ARGH! I am soo sorry this chapter took so long. I can't believe it myself, really. Eee. Anyway, I can almost promise you this will hardly ever happen again. Blah. Anyway, I hope this chappy won't disappoint your long wait.

To my lovely reviewers…

Aubuyn: Swweet…you must have done some digging to get to my humble fic, ne? Thanks!

xchaosx: I do try to make chaos' personality as accurate as possible. Thanks for reviewing my other story as well!

YuhiruK.A.A.K.J.: I hope you got your computer working by now! I think I would DIE if something like that happened to mine…anyway, you live in Houston? SWEET! I live not even an hour away from there. ROCK ON! I hope you enjoyed the Philippians!

The Flamer: Geeze, if you want kissing that badly, go read a PWP.

Angstling: Spazzes unite! Yay! Aw shucks, thanks.

Wends: Hoped you would like. And the AU? Coming veeery slowly I will admit, but it is not dead. I will have more time for it when this is finished.

Xeora: Fanart? For ME? I LURVE fanart! Yay!

kikyogirl900: Yay kissing! Hey, I think you finally did get something up, didn't you? I thought I saw something of yours floating around. Just goes to show how slow this came out. AH!

KBkyle92: Go kissing! Thanks!

Nine? Wow. On with fic!

Since I'm sure you're just dying to learn some brand new interesting facts on Realians, I'm here to supply.

Realians don't age. That one's not a huge surprise. I had the same face when I was two and will have the same face when I'm two hundred. For that reason, it's impossible to tell how old any of us are without asking.

Realians don't grow. Taller, to be specific. Five seven now, five seven forever.

We don't shrink either like some old humans do.

We are stuck in the same exact bodies for the entirety of our lives, which quite possibly could be a very long time.

After hearing all this, one is expected to conclude that we can't get larger, correct?

I mean, if we don't get taller and if we don't get older, why should we gain weight?

Unfortunately, this fact is not entirely accurate, for like everything else that eats, there's always the possibility of eating too much.

Which brings me to my main point…

Why am I having so much trouble getting these stupid pants on?

Not any old pants either. It was this lovely pair of black slacks that chaos had bought for me only a few days ago. When I first tried them on, they fit fine. But now as I stood barricaded in the bathroom I was struggling just to get them over my midsection. And I could only dream of trying to get a belt on. I honestly didn't get it.

I couldn't have possibly eaten that much chocolate, could I?

No way am I getting…fat, right?

There was an annoyed rapping on the door.

"Canaan! Aren't you done yet? What's taking you so long?"

"I'll be out in a minute, okay?"

"That's what you said nearly half an hour ago! Last time I ever let you use the bathroom first…"

My pants still refused to be buttoned. At one point I lost my grip on the material and my arm went flying straight into the sharp corner of the bathroom counter. I bit my lip so hard to keep from shouting every obscenity I had ever picked up from hanging around his friends too much. I was successful, and a good thing too; I learned the hard way that chaos didn't like any kind of profanity whatsoever.

Beyond desperation at this point, I sucked out all the air from my stomach and held my breath. This allowed for a much smaller waistline, and ere fore the button easily slid into place. Problem solved.

"All yours," I said exiting the washroom. A rather tousled looking chaos glared daggers at me before heading inside. He had the night shift on the Elsa and definitely wasn't his normal perky chaos-self. Who would be after getting only five hours of sleep?

But you know what? It was kind of nice seeing him so imperfect for a change. It meant he didn't have a need to act civilized around me when he was in a bad mood. He could wear his feelings on his sleeve, so-to-speak. It was utterly and completely…human, I suppose.

Anyway, point is that he was quite crabby and even someone as charming as myself should keep my distance 'till he's gotten a chance to wake up.

I stood in front of the mirror adjusting my appearance when I finally heard the shower be turned on full blast. He must have had it on super-sonic hot because I could actually see steam escaping from under the door. A heavy sigh escaped from inside, indicating he was starting to feel much better.

"Hey Canaan!" he called.

"Hmmm?"

"Have you spoken to Shion or Allen lately? I know that there's a bit of a fuss going on at Vector and I was wondering if you got a chance to talk with them."

"Not a word," I said, speaking loudly enough so he could hear me through door and running water, "I swear Shion hasn't left her room in days, and Allen keeps dashing so fast from one ship to the other it's impossible to pull him aside."

"You haven't been told anything? I mean, you are a part of Vector yourself, correct?"

I snorted. "Please. They tell me nothing. About once a month I get a message telling me where to go and I go. That's it."

"I'm just a little worried, that's all." The water from the shower was turned off. "Shion has always been a bit isolated when it comes to her problems, but even this is a little extreme for her. I always have a feeling that…"

I flopped on my bed with a few sweets in my hand (three days later and we hadn't even made a dent in the amount I bought him) and listened patiently to his worrying about his fellow companions. He's been doing that a lot lately, worrying, you know. And I have remained his loyal sympathetic ear all throughout.

"…just don't know. I suppose it's possible it has something to do with KOS-MOS…"

I choked on a piece of chocolate I was stuffing down.

He just had to bring her up…

"Oh dear, I'm sorry," he said, poking his head from the bathroom, "I said the "K" word again, didn't I? I know how much you don't like her."

Two days ago chaos was on a rant about how KOS-MOS was making so much progress in terms of emotions and human compatibility and whatnot, when I, well, kinda exploded at him. I was terrified he was going to explode back, but instead he apologized sincerely and promised to not talk about her so much. It was actually quite sweet of him.

"It's not so much I don't like her, it's just that I don't like you talking about her so much."

"Okay okay, the subject is dropped."

He wandered out wearing a huge puffy bathrobe and ruffled his hair with a towel.

"Moving onto another one…like how you keep stuffing your face with my candy, which you did give to me by the way."

"I'm hungry," I protested, "Besides, you can't possibly eat all this by yourself."

He casually flopped down in quite a close proximity to me. "I could if I wanted to. Give me one."

He selected a piece from my outstretched hand and bit off a large hunk, chewing quietly.

He snuggled a bit closer. "Why can't every day be like this?" He asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"You know, like this."

"What is this?"

"Just…relaxing…and worry less…existing without the fear of the universe crashing down around you."

I paused to think. "I don't know…" I admitted.

Poor thing…he sounds so tired…

He sighed and leaned in, nuzzling my shoulder with his cheek. I just watched, daring not to move.

"Never mind then…I just want to enjoy this peace."

So do I…

…

Hmm…how relaxing…

…

Has anyone present ever heard of the term "Murphy's Law?" It's something I heard from someone some odd day…but that's not important. It is "The law or principle that if anything can go wrong, it will," right?

Well, I'm glad to see Murphy was still hard at work, for what seemed only a minute later of probably one of the most romantic moments of my life, there was a knock at our door.

"Canaan? chaos?" A voice asked, "Are you guys in there?"

"It's Jr…" chaos mumbled quietly, his head lifting up slightly, "We should probably get it…"

"Do we have to?" I mumbled back.

"Well…nah…he can wait…" was his sleepy reply.

"Hey! I know you guys are in there. Lemme in!"

"Maybe if we ignore him he'll go away…" I whispered.

"Oh whatever, I'm not wasting my time with this. Computer? Open the door to dorm 42 please? Override Gaig…"

We sprang apart so fast I was worried I was going to accidentally take chaos' head with me. The door's swished open and we tried to stand there as causally as possible and catch our breaths.

Jr. eyed us suspiciously as he stepped inside.

"Why didn't you guys answer me when I knocked the first time?" he demanded.

"Uhhh…."

"Ummm…"

He rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Canaan? I need to speak with you."

"Fine…" I said, swiveling a chair around and sitting, trying not to scowl too much.

Jr. yanked something out of his pocket and shoved it into my face.

"Do you know what this is?"

I blinked at the computer pad starring back at me. "It looks like a graph."

"And what is on the graph?"

"A red line?"

What does he think I am, daft? Where is he going with this?

"And what is the red line doing?"

"…Going down?" I answered stupidly.

"EXACTLY!" he thundered, "These are the profits from gambling a few days ago! And you know what? We lost almost all of it from the slots! Do you know WHY Canaan?"

"…Because I won a lot?"

"WRONG. An extremely respected officer of MY ship reported today that YOU were tampering with the machines!"

"Respect…" I paused racking my brain for such an officer.

"Wait, you mean the pansy-cop? He reported me?"

"Hey! He's one of my crewmembers, that you very much!"

"Yeah? Well he's wrong for starters, I didn't tamper with them, I can't believe he told on me for goodness sakes, and you must have been a twit for hiring him in the first place."

"You're really pushing me Canaan. I should just make you pay for all the money I lost right now!"

We both heard a snicker from behind us that undoubtedly came from chaos.

"You stay out of this!" Jr. huffed.

chaos quieted down and resumed twiddling his thumbs.

"There! Now where was I? Ah yes, now I expect you too…"

Jr. was interrupted by a ringing from within his coat pocket.

"…Hold that thought."

He yanked a device from his pocket and placed it to his ear.

"Yes?"

I rolled my eyes and tapped my foot impatiently while he took his cell phone call.

"…What? Say that again? From where?"

I glanced up, brows knitted with concern. That didn't sound good. I glanced toward chaos and saw his face wore the same expression.

"Okay okay, just relax, I'm with chaos and Canaan…yeah we'll be there in a sec."

He shoved his phone back into his coat pocket.

"What's wrong?" chaos asked.

Jr. drummed his fingers against his side, obviously bothered from the call. "That was Shion…and well…no one has any idea how…but apparently a few minutes ago some nutcases managed to get onto the bridge of the Elsa, without being detected, and are demanding to speak with all of us. They say it's "of the utmost urgency." She sounded really freaked out…"

"That's really bizarre..." I couldn't hide the worry in my voice.

"No kidding. And do you know what the really weird part is? They claim they're messengers from Vector."

chaos' features darkened considerably.

This certainly might explain a few things…

"Anyway," Jr. continued, "We better get down to the bridge pronto. Who knows what this mess could be about."

With every step I took toward the bridge it seemed like a step closer to falling off the edge of the world. Something just wasn't right. Every second closer to those doors made the sinking feeling in my stomach grow deeper and deeper. chaos didn't look any better. He looked almost pale, if that was possible, and kept walking slower and slower.

The doors were now in sight. The breath in my lungs turned to ice.

We crossed the threshold and the world didn't end…yet. There was dead silence as we quietly filed in, afraid if we made the slightest noise everything would shatter. Everyone was already there, in their respective places: Shion, Hammer, Ziggy, Jin…

…And two strange men were standing in the center, both having an extreme air of superiority about them, wearing exceptionally crisp formal outfits…

Wait…aren't they…

"Ahhh good…it seems everyone has finally arrived…" said the smaller of the two. He practically purred out the sentence with his heavy black eyes smothering into all of us. "Now we can finally get to business…"

Matthews finally got the guts to speak up. "Hey buddy, what business is there to talk about? You break onto my damn ship, order us around like we're your servants, and now…"

"…that will be enough…" he interrupted in his sickly soothing voice, "I promise I won't take up any more of your…time… than necessary. Now…let's see…"

He extracted a letter from his coat pocket and unfolded it carefully. He gave a quiet cough to clear his throat and began to read.

"To Miss Shion Uzuki and her companions…"

I saw Shion shudder out of the corner of my eye.

"…It has come to my attention that a very priceless piece of merchandise, which rightfully belongs to me, has escaped into your care some time ago. It has not received the full attention it needs, nor all the upgrades that were required, and therefore I am quite concerned for its well being and to yours as well. It has become quite unstable and is a danger to itself and to those around it, and any damage that may come to it will have dire effects on my long term plans."

There was a pause in his voice.

Oh gods, it isn't talking about…me...is it?

"In conclusion, I demand as your superior and its rightful owner that you willingly hand over the Kosmos Obey Strategical Multiple Operation System, KP-X No. 000000001 immediately."

Shock took over any relief I had. My mouth gaped open.

"Sincerely, Wilhelm. President of Vector Industries."

Before the room completely burst into an uproar, before I saw Shion faint and collapse into her brother's arms, I caught a glimpse of the expression on chaos' face. And, upon the mentioning of Wilhelm, it twisted into something of absolute…and total…horrified…terror.

Ending…strange…yes I know…forgive me…everything will be explained later….promise.

Ne. ATA.

P.S. I am taking Japanese. It is SOOOO spiffy. There's a crazy short dude in my class who reads yaoi fics. It is quite kewl, considering Texas, is like, THE homophobic capitol of the world. YAY SHORT PEOPLE!

Cheers, ATA.