~

Aren stared up at Ai-Mei's apartment building, from before the stairs that led into the lobby. His armor was a patchwork of two suits; his arm and leg plating had belonged to Snap, and he had found some extra weapons attachments in the storage bays of the Screamers. But the chest armor was his own. It was without a shine, and dented and scratched. Two long scrapes were cut along the distance of his chest, and the sharp metal edges poked forth. Aren had put the shredded neon Jumper-suit back on atop his armor. It flowed in the wind with reckless abandon, and cast a dim hue over his body.

Snap stood at his side, in black pants and a thick black coat. Ai-Mei's arms were wrapped around his waist.

"Where are you going from here?" asked Aren solemnly, his eyes lowering from focus on the building.

"I'm gonna get us outta here," said Snap, "if the Vultures are gettin' this close."

"There won't be any Vultures tomorrow morning," said Aren.

Snap nodded. "Yeah, well even so, I wanna get 'Mei somewhere that the landlord won't complain."

Aren laughed with a thin smile. "So they don't blow things up on a regular basis, eh?"

"Naw," joked Snap, "not since you left town!"

Aren shook Snap's hand, and hugged Ai-Mei. "Keep in touch," he said. "Call me tomorrow morning."

"Hope to Hyne you don't pick up," said Snap. Ai-Mei looked at them quizzically.

Aren nodded; he understood. He had arranged it with Snap when they had a moment aside from Ai-Mei: Aren would leave his communicator on all night. If he switched it back off by next morning, he was victorious. If the communicator rang without a pickup, Aren was dead.

"I'll be around," said Aren, his back turned, as he walked slowly to the waiting Screamer.

Ai-Mei sprinted to catch up with him. She caught him by the arm and turned him around. "Aren...what are you going to do?" Her expressionless face, her dead gaze; it turned his stomach.

Aren smiled. "I'm gonna pay a visit to Kore," he said, as encouragingly as possible. "I'm gonna find out who's after me. And once that's done, we'll see."

Ai-Mei grabbed him by his armored shoulders. "Aren, please," she cried, with barely quivering lips. "P-please, hear me out."

He nodded quietly.

"I...I'm hurting...every day, a little more...s-sometimes, I just wanna die..." She blinked her earnest eyes. "I d-don't want more people...to b-be like this..."

Aren sighed. "I know."

"Y-you...you can do it. I know you're gonna t-try...you can kill him, Aren...I'll pray for you..."

He smiled, and gave her another hug. "You just work on that smile. I wanna see it next time!"

Ai-Mei nodded in his arms, then retreated back to Snap. Aren disappeared inside the giant Screamer bike's cockpit. The glass closed over him, the engine roared to life, and he was on his way.

~

"Trabia. Well, whattaya know..."

Irvine sat comfortably under the covers of a small cot, within the walls of an old Trabian hotel. He wondered if it was the same building Selphie called home when in town. It looked about as run-down, to say the least. The walls were cracked, the ceiling was missing tiles, and the only light came from a single bulb that hung from the wall over his bed. This room did not have the privelige of a window.

His benefactor, the young lady with white hair and green eyes, sat at the edge of his bed. She wore an old brown sweatshirt and pants that were much too big for her, tied together with rope through the belt loops. The girl smiled, and handed Irvine a glass of water.

"Thank you," he nodded, taking the cup. "Am I to believe you've saved my life?"

She smiled, just a little bashfully. "Yeah, you could say so, I guess. I found you by the Terra Jumper. It's weird...it...felt like you were freezing to death!"

"Suppose I was," said Irvine. "Long story. But thank you, ma'am. Irvine Kinneas, at-cher service."

The girl smiled wryly at the mock dramatics. "Tamya," she said, "Tamya Se'Ann."

Irvine shook hands with Tamya. "A pleasure, ma'am."

He stood from the bed, stretched a little and leaned against the cracked drywall. "I have a friend from Trabia, you know. Selphie Tilmitt's her name, do you happen to know her?"

Tamya laughed. "Oh, no, I wouldn't. I'm not Trabian either." She frowned just a bit, but covered it up quickly. "It's...a long story too, I guess. Want something to eat?"

Irvine said he did, and Tamya turned for the door. Her baggy sweatshirt rolled away from her neck. Along its right side, a long incision ran up and down; it was neatly stitched together. Irvine winced.

"Come on," Tamya waved without looking back, "we'll go find Devon and have some breakfast."

Irvine followed her out of the apartment complex, which he confirmed as being Selphie's home. Deja' vous, he shook his head. What a bizarre trip this has been...

They walked together down the broken-up sidewalk. Children played among the wreckage of crumbled building walls, and homeless men chased them away from time to time.

"So, Tamya, Irvine said, "do you have relatives here, then? How come you're here?"

Tamya laughed again. "Well, you'd laugh."

"Would not!" Irvine smiled. "Go on!"

She hesitated, but obliged. "I'm...actually...well, I came here by mistake, and I can't seem to get home! I'm just helping out at the shelter to make up a little money. I'm a college student, from Extronic city." She glanced at Irvine's face, waiting for a laugh. "Guess I'm stuck here."

"Well," replied Irvine cheerily, "you and me both! Something tells me I'm not going anywhere soon. My friends are in Nebria. I guess I fell in the Jumper by mistake."

"Whoa! Nebria?" Tamya turned about. "As in Terra?"

"Uh-huh, I've got a few Terran friends that get me in. Nice place, Nebria..."

Tamya laughed. "Wow, this is great! I can't wait to introduce you to Devon!"

Devon, eh? thought Irvine. If he's anything like Aren, I'd better make a good first impression...

~