Author's Note: This story, in time, will be deleted and sent to my newer account. It's a bit of a story on why, but I'm not gonna waste your time, since you've already got this one to read, right? XP
Anyway, when the time comes, which'll be when I've finished Chapter 15, I'll post the link to my other account on my profile. It's gonna be a while, though, so you don't really need to worry for a while.

Thanks to xenolion for reviewing!

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Chapter 14 - The Search Finally Yields Results

"Oh! Look over there, everyone! That looks like -" MOMO announced as the party was floating in space.

Topaz hastily interrupted, "Is that... The Elsa?!"

"Hey, I think it is," chaos responded with a hint of excitement in his voice.

As it turned out, Topaz, MOMO, and chaos were correct; the Elsa had arrived right in front of the hovering party. Captain Matthews and Allen both eagerly called out to Shion, and the Vector chief responded to their calls. Once the whole team had safely re-entered the Elsa, Matthews immediately ordered Tony to speed away from the enourmous fleet of gnosis that still remained in the vicinity. The crew had believed that they would be getting away with no major problems, but the gnosis seemed to have other plans for the Elsa, and began to tail the cargo ship. As the Elsa sped away even faster from the gnosis, a large number of laser beams rained down from above and obliterated quite a few of the gnosis following the ship.

The ship that had come to the Elsa's rescue, the Durandal, continued to fire its guns at the gnosis, destroying them in large chains. Topaz and the others were making their way to the bridge, when they heard the shots being fired.

"...Hm. It sounds like the fighting has started," stated a very calm Ziggy as he ran through the corridors of the Elsa.

"Are we gonna be okay with all this fighting going on?" MOMO nervously asked. "There were so many of them..."

"These are gnosis. They destroyed an entire Federation Fleet. Honestly, our best option would be to escape, rather than fight against them," Shion answered.

"Aww...but that's just no fun!" Topaz pouted. "I wish I could get out there and fight! ...But I kinda... can't," and added a sigh.

Around the time, Shion and the others arrived at the bridge, another large group of gnosis began chasing after the Elsa. The fact that the Durandal's guns were not slowing down the enemies very much at all caused quite a panic among the crew. Hammer then said that Hatch number 17 was open, and Shion immediately knew that it had to be KOS-MOS on the elevator. Once the android was put on the monitor, the group witnessed an amazing performance put on by KOS-MOS. The android rode the elevator to the roof of the Elsa, and floated to the front roof of the ship.

"Wha-what's she doing all the way up there? Sh-Shion?" Topaz managed to ask Shion with shock in her voice.

"I'm not sure, but I do know that she's supposed to come back when I tell her to!" Shion angrily answered. "Oh, that KOS-MOS... What will I ever do with her..."

KOS-MOS, who was still on the front roof of the Elsa, shut her currently blue eyes and activated her torso weapon to fire an enourmous laser beam at the gnosis, annihilating every single one of the creatures in the area. After witnessing such an event, Topaz and the others were near speechless, when Hammer told the Captain that 'Little Master' had been buzzing the ship for quite some time. Topaz had no idea who this person was, much less did she care, so she spoke with Ziggy, chaos, and MOMO about what had just transpired. She was not paying that much attention the Matthews as he was talking with Little Master, but she caught a small portion of their conversation. She could not figure out why, but the voice she heard through the speaker sounded bone-chillingly familiar to her. ...That voice... I... I... know that voice! But... no, it can't be... That's not possible...

After having a chat with Little Master, Captain Matthews instructed that everyone was to follow him to the Durandal's bridge and speak with the Captain of the war ship. Upon hearing this, Topaz felt her heart skip a beat in anticipation, but soon convinced herself that it was simply not possible that the voice she heard was the one she kept so close in her mind, and followed along. However, when Matthews and the others got on the elevator to go up to the bridge, Topaz got somewhat sidetracked with a droid on the way there.

"Hello, there! Would you like to purchase a Durandal Souvenir?" The droid asked Topaz as it held up various trinkets to her.

Topaz eagerly responded, "Ooh! Sure! How much are they? Oh, I just love souvenirs! ...Is that a keychain shaped like the ship?! I gotta get that!"

"Excellent choice! That Durandal Keychain will be... one-hundred G," the droid told the overly excited girl, then received the amount asked. "Thank you. Would you like to buy anything else?" He once again held up the remaining knick-knacks.

This little ritual went on for only about another minute or so, since Topaz became unable to carry all the souvenirs she had spent most of her pocket money on. Sweet! Souvenirs are so cool! When I get to Second Miltia, I'm so gonna let Helmie have this awesome coffee mug! He'll love it for sure! Hmm... Maybe I'll let Shion and the others have a look at this other stuff and pick out what they want. Yeah, that'll work! ...Huh? ...Where'd they all go...? After bringing herself back to her senses, she hurried up to the elevator, and pushed the button so she could ride it up to the bridge. During the ride, Topaz became fairly irritated at her friends for simply leaving her behind and going on without her, and started yelling from the elevator shaft.

"Hey! You losers just left me! What gives, huh? That's just plain rude, yenno that? I even bought all these presents for you, and -" Topaz was stopped abruptly in mid-sentence as she reached the bridge and lay her eyes on the crimson-haired boy standing merely a few feet in front of her, standing next to Shion, whom he just finished talking to.

As soon as she saw him, Topaz dropped all of the souvenirs she had bought, and merely gaped at the boy. She simply could not believe her eyes, so she rubbed them to see if her vision was deceiving her. But when she opened them again, she could still see the boy standing where he was before, but this time, he had the same reaction she did. Topaz was in so much disbelief that her knees gave out from under her, and she fell to them on the ground as she allowed her emerald eyes to fill with tears. chaos looked over to the red-haired boy and gave him a simple nod, along with a smile, as if he was confirming something.

"R...R...Ru...Rubedo...?" Topaz could barely whisper as she dried her tears on her sleeve.

The boy was just as shocked as Topaz was, but he was able to speak easier, "P...P-Peridot...? I-Is it really you...?"

Everyone else on the bridge, besides chaos, was confused as to what was going on, so they stood silent during the whole event. The boy with crimson-hued hair--Rubedo--could not contain his joy of being face-to-face with the one person that he held close to his heart that he had been wanting to find for years. With something that sounded like a small laugh, he ran to Topaz, who was still on her knees by the elevator, and embraced her. As Rubedo held her, Topaz couldn't control herself--tears began to flood down her face like a river. Wrapped in Rubedo's warm embrace, Topaz felt truly happy for the first time in years, and she returned the hug as she quietly repeated his name with joy.

"Dot... It's been a long time... I've...really missed -" Rubedo attempted to say to Topaz, but stopped speaking as Topaz put a finger to his mouth.

Topaz laughed as she removed her finger from his lips, "That's not like you at all. Oh, no, yer a softy now," she laughed "...I've really missed you, too," she finished with a soft smile.

"Oh, heh. Sorry 'bout that. You're right, that ain't like me. I'm not a softy now, though, believe me," answered Rubedo. "By the way, call me Jr. now," he whispered in Topaz's ear.

Topaz whispered back,"All right. You have to call me Topaz, though," and after receiving a nod from Jr., the two finally stood up and remembered that everyone else was still around.

After Jr. introduced her to Mary and Shelley, Topaz walked back over to the area where her fallen knick-knacks were, and picked them up. She then showed them to Shion and the others, and allowed each of them to pick what they wanted. She was in a very good mood, so she was even able to tolerate MOMO's giggle when she took a Durandal bracelet from her. When Jr. asked Topaz where she'd bought the trinkets, she told him that she got them from the droid on the floor below, causing him scoff at her answer and merely shake his head. Similar talk continued for an hour, then Shion and the others became sleepy.

"Sleepy, huh? Well, it is late, I guess. Mary, Shelley, could you show everyone where their rooms are for me? You know which ones to take 'em to," Jr. instructed, but as he saw Topaz as about to leave, he told her,"Wait, I wanna talk to you a minute first, that okay?"

"Uh... Okay... What's up?" Topaz asked in response, when Jr. motioned for her to follow him onto the elevator with the others.

Jr. and Topaz followed along with Mary, Shelley, and the others for part of the way as they progressed through the Residential Area. While Shelley and Mary went their seperate ways to show the rest of the group where they would be sleeping, Jr. took Topaz to an area more to the back, which contained a long couch that stretched from one end to the other in the aclove where it was located. Jr. walked over to the sofa and allowed Topaz to sit down first, then he sat down beside her. For a while, the two just sat there, not talking or anything, just sitting there. Even though the two had reconnected so well, there was still an air of nervous tension surrounding them now that they were alone.

"So... um... Rubedo -" Topaz shyly began to ask Jr.

He angrily raised his voice at Topaz, "Hey! Didn't I tell you already? My name's Jr. now, not Rubedo!"

"Don't you ever yell at me like that for something so stupid," Topaz answered Jr. with a venomous tone; he'd crossed the line.

Jr. was upset with her response. "Woah, you're not the Dot I remember," he sadly told her.

"Dot...? Dot?!" Topaz exclaimed in disbelief, "You yell at me for getting your name wrong and yet, look at you screw up mine!"

"Hey! You can't yell at me!" Jr. fiercely said, "I'm the captain of this ship, so I could throw you out into space at any time if I wanted to."

Topaz was shocked at Jr.'s ferocity with his threat. "W-what the hell is wrong with you?! You're such a damn hypocrite," she told him with a icy voice.

Jr. was extremely angry with the blonde sitting next to him, so he decided to stand up and say one more thing before he lost his temper, and did something he knew he'd regret, "...You better shut the hell up if you know what's good for you..."

With that final, vicious threat, Jr. turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, leaving Topaz awestruck on the couch. She couldn't believe what had just happened between her and Jr. a few seconds ago. Feeling absolutely disgusted at herself for feeling horrible about what she had said, Topaz decided to stand up and walk to the female cabin where Shion was staying. After exchanging a very brief greeting with Shion, Topaz got into one of the beds, and closed her eyes. The feeling of disgust and guilt stayed with her the entire time she tried to sleep, but she had one last thought before she fell into sleep. Why did things turn out this way...? What happened to Jr.? He hasn't changed since the day we got separated... How come I've changed since the day we got separated? I have no idea what's going on... I'm so lost... Jr...