Chapter Twenty-Seven: In The End, What Does It Matter?

If only I could say a few words...

...But they would only echo in the back of everyone's minds like I'm not even there. That's when I thought about my wish: What if I vanished or if I died? What would everyone think of me then? Probably stupid or she ran away because of her life.

If they cared...

Shane watched Sophie Peithos as both Shion and KOS-MOS delivered the final blow, screeching in pain and began to react. The group saw this and ran to the doors. "We'll be caught in the explosion! We have to get out of here quickly!" Shion yelled as the group ran to the elevator, making their way back up to the surface area. Then everyone looked to hear low rumbling which made Shion lose her balance and fall to the floor. Ziggy looked around then asked aloud, "What was that rumbling?" "More explosions…?" MOMO said. Shane helped the Vector employee off the floor as she glanced up at the ceiling.

"No. It's faint, but it feels like we're changing directions."

"Shion," KOS-MOS began. "I have confirmation of ignition in the Proto Merkabah's propulsion units. It is descending toward Second Miltia now." Shion looked to the blue-haired android with a shocked look on her face. "KOS-MOS, are you sure?!" "Yes. Should its descent continue at present speed, we will enter the atmosphere in approximately eight minutes."

"Looks like he planned this from the very beginning,'' the blonde cyborg said to everyone. Jr. slammed his fist against the wall, growling. "That bastard! He's got too many tricks up his sleeve…" "We have to do something… If something as large as the impacts at full speed, Second Miltia will be…" KOS-MOS turned to Shion then said, "Based on the current angle of approach, breaking up the facility into approximately 28,000 pieces would result in 99.6 of them vaporizing before impact."

"If we detach each sub-compartment?" ''Like a jigsaw puzzle, right?'' Shane asked as Shion nodded some. "Just a second. I'll search through my memory banks." MOMO closed her eyes and searched through her memory. "The control room,'' she said, opening her eyes. "The control room on level 33 will allow us to detach the facility!"

"Hurry! There's no time!" chaos yelled as the group ran to the control room. Shane held her head, the same splitting headache she had when she was healing on the Elsa. My time...is close, I can feel it..!

Inside the control room, MOMO ran over to the console and activated it. She gasped. "Oh, no!" "Is there a problem?" Ziggy asked the pink-haired girl. She looked back at him, a worried look on her face. "The entire process from system startup to complete detachment takes one whole minute." she said. "That's not enough time for us to return to the Elsa!"

"Is this the only place we can activate it from? We can't do it remotely?"

MOMO shook her head frantically. "No! This system was built so that the command will only be accepted from here." Jr. looked down, gripping his fists tightly. "Damn…So the only way to stop this thing is to go down with it?"

Shion felt her knees buckle, shaking her head slowly. "This can't be… There has to be another way…" "There isn't! I've searched again and again, but we can only activate it from here!" KOS-MOS looked to everyone then at the console behind MOMO. "Please head back now,'' she ordered. "What…KOS-MOS?"

The blue-haired android looked at Shion's face. "Shion, please return to the Elsa with the others. I will stay behind to initiate the detachment sequence." "Wait a second! Stay behind…?" The brown-haired woman asked, obviously shocked. "This facility will enter the atmosphere shortly. We will exceed the tolerances for maximum temperature in three minutes 28 seconds. Please hurry."

"But…"

"My self-preservation programming is functioning properly. I have no intention of remaining on this facility to the very end. Do not worry. At maximum speed, I can reach the Elsa in under one minute,'' KOS-MOS assured to everyone. "You're sure?" Ziggy asked her. She nodded. "Yes. This option guarantees the highest probability of success."

"All right. Let's go, Shion!"

"But,'' Shion looked to KOS-MOS. "Trust her, it'll be okay! She'll catch up! Now come on!" The others turned and ran out of the control room. MOMO looked back to Shane and Shion. "Shion! Shane! We have to go!''

"Shion, Shane..." The silver-haired girl placed her hand on the brown-haired woman's shoulder as she looked back and nodded. The two women walked to the control room doors then looked back to KOS-MOS. "KOS-MOS! You better make it back! You hear me? You better!"

As everyone ran back to the dock where the Elsa was, the area began to shake and collaspe down on each other. "Hurry! This area will soon collapse!" Ziggy said as he looked around the area. The others ran back into the cargo ship but Shion and Shane stayed near the entrance door. At the bridge, Jr. ran inside and yelled, "Matthews!" The captain looked back at the red-head, a worried but panicky look on his face. "Little Master?! What's all this shaking?! What the hell's goin' on?" "Proto Merkabah's about to re-enter the atmosphere,'' he told him. "If left unchecked, we'll crash into the planet…"

"Whaaat?!" Jr. held up his hand at him. "But don't worry, we detached all the sub-compartments and that's what's causing the shaking. Anyway, we'll get to the detail later! Prepare for immediate liftoff!" Captain Matthews looked at him, confused. "Prepare? We're not lifting off right now?" "KOS-MOS is still inside. We gotta wait for her!"

"Whaa?! Wait a minute! If it's already detaching, then aren't we in danger…?"

"I'm aware of that! But if I say we wait, we wait!" Allen looked up at the window then gasped. "Captain! Up there!" "What?!" The ship shook as debris fell on the right side of the Elsa, making everyone cry out in surprise. Tony looked back at Captain Matthews with a worried look on his face. "Captain! We can't stay much longer!"

"No kidding! Little Master!" Jr. bit his bottom lip. "Damn it… What's taking her… Come on…come on…" Everyone cried out again as the area began to collapse even harder. "Captainnn…!" The blonde pilot whined. "Little Master!!" The red-head groaned then looked back at Captain Matthews. "All right, all right! Lift off!" He ordered, his voice sounding uneasy.

Shane looked outside, waiting for KOS-MOS with Shion. She felt the tremors but stayed where she was. Damnit, KOS-MOS, hurry up! She thought. She looked to the brown-haired woman who had a look of worry on her face. ''..It'll be okay. I bet KOS-MOS is on her way here right now--'' The sound of the Elsa starting its engines cut Shane off. ''Wha..?! We can't!'' "Captain, no!" Shion cried out. "Wait!!" The two women stumbled back as the bridge and dock collapsed. Captain Matthews leaned back against his chair, sighing in relief. "That was close…" Shion stood back up with a small groan of pain and grabbed onto the doorway as the Elsa takes off.

"KOS-MOS!"

Chapter 27: End

As I was writing this, I was listening to Linkin Park's In the End and What I've Done. Pretty awesome songs, if ya ask me. R & R!