I Need Your Gunmen

[-]


Vexation had filled her quiet expression as Neirah quietly lingered by her lonesome staring down at the gunmen who had started it all. 'Lagann,' she thought humbly. Her gaze had narrowed in on the lifeless face staring back at her as if it were mocking how perplexed she'd become on its behalf. She had studied every gunmen that had ever been available for her village to know about and what had bothered her the most was that, like the Four Generals custom gunmen, the tiny model before her had never once been mentioned. 'What exactly are you...?'

"Fancy seeing you here~"

Neirah had turned to face where Leeron had joined her side and interrupted her curious thoughts. "Oh, hello." It hadn't been long after his casual greeting that Neirah had swung in the direction of Leyte's bitter cursing sounding down the hall. She'd assumed that the repairs on their stalled engine hadn't been going smoothly and that had likely been the reason Leeron had taken to foot to join her.

"Hello to you too," Leeron teased good-humouredly. "What's the matter? You haven't been away from those boys' sides since we started calling this mecha home-sweet-home. Does that mean you're getting braver, or are they just grating on your last nerve?" Leeron had made himself chuckle with his boldness. "Given their natures, I'm assuming the later of the two."

Neirah had smiled gently in acceptance of his observation. "It's the strangest thing. When I first met you surface humans, you frightened me. But now, I seem to take great comfort in your company."

"Well, whatever the case, it's nice to see you out and about with a smile on your face," Leeron encouraged fondly. He'd slowly shifted his gaze to where panels had been removed from the front of a reformed Tsaizuko in the hangar nearby, his expression morphing apologetically. "Listen, I'm sorry that we haven't had time to fine-tune your mecha yet." Leeron had sighed and laid his face down in the palm he'd been resting over his folded arms. "Between the repairs on Gurren and the trouble we've been having with the engines, our attention has been pretty divided."

"It's fine, really," she assured him sympathetically. "I knew it wouldn't be easy. Part of making it move so naturally meant that I needed a lot of extras."

"Yes, it seems to need more of a hands-on approach, but at least it's back in one piece." Leeron had smiled proudly at the glistening ebony surface of the triumphant machine. "Like a phoenix that rises from the ashes, Tsaizuko has been reborn. But I must say; it was no wonder Viral was capable of nearly destroying it. I had no idea its armour was so thin. It's hard to believe that this is the framework for Enki."

"All that he wanted were the details. The things that made melee combat more relatable," she admitted softly. "To be honest, that's really all it was worth."

"If that's the case, how does Tsaizuko withstand enemy cannon fire?"

"It wouldn't," Neirah admitted certainly in a soft, even tone. "I designed Tsaizuko to be fast, not durable. It wouldn't take much for it to end up in the exact same state as it was when you found it." She'd allowed a light chuckle to interrupt her thoughts. "The point is not to get hit."

Leeron had smiled gently in response, turning back to admire the fine work before him. "My, my, brave girl..."

Despite the modest furrow in her brow, Neirah's smile had remained. "To be fair though, when I came to the surface to hunt humans, I wasn't expecting Gurren Lagann. That isn't really something that I'm given to understand happens often."

Leeron had sniggered deviously. "I bet that surprised a lot of people. It had certainly thrown me for a loop." He'd admired the work before him a little longer before making his decision. "You know, I could make some upgrades to the original if you'd let me." He'd turned to face her with a confident nod. "Yes, I could strengthen its armour and give you the means to fight without your sword."

"You're sweet," Neirah crooned softly. "But this is my Tsaizuko, for better or worse. Plating it would only slow it down and that just wouldn't work for us. Not to mention, fixing guns to it would be rather pointless when its pilot doesn't know how to use them." She had turned her attention back to Lagann for a moment before taking Gurren into consideration. "Though, I have to say, despite Kuriko's take on the situation, your improvements on Gunzan's design were impeccable. That is an impressive upgrade if I've ever seen one."

"Well, to be honest, Gurren's true potential comes out when it combines with Lagann," Leeron hummed eagerly with a wink. "Consider it the secret ingredient."

Neirah had turned her gaze back to where Lagann had sat on the floor before her, silently encouraging Leeron's gaze to follow. "I've been around gunmen my entire life. I have done extensive research on a wide variety of models..." Her gaze had tapered sceptically. "But I have never seen a gunmen like Lagann before."

"Really?" Leeron nearly whined. "Then that must mean it really is special. What a shame. I was going to ask you about it eventually."

The pair had shuddered the moment when the ground beneath their feet had started to quake around their stalled mecha, sending everyone on board onto high alert. Neirah had shot her wild gaze urgently towards the exit of their gunmen hangar. "What on earth was that?!"

"Sure as hell wasn't me!" Leyte barked from the engine room.

"That's funny, it sounded like a gunmen mobilizing!" Leeron had twisted to survey their hangar and run a quick attendance on their mechas. "But everyone's still here. Then that means-!"

"That it isn't friendly." Neirah's breathing had hitched as they'd turned to face Gurren together. "There hasn't been any activity out of the beastmen for days."

"I suppose it was too much to assume they were giving us time to grieve."

"Definitely," she growled. "Now that Dai-Gunzan is under enemy control, I can only assume that these are stragglers looking to be recalled. Finding us here instead would be an awfully rude awakening."

"Enemy gunmen on deck!" Kinon blared over the intercom. "Two of them!"

"We're not going to have much time before they figure out that we're not the recall point they're looking for," Neirah murmured calmly.

The two had spun to face where Simon had seemed to materialize behind them, his wide and vacant gaze ghastly on his pale expression as he'd stared up at the mecha that hadn't moved since its pilot had fallen in battle. The sight had made Neirah incredibly uncomfortable.

"Correction!" Kinon squealed. "Four, no- eight enemy gunmen sighted! They're closing in from the cliffs!"

Neirah had turned away and looked down the hangar towards where shadows were starting to move towards them. "It looks like I was wrong. They've obviously been planning this."

"It certainly sounds like they came looking for us," Leeron agreed.

"Hey! Heads up you two!" Kidd blared upon barrelling between them.

Leeron and Neirah had scattered around the fray as their pilots had started to make their way into the hangar in response to Kinon's alarm and soon after, they'd heard Yoko's gunfire pierce the air.

"Get it together you guys!" Yoko demanded impatiently over her headset. "I won't be able to hold this many back for long!"

"We're comin', we're comin'!" Kidd growled.

Neirah had whimpered softly and looked to where Tsaizuko had remained standing in the hangar mocking her; nearly complete but not enough for her to make an effort to help.

"Don't even think about it, missy," Leeron scolded sternly. He'd turned and watched the launch of Kidknuckle and Einzer, Twinboekun and Moshogun following close behind. "Just let the boys handle this one."

Neirah had braced one foot behind her to keep her balance as the deck of their ship had started to rock. "That sounds like more than eight," she murmured grimly.

"That's because it is!" Kittan shouted bitterly. "The bastards have been tailing us for a while and now they're poppin' out of the cracks!"

"Comin' through," Zorthy added in warning to the hissing of Sawzorthn's slamming hatch. "We'll hold 'em off so move it!"

Kittan had watched the pair storm the frontlines, his fist tightening furiously. "Are you tellin' me that we've got nothin' on this thing that's still working?! Where's our firepower?! It's a goddamned battleship for crying out loud!"

"Offline," Leeron muttered bleakly. "Leyte is trying to stabilize the engine as we speak, but it's not going well." He'd sighed over the sound of more muffled curses coming from down the hall. "We can barely keep this ship moving much less firing cannons."

"Well then go help her!" Kittan commanded. "We'll take care of the ones on the deck first and then work on clearin' out the rest but if somethin' gets through-"

"Then we won't let it get through..." Simon rumbled.

"Simon..." Leeron muttered gently.

"Bro wouldn't have let a single one get past him... He would have taken them all out on his own..."

Kittan had flinched from where he'd taken a seat in his gunmen, staring bleakly forward out the open cockpit as a grisly Simon had slowly started up Lagann and staggered through the hangar towards the battle.

"It's too bad," Leeron murmured. "Gurren Lagann was so much stronger than Lagann alone..."

"His suffering breaks my heart," Neirah quietly agreed. "I wish there was something I could do. I hate feeling helpless."

The vast hangar had grown silent as the distressed boy had sauntered away and the pressure of his sentiment had caused Kittan to glance towards where Gurren had stood with a fresh coat of paint collecting dust. 'He would have, wouldn't he...?'

"Leeron! Come give me a hand!" Leyte finally shouted from next door. "I think I've got this figured out! It might at least get us moving again!"

"Great!" Leeron shouted upon his departure. "That's what I needed to hear right now!"

Neirah had watched Kittan meditate quietly on his thoughts for a moment before taking a hesitant step back. Soon, she'd been turning and chasing Leeron towards the engine room to see if she could be of assistance to someone... anyone.

"I think this is our problem here!" Leyte announced upon their arrival. "We've got a massive influx of power here that keeps overwhelming the other systems!"

"So we have to work out the metaphorical kink..." Leeron theorized.

"Yeah! Easier said than done on something of this magnitude!"

Leeron had nodded his head swiftly and knelt by Leyte's side. "Right. Then less saying and more doing!"


"Gah!"

"Kidd! Hang in there," Iraak shouted swiftly. Einzer had skidded to a stop back-to-back with Kidknuckle as the pair had been surrounded by enemies. "I can't believe we didn't notice this many of them hanging around the ship."

"Damn it! Where's Kittan!?" Kidd demanded feverishly. "We could use the extra set of hands now that-!" His breathing hitched as their communications had gone grave and moments later, Lagann had been lurching from their battleship's deck.

Iraak had lowered his gaze and then returned it more passionately towards the battlefield. "Alright, Kidd, let's show 'em what the Whirlwind Brother's are made of."

In response, he'd grit his teeth and flexed his grip on his mecha's controls. "You got it, partner."

Sawzorthn had weaved beneath the projectiles flying overhead as his back ignited with the combined firepower of Kidd and Iraak's gunmen. He'd launched back off the ground before absently clubbing one of their enemies' heads. "Crap, why so many all of a sudden?!"

"It doesn't matter how many there are," Simon muttered. "Bro wouldn't stop until every last one was destroyed."

Zorthy had flinched with the grim impact of Simon's haunting voice over their communications before his agonized bark had cut over the boy's monotonous tone. "Damn it!"

Twinboekun had launched forwards with a thundering crash in order to steady the disarrayed Sawzorthn. "It's fine! We catch!" Jorgun reassured.

Balinbow had nodded his concurrence. "We don't let you fall!"

"Thanks, boys," Zorthy accredited swiftly. "I'd better get my head in the game if I don't wanna lose it." He'd narrowed his gaze sceptically as Lagann had bounced off another enemy with lazy movements. So far as anyone had known, Simon hadn't eaten, had barely slept. At that moment, none of them had even known if he'd been conscious during their battle.

"They're going to overrun us," Makken cautioned evenly. "They have obviously planned this for a while."

"Hunh, guess this is what we get for kickin' the nest," Zorthy growled desolately. "I told ya everyone and their damn dog would be gunnin' for us. Hate ta say it, but we could really use the assassin right about now."

"Where the hell is Kittan!?" Dayakka commanded from the control tower of their mobile fortress. "Leeron! How are those cannons coming?"

"It doesn't look good," he murmured bleakly in response. "You're on your own for now."

Dayakka had turned his nervous gaze back to the battlefield that had been lighting up with enemy fire and echoing with the distress of their allies. "We can't take much more of this..." he muttered nervously. "I should go out and help them!"

Kiyoh had whirled around to face where he'd prepared to return to Dayakkaiser and aid in the defence of his ship. "Wait! Dayakka-!"

"Simon!"

Simon had flinched when his name had been called, but when he'd turned to face its origins, he'd shuddered with agonized rage.

Kinon's desperate gasp had been shrill as she'd clasped her hands to her face to muffle her words. "I-it... it can't be-"

"Gurren!? No way!" Kiyal exclaimed from the bridge of Dai-Gunzan. "Does that mean-?"

Dayakka had flinched in bewilderment as he'd watched Gurren storm across the deck clearing a path to the edge where it had anticipated to meet with the unenergetic Lagann. 'Kittan, what are you thinking...?'

Yoko's eyes had widened, her racing heart causing her hands to fumble around her rifle as she'd watched Gurren charge onto the battlefield and clear a reckless path through the beastmen forces surrounding their allies.

"Rrr, get the hell out of my way!" Kittan raged. He'd swatted another grunt off his arm before turning and glancing towards his disgruntled companion. "Simon! Combine!"

Simon hadn't moved. Lagann had remained stationary among a hailstorm of bullets while he'd slipped into his thoughts and memories. He could hear the words as they were spoken but they weren't Kittan's, they were Kamina's; calling to him as he'd dodged the boulders that were flung his way.

"Simon!"

The boy could feel the tears welling in his eyes with wrath and ruin. "Bro..." he blubbered furiously. He'd shifted his furious gaze to where Gurren had been staring back at him across the battlefield. 'You're not him!'

"Just what are you trying to pull!?" Yoko screamed into her mouthpiece. "Who told you you could pilot Gurren!?"

Kittan had flinched and rotated to face her with an impatient growl. "Don't be stupid! It's not like that at all!" he defended avidly. "Look! Dai-Gunzan is completely trashed and Gurren Lagann is the best defence we've got!"

Yoko had flinched with the sound sense that he'd been making but her heart hadn't wanted to forgive him.

"Don't go thinkin' this is any easier for me, 'cause it isn't!" he roared. "But I'll deal if it means that no one else has to die!"

Simon had flinched, recoiling to the unsympathetic impact of reality. His bro was dead and, by the sound of their struggling calls, their team was coming apart. They'd all agreed that their fight hadn't been over, but they'd all but forgotten how to fight without Kamina at their lead. Kittan was right. Gurren Lagann had been their strength, their symbol of hope. It had been a symbol that he'd needed to hold on to for just a little longer.


"Neirah, hand me that cable!"

Neirah had obeyed and passed Leeron the length of cable he'd demanded before returning to the gauges she'd been reading. "Pressure is still forty percent too high, give or take."

"Give or take what?" Rossiu chided anxiously. "There's a big difference between forty and-!"

"I'm trying to be positive," Neirah snapped dimly.

"I think now is the time to be realistic!"

"Either way, it's come down considerably," Leyte assured them coarsely. "Dayakka! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, what's happening down there?" he responded eagerly. "We could really use some defence!"

"Working on it!" she proclaimed callously. "Look, give us about five minutes down here and then fire up the main engine!"

His voice on the other side of their announcement had silenced for a long moment of consideration. "Are you sure?"

Neirah had lurched forward and slammed all her weight onto a power lever before jolting across the room to spin dials and thrust two more to the max. "Leeron!?"

"Just about there! Start spooling the generator!"

"Just do it!" Leyte commanded. She'd joined Neirah at another control panel, and between the two of them, they'd hoisted another lever to start the mechanical whirring of gears.

"How are our temperatures?" Neirah inquired briskly.

"Stabilizing," Rossiu encouraged.

Leyte had growled impatiently through her teeth. "We've eased up our back pressure, but we burnt out our systems when we pushed her this far. If we're not careful, we'll just overload it again."

Neirah had jumped towards the engine casing next to Leeron when the entire unit had begun to rock. "Leeron! Move aside!"

"I'm almost there! I just have to get these cables connected and we're all set!" Leeron groaned calmly. "It would help if I could see what I was do- OW!"

"I've got smaller hands! It will be easier for me to attach them to their casings!"

Leyte had pulled up next to Rossiu and joined him in watching the steaming gauge on the rise. "Pressures are climbing! Leeron, get it done or get out of the way! This thing's gonna start gettin' hot again!"

"Fine," Leeron announced exasperatedly. "It's all yours, Neirah!"

Neirah had grabbed the second end of the cable Leeron had passed her way before shoving herself into the engine compartment's mouth.

"Neirah, be careful. Dayakka is about to bring this baby to life," Leyte warned. "And she doesn't exactly purr like a kitten when she starts."

"We don't have time for careful," Neirah snarled. She'd winced as she wriggled and crammed her lean waist entirely into the unit.

"Hey! Are you nuts?!"

Neirah had jerked her head back, nearly entirely submerged in the components until she could see exactly what nimble hands were about to do. She'd blinked the sweat from her brow as she'd watched the pressure seek escape in surges and that was when she'd noticed something crucial. "Leyte! We're missing a cable!"

"What!?" Leyte demanded frantically. "What do you mean missing?!"

"I mean hand me another cable!"

"I don't know if we have one!"

Leeron's expression had been enlightened with realisation. "That must be why the pressure keeps feeding back! It has nowhere to go!"

Successful in locating another spare, Leyte had grunted as she'd dived onto the floor and started to feed Neirah the piece she'd demanded. "It must have broke loose during our battle! Crap! I can't believe I didn't think of that! Here!"

"It's hard to see from the front of the engine. The beastmen must have some pretty tiny lackeys to be servicing something like this. Just give me two or three more minutes and we'll have all three connected." Neirah had grabbed the other end from Leyte and shoved the first one into its receptacle, yelping with the burn of the blazing steel against her bare fingers.

"Damn it! Leeron, grab me a pair of gloves!"

"No!" Neirah denied. "It's in. We just need one more-"

Leeron had flinched as their engines had started to spool and he'd whirled to face the stabilizing pressure gauge. "Neirah! That did it! Engines spooling with less than fifteen percent feedback! Dayakka! Fire up our main engine!"

"Right!"

Leyte had jerked Neirah back out of the engine bay by her ankles just as the gears had started to twist and whir, leaving Dai-Gunzan to sputter back to life over the sound of Neirah hacking up soot.

"Statuses!" Dayakka commanded.

Gabal had turned to face him positively. "We're mobile, captain."

Tetsukan had smiled eagerly as he'd adjusted some controls at his station, fine-tuning their output. "There! At the very least, this should make them think twice about messing with us!"

"What about the cannons?" Dayakka eagerly pried. He'd turned to face Tetsukan hopefully as he'd awaited a response. "Are the weapons coming back online?!"

"Let's find out!" Artenborough howled. "All cannons, fire!"

Neirah, Leyte and Leeron had made it back to the control bridge just in time to witness their overall failure. No matter how many times Artenborough had beat the button, Dai-Gunzan hadn't responded.

"Crap! Now what!?"

Neirah had turned and watched Leyte storm off furiously, her despairing gaze dropping with shame. "I really thought that would do it," she murmured dismally.

Leeron had heaved a disappointed sigh at her side. "It looks like there's something else we're missing. Well, back to the drawing board, I guess."

"At least we're moving now," Dayakka assured them kindly. "Bring us around and do whatever you can to cover them out there! Maybe just bringing this thing back to life will scare 'em off!"

Neirah had raised her gaze to offer Dayakka an appreciative smile before her expression had grown vacant with confusion.

"Wait isn't that-" Leeron had gasped as Gurren Lagann had crashed back onto the deck and ripped another enemy mecha from Dai-Gunzan.

Neirah had stepped towards the observation window, taking Kiyoh's side to survey the sight of a resurrected Gurren Lagann smashing into their resistance. Her gaze had searched frantically to try and find any trace of King Kittan but to no avail.

"Big brother is piloting it... Gurren..."

Neirah had torn her wild gaze back into Dai-Gunzan to where Kiyoh had grown melancholy. "And Simon responded?"

"He doesn't have a choice," Dayakka murmured softly from nearby. "They're doing this to survive. That's all..."

With Gurren Lagann returning to action, the battle had been made theirs in no time. Unfortunately, its presence had resurfaced some painful memories in hearts that had ached desperately to move forward and some hearts just couldn't take the pressure.


"So that's just it then," Leeron murmured quietly. "If we get into trouble again before the repairs are complete, Kittan and Simon will pilot Gurren Lagann. At least for now, we can keep moving forward. We'll work out the kinks as we go."

Neirah had leaned quietly in the doorway as she'd observed a meagre debriefing that had determined that they would resurrect the combined mecha from the grave. She couldn't help but turn away, still feeling useless to do more than watch as they'd fought their own broken hearts for survival. A few days prior, they'd been determined to make a difference, to push forward and battle their way to victory. It would have been comforting if they could have done it without worrying about who might suffer in the process.

She'd wandered the halls to learn them, never once stumbling upon Simon. She'd figured that it had been likely that he'd hauled up in his room to avoid them, to hide his suffering. She'd supposed what had hurt the most was how close she could relate.

During her absent meandering, she'd come across the sound of bitter cursing from a room nearby located in their living quarters. She'd been tempted to leave it alone at first, to let people mourn the way they'd needed to mourn without her opinions causing them grief. That was until she'd heard the dismaying snap of a human's skeletal structure cracking against a machine's.

Kittan had winced, gritting his teeth with the pain shooting up his arm for his stupid decision as he'd ripped his fist away from his wall and spun to slam his shoulders up against the partition he'd just assaulted. He'd sealed his eyes so tightly that his brow had begun to ache, his jaw clenched to keep from articulating the agony as he slowly slid down to the floor.

"Kamina, you bastard," he hissed through ground teeth. He'd opened his welling gaze and glared indignantly into the dim room, his tone hushed and filled with resentment as he spoke. "Why did you have to go and die on me like that?" He'd raised both knees, clutching his aching arm between them on the dark floor as he'd tipped his head back against the wall. It had repeated in his weary mind, the anger. He couldn't stop feeling like he'd been betrayed, abandoned. "How the hell am I supposed to keep this sorry bunch together without you?"

The moment he'd heard his cabin door slide open, he thought he'd die of humiliation. His heart had filled with panic as his bewildered gaze had shot to where the light was shadowing the face of his visitor.

"Can I come in?"

Kittan's face had grown hot with wrath and shame. "Dumbass! You're supposed to knock before you ask if you can come in, not just barge in anyways! If yer gonna do that then why did you even bother asking!?"

Neirah had smiled tenderly and stepped into the room regardless of his invitation status, slowly closing the door behind her. "There's no fooling you," she proclaimed lightly. "You're right. I was going to come in anyway."

He'd immediately released his arm, blinking fiercely to clear his eyes in front of company. "Cheeky brat..." he groaned. "What are you doin' down here anyway? I thought you were hangin' out by yer gunmen."

She'd kept her gaze locked on his bashful expression even as he'd kept it thrown to one side. "Don't be modest," she muttered quietly. "I was hanging out by yours too."

Kittan's wounded gaze had widened even while lingering to the side on his sleeping arrangements, his battle for peace ensuing all over again. He'd finally let his gaze soften meekly, his chest starting to tremble with hesitant breaths. "You saw that, huh...?"

"That was a bold move," she assured him gently. She'd quietly knelt in front of him and reached out. "Let me see your hand."

He hadn't bothered to fight her as he'd raised his split knuckles, done caring that his aching hand was shaking as badly as it was. "Someone had to do it," he muttered bleakly. "Gurren Lagann is the strongest defence we've got against anythin' those bastards throw at us... We can't just put it on the shelf 'cause it was his." He'd winced with a pained hiss as she'd started to feel around his hand.

"I don't disagree with you," she sympathized. "But I can't fully agree either."

The pain she'd been causing him had helped his nerves to fire off irrationally. "You got a better idea-?!" He'd flinched when he'd glanced down to notice where her hands were touching his, one of them wrapped in a thin sheet of gauze. "H-hey... what happened to your hand?"

She'd raised her playful sapphire gaze to where his had filled with concern. "I hurt it doing something careless."

His breathing had caught in his chest when he'd pouted bashful defiance.

She'd slowly released his hand with a gentle sigh before sitting back on her knees in front of him. "Nothing seems to be broken, in your hand at least."

He'd cut a bitter side glance her way. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean...?"

"Can you tell me something honestly?"

His throat had worked dryly to catch the genuine sentiment in her tone. "W-what's that?"

"Can we beat them?" She hadn't bothered to look at his bewildered expression. "If you tell me we can, I'll believe you. But I just... see a handful of broken-hearted humans trying to change a world... that doesn't want to be changed."

"Dumbass!"

She hadn't flinched with his outburst when it had come as expected.

"I don't give a damn whether it wants to be changed or not! If that jerk Kamina thought he could do it than I can do it ten times better! Just who the hell do you think I am anyway!?"

Neirah had started to snigger, muffling it at first before she'd given up the effort. "I think you're a pretty easy man to figure out." He'd watched her slowly climb to her feet and turn away from him. "You know, I don't think that Kamina would lose his cool like that and take it out on a poor defenceless wall," she teased lightly. She'd slowly turned and looked over her shoulder at him. "But he would have had the audacity to breathe life back into a gunmen that everyone else had forsaken." She'd smiled back at him tenderly. "That was very brave..."

He'd clutched his arm as he'd remained on the floor, his vulnerably bashful expression staring at the vision of her departure. Once the door had been closed, he'd quietly looked down at the floor where she'd sat, her kind words filling his thoughts. "It was, huh...?"

Neirah had sighed as she'd stepped back into the bright hallway and gently shut the door behind her. If nothing else that day, she'd felt like she had at least been able to help fix something. Unfortunately, not far down the hallway, she'd wished she'd had the capabilities of fixing more the moment she'd come to face the unavoidable sight of Yoko's aggravated scowl. Both women had opposed one another, each wanting to walk in the direction of the other but unable to shake the desire to just turn around and go the other way to avoid contact.

Neirah hadn't wanted the tension to brew anymore. Kamina's words had burned in her ears and she'd wanted desperately to see them brought to life, just as Kittan had brought Gurren back from the gunmen graveyard. With his bravery as her inspiration, she'd spoken to the woman for the first time since Kamina's demise. "Hello..."

Yoko had tightened her grip on her rifle, her teeth clenched with impatient fury. "Get out of my way..."

Neirah had tried her hardest to remain calm despite her body aching to flee. "I don't mean to stand in your way so my moving should be irrelevant."

Yoko had taken her quiet comment and ripped it apart until all that had remained was the fact that she was talking back to her in challenge. "Don't play dumb with me you snake! It was you, wasn't it!?" She'd flexed her fist at her side. "You're the reason he took Gurren out today!"

Neirah had sighed sadly with her defeat. Surface humans had really shown her all kinds of personalities since her arrival and she'd come equipped to deal with none of them. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry!?" Yoko blared upon Neirah's steady steps past her. "Do you have any idea how many people that hurt!?"

With gathered resolve, Kittan had thrown his door open down the hall to the sound of Yoko's shouting. He'd watched her holler brutally towards Neirah's back until his panicked gaze had watched her raise her rifle. "Yoko! You dumbass!"

Neirah had recoiled the moment the bullet had whizzed by her, sparking in a ceiling panel above as she'd continued her slow and steady trudge. 'I'm sorry because I don't know what to say to help you heal...'

A panicked Yoko had twisted her face up into a frenzied knot before whirling around and giving Kittan's chest a violent shove. "I'm the dumbass!? What do you think you're doing!? Listening to someone like her!"

"Someone like-? What the hell are you talking about?!" he retaliated sternly.

"Why didn't you just take your gunmen!? Why Gurren!? What were you thinking?!"

Kittan had watched her rage for a long moment, ignoring the weakening pounding of her fists against his chest as she'd started to come apart. "Y-Yoko..."

"It's all her fault! She could have saved him...!" She'd slammed her brow into the centre of his chest and let her surrendered tears wet his shirt. "She knew... she knew and she didn't stop it... She let... she let him..."

Kittan had awkwardly rested his hands on the tops of both of her shoulders, not really sure what to say or do to comfort the agonized livewire. Yoko had come to direct her fury at him, but Neirah had been the path of least resistance and she'd taken the brunt of it in his defence. He'd diverted his gaze, listening to the quiet snivelling of the woman against him trying desperately to regain her composure. "Sorry," he muttered bleakly. "I thought... it was the right thing to do..."


"It's funny; everyone is looking for someone to blame," Neirah murmured softly. "They're fine when they're distracted, but as soon as it's mentioned, it's like a dark cloud washes over every one of them..."

"Can you blame them?"

Neirah had sighed and casually passed Leyte the wrench that she had been reaching for.

"I mean, they are human, after all."

"Human..." Neirah's bleak gaze had started to wander. "And people wonder how I became so attached to Tsaizuko," she muttered earnestly. "Gunmen don't lash out like that for no reason."

"Temps?"

"Normal."

Leyte had sighed and pulled herself back out of the engine compartment. "I wouldn't say no reason," she announced while wiping her sleeve over her brow. "Everyone deals with loss differently. Some people distract themselves, like me. Other people get angry with themselves or others. Some people regret..." She'd sighed and looked to where Lagann had remained sitting haphazardly in the centre of the hangar, ignorant to the sudden well of tension locking Neirah's body. "And then there's whatever Simon is doing."

"I think he's doing a little bit of everything," Neirah whispered softly.

"Poor kid... There're just some things a wrench and a screwdriver can't fix..."


In the deepest part of the battleship's hull, rapid shots had fired one after the other as fast as Yoko could pull the trigger. She had long since demolished the target set out before her but she couldn't stop. Every time the devastating crash had echoed from the barrel of her rifle, another memory had flashed through her mind. Her jaw had hurt from clenching her teeth, her head pounding from recalling too much too fast.

Her fury had peaked when she'd run her rifle out of ammunition so she'd aggressively thrown it over her shoulder and drawn her pistol until she'd fired it dry as well. She'd tossed the empty handgun to the ground with a loud snap and just stared bleakly forward, light trails of tears still bubbling from her eyes and streaking her cheeks beneath her range glasses. "It's all her fault," she whispered miserably. "Kamina..."

Her feet had felt heavier by the day as she'd silently dragged herself to the showers and stripped herself down to nothing. If she could have stepped out of her own skin, she would have. To compensate, she'd dialled the water of the spray just below scalding and let it pelt her naked shoulders until she could convince herself her tears had fallen for the discomfort.

She'd braced her hands against the shower tile and cracked her aching head between them. "You said you'd return that kiss ten times over," she whimpered meekly. "But instead, you left me with a hole in my heart ten times bigger... Kamina... you jerk..."


Kittan had returned to silently sitting against the wall beside his bed, his intense leer piercing the darkness that had filled his room. Someone had to be strong, had to make sure that everyone had continued to believe in the impossible. Kamina could bring a broken heart out of the shadows and fill it with hope in an instant and he'd felt like his only attempt to do the same had brought everyone nothing but pain. He'd wished Kamina had still been there to pull him out of the shadows like he'd been known to do. "Selfish bastard..." he muttered hoarsely under his breath. "What's the big idea startin' somethin' you weren't gonna finish?"


His breathing had hitched as his bleak gaze tapered until it had barely revealed the dancing of shadows among his room. "I can't keep this up," he whispered roughly. "What the hell am I supposed to do now...?" He didn't know how he was supposed to lead by example when the best example he could set was the one that had brought their wounded hearts grief. "Just had to be the hero... didn't you?"

Simon had lay curled up in his bed, huddled in blankets bound so tightly to him that he'd thought he'd suffocate. His tears had stopped flowing, and it could have been for a number of reasons like dehydration, or maybe the fact that he hadn't blinked since that morning.

He couldn't deny that any chance of survival they'd had at the moment was the ability to combine Lagann with Gurren, but something about someone else piloting his other half had made him sick to his stomach. It had felt wrong. It had made him so angry that he could scream, he could cry, he could stand up and fall down all at once. A part of him had wanted to be strong, wanted to step up and be everything that his bro was. Then, another part of him had wanted to curl up into the ball he was in and fall asleep... forever.

"Bro..." he muttered weakly. "What would you do...?"


Neirah had grunted, twisting her hands in a bundle of disarray beneath the panels of her Tsaizuko. While doing so, she'd pulled out a thin piece of wire that had likely been attached to something or other before the gunmen had been so brutally assaulted. She'd examined the piece momentarily before tossing the remains over her shoulder with a bitter groan. Viral's destructive wave had severed a good chunk of wires and tubes, leaving her to try and sort through the mess on her own while Leyte and Leeron had worked tirelessly to get Dai-Gunzan back in working order. "Why on earth did nobody think to colour-code these?" she growled impatiently. She'd yelped the moment something she'd done had sparked against her fingertips with a bright blue burst. "What the heck?! How is there even power to that system!? Listen here you little-"

"Yo, Nei!"

"Eep!" Neirah had shrieked and toppled right out of her seat onto the floor all tangled in the mess of wires that she had been trying desperately to bring to order. She'd tipped her head back against the floor and glanced up at her unexpected visitor with a surprised pout. "Oh, hello Kidd."

He'd snickered and knelt beside her with his hands draped between his splayed thighs. "What ch'ya up to this late? Everyone else's asleep by now."

Neirah had glanced back at him wryly. "Everyone except you."

Tilting his head appropriately to observe her, he'd smiled back at her fondly as she'd remained upside down before him. "Need a hand?"

"I could use about six right now but an additional two would suffice," she teased spiritedly. It had been nice being able to speak to someone who hadn't been ready to react negatively in an instant to the wrong words. "So, what's keeping you awake at this hour?"

He'd dropped entirely to the floor on his folded legs, starting to help her untangle herself from the heavy wiring harness. "I'm kinda a night-hawk," he admitted casually. "When you live underground all yer life without bein' able to tell whether its day or night, it's kinda hard to figure out what time you should be sleeping." He'd chuckled lowly the moment he'd untangled her entirely from the mess she'd been trapped among. "Not that it'd make much difference to me. I sleep when I gotta, which is pretty much never."

Upon crawling out of the mess on the floor, Neirah had leant over and offered him a spliced cable fragment with a sincere expression assuring him that she wasn't joking. "Would you have any use for this?"

He'd flinched uncertainly to consider her bizarre offering. "Uh... Shouldn't that be in your gunmen... somewhere?"

She'd sighed and laid it in his hand anyway. "Consider it a token of my friendship instead," she murmured in an effort to thinly veil her sarcasm. She'd begun to dust herself off, unintentionally avoiding the sight of his face igniting bashfully to her casual suggestion. "At the rate I'm going, that might be the only use I find for it."

Grateful for his assistance, Neirah had sighed and slowly sat upright, continuing to brush aside the bundle of colourless wires. "And on the topic of sleep, all this rain can't be helping," she added supportively. "Aside from a faint glow on the horizon, you still can't really tell whether it's day or night."

Keeping his bit of wire in tight in his palm, Kidd had tossed his hands behind his head with a bitter scoff to play cool despite his internal joy. "I know. It's dumb, right? It's been this way ever since-" He'd slowly turned to judge her reaction to his statement in hopes that she wouldn't be wounded by his clumsy tongue. "Er... since, y'know..."

She'd turned to face him with a small smile. "Since we lost him?"

He'd dropped his arms into his lap and heaved a defeated sigh as he'd observed her inadvertent gift. "Yeah..."

"It's okay, you don't have to tiptoe around me," she assured him kindly. "I thought I was the broken one, so it's comforting to sit with someone else who can openly admit that bad things happen sometimes."

"Well, I could be broken too," he lightly defended. "What do you say we be broken together?"

Neirah had smiled back at him tenderly. "I'd like that." Her heart had warmed as he'd sniggered softly through his broadening grin, his blushing cheeks igniting more deeply with colour despite his desperate attempt to conceal his endearment. She'd adjusted her gaze momentarily towards Lagann, her expression fading with her concern. "But I can understand why you might be nervous around everyone else. It's kind of a touchy subject."

"I thought Yoko was gonna shoot me today," he admitted bleakly. "Someone should really take her guns away until this blows over..."

"I don't know that it ever will." Kidd had slowly raised his gaze to where Neirah had begun to fidget with her wire bundle again. "Everyone heals differently. Some people mean so much to others that you never heal properly at all. She might be one of those people." She'd turned and glanced his way to show that she hadn't been hurt by his assumptions like she could sense that he'd needed the reassurance. "My mother was one of those people."

His curious prying had remained thoughtfully gentle. "What makes ya say that?"

Neirah had casually brushed Tsaizuko's wires off her lap. "When my father died, something inside my mother just broke. See, I'll always remember her laughing and smiling- even when she got really sick at the end, she was always making light of her situation. It had always stood out to me, being surrounded by such lifeless beings otherwise." She'd bowed her head solemnly in thought. "But after my father passed away, she just became... another machine on Tetsai's assembly line."

"Damn," he murmured sourly. "Sorry ta hear it."

"It's fine," she assured him kindly. "Maybe it's because of that that I can handle a tragedy like this. Maybe I'm a little afraid that I'll become like her, so I fight not to be."

"You fight not to be sad?"

"No," she kindly assured him. "In fact, I'm kind of jealous. Nothing has ever meant that much to me that my heart would just stop beating if I lost it. Maybe Yoko wouldn't be so hostile towards me if I could show her tears of my own. Show her that, my heart is suffering too." She'd scoffed lightly to herself when she'd considered their conversation. "I'm sorry, that must sound silly." She'd turned away and began to fidget with her wiring bundle, brushing her wild locks out of her face as she'd leant over her work. She still hadn't gotten used to having them down. "I suppose it's probably for the better." She'd laughed awkwardly to stir the topic. "I'd probably look ugly if I cried."

"I don't think so..."

Neirah had turned her curious gaze to where Kidd's low, bashful murmur had interrupted her thoughts and she'd watched him nervously rub one free palm over his bare upper arm.

"I bet you'd look pretty if you cried..."

Neirah's expression had softened, her cheeks warming with the sound of his fond sentiment. "You do?"

"I mean... not that I want you to start cryin' or somethin' like that, but I don't think that should stop you if you wanna." He'd looked back towards her anxiously. "Everyone cries sometimes, y'know?"

"I suppose you're right," she whispered kindly. She'd turned and faced him with a positive smile. "Maybe one day I'll cry too. That seems like a pretty human thing to do."

He'd recoiled with the sheer impact of her enthusiastic sentiment, his cheeks still rosy with his concealed affections. "Uh, yeah sure, I guess..."

"Anyways, enough about that. This place doesn't need any more sad tales." She'd relaxed and thrust her fidgeting hands into her lap. "You know, I don't think that I ever thanked you for the other day. You really helped me gather the courage to come down from Gurren."

Kidd had nearly toppled over as he'd shuddered to her sincerity. "R-Really? You really think so?"

"Of course. You're really easy to talk to... so, I guess it helps put me at ease."

He'd given his upper lip a bashful scratch over his goofy grin. "Y-Yeah...? Well... I-"

"Hey, Neirah! Can I get a hand in here?"

Neirah had sighed bleakly to Leyte's stern beckoning. "Sorry, Kidd. I forgot to tell you that I'm on call." She'd climbed to her feet before offering him a swift bow. "If you're still up when I'm done, I'll come keep you company, okay?"

"O-okay... c-cool..." he mewled in sheepish excitement. He couldn't help but fidget in his seat, his uneven breath trying to remain casual even as he'd fought to keep from yipping his delight. "I'll... I'll just wait here then!" he called after her eagerly. He'd turned and looked up into Tsaizuko's intimidating skeletal structure glowering down at him. He'd tried to ignore the perspiration beading on his brow, but it had still caused him to scoot back a bit and guard his mild offering of friendship protectively.


Wiping her brow with her bandaged hand, Neirah had groaned in exhaustion as she'd made her way back into their hangar. "I'm sorry, Kidd. That took longer than expected." She'd paused, stilling to take in the sight of the man zonked out on the floor next to her mecha. She'd smiled sadly, a tad disappointed that their conversation had been cut short.

She'd slowly approached and climbed up into her gunmen to retrieve the blanket she'd used the night before they'd claimed the mighty Dai-Gunzan for their own. She'd quietly hopped back down onto the floor and padded over to Kidd's side, gently laying the blanket over his slumbering figure. "We'll catch up some other time," she promised him softly upon her departure. "Sleep well."


All she could hear within their deathly silent headquarters was the sound of gentle raindrops pattering against the metal encasing their slumbering bodies. She'd stared into the original schematics she'd laid out for Tsaizuko, trying desperately to try and make sense of its actuality. The effort alone had made her head spin out of control until her thoughts were corrupting like every other broken heart aboard their battleship.

She'd raised her weighted gaze to where her katana had set in the dark corner of her accommodations. She'd been covered in the oils and lubricants that had made her gunmen tick but the problem was that it wasn't ticking at all and she couldn't figure out why. She'd flipped through her pages until a vague design sheet for Enki had surfaced in her collection and her heart had stopped long enough for her memory to recall the way it had influenced the events to tear a great man from their world.

What she couldn't understand was why. The question had been weighing in her mind ever since the sight of his brutality had filled her eyes and she could feel it, deep inside, the festering need to run. So that was what she did. She'd thrown her papers from her bed in a disorienting array before lunging for her door and padding down the hall as quickly as her feet could carry her. She'd made it almost to the other end of their living quarters before slowly lumbering to a stop outside of the room to the only person aboard the ship she knew could help her.

Staggered by the fact that he'd grown wise enough to lock his door, she'd quietly slipped a pin from her pocket and bent the thin metallic band until it had resembled straightness. It was how she'd managed to unhinge the tumbler so that she could sneak inside.

"Well, well," Leeron crooned impishly from where he'd had a clear view of her movements on a monitor displaying all activity aboard their mighty vessel. "That's certainly interesting."

A part of her had been relieved that he'd been sleeping when she'd slowly approached, though, what he had been doing on his floor was a little odd to consider, in her opinion. Her naivety and lack of respect for what some people might have considered 'personal space' had led her to crawl up his centre and look down into his sleeping features with an even expression. "Kittan?"

Her brow had furrowed and she'd considered that maybe she hadn't been heard for all his snoring. She'd cocked her head to one side and repeated her delicate announcement, not wanting to alert anyone else to the fact that she was scheming. "Kittan, hey, wake up."

Her gaze had narrowed on him impatiently, her shot nerves firing off in eager anticipation as she'd reached out and gently pressed her fingers to the tip of his nose. He had seemed startled to attention at first, but that could have been chalked up to the fact that his snoring had stopped and therefore jolted him awake. He'd slowly opened his eyes a peek, his brow creasing to the obvious sight of her hovering over top of him. "Huh? Neirah? Crap... not again..."

Neirah's expression had twisted curiously. "Not again?" she parroted.

Something about her looking down at him so confused and repeating his words had made him lurch to life beneath her, his wild gaze fixed as he'd staggered back in bemused alarm. "Son of a-! Neirah!? What the hell are you-?!" Kittan had stilled as she'd shoved her palm up against his face to keep him quiet. Although he should have probably been concerned that an assassin was sneaking in through his locked door and mounting him in his sleep, that had seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind.

She had draped one of her hands over his raised knee while keeping his raving muted for a moment so that his sleep-addled brain could comprehend her presence. Her gaze had remained stern as she'd finally released his face and started to speak. "I need your gunmen."

Kittan had blinked back at the woman who had made it seem like her smooth announcement had somehow been appropriate for their circumstance. He'd parted his lips to speak not once, but twice, to no avail. Finally, he'd managed to fumble out a statement that had at least acknowledged the fact that she'd addressed him. "Y-you need my what?"

Neirah's expression hadn't softened as she'd continued to pressure him with a persistently fierce gaze filled with determination. "I said, I need your gun-"

Desperately attempting to reclaim a little distance between them, Kittan had fled backwards some more while waving his arms to shake her touch from his body. "I heard ya the first time!" he demanded in outrage. "What kinda lunatic busts into someone's room while they're sleeping to say somethin' like that anyway?!"

"Apparently one as brazen as I am."

"THIS is not okay!" he educated strictly.

"I consider this like our conversation this afternoon," she assured him casually. "So I'm knocking before entering."

"You didn't knock at all!" he scolded irately. "And if it's anything like today, you were gonna end up takin' it anyways whether I said you could or not!"

Her tone had remained even enough that it had caused the nervous man before her to flinch. "I'm an assassin, not a thief."

"Neirah, for the love of-" He'd raked his hand over his exhausted features. "I just got to sleep... Could this not have waited until tomorrow?"

She'd given her head a slow shake, her solemn expression causing his to humble hesitantly. "I hope to be well on my way before the beastmen start to hunt again."

"Wait... What?" he murmured half-consciously. "What're you sayin'? You want my gunmen... so you can run away?"

"Now that you're piloting Gurren, King Kittan has been freed up for use."

"Yeah, but not for runnin' away!" he demanded frantically. "The hell's gotten into you!? Is this because of Yoko-?"

"I'm going after Enki."

Kittan had immobilized to her bold statement announced in an escalated tone, his room falling silent for a long moment.

She'd lowered her voice considerably since he had quieted. "More specifically, I need to speak with the commander."

"The command- Do you have any idea how crazy you sound right now?" he whined in frustration. "You're supposed to be on our side. You swore on your sword and all that other crap that I half-understood!"

"I need to stop him now," she announced fervently. "If I don't, he's going to keep coming back until he has destroyed everything I have left."

"Quit takin' the high road! He's not just after you! He's after all of us now so what makes you think that goin' out there and gettin' yourself killed is going to help!"

"This isn't about our war, Kittan!" she demanded more zealously. "It's something between him and I that I need to settle! Not for us, but for me!"

Kittan had sat forward squarely and regained his wits. "Okay, okay, calm down," he ordered roughly. "Yer freaking out again."

"This is something I need to do," she argued fervently. "I won't be any use to any of you if I can't get this off my chest."

Kittan had flinched impatiently. "What the hell's so important that you need to go rushin' off in the middle of the night to-"

"He killed my father."

Kittan's wild gaze had risen from the ground to where it had looked back into the hurt filling her desperate gaze as she'd begged his attention. "He did?"

Neirah's brow had creased with pain as she'd stared back at him passionately. "When I speak about my father's passing, it was because Commander Viral executed him back at Tetsai as an example... to everyone who had ever had thoughts of betraying the capital..." She'd diverted her nervous gaze away from him bashfully to the swell of her usually containable emotions. "When Kuriko said that they were to take me back to him alive, I'm sure that was why. He was going to make an example of me too."

"Neirah, hey I-"

"That wasn't the man who brought me to the surface... This one is... bent on destruction and pain. And I can't... understand..." Her fear had started to fester beneath her chest as she'd remembered the sight of her mother's smile fading forever. "He needs to be stopped before it happens again... Before I'm forced to watch another smile fade... another person die." She'd returned her desperate gaze to his to beg his cooperation. "Knowing what I know about Enki, I think I can stop him even without Tsaizuko. I can't wait for the repairs to be completed, by then I feel like the damage will already be done. Every day I can feel the dread choking me. I see lights fading... I don't want yours to be next."

Kittan's wide and reserved gaze had lingered on the sight of her hurt for a long moment as his heart had absorbed her tender sentiment. "My light...?" He'd watched her start to fuss nervously, a feminine sort of charm replacing her usually stony exterior. It had been refreshing to see that she'd still retained some of it in the hard world they'd been trying to make their way in. Suddenly, he'd snapped his expression casual, confident even, with his cocky sneer. "Yer pretty reckless for a chick, aren't you?"

She'd startled nervously. "What do you mean...?"

"I mean it like it sounds," he demanded sternly. "Kamina's right, we'll make a brawler outta you yet. Baby steps just don't work for you, huh? Well, tough, 'cause yer not takin' my gunmen on some wild suicide mission. I worked hard for that thing and the last thing I need is some crazy chick takin' it out for scrap."

"Are you saying I'd lose?"

He'd opened one eye beneath his cocked brow. "I'm sayin' that it don't matter 'cause yer not goin' anywhere."

"Kittan-!" Her wild gaze had stared back at his self-assured expression intently as he'd locked their gazes and covered her mouth with his hand. He'd adjusted his playful smirk and raised his opposing forefinger in front of it to touch his sealed lips.

"That's enough of that," he rumbled moderately. "You know how these guys are. They hear you goin' off in here like that and it's gonna take a hell of a lot to convince them that it isn't like it sounds." When she'd seemed to settle, he'd conceded exasperation with a gruff exhale. "You're a real pain in the ass," he groaned. "I guess it's too much to ask you to just sit back and be the damsel for a bit, huh? Gotta go out protectin' yer castle and stuff."

"Kittan, the angrier he gets, the more people are going to be in danger."

"We're at war," he reminded her energetically. "This's what happens..."

"But he-"

"Look..." Kittan had leaned forward in a more relaxed position and rested his forearms on his raised knees, sitting across from her in a desperate attempt to console her anxious heart. "I know all about people dyin' for no good reason. People I cared about," he assured her grimly. "That bastard made me take back a promise that I really wanted to keep so believe me when I say I know what yer goin' through. I'm sorry about your dad... I'm sorry that I couldn't keep him from spilling blood that day that we-"

He'd turned with a hearty sigh and looked up at her humbly, giving her a small smile for assurance. "But I'm not gonna let you make me sorry for not bein' able to keep my promise to make sure you're safe. It's the only one I got left. Maybe you are a better pilot, in charge of your own fate and whatnot, but I feel like just sittin' you down and talking sense into you every now n' then is just as good as takin' a bullet." He'd laughed lightly at the thought. "Even though the bullet might hurt less, in the end."

"Listen, Kamina went out the way he did because he wanted to. He wanted to be the one to make sure that we made it out of there alive. Just like I bet yer old man did." He'd lowered his gaze to where she'd been shaking ever since she'd announced her intentions. "But you don't really wanna go anywhere, do you?" He'd turned his sad smile back to her hopefully. Just like the day she'd tried to give herself up to the human hunters sent to retrieve her, he'd prayed that his clumsy words were enough to bend her ear. "Don't do it to be a hero. He's not worth it."

Neirah had bowed her head in shame, looking down into her filthy hands. "I feel so lost," she admitted softly. "I can't do anything..."

Kittan's expression had softened around his mild smile as he looked back at her, just observing the gentle beauty that she'd worked so hard to conceal behind the gritty resolve of a warrior. In his mind, she was two very different halves fighting to be whole; the Neirah from Tetsai Village, and the one ready to live on the surface as a member of their team. "Y'know... yer kinda cute all covered in grease."

She'd raised her gaze alertly, blinking back at him in astonishment. "I... I'm not sure... I know how to respond to that."

"Probably the reason I still got all my teeth." His wicked grin had twisted until he'd beamed his arrogance back at her triumphantly. "You'll figure it out eventually. Just like everythin' else," he assured her brightly. "Until then, you need to try n' relax. I can't have you bustin' in here every night for a pep talk. People are gonna talk." His sinister smirk had remained as he threw his arms up in surrender. "And I dunno if I have the heart to tell 'em otherwise. I mean, I wouldn't want them to make a liar out of a good honest guy like me."

Neirah had stared back at him vacantly. "I'm not sure what you're insinuating."

He'd flapped his hand at her dismissively. "That's probably because you're so tired. You should try to get some sleep."

Heaving an exhausted sigh, she'd slowly climbed to her feet and strode away. "If you insist."

Instant regret- "Well, okay, insist is a strong word..."

She'd paused in his doorway, a gentle smile finally cracking her nervous features. "You win. I'll stay for now. Even if this feels like hesitation, it didn't feel right either." She'd turned to face him. "Thank you," she murmured tenderly. "I'm glad we had this talk."

He'd done his best to contain his blissful swooning. "Yeah, sure, any- Wait!" he hollered back at his closed door. "Just not when I'm tryin' ta sleep, crazy lady!"

Leeron had held his hands to either side of his blushing cheeks as he'd watched Neirah smile quietly to herself while she swept back down the hallway towards her own dorm. "Ooo hoo you naughty girl~"