Part 11: Awake

At first, all Ashe could see was darkness. She felt something prodding her in the side but she couldn't seem to move her arms to stop it. Her entire body felt weird, like it weighed more than it should have. She felt as though she should panic, but she couldn't remember how.

She wasn't sure how long she spent staring into nothingness, exactly, but eventually the darkness that filled her vision was replaced with light. She could see vague shapes moving around in front of her. She tried to open her eyes to see what was going on, but they refused. She rolled her head around to try and get some idea of what the shapes were, which was when she realized she was lying down.

I don't remember lying down...then it occurred to her that she didn't really remember anything at all. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't concentrate enough to sort them out.

Then she noticed the voices - two of them, somewhere nearby. The first sounded female, and the second male. For some reason Ashe felt as though she recognized the second voice, though she couldn't have said why. It was just this feeling she had.

Concentrating as hard as she could, Ashe thought she could hear what they were saying. It was hard to tell, everything sounded really fuzzy, like her ears were filled with cloth.

"Are you sure she's okay?" she thought she heard the male voice say.

"She's fine," the female replied. "She was in a lot worse shape than she was letting on - she's a strong one, that girl. But don't worry, she'll be fine now that she's in my care, you'll see."

"All right, I believe you. Still, I think I'll stick around and wait until she wakes up before-"

"Argh!" The female sounded frustrated. "Fine! But don't look at me when you pass out from exhaustion, Guardian Vent!"

Vent? Why did that name sound so familiar...? Maybe if she said it out loud it would jog her memory...she mustered up all the strength she could, little though it was.

"Vent..."

She wasn't sure, but she thought she could see one of the shapes moving towards her before the world returned to black.


Ashe woke slowly, feeling very disoriented. She was lying in a bed somewhere, staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling, without any idea how she'd gotten there. She started wracking her brain, trying to figure out where she was, but all of her memories were still hazy with sleep. She remembered something about a transerver, and trying to reach the Guardian Base...yes, that was definitely where she was, the Guardian Base infirmary. She couldn't seem to remember how she'd gotten here from the transfer room, though...

As she tried to sit up for a better view of the room, Ashe let out an involuntary little yelp as an aching pain crept through her abdomen, forcing her to lie back down. She gently lifted up the blanket that covered her up to her neck to take a look at what was causing the pain and discovered that she was completely naked beneath the covers. She attempted to voice her surprise, but the only sound that came from her throat was a surprised gurgle.

"Ashe, you're awake!" Model A's voice said from somewhere off to her right, floating into her view a moment later.

"Oh, you're awake!" a female voice echoed, off to the left.

Ashe rolled her head to the side to regard the source of the voice, because that seemed to be the only movement she could make without some part of her body complaining. Her gaze fell upon the figure of a girl not much older than herself. Short brown hair fell across her face, framing emerald-green eyes similar to Ashe's own. She also had a ponytail protruding from the nape of her neck that extended down to her knees. The girl's face reminded her of Vent, for some reason.

Ashe groggily tried to speak but her mouth couldn't seem to form words properly. Everything came out all jumbled up and sounded like nothing more than a sleepy grumble. Model A continued to hover in the air above her chest as the girl smiled at Ashe's attempts to speak.

"Take your time, you've been asleep for a while. You were pretty banged up, it's a wonder you're awake already."

Ashe grunted acknowledgment, examining her injuries further. A bandage covered the lump on her head from when she'd been blown back by a grenade and smashed against a wall. The wound was shallow but had bled profusely, putting bright red streaks through her silver-white hair. A multitude of scrapes, burns, and bruises were still evident, though instead of hurting when she touched them there was just a general numbness, like the nerves around the injuries were dead. She lightly touched her side and discovered it was covered thickly in some sort of sticky gel-like substance.

The girl at the bedside noticed Ashe's curiosity. "That's nanogel. The nanomachines in the gel are helping to repair the damage you took to your cybernetic implants. It's pretty expensive stuff, top of the line medical supplies - I'm not surprised you've never seen it before. Don't worry, Muguet says it only has to stay on another hour or two before it's finished repairing that nasty wound in your side. She said the head wound wasn't really serious, it just bled a lot. You're going to want to give your hair a good wash once you're up.

"She also turned off a lot of your sensory receptors to help dull the pain, which is why you feel numb all over. It's probably affecting your ability to speak too. Don't worry, they'll turn themselves back on again as your injuries heal. I've had it done before too so I know it feels kind of weird. You'll feel fine before you know it."

Ashe nodded understanding. "How...long..." she managed to croak out.

"You've been out for eight hours. Muguet says if you rest and remain immobile for another ten or so you should be more or less back to normal, maybe with a few stiff joints or minor aches. Model A is under strict orders to keep you in bed until then." The biometal bobbed up and down in the air in agreement. Ashe grunted and gave him an I'd-like-to-see-you-try look, then turned back to the girl.

"Who...are..."

"Oh! That's right, how rude of me. I didn't introduce myself." The girl stood up and bowed slightly. "My name is Aile, third rank Guardian."

The name sounded familiar, but Ashe couldn't place it right away. "Ashe," she said, indicating herself.

"I know, Vent's told me about you. You're the one who defeated Albert on the Ouroboros, right? That was pretty impressive."

Upon mention of Vent, Ashe suddenly remembered why she recognized the girl's name. Vent had offhandedly mentioned her on several occasions, but Ashe had never really gotten a chance to ask for any details - she didn't want to get too nosy into stuff that didn't concern her. From the way Vent spoke about her Ashe always figured she was someone very important to him.

"Vent...mentioned you..."

"Oh he did, did he?" Aile said, raising an eyebrow. "He better not have told you anything too embarrassing."

Despite the scornful tone in Aile's voice, Ashe could see in her eyes that she really cared for Vent. As soon Aile she began talking about him a certain fondness appeared in her eyes, the same as when Ashe heard Vent talking about her.

She managed a weak smile. "Vent...sure knows...how to pick'em..." Ashe said. "Lucky to have...such a...caring...girlfriend."

"W-what?!" Aile squawked, wildly waving her arms in protest. "N-no, that's not it, it's not like that!" A confused look spread across Ashe's face. Aile sighed and smiled. "It's not like that at all. Ashe, he's my twin brother."

"Oh!" Ashe said sheepishly. "Sorry...my bad."

"It's okay. Most of the time we don't even act like we're related. He probably spent most of the time complaining about me being overly protective or controlling or some other nonsense." Aile rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling with an exasperated look on her face, as though she'd heard it all before.

"Yup," Ashe replied with a grin. However, thinking back on all the times that Vent had spoken of his sister, Ashe realized that he'd never really sounded serious whenever he criticized her. He always seemed more...indulgent of her. And fond.

"You know...he loves you...very much."

Aile turned and looked at the injured Hunter, their eyes meeting as she studied Ashe's face carefully, which was solemn and sincere. Finally she sighed. "I know. I love him too." Then it was her turn to look sheepish. "That's why I'm here, actually."

"Oh?" Ashe said, surprised.

Aile chuckled. "Vent was here waiting for you to wake up until a couple hours ago, you know," she said. "After Muguet treated him he refused to leave until he was sure you were all right. I finally convinced him to go after I said I'd stay here and keep watch and let him know as soon as you woke up."

Ashe vaguely remembered the voices she'd heard before she'd woken up - so she hadn't dreamed that up after all. Vent really had been there worrying over her. For some reason, that made her feel...warm and fuzzy inside. It was hard to describe.

"So...are you...going to?" she asked. "Tell him...I mean."
"Of course not! He was so tired he was practically asleep on his feet by the time I kicked him out of here. Men can be so stubborn sometimes!" Aile threw up her arms in frustration, then the two girls shared a grin.

"Silly boys..." Ashe said, "can't even...take care...of themselves."

"Which brings me back to why I'm here," Aile replied, her tone suddenly serious again as she locked gazes with the girl on the bed, her hands clenched nervously in front of her. "Ashe...thank you for protecting my brother. He's all I have left, and I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. Now that I've met you, it makes me feel a lot better to know he's got someone like you watching out for him. It...really means a lot to me."

With a significant amount of effort, Ashe managed to free her left hand from under her blankets, placing it on top of Aile's. The two girls shared a smile that said more than words ever could have.

Then Ashe's mouth broadened into a grin. "Hard to find...such cute guys...these days. Gotta save...the ones...I can."

Aile stared blankly at her for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Ashe, if you're even half as fun when you're not all busted up, I think we're going to get along just fine," she said.

"I...think so...too," Ashe replied.

After catching her breath, Aile stood up and walked to the door. "Well, I think I've kept you up long enough. You should go back to sleep, it'll help your body fix itself faster. Your clothes are off being cleaned and mended, they'll be here by the time you're able to get them back on." She pressed a button on the control panel by the door which turned off the lights and closed the window shutter. "Now get your beauty sleep, and I'll see you in the morning."

Ashe waved her free hand weakly in parting as the door slid closed behind the smiling Guardian girl. Suddenly she felt very tired - talking with Aile had taken more energy than she'd realized.

"I...like her..." Ashe mustered the energy to say, looking up at Model A.

"Me too," the biometal said, then he bobbed up and down in the air. "Now go to sleep. Don't worry, I'll protect you!"

"With what..." She was asleep before Model A could think of a decent comeback.

The next time Ashe woke it was to a grumbling stomach.

"Urngh, hungry..." she mumbled sleepily as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with both hands.

Well that's a good sign, both my arms are working again.

She quickly tested out some of her other body parts and found that most of them seemed to be working all right. The nanogel that had been covering the wound in her side was gone, leaving only a layer of new pink skin behind. She touched it gingerly a few times and found it was still pretty tender, but at least it was healing nicely. Hopefully she wouldn't end up with a scar.

Ashe also noticed that she still wasn't wearing anything under the covers. Remembering what Aile had said about her clothing she looked around the room, spotting it sitting on a chair a short distance away.

"Well, time to take myself for a test drive." She glanced at Model A, who was still sitting on the table to her right. "Turn around for a minute would you?"

"Huh? What for?"

"I'm going to get dressed, now turn around."

"Ashe, I'm a biometal, what difference does it make if I-"

"It's the principle of the thing!" she huffed. "Now turn around before I put you in a drawer."

"Oh, all right, but I still think you're being silly." Model A spun in place to look at the wall.

Ashe gave an exasperated sigh then threw her legs around over the side of the bed. The air was slightly chilly against her bare skin, but not uncomfortably so. She placed her feet on the ground, then slowly stood up, putting her entire weight on her legs. She seemed to be doing okay at first, but then her left leg wobbled and started to fall out from under her. She quickly caught herself on the bed before she fell into a pile on the floor.

"What was that?" Model A asked. "Are you okay? Do you need me to-"

"Don't you dare turn around! I'm fine, you just stare at that wall like your life depends on it - because it does!"

Ashe could hear Model A sigh as she pulled herself back up using mostly her arms, which seemed to be a lot steadier than her legs. After getting her feet back under her Ashe made a few tentative steps towards her clothing. Now that she knew her legs were a little wobbly she was able to keep herself up without much difficulty.

"Victory!" she yelled as she successfully made the ten-step journey to her pile of clothes. She reached down and picked up her black jumpsuit. "Now for the fun part."

After a lot of twisting and sitting Ashe finally managed to get herself into the garment. She gasped a few times as the purple material slipped over newly-healed wounds, and she took extreme care not to rub it against the wound in her side, but overall she didn't have too much difficulty. It did, however, make her feel very tired - her body was obviously still not fully recovered. She decided to leave her jacket and belt on the chair for the time being, taking only her bandana with her as she carefully made her way back to the infirmary bed.

"You can turn back around now," she said to Model A as she tied her hair back into her usual ponytail with the strip of red cloth. She grimaced as she felt her hands brush against crusty sections of dried blood, but there was nothing she could do about it until she could stand up long enough to take a shower.

Before Model A could voice the snippy response he was preparing the door to Ashe's little room slid open, allowing a short, plump reploid woman into the room. Bouncy brown curls framed the woman's face as she smiled at the now-dressed Ashe sitting on the bed.

"I thought you might be waking up soon," she said, sounding proud of herself for guessing correctly. "How do you feel?"

Ashe's stomach responded before she could, emitting another low growl. "Hungry," she said, slightly embarrassed.

"Of course you're hungry, you haven't eaten in almost a day! It's a wonder your stomach hasn't started eating itself by now."

"Sorry."

"Nonsense, it's not your fault. Your body wanted to sleep more than it wanted to eat, so that's what it did. I may know a lot of things about keeping young people like you healthy, but nobody knows what your body needs more than it does. Now, you just sit tight and I'll send someone in with something to eat." Before Ashe could respond the woman was out the door again.

"Thank you," she said anyway, "whoever you are."

"That was Muguet," Model A said from the table beside the bed. "She's been in a few times to check on you since Aile left."

"She didn't do anything too weird to me while I was out, I hope." Ashe turned to hide her smile as she crossed her arms, pretending to sound worried.

"No way, I made sure of it! I was here protecting you the whole time!" Model A announced proudly.

"Oh really? And what would have done if she did try something funny?" Ashe waved her arms and wiggled her fingers goofily as she teased her friend. "Hover in her face menacingly?"

"N-no! I would've...um..."

"Relax, I'm just teasing you," she laughed. "I know you would have tried your best, whatever that would be. But you don't have to worry, these are good people. You don't have to protect me from anything here." She continued smiling, but her tone became more serious. "You protected me just fine when I needed it. Thanks."

"Of course! But..." Model A replied proudly but then began to sound sad. "It was my fault that you got hurt so badly! I know when we're Megamerged it's a lot harder for you to feel the damage your body is taking. I knew you were hurt too badly to Megamerge again but I didn't stop you, so you ended up pushing too hard and hurting yourself even more!"

"I don't think so," Ashe replied sternly waggling a finger at the distraught biometal. "Stop trying to blame yourself for me being stubborn. I knew perfectly well how badly hurt I was, but I Megamerged with you again anyway. You can't blame yourself if I get carried away and decide to do something stupid."

"But..."

"No buts!" She gently flicked the biometal over with her finger. "Stop trying to take responsibility for stuff you didn't do! If I want to be an idiot and get myself hurt so badly I pass out, it's my own damn fault." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Besides, we made it out all right in the end, didn't we? Isn't that what counts?"

"I guess..." Model A conceded.

"Great! Now, let's not talk about this stuff anymore, it's too depressing." Ashe closed her eyes and laid back on her pillow to relax after her trip across the room to get dressed.

A few minutes later she smiled as she heard the door slid open again, allowing someone to enter the room. The smell of food wafted over, making her mouth water.

"Mmm, that smells..." Ashe opened her eyes and was surprised to see Prairie holding a large cafeteria tray, heaped high with all sorts of different foods. "Prairie?!"

"Hi Ashe!" The Guardian commander replied cheerily, smiling brightly as she set the tray of food down on a nearby dresser. "Glad to see you're finally awake."

"Since when did you become a waitress?"

Prairie grinned. "Well, I was in the cafeteria getting some dinner for myself when Muguet came in and said you were hungry. I haven't had a chance to eat anything since we got back, and I needed a break anyway, so I figured I'd bring both our meals up here so we could talk." She motioned over at the other side of Ashe's bed. "There's a meal tray hanging down the side there, if you want to whip it over here."

"Oh, well, uh...thanks Prairie, that's really nice of you." Ashe said as she reached over swung the small metal tray up from the side of the bed and across her lap, eyeing the plate full of food eagerly. Reading her mind, Prairie quickly pushed a plate full of food onto the meal tray.

"I didn't know what kinds of things you liked, so I brought a little bit of everything. It's not too bad, but it's not really the greatest either."

"When you're as hungry as I am, everything tastes amazing," Ashe replied as she started shoveling her mouth full of noodles and veggies, then realized she was being rude, stuffing her face like it was her last meal. "Gah, I'm sorry! I'm being..."

Prairie waved away her protests with a laugh. "Relax, I'm not such a stickler for manners, myself. Eat all you want, I can always go get more."

"Don't you have work you should be doing?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing that won't still be there in an hour. Besides, Vent said you'd be really angry that you missed out on the debriefing when we got back, so I figured I could fill you in on what's going on while you ate. Things have gotten kinda hectic around here so I don't know if I'll have time to do it later."

"Yeah, that reminds me! You've got some explaining to do about everything that happened down there in that mine. And do you know anything about what's going on in Legion yet?"

"Calm down, Ashe," Prairie replied with a chuckle as she served herself some food from the mountain she'd brought up. "Stop asking questions and eat! I'll fill you in on everything we know."

"Maverick Virus, huh?" Ashe thought aloud as Prairie finished her tale, her fork halting on it's way to her mouth. "Well if they wiped it out during the Maverick Wars, then why can't we do it the same way?" The fork finished it's trip.

"According to Zero, they didn't really defeat the virus," Prairie explained. "They cornered the source of it on the moon, so when they destroyed it's host body it didn't have anything left to infect and just sort of...died out."

"But mavericks didn't stop appearing until the Elf Wars started..."

"Zero says that after that, mavericks were created through other means. He refuses to say anything else, claiming that it's not important."

"All right," Ashe said thoughtfully, "but if they wiped out the Virus, where'd Thomas get it? I've never even heard of it until now."

"Yes, it's hard to find any intact historical records from before the Ragnarok incident, and even those we do find are usually of questionable value due to Neo Arcadia rewriting history to cover things up. However, the Legion database was created to be a repository of all of the knowledge of the entire world, so anything that is known about the times before Neo Arcadia would be contained in it.

"Our best guess is that Thomas found information about the Maverick Virus and somehow managed to successfully recreate it, modifying it so that it could affect humans with cybernetics as well as reploids." Prairie shrugged. "It's a pretty crazy guess, but at this point it's the best we've got. We'll have a better idea once we finish analyzing the data retrieved from the mine - finding anything about the virus in those files would help prove our theory."

Ashe nodded in agreement as she ate another mouthful of noodles. "So, where are we headed now?"

"Back to Innerpeace. It's taking a little bit longer than usual since we're trying to avoid any Legion patrol ships in case they've been infected. We should be back in friendly airspace in a little over two hours." Prairie frowned. "We still don't know what we're going to do when we get there, though. Hopefully we'll find something in the Legion data that will help us beat this thing. Meanwhile all we can do is spread the word about what's happening and try to contain the spread of the virus. The Innerpeace government tends to do what I tell them after Slither Inc. turned out to be rotten to the core, so that should help."

"Sounds like a plan! Can't wait until I can get up and help you guys out," Ashe beamed an encouraging smile, which Prairie returned.

"Thanks. If you've got the strength to get up and walk around already, you'll probably feel fine within the hour. I've assigned you a room one floor down, number two three seven. Feel free to head down there whenever you like - it's got a shower installed so you can wash that mess out of your hair." The Guardian Commander rose from her seat. "Now, I really should be getting back to the command deck. That data isn't going to analyze itself."

"Oooh, a hot shower sounds like a great idea right about now.," Ashe said wistfully as she fantasized about being clean - getting all the dirt, grime, and blood off of her would go a long way towards making her feel recovered. "Thanks for everything, Prairie. And not just the food."

"I should actually be the one thanking you," Prairie replied, her tone suddenly serious. "You saved my life when you pushed me away from that grenade in the mine. I'm the reason you're stuck in that bed to begin with, making sure you're provided for is the least I can do. If you need anything else while you're here, let me know. You may not be a Guardian, but I definitely consider you a friend. You'll always be welcome in the Guardian Base, Ashe." Prairie continued smiling as she headed for the door. As she was leaving, Ashe noticed that she'd barely touched her meal.

Wait...didn't she say she hadn't eaten since we got back? So she's gone over twenty-four hours without food, and it's not even bothering her...

All of a sudden, several things that Ashe had noticed in the past day added up all at once. First she dodges that pseudoroid's attack in Legion like it was nothing, then she climbs down an elevator shaft on her own. She hasn't slept or eaten in over twenty four hours and doesn't even seem to notice, and to top it all off, she knows a two hundred year old war hero personally...could it be? Is Prairie...

Ashe decided to test her newfound friendship with the Guardian Commander. "Prairie," she asked quietly, "how old are you?"

Prairie froze mid-step in the open doorway. Ashe waited patiently for a few moments while Prairie decided how to respond. Would she lie and say she was as old as she looked, a young woman of no more than twenty-three? Or would she tell Ashe the truth?

Finally Prairie spoke, her back still turned as she stood in the room's threshold. "As of the time you asked that question, I have been activated for one hundred fifty years, eight months, twelve days, six hours, three minutes, and forty-two seconds," she said quietly, then left the room, the door sliding shut behind her.

An hour and a half later Ashe found herself relaxing under a nice hot shower.

"Ah, it feels so good to finally be clean," she said to herself as she enjoyed the flow of clean water over her skin. Having fully regained her strength, a hot shower was the perfect way to refresh herself after the trials of the previous day.

It also provided her with the opportunity to think about everything that had happened so far. Foremost in her mind was when she'd pushed Prairie out of the way of a Galleon's shrapnel grenade, taking the full brunt of the blast herself to protect the Guardian leader.

Why did I save her? Ashe was confused at her own choice of action. As soon as I saw Prairie in danger, the first thing I thought was that I had to protect her. I've never done anything like that for another Hunter, and I've known some of them for years. So why did I feel such a powerful need to do that for someone I'd only met a few hours ago?

What surprised her even more was how Vent and Prairie had reacted afterwards. They had both immediately shifted their focus from simply escaping the mine to protecting the injured Ashe, despite how much of a burden she was. The grenade blast had not only inflicted heavy damage to her body, but she'd been blown back against the cavern wall and taken a nasty blow to the head, rendering her almost entirely senseless for several minutes.

The next thing Ashe could remember clearly was looking up and seeing Prairie's face staring back at her, her expression full of worry and concern, while Vent stood over them fighting off the approaching wave of mavericks as best he could. It was then that she decided that if she were going to die right then and there, she couldn't think of any two people she'd rather meet her end with. Determined to stare death in the face before it claimed her, she'd struggled to keep fighting with her plasma pistol, even though she could barely aim straight.

Luckily things turned out much differently than I had expected.

She heard the comm unit on the wall near the bathroom door start to beep, indicating someone was outside. She quickly turned the water off, threw a towel down on the floor, then walked over and activated the speaker. "Who is it?"

"It's Vent," the familiar voice said through the speaker.

"Come on in, door's open! I'll be out in a minute." She quickly grabbed another towel and dried herself off, wrapping it around her long hair when she was finished to keep it from dripping. She then slid easily into her jumpsuit and opened the bathroom door, her view obscured by her towel as she began rubbing her hair dry.

"Sorry to interrupt," Vent said as he saw her emerge from the bathroom, "I can come back later..."

"Nah, I was just getting out anyway, don't worry about it." Without looking out from under her towel she walked over to the bed and sat down, then patted the spot beside her with one hand. "Come on, sit down. I don't have any chairs yet, but you don't need to keep standing there in the doorway. So what's up?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all," Vent said as he went and sat beside her. "It's good to see you're up and around again. I was going to come pay you a visit in the infirmary but you were gone before I...uh, before I got there."

"Before you woke up, you mean," Ashe corrected him, remembering how Vent had been waiting for her to wake up until Aile forced him to go to bed. She peeked out from under her towel long enough to see the surprised look on Vent's face. "Aile told me. You never mentioned you had a twin sister."

"Um, yeah, well, it just...never really seemed like a good time, y'know?" Vent said sheepishly. "We were always being chased by mavericks or destroying Model W's or something. Not exactly a good time to have a discussion about family ties. I hope she wasn't too much trouble, she can be kind of...overprotective...at times."

"Of course not!" Ashe exclaimed, rubbing her hair vigorously. "She's got a lot more sense in her head than you do, sitting around in the infirmary waiting for me to wake up like that. Maybe if you took better care of yourself Aile wouldn't feel like she has to protect you from everything all the time." After a few moments of silence she stopped rubbing her hair long enough to look over and catch the stunned look on Vent's face.

"I was, uh, that is, I was just worried about you, and I, uh, I wanted to make sure you were all right before I, y'know, left," he managed to stammer out.

"I know. And thanks. I've never really had much in the way of family or friends that would get worried about me if I hurt myself, so...it means a lot to me. Really." She gave up on her hair and let the towel fall around her shoulders, her still-damp hair cascading down her back. Then she impulsively leaned over and gave Vent a quick peck on the cheek. "It was very sweet of you."

She could barely suppress a laugh as Vent's face turned the most amazing shade of red she'd ever seen - he was so much fun to tease.

Ashe let out a frustrated sigh as she fell backwards onto the bed. "Argh! I'm never going to get my hair dry like this."

"Why don't you do what I do?" Vent said as he recovered himself, happily changing the subject. He pointed at his own waist-length crop of brown hair.

"Oh? And what would that be?" She raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

"Just go stand up on the landing deck for a while, the wind'll blow it dry in no time."

"That's a fabulous idea," she said with a grin, then jumped up off the bed. She went over to where she'd dumped her belongings on the desk earlier and slipped on her jacket and belt, checking to make sure that Model A was secure in the pocket she'd made for him on her belt. Then she picked up her bandana with a free hand and turned back to Vent, who was staring at her with an odd look on his face.

"What? You're looking at me like I've grown another head," she said suspiciously.

"Nothing, it's just..." He shook his head and smiled. "I've never seen you with your hair down like that. It looks...nice."

She was about to ask him what that meant when the ship's emergency sirens started blaring, followed shortly afterward by a female voice coming over the ship-wide communications system.

"Attention all personnel, we are moving to condition yellow. Please report to your assigned stations. I repeat, we are moving to condition yellow, all personnel please report to your stations."

"Condition yellow? Assigned stations? What's that mean?" Ashe asked as Vent bolted for the door.

"It means we've got trouble, and right now that can only mean a Legion airship has managed to catch us." He grabbed her by the sleeve of her coat and dragged her out the door behind him as she hastily tied her hair into its trademark ponytail, despite still being a little damp. "Come on, we'll be needed in the command room."

Author's Note

I enjoy writing Ashe, but up until this point in the story I haven't had a chance to do so from her point of view. So this part is a little indulgence of mine. Not to say that what happens in this chapter isn't important ;). I needed to get some character development done before the next fight scene. And for those who like the fights better than the talking, the next two parts are full of it :).

"Awake" is the song that plays right at the start of the game, as well as during the ending when you talk to cyber-elf Giro. I think both the name and the song itself suit this part nicely. It's track 2 of the ZX soundtrack Aile disk.

Regarding the long period of time between updates, blame two things: 1) schoolwork, 2) Star Ocean:TLH and the HDTV I bought to play it on.

Also, I'm going to take this opportunity to shamelessly plug the ZX oneshot I wrote/posted last week, titled "Stuffed Animals". There's no fighting, it's all mushy character stuff - I needed a change of pace. If you like that sort of thing, go take a look and leave a review to tell me what you think :).

Thanks again to all those who reviewed/favorited, both old and new!

Canonical Note

Don't read too much into how old Prairie is. I needed an exact time and I don't have exact dates to work with so I made it up. I arbitrarily decided that MMZ happened in the 2290's, and we're currently in the 2440's, thus making her somewhere around 150 years old. The two important things to get out of it are that 1) Prairie trusts Ashe not to freak out after learning her secret, and b) she's a LOT older than current-gen reploids are supposed to be alive. I know it means Zero's "two hundred years ago I died" line was inaccurate; he was exaggerating for emphasis.