A Victim of Circumstance

By: Keaton Tails

Once again they were pulling an all-nighter, still attempting to uncover and decode all of the little black boxes inside of KOS-MOS's encephalon. And, like always, Shion and Allen were barely scratching the surface of the android's mysterious consciousness.

Not that Allen was paying much attention to the task. How could he when he was working one-on-one with the chief? He simply could not focus on his holoscreen when she was sitting just a hands breath away. That was not the worst of it either. Because of his increasing infatuation, Allen has lately been as useful to Shion's research as her empty coffee mug.

He was pitiful and he knew it, but he just couldn't bring himself to say what he's been trying to tell her for God-knows how long.

Allen sighed and put his head in his hands.

"I know it's hard, Allen," Shion said as she patted his shoulder.

A beam of hope struck through Allen. Here it was, the magic moment he was waiting for! He gently cupped her hand in his. "You have no idea."

Shion smiled. "I mean, even my teacher would probably have a hard time trying to decipher the encephalon." Allen face-faulted, but since he has been doing it so periodically, Shion simply chalked it up as another Allenism.

"No that's not it. It's—"

The Durandal lab door opened, and Momo walked in.

She saw Shion and Allen holding hands and immediately blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry guys, I—I'll come back later."

"Momo! Wait!" Shion called. "What's going on?"

Momo shook her head. "Don't worry, Shion, it can wait."

"Hey, you two can talk. I'll go get another pitcher of coffee." Allen offered as he stood up, still beat red from embarrassment.

"Thank you, Allen." Momo said.

"Hey, no problem." Evidentially there was a problem. Allen was so shaken up by by the awkward position Momo found them in that he completely forgot to shut the lab door.

"Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of his," Shion whispered to herself. She turned to Momo and asked, "Anyway… What can I do for you, Momo?"

Momo shyly replied, "Don't worry, it's nothing."

"Nothing? Momo, I know you better than that." Shion smiled at the young realian. "You would only come to me if you didn't want to ask Ziggy or Jr. about it. It has to be something."

"Shion… it's about Jr." Momo said timidly.

"What about Jr.?"

"Shion, I really…" she gulped a deep breath of air and closed her eyes, "…I really like Jr."

Momo stood in front of Shion and, for the first true time in her life, felt naked and vulnerable. In the brief moment that passed she feared that Shion would tell her that it was impossible. She was afraid that Shion would say that it's impossible for Realians and humans—even if Jr. was actually an U.R.T.V.—to love one another.

"Momo, that's wonderful!"

Momo was startled for a nanosecond, but she quickly became her usual, happy, bubbly self. "You mean, it's alright, Shion?" She cried happily.

"Of course it's alright, Momo! And you know what?" Momo eagerly inched closer. "I think Jr. feels the same way you do."

"Really?"

Shion nodded. "Do you remember when Albedo had you captured aboard the Song of Nephilim?"

Momo shivered at the frightening memories. Albedo had been after the hidden Y-data encoded into her memory banks. Sometimes at night she could still feel his icy-cold hands breaking through her mental barriers like tissue paper and prying into her most private and intimate memories. "How could I forget?"

"Well, as soon as he found out that you were missing, all Jr. could think about was saving you and bringing you back safely. He was so bent on going alone and saving you all by himself that Ziggy had to knock some sense back into him or else he would have done something drastic to keep us from getting involved!"

"You're kidding! Jr.'s never told me that before…"

"Well, Ziggy did do a good job of making him feel pretty foolish, and Jr.'s probably still a little embarrassed about it."

The two girls smiled and laughed. The fact that Momo's heroic, cowboy Jr., who never shied away from anything, could be embarrassed by someone like Ziggy was hilarious.

After the laughter calmed down, the two sat in the comfortable silence that can only be born from a bout of girl talk. Momo had another question to ask Shion, but she was still a little unsure of it.

Even still, Momo worked up the courage to ask her. "Shion, I have a question."

"Yes."

"What do you think of Allen?"

As lady-luck would have it, Allen choose at that moment to step through the doorway with the pitcher of coffee in his hand. Kudos to Mrs. Luck though, he had enough sense to dodge back out into the hallway before Shion managed to recover from the initial shock of the question.

"Well… he's a very hard worker and one of the brightest minds in—"

Momo giggled. "No, no silly! What do you think of Allen in a romantic way?"

Shion was flabbergasted. "Momo… you know that is against company protocol. I'd be fired for sure if I was found to be having a relationship with someone on the R & D team."

Allen, who was eavesdropping from the hallway, thought to himself, Oh, c'mon Shion. If Vector didn't fire us for completely ignoring company protocol and hacking into KOS-MOS's encephalon, then what makes you think that a relationship would get us fired?

"But, you know, Shion," Momo continued, "he really likes you."

Allen's heart raced. This was it: this was the moment of truth.

"I…" Shion began.

A voice behind him whispered. "Hello, Allen."

Allen jumped out of his skin, and, if it wasn't for that fact that Shion would have heard him, he probably would have screamed like a school girl.

Allen leaned back against the wall, still shaking from the surprise. "Wha... What are you d-doing here Ziggy?" he whispered.

"Come with me." He slid a hand behind Allen's back and led down the hallway. Allen looked wistfully back at the lab room, but sagely decided that he did not want to get the cyborg mad at him.

Ziggy took Allen just out of earshot from the lab, sat him down on a couch in a nearby lounge, and removed the pitcher of coffee he was holding onto with a death grip and placed it on a nearby table. Ziggy took a seat in front of Allen and studied the fidgeting man for a moment.

"Why were you eavesdropping on Momo?"

Allen waved his hands wildly in the air. "Hey, look Ziggy, I wasn't trying to abduct Momo or anything like that. I just heard my name and I was curious so—"

"You decided to eavesdrop."

"When you say it like that, of course it sounds bad," Allen grumbled.

Ziggy stood up, and Allen squeaked like a church mouse, jumped back, and flipped over the couch.

Ziggy stared at Allen who was sprawled out on the floor. Ziggy said without any trace of emotion, "Do you know that Momo has no family?" Allen shook his head fearfully. "Her father died shortly after she was created, and all of her fellow counterparts created by him had their humanity destroyed by Albedo." Ziggy's stare bored into the Allen's eyes. "Even Momo's mother, Ms. Mizrahi, disowns her."

Ziggy's normally neutral face showed an unwonted surge of emotion. Pre-natural worry lines creased his face and in his eyes showed an unprecedented mixture of adoration, untold sorrow, and wisdom beyond the years of any wise man. The powerful visage was there for a second, and then was replaced by the stoic mask of a cyborg once more.

"Shion is the closest thing to a mother or an older sister that Momo has ever had. Being with Shion is very important to her, and I want her to enjoy it while she can."

To put it frankly, Allen was more than a little humbled by Ziggy. He had never known that Momo had a mother—much less that she had disowned her—and the accumulation of shock after shock seemed to have finally left him paralyzed. All he could manage was a little nod.

"Good." Ziggy said as Momo came skipping down the hall towards them. "Do not worry about Shion. She will tell you if and when she wants to."

"Hey, Ziggy!" Momo called. "You'll never guess what! Captain—Oh, hey Allen what are you doing down there?"

Allen scrambled to his feet and pulled the couch back up. "Oh, me? Nothing. Just fell again, you know." He laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously.

Momo giggled and turned back to Ziggy. "Shion told me that Captain Mathews and Jr. are supposed to be docking the Elsa any minute now, Ziggy! Can we get down to the dock? I'd really like to be there when Jr. disembarks."

Ziggy nodded. "Let's go."

Ziggy took one last glance at Allen, and Allen could fell his legs turn to jello. "H-Have a good time you two."

When they were gone, Allen sighed. "Just once. Just once I ask you. Let me have a good day, is it too much to ask?"

He picked up the coffee pitcher and headed back to the lab.

"Allen, where have you been?"

Allen chuckled and scratched his head nervously. "Well, I've been talking to Ziggy."

Shion smiled at him. "That's great, Allen. I didn't know you two were such good friends. I always thought you were afraid of him."

"Yeah… well, what can I say?" Allen finally remembered that he was holding the pitcher of coffee. "Do you want coffee?"

"Sure. You know the way I like it right?"

Now this, Allen definitely knew. "Six sweeteners and four creamers."

"You got it."

Allen sat back down at the table with two hot mugs of coffee. Shion thanked him and took hers and sipped it lightly.

"You know, Allen, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately."

Allen set his mug down at the edge of the table. "Really?"

"Allen…I…"

This was it! Finally! The moment he had been waiting for!

"Yes," he said as he moved closer with excitement…

…and dumped his glass of hot coffee all over Shion's lap.

"ALLEN!"

"S-Sorry Shion! I'll be back with some stuff to clean you up!"

Allen raced out the room faster than he had ever run from the Gnosis, and for good reason too. Allen didn't simply anger the love of his life. He angered the love of his life who was his both his boss and co-worker. If he didn't make it up to her, there would be hell to pay.

However, giving Allen hell to pay was the furthest thing from Shion's mind. She had worked with Allen long enough that she knew and expected his klutziness and his worrisome attitude. In fact for her, chiding him was what made the second KOS-MOS project so exciting.

At any rate, it did not take long for the pain from the coffee burn to subside, and after it did she could not stop herself from laughing.

"Allen… you are so helpless!"

Disclaimer: I do not own, claim to own, or pretend to own Xenosaga or any like franchises. God-knows how much I'd be sued for just pretending to own Xenosaga.

Special Thanks: A New Dreamer- Reading your stories revitalized my passion for writing. Thank you.