Author's note:
This is the last of the chapters I had to copy over, so we're officially all caught up here, I'll be updating here alongside Ao3 for now!
A lone woman stands in an altar, masked figures surround her, their muffled words are nothing but noise to her. Their words are meaningless, their goals are meaningless, there is only one that matters to her.
To bring meaning to his words, to become the goal he desires, that is her only purpose in this world.
She holds her hand to her chest, feeling the soft beating of a heart that isn't her own.
Why though?
Why was this her purpose?
Why find comfort in something so pointless?
Why...
Kos-mos stands by the entrance of the lab, her eyes occupied watching her friends skitter about in and out of the cargo bay loading and unloading various boxes of equipment. She waits and watches until she hears the person she was waiting for casually stroll up.
"Hello there, Kos-mos." Chaos greets her with a smile.
"Good morning, Chaos. If you're not busy, I would like to steal a moment of your time."
"Oh? Well I'm not doing anything right now, what is it you need?" Kos-mos motions her head towards the lab, letting Chaos step inside before she follows. Chaos looks a bit puzzled as Kos-mos closes the lab door but still keeps the casual smile on his face. "Something personal you need to talk about?"
"Somewhat... Chaos, would you be able to help me speak with T-elos again?"
"Oh, yeah I might be able to help you concentrate enough to get to her again. I take it our new friend has still been a bit quiet?"
Kos-mos frowns at the word 'friend', does T-elos technically count as a friend at all? She's likely only still around because the two of them are stuck together. She shakes the thought of and decides not to focus on it, however.
"She actually had been talking more, up until approximately 32 hours ago that is. I haven't heard a word from her since then."
"I see, so that's why you're worried about her." Chaos nods, looking thoughtful for a moment before motioning Kos-mos to sit down. "Alright, I'll help you reach her, but I think I should stay here. After all you know her better than I do at this point, and someone needs to keep an eye on you."
Self doubt creeps it's way into her, she hadn't done a great job with comforting thus far and Chaos was much easier to talk to than Kos-mos imagined she was. But... "Alright, I will try my best."
Chaos smiles reassuringly an he places his hand on her forehead. "Okay, close your eyes and relax."
Kos-mos does as he says, surprised by how quickly and easily she's able to calm her senses. It's not something she's able scan, but she assumes it must be whatever Chaos is doing that is helping her along.
For a brief moment she feels as though she's floating as her body seems to slip away from her.
Feeling returns to Kos-mos, for a moment she worries that she woke back up but as she opens her eyes she's greeted to a familiar scene. The grassy flower dappled fields somehow seems more lonely than usual, Kos-mos' gaze darts from side to side looking for T-elos. Finally she spots the other girl sat in the grass a short distance away from her.
A soft silent breeze brushes past Kos-mos as she strides towards T-elos, she stops and stares as the other girl's hair is whipped up by the wind. She can't seem to find the words she wanted so say now that she's standing here, so instead she silently takes a seat next to T-elos.
Kos-mos looks T-elos over, she's hugging her legs with her face buried in her lap. She seems upset, but at the same time oddly... Distant.
"T-elos?" Kos-mos finally manages to find her voice. "Are- Are you alright?"
The silence while she waits for T-elos to respond is suffocating, each moment she feels as though she should say something else, but she doesn't quite know what else to say. T-elos does, however, eventually mumble a response. "I don't know... I don't know if I- If I want to know..."
"What do you mean?" Kos-mos leans a bit closer to T-elos, trying to get a look at her face. "Did something happen? I looked through my memory banks of the other day but it seems that nothing out of the ordinary happened."
Not 10 seconds after the words leave her mouth and Kos-mos realizes that was not the right word choice. T-elos tightly balls her hands into fists, and her expression is dark as she finally lifts her head from her legs. "You just don't understand! You stupid machine! I'm not just one of you're little posse of pals! I tried to kill you, I was a testament! What do you think that girlfriend of yours will do when she notices I'm still around, assuming she didn't already!? She'll get rid of me! That's what!"
Kos-mos frowns, she's not entirely sure how she feels- or how she's supposed to feel- but... "You are mistaken T-elos."
T-elos glares at her again. "What-"
"Shion does not like to go through any of my OS files unless they specifically require maintenance." Kos-mos cuts her off, droning on in her usual robotic tone without a care as to what the other girl has to object. "While she may have noticed something was off the other night, the only maintenance she did was on my battery system. Anything else was simply an automated update. And secondly if Shion were to notice you I would not simply let her delete you."
T-elos' expression shifts to one of confusion at hearing her argument, she can only repeat her earlier reaction. "Wh- What-"
"You're only worried about your own self preservation, right? I do not think there is anything wrong with that, nor do I think anyone would be particularly opposed to giving you another chance. After all, we kept Albedo, did we not?"
Again the girl's expression shifts to something more melancholy, her gaze becomes fixated on a spot on the ground between the two of them and for a while there is only the sound of the wind as Kos-mos waits for T-elos to say something. "I- You-" T-elos sighs and works to collect herself. "You know, for a logic driven machine you sure are a dumbass."
"Apologies, next time I will give you the exact percentages regarding how wrong you are."
T-elos lets out a short airy chuckle. "Thanks, that helps so much."
Kos-mos lets a smile of her own creep onto her face, it's only there for a brief moment but T-elos notices it before bashfully snapping her gaze back to the ground. "T-elos, I believe you should reveal yourself to the others sooner rather than later. They likely won't take it as well if we keep quiet for too long."
"I... Okay, I suppose you're right. Just..." T-elos looks off to the side for a moment, lost in thought. Finally she shakes her head and continues. "Just give me a day or two to think. I just... Don't really know what to say yet."
Kos-mos nods, "I understand. Simply let me know when you're ready." An odd sensation passes through Kos-mos and the dreamscape world around her seems to get a little duller, she takes that as a sign that she's waking up. "I think I need to go now, we will talk again later."
As the world grows dark Kos-mos just catches the faintest glance of a soft smile from T-elos.
Kos-mos' eyes flit open, the first thing coming into focus being Chaos who's now sitting a tad bit further away from her, and the second thing being the sound of Miyuki's voice.
"-I'll come help in a minute, don't be a wimp Allen! I just need to- Oh! There you are!" Miyuki, who was yelling out the door a moment ago, cheerfully makes her way over to Kos-mos as soon as she notices her. She has a few medium sized boxes in her arms which seem to be a bit heavy based on the resounding 'thud once she drops them next to the android.
"Good morning, Miyuki, did you need Kos-mos for something?"
"Hey, Chaos, you can stick around if you want. I don't think we've really gotten a chance to talk before now anyway." Chaos frowns and seems to look lost in thought as Miyuki moves to open one of the boxes.
"Have we really never talked before now?"
"Not really, I mean we haven't really had a chance with me being stuck at work while you guys all go out and on your own adventure." Kos-mos can't tell if she's being salty with that last part, but isn't able to question it before Miyuki excitedly starts waving a few mechanical parts from the box in front of her face. "Anyway, I just thought we should hook this back up to you before we take off again!"
Kos-mos, after backing up a bit, quickly recognizes the wing like metal appendage. "Oh, so I see you were not kidding about fixing the tertiary weapons system."
"Of course not! I'm very serious about my weapons engineering, you know that. Now turn around."
"Should we not do this at my maintenance bed?" Kos-mos asks but still compiles and turns around in her chair anyway, leaning forward against the backrest.
"Naw, with all the upgrades to both you and the weapon system it should be no problem. I hate working that thing anyway." Kos-mos can't help but think about how typical of Miyuki this is as she opens up a few small panels along her back. Even back at vector the girl would almost never go by the book if she thought she could do something easier, or lazier depending on how one looked at it.
"Are you sure you got that? It all looks very complex, and you seem a little... Tangled."
Miyuki does seem to be struggling a bit, plugging in one cord then taking a very long pause before the next. "No, it's fine, really. It's just been a while since I've done this."
"If you cannot remember where some of them go you should get Shion."
"No, no it's fine, I remember I swear."
"Hold on, are you sure that goes there?" Kos-mos shifts uncomfortably as Chaos is now also prodding at the wires on her back.
"What? No it definitely- Oh, no wait, you're right this one goes over here-"
"Will one of you just go get Shion."
"No, it's fine, just relax Kos-mos, we're almost done."
"You still have to do the right one after this."
"Okay, so we're halfway done-"
Eventually the Elsa is all stocked up and ready to go, Shion gives Miyuki a bit of an earful for not equipping Kos-mos the proper way but decides to let it go pretty quickly so she can help get her set up in the girls room. Kos-mos and Miyuki trail behind her as she heads in the room, going in Shion notices Momo already setting her stuff up at the bed she usually uses.
"Hi guys!" Momo smiles and cheerfully greets the three of them, but frowns as she looks around the room. "Ah! I forgot Miyuki was coming, I don't know where there's room for you."
"Oh don't worry, I know where I can sleep." Miyuki drops her suitcase of stuff next to Shion's bed and hops right on it, laying propped up against the backrest with her legs crossed.
"Miyuki!" Shion puts her hands on her hips as she playfully scolds Miyuki, Momo chuckling a bit at her shenanigans.
"What? There's still room for you."
As Miyuki says that Kos-mos climbs into bed next to her, taking up the other half. "Now there's not."
Shion laughs with Momo, shaking her head lightly. Shion was admittedly a little worried there'd be some jealousy between them with Miyuki being... Well, Miyuki. But seeing the two of them smooshed together on her bed joking with each other eases her worries.
"Well I'm okay with that as a temporary solution so Mary and Shelly don't have to share."
"Temporary? Are you implying you don't want to sleep with me?"
"You may sleep with me, Miyuki. I know how much you love my maintenance bed."
"NO!" Miyuki shoves Kos-mos, "That'd be horrible, I'd have to lay on top of you just to fit!"
"Are you implying you don't want to lay on me?"
"Shion! Why did you program Kos-mos to be such of a smartass!"
"Hey don't blame me, she picked that up on her own." Kos-mos opens her mouth like she's going to say something, but quickly snaps it back shut as through second guessing her comeback. Shion looks at her confused, but isn't able to question it as the captain's voice comes on over the intercom.
"Hey, Kos-mos, get up here!"
Shion frowns wondering what the captain could need Kos-mos for, watching Kos-mos get up and make her way out she decides to follow after her. "Here, I'll come with you." Hearing this Kos-mos slows down a bit so Shion can catch up. When they get to the bridge Matthew motions Kos-mos over with a smug look that makes Shion dread he's come up with some unsafe 'plan' he needs her for.
"Ah good, so listen, you're pretty tough right?"
Shion frowns, her worry being all but confirmed with that question. "Hold on now, just what are you planning?"
"What, I'm not 'planning' anything. I just think it'd be a little bit faster if we don't have to tiptoe around those brutes from last time-"
Hammer and Tony both shake their heads at the captain, seeing Shion's rage coming far in advance. But they're a bit too late.
"EXCUSE ME!? I am not strapping Kos-mos to the outside of this ship and putting her in danger just so you can take a shortcut!" Matthews winces, feeling a bit guilty when she puts it that way. Shion thinks he's about to apologize but before he can Kos-mos speaks up.
"It is really no problem, Shion."
Shion whips around yo look at her, Kos-mos of course always had a habit of putting herself in dangerous situations but Shion had hoped she would be more careful from now on. "But..."
"While I do not know too much about this new enemy you ran into, it should be no trouble for me to handle. Looking at the reports from the attack it seems they just have standard fighter ships."
Shion frowns as the crew glances between her and Kos-mos uncomfortably. "Kos-mos are you listening to yourself, you don't even know your chances of winning this time."
"I do, it's an estimated 76.58% chance of victory. I simply thought you did not care much for the statistics, they never appeared to assure you before."
"Well no, but..."
"Do you want me to go back to listing off all statistics within a situation?"
"No, that's not..."
"Are you worried I am putting myself at risk without a second thought?"
"..."
"Shion..." Kos-mos reaches her arms around Shion, pulling her into a hug. Shion's face flushes as Kos-mos speaks softly into her ear. "Please don't worry, I don't plan on leaving you ever again."
Shion feels her whole face heat up, although it's just a simple reassurance it almost feels wrong to have the others there watching. It's possibly one of the most emotionally intimate moments she's had with Kos-mos thus far. After a minute Kos-mos breaks the hug, while still holding Shion's shoulders, and faces the captain. "Please alert me when we are within their territory, and keep in mind that we are to turn around and go the long way at the first sign of the battle turning against us."
Matthews is somewhat off put at how quickly Kos-mos' tone changes from something soft and comforting right back to giving orders in her usual monotone way. It makes him answer with a quick curt nod rather than an argument.
Shion places a hand over the one Kos-mos has resting on her left shoulder, she's a little reassured by Kos-mos' words, but still can't help but worry. Flattering as it is she hates the thought that Kos-mos puts her life way above her own.
Please just stay safe, Kos-mos... I don't know if I can handle losing you again...