A/N: Yes, I'm alive and no I haven't given up on this story. If anyone's still around, sorry for the delay. If you're new then awesome you haven't been waiting for years. I'm dragging this plot along until it's done. We all might be 85 by then but it'll be done. Again, sorry. It's been a rough few years. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

AATS
Chapter 24
Strangers

He wished he could say that Albedo meant nothing to him. He needed for Albedo to mean nothing. If Albedo meant nothing then his death meant nothing. Jr. really needed for all of it to mean nothing.

Jr. spent hours turning it over and over in his head, trying to convince himself but it was impossible. Even as they escaped from the ashes of the Alviss, even as Asher struggled through space to bring them to the Elsa, Albedo was the only thing on Jr.'s mind.

As soon as Asher landed inside of the Elsa's hangar Tony was there. Jr. lowered Asher onto its knees and watched wordlessly as Tony scooped chaos into his arms and took him away. Jr. knew he should have felt something: guilt, shame, worry. All of his emotions felt muted, tucked away in some deep crevice.

The usual din of Professor and Scott didn't reach him the way it usually did. He looked down at his fingers, curling and uncurling them over again to make sure they would move. He felt Professor before he heard him even though he knew it should have been the other way around.

"Its vessel is unharmed, " Professor huffed, red-faced. "It's actually giving off a little bit of extra power. I haven't found the exact cause of that yet but I will. As for the rest..."

Professor knocked against one of Asher's knees with the butt of a wrench. "I'll do what I can but it'll take time and a heck of a lot more supplies than we've got."

"I trust you, Old Man," Jr. replied with a nod. He didn't notice the strange look Professor gave him. His eyes were locked on the giant hole in Asher's core. "I'll pay whatever it costs, just fix him."

Being in the Elsa felt like walking through one long, endless tunnel. Jr. was aimless. He walked the Elsa almost constantly, unsure of what to do or where to go. He walked until he physically couldn't anymore and collapsed in the bar, body stretched out in the big red booth in the back.

He drifted in and out of sleep. Hammer came to check on him from time to time. He was always nervous. A worried smile pulled his lips into an awkward line as he tried to get some kind of reaction out of Jr. Matthews was next, sitting beside him with updates on the progress of the ship. Most of it went in one ear and out the other but Jr. caught a few words.

chaos had sent an EMS almost as soon as Jr. had disappeared and they'd followed it until they found the half-demolished Asher in the middle of space. It would be five days before they made it back to the Foundation. Professor was making one hell of a racket but Asher was already looking a little more like itself.

Finally, with fingers as worried and nervous as Hammer's smile, Matthews put out his cigarette and asked if there were any orders that Jr. wanted to give.

"Stop wherever Professor needs to for parts or supplies."

Matthews nodded, readjusted his hat with a sharp jerk and left. No prying questions. No hesitancy.

Jr. really didn't give him enough credit.

He wasn't sure how long he had been lying in the Elsa's bar before Professor showed up. Jr. didn't stir from his spot on the couch but it seemed like Professor didn't expect him to. The old man marched over to Jr., back hunched as if on a mission. He threw something onto the table and stared at Jr. until he finally - and with great effort - pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"I don't know what goes on on this ship, I just go. I've got my own little area and I work on whatever you decide to break next...and whatever I deem worth my time. But I found this..." Professor gestured to the object on the table."...inside the cockpit. It belongs to that boy, doesn't it? Your friend? The one who saved you?"

Jr. looked at it, pulled it toward him, turned it in his hands. It was chaos' left glove.

"He's been in the cabins since you've been back. It's been two days, by the way. I'd give it to him but seeing as how you have absolutely nothing to do and I'm quite the busy man I thought you should take it."

He turned around and left without another word. Jr. stared at the glove in his hand for a few moments longer before finally, with stiff and stinging limbs, he scooted his way out of the booth.

Jr. still didn't feel quite right. He decided that two days lying in a booth probably hadn't helped. His body piped up then, reminding him how hungry it was. Well, at least he had some kind of sensation. What he wouldn't have given for a plate of Shion's curry right about now. He wondered how she was doing and rubbed his stomach absently.

He didn't meet anyone on his way to the men's cabins. His communicator told him it was around two o' clock and he felt a small wave of relief. Everyone else would be on the bridge and he could talk to chaos alone.

He raised his hand to the door but stopped short of opening it. He didn't know what he wanted to say to chaos. He knew that he needed to both thank him and apologize but he wasn't sure how. chaos had saved him countless times and he still hadn't learned how to do either. The strange sense of wrongness definitely wasn't helping things. Albedo's presence was heavy in his chest and he still hadn't been able to shake him. He doubted that he would be able to and if that were the truth, if he was never able to process what had just happened and what he had seen then what did that mean for him? More importantly what did it mean for the people around him?

He placed his hand against the panel and the door slid open.

The room was dark. chaos was a white lump on one of the beds against the left wall, curled into a ball under what seemed like a mountain of sheets. The sheets stirred when the light from the hallway filtered in.

"Jr.?" chaos mumbled.

Suddenly the full force of Jr.'s emotions came flooding back at once, as if chaos had spoken the magic words to break a spell. He stood in the doorway, frozen by each and every distant thought, every dulled sensation clawing for his attention.

When he didn't answer the mountain of sheets fell away until Jr. could see chaos' tired expression squinting in the light.

"Jr.!" His voice was full of relief.

Jr. moved toward that relief; buzzing with emotion. The door slid shut behind him, throwing the room into darkness again. The stiffness of Jr.'s body was more evident as he walked around the table toward chaos' bed. The older boy straightened up at his approach, shedding piles of blankets and revealing one of the skin-tight body suits he was constantly wearing.

How the hell do you sleep like that, Jr. wondered. He might have said it out loud. He might have teased chaos about it, punched him in the shoulder, told him that an entire ship full of Ormus soldiers couldn't kill him but the heat certainly would - but he couldn't. His heart was pounding too fast, his mind reeling from the thoughts slamming into him.

Jr. took the nearest empty bed, hopping onto it with the elegance of concrete. He tossed the glove down beside him as he did. chaos didn't notice. His eyes hadn't left Jr. since the cabin doors opened. They stayed locked on him as Jr. leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and knitting his fingers into a tent that pressed harshly against his lips.

A few silent moments past between the two as chaos waited and Jr. refused to make eye contact. chaos didn't press him to speak. You're too patient, Jr. thought irritably, knocking his clasped fingers against his lips.

Jr. knew that it was ridiculous to stay quiet like this but he was in the middle of a crisis. He hadn't had a plan when he walked in and now he couldn't even sort through his own thoughts. He owed chaos an apology, owed him a thousand. He needed to thank him because without chaos Jr. knew he wouldn't have made it out. What a dangerous and stupid mission it had been. Gaignun would kill him when he found out. He was surprised he wasn't already dead. He tried to strengthen the walls around his thoughts but he couldn't get through the thoughts to reinforce any natural protections already in place. One thought after another collided into each other, bringing up emotions and extinguishing them for newer more powerful ones every second. He ran a shaky hand through his hair.

Panic. The word had finally come to him. He was panicking.

His thoughts continued to viciously roil into each other.

"Jr."

chaos' voice was stern but not unkind and it eased the symptoms of Jr.'s panic. Jr. chanced a glance at his old friend and without thinking blurted out, "I should have gone alone."

"And died?" chaos asked. There was a bit of an edge to the question but the gentleness was still there.

He's worried, Jr. thought. He had plenty of reason to be. Jr. felt like he was dissolving; his swirling thoughts like acid melting him from the inside out.

"I don't think I would have." Jr.'s response was automatic. The memory of the soldier shielding him from gunfire washed over him. Jr.'s eyes flickered up for a nanosecond before falling down to his hands. He opened his mouth, sighed angrily.

"I-he.."

He wanted to explain what he had seen but he couldn't figure out how to do it without sounding completely insane. In the end he gave up and said with two sharp gestures, "Albedo...was there."

Concern and confusion flitted across chaos' face and Jr. felt more of himself melt as the panic returned. He didn't know what he was saying, couldn't stop himself.

"I found...him..." Jr.'s head fell into his hands. "I think - no, I know - he was there."

The blood pouring over him, the obscured face behind the mask and the dead soldier all came running back to him. It had been Albedo. There was no one else it could have been. And the next time Jr. wanted to go on some fantastic suicide mission to meet him he would go alone.

"You saw him?"

Jr. shook his head. "I didn't need to."

"Jr.-"

"- Listen," Jr. interrupted. "I shouldn't have taken you with me. I won't ask you to do something like that again."

Jr. wrung his hands together, entwining his fingers over and over. He was getting worse, his thoughts more muddled, more hectic. The soldier would flash up over and over again, demanding his attention. He could remember every single detail, every scuff on the visor. And that voice. It had been Albedo. It hadn't mattered who it was that he had found underneath the mask. He couldn't have imagined it.

"I don't know how I know it was him. I don't even know if I'm going crazy or not. Hell, my mind's been so screwed up lately that I'm not even sure that you're real or that I'm here - actually here on the Elsa. But I can tell you that Albedo was on that ship in some shape or form. I'm so close to finding him and I can't stop now."

Jr.'s fingers ran in hectic lines through his hair. He focused his eyes on the wall beside him.

"But I can't drag you into this again - any of you. I have to find him on my own."

He felt chaos' hand on his shoulder but he didn't dare raise his eyes to look at him. It wasn't until chaos' skin met his that Jr. realized his shoulder was bare.

That's right, he thought. I tossed my jacket.

A large gash had been ripped out of his shirt, leaving his entire shoulder exposed and he hadn't stopped to notice. Disgust broke through the panic and he looked at his hands. He was covered in blood. It was caked in his belt, and stained his pants. Worst of all it had soaked into the front of his shirt. He pulled on it, finding blood caked into the fabric. No wonder everyone had looked so worried. It looked like he had bathed in blood. Now that he looked back at it, he had.

Showered, He thought. Not bathed.

A sudden warmth on his skin distracted him. chaos had placed his bare fingertips around Jr.'s shoulder. There was heat coming from them, sliding over Jr.'s skin in tiny electric pinpricks. Jr. looked up at him, confused, and chaos responded by placing his whole hand over Jr.'s skin. Jr. gasped, and started to pull chaos' hand away but chaos stopped him with the other hand. It didn't hurt and Jr. adapted quickly to the feeling. It felt like power; raw power in its purest form infiltrating his pores. All of his thoughts collided quickly into one as they all focused on this strange new feeling. Jr. brain instinctively recalled images of chaos disintegrating whole gnosis with a simple touch of gloved hands. The feeling didn't feel threatening and he trusted chaos with his life. He owed it to him, honestly.

This is what had kept Asher running, Jr. realized. And the same reason chaos kept himself covered. Jr. reached shakily for the glove he had so carelessly tossed beside him and handed it to chaos. chaos smiled in return and let go of Jr.

"Thank you."

Jr. rubbed absently at his shoulder and finally raised his eyes to his friend.

"You know that I can't let you go on your own," chaos said as he pulled the glove tightly over his fingers; dangerous dark skin disappearing beneath it. "You almost died."

Jr. started to protest but chaos raised a hand to stop him. Jr. 's eyes moved to chaos' glove. He rubbed his shoulder again.

"Please Jr., if you need help I want to support you. I'm fine."

chaos gestured up and down his torso. "I'm in one piece. We got out of there and we destroyed a large Ormus base. I wouldn't call that a loss."

"An unprovoked attack."

"Kidnapping the Foundation's Young Master isn't what I would call an act of peace."

"We'll need proof."

"Asher has it."

Jr. nodded. He had asked Professor to fit Asher with a new black box shortly after receiving him. He wasn't about to go through that nightmare with Ormus again.

Jr. rubbed his hands over his face. He remembered the blood and scowled down at them. Nightmares, he thought venomously. He straightened up and sighed. He felt more himself. His thoughts were forming straight lines, becoming singular. They had been organizing themselves ever since chaos had touched him.

chaos was real. Jr. told himself. And a lot less fragile than I thought.

Not that he'd ever thought of chaos as weak. He had just greatly misjudged his strength. Then again, Jr. thought as he stretched his blood-stained fingers, he didn't know anyone else who could vaporize Gnosis with a single touch. Not even KOS-MOS.

Jr. had never asked chaos about his abilities. He'd always assumed that he was uberhuman but what uberhuman had abilities like this?

chaos' hand touched him and Jr. stiffened but the hand was gloved; safe.

It didn't matter what chaos was. He was Jr.'s lifesaver - his lifeline. If chaos ever felt like telling him, Jr. would listen. Best friends and yet still strangers. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. chaos more than anyone.

Jr. knew that he couldn't keep all of his secrets from chaos. Jr. had brought him into this and he deserved answers.

"We can talk later. I think you need a shower," chaos said softly. He pulled his hand away and Jr. rubbed at his skin absently.

Where I am right now, this is real, he thought. chaos' power on his skin wasn't something he could have created on his own. But if this was reality where did Albedo exist? Somewhere between? How would Jr. get there?

Jr. couldn't bring himself to reach down his link again. He did manage to stand up, however. When he did he was a little more Jr. and a little less like concrete. He flashed his friend a quick smile.

"A shower and some food," he agreed. "I hope you got enough sleep because I've got a lot to say."

Virgil's moment with Kevin weighed on him. The feeling grew worse once Albedo was in sight. Albedo seemed happy with his last act, ecstatic even. Virgil stepped closer, unable to stay away. He didn't want to admit that he was part of Albedo's little sideshow because he didn't want to be a part of it. He assumed that he still had time to leave, that he could simply walk away and pretend that none of it was happening.

Virgil looked down into Albedo's looking glass and found Jr. standing on the Durandal's bridge, rustling through paperwork and teasing one of his pretty assistants.

"What will you do, Addict?"

The question almost made Virgil jump. Albedo's hood obscured most of his features but Virgil knew where his eyes were settled.

"When Rubedo is mine...what will you do?"

Albedo had worn the same smile since he had returned. It was softer, happier than the crazed one he usually wore.

A few responses came to mind.

"Nothing," was what he settled on.

"Nothing," Albedo echoed.

Virgil plopped down next to Albedo.

"What are you gonna do when you win?" Virgil asked, still trying to shake off the encounter with Kevin. "Can't see you sitting at the helm, talking to the twins."

Virgil's fingers drew an invisible line from Mary to Shelley.

"How does Albedo fit into this picture?"

"I fit..." Albedo said, drawing his own line between the three of them. "Wherever he wants to place me."