Tears are words the mouth can't say nor can the heart bare. - Joshua Wisenbaker.


"It's because of you, because of me, because of what our hearts are saying…no matter what I'll always be there for you".

"I'm trying to watch the game Claire" Mobius said lying on the couch staring at the tv across from him.

Claire was sitting at the piano in their living room playing a short song she had wrote, "Humph say what you want I think its good".

"Exactly" Mobius said, "Its really good, like lullaby good. If you keep up those soft key strokes and soothing voice I'm going to end up falling asleep".

"Maybe you should sit up then instead of laying down" Claire told him, "That way you won't be so tempted to fall asleep".

"Too tired to move" Mobius groaned.

Claire giggled at her brother as she closed the lid over the piano keys. It was rare for him to get sick, but his personality didn't change in spite of his illness and fatigue.

"You really love your football" Claire sighed as a commercial break began.

"Yes I do" he answered.

"Well are we winning?" Claire asked getting up and sitting on the arm rest of the couch.

Mobius sighed, "Not yet, but we're only down by three so if they can make a field goal they'll tie it up and there's still a full quarter to go so we've still got a good chance. Only problem is our secondary isn't that great so we have to play some heavy zone coverage".

"In English" Claire laughed.

"Our pass defense is two steps away from sucking" Mobius groaned as he turned onto his side.

Claire looked down at him as he turned onto his side, "You can't be that tired".

"I'm not my body just hurts everywhere" Mobius groaned.

"Yes yes poor you" Claire laughed mockingly, "So where's dinner?"

"No" Mobius said immediately.

"Aren't you supposed to be taking care of me while mom and dad are out of town?"

Mobius shifted his shoulder, "I'm tired and you're 15 you're old enough to make your own dinner".

"Fine" Claire replied sliding off the armrest, "Since you're not going to help you don't get to eat".

"Don't care" Mobius said tiredly while Claire walked into the kitchen.

Half an hour later Claire returned to the living room to find her brother had fallen asleep and the game he was watching was still going. She made fun of him for it, but she enjoyed watching the games with him even though she didn't understand a lot of it. Taking a spare blanket from the hall closet she unfolded it and covered him with it before returning to the kitchen. It was just a regular cold, but his daily exercise made it worse for him adding muscle stains and joint pains and fatigue. Claire set a pot of boiling water on the stove and sat down at the table with a blank notepad in front of her writing down the lyrics for her next song.

The next morning Claire returned downstairs from her room still brushing her hair to find her brother still asleep on the couch.

"Are you still sleeping?" she asked him not getting a response, "It's been ten hours" still no response.

Claire smiled and leaned over his ear, "You're missing the game" she said into his ear.

His eyes slowly opened, "What's the score" he said sleepily as he got up.

"There is no score" she admitted, "I was just trying to get you to wake up".

Mobius looked at his watch, "The game isn't for another twelve hours" he looked up to her, "That's an evil joke to play on someone".

Claire glared at him, "You mean like that crap you pulled back at the haunted house during the school festival?"

Mobius nodded as he sat up, "Alright I deserved that one. What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you make" Claire said sitting next to him, "I'll make dinner again".

"Don't get too close" he warned, "Don't need you getting sick to".

"Oh please I haven't been sick since I was ten".

"That means your overdue" Mobius told her, "But you can't say I didn't warn you".

"So what do we want to do today?" Claire asked him as he stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"Watch the game" he called back.

Claire chuckled and followed after him, "I meant before the game you idiot".

Mobius shrugged, "I don't know, poker, monopoly, watch something on TV I don't care".

Claire shook her head, "That's very helpful thanks".

"Too tired" he replied.

"You just woke up after sleeping for ten hours" she told him.

"That reminds me" he said walking to the front door and grabbing the morning newspaper, "Sports page sports page" he muttered flipping through the paper, "And we lost dammit".

"Well not everyone can be as great at the game as you" Claire said sarcastically.

"Well that's true" Mobius smirked.

"I was being sarcastic" Claire told him.

"I wasn't" Mobius replied.

Claire began laughing as she dropped and shook her head, "You are so full of yourself".

"I am" Mobius admitted, "I always have been, its one of the reasons I'm a winner".

Claire laughed again, "You are so annoying".

The two of them ate their breakfast and returned to the living room, "So how's your song coming?"

"Not as good as I'd like" Claire answered, "I keep getting distracted".

"Well don't force it" Mobius told her, "It'll come to you when its ready…I think".

Sitting next to him again Claire's lips curved with a smile, "Even though you're sick this is still nice. It's been a couple of weeks since we spent time together".

"Yeah" Mobius nodded, "Working after school is really starting to eat into my free time. They said they were only going to give me twelve to fifteen hours a week, but now I'm getting twenty".

"That's because you're good at what you do right?"

"I'd like to think so" Mobius shrugged, "But still I'm too young to be working this much".

Claire leaned against his shoulder, "Well sick or not I'm glad to get to spend some time with you again".

Mobius wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "I am to".

A loud noise ripped apart the peaceful silence in the room an alarm could be heard all around them. Mobius quickly stood up and looked at the ceiling the warning light on the fire alarm wasn't flashing, but then the ceiling shook and cracked. Hearing Claire scream he spun around on his heel to see his sister lying on the floor blood pouring from a wound on her head. Yelling her name Mobius picked her up and quickly carried her outside as the room behind him collapsed the alarm getting louder and louder with each step he took until it was screaming in his ears. Unable to stand the pain of the intense sound he fell to his knees and covered his ears.

"Make it stop" he said in an exhausted tone before feeling something shake his shoulder.

Opening his eyes he felt something covering his head and a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Something happened" Meia's voice deafly flowed to his ears.

He was holding the blanket over his head trying to drown out the noise from the alarm, but now that he was awake there was no point fighting it anymore. Sitting up he turned to her and asked what was going on noting that the alarm sounded different from the one used to announce an enemy attack. Meia explained that the alarm going off was used to report a problem somewhere on the ship usually big problems requiring severe repairs.

Mobius sighed, "Dammit can we just have one day where nothing goes wrong".

"I'm sure it's nothing that requires our attention" Meia told him, "But I'm going to check it out just in case".

"Might as well grab some coffee now that I'm awake" Mobius said standing up with her, "Want me to grab you anything?"

Meia shook her head, "No I'll meet you later though".

Mobius nodded, "Alright then" he gave her a quick kiss, "I'll see you in a bit then".

Entering the cafeteria and grabbing a large cup of coffee Mobius took his usual seat at the back corner of the cafeteria next to Yellow 13 whose clothes were wet.

"Do I even want to know?" he asked sitting across from him.

13 sighed and shrugged, "The brig has a slight case of flooding".

Mobius took a sip from his cup, "What the hell did Hibiki do this time?"

"What makes you think it's his fault?" 13 asked.

"Well considering his track record for causing trouble"

"I got it" 13 chuckled, "But seriously. One of the main water pipes ruptured and flooded the brig".

"That explains the alarm then" Mobius sighed, "Are we ever going to have a day of peace and quiet?"

"It would be nice" 13 agreed, "Although maybe something good will come of this".

"Like what?"

13 smirked nervously, "Well maybe I can use this as a chance to get closer to Yukiko maybe even have her invite me to her room".

Mobius guessed, "I take it you've decided about her then".

13 nodded, "Yeah…I love her. She reminds me of Amanda in every way, but she's different. I'm able to love her for who she is not who she reminds me of".

"Good" his former enemy said, "Now you've found something to hold onto".

"I've always had something to hold onto" 13 told him, "Now I have something else on that list. You know I've been thinking about my time back on Earth and that boy I grew so close to".

"Phrasing" Mobius warned, "I don't want to have to shoot you yet".

"Funny" 13 shot back, "But I'm being serious. Even though he held some measure of hatred toward me he was still my friend or at least I want to believe he was. He was Misty's great grandfather even though she never knew him I feel responsible for…"

Mobius cut him off, "Listen Jax before this conversation goes any further I want to make something clear. That girl is lost right now her parents are dead everyone she knew is dead and now she's here surrounded by people most of whom she doesn't even know yet. You're not responsible for anything that being said the only reason I told you to talk to her was because you knew her great grandparents. Right now she feels alone I'm sure you've noticed and I believe you're the best one to get to her. You don't have to be a father figure or a god-father or anything like that you just need to be someone she can open up to and confide in".

13 nodded, "It's not easy. You'd think it was since it pretty close to how I met the kid back on Earth, but he was still a boy back then. Misty is older than he was and he at least had his uncle while Misty has no one. It's harder for her to open up and I've tried, but I'm barely making any progress it's like she's trying to force me away".

"She's scared" Mobius told him before standing up, "So you're choices are to leave her to her own self-pity or try harder" he finished his coffee and turned away, "Now our therapy session is over any more of this and I'm going to start charging you".

13 sighed to himself as Mobius left running his hands over his blonde hair he stood up and rolled his shoulder back. Maybe Mobius was right maybe Misty was scared and acting up because of that, but would trying harder to get her to open up work wouldn't that make her resent him. He shook his head no matter what happened after words if he did nothing she would continue on the way she is he had to have faith that she would open up to him. Leaving the cafeteria the former Erusian ace wandered the halls looking for the girl from Pluto.

"You're thinking about Dita aren't you" he heard Misty's voice from around the corner.

Hibiki grumbled, "Don't you have anything better to do than follow me all day?"

"No" Misty answered quietly, "I'm an outsider with no where to go. My home has been destroyed and everyone I knew is gone. I'm all alone now".

Hibiki tossed her a brush, "Well if you have nothing else to do than follow me you can help me clean the Vanguard".

13 quickly stepped out into the hall, "Mind if I come along?" he asked Hibiki, "I'm curious as to how that machine of yours operates".

Hibiki looks annoyed and tossed him a rag, "If you follow me you'd better do some work".

13 raised an eyebrow at him, "Isn't that what you're usually told?"

Hibiki huffed as he turned around, "Not anymore I know what I have to do and I won't have anyone else tell me. This is my life after all dammit and I'm going to make sure it keeps going".

"Alright calm down tough guy" 13 chuckled, "Didn't ask for the speech".

Following him to the hangar 13 looked up to the Vanguard as they approached it, "So how did you end up piloting this thing anyway?"

"That's kind of a funny story actually" Hibiki said with a small smile, "You see I'm actually a third class citizen on Tarak. I was just another mechanic and I kind of said I could steal a Vanguard so I snuck onto the main ship during some ceremony. I ended up caught in the women's raid on our ship before I could get into the Vanguard and now I'm here".

"Do you regret it?" 13 asked him.

Hibiki quickly turned to him, "Not a bit…I mean it's been hard, but I don't regret any of it".

13 nodded and looked to Misty, "You doing ok so far today?"

Misty turned her head away from him, "Not that it's any business of yours" she gave him a mischievous smirk, "But I'm doing well enough".

13 couldn't help, but smirk back at her, "I'm starting to wonder if that attitude of yours runs in your family. Your great grandfather was like that as well".

Misty huffed and turned away from him again, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have an attitude".

"Fantastic now you're in denial".

Misty turned back and glared at him, "I'm not in denial either".

"Enough!" Hibiki snapped, "If the two of you are just going to talk then get out of my way".

Storming off Hibiki left the hangar grumbling away his annoyance. 13 shook his head at Hibiki's quick temper amazed at how such a hot headed child could still be alive after so many battles. Misty began leaving as well sarcastically thanking 13 for ruining her opportunity, but the pilot grabbed her shoulder.

"Instead of chasing Hibiki all day why don't you come with me. It would give us a chance to talk".

"There's nothing for us to talk about" Misty told him.

13 let go of her shoulder, "Misty I can't claim to know what you're going through and I probably know even less about you, but I am trying so could you at least work with me a little? I owe it to those two to help you in anyway I can".

Misty whipped around to face him, "Who says I need help?" she yelled, "And for that matter I don't care if you owe it to a couple of people I never met or knew that's your problem not mine".

"Is that really how you feel? Just because you never met them they're still your family people who share the same blood as you. Can you really just say that you don't care about them?"

She turned away again, "Like I said I never met them so why should I care".

"That can't be how you really feel" 13 said after she ran off.

Entering Reg Central Hibiki walked over to the table he and Gascogne used to play poker. The timer clock still sat there undisturbed in the same place he last left it. He felt his fists clenching as he stared at the clock Gascogne annoyed him on occasions, but playing her in cards was usually a good way for him to take his mind off things as long as she didn't remind or tease him about his complaints. Relaxing his hands he turned to leave bumping into Barnette as he left.

"Sorry" he said quietly walking past her.

Noticing he had something on his mind the former dread pilot stopped him, "Hey Hibiki hold on. I'm not all that great at playing cards, but I'm not a bad listener. If you'd like to talk you can talk to me".

Hibiki didn't look at her, "Thanks, but I'm ok besides I don't want to keep you from anything".

"It's no trouble at all" Barnette told him, "I'm actually taking a break right now. Come sit down I'll make us some tea".

"Mind if I join you?" a cold voice asked them.

Standing at the corner of the hall was the man many of the crew considered a hero. His hardened eyes kept the same gaze they had when they first met him, but they no longer felt harsh or judgmental. A man that had been with them from the beginning and yet along with the Peksis he was the biggest mystery on the ship no one knew anything about him except possibly Meia and if she did she refused to tell anyone.

"Oh Mobius" Barnette smiled, "Sure I have more than enough for the three of us come take a seat".

Following Barnette to the table Mobius and Hibiki sat across from each other at the table.

Mobius set a deck of cards on the table catching Hibiki's attention, "What do you say? Feel up for it?"

Hibiki locked his eyes on the deck, "Sure".

Shuffling the deck Mobius dealt their hands setting the deck in the center of the table, "Anything on your mind?" he asked his fellow pilot.

"Its Misty" he answered without thinking, "She's…She's just bugging me. I'm trying to not be too hard on her because she doesn't have anything or anyone else, but she's really starting to annoy me".

"What about Dita?" Mobius asked.

"She annoys me to, but with her it's different. I don't know how I just feel like it is".

"Well I now how that feels" Mobius said as Barnette returned with a tray in her hands.

"Know how what feels?" she asked the ace pilot handing him a cup of tea.

"How it feels to have someone follow you all day" he answered taking the cup, "Thanks".

"Your sister right?" the brunette asked him.

Mobius nodded, "After a while I got used to it, but there were still times when she annoyed me. There was this one time when I was sick I had to stay home from school for a few days. I was lying down trying to watch the football game and she kept distracting me while she was playing a song she wrote on her piano".

"What's football?" Hibiki asked, but Mobius shook his head.

"Another time it's not important. What I'm saying is sometimes people are annoying, but sometimes they're annoying because we don't want to admit how we feel about them".

Barnette looked to Hibiki, "Oh you must be talking about Dita then".

Hibiki set his cards down, "It's not just her it's Misty to they both won't stop following me".

"As far as Misty goes" Mobius began taking a sip of his tea, "She's just looking for someone to be with. She thinks she's alone here and she's afraid of that".

Casting her eyes to the edge of the table Barnette clearly felt bad for the young girl, "I can't imagine what that must be like. To be honest just thinking about it, being all alone just the thought of it scares me".

"I was lucky enough to grow up with my grandfather raising me" Hibiki said, "Eventually he sent me out into the city to make friends, but that didn't work out to well" a small smile stretched the corner of his mouth as he blushed, "But then I ended up here and…I'd like to think I've made friends with some of you".

The raven haired pilot looked to Mobius, "You and Meia are the only one's here who would know what it feels like to lose everything".

"Yes and no" he answered, "There's a big difference in what happened to the three of us. Misty was put into a cold sleep and sent away before the harvest reached Pluto. Meia witnessed from a distance what happened to her parents and I was in the center of everything that happened to me. I was the one unlucky enough to hold Claire's body in my arms unable to do anything to save her. The three of us we all know pain, but in the end which is worse, just knowing everyone is dead or holding their bodies in your arms unable to do anything, but cower in fear".

Both Hibiki and Barnette were silent at his question just the thought of having a loved one die was bad enough for them, but to think of holding them in their arms after they had died. They both forced the thought form their minds not wanting to think of it any longer than they already had and yet they wondered to themselves how Mobius was able to keep going after it happened. Three years is a long time to carry such pain the simple fact he was still sane to them was nothing short of amazing.

"How do you do it?" Hibiki asked him, "Even I can tell you still carry that day with you. How were you able to keep going and able to make it here today?"

Mobius briefly made eye contact with him looking away as he recalled his own memories. The pain, the despair, the fear and the rage he remembered each of those emotions clearly as they burned through him one after the other before cycling back and repeating. Back then he never stopped to think about how he was still going he didn't care the only thing that meant anything to him back then was revenge, inflicting as much pain as possible to as many as he could get a hold of. Seventeen people he had killed before ISAF liberated his hometown seventeen lives he took in the name of revenge the few he did not kill right away their voices he could still hear in the back of his mind. Seventeen people and over almost a thousand more dead from his time flying for ISAF so many lives taken because he wanted revenge.

"Revenge" he finally answered, "I wanted revenge".

There were only a few people on the ship who had seen Mobius' dreams and the people he killed in cold blood, three of them violently murdered in such a way that even the captain and BC were shaken. All that killing coupled with losing his family it was no wonder Mobius was the hardened person he was.

"That's it?" Hibiki asked hesitantly.

Mobius set his hand down, "Three of a kind".

"Revenge" Hibiki said just as the truth dawned on him, "You wanted revenge…" he set his cards down, "All this time I always thought you were the way you are because you lost your family, but that's not it is it? You've killed people before haven't you? Not just as a pilot no…it all makes sense now. How many did you kill?"

Mobius stood up, "You finally beat me Hibiki" he said quickly finishing his tea and setting the cup down, "Thank you Barnette".

Hibiki looked down at his cards a full house beating Mobius' three of a kind. He had never beaten Mobius or Gascogne at a single hand.

His surprise was quickly pushed away when he realized Mobius was leaving, "Hold on" he called after him, "Mobius!"

Mobius left ignoring his calls by the time Hibiki had caught up to him the elevator doors had already closed. Hibiki stood there as if he was staring through the closed doors and right at Mobius the fact that he avoided answering his accusations was the only proof he needed. Even though he had never killed anyone himself Hibiki knew there was a difference between killing someone in battle when it's a fight for your life and killing someone in cold blood.

When the elevator returned Hibiki went in search for Mobius checking Meia's room first not getting an answer the cafeteria was crowded, but neither Mobius nor Meia was there either.

"Dammit where is he" Hibiki wondered returning to the still flooded men's quarters.

Parfet and Duelo were standing on a ladder attempting to fix the ruptured pipes.

"How are the repairs coming?" he asked them.

"Pretty slow" Parfet answered.

"If you want them to go faster maybe you should try helping" Duelo told him.

Hibiki crossed his arms, "Sorry, but plumbing isn't in my job description".

He was unaware of Meia leaning against the wall behind him, "Even if you get your room back things won't go back to the way they were before right?"

Hibiki turned to her, "What do you mean?"

Meia looked down as she smiled, "We were raised to believe men are our sworn enemies, but here we all are helping each other and living together. Our own little society is forming right here on this ship between women and the few men on board. This is something completely new to all of us, but the Hibiki Tokai I've come to know wouldn't run away from something like this and if I've learned anything from this journey of ours its that its best to be honest with yourself".

"She sure is talking a lot more these days" Hibiki mumbled to himself after the dread leader left.

Just as he was leaving Jura arrived blocking his way, "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Not that it's any business of yours, but I was checking on the repairs".

Jura bent over pointing at him, "Well get to the briefing room we're about to go over a new dread formation and we need you there".

Following the buxom blonde to the briefing room Hibiki's eyes met with Dita's upon their arrival. Both of them clearly had something on their mind, but they looked away from each other unable to face the other. The door opened and Hibiki entered first keeping his eyes glued the floor as Dita followed slowly behind him with Jura standing at the door.

When Hibiki took his seat he looked up noticing they were the only ones in the room, "Hey what's going on you said there was a meeting".

"Oh there is" Jura told him, "Its just between you two" she said before closing the door and sealing it from the outside, "I've fixed things to where the two of you will be alone for a while so I hope you appreciate it. You are to work things out properly and until you do that door remains closed got it".

Hibiki gritted his teeth at Jura's deception, "Why you…" sitting back on the bench he crossed his arms unaware that a live feed of him and Dita was being shown across the entire ship.

Video screens across the entire ship appeared showing the two pilots sitting a few feet from each other not saying a word. In the hangar office Mobius was back to his usual routine checking his squadron reports when a screen appeared on the smaller desk next to him. Making a single glance at the screen he set down his clipboard and switched off the screen standing up the coffee maker behind him stopped working forcing him to return to the cafeteria. While walking through the halls the ace noticed that the video screens were on across the ship all of them showing the same feed of Dita and Hibiki.

"Does anyone work around here?" he asked himself changing course and heading for the briefing room.

"The Mejere pirates sure do value friendship don't they" Misty's voice said arrogantly from further down the hall.

Stopping at the corner Mobius could hear Jura yelling at her, "This is a good thing going on here so don't get in the way".

Misty turned her back on them, "Oh don't worry about that I'm not so dumb as to go around making enemies out of the entire crew. The only reason I was fooling around with that boy is because I was bored".

Misty walked down the hall quickly breaking into a run once she was out of view of the others. Turning the corner Mobius grabbed her arm as she ran by him.

"Let me go" she demanded.

"Not going to happen" Mobius told her pulling her back to him, "Start talking".

Misty tried to yank her arm free, "I've got nothing to say to you".

Meia's voice rushed to Mobius' ears, "Mobius release her".

Mobius looked at Meia their eyes meeting as she walked over to him, "I'll take care of it" she told him grabbing his shoulder, "Let het go".

Mobius released Misty and she stared at the two of them for a moment before running off again.

"She's causing trouble" he told Meia who nodded.

"Just leave it to me" she told him again giving him a light kiss and following after Misty.

She followed Misty to the garden under the bridge the young girl sitting alone on the bench crying into her hands.

"I don't want to see her like this" someone said from behind Meia.

Looking over her shoulder she saw Yellow 13 standing behind her, "Then shouldn't you do something?"

He shook his head, "I'm afraid I don't know what to do. I want to help her, but what do I say?"

Meia smiled at him, "Just follow my lead Jax I'll teach you what you need to know".

Noticing their presence as they approached her Misty snapped, "What do you want? If it's a lecture I don't feel like hearing it".

"You don't have to act so tough" Meia told her, "You're not as alone as you think you are".

"She's right" 13 agreed, "Misty we're all allies here. Every single person on this ship is fighting against the harvest so no one here would turn their back on you, but you can't keep acting the way you are or no one will want to get close to you".

Misty opened her moth to say something, but Meia stopped her, "Misty I know how it feels to be alone and I know how frightening it can be, but I also know that having friends and other people you care about around you in time that pain will begin to heal".

Misty's looked down, "I don't want to be alone, but I'm too afraid to talk to anyone".

"You don't have to be" 13 said walking over to her, "Misty I can't begin to imagine how hard all of this must be for you, but you don't have to do it alone. If you ever need help I'll be here for you we both will and so will everyone else, but you have to start being nice".

Misty jumped up and threw her arms around him crying into his chest, "I don't want to be alone anymore".

"You're not" 13 told her, "I won't let you be alone any longer".

Meia smiled, "I won't either. We'll always be here for you Misty if you need us".

"Thank you" the young teen continued to cry into 13's chest his jacket slowly becoming wetter as he tears were absorbed by the cloth.

Calming down Misty sat on the bench again rubbing the last tear from her eyes she managed to smile at them. The thankful curve on her lips ran away with the sounding of the Nirvana's alarm Aramone's voice announcing the presence of an enemy formation.

"Looks like we've got work to do" 13 said standing up.

Meia nodded and gave Misty another smile, "We'll be back so just sit tight ok".

Misty looked up to both of them with a happy glint in her eyes, "Alright go get them big sister and brother".

The two pilots were briefly stunned by her words, but they smiled nervously and gave her one last nod before running off for the hangar.

"You're late" Mobius said after they took off and dropped into formation.

"That better not be directed at me" Meia told him in a warning tone.

"And what if it is?" Mobius asked her teasingly.

Meia smirked, "Trust me you'll pay for that one".

Hibiki flew past Mobius, "Get out of my way old man" he laughed before looking back to Dita, "Well what are you waiting for let's go".

Dita smiled and sped after him, "Roger that I'm right behind you".

The battle ended within the hour with no injuries and miraculously no craft were damaged a first since this journey began. It seems that with Dita and Hibiki growing closer to each other the crew's morale had increased as well. With the battle over and the day coming to a close everything settled down and returned to normal leaving the ship quiet as lights dimed and crew turned in for bed. The repairs to the water pipes were finished during the battle and the water that flooded the brig was drained allowing the men to return to their rooms except for the two ace pilots Mobius and Yellow 13.

"Are you sure about this?" 13 asked Yukiko standing outside her room, "I don't want to rush into anything".

Yukiko cupped her hands behind her back and stared nervously at the floor, "I just…When Meia and Mobius first started sharing a room they seemed to be happier. I…I want to know why I want to experience that to. I feel alive and full of energy when I'm with you I want to see what its like to sleep next to you".

13 was hesitant and scratched the back of his head, "Yukiko where I come from two people sharing a bed means".

Yukiko shook her head, "I already know what it means…I can tell just by the way my heart beats faster when you're around and I feel like it's hard to breathe. I can tell just from those two things alone that I love you…So I have no problem sharing my room with you in fact I want to".

13 took a slow step toward her and wrapped one arm around her waist bringing his other up to her face and running his hand across her cheek, "Yukiko what is it that you see in me exactly?"

Yukiko raised her arms cupping her hands against both sides of his face as she smiled at him, "I see a gentle person who I can trust someone who makes me happy. There may be some who think that you and Mobius are heartless soldiers because of what you've done in the past, but like everyone else on this ship I've seen you for who you really are. How caring you are even to people you just met. I don't know why, but I feel safe with you around I feel that if I'm ever afraid of anything I can come to you…"

Her words were halted by 13's lips pressing against hers a kiss that summoned silence, but bringing a feeling of euphoria that lifted Yukiko from her feet. When their lips parted Yukiko's face became hot and her heart was ready to erupt from her chest as she smiled at the floor. Without another word she grabbed 13's hand and led him into her room closing the door behind them before pulling him toward her bed.

Further down the hall Mobius returned from the hangar after going over his squadron reports opening the door his eyes moved across the dark room to Meia who had already fallen asleep. Quietly walking over to the bed he removed his shirt and folded it setting it at the foot of the nightstand. Leaning over he slid onto the bed pulling the blanket over him and turning onto his side every movement done silently so not to wake Meia. Facing her as she slept he smiled and closed his eyes only to feel something grab his hand.

"You're late" she whispered tiredly to him.

Mobius met her smile with his own, "Sorry".

Meia inched closer to him her arm wrapping around him as she did, "Its strange" she said, "Even after being with you like this for as long as I have. My heart still skips a beat when I get this close to you".

The arms of her lover wrapped around her as well holding her close to him, "Our hearts beat as one. Yours isn't the only one having a field day".

Meia tilted her head back and kissed him holding onto each other as they drifted to sleep.


Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it - David Nicholls.