him little cover from the bullet. He silently crumpled to the floor. Elesa then quickly alligned her sights on another spartan, but he had been warned. He dropped to the floor as the shot passed over his head. His two squad mates dived for cover in the grass. Elesa clenched her teeth, and then fired again, hitting the prone spartan.

The other two Spartans began firing back at her. One opened fire with a Battle Rifle, spraying her general direction. Elesa took a bullet straight to the chest. He shield absorbed the damage, but the forced overbalanced her and she tumbled back off the tree. Her hand shot out to grab hold of a branch, and she managed to hold on. She suddenly saw the other spartan- a female- targeting her with a sniper rifle. Abruptly she let go of the branch and fell to the floor, landing awkwardly. Ignoring the pain in her leg she rolled to her feet and aimed her sniper rifle at the female spartan. Before she could fire the other spartan managed to get in a shot. The force of the bullets sent her shot wildly off target- and by sheer chance hit the male spartan in the chest. He staggered back, and Elesa quickly finished him off with her DMR.

The final blue spartan seemed to decide she was outmatched and sprinted into the base. Elesa began to run after her, hobbled by the pain in her leg. As she ran she heard an explosion from a short distance away. Her HUD informed her that three of her squad mates had just been killed.

The inside of the base was dark and gloomy. Elesa jogged after the female spartan, knowing all too well that she probably wouldn't be able to catch up. So it was a surprise when a blue shape jumped out at her from a dark corner. A knife slashed at her face, and caught her on the side of the head. With a cry Elesa fell back, avoiding the back swing. With a curse the other spartan jumped at her, but Elesa rolled out of the way. She fired her sniper rifle blindly. The bullet missed the other spartan by a long way, but shocked her- she turned and fled again. Suddenly static crackled in Elesa's ear.

'Elesa, we need you at the west entrance- we're fighting off an attack from 4 Spartans- retreating-'

Elesa shook her head. She wasn't going to give up. She pulled herself up and followed the blue spartan. However, she hadn't seen where her enemy had gone- and she didn't know her way around the base.

After a couple of seconds, her HUD informed her that their flag had been taken. She sprinted to the central base area to see other blue Spartans running out with the red flag. Then she heard a noise behind her, and the world went dark.

As always, there was a moment of darkness- it always seemed like just a moment, regardless of how long it was in real time- and she awoke in the respawn chamber. Sighing, she stepped out and checked the clock. Only 40 seconds had passed, so she must have been one of the last on her team left alive. Elesa stepped out into the spawn room, seeing her team standing in front of her. They turned to face her, mid conversation. Elesa froze. She knew what they would say- they would be disappointed in her for failing to help; for being defeated, for many things-

'You did great out there!' one of the Spartans said. Elesa was caught of guard.

What? But I didn't-

'It takes rare talent to go 3-1 on a permadeath game,' another said approvingly.

Why are they congratulating me?

'I hope you'll be staying on our team for the next couple of games,' The first spartan said. Elesa nodded cautiously. 'Great thing! We'll meet up in 5.' The group scattered, leaving Elesa alone.

Maybe... maybe they actually did think I did well? Elesa shook her head. Then they're idiots. I could have done far better. Elesa walked to the nearby vending machine. Allowing myself to be congratulated by them will only make me weaker.

She pushed the button and a coffee fell into the slot. She pulled the straw out and sucked it thoughtfully through her visor.

'Hey there Elesa,' a voice said behind her. She jumped, then turned around angrily. Gigolo was standing in front of her, a smile on his face. 'Fancy seeing you here, hmm?'

'What do you want?' Elesa said coldly.

'Must I have a reason for coming to see you?'

'You came to see me?' Elesa kept her voice calm. Gigolo squinted at her, trying to see her face through her blanked visor.

'I was going to practice anyway, but when I saw you were here I thought I'd come by and say hello. Which team are you on?'

'Blue,' She lied.

'Oh really?' Gigolo looked away for a moment. His eyes crossed. 'Looks like they have a free slot.' His eyes refocused, but Elesa had thrown her coffee in the bin and was stalking away.

By the time Gigolo realized he had been tricked, it was too late. He stood in the Blue team, occasionally glaring at Elesa. She ignored him. A couple of the other Spartans looked at them concernedly.

The teams agreed on a 12 on 12 deathmatch game, with unlimited lives. They got onto the rotation for one of the new maps, resembling a space station, broken down the middle. Elesa's team spawned at their base, and quickly drew up a game plan. Two teams of 4 would go on the hunt, with the remaining 4 splitting off and going alone. Because of her skills at working alone, Elesa was put into the latter group.

The game began and Elesa sprinted to the side of the starting area. She clambered through the field at the edge of the hangar and began to climb up the outside of the space station. After a few minutes, she found a suitable position and pulled out her rifle. From her vantage point, Elesa could see a dozen gantries and walkways, where any enemies would be totally exposed to her attacks.

The score stayed fairly even, with neither team gaining any advantage in the opening minutes. Elesa soon spotted a pair of Blues sprinting through one of the covered walkways. She aimed, paused, and then fired. Her bullet shattered the glass, and took the lead spartan in the head. The second one leaped for cover immediately, and managed to hide behind a strut. Elesa tracked upwards and fired at the join in the center of the walkway twice. The structure lurched, and the blue fell out of his cover. Elesa's last shot took him in the chest and he fell out of the walkway to his death.

Knowing that by now she would be attracting attention, Elesa prepared to move. She packed up her rifle and was about to leave when she saw a flicker. She jumped back as Gigolo decloaked and fired his shotgun at her. The blast took her in the chest and she fell onto a slanted edge of the station. Desperately, she pulled her knife and swung. She felt a sudden resistance and saw that she had caught Gigolo in the leg. With a yell he fell after her, arms flailing wildly. Elesa tumbled over the edge, missing any handholds. Suddenly she jerked to a stop, and saw that Gigolo had caught a ledge with one hand. Her knife was all that was holding her up, buried in his leg.

He swung his shotgun down and aimed at her. She knew that he could take as much time as he liked- she was trapped. Then the strut he was holding onto lurched and snapped. Elesa seized the moment and pulled herself up onto his chest. She wrenched her knife free and stabbed him in the neck as he fired at her chest. She blanked out as her body fell towards the bottom of the arena.

Elesa awoke a subjective instant later, although in reality 20 seconds had passed. She stepped out of the spawner, and then had to dive for cover as she entered the middle of a firefight.

'Elesa! Quick, get over here.!' One of the red teams was camped behind the wreckage of a saber interceptor, exchanging fire with 5 or so blues. She sprinted to the ruined spaceplane and vaulted into cover, feeling impacts as a handful of bullets hit her back. Her shields held, though.

'You have a sniper, right? Give us some breathing space!'. The leader of the red squad gestured towards the back of the hangar. 'There's a few good spots back there for you to fire from. Go, quickly!' Elesa nodded sharply, then sprinted away from the firefight. A few stray bullets passed her, but it seemed as though no-one was firing at her; instead focusing on the squad. She leaped up a flight of stairs and slid into cover on a maintenance walkway. Her heart was beating too fast. Elesa took a moment to calm down, then pulled her sniper rifle out and quickly targeted the enemies. They seemed to be hiding behind a pelican. Scanning them, she realized that she wouldn't be able to get more than one of them before they realized where she was, and hid. Which one should I take?

Then she noticed a decal on the armor of one of the enemies. Smiling to herself, she took aim, and fired.

Gigolo's indignant scream of rage was enough to brighten her day. She allowed herself a moment of congratulation, and then tried to pick another target. Her assumption had been correct- they were hiding themselves from her. A couple of shots buzzed up and took her in the chest. She broke cover and ran back to the stairway, but a shot took her in the leg. She staggered, and then her world went black.

She awoke immediately, and set off again.

Over the next 45 minutes Elesa killed Gigolo 17 times, often multiple times without dying. She told herself she wasn't actively trying to get him, but she found herself drawn towards him without thinking. And she found it fun to kill him. In the same period, he killed her 5 times.

The game ended when the score reached 400 kills on her side, to 320 on the other side. They blinked into the lobby again, where they shook hands with their opponents. Gigolo avoided her. As Elesa made to leave, though, he caught up to her.

'What the hell was that for!' he shouted, grabbing her. She pulled his arm off her and stared at him. Her visor was still blanked out, so he was left squinting, trying to see her face.

'What do you mean?' she asked calmly.

'You purposefully hunting me down back there! You killed me far more than you killed anyone else.'

'I can't help it if you're an easy target.' Elesa turned and began walking again.

'Wait!' Gigolo grabbed her arm. She froze, and turned to face him angrily. 'Take of your helmet.'

'What?' Elesa asked. Gigolo grabbed her head and pulled the helmet off. 'Hey!' Then he kissed her.

The kiss lasted half a second before she punched him in the face. He fell back with a cry and she kicked him in the groin. She pulled her helmet out of his unresisting grip and walked away fast.

'Elesa!' Gigolo yelled. 'I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!' She ignored his cries. 'Elesa! Please don't tell anyone!'

She turned around, and this time he could see her anger plainly. 'If you didn't want anyone to know, you shouldn't have done it.' She spat at him. 'Asshole.' She walked beyond a corner and disappeared.