AN: Omg, she updates this fic!
(bows) Gomen nasi for the long wait period for this update, but to be honest, after I finished chapter 4 I slammed right into a writer's block. Then I got hit for other ideas for fics, not to mention schoolwork took a toll...Anyway, you can check my bio, that's what I'll be keeping (hopefully!) updated with the status of my fics.
Also note that Time's Prisoners, the other Wilhelm/Shion fic I have (this one is Wilhelm/Shion/Kevin) has had a name change to Acerbus ut Lumen, which is Latin for 'darkness and light'.
Chapter Five: Foundations
A month had passed, and it seemed like Wilhelm's prediction had come true. The much-needed separation had apparently worked wonders for Shion and Kevin's relationship, as they were both back on some sort of even keel. The mood amongst the First Division workers on the KOS-MOS project was lighthearted, now that they had finished the basic OS and didn't have to deal with the military as much…for now anyway. Shion was put in charge of the group working on the other OS programs, while Kevin teamed up with the Second Division to start the initial work on KOS-MOS's body frame. Things seemed to be going rather well…but not for long. In a move that would fast become sickingly familiar to Shion, the military declared their dissatisfaction of KOS-MOS's basic OS. This meant that Kevin, Shion, and the other engineers on the project had to literally break apart all their hard work, delete it, and rebuild it to the military's satisfaction…this resulted in tempers flaring, bad blood rising between the android's creators. And once again, Shion found herself in a sink-or-swim situation, once again fingers were being pointed at her, her experience questioned, her skills picked apart. As if in reply Kevin came down even harder on his assistant, demanding nothing but perfection.
But there's only so much abuse a human can endure. No one had bothered to take Shion's feelings into account on the matter and so she bore the stress in silence, elevating her work to the highest levels she could achieve, all the while her own temper flaring, the threads of her self-control starting to unravel. In the eyes of Voyager, Shion's current mental situation was just the tip of the iceburg. The teenager was slowly gearing up for one hell of a temper tantrum; she was like a cornered kitten that everyone kept poking. Sooner or later little claws would lash out.
The 'sooner' came faster than anyone expected. A week before the military's new deadline, on a particularly overcast day, Shion was at her workstation, reviewing all the programming codes for the OS. She'd been up from 6 AM that morning; it was now 1 o'clock in the afternoon. She was mentally and physically exhausted; the stress she'd been put under was finally catching up, her body demanding that she rest so it could renew itself. The brunette found herself starting to nod off every once in a while, finally she had the presence of mind to save her work before her head dropped on her arms and her mind shut down. However, her nap was soon interrupted…
"SHION!" Green eyes snapped open at the familiar voice, and Shion came awake with a slight shriek. Whirling around in her seat, she saw Kevin glaring at her.
"Uhh…"
"Where's the program you were working on?" The blue-haired man demanded.
"Um, um…it's right here." Shion stammered out. "I couldn't keep my eyes open, and I didn't want to lose anything so I saved it…" Nervous now, she got up out of her chair, sidling away as fast as she could from Kevin and the console.
"This isn't a damn kindergarten you know!"
"I'm sorry, I was tired…" Shion protested weakly. "I didn't mean to, I just wanted…"
"You wanted to do what?" Kevin snapped back. "You can't be lazy!"
"I wasn't being lazy!" The brunette was close to tears now; she practically had nothing left to help her deal with her overbearing boss. Kevin continued to yell, drawing the attention of everyone around them, not paying attention to Shion's body language. The brunette's fingers curled into fists and her eyes closed, her small frame starting to shake with suppressed rage as anger fast started to replace exhaustion and humiliation. Voyager, who was about to step in paused for a moment, his semi-charge looked like she was about to blow her top like one of the volcanoes in the southern continents of Fifth Jerusalem, if Kevin wanted to live he'd better get out of the way…
"...Just what the hell do you expect to contribute to this project if you act like this? You're making all of us look bad! You shouldn't have even been put here in the first place!" At those words, something snapped instead of Shion, and her head flew up, eyes gleaming.
"You son of a bitch!"
CRACK.
"Arrggghhh!" Kevin staggered backwards and fell down, his hands flying up to cover his nose, fingers fast becoming stained as blood poured from the broken orifice. "What the…"
And now the little kitten shows her claws. Voyager thought, a ghostly smile twitching on his lips. Shion truly looked like an angered cat; her green eyes were glittering with fury, features contorted into a snarl…the Black Testament was mildly surprised that her hair wasn't standing on end.
"I am so sick and tired of being your whipping girl!" Voyager's attention was diverted back to the scene in front of him. "Ever since I came here, all you've done is bitch, bitch, bitch! I'm sorry you don't think I'm good enough to work on your precious project, I'm sorry I didn't intern, but that's JUST HOW IT IS!" One could have heard a pin drop, it was so silent in the lab save for Shion's ragged breathing.
"I've done nothing but my best to try and please you, and I get nothing in return except for your abuse!" Kevin winced as several computer chips and a pad flew at him. "Find yourself another lackey, because I quit!" With that, Shion spun on her heel and strode out of the lab, head held high.
Kevin winced as he entered his office, resisting the urge to pick up something and throw it. His nose ached, hell his entire face hurt. In addition to breaking his nose, it felt like Shion had almost broken his jaw…who would have known the damn woman had one hell of a right cross?
"So, did you enjoy being humiliated by a little kitten?" At the sound of Voyager's voice the blue-haired man bit back a snarl; this was the absolute last thing he needed. "You should clean that up."
"Damn woman broke my nose." Kevin bit out as he moved into the bathroom, grabbing some paper towels. Washing the blood off of him, he muttered an Ether spell and nearly yelled in pain as bone and cartilage re-knit themselves. "She just went postal on me!"
"I don't blame her. You've been quite the bastard, Winnicot." Blue eyes met red.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Master Wilhelm ordered me to get involved if things got out of hand between you two. Your treatment of her has been rather poor."
"What am I supposed to do, hold her hand?" Kevin snapped. "She's the…"
"Most reliable and hardest working person on the project and you know it. Despite your order to do what you wish with her, she's still needed for the entire plan." Voyager interrupted. "If she kills herself working because of all the stress you're putting her under, Master Wilhelm's not going to be very pleased." Kevin cursed softly and threw the towel to the side. "I personally thought you of all people would know what she was capable of…and how much she could bear." This got the younger man's attention, and he spun around.
"How do you…" No response, the black-cloaked Testament had disappeared. "…Damn it!"
It had taken a couple of hours, one long warm bath, and comfort food in the form of chocolate and takeout from her favorite Japanese restaurant, but Shion had finally calmed down somewhat.
That and beating the living hell out of a sparring dummy in the Vector workout room before the bath. Imagining it had been Kevin had even been better...dressing it up in a blue-edged Vector uniform had been just perfect. A smile crossed Shion's lips as she leaned back on the couch, chopsticks in hand. Every single fatal move that she knew, either hand to hand or using a sword, all of them had been practiced on Kevin's effigy. A sigh of satisfaction escaping her lips, she stretched, bones cracking.
"Ow." Back to the mat tomorrow for her, it seemed. And she'd have to get in contact with the Director…no way in hell was she staying on the KOS-MOS project any longer. No way. She didn't care how she did it, or what would happen…she was transferring out. If she couldn't get anything in Vector, she'd leave and go someplace else…she'd heard that Hyams had been looking for some people. As she mentally plotted what to do next, her doorbell chimed softly.
"Ugh…who the…" Frowning, Shion got up and padded over to the doorway. Pushing her hair out of her face, she pressed the panel to open the door…
And found herself face to face with a familiar pair of blue eyes. Rage simmered again, yet the brunette kept herself under control, only allowing her voice to drip pure venom.
"What the hell do you want?"
Kevin suppressed the urge to shudder; the glare Shion had given him when she'd opened her door was pure ice. Kitten his ass, the woman looked like one of those old Lost Jerusalem animals he'd seen in school once…a rattlesnake. The blue-haired man could almost swear that he was hearing a rattle-rattle someplace…and with Shion looking like she was ready to bite his head off and hand it to him; he swore it was getting louder and louder.
Maybe I shouldn't have done this…should have waited until she calmed down some more. Steeling himself, he squared his shoulders, forcing himself to look the younger woman straight in the eye.
"Can I come in?" One brown eyebrow arched, and then Shion stepped to the side.
"Go on."
"Thanks." Feeling like he'd been given a stay of execution, Kevin walked inside the small suite, noting it hadn't changed much since he'd been in there last…save for all the computer parts, pads, and chips on one of the tables, it looked like she'd been up to something with those. The first time he'd been in here, he'd just been looking through, wanting to see if there were any clues of the life she'd led after leaving the Mizrahi labs…Joachaim had made the arrangements so quickly it'd made his head spin, and with Militia sealed off he couldn't find out anything for a long time after the Conflict. The only surviving remains of his old mentor's research were the Emulators, that prototype 100-Series Realian, and Shion herself…
"What do you want?" Snapping out of his reverie, Kevin turned around to see Shion standing in front of the door, arms crossed over her chest.
"Um…" Just get it out you nut. "I'm sorry." Shion didn't say anything, but tilted her head slightly. "I've...I've been a major prick to you, Shion, and you didn't deserve it."
"Prick is putting it mildly, but continue."
"You're…you're a wonderful person and you've contributed a great deal to the project." Kevin looked down at his hands. "Please…don't quit. If you leave the Director's going to have my hide…him and everyone else in the department."
"That doesn't sound too bad." Shion remarked. She sighed, Kevin looked absolutely pathetic…
"Oh…alright." She uncrossed her arms. "I'll come back, I forgive you…" Kevin looked up, a smile on his face.
"Thank you."
"That doesn't mean you're off the hook right away though." Shion warned as she walked past him. "I want at least 2 days off to recover from all the stress."
"Done." He watched as she strode into the kitchen, part of him admiring the natural grace with which she seemed to move, almost like a ballet dancer.
"Though…" Shion paused, turning back around. "Why?" Kevin started at this.
"What?"
"Why did you treat me like that?" Kevin felt his heart slam against his chest. He couldn't tell her…no…no…yet suddenly, his lips were moving, the words were escaping his tongue.
"I…I thought you had slept with someone higher up to get into the First Division." Dead silence. Shion jolted as if she had been shot, her face turning pale.
"You…you….you what?"
"It was cruel on my part, I was angry that you'd just been added to the team, the whole news caught me at a bad time." Kevin babbled out. Shion was pale, her eyes suddenly very large and luminous, the blue-haired man was halfway afraid she was going to go into shock. "Shion, please…"
"Get out."
"Shion!" The brunette stormed by Kevin, her hand lashing out and hitting the control panel for the door, hair hiding her face.
"Leave!"
"Shion, I'm sorry!"
"Get out now!" Shion was trembling, hanging onto her self control by a thread, if he stayed any longer she was afraid she'd break down and start crying. "Just go and leave me alone!" Guilt clawing at him, Kevin obeyed, stopping at the doorway.
"Shion…"
"Leave." The door hissed shut as the older man left, and Shion sank to the floor, arms wrapped around her knees, shoulders shuddering as she sobbed.
Wilhelm placed his hands inside his coat pockets, admiring the snow as it fluttered down from the 'sky' to the ground. One of the things that made the Dammerung so famous was the fact that the weather changed from season to season, just like on any other planet…spring, summer, fall, winter. Of course it was artificial, but there was something soothing to the massive ship's boarders about having a planetary rhythm, and Wilhelm had to admit he enjoyed seeing the seasons change. His favorite was winter though, when the snow reduced everything to a calm, peaceful white.
I need to come here more often; it's surprising that the park is this quiet… The sounds of soft sobbing met his ears, startling him from his reverie. What? Curious, he followed the sound, finding that it originated from one of the fountains that were in the center of the park. Rounding the marble piece, he discovered a familiar brown-haired figure, huddled into a small ball against the cold weather, shoulders heaving.
"…Shion?"