System boot up check: 100%.
All files clear from corruption.
New files successfully installed, system set back to pre determined date. Check with maintenance for further details.
Sirus yawned and stretched, sitting up. The new files were done. Cautiously he began viewing them all. Memories of conversations, pictures, everything began slotting into his memory timeline. then it was done. He'd reviewed his life up till now. He remembered everything about Aran, how much his lover had been through, the first time the human had let him have him. The humans sweet innocent nature, that sensitive spot on the back of his neck..
--Aran? Where's Aran?!-- he panicked. And heard a muffled snore. Blinking he looked down, and seen the man of his dreams, and memories, asleep on the bed.
--Di-wans weapon upset my system..-- he checked the system logs from before the mem chip installation. --You found my gift for you Aran.....thank you sweetie..--
The mem chip had overridden his old files, so while he had all his old knowledge back, he'd forgotten the whole kharzhem incident, bar what little info the sys repair log had caught.
He pulled the human the rest of the way onto the bed, holding him close. Aran's face was flushed, he looked like he'd been crying..
--I'm sorry love...you must've felt awful. Ill make it up to you..--
He sat on the bed, just watching Aran sleep..
He heard the door open, and looked up. Vector stuck his head in, seen he was awake and stepped in.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
Sirus looked up at him and smiled "I'm fine..."
Vector smiled, and indicated the sleeping Cortes "He hasn't left you since you went into standby. He hasn't even had any food or anything, he's just been fidgeting, waiting for you to wake up.."
Sirus looked down at the sleeping human and smiled, blushing faintly "Aran you silly.." he said a mock-scolding tone, but he felt so happy Cortes had stayed by him.
"I've never seen him so attached, your the first person to get this close to him..." the old man smiled.
Sirus went red, stroking Cortes' cheek as he slept "I cant thank him enough for letting me.."
Cortes scrunched up even smaller on the bed, mumbling about mosquitoes. Sirus couldn't help but laugh, Aran's little habits were so...cute~.
"He was like a lost child without you, your be surprised just how much of an impact you've had on him!" the Vector smiled, "Were almost home now, just thought id mention it~"
After he left Sirus snuggled up to Cortes on the bed, nuzzling his lovers nose. And got a surprise when the other suddenly stirred, and kissed him gently, half awake.
Then he seemed to realise and sat up.
"u-uhm..i....did the chip? uh.."
Sirus grabbed him by his shoulders and kissed him to shut him up.
"I remember EVERYTHING Aran sweetie..." he rubbed the back of the humans neck "everything..."
Cortes felt a surge of relief, an overwhelming rush of affection for the blonde angel. He threw his arms around Sirus and hugged him tightly.
"I...im so glad you're OK..i don t know what id do without you.." he managed to utter at last.
Sirus tilted his head and nuzzled the humans neck, then looked into those gorgeous eyes.
"Vector told me, how worried you were..im sorry you had to go through that sweetie.."
The angel kissed him again, holding him close. They stayed that way for some time, just cuddled up together.
Then Sirus asked Aran how the kharzhem mission had gone. Snuggled in the angels lap, Cortes told him everything, even the confrontation with Di-wan and Oslo.
"My brave Aran, I know it must've been hard for you to face that sicko.." Sirus said softly, kissing him.
Cortes smiled "I had YOU there, that was all I needed."
The angel blushed, and the two were just starting to get comfortable, innuendo intended, when there was a knock on the door.
Sighing Cortes told them to come in, and the lovers reluctantly parted.
Lena popped her head round the door "hey you two!" she smiled "feeling better?"
Sirus smiled and hugged his Aran protectively "yep!~"
Cortes blushed, but Lena could see how happy he was..
"Moms been asking about you two, and Mahad been making perverted jokes!" she rolled her eyes "come join us!"
The two adults looked at each other and smiled, then followed her out of the room.
Cheng pounced on Cortes as soon as he entered, and everyone assembled there was pleased to see the possessive way Sirus was clutching hold of the captains arm. Lena tugged them over to where her mother and brother sat.
Mahad opened his mouth to make a perverted joke, but Cortes swatted him upside the head with a book that was right beside him.
"Hey! no fair!" Mahad objected. Cortes sniggered.
He sat there,listeneing to the kids chattering away. He knew they'd heard most of the yelling between Oslo and Sirus. They knew about the whole incident. The fact he'd been oslos guinea-pig, stuck in a lab..
--It feels too awkward, Lena and her mother..theyre born with these powers, they have nothing to worry about...I was just the end result of a gene experiment. I cant even control my power fully..-- His stomach lurched and he winced.
"s-scuse me.." me mumbled, getting up from the bench and legging it outside, where he leant over the railings, fighting back a wave of nausea. It was no use, he still couldn't get used to the power he had. It didn't operate the same as a normal saijin. Even when there'd been no sun, he'd still been able to summon the power. How?
--Your hatred, that's how?-- a cold voice told him --you became what Oslo wanted, he wanted to create a pawn against the rebels, and you very nearly became that..Thats why he hurt you, he knew your resentment would be a fuel. Plus you were in a solar room all that time...--
His legs gave way and he crumpled to the deck, feeling sick and his head ached...
Back inside the ship everyone was concerned as to why Cortes had scurried off so fast.
"He's been like this ever since we got him back from the monolith..." Mahad remarked.
Mila thought about it "his power, operates very differently from that of a normal saijin, Oslo was calling him a "lab rat"? what did he do?"
Sirus sighed "he caught Cortes during a raid, he dragged him back to the monolith and had the doctor use him in the gene therapy, even though it had not been tested enough at the time.." he shook his head "he was drugged, put through the full therapy, then forced to undergo testing to see how successful it had been. That's when the genes changed by themselves. Instead of evolving to just respond to sunlight..
"They responded to his fury right?" Mahad asked.
Sirus nodded "from what I could gather, his anger at being used by Oslo caused the genes to shift. It produces drastic outbursts of power when he's threatened. It has in a way..become a knee-jerk reaction, the slightest provocation and it flares up, sunlight or no. He cant always control it, since it seems its dictated by his emotional state.."
"He's been miserable about it ever since.." Lena added "he forced himself to learn to use them, but I could tell it made him feel sick to. He always looked stressed.." she shook her head "he was adamant I destroy the monolith, even though it was the only way we could've changed his genes back. He said "I don't want anyone else being used that way"...that cantve been easy."
Sirus looked worried sick "he doesn't say anything, but I can tell its tearing him apart, living with a gift he was forced to adapt to by someone he hates. He cant stand to think it could be used for an ythign but destruction, at least, that's the feeling I get.."
"Isn't there an ything we can do?" Mila asked.
Sirus shrugged, looking sad "I don't know..ive tried talking to him about it, but he always winds up getting upset, and that in itself triggers nightmare relapses...he suffered panic attacks for a while after he came back...he's very stubborn in his ways, once he gets an idea its hard to budge him from it.."
"Ill say.." Mahad sighed.
They all jumped when there was a sudden rumble of thunder. Rain began cascading down in waves. Lightening sliced through the air.
"Careful guys, sudden storms snuck up on us!" Wayan yelled "grab hold of something, hey where's the captain?!
"he's outside!" Sirus panicked, throwing the door open, getting hit by a load of rain the second he did so.
"ARAN!?" he yelled, edging his way outside.
Cortes was some feet away, still slumped on the deck. He was soaked to the skin, but it barely registered, his head was pounding..
"Aran?! oh god, get back inside you'll catch cold..!!"
He grabbed hold of his lover, turning him to face him.
Cortes seemed a bit dazed, slightly out of it.
"Why cant I accept it?" he mumbled, laughing slightly "why cant I accept it like everyone else has?" he pulled away from Sirus, staggering a few steps along, "everyone knows every damn detail about me, I never wanted them to! I don't want to be treated like im fragile, as if I have to be handled with kid gloves. I'm not that fragile!!" he yelled at last.
"You've got it wrong sweetie, everyone's worried about you, we just don't want to bring back any bad memories, that's why! None of us can stand seeing what that creeps done to you, he caused you all this misery. But he's gone now.." he stepped closer "you're free Aran,. free from him.."
"But I cant control it!" Cortes raged, stepping away from him, cold wind and rain lashing at his face. "I terrified of what'll happen, I get mad, someone gets hurt?! is that's what im going to be? a short fuse?!" he shook his head, strands of hair in his eyes, "the only time it stays calm.."
"Is when, Aran? tell me and ill sort it out.." Sirus said gently.
Cortes laughed slightly, "its YOU. I realise now, without you there, I'll keep seeing those nightmares. I know it selfish, but don't ever go. Please.."
Sirus blinked, then smiled "of course I'm staying Aran...why would I ever leave you? you're everything to me...come inside Aran, or you'll catch cold.."
Cortes hesitated then started to move towards him. Then they were struck by turbulence. The ship rocked, and Sirus clung to the railing. Cortes grabbed for it but missed, and the sudden lurching motion of the ship sent him to the deck. he struck his head and felt blood trickle down the side of his face. He lay stunned, his heart pounding in his ears.
Sirus began top run to him, but a bolt of lightening struck the deck between them, setting alight some old boxes cheng had piled there days ago. Starting a small fire.
"Oh hell- Aran?!" he yelled, squinting through the flaring smoke and flames. It was spreading like wildfire to every flammable within reach.
From his huddled position Cortes felt the heat searing his face. He looked up, seeing the flames attempting to take his ship..
--Like hell!!-- he fumed. He closed his eyes, understanding now the headache was from too much pent up power...
--Got to get the flames out. Wait...the clouds!!-- he thought. This was going to take some doing.
--Up, go UP!!-- he thought forcefully. The ship lurched, its front end tilting up, angling the towards a massive rain cloud. It plunged into it, cold dampness shrouding the whole ship. The flames flickered, smothered by the dense cloud, then died away....
He released control of the ship, and was aware of it diving out of the cloudbank again. He gotten lucky in avoid the lightning, But he'd exausted himself, he had no more energy left..
Sirus blinked, shaking his head as the view cleared. he seen the flames die away, leaving only scorch marks.
He saw Aran get to his feet and stagger towards him. Just then everyone else bat those flying the ship came running out.
"Captain?!" the Vector yelled "what the heck was that? was that you're doing?"
"Aw don't start complaining Vector-" Cortes mumbled, swaying on his feet, shivering from cold "I couldn't find a fricken extinguisher OK-?!" he cut off, coughing heavily, then passed out.
"Ack!" Sirus legged over to him and caught him quickly.
"He OK?" cheng asked.
"He over did it again.." Lena said "it used up everything he was able to generate, he'll be out for awhile.."
"Not necsessrily..i can transfer some of my power," Mila added "he's a saijin after all, it should work.."
The angel carried his lover inside, and tucked him up in bed. While Mila and Lena set about giving the exhausted saijin a hand with regaining his energy, Sirus went look for some clean clothes. He found a spare set of clothes, a black polo neck and trousers.
"There,." Mila said at last as she and her daughter finished "he should be awake soon.."
Sirus looked relieved "Thank you," he smiled "I think he'll be feeling a little better about things when he's awake.."
Lena smiled as she made to go "he'll be happy long as you're sitting there when he wakes up!"
Sirus blushed as they exited. He looked down at the snug Aran, wrapped in warm blankets.
--I hate to wake him. But he needs to get out of those clothes..-- so he gently set about waking the human up.
"mhh? whas' matter?" Cortes mumbled sleepily.
"You need to get out of those clothes Aran.." Sirus told him softly.
Cortes blinked "...since when did you ever have to ask?" he sniggered.
Sirus went red "not like that sweetie! not that im objecting, but your in no condition to be making random innuendo, you'll catch cold if you don't change out of that uniform!"
Cortes smiled "mm..i suppose so.." he snuggled up to the angel and kissed him sleepily. "gimmie a hand huh?" he grinned.
He knew for a fact the angel had the willpower of a dead goldfish when faced with a proposition like that.
Sure enough, he was right.
"Whoops~" he grinned cheekily.
Cortes laughed and snuggled up to him "well, you DID get my clothes off!" he pointed out "just took a little more time then is normally required!"
The angel snuggled him and kissed him gently "mm, that's true, but I still haveta get you into the OTHER set of clothes you silly Aran!"
Cortes laughed, sitting up in the bed "aww, okay..." he reluctantly agreed. He changed into the warm clothes, and let the angel dry off his hair, interrupted every few minutes by random kissing. Not long after, they were finally home.
Cortes still felt a bit weak, despite keeping warm. He soon found out it was a cold. And he was thusly confined to bed for3 days, while Sirus fussed over him like a mother hen. The advantage to being mostly mechanical was that colds and flu had little to no effect on him. He was thusly able to keep Cortes happy with lots of cuddles and kissing~.
The crew meanwhile went on the hunt for anyone who wanted to join the rebels, and come to puerto angel. Mila and her kids spent all their free time together, enjoying being a family again. One day, while they were down by the docks, a new shipload of people arrived.
Among them was on old friend of milas by the name of Silas. They'd written to each other for a long time, he'd known Marcus. The old man was delighted to see the two children Mila had talked so much about in her letters. He had a lot of photo albums, and he came with them to the tavern and they started rifling through them.
Cortes meanwhile, was by then fully recovered. Sirus finally allowed him outta bed and they went down to the tavern to get some food. The place was crowded when they got there, but Sirus soon spotted Mila and company an d steered Aran in their direction.
"Hey man!" Mahad waved at the angel as he approached "come over 'ere!"
The old man blinked, looking up at the two approaching. He stared at the ginger haired one. He looked familiar. Where had he seen someone like him before...a woman with almost amazing resemblance, could it be? He rifled through the photos as the two sat down.
Cortes was about to ask Mahad a question when silas spoke up.
"Sorry to sound rude...but you aren't by any chance..one of Celine's children are you?" he looked from the photo to Cortes "only the resemblance is uncanny, she never sent photos, but she always talked about her kids..."
Cortes sat there, blinking at him. "hawuh...well, yes that's my mothers name..." he said at last "how did you?"
"We used to write to each other a fair bit before she died,. She always talked about her two kids. I remember when you're father left, she was very upset, wasn't sure you kids would be OK."
Cortes managed a weak smile "yeah I remember, he just upped and left one day, mom suspected he was involved with the rebel faction, but he never told us anything...even when I came here I never found him. For all I know...he could be..." he tailed off, looking mad.
Sirus squeezed his hand and offered a sweet smile.
"I'm sorry to bring up the past like this-" silas started. Cortes shook his head and even managed a smile "I-its fine, that was a long time ago anyway. He chose to leave, that's his business, I have my own life to worry about!"
During this whole time the family had been listening. When the kids had first met Cortes, he'd seemed grumpy, moody and silent. Over time, up till the present day, bit by bit they'd seen more of his real self.
"I assume from the letters you have a brother, is he younger or-?"
"He's the older one.." Cortes confirmed "though he sure as hell doesn't act like it.."
Silas laughed "Celine did mention one of the two was very quiet and a little too grown up for his age, ill take a guess and says its you~"
Cortes glowered at him, which made everyone else sat there crack up laughing.
"he's got you there corets! Mahad called, Cortes levitated one of the photo albums and bonked Mahad on the head with it.
"Why does he keep doing that?!" Mahad squeaked. Lena shook her head and laughed.
--Hmm, he's a saijin...Celine never mentioned that...then again, it was dangerous to back then..--
Cortes caught the old man scrutinizing him with a bemused stare. and set the album down again, his hands clenching tightly in his lap. Why was he e njoying this? Hew kept using the abilities without thinking. He didn't want to, or did he?
Mila noticed Cortes anxiety, the way he seemed to tense up when people seen him using the abilities. It was a contradiction in away, euphoniously he WANTED to use them, and obviously had a laugh getting his own back on Mahad with them. But on the opposite side of the coin, he detested the powers origin, the method he'd come to have them by, the person that forced him to change.
She noticed the shift in Sirus' expression as well. He frowned, looking worried by the shift in his precious Aran's temperament. He paused for a moment, the reached under the table and clutched hold of the humans hand. Cortes blinked, then looked up at him and managed a weak smile.
--That's so cute, they seem so...comfortable around each other...that's exactly what Cortes needs right now, someone to calm him..--
Cortes tuned out of the conversation, relaxing slightly with his lovers hand held in his. Thus he didn't pick up on someone he did not wish to see walking past-
"Is the Vector here? I have some formulas to show him.."
Lena blinked "he was here earlier, he's probably back in the lighthouse..."
She was cut short as Cortes suddenly shifted back to alertness. He physically tensed up, whipping round to glare at the unwelcome presence.
Mihen edged back. Cortes look was enough to scare your average person. Plus the faint glow that was emerging around him was a warning for sure.
"What do YOU want." Cortes muttered.
"Aran.." Sirus gripped his hand even tighter "ARAN."
Cortes twitched, and the building power dissipated, but he just as quickly leapt from the bar stool and stormed off. Followed by an anxious Sirus.
Mihen realised he'd been holding his breath and let it out "that guys scary.." he wheezed.
Mila shivered "ive never seen anyone so mad before...he really does still bear a grudge against Oslo doesn't he?"
Mihen winced "more against ME. I was the one Oslo had out on operation duty.."
Lena blinked "he cant help it.." she said at last "everything that reminds him of what happened produces that reaction...the only stopping him from going ballistic is Sirus.."
Outside the tavern Cortes felt close to being sick. He felt the angels arms wrap around him and he relaxed slightly.
"Its OK Aran..."
"No its NOT." Cortes groaned "I don't know what happened just now...I didn't mean to react that way. That guy was bullied by Oslo same as me....so why did I freak out?" he shook his head "its like...I cant physically stay in the same room.."
"shh, its nothing to worry ab out Aran~" Sirus said soothingly, snuggling his beloveds neck. Cortes smiled a little.
"Guess so.." he murmured, before shifting in the angels arms and kissing him happily "what would I do without you?" he asked, causing the other to blush.
"Speak for yourself.." was the response, and he hugged the human tightly to him.
Cortes avoided the scientist whenever possible, and since the guy rarely ventured out of the Vectors lab area, it worked out for a while.
Cortes knew the rest of the crew would start fussing if they discovered the problem, so he kept quiet about it.
Until one particular day...
Vector had called them all to the lighthouse to inform them of a rapid-spreading illness that was making its way from block to block.
"Its primary symptom is an abnormally high temperature, and frequent dizzy spells. I'm looking into an antidote, to stop it before it takes over here as well! but for that I need some ingredients, which Mihen has narrowed down..whered he go?"
Wayan blinked as he seen Cortes visibly tense up on hearing the name, and hopped down off the desk he'd been sitting on. So when the messy-haired scientist re-emerged from the back room, the captain had shifted to the back of the assembled group.
"Sorry, got distracted.." Mihen sneezed and squinted at his list "most of this stuff can be gotten from the one area, but as for a specific block im unsure, im going on slightly outdated area studies...These areas have been uninhabited for some time, and Oslo only ever sent water ships out there-" he was cut off by the captain.
"What would that bastard know about anything other then screwing the universe up-" everyone turned to look at the captain, who turned a funny shape of red and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Vector frowned "now really captain, you of all people should know better then to swear around the kids-"
"Cram it!" another outburst.
"What's the matter with you today Cortes?" Mahad asked. Cortes looked confused, glancing from the mildly amused Vector to the rest of his confused c rew.
"I uh..i don't know..."
"Maybe you're ill.." mi-'ehn scooted over, peering at him. Cortes twitched "back off!" he snapped, and when the blonde poked his arm, he got a small shock for his effort.
"What's the matter with him?" dahlia blinked. Lena winced how to explain...
"perhaps the gene work.." Mihen suggested.
"Stay the HELL away from me!" Cortes raged, and any equipment nearby went into overload. The pissed saijin turned and stormed out "I don't want to f**kign deal with this!"
"Captain?" Wayan yelled after him, and was ready to follow him, but Sirus stopped him.
"Let me calm him, Lena can explain what this is all about, she understands it.." then he was gone.
Sure enough, everyone turned to look at Lena.
"Its kind of hard to explain in detail. But put shortly, he still has problems dealing with anything Oslo-related...that is.."
Mihen sighed "no need to beat about the bush kiddo, its me he's reacting to. Given I was on duty during the recent phase of the gene work, he would've regarded me in the same light as Oslo, which is why he keeps.."
"..losing his rag around you?" Wayan finished, and Mihen nodded.
"Its like a silly form of tourettes.." Mahad commented, and Lena smacked him upside the head a second later.
"Cant we do anything?" dahlia asked "he obviously didn't mean to, he looked scared about what he was saying.."
"There's not much we CAN do." everyone turned to look at Vector.
"I've been to the doctor about this. Since the outset, Cortes refused any attempts at counselling, instead pushing himself to repress what happened and get back to work. We cant force him to stop responding in this way, its a psychological problem, if we try to force it, it could have serous repercussions.."
he sighed before continuing "I cant begin it understand exactly what he went though in that time, but from what ive seen, its must've been beyond traumatic...With Oslo gone, and the sphere no longer in operation, most of the triggers for his memories are gone, which is why he's been alright up till now.."
"So what CAN we do?" Mahad asked again.
"Just keep an eye on him, and keep contact to a minimum.." Mihen butted in "until it sorts itself out that's the best option.."
Outside Cortes had gotten back to his office before Sirus caught up.
"Aran.." he snuck into the room, looking in concern at his lover, he sat slumped in his chair, gazing into space.
He finally responded when the angel scooped him up in his arms, and sat down, plonking the captain on his lap, keeping his arms wrapped round him.
"What's the matter with me?" he groaned, nuzzling the angels soft hair "now they all know.."
"They're worried about you sweetie.." Sirus comforted him "they know you're still recovering from what happened...These things take time.." he hugged the human tightly "so don't be sad..."
Cortes smiled. Just having his other half there was enough to make him feel calmer. If only Sirus knew Just how much he really did help Cortes just by being there...
He was torn away from his jumbled thoughts by a familiar hand patting his butt. He gave the standing joking protest noise, and raised an eyebrow at the angel.
"What're you thinking.." he asked, seeing the familiar crafty look on Sirus face.
"Hm..do you use that couch for much?" was the question, and Cortes knew what the answer was going to be...
"Lock the door. he said, a smile appearing on his face.
Because of the presence of other offices in the building, the lovebirds had to keep quiet, but somehow that just added to the fun~
The angel snuggled the captain he was pinning to the soft couch "hopefully that'll use up all that energy that little temper of yours generated my little Aran~"
Cortes blushed, and poked the angels cheek, giving a lazy smile "oh it has~" he answered.
But as they re-dressed then headed for the tavern, Cortes began to worry. What was he going to say next? What if he actually hit the guy next time?
And so it was as they approached the door that he lagged behind.
I am SO SORRY for the delay in this, between finally getting my 360, then moving out, plus a load of other stuff, my fics got neglected. But im back on track now! ^_^