Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga...plain and simple

Chapter 11

It had been a day since they all began the process of repairing the device. KOS-MOS was still standing at the panel board, still trying to connect it with the UMN.

"Process complete. Please make haste of the time we have. I have installed a connection with the UMN for only one year and two months." KOS-MOS stated as she turned to the group. Shion's eyes lit up.

"All right then, come on everyone! Let's get to work!" Shion said excitedly. Everyone rushed over to the panel boards and began the old-styled fix up job.

It had been only a day after Jr. and MOMO left the castle to leave on their pointless journey through the dense jungle. They were used to it by now, knowing that they had been there over three months. They both were getting bored of being there ever since there wasn't anything to do.

"Well, I guess we're getting our exercise huh?" Jr. commented, looking over at MOMO who nodded in agreement. "Once we get back, they won't have the right to call me a lazy bum anymore. Heh…" Jr. put his hands behind his head as they both walked down a familiar path.

"Look, it's the place with the waterfall!" MOMO exclaimed as she veered from the path. Jr. stopped walking and looked back. He sighed and walked off to follow her. Once he got to where she had gone, he found her standing by the waterfall, putting her hand under the pressure of the pure blue liquid.

"Isn't it pretty?" MOMO asked as she turned to Jr. He hesitated and then smiled.

"Yeah, it sure is." He said gently. She smiled brightly and then walked over to him. Jr. looked at her confused, wondering why she wanted to leave so suddenly. It wasn't that she wanted to leave, but…

"Tag! You're it!" MOMO put her cold and wet hand on his check, making him wince at the icy coldness. He shook it off as he watched her run off to hidden road behind the waterfall.

"Hey! That's not fair! You got a head start on me!" He laughed as he ran after her. She giggled and then ran the entire way through the road and onto the path they were heading down. Once MOMO thought that she was far enough ahead of him, she looked back to make sure he was still with her. Her face turned into surprise as he tackled her to the ground, catching her into a headlock and giving her a good noogie.

"Ow! (Giggle) Stop that!" She laughed as she struggled to get out of Jr.'s hold.

"No way! When someone gets a false start they always disserve a noogie!" Jr. playfully explained, eventually letting her go. They both began to laugh a little bit and then laid on the ground sprawled out.

"That was fun!" MOMO commented once she got her breath back from the excitement.

"Especially from what's been going on lately."

"Jr.?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this seems like a long time ago, but what were you going to say?" MOMO sat up and looked down at him. Jr. felt his face go red as he remembered what he was going to confess to her.

"Uh…umm…well, I kinda…umm…forgot?" He replied, his voice shaky. 'I-I can't tell her now! Shoot! I-I gotta tell her sometime though…b-but not now…I don't even know why I can't tell her now…shoot!' he thought as he heard her lay back down.

"Well, once you remember, you can tell me." She explained. A moment of silence passed before MOMO asked another question.

"Jr.?" She asked again.

"Y-yeah?" he stammered, afraid of what she was going to ask him next.

"I know this isn't what I normally would say, but do you think we were being treated like pets when we were with Shang Xiang and the other people there at the castle? I mean, they told us that they couldn't take us along and that we would have to go back to this place. Doesn't it seem…kind of weird?" Jr. shifted his attention towards her daydreaming expression as she looked into the sky.

"Well…maybe. You never know." Was his quick reply. Silence was heard once again as the two stared through an opening through the trees. MOMO grew tired and closed her eyes, hoping to take a quick nap. Jr., on the other hand, stayed awake. He was mentally beating himself up for not confessing his love to her.

'Dammit! Why is it so hard to say? It's just…one phrase. I see it in books all the time, but they just make it too easy. I'm so stupid! I should've just come out with it when she asked me what I was going to say a while back…thinking about that…it was a while ago. We've been here a while and I'm getting sick of it. It's all because of the stupid keychain that isn't waterproof! Why me? Why us?' His thoughts kept going as he talked about how stupid the Professor was and how everything became stupid.

A few hours later, MOMO woke up. The sky had started to grow dark as the day turned to night. She looked over at Jr., who had at some point fallen asleep as well.

'I guess he must have fell asleep too…I guess I'll have to wait for him to wake up. Maybe, I should just go back to sleep. After all, it is getting dark…but I'm not tired anymore…sigh' MOMO got up and stretched. She walked around the premises as she awaited Jr. to wake up.

A few hours later, MOMO was sitting down by a tree thinking of her favorite song. Her head was bobbing to the beat when suddenly she was interrupted by a high-pitched squeaky sound. She looked up at the dark blue sky, thinking that it might have been a bird. She looked at the sky for a while and then decided that it was nothing.

It became silent again as MOMO thought of her song, when the same sound came from before. She stood up to see if maybe she could see what the sound was coming from. A few moments later, MOMO suddenly found herself ducking from a swarm of bats that came close to where she was. She ran over to Jr. and quickly laid down next to him. She immediately hugged him when the bats came swooping over again.

When she had hugged Jr., he woke up to the tight squeeze.

"MOMO…what's…the matter?" He asked, struggling for breath. "It's not another…spider is it?"

"No! There's bats swooping at me!" She exclaimed. When she noticed that Jr. had said it, she blushed and her eyes opened wide. She gasped and let go of him, sitting up. "I-I-I'm sorry to wake you!" She apologized. Jr. rubbed his neck and shook his head.

"Nah, I probably should be awake…Man! I have the worst itch on my arm!" Jr. began scratching at one particular place on his arm. After he thought it was gone, it came back. "Damn! Why is this so itchy!" He complained.

"I don't think it would be poison ivy, right?" MOMO informed.

"No, honestly I think I might have gotten bit by a mosquito…or something…"

"You sure do know a lot about this time period."

"Actually, it's probably because I read adventure novels…old ones, but I guess some of them come in handy…" Jr. started randomly swatting in the air. MOMO tilted her head to the right wondering why.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Stupid bugs! Geez! Think there are enough of 'em." MOMO's eyes widened when she felt something crawling on her arm. She looked down to see her worst fear.

"…AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed as she immediately stood up and brushed the spider off of her arm. "SPIDER! SPIDER! GET IT OFF!" She continued. Jr. watched as she ran around in a circle, screaming her head off. On the third time around he grabbed her arm and sat her back down next to him.

"Calm down. I'm pretty sure it's gone…not to mention pretty dizzy." Jr. remarked. MOMO was panting and holding her chest, her eyes wide in fear. She was shaking like crazy as she looked from left to right, making sure nothing else came her way.

Jr. stood up as he looked around at his surroundings. He helped MOMO up as well and they started walking. MOMO found herself clinging to Jr.'s arm as they walked down the darkened path.

"W-what are we supposed to do now?" MOMO asked curiously, still quite nervous from the previous spider encounter.

"Well, we should go to the field again. I mean, you did say you wanted to see it at night right?" MOMO looked over at him and smiled. She nodded and they both made their way to the field once more.

The duo had arrived at the field, going to sit on the hill like they all ways did. MOMO gazed at the stars which were clearly visible. Jr. did the same, every once and a while glancing back at MOMO. He noticed that she was pretending to trace the stars, connecting them into her own picture. Of course, Jr. never noticed what the picture was. He decided to ask what she was doing, even though he all ready knew.

"MOMO, what are you doing?"

"Huh? …Oh, well, I guess you could say I'm playing 'connect the stars'. It's really fun. You get to try to see if there are any stars that make pictures and then trace them in the air with your finger. You should try it too." She invited. Jr. looked over at her and sighed.

"Maybe…I guess I'll try it."

"Okay! You have to use your imagination!" She explained. Jr. nodded, slightly disturbed by such a strange thing to do. He decided that it was better than being bored out of his mind.

Jr. stuck hid hand in the air, pointing to the sky with his pointer finger. He began searching the stars for any type of picture. It took him a while, but eventually he found one of a dog.

"Did you find anything?" MOMO asked while still looking to the stars.

"Yeah…a dog."

"Is it Alby?" She question. Jr.'s eyes widen and then thought of the possible resemblance.

"I guess you could say that." He answered. MOMO scooted closer to him.

"Can you show me?" She asked. He nodded in acceptance.

"Here's the starting star…and then you go over like this…" He began explaining it to MOMO, who seemed very interested. "And that's where it ends." He continued.

"Wow! It does look like Alby! Very much so!" She complimented. Jr. looked over and became surprised when he saw how close MOMO had gotten. "Isn't this fun? I love star gazing." MOMO continued, not noticing Jr. looking at her.

"Yeah, sure. It is pretty fun." MOMO smiled as she looked over at Jr., still sitting shoulder to shoulder with him. The rest of the night they pointed out different shapes in the stars until they both feel asleep.

Was it al little OOC? I'm not sure, so yeah...review to let me know