Borne Up on Angel Wings

by Digi Chris

When an attempt to destroy the Omega Stronghold goes terribly wrong, Shion and chaos are left stranded in a quickly deteriorating space colony, where she receives a cryptic message from Nephilim that may reveal the true nature of chaos and KOSMOS Sxc

6. Chapter 6

How long can a chapter be? Not much longer than this, I don't think...

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Borne Up on Angel Wings

Chapter Six

---

Lips pursed, cheeks tear-stained, with white knuckles, Shion tore through the nothingness of space faster than a ray of light. She hurtled through the inky darkness, void of any light or life for thousands of light-years across. She had never felt more alone.

If she had come to terms with reality, she would have realized that she was the only living thing for miles in a mind-blowing expanse of space—the closest star was millions of astronomical units away—and the discovery that she truly was alone, both physically as well as emotionally (and spiritually too, for if there really was a God, she would find no greater pleasure right now than to punch Him) would have shattered the remainder of her broken heart. However, in her current state, she refused to come to terms with anything. She still reeled from the double shock that had slapped her across the face a few hours ago.

Your journey, Shion, continue it. I'm just not a part of it anymore...

Slap.

Shion Uzuki, you're fired!

Slap.

Her eyes still burned from the tears; they watered and her vision clouded, much like her mind. She assumed it was a defense mechanism. If she were to truthfully analyze the implications of her situation, she probably wouldn't be able to get up from the floor after she collapsed. She still didn't know how she managed to get this far, and was amazed that she could stay awake, not wallow in her depression, and pilot one of Vector's latest combat shuttles without so much as a shiver.

"Myuki, I need a shuttle, now." She had said only moments after she discovered her life had been smashed to bits. She didn't care how Myuki went about getting the shuttle; she didn't even care if what she was doing was legal. She just needed to get away, and for a few tormented moments she didn't give a damn how. Luckily for her, Myuki was dating the head of Second Division's Spacecraft Development, and by pulling a few strings in a way only Myuki could pull, she managed to obtain for Shion the latest, smallest, fastest, deadliest shuttle that had ever been forged by Vector Industries. The one-manned spacecraft really was a jewel of Second Division's minds—sleek, compact, faster than any other craft that flew between the stars, and equipped with powerful laser cannons that bore holes through concrete and were so precise a skilled pilot could shoot the antenna of an enemy ship in hyperspace—but as far as Shion was concerned, she didn't care if she were flying in a cardboard box. She did enjoy the speed though, how she shot across the Dammerung like a bullet, soaring past her career, her home, her life. She left it all behind her; one second she was there, the next she wasn't, and she felt guiltily happy that she had, in reality, stolen one of Vector's most prized creations. Myuki had neglected to tell her until the very last minute that Shion was flying a prototype—the only shuttle of its kind in existence.

But all that was insignificant now. Although her eyes shed tears, she kept them focused. Deadly focused. In light of the loss of her life (at least as far as her career was concerned) and the loss of her love, the scope and purpose of her mission snapped back into her mind like the safety lock of a pistol: She was going to stop Ormus, and she would save Feb's sisters. The universe could shatter tomorrow, it didn't matter, Shion made a promise to Nephilim and to herself...And to chaos: You're journey, Shion, continue it. She had every intention of keeping it.

Besides, she dreaded what would happen if she didn't keep her eyes focused ahead–on her mission. Even if she paused to admire the scenery, (the big black space between the Dammerung and Old Miltia), she risked crumbling into a sobbing heap. The stars and the sheer vastness of the universe, what once used to be a symbol of hope for her, now became one of despair. The stars were the light, they were the hope, and they were few and far between. She was so far away from them now that their light didn't even illuminate her. How pitifully symbolic–she had lost all hope, and now the stars refused to shine on her. (It didn't help that every time she saw a point of light in the blackness of space it reminded her of him. Especially since there were, what, a couple billion stars in the part of the cosmos she was crossing, give or take a few?) She had never felt more in tune with her state of mind. She was literally floating through emptiness, darkness.

Yet, in spite of her persistence to keep her focus, she couldn't help but feel the sinking, drowning, suffocating sensation that came with the realization that she may never see KOS-MOS again. She feared that if she pondered too much on that horrific thought she'd lose her resolve completely.

But she would not, and she could not. Shion Uzuki had been through hell and back. It started when her parents were murdered on Old Miltia, then her brother left her out in the cold, then Kevin died. She had picked herself up and started over before, and she would do it again. It was so true that what didn't kill her made her stronger, and damn was she strong. Today she would come full circle, settling a score on Old Miltia where her own personal hell had begun, and hopefully crush the forces that had taken away her loved ones once and for all. She had cried, she had bemoaned her existence, she had momentarily sunk to a miserable heap, but her resolve was steely, the grip on her shuttle's controls firm and unwavering, and today she would kick ass. And, unbeknownst to her, she would start a chain of reactions that would forever alter the fate of humanity.

—

Old Miltia. A submerged city in ruins. The sight of a civilization frozen in time and void of life chilled her, but she bolted across the planet's landscape so fast that nothing seemed to register. At first, Old Miltia appeared in her line of vision as a tiny speck of light in the cosmos among the myriad of stars and illuminated planets. Two seconds later, the entire planet's landmass lay sprawling underneath her. She had never traveled in a shuttle that flew this fast before. Using her spacecraft's Logic Drive warping technologies, she had the ability to warp space in front and behind her, giving her the impression of traveling faster than the speed of light, even outside the U.M.N. This phenomenon gave her an incredible element of surprise. Since she traveled faster than light, she would arrive on Old Miltia before her enemies could see her.

She gunned her shuttle across Old Miltia's open oceans, and in the blink of an eye she came upon the towering monstrosity known as Labyrinthos. The Zohar was in there, as were Feb's sisters. Naturally, the whole of Labrynthos's outer area was heavily guarded by A.M.W.S., sentinels, and other such mechanical weapon systems.

They didn't even see her coming. Shion unleashed a rapid blast of laser cannon fire and completely vaporized the enemy's first line of defense. Her proximity to Labyrinthos forced to slow down her thrusters considerably, and the light caught up with her, bringing her shuttle into view. Not that it mattered. She fired her cannons with reckless abandon and mercilessly ripped apart the A.M.W.S. below her.

"You're flying in restricted airspace!" An angry, male voice crackled from her shuttle's intercom, "surrender immediately!" She hit the throttle and switched her cannons to maximum output. Today she felt no pity, no compassion, no regrets. Her aim was unflinching and merciless. Flashes of blue laser fire erupted from her shuttle's hull and sailed out in front of her, leaving a path of obliteration in her wake. She ripped the mechs below her apart like paper and felt strangely happy about the damage she was inflicting on Ormus.

She gazed momentarily at Labyrinthos. Jr. and the others had probably started from its base, dismounted from their E.S.'s, and worked their way up Labyrinthos's waterlogged interior. Shion didn't have time to climb the towering structure. She shot around Labyrinthos in a tight circle and blasted a hole in its wall. Flying her shuttle through the hole, she swooped into the structure, landed, and dismounted, M.W.S. at the ready.

She ran up the first set of stairs she saw and found a metal terrace that looked up into Labyrinthos's tower. From her current position, it seemed that she had blasted herself into the tower's middle, about halfway to where she believed the Zohar had been stored. Water gurgled menacingly beneath her—she had a good 200 foot drop to the base of the tower, where if she fell she'd meet her watery grave. Her communicator didn't pick up any signal, not surprising, since Old Miltia was an abandoned planet. She would have to find her friends by trial and error.

One thing she absolutely couldn't do though: panic. Jr. had told her the situation was grim. She'd never heard him so agitated before.

"Ha!–"

Shion started at the sound and spun around, slashing the air with her M.W.S. in a wide arc. Voices were echoing down from the floor above her, no doubt a battle was raging up there. She heard shouts and cries of pain. It didn't sound like the battle was going well for either party. Then she heard gunshots.

"Jr.!" She cried, and raced up the stairs.

Bullet holes had peppered the wall to her right as she bolted up the flight of stairs and took off down a hallway. Shouts became louder as she approached a steel door which had been forced shut with such power that the wall around it had cracked and splintered. The sound of gunfire slammed around her brain like a gong.

"Gah!" Her hand smacked the panel besides the door, but to no avail. It was fused shut.

Inhaling a shaky breath, she fired a heavy barrage of electric blasts at the door, all the while intensely focusing her Ether energy. The door buckled under her attacks and finally burst out into the previously inaccessible room, smacking head-on into a startled Ormus soldier.

"Shion!" Jr. exclaimed once he spotted her. He never seemed so happy to see her. His coat was bloodied and his face badly bruised. It appeared he had been fighting the battle of his life. He was alone, surrounded by Ormus thugs, who unlike him were not so enthusiastic about Shion's flashy door-blasting entrance. She burst into the room, bristling with Ether energy.

"Open Ether Circuit...HEAVEN'S RAIN!" She screamed and staggered back as an overwhelming amount of energy left her body. A silvery aura appeared in the air above them, shimmering and crackling with thunder, and blasted Shion's enemies with wispy missiles. They all dropped to the floor like rag dolls.

Shion stumbled and tripped, reeling from the Ether drain, but Jr. sprinted forward and pulled her back to her feet.

"I'm really glad you're here." He choked, not giving her time to respond, and instead grabbed her forearm and yanked her jerkily down an abandoned hallway. "These Ormus guys are everywhere," he gasped through ragged breaths, "they even took out the Federation Fleet, and they're heavily armed." He and Shion turned a corner, spotted a few lumbering A.M.W.S. units, and wheeled back around, heading up the tower in a different direction.

"The group got separated." He shouted above the sound of laser fire, "imagine how bad things could possibly be."

"I think I have an idea." Shion grunted, trying to keep up with him after having used up so much energy. Jr. seemed very agitated.

"Well, it's worse. A few Ormus bastards ambushed us once we reached the Zohar–the original one–and kidnaped MOMO. I got attacked by an army of soldiers and they managed to push me back this far." He couldn't help but smirk, evidently gloating in the fact that he had managed to hold his own against a troop of bad-asses despite his injuries. "The last I saw of Ziggy was when he was fighting to rescue MOMO, but I have no idea what happened to him...Jin is locked in combat with Margulis. I-I really don't know if anybody is ok..." His voice trailed off.

Shion flinched, thinking of her brother, "Margulis? You mean that horrid man from U-TIC?"

"Yeah, oh, we made some major discoveries. Apparently Joachim Mizrahi is totally innocent. He was used. A super company named Hyams financed U-TIC and other such organizations, which all turned out to be puppets, to conduct experiments on the Zohar and fund Mizrahi's research."

She gasped, "So...so the incident fourteen years ago..."

"Yup" He ducked and shoved Shion out of the way of a searing laser blast. "That was the Immigrant Fleet's (Ormus's) doing. And if they get their hands on the Zohar, a repeat of what happened here fourteen years ago is likely to occur again."

Shion's skin crawled. She especially knew what terrifying things Ormus could do with the Zohar: total control of the Unus Mundus!

She planned to question him further, but she screamed instead, as a white-hot laser sizzled over their heads and melted a chunk of wall in front of them. The explosion it caused was rather alarming.

"Jr.," she panted, ducking, "is that E.S. cannon fire?"

He nodded grimly. "Did I mention this place is crawling with ruthless badies...and we're so outnumbered it's not even fun anymore?"

She craned her neck behind her to see a fearsome E.S. (not much different from the Issacher) firing a very intimidating cannon...at them. A group of soldiers trailed at the E.S.'s feet, equipped with flamethrowers. Plumes of fire billowed out of the weapons' nozzles.

"Oh my God, Jr...Jr. we're going to die!"

"Tough shit. Hell's not good enough for us." He yanked her out of the way of a particularly dangerous explosion and both of them hurdled down the hall, away from the E.S., only to meet another army of soldiers with flamethrowers flaring to life.

'Don't panic, don't panic,' she told herself, 'STOP PANICKING!' Her heart drummed against her chest, tired from all the frantic running. Her eyes darted around the room, and found something interesting. She nodded her head at an elevator a few feet in front of them, and Jr. took the hint.

"Ether drive...Misty!" He hollered, unleashing his spell, and shoved her towards the elevator, out of the way of cannon fire.

A thick fog enveloped them, obscuring their enemies' aim and rendering the flamethrowers momentarily useless in the humid air. Shion bolted for the elevator, and forced the doors open, deciding against the idea of calling it and waiting for it to arrive while an E.S. took point-blank shots at her. She stared down the empty elevator shaft and, without thinking twice, jumped. Jr. was close on her heels. The doors slammed shut behind them, and they tumbled onto a ledge protruding out into the shaft. Dull explosions rocked the doors above them.

"Did-did they see where we went?" Shion gasped, pulling herself up from the metal floor she had hit with more force than she would have preferred.

"No." Jr. grunted, wiping a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth, "I don't think so."

She took a few long breaths, monitoring her surroundings. They were in a dark elevator shaft. The snapped chord above her told her that the elevator was probably not operational at the moment. She and Jr. waited in an eerie silence for the explosions above them to cease.

"Whew," Jr. sighed, slumping to his knees, "when the shit hits the fan..."

Shion laughed. She knew exactly how he felt.

"Look, Shion, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to come here. I feel insanely guilty for being glad you came. Even though you sort of saved my ass back there. Nice Ether skill by the way."

She waved her hand at him, "No, shut up, don't even say you're guilty. I would have come here anyway. You came to this God-forsaken place on my account, didn't you? I should be the one apologizing. Do you really think I'd have left you and the others here?" In reality, she actually felt glad that she was needed.

"Heh, heh. No. I guess not. Um..." He paused, unsure of how to approach his question, "I noticed you trashed a lot of A.M.W.S. outside in a very fancy shuttle. But...it looked like a one-man craft..."

She said nothing.

"So, er, where's chaos?"

A lump got caught in her throat, and she turned around, suddenly unable to make eye contact, "Jr., you have no idea how bad things really are."

And she told him. How chaos had mysteriously left. How she'd been fired, and how KOS-MOS would no longer be fighting with them.

Jr. gaped, shell-shocked, "So...but...he just left? Why?"

She laughed a cold, cynical laugh. "Hell should I know? He mumbled something about being a hazard to our safety. I don't even know where he is right now. And I wish I didn't care..." Her lip quivered, and she began to blink furiously.

Jr. was shocked into a long silence before he spoke up in a somber whisper, "I'm–I'm so sorry Shion. I don't get it. That's not like chaos at all. There's definitely something we don't know."

"No kidding." She grunted.

"Don't worry. We'll find out. But KOS-MOS? Man, that's...awful. What're are they going to do to her now?"

"I would really rather not think about it."

"Right. Sorry. As for your job though, you can come work at Kukai. We're dying for engineers like you, and I'll pay you twice as much whatever those jerks at Vector offered you."

She smiled, "That's very nice of you, Jr. But I doubt it." She pulled out her last paycheck and showed him the dollar amount.

His mouth dropped to the floor, "Um...ok, maybe not twice as much..."

She chuckled, "Yeah well...I don't get chaos either."

A rumble shook the elevator shaft and she fell on all fours, holding the ground.

"Ah!" Her hand flew out and she gripped the shaft's wall for extra support. She felt something slick and oily.

"Ew, what the..." She looked at her hand. It was covered in black petroleum.

"Oh God," she laughed coldly and looked up towards the sky in a sign of hopelessness, "Jr., they're greasing the elevator shaft with gasoline!"

His gaze met the wall. Sure enough, liquid gas was dribbling down its surface, pooling at the ledge they were standing on.

"They plan to roast us alive." She explained, "the fire will burn up all the oxygen in this shaft, and a wall of flame will come hurtling toward us in its search for more air to burn, guided by the gas."

Jr. began to chuckle, "aw, man. Just when you thought it couldn't be worse. We are so screwed. We're gonna be barbequed!" He started laughing with her, not quite sure why. Surely nothing was funny. He just felt so cynical, so hopeless. In the end, life screws you over anyway. Too bad for those who didn't take the high road.

As Shion sat there, giggling in what was fast becoming a death trap, she realized how much she and Jr. had in common. They were on the same wavelength, both terribly down-to-earth and both somewhat jaded by life. She knew he understood her—what she was feeling and how love had dealt her a painful blow, and she related more to his problem with Albedo than anybody. Neither of them ever hoped against hope, or relied on empty promises. They knew what life was and they took it for what it was. She knew Kevin was never coming back, and he knew Albedo–at least the Albedo he used to know–was never coming back, and they both swallowed their bile and dealt with it. Their lives had even overlapped more often than either thought, as was evidenced by the Encephalon dive in KOS-MOS's mainframe constructed by their memories.

Shion had read somewhere that friendship was the purest form of love, since there was no lust or physical attraction to complicate things. She'd only known Jr. for a very short while, but the experiences they went through together had bolstered their friendship into something everlasting. She knew now that she could always lean on his shoulder when times got rough, and he on hers. As she stared death in the face, she was glad that she had fostered a friend who understood her, who was willing to risk his life to save her, as she was for him.

Jr. seemed to be sharing her thoughts, "love sucks." He blurted.

"Hm?"

"I totally understand you. Love is a load of shit. I know...Albedo, he was always so jealous of Sakura. It always felt like he was trying to poison us. He thought she was a slut...what an asshole...I cared so much for both of them. He made me feel like I had to choose..."

Shion smiled at him sympathetically, but a look of realization suddenly swept over her face, "Ooohh, I get it."

"You get what?"

"That's why you're so hot for MOMO. It's because you were in love with Sakura. I was trying to figure that out..."

"What are you talking about?" His face flushed crimson.

"Come on, Jr. We're both in tune with each other. You were the first to notice when I started running circles around chaos, and I know you've got it bad for MOMO. I mean, it's kind of obvious."

He glared at her, "you're so full of it!"

She raised an eyebrow, "Yeah? Maybe so. Now that I think about it, I guess you couldn't have cared much about her if you gave her a bullet for a present."

Jr. significantly changed his tune, "What! That bullet was freaking awesome! It said 'sayonara baby' on it!"

Shion nodded, "oh yes. Very romantic gift, a bullet. It's right up their with a bouquet of flowers and a chainsaw!"

"Hey, shut up!"

They both laughed, even as they looked up nervously for the sign of a match being lit.

"You know," he began, "the two of us, we've always been kinda...you know...on top of things more than the others. We...we know what's going on, and we've always been able to..."

"Rely on each other?" She offered helpfully.

"Yeah! That's it. I-I really am glad you're here. It's good to have a shoulder to lean on."

She smiled, "I was thinking the exact same thing."

There was a long pause.

"You know what?" Jr. spoke up, "you're pretty cool, Uzuki."

"You're not so hot yourself."

"Thanks...Hey!"

They laughed again, "No, you're right." Shion said, "love does suck. I lost KOS-MOS, chaos abandoned me, and...oh God." She bit her lip, "he just walked out on me..."

Jr. looked at her seriously, and for a moment he shed his hard, cynical skin, "We won't walk out on you, Shion. Not me or MOMO, or Ziggy, or obviously your brother, or any of the members of the Elsa's crew or the Kukai foundation."

She looked at him imploringly, slightly unconvinced because most of the constants in her life had been shattered, "you won't?"

"No," he grinned, "friends don't walk out on each other."

She smiled warmly, and for an instant she felt her heart lift off the ground. Then another dull explosion shook the shaft and the warrior within her woke up.

"Well," she said, "I've been thinking about this burning to death thing, and I don't like it." She marched over to the petroleum-soaked wall, found her footing, and began climbing.

"What are you doing?" Jr. asked, slightly worried that she had flown off the deep end.

"What's it look like? I don't know about you, but I'm not going down without a fight. That E.S. can't be that much stronger than an A.M.W.S."

Jr. eyed her incredulously, "you want to fight that thing on foot? Are you crazy?"

"Nope, just a little pissed. I took out ten A.M.W.S. units single-handedly, you know?" She gloated happily.

"Yeah, and I learned how to fart the Federation's national anthem."

"I'm serious, Jr.! It's all recorded on my communicator. I wasted ten A.M.W.S. and I kicked Ormus ass left and right." She really couldn't help grinning.

Jr. eyed her suspiciously for a minute, then his expression turned into a shocked admiration, "I am never going to make fun of you ever, ever again. Where do you preform such a phenomenal ass whopping?"

It was so un-ladylike to gloat, and she loved not caring, "In an Encephalon Dive in the Ormus Stronghold, when I was researching the Aeons and how the U.M.N. is the absolute something-or-other."

"Wow," Jr. breathed, "oh, you mean Gnostic Angels and the manifest absolute?"

Shion fell off the wall and crashed onto the ledge, "You know about that!" She almost screamed.

Jr. shrugged, "Yeah, of course. The Durandal has been collecting Zohar Emulators for a long time now. I know all about the Aeons and a higher plane of existence and the Unus Mundus's unconscious domain and all that other supernatural, religious crap. Why?"

She stared shamelessly at him with her mouth hanging open, "you, you could have spared me a very, very painful Encephalon Dive." She blurted and suddenly realized how stupid she had been. Shion had deliberately chosen to keep her friends in the dark about Nephilim's prophecies, and now she was paying a massive price, especially when Jr. probably had more answers for her than the entire Ormus database.

"I'm such an idiot," she breathed, "no more secrets now. I promise Jr., once we get out of this mess I'm going to tell you guys everything. I'm through trying to be secretive." She looked up at him, "friends don't hide things from each other."

Jr. grinned, "come on," he helped her up the wall, "let's go kick some ass."

—

"ARCHANGEL'S REQUIEM!"

A million feathery bursts of light erupted from the elevator's doors and showered down upon the unsuspecting Ormus troops and the E.S.. Shion and Jr. bolted out of the elevator shaft and took off past the soldiers who were being pummeled by the blasts from their dual tech attack. Enemies dropped all around Shion as she and Jr. approached the E.S.

"Aim for the head!" She screamed, firing a stream of charges from her M.W.S. towards the ceiling. Her blasts ricocheted off the walls and hit the E.S.'s shoulder blade.

"Got it." He wheeled around, firing at soldiers who hadn't been hit by their dual tech, then he ducked for the floor, avoiding a burning shot from the E.S.'s canon.

"Moonlit Serenade!" He aimed for the E.S.'s head and a narrow beam erupted from his guns and hit the E.S. squarely in the face. The mech staggered backwards.

"That's as good as it's gonna get!" She told him, electrocuting a soldier who had attempted to incinerate her. "Let's move!" They ran in between the E.S.'s legs and headed up the stairs behind it.

"These jerks...they're everywhere!" Jr. grunted, firing shots at his enemies as he tore up the stairs. Fire billowed around them as Ormus soldiers attempted to singe off their clothes with flamethrowers.

"Jr., boost your ether..." She whispered, concentrating her energy.

"Open Ether circuit..."

"Ether Drive..."

"ICE BLAST!"

Frosty novas erupted from their fingertips and crystalized around their enemies' feet. Ormus soldiers staggered and fell, their fire weapons now useless. The ice that had formed around the stairs also prevented other soldiers from chasing Shion and Jr.. Groups of soldiers slipped on the ice and fell, tumbling down and forming a human heap at the base of the stairs. The E.S. lumbered toward the pile of fallen soldiers and skidded on the ice, collapsing with a rumbling crash on top of the Ormus cronies behind it.

"Oh yeah! We rock, can't touch this!..." Jr. sang.

"Shut up!" She hissed, grabbing him, "move it!"

She and Jr. bolted for Labyrinthos's summit, trashing mechs and shooting at any enemies that came into view. Luckily, the Ormus thugs seemed to thin out as they progressed up the tower.

"In there!" Jr. pointed to a massive steel door, and they raced into a huge room with scaffolding that ran up its walls. An analysis tower stood in its center. "That's where we analyzed Canaan." He told her. "The room with the Zohar isn't much far from here. We just have to climb up that thing."

They clambered up the scaffolding and emerged on a large, steel terrace protruding out from underneath the tower's analysis room. Shion was about to jump across to the other side of the tower, but she felt a blade slash the air centimeters from her ear.

"Well, I thought it was funny that our outer defenses had crumbled."

Shion spun around at the sound of the stranger's voice, "Margulis!" She scowled angrily. Her enemy had apparently been expecting them at the top of the analysis tower, and had now jumped onto the terrace. His cold gaze struck fear into her heart.

"It didn't surprise me, really." Margulis grinned evilly, "Uzuki's little sister...you've been causing quite a ruckus lately, ruining our plans." He laughed, "Not that it matters now. You know too much, plus, we've already accomplished our objective. There's not much you can do now."

She glared at him, "Jin..." she whispered, "what..."

"Uzuki? Ah, well." He showed her his sword, soaked in blood.

"NO!" She howled, "You filthy bastard!" She lunged at him, firing an electrical charge. He deflected her attack

"Ha, ha, your battle is futile." He sneered, deflecting another charge and sending it Jr.'s way. "The Zohar is under our control. We'll find Lost Jerusalem, and it's Patriarch's will to have the Messiah sacrificed."

Shion barely heard him. Her blood was roaring in her ears, and a powerful hatred for the man in front of her filled her up to the bursting point. Surge after surge of electric charges shot out of her M.W.S., and Margulis kept evaded her attacks, although not without difficulty.

"You fight like you're brother!" He laughed, summoning a shadow replica of himself which began to slash at Shion, "but I don't know if that will help you now..."

She continued to fire at him mercilessly. Margulis's shadow stabbed her and tore sharp lacerations across her skin, but she seemed unfazed. Her blood boiled. She parried his own stabs and jabs and whacked him hard across the face with her weapon. Margulis staggered back.

"Heh," he spat a wad of blood at Shion's feet, "you've got you're brother's genes in you yet, you self-righteous bitch."

Their battle raged on, and soon the terrace was echoing with the sounds of a blade bouncing off her M.W.S. She took pot-shots at him angrily, delighted when his body convulsed from an electrical surge. She fired at him, kicked him, slammed her weapon against his face, all the while leaving bloody trails in her wake. Pain didn't register when she felt his shadow's blade rip through her. She'd never felt such loathing for anybody, ever. Memories of her brother flooded her...Jin had been her last remaining family member.

"Bastard!" She screamed, hitting the side of his head again with her weapon in a skull-crushing blow.

Jr. fought horrified, taking shots and Margulis's shadow and finally blasted the shadow out of existence with a concentrated Last Symphony. He wheeled around, staring at Shion and Margulis locked in combat. She was ruthless, fighting more fiercely than Jr. had ever seen, but she was also taking heavy damage. Unacceptable damage, as KOS-MOS would say. Shion was so badly wounded, he didn't know if she was going to make it.

His neck snapped up, searching for something, someone, anything that could help them, and his gaze stopped at the tower's analysis room. Margulis's appearance had startled him so much that he had failed to notice another battle raging in the analysis room. Craning his neck so he could see through the room's window, he spotted pink bursts of light bouncing around inside. They looked like arrows from an Ether bow...

"MOMO!" He exclaimed. She must be in there. Ziggy too, judging by the fire Jr. saw that billowed out in tandem with the pink arrows. He ran to the other side of the terrace, firing point-blank shots at Margulis. The analysis room seemed locked. MOMO and Ziggy were trapped inside. The only way to get them out was to...well, Jr. enjoyed doing dangerous things.

"Mystic Nocturne!"

A flurry of spirit bullets erupted from his guns and collided with the base of the analysis room. The room buckled and exploded, its windows shattering outward. MOMO and Ziggy tumbled out of the tower, plummeting towards the terrace, and whoever they had been fighting got caught in the incinerating explosion of the tower.

Ziggy dropped like a deadweight and landed with a hard thud on top of Margulis.

"Ziggy!" Shion squealed, happy that Margulis's stinging blade had ceased to slash at her for a moment.

MOMO spiraled through the air and landed in Jr.'s awaiting arms.

"Hi there!" He smiled, slowly setting a confused but ecstatic MOMO to her feet; happiness burst from her every pore.

"Get off of me you clunking pile of trash." Margulis hissed as he threw Ziggy across the terrace. He pounced on Shion in an angry rage and shoved her hard, his eyes an angry glow. He forced her back against the terrace's railing. Water gushed in strong currents many feet beneath them. She struggled against the blade he had placed across her throat, but her M.W.S. arm had been twisted painfully across her back. A sharp pain screamed down her spine.

"You lay a hand on my sister, and I will end you."

Startled, Margulis whipped around to find a wet, bloody, but very alive Jin clamber onto the terrace. He swung his blade at Margulis so fast it broke the sound barrier, and Margulis was forced to release Shion from his grip to parry the blow.

"You die hard, Uzuki." He scowled, slashing furiously at Jin. Big mistake. He grossly underestimated the resolve of his hated enemy's sister.

"LUNAR BLADE!"

Margulis didn't have time to blink. A bright silvery blade plunged through his back and erupted out through his chest.

"Aeon murderer." She hissed.

"B-bitch." He staggered, attempting to summon another shadow, but he noticed Ether energy swirling around two other people to his left.

"Ether drive..."

"Mystic powers, grant me a miracle..."

"MIRACLE STAR!"

Jr. and MOMO unleashed their double Ether and blasted Margulis with starry pink beams. His sword flew out of his hands.

"Ah!..." He screamed in agony, but refused defeat. His hand snapped back behind him, and he grabbed Shion's wrist in an attempt to wrench the Lunar Blade out of him.

"Cyber Kick."

A volley of fiery kicks met Margulis's arm and shoulder. He released Shion's hand and stumbled to the ground, her sword still wedged in his chest.

"Futile..." He groaned.

"Yes," Jin spat with contempt, "you are." He stabbed him. Margulis grunted and toppled over, hitting the ground.

"Good riddance." Jin scowled, sheathing his blade.

"Feb...Feb's sisters..." Shion gasped, and collapsed into her brother's arms. Open wounds were visible across her abdomen and arms. A nasty gash ran from her right ear to her chin.

"Shion!" Jr. cried, running to her side, joining Ziggy and MOMO, who were keeping a teetering Jin from falling over. "MOMO," he shouted, "MOMO, heal them! Quick!"

He didn't have to tell her twice. She knelt down beside brother and sister and infused them with powerful healing Ether. Their wounds sewed themselves up as bruises shrank away and lacerations stitched themselves together.

Shion's eyes fluttered open, "MOMO...Ziggy...Jr...Jin. Thank you."

"Don't mention it Shion." MOMO smiled, "We're just happy you're ok. You put up quite a fight."

Shion got to her feet, and the reason why she came to Labyrinthos flashed across her mind like a lightning bolt, "Cathe and Cecily. Febronia's sisters! Where are they?" She asked nervously, fearing that she may be too late.

"With the Zohar." Jr. told her. He started for the summit, but stopped and pointed at Margulis. "Are you sure he's really dead? I mean–"

"No time!" She screamed, "it doesn't matter. We have to get to the Zohar right away! I know what Ormus wants to do with it! I-I made a promise to Nephilim and Febronia." She gazed at Labyrinthos's summit resolutely, not sure what she would find, but certain that she would not turn back now.

"Come on!" She shouted, and they raced for the Zohar–the cradle of mankind

—

Shion still had trouble remembering what had happened when she and the others reached the Zohar. Probably another defense mechanism. She had been thunderstruck beyond belief. Feb's sisters, connected in a cold prison to the Zohar, fused with the system. Their life-functions drained, their consciousness separated, made dependant on the Zohar's machinary. The horror! It was too horrible. She had broken down, thrown a fit, pulled at her hair, screamed at the top of her lungs. How cruel could somebody be? Doing that to Feb's sisters to obtain the Zohar's power, it was awful! She couldn't take it anymore, but the biggest horror of all was revealed when Febronia appeared and told Shion what her true purpose was.

Set my sisters free.

No! She howled, she shrieked. Why did it have to be her? She wouldn't do it. She couldn't do it. Why the hell had Febronia called her here?

Shion, you've always been this way. Such a kind child...

And then Shion understood. She didn't know why or how, but she knew. She had to do it, and it would have to be her. What the Patriarch (a cruel, ruthless, sanctimonious bastard) was doing was terribly wrong. She refused to accept his intentions. The morally-superior hypocrite. He claimed he had power granted to him by God: that the Zohar was Ormus's to control as they saw fit, that Realians were tools for them to use as they pleased. It had always been that way, since the beginning of time, even before the crucifixion of the Messiah, which would happen again soon, and the universe would be freed from the Gnosis. The path to Lost Jerusalem would reveal itself, and the Unus Mundus would be Ormus's to control.

Shion had never heard such a load of crap in her entire life. She flatly refused. She would not accept any of it. She knew what she had to do. It could only be her. Swearing to herself that these would be the last sacrifices on her account, Shion fired, destroying the system, stopping U-DO, killing Cecily and Cathe, and cutting the bypass to the Zohar. The Patriarch swore, but asserted that it didn't matter...And then he summoned Proto Omega. Overwhelming power. Power to place the entire Galaxy under Ormus's control, among other such horrors...too overwhelming. She couldn't hope to fight it. She felt powerless without KOS-MOS, at a loss without chaos. They had no choice but to flee...

—

"So...what are we going to do now?"

Jin voiced the obvious. The group sat slumped at the Elsa's bar, reeling from shock.

"Old Miltia..." Shion whispered, "they destroyed the whole planet."

"Yeah, unbelievable." Jr. sighed, "Yuriev called it an 'acceptable loss'."

"I hate that term." She scowled, "Ormus had no right. We have to do something, but..."

"I think it's obvious we must defeat Proto Omega," Ziggy said, folding his arms and looking somberly out the Elsa's window at what was left of crumbling Old Miltia, "the only question is how."

"Well, you don't have to worry about getting there." Tony grinned resolutely, putting his arm around Shion, "I'll take you to the edge of the universe if need be!"

Shion chuckled half-heartedly, "Thanks Tony. I feel kind of bad I left Vector's shuttle on Old Miltia though, I–whoops." She had been sorting out her inventory on the bar's table and accidently dropped one of the robot disks she had found in the Dammerung's Encephalon dive. At the sound of her disk hitting the floor, the bar's doors flew open and a short, fat old man wearing a sombrero burst into the bar.

"What was that?" He hollered excitedly, shaking with joy.

"Oh crap," Captain Mathews muttered, taking a shot of whiskey down the hatch, "what the hell are you doing here? You money draining, cargo space occupying, old fart bag–"

"Who is that man, Captain?" MOMO asked, surprised to meet a passenger of the Elsa that she had never seen before.

"That," the Captain spat, "is the professor of the Kukai Foundation's Robot Academy, who conveniently decided to rebuild his God-damn academy on my ship. Using my funds! The senile, little money burner..."

The Professor ignored the Captain completely, knocked Tony off his chair, and took his seat next to Shion, staring at her intently with a curious eagerness, "If you don't mind my asking, Miss, where did you get this disk so cleverly labeled Robot Head?" He bristled with excitement.

"Er...I found it in an Encephalon Dive, why?"

The Professor squealed like a school girl, "And, do you happen to have any other such disks? Just out of curiosity of course."

"Um, yeah, here." She pulled out her other five disks.

"Eeeeeiiiieee!" The Professor shook with delight, "My greatest dream is to build the most sleek, most powerful, most awesome combat robot in the universe! But I haven't been able to start construction because I lacked the proper blueprints. These," he held up Shion's disks, "may be the answer to my prayers. With these disks I can finally build the most super, awesome, uber-powerful robot of all time!"

Shion stared at him, "Are-are we supposed to take this man seriously?" She asked incredulously as the old Professor bounced up and down on his seat.

"We're supposed to nail his ass to the floor." Mathews grumbled.

The Professor was about to respond, but the bar's doors slid open again and a blond young man entered, "Oh, here you are. Professor, I told you not to wander the Elsa by yourself. You're so old and senile, you might get lost."

"Friend of the Professor, I gather?" Shion asked as the blond man approached the bar.

"Yes, I'm Scott–"

"Assistant Scott." The Professor chimed in.

"Right. Assistant Scott. I'm terribly sorry if the Professor is bothering you. He gets terribly carried away when he speaks of his Erde robots." Assistant Scott managed to wrench Shion's disks out of the Professor's hands, handing them back to her, and started to lead the old man back to the Elsa's basement.

"Just a second." Shion asked, getting up from her seat, "humor me a minute. What kind of robot does the Professor dream to build, just out of curiosity," she winked at the Professor, "of course."

"Only the greatest robot of–" The Professor was cut off by Assistant Scott.

"Actually, if he had the right blueprints and the right building materials, despite his old age, the Professor would be capable of constructing an Erde robot that could pummel the likes of the Proto mechs."

Shion started, "Did you say Proto? Seriously!" She glanced at her bewildered friends. This senile, sombrero-donning old man may very well have been a gift from heaven (well, maybe not for Captain Mathews), and if what Assistant Scott said was true, they may have a chance of challenging Ormus's Proto Omega.

"If I gave these disks to the Professor," Shion said, shoving her disks into the Professors hot, eager hands, "would he be able to construct an Erde robot?"

Assistant Scott shrugged, "Yeah, we would need the proper materials though, which can only be found at a very old space colony. Those materials are also incredibly expensive..."

"Don't worry," she said, waving her hand, "money is not an issue."

"Yes it is." Mathews grumbled.

"What else do you need?" Shion asked, catching on to the Professor's excitement.

"Well, Erde robots are actually summoned as Ether spells, so there are a few skills the caster needs to learn first. Those skills require a remarkable amount of Ether energy, and can only be learned inside a very dangerous and Forbidden Encephalon Dive." Assistant Scott told her.

"I'm used to dangerous dives." Shion grinned, casting a boastful glance at Jr.

She spun around to face her friends and crew, "Well? What do you guys think? If we can get this Erde thing built on time, do you think we'd have a chance against Proto Omega?"

Jin smiled, "It would not be unwise, but the procurement of the materials and skills seems dangerous and costly."

Hammer got up from his seat, "Not really, at least as far as the materials are concerned. I know what space colony Scott is talking about–"

"Assistant Scott!" The Professor barked.

"Whatever. It's that old, dilapidated colony by the Kukai Foundation. The crumbling scrapheap that claims they have everything from A.G.W.S. to toilet paper."

The Captain scoffed, "that place is pretty far from here. Isn't time of the essence?"

Tony shoved the Professor out of the way and grabbed Shion's hands, "actually, there's a hyperspace column that leads to that colony next to the Dammerung. We could gate in using Vector's column and be there in no time!"

Jr. began drumming his fingers on the bar excitedly. The Professor's squealing was contagious, "what about those Ether skills the caster has to learn? Where's the Forbidden Encephalon Dive?"

"On Second Miltia!" The Professor bounced, slamming Tony into the bar and grabbing Shion's shoulders, "it's located in the lab of an old colleague of mine! There's a column by the old space colony that leads right to Second Miltia! If we time our gate-ins correctly, we'll have everything done in record-breaking time!"

He and Shion started jumping up and down excitedly, "it's settled then!" She cried, filled with resolve again.

"Alright." The Captain got up, giving up on trying to tame his circus of a crew, "Tony, what the hell are you doing on the floor? Didn't you hear Miss Vector? Full speed ahead to the Dammerung!"

"Roger!" Tony pulled himself from the floor, took care to step on the Professor's foot in doing so, and made for the bridge, the others followed him happily. Hope was a powerful aid sometimes.

In reality, the last place Shion wanted to be was anywhere near the Dammerung, but there were bigger things at stake. It was not her place to complain now.

—

The hustle and bustle of Second Miltia's streets reverberated around its tall buildings. chaos roamed the city without purpose and came upon Moby Dick's Café. He read the neon sign flashing on the door:

TRY OUR SPECIAL CURRY! BOSS'S SPECIALTY!

"Hmm..." He looked up at the sky momentarily, lost in thought, and then entered the restaurant.

—

"The Dammerung...yup, there are few places I wouldn't rather be right now." Shion grumbled as Vector's massive headquarters came into the Elsa's view. She and Allen sat on the bridge together waiting for the Captain to establish a connection with the transport column. Allen seemed shakier than usual.

"I-I'm really sorry about what happened back there, Chief." He said, pointing at the Dammerung.

Shion laughed, "you don't have to call me that anymore. I'm not chief of anything."

"Oh...right."

"I just don't get it," she held her head sadly, "I know I used the Dive Terminal illegally, but what caused the Director to treat me like that? With all the support I had from my colleagues!" She gazed at the ceiling, "I mean, you obviously vouched for me, right Allen?" She looked at him imploring, even though the question to her was rhetorical.

Allen said nothing, and he began to look very uncomfortable.

"Allen?" Shion asked, slightly alarmed, "you did tell the Director not to fire me, right?"

"Um, well...no."

"WHAT?" She exploded, jumping to her feet and knocking over her chair.

"I, um...Well, judging by your past behavior I sort of told him, you know, that you weren't really...cut...out...for the job..." His voice ended in a tiny whimper.

"WHAT!" She screamed again, almost shaking with fury, "Allen! Why!"

"I, er..."

Her fists came down on the table so hard Allen jumped out of his seat, "Damn it Allen! I trusted you! After all we've been through together! After all that work!" Tears formed in her eyes, "I-I valued your opinion more than anybody's! I thought...I thought we were friends! I thought everything we had accomplished together was something meaningful!"

"It was!" Allen gasped, trying to defend himself.

"Then why the hell did you set out to have the Director shatter my life? Me of all people! I mean, damn it!" She seemed more offended than angry, stung with blades of betrayal, "I trusted you! How could I have misjudged you so badly? You back-stabbing ass–"

"I was worried about you!"

Shion staggered back. A look of incomprehension crossed her face, "what bullshit are you trying to pull Allen?"

"I mean it! You as Chief Engineer, ever since the Woglinde, ever since they made you Chief Engineer of First Division, you always got hurt, you were always in danger during KOS-MOS's test Dives! You got attacked by the Gnosis, you almost got killed! Those bastards at Vector, they don't care about your safety, they just want you to make profits for them! I-I had to get you out! I couldn't stand you getting hurt anymore!"

She stared at him dumbstruck. Allen didn't have the capacity to lie. He was too innocent to pull off a scam like this. He was telling the truth.

"But...Allen." Her lip quivered, "my job, my life! If you were worried why didn't you just tell me! We could have worked things out! I've never been in serious danger–AAH!"

She was cut off, and she punctuated her sentence with an ear-splitting scream. A portion of the Dammerung in front of them exploded, sending shockwaves of air through space which pummeled the Elsa as if it were made of paper.

"Oh my God!" She screamed as the bridge shook, gazing in horror at the Dammerung, "someone—Ormus! Ormus attacked the Dammerung! But why?" She gasped. Margulis had somehow known that she had hacked into Ormus's database. Only one other person had that information stored on her communicator...

"MYUKI!" Shion screamed, realization suddenly flooding her like ice-water. "That-that part of the Dammerung that just blew up! Those are the First Division offices, they want to murder, they want to murder...Oh my God, Myuki!"

She fell to her knees, too terrified to move. The other members of the bridge ran over to her. Allen lifted her to her feet.

"But, but how?" He asked, "How did Ormus know you had hacked into their files?"

"Someone must have told them–" she paused, horror flooding her face, "Harold!" She gasped.

Jr. caught on to what she was saying, "What? You're saying Harold works for Ormus? Oh, that would explain his desire to get control of KOS-MOS, and Ormus's knowledge of Wilhelm's projects, and...oh shit!" The realization of what he was saying seemed to hit him across the face.

Shion shuddered. Memories of the incident two years ago flooded her. Harold worked for Ormus. Harold was most probably First Division's Chief Engineer right now. Ormus wanted to reprogram KOS-MOS. Wake her up. Turn her into a monster.

"No..." Shion's face blanched, "no, he can't..." She suddenly felt a powerful, unshakeable resolve take hold of her, and she shot up to her feet, almost sending Allen flying.

"KOS-MOS." She whispered, "I have to save her! And Myuki." She spun to face the Captain, "I need to get on the Dammerung now! Ormus could be slaughtering my colleagues as we speak!" She grabbed her M.W.S., suddenly filled with rage.

"Well, we're going with you!" Jr. cried, unsnapping his guns from their holsters.

"What?" Shion looked at her friends. They were all preparing for battle.

"Of course we're going with you!" Jr. exclaimed, "we're all in this together now, whether you like it or not."

"Yeah!" MOMO grabbed Shion's hands and held them, "We're fighting by your side till the end now! There's too much at stake. It's more important now then ever to stick together! If not, the only option is to fall apart."

Shion gazed at her friends. She was too overtaken with emotion. She couldn't help crying. Tony was already speeding towards the Dammerung much faster than the Federation's speed limits allowed.

"Guys," she whispered tearfully, "thank you."

"Save it for later." Jr. grinned loading his guns with a fresh cartridge of bullets, "Ormus is in need of a good, thorough ass kicking!"

Jin and Ziggy nodded in agreement, and her friends started making their way to the Elsa's exit. Shion stared out the window. The First Division offices on the Dammerung were smoldering. How many of her colleagues had been caught in the explosion? If she hadn't been fired, she would have...

She turned to face Allen. He seemed to be hiding a very subtle 'I told you so' expression on his face, "you were right," she whimpered, realizing that Allen had indirectly saved her life, "you were right." She hugged him, then turned to face her friends.

"Alright!" She shouted, "Let's go save KOS-MOS!"

—

"SPELL RAY!"

"METEOR SHOT!"

"STAR CANNON!"

A deafening explosion rocked First Division's outer walls as Shion's, Ziggy's, and MOMO's attacks blew out the wall in front of them with the screeching of splintering metal and completely destroyed an Ormus A.M.W.S. that had been attacking Vector employees on the other side. Shion and the others certainly liked to make an entrance.

Save KOS-MOS. Save KOS-MOS. Save KOS-MOS. Shion played that mantra in her head over and over again. That was her prime directive. She felt invigorated with power, steeled with resolve. Pity to those who wished to stand in her way.

In the midst of her current situation, as the smoke settled from their 'explosive' entrance, Shion found herself barking out orders, assuming a leadership position.

"Jr., MOMO, this entire area is littered with security cameras and spy droids–they're here for the Dammerung's protection. I need you two to take them out. Every last one of them. Shoot everything you see. I won't be able to break into KOS-MOS's programming center unless the security system is down."

"Roger." Jr. grinned, suddenly very happy that he had the chance to shoot everything he wanted with reckless abandon.

"Jin, Ziggy," Shion pointed to another wide, gaping hole that led to deep space (fortunately the Dammerung had instantaneous air-lock technology), "that's where those Ormus bastards are coming in. See that hallway? That leads to KOS-MOS's programming center. Protect that hallway! Don't allow a single Ormus soldier to get to it, alright? Kill anything in an Ormus suit, splatter their guts against the walls, break Vector equipment, I don't care. Do anything you have to in order to insure the enemy doesn't infiltrate that hallway. Got it?"

Both Jin and Ziggy readied their blades. They didn't even bother answering; they simply rushed towards the hallway and began decapitating any Ormus soldier who was stupid enough to wander anywhere near them.

"I'm going to save KOS-MOS!" She cried, taking off down the hallway Ziggy and Jin had sworn to protect, "if you guys can, try to save as many Vector employees as possible."

Jr. unleashed a barrage of bullets towards the ceiling and took out three security cameras in three seconds, "alright! Just go Shion!"

—

Shion peeled down the hallway, her heart racing against her chest. At least she didn't look suspicious. She still had her uniform on, although it was bloodied and considerably filthy, but not many people seemed to notice her right now. A widespread panic had gripped the inhabitants of the Dammerung. As she bolted towards KOS-MOS's programming center, she heard the scared, disconnected voices of her colleagues:

"...Dammerung got attacked? But how..."

"...don't we have the Rhine Maiden? What is President Wilhelm going to..."

"...are the Gnosis here? What about Hilbert Effect..."

"...Who the hell could be after us!"

—

Bang, bang, bang. Jr.'s trigger fingers blurred as he busted the Dammerung's high-tech security system. He had never felt so compelled to do something before. Shion had a way of evoking action that was incredible. MOMO was firing away at his side as well, evidently as concerned about Shion and KOS-MOS as he was. Something big and incomprehensibly important was taking place regarding Shion. He just knew it. And he knew that he would serve a big part in whatever was about to happen. So was MOMO. They were dedicated; they were determined to help her. Still, as the bullets kept ripping from his guns, a possibly dangerous thought kept nagging at the back of his mind: What the hell was up with chaos, and why the hell wasn't he here helping them?

—

Jin slashed and stabbed and swung and plunged his blade into anything that approached what was now being dubbed the 'sacred hallway' by him and Ziggy. He had never seen Shion so resolute before. She had changed significantly. She was much stronger now. It pained him that Febronia had taught her what he, her own brother, had been unable to show her for all this time. But things would change now. He would make sure of it. chaos was right, all he needed was to reach out to her; back at Labyrinthos, he had seen how passionate she was in her battle with Margulis. Although it was concealed and well hidden, Jin and Shion did love each other. What choice did they have? After mom and dad died, they only had each other left... Jin shook himself out of his thoughts and unleashed an Ether spell, knocking over a small A.M.W.S. unit. Something big was about to transpire. Ziggy felt it too. They would have to stay sharp, just like their blades.

—

"Lightning Blaster!"

Shion blasted the door to KOS-MOS's programming center and rushed in, M.W.S. sizzling with energy. She seemed to have an affinity for causing doors to explode. Her entrance was met with the startled looks of her colleagues, who were already shaken up by the attack on the Dammerung. Shion spotted KOS-MOS asleep in her maintenance chair. It looked so much like a coffin... Harold was leaning over her. He looked up (as most people did) when the door exploded.

"You!" He gasped, but didn't finish his sentence. Five charges of electricity collided with his fat frame and sent him flying unconscious across the room. The way she had ripped into him earlier this morning, well, that time didn't even come close to the pain she just unleashed on him now.

"Uzuki! What are you doing here?" Her Director exclaimed, slightly terrified.

Shion eyed him and very calmly said, "I've come to take back KOS-MOS. If you have a problem you can kiss my ass."

She walked over to KOS-MOS's maintenance chair, "OUT OF THE WAY!" She screamed, slashing the air with her M.W.S. Her colleagues scampered away like mice.

"You're not the Chief anymore–" Her Director began.

"Shut up if you want to live." She scowled.

"You have no authority to take KOS-MOS with you!"

Her blood boiled, "Then consider me a criminal. And this is a theft. If you interfere, I will shoot you."

"You get out of my division right now before–" He collapsed as she hit him with an electro blast. She wasn't as enraged with him as she was with Harold, so that blast would merely paralyze him and cause him excruciating agony for a few weeks, a month at most; as opposed to Harold, who would be living the rest of his existence screaming in pain, as if he were living in hell–if he did live at all.

Shion knelt down next to KOS-MOS and shook her gently, tears streaming down her face.

"KOS-MOS, KOS-MOS wake up, please..."

KOS-MOS's eyes opened. She seemed to be smiling, "Good evening, Shion."

"KOS-MOS!" Shion screamed. Had Harold tampered with her programming? The thought was too terrible. She started sobbing, "KOS-MOS, introduce yourself, say anything! Please!"

KOS-MOS eyed her quizzically for a nanosecond, then complied with Shion's request, "I am an Anti-Gnosis Humanoid Fighting System, serial number 00-00-00-00-1. Development name KP-X. Abbreviated name KOS-MOS. All systems are normal. My weaponry..."

"Oh, Thank God!" Shion cried and flung her arms around KOS-MOS, relieved beyond belief.

"You really are KOS-MOS." Shion whispered.

KOS-MOS looked at her with a slightly disturbed expression on her face, "Yes. I am indeed KOS-MOS. Are you feeling well, Shion? Undue stress and lack of sleep in humans often result in sluggish and retarded brain processes–"

"No," Shion smiled. Wiping her tears and kissing the android's cheek, "No, KOS-MOS. I'm fine." She got up and paused, "Listen KOS-MOS, some really awful things have transpired. The engineer who was currently attempting to program you, he's part of the Immigrant Fleet, our enemy! There's an evil organization attempting to tamper with your mainframe. I know I'm not you're Chief Engineer anymore, but you must come with me immediately! We're in terrible danger here, and I don't know how much Ziggy and Jin can hold out, so–"

KOS-MOS got up from her maintenance chair, "Do not worry Shion. I trust you."

Shion's mouth fell open a little, and she felt her self-worth soar from the ground. Everything Shion had done, everything she had worked for, everything she had sacrificed suddenly became validated by KOS-MOS's statement. The darkness she had been trudging through vanished, and she grasped a bit of meaning in her life. She felt elated.

"Thank you, KOS-MOS." Shion was about to cry, but she reminded herself this was no time to be emotional. She filled KOS-MOS in on everything she had learned at Labyrinthos, including Ormus's true intentions.

"I understand the situation." KOS-MOS replied once Shion was done, "I am happy to be of service."

Shion couldn't help hugging the android one last time, "Oh, one more thing. The Dammerung has been attacked. The place is crawling with soldiers and A.M.W.S and other such machines that are intent on killing me. We're going to have to fight our way out of here."

"Affirmative," KOS-MOS asserted, heading for the door(way), "Disengaging safety-mode. Activating all weapon systems."

Shion followed behind her, but suddenly stopped and questioned the first colleague she found that hadn't soiled his shorts, "Do you have any idea what happened to Myuki Itsumi?"

"Um...oh yeah. She got hurt pretty badly. The paramedics had to escort her to the hospital. She was in critical condition...er...it didn't look good at all."

"Damn it." Shion muttered. She gazed resolutely at KOS-MOS, "Come on, let's blow this joint!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Er...I mean...let's just get out of here!"

—

For the first time in what felt like ages, Shion didn't have to run down hallways blasting away at enemies like a kamikaze. She was immensely grateful that KOS-MOS was fighting by her side. KOS-MOS's cannons, bullets, lasers, and missiles tore through enemy soldiers and A.M.W.S. units with the greatest of ease. Shion was so used to having to fend for herself, she shrieked in a panic when an E.S. blasted itself into their path.

"Crap! KOS-MOS, run!"

KOS-MOS did not run. She seemed unfazed. "Stand back Shion...X-BUSTER!" Blue lasers erupted from KOS-MOS's abdomen and ripped the E.S. apart in the most incredible display of lasers and explosions that Shion had ever seen. She relaxed. She was safe now. KOS-MOS was safe. Maybe, just maybe, things were going to be ok.

"I love you." Shion blurted once KOS-MOS reduced the E.S. to a steaming pile of rubble.

KOS-MOS blinked, "I also enjoy your company. Shion..." She turned around at the sound of footsteps and saw Ziggy and Jin running towards them. They looked a little rough around the edges.

"Shion! KOS-MOS!" Jin yelled, "we can't hold them back any longer, we have to get out of here! Tony has repositioned the Elsa over there." He pointed to a space dock a few yards away, "we have to leave now! Jr. and MOMO were almost caught destroying security cameras. If Ormus doesn't get us, then the Dammerung's police force will!"

"But!" Shion looked back down the hall. A.M.W.S. were trashing the First Division residences, attacking innocent people... "No, I can't! I promised myself that Feb's sisters would be the last sacrifices. I have to save my colleagues. You guys go on ahead to the Elsa. Get KOS-MOS out of here as fast as you can. Ormus wants her."

"Negative." KOS-MOS responded.

"What? KOS-MOS, get out of here!"

"Unacceptable. Your chances of surviving here without me are negligible. My prime directive is to protect all Vector employees, yourself included, Shion."

Shion growled, frustrated. Was there a point in arguing with an android? Without saying a word, she and the others bolted back towards the residences. There were people to be saved.

—

"Bless you!" A startled young girl gasped as Shion helped her out of a pile of rubble after she incinerated a particularly nasty A.M.W.S.

"Forget about it. Just get out of here! Go find safety!" Shion told her. The young girl turned tail and vanished.

"This is the last residence." KOS-MOS said once the girl left, "I do not detect any human life in a radius of 1000 yards besides yourself, Jr., and Jin. All Vector employees have been successfully rescued."

Shion exhaled a deep, shaky sigh of relief, "So is it safe to breath easy now?"

She barely finished her sentence when the ceiling caved in and an enormous mech plummeted down next to her with an earth-shaking crash.

"What the hell is that?" Jr. cried as he looked up at a very big, very nasty, very red, beam-sword wielding monstrosity.

"It appears to be an enhanced model of an E.S." KOS-MOS explained, "My sensors cannot get a steady reading. Its power levels are overwhelming. Our chances of survival are 0.001 percent. I suggest we escape immediately."

Shion didn't like the sound of that. At all... Before she could run, the mech's sword crashed down upon the group, barely missing Jin's head, and sent a shower of fiery sparks in all directions. Molten pellets landed on Shion's back and seared her spine. She felt white-hot pain take over her body, and she collapsed in agony along with her friends.

"Ah! The fire, I can't–" She howled in pain. This was torture, surely no one was meant to feel this agony. She thought death was eminent...

An explosion rocked the residence. Shion spotted a flash of white light, and saw a radiant blast of white energy collide with the red monster. Another explosion, and for a moment Shion thought she was in hell—fire everywhere, embers flying over her head, gigantic flaming boulders crashed around her, and then the red monstrosity was no more. The pain stopped.

She found the courage to look up. A huge, snowy white mech, much like the red one, stood gleaming in the Dammerung's residence. Whatever or whoever it was had just saved Shion's and everybody else's life. The pilot of the white E.S. dismounted, landed on the floor, and walked towards Shion. The first thing she noticed were his eyes...

"Oh my God, President Wilhelm!"

Wilhelm eyed her cooly and smiled, "Yes. Please, just Wilhelm. I feel too much like a celebrity as is." He gazed around at Shion's friends, who were just beginning to get to their feet, except for KOS-MOS, who stood stalk-straight in a saluting position as if she were addressing the Commander-and-Chief of the Federation's army.

"I understand that you and your companions have taken it upon yourselves to rescue my employees? I thank you deeply, that was very dangerous. I am happy to report that our attackers have retreated. Your efforts were not in vain."

Shion gaped at him awkwardly, paralyzed by the fact that she was talking to one of the most powerful men in the cosmos, "Er...uh...you're-you're welcome." Great. She had always wanted to make a good first impression with the head of her company.

Wilhelm stepped forward and shook her hand, "To be truthful, it isn't really proper for me to thank my employees personally, but I must say, I have never been more impressed, or more proud, or more grateful to any of my engineers before you, Shion Uzuki."

Shion reeled. He knew her name? How many hundreds of thousands of people worked for him? He must have hundreds of Directors!

"Um, well, th-thank you, sir–Wilhelm! But, the truth is I don't work for you anymore."

He tilted his head and eyed her oddly, almost like a confused best friend.

"Uh, I've been fired." She blurted, "I'm the former Chief Engineer of your First Research & Development Division."

Wilhelm stared at her for a moment, then, despite trying to remain subtle, burst out in a warm, friendly fit of laughter.

—

Once the Dammerung had been cleaned up to the best of Vector's abilities, given the circumstances, Shion found herself sitting in one of the less damaged First Division offices. A desk separated her from the CEO of her company. The E.S. Asher's mainframe, her communicator, and her report on KOS-MOS were placed neatly on the desk.

"I'm afraid," Wilhelm sighed, "there has been a terrible misunderstanding. Please don't quote me on this, but you're Director is an idiot, Harold Asters is an idiot, and you, Miss Uzuki, are the best Chief Engineer I've ever had the pleasure to work for me."

Shion blushed terribly.

"I will not stand for jealousy, or power trips, or treachery in my company. Rest assured that your Director will be dealt with severely, if not fired completely. As for Harold, well, he got what he deserved, and you won't be seeing him on my ship anymore."

She bit her lip hard to keep from smirking.

"You, however, Miss Uzuki–"

"Shion." She managed to choke out.

He smiled, "Very well, Shion, consider yourself re-hired. From now on you will have complete and total control over the programming and development of KOS-MOS, and her care will be under your jurisdiction only. You will be answerable only to me, and all the services of First Division, both its employees and its terminals, will be completely at your disposal. I will be putting you in charge of First Division, accompanied by a 50 percent bump on whatever your former Director has been paying you. Oh, that is, if you accept..."

So much for a good first impression. Shion tumbled out of her chair and hit the floor.

"Th-thank you, Wilhelm I-I–" She thanked him profusely, attempting to reconstruct her dignity.

"There is no need to thank me, Shion. I have never seen anyone give so much to my company. Hard work is rewarded here at Vector, you know that."

She blushed again.

"However, there is one thing I wish to discuss before we part ways,"

Oh crap.

"While reviewing your file I couldn't help but notice that you and a colleague of yours—Myuki Itsumi, very talented young girl as well—hacked, for lack of a better word, into a restricted entry of my archives?"

Oh crapping crap. "Uh, well, President Wil–"

He waved her silent, "there is no need for you to explain yourself. I know of the black box the late Kevin Winnicot programmed into KOS-MOS. I believe 'Aeon' was the curious word on his encryption code? I know, you were merely curious. I understand that KOS-MOS's well-being is important to you, and am I correct when I say that you and Mr. Winnicot were...romantically involved?"

"Y-yes."

"I figured as much. Don't worry. I know you acted with KOS-MOS's best interest in mind. Just for the future, could you try to avoid hacking in to restricted files?"

"Oh, of, of course! I will never do it again."

Wilhelm laughed, "You're a fantastic engineer, Shion." He got up from his chair, and a buzzing noise from a computer behind Shion startled the both of them.

"Oh dear, the media has arrived." Wilhelm sighed. "This incident will be in the news for weeks. Ah, well. Looks like you'll be famous, Miss. Uzuki."

Shion got up. The media? Why did Wilhelm think the news networks wanted to interview her?

"Well, I really must be going. I understand you'll be leaving the Dammerung immediately." He walked towards her and kissed her hand, "I look forward to your return."

He left Shion gaping in the office, dumbstruck.

—

The Moby Dick Café was warm and cozy. There was a homely feel about it. chaos took a seat at the bar, and to his surprise, Boss recognized him immediately.

"Hey! I remember you, you're one of Shion's friends."

chaos blinked, startled, "Um, well, yes..."

"You came here for the curry didn't you?" Boss smiled, confident in the knowledge that his customers always came back for more.

chaos chuckled, "Yes. You're quite the judge of people."

Boss laughed and walked into the kitchen, emerging a few minutes later with a steaming bowl of curry.

"Don't tell her this," he whispered, setting chaos's plate down in front of him, "but although it's my recipe, Shion's curry is way better."

"Yeah, I love her curry." The words flew out of chaos's mouth before he even knew what he was saying.

Boss smiled and began wiping grease stains from the bar, "Shion really is a wonderful girl. She's been through hell and back, you know? I can't imagine some of the things she's had to deal with. But she's so strong! It's amazing how fiercely she takes on life."

chaos tried his best not to look terribly uncomfortable, "Well, however fiercely one takes on life, fate always wins out in the end."

Boss eyed chaos, surprised, "Don't let Shion hear you say that! She's living proof that we are the makers of our own destiny. No, no my friend, fate may challenge us, but we choose our own paths. We forge our own fate with our actions and our decisions. Shion once told me something that's always kind of stuck with me: we aren't predetermined. I mean, just look at what she's done with her life. She smacked fate across the face; she's made herself an engineer at Vector!"

chaos remained awkwardly silent. It was amazing what pearls of wisdom happened to come out of random barmen.

"It's a pity though, that she has to suffer so much," continued Boss, "she has trouble finding a boyfriend because she feels nobody really understands what she's been through. Heh, heh, I guess her perfect mate would be someone who considers her a hero."

chaos choked on a mouthful of beef.

"Whoa, hey! You ok there? Too much spice?"

"No, no. It's very good." He cleared his throat.

"Well, as I was saying, she's a sweet girl though. Stronger than she lets on too! She'll find her way. I've known her since she couldn't count past ten. She'll challenge fate. She'll make it back...Oh, am I rambling again? Forgive me, you just probably want to eat your dinner. I gotta get back to the kitchen anyway. I've got this new chef, doesn't know a spoon from his ass, if you'll pardon my French." Boss hurried away into the kitchen at the sound of pots crashing to the floor.

chaos stared ahead intently, in deep thought. Perhaps...

—

For an instant, Shion felt an uplifting surge in her heart, and felt positively giddy as she made her way towards the Dammerung's hospital. The feeling faded away though, once she reached the receptionist's desk.

"Excuse me, I'm Shion Uzuki, Chief Engineer of First R&D. I'm here to see Myuki Itsumi."

"Ah yes." The receptionist pointed to Shion's right, "down the hall. Third door on your right. Careful though, Miss Itsumi is in critical condition.

Shion ventured nervously into Myuki's ward, afraid of what she might find. To her relief, any part of Myuki that may have been disturbing was completely bandaged up (she resembled a mummy). Shion walked slowly up to her sleeping friend's bedside and knelt down beside her.

"Myuki?" She whispered, "can you hear me?"

Myuki opened a groggy, bloodshot eye, "Hey Shion."

Shion fought back tears. She would not cry. She would stay strong for her friend, "Hi there." Shion brushed some of Myuki's bangs out of her eyes.

"Ow..."

Shion gasped, "Sorry."

So much for that. Shion broke down in a fit of tears. She apologized profusely, said that it was all her fault, that if she needed blood Shion would give it, that if she never wanted to talk to Shion again she would understand.

"Don't be silly, Shion." Myuki's voice was a hoarse whisper, "You did what was right. I heard Ormus evacuated. Good riddance. Those jerks dish out some major pain."

Shion nodded and gingerly held Myuki's hand, "How are you feeling?"

Myuki grinned, "Well, considering the circumstances, pretty good actually, although I have so many nanomachines floating around in my blood that someone might confuse me with a cyborg!" She giggled. Shion didn't think it was very funny.

"Uh, why are you here?" Myuki asked, suddenly remembering Shion's...departure.

"Oh, well. Long story short: I saved KOS-MOS, trounced Harold, and now I'm here to see you. Oh yeah, and I got re-hired..."

"Oh my God! Shion that's awesome!"

"...By the president!"

"Wah!" Myuki squealed with delight, and if she hadn't been bandaged for embalmment Shion wouldn't have known she was in critical condition. Myuki showered her friend with praise, and admitted that now being in such painful agony wasn't so bad if she knew Shion was coming back to work.

"And what about chaos?" Myuki asked.

"Man, Myuki! Can we lay off my love life for once? I have no idea–" She was interrupted by the beeping of her communicator. She had received an e-mail. She read it, and her face went blank.

"Uh...Myuki. What do you do when you're CEO asks you out to dinner to discuss 'duties of your new job'?"

Myuki paused for a minute, shocked. Then, "You politely decline, and then you RUB IT IN CHAOS'S FACE!"

Shion rolled her eyes, "Oh God. Why do I even bother talking to you?" She stowed her communicator, but secretly took Myuki's advice to heart.

"You seem normal enough and in good health to me!" Shion told her, "seriously though. You're perfectly safe here. My friends and I crushed Ormus. They won't be coming back, and Wilhelm just upped the defenses like crazy."

Myuki seemed reassured, "what's the president like anyway?"

Shion considered this for a while, "Well, he's very smooth, very polite and eloquent. Knows how to charm a girl right off her feet, but..."

"But what?"

"I don't know, something about his eyes kind of creeps me out."

"Hm..." Myuki shrugged off the statement, "well dear, I have to get my rest now. I assume you'll be leaving to save the Star Cluster now?"

"Well, I'll be leaving. And I'm taking KOS-MOS with me. Ormus has no reason to attack again now."

"Ok, be careful. You're not going to go chasing danger now, are you?"

Shion said nothing, but smiled.

—

"Alright. The CEO's little lapdog is finally here. We can take off now!" Jr. announced once Shion boarded the Elsa, "Shion, pack your bags. We're dropping you off at Second Miltia."

"Huh? Why?"

"You'll be doing that Forbidden Encephalon Dive to get the skills for the Erde thingy. The rest of us will go to the old space port and get the materials needed for the robot. It'll be faster that way."

"You want me to do the Dive alone?"

"No. chaos is Diving with you. He's going to pick you up at the Miltian Spaceport."

"What! chaos? He's about the last person I want to see right now!" She screamed, as her heart did a somersault and she physically ached to see his emerald eyes again.

"Really?" Jr. raised an eyebrow, "tough. You have to go meet him whether you want to or not because we need the Ether skills for the robot."

Shion pouted, "He's not going to want to meet me! He was the one who left me in the lurch, remember! So count me out!" She spun on her heel and proceeded towards her cabin.

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about because I just got off the phone with chaos and he said he'd be delighted to see you and he's already arranged for transport for the two of you–"

"Wha!" She whipped around, hit the wall, and staggered back towards Jr., "what did you say?"

Jr. smirked, "you heard me, little Miss I'm-so-hot-for-chaos-I-jump-on-him-half-naked-and-I-walk-in-on-him-while-he's-in-the-shower–"

"OK! That's enough, Jr.! I'll be...changing out of blood-stained uniform."

"A shower wouldn't hurt either."

He dodged the fist that was about to collide with his face.

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Oh my God. It's 4:00 in the morning and I've been writing non-stop for four hours. I think I may die now. Anyway, my reviewers rock! You know that, and now I really need to sleep. Please forgive any careless errors. I feel if I proofread this again my eyeballs will explode. I'll have all the careless mistakes taken care of by tomorrow.

Copyright Stuff: Febronia's italicized quotes, as well as Shion's "I hate that term." are quotes directly out of Xenosaga Episode II. KOS-MOS's introduction is straight from the script of Xenosaga Episode one. Those lines are not mine. I did not come up with them originally. Please don't sue, I'm too tired for a lawsuit...

I poured every once of creative energy left in my brain into this chapter. I agonized over the battle scenes, the character development, and pretty much everything else. Your thoughts and reviews are as important as the sleep I need right now, R/R!