Part 14: Relief

After placing the injured Zero in a bed under the watchful eye of Muguet, Aile retreated back to the quiet of her and Vent's little room before anyone could have an opportunity to ask her about the battle on the deck. She had a lot on her mind and didn't really want to talk to anyone just then. She didn't even bother to turn on the lights as she entered, only taking the time to throw Model L onto the nearby desk before she sat down on her bunk, flopping over onto her back and throwing an arm over her eyes with a heavy sigh. The computer display on the desk hummed to life as Model L clattered against the keyboard, the dim glow of the screen providing the room's only illumination as the door slid closed, shutting out the light from the hallway.

I can't believe I lost so badly to that...that...upstart little jerk, Aile thought as she recalled the events of the battle in her mind. I was handling the mavericks easy enough, but when he showed up it was like I was just some annoying little bug, barely worth the effort to swat me aside. She pounded a fist on the bed in frustration. Dammit, how could I be so...so...weak!

After silently berating herself for a few moments, Aile felt like someone was watching her. She lifted her arm and opened her eyes to see Model L floating in the air just above her knees. "Let me guess. You're here to tell me how badly I screwed up?" She said grumpily.

"Why would I do that?" Model L replied, ignoring the harshness in the girl's tone. "You already know what you did wrong. There's hardly a need for me to point it out as well."

"Then leave me alone." Aile threw her arm back over her face to continue brooding in silence. "I don't feel like talking right now."

Model L didn't budge. "Hmph. If I'd known you were going to sit in a corner and sulk every time you lost, I'd have thought twice about making you my Chosen One."

"I am not sulking!" Aile bolted upright, her face coming within inches of the floating biometal as her head skimmed the bottom of the top bunk.

"Yes you are, and it's pathetic. I didn't think you were so weak that you'd give up the first time someone beat you in a fight."

"I am not weak!" Aile shouted angrily, though the slight quake in her voice told Model L that she wasn't as confident in that statement as she appeared.

"That's better," Model L said, bobbing up and down in the air. "Angry people are so much easier to talk to than depressed people.

"Now then, are you upset because Aeolus defeated you so easily? Or are you upset because 'you screwed up', as you so aptly described it?"

Model L's matter-of-fact tone helped to cool off Aile's sizzling temper. "A little bit of both, I guess," she replied with much better control of her voice.

"Everyone makes mistakes. Accept them, learn from them, and move on. I thought you would have learned that lesson by now."

"But I almost got both Vent and myself killed! I can't afford to make mistakes like that! If it weren't for Ashe and Zero we'd both be-"

"That's your problem, right there," Model L interrupted. "You think you need to do everything on your own, and if things go bad it's all your fault."

"If I hadn't been so stupid and reckless-"

"Be quiet, I wasn't finished." Model L said, rudely cutting her off. "I can't stand listening to people whine about their inadequacies when they could instead be working to rid themselves of them."

Seeing that she'd gotten her point across, Model L softened her tone as she continued. "Now as I was about say, you are in entirely the wrong mindset. Aile, nobody is perfect - everyone makes mistakes. That is a fact of life. But that is also why you aren't fighting this battle alone. When one member of a team makes a mistake, the other members of the team are there to support them. That's what it means to be part of a team. You rely on your teammates to help you when you screw up, because they're relying on you to cover for them too."

"But it was my fault that-"

"Shut up and stop interrupting me! It doesn't matter whose fault it was! Aile, battle is a thing of the moment. You can't afford to spend your time worrying about why something happened, or think about what you should have done. What's important is that you deal with the consequences and learn from the experience so that the same thing doesn't happen again. A warrior's worth is not measured in terms of how many mistakes they make - it's measured by how quickly they learned from those mistakes, how quickly they can adapt to any situation they find themselves in. Those are the warriors that everyone wants to have by their side, the ones who live the longest, because they have the most experience and are capable of dealing with the largest number of possibilities in battle."

"So what you're saying is, I should listen to you more often," Aile said with a smirk. Model L floated forward and tapped her lightly on the forehead.

"That's the first intelligent thing you've said since we started this little talk," she said, satisfied that she was getting through to the girl. "I'm here to help you Aile, and not just with my power as a biometal. I've been around for a long time and done a lot of stupid things. I'm more than happy to keep you from making the same mistakes I did, but first you need to learn to accept your failures or, in the long run, they'll just drag you down."

"Oh come on, I thought you were perfect," Aile joked, slowly returning to good humor.

"If I were perfect I wouldn't have died, my dear. You think I like being a floating hunk of metal? No, I made my fair share of mistakes, some of which...well, I won't get into it. Suffice to say they had much more...permanent consequences than anything you've done."

"Weren't you part of a team? You talk about these things like you know about it all personally. Wasn't there anyone watching out for you when you made your mistakes?"

"Yes, but...sometimes everyone makes the same mistake. At that point, there's really one thing to do." Model L was suddenly very solemn and sincere. "Sometimes, Aile, all you can do is accept responsibility and do everything in your power to atone for what you've done...no matter the cost."

Feeling the sadness Model L was hiding behind her words, Aile decided she shouldn't probe any further. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to become stronger so that I don't make the same mistakes you did."

"Exactly! I'm glad to see you catching on so quickly. I knew you were a bright one," Model L said, sounding much more like her usual self. "Moving on. Now that you've come to grips with the fact that you screwed up and let Aeolus beat you, do you know why he beat you?"

"Because I got angry," Aile said dejectedly. "I stopped concentrating on what I was doing and got reckless. I couldn't help it! When I saw Vent go over the side of the ship I just...I just felt so angry! Angry at Aeolus for taking my brother away, and angry at myself for letting him. All I could think about was how much I hated him and wanted him to pay for it!" Heat began creeping into Aile's voice as she thought back on those moments.

"I know exactly how you felt, Aile, but you can't allow your emotions to cloud your judgement in battle like that. I know it's hard, but you can't allow your feelings to dictate your actions. That's how Aeolus beat you - he used your emotions against you and forced you to make a mistake because you weren't thinking clearly. It had nothing to do with whether he was stronger than you or not, he simply remained in control of himself while you flew off the handle."

"Well I'm sorry for not being an emotionless robot!" Aile yelled, frustrated. "I can't just turn off all my feelings and feel nothing while I cleave through armies of mavericks like Zero does!"

Model L slammed into Aile's chest so hard that she fell backward onto the bed again. "Hey, what was that for?"
"Don't you ever let me hear you say that again!" Model L hissed, her tone seething with barely-suppressed anger. "You think Zero is some sort of emotionless killer? You couldn't be further from the truth! You have no idea how Zero feels whenever he enters battle - neither do I, for that matter. But I assure you, he is as far from being 'emotionless' as you can possibly get."

"But he looks so calm when he fights," Aile said, confused. "His face is always so empty and he moves like a machine, it's like he's just chopping wood. He looks like he's killing things just because they're there, and they're in his way."

"That's because you're looking at his face and how he moves. Zero has learned how to master his emotions and use them to make himself stronger. Aile, feelings are only a weakness when you let them overrule your reason and break your concentration. If you can learn to control them and use them to your advantage you'll find that there are very few people in this world who will stand a chance against you.

"If you doubt me, the next time you see Zero fight, look very carefully at his eyes. Someone once said that a person's eyes are like a window into their soul. I think that if you look carefully enough, you'll see exactly what it is Zero feels every time he swings that saber of his. Trust me, if he were the unfeeling, merciless killer you think he is, he'd have died a long time ago and never gotten back up."

Aile thought back to that strange feeling she'd gotten after looking into Zero's eyes when he protected her from Aeolus' killing blow on the deck. Though he'd spoken in a level voice, Zero's eyes had been anything but emotionless, though she hadn't recognized it for what it was at the time. So that's why I felt something so...powerful...in his voice back then, and how he moved so quickly to defend me despite his injuries. That...makes a lot more sense, now...

"I believe you," Aile said finally, then sighed. "I know I still have a lot to learn. I just have to do it fast enough that I don't get anyone killed."

"Correct. Unfortunately, I'm not the one you should be asking about this sort of thing - I was never good at the whole 'fight without emotion' deal." Model L admitted. "You'd be much better off asking Zero about it."

"Oh really?" Aile asked, surprised.

"Why do you think he always beat me?" Model L laughed. "Every time we fought I couldn't help but get excited at the challenge, the thrill of combat that only Zero could give me. Fighting him was the only time I really felt alive, the only time I felt the ice surrounding my empty heart melt away, if only for a moment. Even though I always lost, it made me happy to know that next time I'd be stronger, and that maybe I'd finally be able to defeat him!" The biometal finished with a rueful sigh, lost in her own thoughts of the past.

Aile felt there was something else behind her words, something she was feeling, but not saying. She managed to summon up enough courage to ask, "Model L...did you...love him?"

There was a long silence as Model L considered her words. "No," she finally replied, "I didn't. I loved the way he made me feel, and the thrill and excitement he gave me when we fought. But as one of the four Generals, I was not programmed to understand love, and thus had a very weak grasp on what exactly the word meant. Perhaps I felt like I loved him at the time, but I can see now that it was nothing of the sort. No, it would be more accurate to say I held a deep respect for Zero's abilities as a warrior, as well as for his strength of character, and resolve to do what he felt was right, no matter what obstacles were in his way - myself included. He was...what I would aspire to be, were I still alive."

"I see," Aile said quietly, then nodded. "I think I understand Zero a bit better now, and you too. Thanks for telling me that. It means a lot to me, really."

"Yes, well, let's just keep this between us girls, shall we? I've spent two hundred years forging my reputation as a cold-hearted witch, I'd hate to throw it all away now."

"Of course!" Aile said cheerily. "Your secret's safe with me!"

She grabbed ahold of Model L and smiled, feeling refreshed as the last vestiges of her doubt and melancholy washed away, replaced by a fierce determination to become stronger and a renewed resolve to protect everyone important to her. She also knew that Model L was no longer just her partner in combat - she was her friend as well.

"I wonder where Vent went off to..." Aile thought to herself out loud, abruptly changing the subject. Model L barked a laugh.

"I should think that's obvious. Haven't you noticed it yet?"

"Noticed what?" Aile said, clueless.

Model L sighed. "Forget what I said about you being a bright one."

"...so Aile went to put Zero directly into Muguet's care while we came here to report to you," Vent finished. Prairie nodded as she thought over the events that had taken place on the landing deck, as Vent had just described to her.

"So, how's the ship doing?" Ashe spoke up from her place beside him.

"Not very well, unfortunately," Prairie replied with a shake of her head. "Firing the Hope overloaded a lot of systems that we can't repair until we land and do a full reactor shutdown. Luckily we're only a few miles out from Cygnus base, but with our damaged power systems it'll take us at least forty minutes to get there. Silure tells me that Cygnus has the facilities and personnel necessary to get the job done, but it'll take time."

"Sweet!" Ashe pumped a fist in the air in excitement. "Time off!"

"Maybe for you," Prairie replied with a rueful grin, "but some of us have work to do whether the ship is running or not. I've got to spread the word about what's happening in Legion and make sure nobody in the Innerpeace government gets infected. It's going to be one hell of a job keeping this virus contained, but we've got to try."

"Did you learn anything from the data on the Legion servers?" Vent asked.

"No. Honestly, we haven't really had that much time to look through it it, what with all that's been going on around here. It doesn't look like we'll have an opportunity any time soon, either."

"Totally understandable," Ashe said. A thoughtful looked flashed across her features for a moment, then she nodded to herself, as if deciding something. "Well, how about I take a look at it? After all that excitement I could go for a bit of relaxing, non-life-threatening research in the comfort of my room. Besides, I hate sitting around feeling useless when there's so much work to get done, and I'm afraid I'd just get in the way if I tried to help fix anything. I've always been better at blowing things apart than putting them back together."

"Yes, well, there are always times when both are necessary, and we're glad to have you around for those times when we need things blown up," Prairie said with a good-natured smile. She reached over to the keypad of her command console and tapped a few keys as she continued. "I'll give you access to the database files from the terminal in the quarters I assigned you earlier. Vent, I'll give you and Aile access as well in case either of you find yourself with some free time. Your priority should be any information you can find concerning the Maverick Virus - if you find anything, let me know immediately."

"Sounds like a plan," Vent said with a nod, then changed the subject. "Prairie, about Zero...he's really pushing himself too hard. We need to find something better for him to Megamerge with before he manages to really get himself in trouble."

Prairie sighed. "You let me worry about Zero, Vent. I'll go pay him a visit as soon as I can get away from all this." She motioned around the command room. "I'm sure that between the two of us we'll be able to work something out that doesn't involve him falling apart all over my ship.

"Now, unless there's something else you urgently need to tell me, get out of my command room. I have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in."

"Yes ma'am," Vent replied with a salute and a sympathetic grin, then spun on his heel and headed out the door. Ashe smiled cheerfully, gave Prairie a little wave, then followed after him.

"So, you're really going to go looking through all that data for clues, are you?" Vent asked dryly as the Hunter girl caught up with him. "I never took you for the sit-down-and-read type of girl."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Ashe said indignantly. "Just because I like to blow things up doesn't mean I don't enjoy a peaceful, relaxing afternoon without explosions every once in a while. I'll have you know I'm one of the most ladylike girls you'll ever have the privilege of meeting, you uncouth barbarian." She stuck her nose in the air to accentuate her point.

"Whatever you say, m'lady," Vent replied with mock sincerity. "Either way, it was nice of you to offer. I know Prairie wants to look through that data herself but she really isn't going to have time to do it now."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't kidding, what I said back there. I can't stand sitting around doing nothing while everyone around me is working their butts off, especially with so much at stake. If reading through boring piles of database information is the most useful thing I can do around here, then that's what I'll do." Then a thoughtful look appeared on her face. "Although there is one problem."

"Hmm? What's that?"

"I forget how to get back from my room from here," Ashe said with a sheepish grin. "We were kind of a in a hurry when we left, I didn't see which way you were dragging me - and I don't really know my way around here very well to begin with." She scratched the top of her head theatrically. "In fact, now that I think of it, I don't even remember the room number."

"I remember where it was, want me to show you?" Vent offered.

"Oh, would you? That would be great!" Ashe exclaimed happily. "What a gentlemanly thing to do! There might be hope for you yet," she teased. Vent simply rolled his eyes as they approached the command level's elevator.

"Room two three seven, I think it was." He pushed the second floor button. "The first digit tells you what floor it's on, the second is which hall it's in," he explained. "Once you're in the right hall, all the odd-numbered rooms are on one side and all the even numbered ones on the other."

"Makes sense, I guess," Ashe said with a shrug. "It's just not something I'm used to. The living areas back in Hunter's Base were anything but organized. It was basically just a whole bunch of little one-room shacks that were thrown up wherever people felt like building them. Whenever you need a place to stay for a while you just find an empty one, toss your stuff in it, put something heavy in front of the door, and call it home until your next job comes along. If you need something more permanent there's always apartments and stuff for rent in Legion, but I never really saw the point."

"Wow, that sounds pretty rough. Aile and I have always had a place to call home; first with our mother, then with Giro, and now with the Guardians. I never thought about what it would be like to be without one."

Ashe shrugged nonchalantly. "Can't miss what you never had," she said, casually dismissing the issue with a wave. Despite her brushing it away so easily, Vent couldn't help but feel sympathy for the girl's situation.

The elevator door let out a short beep, then slid open. Vent motioned for her to enter first, eliciting a comedic gasp of surprise from Ashe.

"Oh my, and chivalrous, too! If I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to impress me." Ashe made a show of stepping daintily into the elevator, Vent chuckling as he followed after. Upon entering he turned to the control panel and pressed the button for the second floor, then leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, similar to how Ashe was standing across from him. There was another small beep as the door slid shut, then the elevator began its descent.

Without much else to talk about, the pair stood silently in the small elevator as it hummed smoothly down the elevator shaft. The ship wasn't incredibly large, consisting of only nine different floors. The command room was on the eighth floor, meaning they had quite a ways to go down. However, what was normally only a minute-long journey ended up being quite a bit longer. As the display over the door indicated they had just passed the fourth floor the elevator came to a jarring halt, knocking its two surprised passengers off balance. They both stumbled forward until they collided with one another in the middle of the tiny room in a flurry of arms and legs. Vent managed to get his feet under him first and reacted instinctively, grabbing Ashe by the forearms before she fell face first onto the floor.

"The hell was that?" the Hunter girl exclaimed as Vent helped her back up. "This elevator always slam on the brakes like that?"

"No, its definitely never done that before. It must have something to do with the damage to the power grid." Vent activated his communicator. "Prairie, you there?"

There was a short pause before an answer came through. "Vent? I'm rather busy here, what's wrong?"She definitely sounds distracted, Vent thought to himself.

"Ashe and I are in the main elevator heading for the second floor and it just stopped moving. Any idea what's going on?"

"One moment, I'll check with Silure." Vent's communicator shut off abruptly as Prairie switched channels.

"Hopefully it won't take too long to get this straightened out," Vent thought aloud as he glanced around the tiny space. "I'd hate to have to bust our way out of here."

When the witty remark he was expecting from Ashe didn't materialize, Vent wandered his gaze down to look at her and saw her staring very intently at his hands, which he just then realized were still holding her by the arms.

"Gah!" Vent exclaimed as he quickly released his grip, feeling heat creep into his face. He smiled nervously as Ashe's eyes looked into his, an odd expression on her face. "Sorry. That wasn't very gentlemanly of me at all, was it?"

Ashe continued to look at him curiously. Just as she seemed about to say something, Vent's communicator activated again.

"He says he's already on it," Prairie's voice said through the device. "Something about overloading power relays I think. It was hard to tell between all the curses. Give him a few minutes to get it fixed and you'll be back on your way." She cut the transmission again before Vent could even thank her.

"Sounds like she's really busy," Vent stated, then sighed. "Looks like we'll be here for a little while."

"I guess," Ashe said absently. She was staring at the floor in front of her, deep in thought about something. She took a step back and sat down with her back against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. After a moment she seemed to snap out of her funk, looking up at Vent with a little smile. "May as well get comfortable, then." She patted the ground beside her, indicating Vent should sit - which he did.

The pair continued to wait in silence, the minutes slowly ticking by. At one point Vent looked over at Ashe from the corner of his eye and saw that thoughtful look back on her face, but now it was speckled with hints of confusion. She seemed to be conflicted over something, though he had no idea what it could be. It's none of my business either, he scolded himself. Maybe talking will take her mind off of it?

"So, you just flew in front of that Legion ship and crashed into the front of it, huh?" Vent said, forcing a lighthearted chuckle to try and lighten the mood. "You have to admit, that was a pretty crazy thing to do. You could have gotten hurt, or left behind."

The faraway look in Ashe's eyes disappeared as she replied. "Nah, I had the whole thing planned out all along. I was fine." She grinning up at him mischievously. "I just wanted to make you worry about me."

"Well you did a good job of that," Vent chuckled back at her. It was just then, thinking back on what had happened on the landing deck, that he came to a realization. When I kept her from falling over the railing...I didn't really need to do that. She could have just flown herself back on board like she did when she caught me. Then why didn't she...

"Hey Ashe, when you got knocked off the ship back there...I didn't really need to catch you, did I?" Vent asked.

Momentarily surprised by the question, Ashe was silent for a moment as she considered how to answer him. "Not really, no," she finally said, quietly turning her eyes towards the floor of the elevator as Vent looked down at her.

"Then why'd you thank me? It's not like you to miss an opportunity to brag about how awesome you are," Vent said with a chuckle, smiling to show he meant no offense.

"Vent..." Ashe sighed as she tried to think of the best way to explain herself. "I don't think you understand me as well as you think you do," she eventually said.

"Oh?" Vent replied, sounding slightly surprised. There was a pause before he continued. "Well, I'd like to understand you as well as I can, if you'll let me," he said quietly, his voice gentle and sincere.

Ashe regarded him sideways, weighing his words in her mind. She wasn't sure what was more surprising to her - that Vent wanted to know about her, or that she actually wanted to tell him. Why does everything he do make me feel all weird inside? Ashe closed her eyes as she continued her internal battle with her own feelings. First he pulled me back over that railing, then he held me up when the elevator shook. Now he wants to learn more about who I am...I don't get it. Why am I so worried about what Vent thinks of me? I've never cared about stuff like that before, so why now, all of a sudden? And why him, of all people?

She began slowly, still unsure of why she was saying anything at all. "When I was a kid, a group of Hunters rescued me from a maverick raid and brought me back to Hunter Base. They tried to find out who I was so they could find someone to take care of me, but nobody they asked had ever seen or heard of me before. I couldn't remember anything about what happened before that: who I was, who my family were, or where I was from - I still can't. So without anyone willing to look after me, I had to learn to take care of myself and how to live the life of a Hunter.

"It's a motto of the Hunter's Guild to take care of its own, but you're still in direct competition with each other to find the treasure first and get credit. That's how a Hunter gets by in life. Sure, I've teamed up with other Hunters before to go after some of the larger bounties, but it's still more like a free-for-all than being a part of a team. You have to always keep an eye on your backside and make sure that nobody's going to double-cross you and make off with all the loot after all the hard work is over. It's like...I won't get in your way, and you won't get in mine, you know?

"To even get jobs to begin with you have to prove you're good at what you do. You have to get your reputation out there, let people know who you are so that when they have a lead on something big they come to you first. It's just the way life as a Hunter works - you take care of yourself first, your friends second, and your allies third. For as far back as I can remember I've had to take care of myself because if I didn't, nobody else would."

Ashe shifted uncomfortably as she spoke - she wasn't used to talking about herself. Partly because nobody had ever really cared, and partly because she never really wanted to talk about it.

Then why am I telling him all this? she asked herself again before continuing.

"When I'm fighting with you and Aile, and even Zero, it's...different. I don't have to worry about any of you stabbing me in the back, or chickening out and running away, or anything like that. The three of you are actually important to me. I want to do everything I can to protect you all, even more than I want to protect myself, and it feels really weird because I can't figure out why.

"When you grabbed my hand and pulled me back over the railing, it...surprised me. You were watching out for me, making sure I was all right. You helped me out when you thought I was in trouble even though you had plenty of your own problems to deal with. It was like...you actually cared about what happened to me out there. Nobody's really done that for me before."

"Of course I care about what happens to you, Ashe," Vent replied softly. "You're my friend. How could I not care about you?"

"Heh. My definition of a 'friend' was someone who you could almost trust not to screw you over...until I met all of you. The way everyone here looks out for everyone else, how you all work together to do great things without trying to compete for the fame and glory of success...it's all so strange to me. I had all these assumptions about how life worked so ingrained into my thinking that it never occurred to me that there could be people anywhere in the world who could be so kind, generous, and caring as the people I've met in my short time on the Guardian Base."

Vent's face turned a bit red at the praise. "Yeah, well, the Guardians are a pretty great bunch of people," he said sheepishly.

"I'm talking about you too, you big oaf. " Ashe smiled and punched him softly in the arm, though she couldn't seem to bring herself to look him in the face. Instead she continued to stare down at the floor in front of her. "Even though what you did was completely unnecessary, it still meant a lot to me, and I wanted you to know I appreciated it."

Vent's loss for words was covered up by a loud clunk, followed by the hum of the elevator starting to move again. "Looks like Silure got it fixed," Vent said, sounding relieved for an excuse to change the topic. He quickly got to his feet, then turned to offer Ashe a hand up, which she gladly accepted. After she was back on her feet, she thought that Vent held on to her hand for a brief moment longer than necessary before letting go.

Stop that, she scolded herself, you're just imagining things. He was helping you up, that's all. Calm down and get ahold of yourself, girl.

It was only a few seconds later that the elevator slowly came to a halt. The door beeped quietly as it slid open. "Well, here we are. Your room is down that hall on the right there," Vent said, pointing her in the right direction.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Ashe stammered, having momentarily forgotten why they were in the elevator together in the first place. Why am I getting all flustered around Vent lately? And why did I tell him all of that stuff about me? I could have brushed him off pretty easily and he'd have let it drop, so why did I...

As she stepped out into the hallway Ashe suddenly felt a strange tightening in her chest. She couldn't explain exactly where it was, or why she felt it, but it was there. Then when she turned around to say goodbye to Vent it abruptly worsened, and she realized why - she didn't want him to leave. Talking to Vent, and knowing that he wanted to listen, felt good - it was that warm fuzzy feeling she'd felt before, when he'd visited her in her room after she'd left the infirmary. She wanted to keep talking to him about all the things she kept pent up in herself, and she wanted to hear the same things about him, but she couldn't have said why.

Ashe frantically started trying to come up with a way to keep him from leaving. She knew she was being irrational, but she didn't care - something inside her was screaming at her to not let that elevator door close while he was still inside, screaming so loudly that she couldn't ignore it no matter how hard she tried.

"So, uh, Vent, where you off to now?" she asked, stalling for time while she tried to sort herself out.

"Well, I guess I'll go check up on Aile, she was pretty worried about me again. If I know her she's probably in our room brooding or doing something equally gloomy." The expression on his face indicated that he wasn't looking forward to it.

"Don't you think it's time you let your sister deal with life by herself?" Ashe said just as the door beeped, indicating it was about to slide shut. She put one hand over the sensor to keep it open as she continued. "I know you two are close, but it's like you're joined at the hip or something. She needs to figure out how to deal with things on her own, y'know? Learn not to beat herself up over things so much and trust you to take care of yourself. She won't do that if you keep coddling her all the time. She's a strong person, except where you're involved."

Vent sighed. "You're probably right," he said.

"Of course I am." Then she had an amazing idea. "Say, why don't you come to my room and look over the Legion data with me? It'd be nice to have some company for something that's bound to be incredibly boring."

Vent considered her proposition for a moment, then smiled. "Sure, that sounds like a great idea. It's not like I've got anything better to do. Besides, this way I can make sure you know how to reach your room from now on, too."

"Of course it's a great idea - I came up with it, didn't I?" Ashe smiled back, though while Vent's was full of good-natured humor, hers was one of desperate relief. As Vent stepped off the elevator the tightness in her chest vanished, leaving only the odd warm feeling behind. 'Warm' wasn't really the right word, but it was as close as she could get. She decided to not let it bother her, pushing the matter out of her mind and simply enjoying the feeling - whatever it was.

Author's Note

The first half of this chapter is probably my favorite part yet, mostly because I really like developing Model L. The second half...ehhh. I'm still really bad at writing this sort of thing, which is why I'm making myself do it. What's here actually didn't turn out so bad, but the first version of that elevator scene was pretty painful to read. Ah, the wonders of editing! If you happen to like reading about Vent and Ashe I'm shoving more of it down your throat in part 15, but I'm not sure whether I like it more or less than this. You'd think I'd get better at it with time...

"Relief" is from the ZXA soundtrack, and the only place I can think of that it plays is after you beat Albert and wake up back at Hunter's Base. It likely shows up elsewhere but I can't recall where. I don't particularly like the song since it's kind of boring, but the name fits this part nicely, and I guess the song does as well, to some extent.

Instead of doing a RtZ update next week I'm going to be posting "Where We Belong", the sappy Ciel fic I mentioned I was writing at the end of part 13. I wrote it largely to get more practice at writing scenes like this chapter, and I think it turned out really well. Hopefully that means that any more sappy chapters I write for RtZ turn out better too. I was going to post it this weekend but I'm running out pre-written material, so I'm spreading things out in the interest of keeping a steady flow going. I haven't had much time to write lately due to schoolwork, but since classes are over this Thursday that shouldn't be a problem much longer. So, keep an eye out for that. I'd love feedback on it as much as I'd love feedback on this. :D

Canonical Notes

Yes, my view of the Hunters is somewhat more creative than Inti's. The game doesn't really give many details about how their organization works, so in the interest of creating a more interesting background for Ashe I made them a bit darker than they're portrayed in the game. I happen to like it this way, but you're free to...not. The "collection of one-room shacks" deal is largely from just wandering around Hunter's Base in ZXA and looking at the backgrounds - that's pretty much what they are. And what's the deal with having a building dedicated solely to throwing unconscious main characters into it? See, this is the kind of stuff I have to deal with. :P

In my mind, while the Guardians may have at one point consisted of only one ship full of do-gooders, they have since expanded to have several other facilities, one of which is Cygnus Base. These are largely unknown or otherwise discreet facilities that serve as bases of operations for Guardian activities in the area. Sometimes they're nothing more than a couple of equipment sheds and a perimeter fence, while others are like Cygnus and have full repair and communication facilities. I figure that if the Guardians are going to try and save the world, they're going to eventually need some backup. You'll be seeing more of this stuff in the future.

I also made the Guardian Base a lot larger than in ZX. It's not that they actually made the base that much bigger (though they did remodel and expand it slightly at one point, which is when the Sword of Hope was added - more on that in later parts), it's just that having a giant base full of nothing but empty rooms is a pretty boring gameplay element, so you don't see it all in the game. In reality the base is also not created in two dimensions. I also imagine it would be bad ship design to put the power reactor right next to the ship's lower hull, which is where it is in ZX. So just pretend that elevator in the middle of the ship in ZX goes up and down a few more floors, such that the lower floor in the game is actually the fourth or fifth from the bottom.

I also embellished a little regarding Model L/Leviathan's background. Live with it. :P