Another cliffhanger this chapter! Alright. Well, the end of this chapter is unexpected too. Well, kind of. Not really, but…
Neo: So indecisive! Wow!
Stop it, you little anomaly.
Neo: That's not what you said last ni-
-Claps hand over his mouth- Don't listen to him!
Neo: KOS-MOS rox doesn't own anything in the chapter. Thank you and goodnight.
Jr. sings some more in this chapter! –Big smile-
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Xenosaga Episode II: Die Kraft der Liebe
Chapter 11: Superman's Dead
"Ugh…"
The next morning came too early for Shion. The dream kept coming back to her, and she would wake up crying each time…even after what happened with Allen earlier. Groaning again and rolling over, she pounded the bed with her fists. The most horrible headache had found residence in her head. Once she finally rolled out of her bed, she walked into the kitchen, scowling. Everyone was already there and ready.
"Hey, Shion! Want a powerbar or something?" Jr. called from the bar as she plopped down in a booth next to Momo.
"Not hungry," she groaned angrily, resting her head on her arms.
"Hey, what's your problem?" Allen asked bitterly. "You could at least be a bit polite. And also, you look more miserable than usual. You should really do something about that."
"Yeah. Mmhm. Right here, buddy," Shion told him nonchalantly, showing him a rude hand gesture. Everyone let out a shocked gasp as Jr.'s jaw hit the floor.
"Dude! Did she just-" he began to ask.
"Yeah, she did," Jin said, dumbstruck.
"Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa." Jr. jumped off of the barstool and ran over to Shion. "What happened? Our resident lovebirds, at it like cats and dogs?" he asked frantically, blue eyes wide.
"We merely discovered our mistake in getting together," Allen said simply.
"Well…this is gonna be one long trip…" Ziggy said.
"You guys shouldn't fight!" Momo begged, holding onto Shion's arm.
"Don't worry, Momo," Jr. said quietly, pulling her aside. "They'll be making love again within three hours," he whispered, making her laugh.
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"Yo! Little Master! We headin' out?"
The group stood on the bridge of the Elsa, preparing to take off. "Yeah! Let's go and bring them down!" Jr. replied, nodding. Matthews gave Tony and Hammer to begin the descent, and the ship began to land.
chaos entered the bridge, a cup of coffee steaming in his hands. He gave it to Shion, saying, "Here. You should really eat or drink something before we go. We don't want you passing out."
"Oh, thank you! That's so sweet of you, chaos!" she said, putting emphasis on her last word, holding chaos's hand, and looking at Allen. He grunted something inaudible, keeping his focus ahead of him.
"Stop it," chaos said firmly, pulling away from Shion. "You know you still love him. Listen to me now, before you regret what you're doing."
"There's nothing to regret," Shion stated, sticking her nose in the air.
"Hang on one second," Jr. said, running out of the bridge. About a half second later, he returned, a large knife in his hands.
"Wh-what are you going to do with that?" Jin asked, eyeing the large blade. Jr. flashed him an insane grin before standing in between Shion and Allen, imitating cutting something and grunting from physical exertion.
"What are you doing?" Shion inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm cutting the tension," he panted, pretending to wipe sweat from his brow. Shion glared at him and smacked him upside the head, causing the knife to fly out of his hands. It stuck just behind Tony's seat, almost stabbing him. The pilot shrieked and jerked as he heard it make contact.
"What did I do, Lord, what did I do?" he begged, folding his hands in prayer.
"Cut the crap, cheesehead!" Matthews hollered. "The Little Master can throw knives if he wants to!"
"He's drunk again…" Hammer said, crying out when he felt the impact of Matthews's boot on the back of his head.
A loud thud was heard as the Elsa landed on Proto Omega. "We'd better take the E.S.s. Same places?" Jin asked. chaos whimpered as he rubbed the back of his head.
"As long as I don't have to go in the Dinah with those two." Jr. pointed over his shoulder at Shion and Allen. "I'd need earplugs. First for the screaming while they're fighting. Then, about ten minutes later, for their moans of pleasure."
"You little freak!" Shion growled, lunging at him.
"Hey! I already told you, I'm not little!" he fumed, avoiding her.
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After boarding their E.S.s, our heroes made their way into the Omega System. Shion and Allen were going at it like cats and dogs the whole time, distracting everyone. If it wasn't for Jin, they all would have died from falling off of a ridge.
After pressing a couple buttons (Jr. finally got over his phobia!) and running up and down steps about a million times like idiots trying to operate an E.S. elevator, they found themselves in a huge, open room.
"Guys. There's a gate over there," Jr. said, pointing across the room.
"That'll take us to him!" Momo yelled determinedly.
"Jr., I think you're rubbing off on her," Jin chuckled.
"Yeah, I know!" he proclaimed proudly.
"Oh God, now she's in the gutter now…"
"Shut your mouth! The gutter is a fine place to be!" Jr. grunted, folding his arms in front of his chest.
A loud crash was heard from above, causing everyone to look up. "Did you guys hear that?" Allen asked.
"Of course they heard it, dumbass…" Shion mumbled.
"Shion, Allen. Your arguing will eventually injure our battle tactics," KOS-MOS stated. "Please, try and get along until we leave."
"Yeah, whatever." The crash sounded again.
"What is that?" Jr. snarled, getting annoyed. His answer was a large object falling from above, floating in the air. He jumped right out of his skin as it dropped. "Jesus Christ Heart Attack!" he yelled, gripping his chest.
"Enemy units discovered!" a mechanical voice rang from the object as cannons ascended from its interior.
"Oh shit!" Jr. yelled, readying the Asher's weapon. But Shion was quicker to react. Her eyes glowing bright green, she grabbed the E.S. Dinah's rifle triggers.
"Don't get in my way!" she snarled. "I'm trying to save them right now, dammit!" She squeezed the triggers, shooting the living hell out of the enemy mech.
"Yeah! Go Shion!" Jr. whooped, smiling. "Let's help her out, Momo!"
"Okay, Jr.!" she replied.
The Zebulun and the Asher also began shooting at the mech, unloading all of their ammo, Shion's cries of rage continued as the E.S. Dinah advanced on the enemy.
"Yeah! Use that anger for good!" Jin said, whirling around the Asher's weapons to get a good shot. "Say bye-bye…" He grinned before pulling the trigger, hitting it dead-on.
A loud beep was heard from the enemy unit as the mechanical voice cracked, "Inversion unit…shutting down…" The Inversion fell to the ground with a loud thud, and Shion's eyes returned to normal. She leaned forward and grabbed her forehead, whimpering.
"Come on, guys! Let's finish this!" Jr. yelled, signaling for Jin to move the Asher at full-speed to the dock. The other E.S.s followed suit.
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After an extremely annoying assortment of block puzzles, the group found themselves in on top of a large, open platform.
"Look, a console," Allen said, pointing at a small computer console on the other side.
"Yeah! I want to press the button!" Jr. yelled, running over excitedly.
"Well, someone likes buttons now…" Ziggy said to Momo. The realian put a hand to her mouth, stifling laughter. Her pink hair fell into her eyes as her big amber eyes watched the U.R.T.V. run over to the console. He was so cute…
"Hehe, look at her…she can't keep her eyes off of him…" Shion cooed,
"I can remember when you two were like that," Ziggy said, acknowledging Shion and Allen.
"You should," Jin stated matter-of-factly, "It was only yesterday."
"True." Shion and Allen both scowled at them.
"Owww!"
"What's wrong?" Ziggy asked urgently, turning his head to look at Jr. He put a hand to his forehead when he saw Jr. lying face-down on the ground, laughing hysterically.
"I tripped over my cloak!" he said, laughing, picking himself up and walking the rest of the way to the console.
"Help us…" Jin whispered, closing his eyes in exasperation.
"Look what you're getting yourself into, Momo…" Shion said, laughing. Momo blushed furiously.
"And I press the button!" Jr. yelled, spastically pounding the console with his fist. A low rumble from below them caused the walls to tremble.
"What was that?" Jin drew his sword. Everyone else prepared their weapons as well.
A gigantic mechanical object flew up from beneath that platform. It looked like a gothic church. "I think the phobia is back…" Jr. squeaked, blue eyes widening.
"It's a cathedral!" Jin said, bewildered. "But…how?"
"Defeat of the Inversion unit detected!" a mechanical voice boomed. "Awakening Cry of the Rapture Mode! Awakened the female's instinct to fight!"
"Damn, let's kill this thing!" Jr. snarled, shooting at it. "Time to die!"
Before the bullets could make impact, a large blue energy orb appeared around it, blocking the attack. "Male attack recognized! Eliminate the menace!"
Jr. screamed as he was suddenly thrown violently backwards. Ziggy hopped into the air, catching him and setting him down on the ground. "D-Dude!" he stuttered. "What just happened? Is Citrene in there or something?"
"It looks like it's biased towards females," Shion said. "We'll fight it."
"Yeah!" Momo replied enthusiastically. KOS-MOS also nodded.
"Okay, here we go!" Shion said, whirling around and shooting the enemy unit. For an instant, it contracted, and then returned to normal. The android followed her, jumping majestically into the air and making slashing cuts on the Cathedral as Momo rapidly shot arrows at it.
"She's like…spring-loaded…or something…" Jin muttered. Jr. opened his mouth to say something, eyes bright, before Jin cut him off. "And I swear, if you say 'I noticed that last night', I'll punch you." Jr. turned his head down, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Aw. Well, that plan was foiled…" Jr. groaned. Seeing another opportunity to be himself, he sauntered over to Allen. "Sooo, Allen…" He smirked. "Why did you guys fight? Huh? Huh? Huh huh huh huh h-" Allen clapped his hand over the energetic one's mouth.
"Jesus, I admit it," Allen groaned. "I was the second shooter on the grassy knoll."
"Hehehe, nice reference." Jr. grinned, pointing at Allen.
As the females continued to fight the Cathedral, Jr. jumped around behind them, headbanging. "With the lights out, it's less dangerous! Here we are now, entertain us! I feel stupid…and contagious! Here we are now, entertain us!" he sang.
"What are you doing?" Jin asked, sighing.
"I'm paying homage to my main man, the late Kurt Cobain," Jr. explained.
"Oh. Yes, may he rest in peace…" Jin said reverently.
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Meanwhile, on Second Miltia, a man ran into his work building, huffing and puffing. "Kurt, you're late again!" his boss yelled in a gruff voice.
"Oh. Yeah," Kurt stuttered. "Sorry. I was resting."
ANYWAYS.
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"Momo!" Shion commanded. Momo nodded and ran to her, avoiding one of the Cathedral's blows. She launched herself off of Shion's knee, sending three arrows at the mechanical church. It cringed as the sharp weapons stuck in its shell. KOS-MOS pulled out her minigun and shot the enemy repeatedly.
A blue beam of light flew towards Shion from the Cathedral, but KOS-MOS jumped in front of her. Her body absorbed the blow like a sponge. "Thanks, KOS-MOS," Shion said, relieved.
"I am happy to be of assistance," the android replied.
Allen watched Shion arch her back, stretching and wipe the almost nonexistent amount of sweat off of her forehead. Strands of dark brown hair fell into her green eyes as she panted slightly, trying to catch her breath. God, she was so beautiful…
I'm an idiot… Allen scolded himself. I shouldn't have acted like that last night. I should have listened to her…after all, some bad things have happened to her. This whole fight was my fault. I'll apologize to her after we get out of here… he thought to himself, still watching Shion and shoving his gun barrel-first into his pocket.
Hehehe.
"Hey Allen, do you like Kurt Co-" Jr. began to say, but his sentence was interrupted by a large, insane grin when he noticed Allen's pocket. Taking glances between Allen and Shion, he grinned even more and ran over to Allen. "He's so hot for her!" he yelled, pointing at Shion. "He's so excited! And he just can't hide it! You know you know you know you know you know he wants you!" Allen blushed furiously and pulled the pistol from his pocket.
"Gun," he spat. "Your head. Now."
"Someone should hit him…" Jin said, looking at the redhead who was laughing like his twin.
"Get the tranquilizer gun!" Ziggy yelled.
"Here you go!" Momo yelled, sending one final arrow into the mech. It screeched and jerked violently. "Bull's-eye!"
"Cry of the Rapture program defeated! Awakening Call to Arms mode! Awakened the male's instinct to fight!" the Cathedral's mechanical voice rang.
"Looks like it's our turn now!" Jr. whooped, leaping into the air and firing at the Cathedral. A red orb appeared around it this time, again blocking the attack. "Female attack recognized! Eliminate the menace!"
"WHAT?" Jr. screeched as he was thrown backwards. Allen and chaos looked at each other, their mouths quivering. A split second later, they were hanging onto each other, laughing hysterically.
"Oh God! Oh God! Losing control of my bladder!" Jin shrieked, unable to stop laughing. Ziggy merely looked at the floor, shaking his head.
"Again, Momo, look what you're getting yourself into…" Shion said to the realian, stifling laughter. "We don't even know what gender Jr. is!"
"What the shit? That thing's glitching!" Jr. screamed from the spot where he had landed, furious.
"Ah, this made my day," Jin said, still laughing.
Suddenly, their party was interrupted by a red beam shooting through Jin's body. He cried out in agony as his body was lifted into the air, and then dropped back down. He coughed violently and writhed in pain for a second before drawing his sword.
"Destroy it," he sputtered, slowly getting to her feet and whirling his sword around his head.
chaos nodded. "Angel blow!" he yelled, sending a blast of aura at the Cathedral. It hit the mech, causing it to screech.
"Bwahahahahaha! Angel blow!"
Ignoring Jr.'s sideline comment, Ziggy jumped into the air, forcefully kicking the flying church. It shrieked and crumpled into a heap onto the floor.
"Alright! Perfect!" Allen and Jin shouted in unison, attacking the hell out of it.
Jr. sat on the sidelines, tracing an obscure pattern on the cold metal floor with his finger. "I'm a guy! I urinate standing up, dammit! I can prove it too!"
"We do not with to see that," KOS-MOS stated.
As Shion watched Allen reload his pistol, chaos's words from earlier echoed in her mind. "You know you still love him. Listen to me now, before you regret what you're doing."
As much as she hated to admit it, chaos was right. That fight was stupid, and there was no reason for it. She had done the same thing to him countless times on the Woglinde…going out and fighting despite his warnings. After all, it was just a dream…wasn't it?
I'll apologize to him once we finish this…Shion thought to herself, idly rubbing her thighs when she felt the earring that he had given her inside of her pocket.
"Shion? Are you okay?" Momo asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine…"
Allen and Jin jumped back from the Cathedral as it sprang back to life, in perfect condition. "Jesus! This thing won't die!" Allen yelled as Ziggy was hit by a projectile beam.
"I know! Nothing's working!" Jin replied before going in and beginning to hack at it again.
It was then that Jr. noticed something flashing red on the side of the mech. "G-Guys?" he said, standing up. "Guys? Guys!" he yelled, running over to them.
"What is it?" they asked urgently.
"There's an on-off button!" Jr. shouted, pointing at the red button he had seen.
"...Wow, that's…too easy…" chaos said. "Well, whatever. We'll keep this thing occupied while you press it, Jr.! We're depending on you!"
"B-But…" Jr. stammered, the color draining from his face.
"You have to do it!" Ziggy urged him.
"Fine!" Jr. turned around and looked at the button. "Here I go!"
The U.R.T.V. took off towards the Cathedral, diving out of the way of a blast. As he scrambled underneath it, he whacked his head on the bottom. "Ow! Jesus Christ Concussion!" he yelled, grabbing the spot that ailed him.
"Keep going!" Shion yelled to him.
"I don't wanna see what's going on out there!" Jr. replied, smirking. His response was an M.W.S. clattering to the floor just beside him.
"I…got it!" Jr. screamed, pounding on the button after scooting underneath it even more and jumping up around the side. He landed on his feet and ran back, his cloak fluttering behind him. To Momo, he looked like Superman…could she be his Kryptonite?
"Shutting…down…" the mech said sluggishly, falling to the ground once and for all.
"Well…I hope I'm never attacked by a flying church again…" Ziggy said. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"Look, another button," Shion said, pointing at a second console.
"That's the same one," Jr. protested.
"No, it's not," Shion argued.
"Yes it is!"
"No it's not!"
Jin rolled his eyes as the two continued to argue. Walking over to the console, he pressed the button. The platform they were standing on began to move. Shion looked at Jr. with a satisfied grin.
"See, I told you…" Jr. said, turning away from Shion and folding his arms in front of his chest, pouting.
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On the Dammerung, Red Cloak and Blue Cloak stepped into Wilhelm's office, where the man was sitting.
"Feeling any better?" Wilhelm asked the man cad in red, not bothering to look up from the Compass of Order.
"I guess so…" Red Cloak replied. "I just can't believe that…she…"
"It's a part of life, Testament," Wilhelm reassured him. If he's upset now…just wait two more weeks…
"Yeah, true…"
"She is going to regret it, though…" Wilhelm muttered, looking into the Compass.
"Who's going to regret what?" the blue-clad man asked.
Ignoring him, Wilhelm continued. "Besides…Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…"
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"He's in here! Let's go!" Jr. said, kicking a door at the other side of the chasm that the platform had taken them across.
As they ran through the door, they saw the Patriarch in front of Proto Omega, sneering at them. "You've done well to make it this far. I suppose it's best not to underestimate the resilience of insects," he said mockingly.
"I've heard enough of your crap!" Jr. spat, pulling out his Makarovs.
"Do you really know…what it is you're doing?" Shion asked angrily, fury in her green eyes.
"I agree."
Everyone looked around for the source of the chilling, yet familiar, voice. Suddenly, Albedo appeared in front of them, smirking.
"Don't you think it's about time you quit playing this ridiculous game? This power is mine. You have no right to it," the white-haired U.R.T.V. proclaimed, looking at the old man.
"Albedo!" Jr. exclaimed, both relief and anger welling up inside him.
"Yo, Rubedo. You seem happy to see me," his brother replied.
"D-Don't be Tommy Maddox!" Jr. stuttered after a second's pause. "How could I be happy?"
"Ah, if it isn't Yuriev's ghost. I'm afraid you're a bit late," the Patriarch suddenly stated. "The preparations are already complete. There's no longer a point to your existence."
"What an annoying old fool." Albedo shook his head slowly and disdainfully. He turned to look at Jr. "How about it, Rubedo? Want me to give you a hand squashing this guy?" he offered.
"U.R.T.V. A failed product of a twisted age. A lower life form such as you could never understand our ideals," the old man insulted them.
"Oh yeah? Well, take this!" Albedo shouted, launching a beam from his hands at the Patriarch. Being ever-annoying, he put his hands up, a protective aura shield appearing around him. Albedo's attack was absorbed into it, making it larger.
"So you wanna play like that, huh?" Albedo flew up into the air, his cape floating behind him while gliding. As he shot more beams, they collided with the Patriarch's barrier shield. The U.R.T.V. snarled in frustration as he continued to blast him.
Waving two fingers at Albedo, the old man commanded Proto Omega to fire at Albedo. The red beam hit the U.R.T.V., and he fell to the ground, a purple orb surrounding his body.
Suddenly, Shion's eyes began glowing green again. "Don't touch him!" she snarled. chaos quickly grabbed onto her shoulders from behind, restraining her.
"You'll get your turn!" he said into her ear. "Don't interfere now."
Shion turned to face chaos, eyes ablaze. "When, Yeshua? When will I get my turn?" she demanded in an aggravated tone of voice.
"Don't say that name out loud!" he said, quickly hushing her. Slowly, her eyes returned to normal. Much to chaos's relief, nobody had noticed their conversation. They were too busy watching Albedo…
"That's rich…you people are unbelievable. You're going to destroy me?" Albedo panted, getting up. Jr. quickly approached him as his twin's body began to disappear to nothing.
"Complete destruction doesn't sound all that bad," Albedo said softly as his body continued to fade.
"Albedo!" Jr. exclaimed, terrified. Tears began welling up in his blue eyes.
"But, you see even reducing me to particles won't make me disappear from the cosmos…" he mused. Once all that was left of his body was his head, he turned once again to face Jr. "Hey, Rubedo. Don't forget to breathe deep and inhale the particles that composed me."
Laughing hysterically and manically, the twin of U.R.T.V. number 666 disappeared…
"Damn you!" Jr. yelled, facing the Patriarch and aiming his guns at him, eyes shining a dangerous red. "You bastard! You're gonna pay!"
"What's wrong? Wasn't he your bitter enemy?" the Patriarch asked, laughing a laugh that rivaled the insanity of Albedo's. Seriously, man, that laugh was scary.
"The only one allowed to take Albedo out…" Jr. fired a bullet at the old man. "Is me!"
"Oh, please!" the Patriarch scoffed, easily sidestepping the bullet. "Ridiculous!"
An aura of gold appeared around the old man's white-gloved hands. Before the group could react, he fired the aura at Jr., hitting him dead-on, the boy crying out in agony.
Jr. wavered a bit, like a man stung, before clutching his chest and gasping for breath. "Not cool…" he managed to cough out before passing out.
"No! Jr.!" Momo screamed. Her usually innocent-looking face changed into one of complete wrath and anger as she pulled out her bow.
As Momo aimed her weapon at the Patriarch, he said, "Do you actually believe that you insolent fools can win?" and blasted her with the same aura that he had Jr., knocking her out as well.
"This isn't good!" Ziggy yelled. He ran up to the Patriarch and, focusing all of his power, kicked him in the shin with his metal leg. The elderly man screamed in pain before stumbling backwards, falling onto his back. After a second, he picked himself up, standing awkwardly on his injured leg.
"Do you actually believe that you insolent fools can win?" he growled before pulling a small pistol out of his robe. He fired it at Ziggy, and the cyborg fell over backwards.
Trying to get up, Ziggy grunted, "I can't move! That must have been a stun bullet!" The Patriarch threw his head back and laughed maniacally before running towards where Shion and KOS-MOS were, powering up his aura.
"No! You can't!" chaos shouted, standing eagle-spread in front of the two of them. "If you make one more move…" His eyes began glowing blue. "…I'll kill you!"
"Those who oppose me never return alive!" he snarled before plunging his hand into chaos's stomach.
Yeshua, you failed!
The seraphim teen fell over and coughed up a mouthful of blood before he passed out as well. The elder sneered at his form before charging at Shion.
"Shion, stand back," KOS-MOS said, punching the Patriarch in the face. Blood exploded from his nose as her fist made contact.
Angered more than anyone can imagine, he screamed, "You are all pathetic primitive beings!" KOS-MOS tried to move out of the way of his aura blast, but the old man was too fast.
"Shutting down…" she said, falling over.
"You'll pay for that!" Jin screamed, running up behind the Patriarch and swing his sword at him. The old man whirled around and grabbed the sword between two hands and twisted them, breaking Jin's wrist. The blade clattered to the floor and the Patriarch took Jin down, stomping on his face over and over. "Fool!" he yelled as Jin blacked out.
"Shit…the more we attack him, the more powerful he gets!" Allen said to himself. As he looked around, he saw that besides him, Shion was the only one conscious.
"And now, I show you…" the Patriarch said, firing up Proto Omega, "the wrath that has been contained inside of the Ormus organization for thousands of years! Fall before the wrath of Proto Omega!"
"That…that thing!" Shion said, horrified as she saw the red energy being concentrated above the Patriarch.
"At its full power, this beam can destroy a planet…imagine what a fourth of its power can do to a human!" the old man said, ordering the mech to fire at Shion.
Allen shot a nervous look at her as he heard his heart pounding in his ears. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
I only want her to be happy…
To live a good life…
After all, that's what love really is…
Isn't it?
"Help!" Shion screamed and closed her eyes, ready to die from the mech's beam. Instead, she felt herself being pushed onto her back. She slowly opened her eyes to see Allen in a tabletop position over her, covering her body.
The beam hit him, and he threw his head backwards and screamed pure agony. Allen felt the pain surge to every part of his body, a burning sensation overcoming his insides. He turned his head aside and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Looking back down at Shion, he said, "Shion…I'm sorry…"
And then Allen collapsed, letting out his last breath…
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A/N: Help me! Something's wrong with me! Why did I DO THAT?
Neo: Relax.
Me: -Bawls- I hate leaving people with cliffhangers!
Tommy Maddox – An obvious reference to the idiot backup quarterback of the Steelers.
Until next time, this is KOS-MOS rox, signing off!