Seeing the Sun

Chapter 26

It's oddly familiar, being like this on a boat. Lost in the cargo, keeping to the shadows. Only this time, she has her bike. She remembers, briefly, being on a boat like this one when she was younger, face buried in her scarf. While she had looked like she was crying back then, she couldn't. She couldn't summon tears, she couldn't grieve appropriately. It was strange, like something was holding it inside.

For the past years, her life has been leading up to this moment. The mission she's about to go on is the most important mission she'll ever complete. She can not fail. To fail would mean that more people would be hurt, and that Maria would never get the justice she deserved so much.

She feels one thing that she also felt back then, on the other boat.

Guilt.

She feels guilty for involving so many people in her life. Sei, Amy, Meg... She could have avoided people in general, but then, she knows, she would've died. It was thanks to Sei and Amy that she joined the syndicate, and that kept her alive for what she was going to do now. She had enough medicine to make it over to America and do what she had to do. After that... she wasn't sure.

If she didn't die while doing this. It was a real possibility, and that unsettled her. She wasn't afraid of death before, when all this started. But if she died now, she didn't know what would happen to her sisters and Meg. Sure, they could get by, but what about all the people they'd pissed off? (Well, Jo pissed them off. That was the problem. If she... died, and they got hurt, it would be their fault.)

Then Meg. Sweet, innocent, accident-and-danger-prone Meg. How she'd survived before she had Jo to protect her was a mystery. Unless half the dangers she got into now were due to her being close to the gunslinger... but Jo didn't want to think of that. She missed Meg already, much more than she missed her sisters. But Meg was the present. Jo could go back to the present once she was finished with the past.

America. Where Jo was raised. Where Maria's remains rested on the ashy hill that once had her home. Where Jo, consumed by rage, had used her new-found power to burn her father alive with a sort of mastery and skill that she hadn't been able to use since then. Because now she fought against her powers, trying to rely on her own abilities.

Another day. It would take a few days to get to America from where she was now. She'd already memorized the location of where the damn headquarters was, and now all she had to do was destroy it. Easier said than done. It was most definitely heavily guarded, probably with some major security systems. Hell, maybe even experiments, like herself. Either way, winning this fight would be a bitch. But she could do it.

Even on the plane, with it's smooth exterior and boosters, they would not get to America in time to keep Jo from doing this.

But in the time they had on the ride, they all had something to do. Sei distracted herself with making sure everything was ready at every time, thinking of every possible thing they would find there and preparing for it. Amy busied herself with her laptop, hacking into every security camera around that area and searching for Jo.

During all of this, Meg thinks of Jo.

Jo, who is on her way to bring down the (literal) flames of vengeance down on NTNW. Jo, who is going to take revenge on that god-forsaken company that took her family away, all those years ago. Jo, who is always true to her word, and had promised to Meg that she wouldn't die anytime soon.

Meg hopes that she doesn't break that promise.

Through her worry, Meg wonders if they should be going after Jo at all. She wants to, yes, but feels like it's not her place to do so. Who is she to deny Jo her revenge? Who is she to deny Jo's family their justice? In this scenario, she is no one. As much as Jo loves her, she wanted revenge longer, and wants it more by the day. Looking back on it, Meg remembers a spark in Jo's eyes when she spoke of her family, or her past. Before, she thought it was simply Jo missing her past. Now, she knows it was a wish for the death's of those who'd ruined her life.

She wants to be angry, but she can only be sad. She wants to be able to scream at Jo for leaving, but she finds herself rooting for the ruby eyed girl. She still has the note Amy had found just two days before they left. Holding it close to her, like it's her lifeline, she looks at the only other thing Jo had left. The revolver that the gunslinger had used to teach her how to shoot.

She realizes now, that she'd been right all that time ago, when she'd first gone to Jo's house and saw Jo sitting there in the dark, all alone.. she was right when she'd said that Jo looked sad. Probably because watching movies like that was something she'd done with Maria, or maybe because she was left alone in the first place, with only her memories (which, of course, weren't all good) to keep her company.

What Meg wants, at that moment, is to help Jo. To make sure that sad look never returns to Jo's eyes. To make Jo happy, and make that smile come back to her beautiful face. Wherever Jo is, she's alone, and she's definitely remembering her past.

She swears she hears an explosion before Amy jumps, looking at her screen in shock. "How'd she get there so fast?" she yells, confusing everyone in the room. Sei rushes over, all business. She looks over Amy's shoulder, seeming confused before asking:

"What happened, Amy?" It sounds more like an order than a question, and the tone Sei uses makes Meg shrink back. She feels small now, in front of Sei. "All I see is static."

Meg walks over, curious gaze looking at the monitor of Amy's stuffed animal computer. It's true. All that's there is static. Amy rewinds, and for a split second, they see a silver blur- D'jango- pass by the screen before the signal is lost. She goes back and freezes. There's Jo.

Well, it sort of. It's most definitely her, but the expression is one that Meg had never seen on the girl's face, and the bike looks... different. Her face is cold and furious, hatred seeping from her gaze. It's like her signature glare multiplied by forty. The bike looks much more like it's built for a war, spikes going out of it in every direction, with several weapons on the sides and in front, two mini-guns on the back. On back is what seems like a booster, making her bike go faster than every despite it's newly increased weight.

Upon seeing this, Sei goes to the cockpit. They feel the shift as autopilot is turned off and Jo's oldest sister takes the wheel. "Hold on!" she yells, and as soon as Meg is in her seat they're going at an incredible speed. Apparently, Sei had thought they would be able to beat Jo there when it was going at default speed, and this is Plan B.

At this rate, they'll be at America within an hour.

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated anything in a while. Slight writer's WALL (not block) that has not yet been torn own.