Yo. I was just re-reading some of my earlier chapters of this story and man…do I have some work to do. I plan on doing a complete re-edit once I'm through with this fic, which probably will be only a three or four chapters away. Sigh…

Anyway, yeah, I'm getting a six day vacation from the lovely Rita, who didn't really do much damage in my area anyway. Rita's another hurricane that struck down here for those of you who don't pay much attention to the news. I'm not saying it didn't do anything, but hey, I'm still alive. So…I guess this chapter, in some weird way, is dedicated to the victims of Katrina and Rita. Yeah, I'll go with that. You know I'm curious as to how many people actually read the "starting" author's comments at the top. If you read this, ahh, put "NI!" at the end of your review, if you do so. Just out of curiosity.

To my lovely reviewers…

Yeshua: Cliffy will be slightly explained, fear not. No worries, I'm just glad you reviewed!

Angstling: Hehe, please don't kill Rubedo, we all love him too much. Yeah, I know it was a pansy kiss, but be patient! Canaan and chaos WILL have their first real kiss! Eventually!

YuhiruK.A.A.J.: Gloria the computer is fixed! Score! Hey, did you have to evacuate because of Rita? Just curious. And don't be so hard on yourself about your writing!

KBkyle92: Nope. Not dead. Yet. I won't discontinue this fic when I've worked so hard to get this far.

kikyogirl900: Spiffy! I wanna be short, but NO, I'm MEDIUM. Grr…

Yami-chan and Unrealistic: Welcome new comrade! Thanks for the review!

And…action.

It was as if I were dreaming.

Everything happened so slowly and clumsily, and the mad swirling of voices around me seemed…heavy, and inaudible.

And I wasn't really there, no, I was somewhere safe watching this disorderly scene unfold from someone else's eyes. In my mind I could hear myself thinking…

What foolish people these mortals are…

Then I woke up.

Shion's fainting spell didn't last long. She was asking…no…begging these strangers… "Don't make me give KOS-MOS up…" I think MOMO, poor thing, confused and upset was sobbing off in a corner somewhere and Ziggy was trying to calm her down. Everyone else was on the verge of exploding.

Personally, I didn't know what the big deal was. So what if that stupid android went on vacation for a few days? That solved many of my problems. It wasn't like we were ordered to dismantle KOS-MOS or perform some horrible experiment on her…right? It was just recall, done in Wilhelm's extremely annoyingly formal way.

On that subject, the two men in the center of the room seemed unaffected by the outburst. The smaller one's black eyes, that seemed to rake into your spine, were unsympathetic to our predicament. In fact they seemed almost amused. The other one, who hadn't spoken a word yet, stood there stolid as ever. I swear I didn't even see him breathing.

Maybe there was something a little more to this situation that no one's bothered to tell me about yet…

The smaller one began to tap his foot impatiently, indicating that he was waiting for all of us to settle down. When all our protests mellowed down to dull grumblings, he began, "Please, there is no need for such uncivilized conduct. This is completely normal protocol. There is absolutely no reason for you to be concerned or worried about the well being of KOS-MOS. Wilhelm will take…extremely…good care of it."

"Her…" hissed Shion.

"Pardon?"

"Stop referring to KOS-MOS as a thing! She's a living being with thoughts and ideas and…"

"Yes yes, but "she" is still a piece of equipment, belonging to your boss. Now, I am running late, so if you will kindly escort it back to my vessel, I will be on my way."

"Hey...if you don't mind, your highnesses, I wouldn't mind knowing how in the world you managed to get on this station, on this ship, how did you know where we were?" Jr. had finally spoken up.

"We have our…ways."

"Ways?" Jr. scoffed.

"Ways?" More like stalking I would say…

"But…but…why?" asked Shion, her throat choking up, "Why is Wilhelm taking her away like this? And so suddenly, I mean…"

His eyes got darker, if that was even possible.

"Wilhelm does not have to explain himself for any of his actions."

"But…"

"Now now, Miss Shion, please. In all honestly I know nothing."

He smirked a sadistic smile. His partner only blinked.

"After all, I am only the messenger."

I was dreaming again. It seemed completely surreal to me, even though I was watching it happen with my own two eyes. I watched them escort KOS-MOS, who hadn't even tried to protest yet, onto their ship with all her equipment in tow. I watched them take her far far away, until their vessel was nothing but a blip out in the vastness of the universe.

Shion was inconsolable, biting her lips together to keep from crying, and only by clinging to an outstretched arm of her brother or Allen kept her from completely collapsing.

A mother's grief is the greatest one of all, I guess.

But I still didn't understand what was going on. Why was everyone so upset? Could Wilhelm's recall have a more sinister purpose that I haven't "gotten" yet?

I've never really thought about the possibility of Wilhelm being "evil." He's just a business man concerned about his creation, right?

"Are you going to be okay? Shion?" Allen asked worriedly.

"Yes...I think...oh I don't know...What could he want with her? What? And to take her away like that without a warning...what is he going to do with her? I've never gotten to know Wilhelm personally, but this doesn't seem like him at all!"

Besides, without him I could never have gotten my feelings, right? Without him, I would still be dolefully wondering around; an emotionless blob with a pitiful existence pining after a gorgeous someone way beyond my reach.

"If it's some consolation, Shion," Ziggy voiced, "I'm sure Wilhelm will do nothing to harm her, as his "messenger" stated, especially if he holds her in such high esteem."

"Ziggy's right!" MOMO piped up, her bubbly personality only allowing her to remain upset for so long, "He'll treat KOS-MOS well, I'm sure."

But then again, the way chaos' face looked; it was horrible, when Wilhelm's name was on that letter...

Wait a minute...

Where is chaos?

I glanced around frantically hoping my assumption was wrong.

But he was no longer there.

I didn't glance back at the others as I dashed out of the room. They didn't notice me anyway; they were all crowded around Shion trying to comfort her, oblivious to the pain of anyone else.

My stride was swift, aided by panic and worry, as I bounded down the hallway.

Where is he? I turned around for two seconds and…and poof he's gone.

This is all her fault, she's just so special, everyone loves her. Even when she's a million miles away she still makes my life a living heck, making my poor chaos worry like that.

I had already checked the obvious places fort his location: the park, the Elsa's bridge, the Durandal's bridge, the engine room, the E.S hangars, all the time asking everyone within calling distance if they had seen a young man with white hair walk by.

No one had.

I finally decided that if he wasn't back in our room I would head to the Kukai Foundation and search there. And if he wasn't on the Kukai Foundation...

Well, I hope it didn't come to that.

But relief was mine, for once, when I found him back in the room, unharmed. He was quietly sitting on his bed, facing the wall, his back toward me.

"chaos?" I asked. He shifted slightly.

A huge breath of air escaped me. "Phew, I was starting to think I was never going to find you. You...you scared me, what happened?"

Nothing.

Slightly irritated by his silence, I asked, "What is wrong with you? I run over half the ship looking for you, worried sick, and everyone else is still freaking out about KOS-MOS, and now you're giving me the silent treatment. I know you're probably a little upset, but I wish you would say something to me."

Nothing, again.

Now I was irritated. This was so unlike him, I didn't get it. If he was this upset about that damnable android chick I swear I'm gonna...

"Hey," I growled, marching over so I stood in front of him. I couldn't see his expression; his face was down and covered in shadow. "Say something, you owe me that. I can't believe you would get this upset over...her. In fact, I can't see why anyone would be shook up by this whole thing. And you of all…"

My voice turned pitch black, cold and sarcastically I asked, "So…tell me, chaos, does she really mean that much to you? Has the truth finally been revealed?"

He didn't budge.

Angrily I grabbed his shoulders and said, "Answer me."

He silently lifted his face to mine. But...there was something different about him. His eyes were wrong. Their normal green glow was replaced with an almost...burn. They looked so...

"Canaan..." He whispered, his voice broken.

...sad...

In a heartbeat he jumped to his feet and slammed into me so hard I flew back and bounced off the wall. For a split second I thought he was trying to tackle me, but...

He wrapped his arms tightly around me and buried his face into my side. His arms were crushing me so hard I could barley breathe, how could he have been that strong? I hadn't expected this reaction at all, but the more he squeezed the more I wondered…why had I been so mad at him?...there was no reason to be mad at him…

"Oh Canaan..." he breathed, "I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry I made you worry..."

"It's...it's okay..." I replied in a daze, "It wasn't really that big of a deal...you were just unhappy..."

He shuddered so hard against me I thought he was going to break.

"chaos?"

He gave a slight whimper.

"Are you...crying?"

I don't think I've even seen chaos cry before. I don't even know if chaos can cry.

But his head shook no into my chest. I felt him shudder again.

I finally wrapped my arms around his trembling figure and sighed into his hair. I understood it then; he needed comfort, badly, and I was more than happy to provide. A slight guilt weighed in on me, as I took happiness in his obvious sorrow, and I was overjoyed that she was out of the picture, but I could worry about all that...much later.

My hands massaged his back, calming him down, just a little bit. I think...he may have cried then, but it didn't matter. All that was important is he was here, safe and sound.

"Shhh..." I said, "There there...nothing bad is going to happen...I'm here...I'm here..."

"It's not that she was taken away that really upset me, I think, it's just...that I couldn't do anything to stop it."

"Why?"

"Let's just say you don't want to get on Wilhelm's bad side."

"I see...do you...know him?"

"...yes, in a sense."

"Is he…evil?"

"I don't know anymore. Maybe."

His head shifted on my stomach. We were both sprawled out on his bed; I sitting up, he nestled in my lap.

"I have no idea why he would want her so close to him in the first place. Although I might have a vague idea..."

"What is it?"

"Well, this isn't well known, but at the rate things are going with the Gnosis the human race could be annihilated within two years. People are starting to get really scared, you know?"

"Geeze..."

"And Wilhelm, well, he's not too fond of death. He's done almost everything he can to surround himself in powerful things...mystical things...and he's made some extremely dangerous allies along the way."

"An escape artist of death, hmm? Hey, does that mean he's as old as you?"

"…"

"Oh, sorry, forget I asked that. Please continue."

"Right. So KOS-MOS could be nothing more than something to add to his collection. But I have this nagging feeling it's something more than that...but I hope I'm wrong."

"A collection piece...is that why Shion was so upset?"

"Shion cares about KOS-MOS a lot...anyone that took her away, she'd be upset. But I think she may have a better idea than us why Wilhelm was so abrupt, even though she doesn't want to admit it."

"Why did he think he had that right anyway? I mean, Shion made her with her own two hands."

"True, but technically she's still Vector merchandise, and Wilhelm has the right to "his" merchandise."

"That's cruel...to just chunk his power around like that."

"It's called having a god complex."

"Do you think this is part of the reason Vector was in such disarray the past couple of days?"

"Definitely. When the boss isn't happy, nobody is. I think...ahh..."

His train of thought was cut off by a yawn.

"You're tired," I soothed, "get some rest. We can worry about this tomorrow."

"But I'm not tired..." he said sleepily, "And what if something important happens?"

"I'll wake you if it does. I promise."

"Really? Okay…thanks..."

His eyes got heavy, then closed. He snuggled himself against my side and became very still, besides the steady breathing of his chest.

"chaos?"

"Hmm...?"

"Did...did Wilhelm once do something terrible to you?"

There was no reply. He had already fallen into his dreams.

I learned so much more about him that night then all the questions he's answered for me put together.

chaos can't stand to see anyone suffering, but he hates seeing someone suffer and not be able to do a thing about it. He wants to fix all the evils in the world by himself and make everyone and everything happy. And when they're finally happy, he can be too.

But he can't. No matter how hard he tries, there will always be some jerk out there ready to screw up everything he's worked so hard to achieve. In that sense, he can never truly be at peace.

So comparing this knowledge to our current situation…

The taking away of KOS-MOS made his closets friends upset, worried, distraught. And for a reason, unbeknownst to us, he couldn't do anything to stop it. This made him upset, worried, and distraught, but he couldn't let anyone know about it or else he'd make them worry even more. So he escaped to suffer quietly. His empathy is truly monumental.

That's when I found him. And somehow, in my stupid careless way, I snapped him out of it. For the time being, of course.

Now, what was it I said those oh so many nights ago?

"chaos…I will do anything for you, or for one whom you loved. That is all I can give you right now. Just this solemn oath. I will not let anything happen to you that will cause you pain."

Well, I choked up a bit on that last part, but perhaps I can still make this all work out.

I think I knew what I had to do

Somehow…as crazy as it sounds, and as furious as it made me…I needed to get KOS-MOS back.

I don't hate KOS-MOS. Really.

Sorry if I sound dead. I'm typing this at 1:30 in the morning, bleh. Anyway, I hope I can get ch. 14 out to you quickly!

Remember, NI!

Cheers, ATA.