Chapter 4

In which Diana struggles to remember the events that took place after Q-Ending 2, and Mira finds their paychecks for participating in the Mars Mission Stimulation.

"Mom, you must understand. The lives of 6 billion rest in your hands."

.

The RV that Delta arranged for them is small, but luxurious and spacious enough, with everyone settling into their own place. Phi sits in the comfortable driver's seat as she has been diligently trying to navigate the RV out of the desert with a surprisingly calm Sigma — though, that's to be expected, since she is not bad of a driver, minus the first few minutes of her bumpy driving, where she swerved around and sped very fast (though that may have been to scare her father).

Behind them, occupying the two passenger seats are a worried Eric and reassuring Sean, who talk about why Mira was so insistent to sitting away from Eric. Eric occasionally kicks the seat in front of him as he tries to organize his emotions, much to poor Sigma's discomfort — he may not be an old man with an old back anymore, but Eric's kicks to his chair certainly reminds him of the feeling. Phi is grateful that Sean is the one who sits behind her.

Behind the fidgety Eric, there is a long sofa where Junpei and Akane rest together, while a softly snoring Carlos lies on the couch across from them, his head resting on the armrest behind Sean's chair.

Diana and Mira sit across from each other at the small, square, wooden dining table that is made to sit across of the small kitchen area behind Junpei and Akane's sofa.

When Phi drives over a rock, ignoring Sigma's instructions to drive around it, however, Akane is woken up by the movement from the resulting jump of the vehicle. The RV's steady rocking doesn't not change much from driving over that particularly large piece of gravel, but it still causes Akane to arise from her slumber. She wrenches out of the sofa, and turns to look at her sleeping fiancée. She gives his serene, cherub face a soft smile, and then walks towards the table in the kitchen area.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Diana greets cheerfully, upon seeing the Japanese woman with sleepy eyes taking a seat next to her.

Akane blushes. "Hi. How long was I asleep for?"

"I'd say about an hour or so."

Akane frowns, rubbing her eyes gently. "Really? It felt like I only slept for 15 minutes." Her voice is thick with sleep and it makes Diana feel slightly tired, even though they have slept for who-knows how long.

"It always feels that way," Mira agrees.

Akane only nods. All is silent for a few minutes between the three women, the only sounds being heard in the RV hushed whispering between Eric and Sean, and the small snores of Carlos and Junpei. Phi and Sigma are quiet now, too — perhaps, they have finally found a definite way out with the GPS, and are no longer losing its signal.

And then, Mira speaks up.

"Hey. Can I ask you something, Diana?"

Diana looks up at her and nods slowly. "Sure."

"Why did you feel sad when Carlos shot Delta?" It's an interesting choice of words, Akane can't help but notice; she would have phrased it differently — but, this is the psychopathic woman who indirectly caused her parents' death, so the way she asks the question makes some sense.

Akane wants to feel complete resentment towards this woman sitting in front of her, but she can only feel bitterness, not hate. Is it because that without Mira, — even if it was at the price of losing her parents and going through the Nonary Games — Akane wouldn't have found a soul mate in Junpei? Is it because she wouldn't have been able to help save the world from Radical-6, and now help save it from that religious fanatic?

Aaaagh, this is so difficult. She wishes she could be more like Aoi, in this case. He wouldn't care about what her actions gave way to. He'd still hate her guts for causing them to become orphans.

Speaking of Aoi . . . .

We're alive and safe. I love you, Aoi. Kingman, Arizona. Bring Clover. We have lots to do and so much to discuss. Thoughts rush across the field, and she hopes he is receiving her transmissions, as she listens to Diana's words.

"I felt sad . . . I felt sad, because . . ." Diana is simply at a loss, and can't point out a reason; it surprises her. She can't remember or even fathom why she had been so upset to see Carlos shoot Delta.

Mira tilts her head in thought as she continues. "I understand that he was your son, but he also held you against your will at the bomb shelter, and, in another history, started a religious cult full of clones and killed 6 billion people with Radical-6. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't do it in this timeline. So, why were you so upset over his death?"

6 billion . . . 6 billion. His voice echoes through Diana's mind, making her gasp.

Tears immediately spring to her eyes — in fear, in mourning for her son's death . . . ? She doesn't know. "Because . . . I remembered." She swallows thickly. "In another history."

"What did you remember, Diana?"

"Do you recall anything about the terrorist?" Akane asks.

Her hands fly to her head, which she shakes, almost in pain. "I-I can't remember why . . . I just know there was something that happened, something that made me sad to see him die, even though he did so much wrong."

Mira opens her mouth to ask Diana more, but Akane shakes her head. It's not a good idea to press her any further, as of now, Mira realizes, and then nods at Akane. She excuses herself, leaving the table to head towards the small bathroom in the back of the RV.

"6 billion . . . ," Diana whispers under her breath a few times, as she closes her eyes and begins to rub her temples, struggling to recall that timeline.

"Hey," Akane calls out to Diana, and places her hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to stress yourself out about it. It's okay if you don't remember right now, Diana."

"But — "

"Hey, guys? Can you back come here for a second?"

Akane and Diana turn to see Mira crouched down on the floor near the bathroom. She has opened what appears to be a hatch in the floor.

"I think I just found our bags and our, um . . . paychecks." She holds up a small, manila envelope, with its flimsy clasp opened to the two women.

Akane slowly peers into the open, yellow envelope, and sure enough, there is a thin checkbook inside. She takes the envelope from Mira (who then rummages through a red bag, — presumably hers — yanking out a cell phone and complains that there is no service) and then, pulls out the checkbook and counts the number of checks it has.

Akane nods to Mira as she flips through the pages of the booklet. "I think you're right, Mira. These checks are written out to us, each worth $500,000." She sees there is one more check after the ninth. "There are ten checks. Two are almost repeated, though. The first is for Sigma Klim, and the tenth is written out to Dr. Klim."

Eric immediately runs to where the three women are, and Sean follows. "What? Dr. Klim?" He turns to call out to the man in question. "Hey, Sigma! Are you a doctor?!"

Akane nods, and though Eric doesn't see her do so, she stays silent, her eyes flitting back and forth between Sean and the tenth check.

Sigma looks up from the GPS and whips his head toward Eric, stunned. "Y-Yeah, I am! Why do you ask!?" I don't recall telling them that detail at DCOM.

"Hey, wait, that's not fair!" Mira complains.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Why the fuck did you get two checks for $500,000?"

Phi releases her foot off the accelerator as she takes in Eric's words and fleetingly looks at Sigma. "Did they find checks with the money we were promised back there?" she asks suspiciously.

Sigma looks surprised, too, until he realizes Phi is slowing down and urges her to speed up a little more. "I-I don't know why!" he then yells back to Eric, but seems slightly uneasy. He knows it isn't a case of parent bias or anything of that sort, but can't pinpoint another specific reason why he would be given two checks.

"You can go check it out if you want to. I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing."

"Do you know how to turn on the windshield wiper, Phi?"

She scowls irritably at him. "No, I don't . . . but we're in the middle of the fucking desert, Sigma. We don't need to turn them on."

He rolls his eyes and sighs. "Normally, it wouldn't be like this, but since it's probably a new model, this RV's console is similar to the layout you'd find inside a regular car." It's almost like Delta foresaw Phi behind the wheel, and made everything easier for her. "Now, you know how there's a turn signal switch that you move up or down, for right and left? On the opposite side, there's another switch for the windshield wiper, and it works the same way." He then goes on to quickly — because he hears the sound of voices rising in the back — explain how to control the speed of the wipers, and how to activate the wiper fluid. He finally describes how to clean the windshield with wiper fluid in conjunction with the wipers, which would be in the case of a possible dust storm.

"And that, Phi, is why you may need to turn on the windshield wiper in the middle of the fucking desert."

"Let me see that check, Akane!"

"N-No, Eric! It's Sigma's. We should wait for him to come and look at it first."

Phi looks sheepish and mutters a reluctant, "Thanks," to Sigma, and then whispers, "You should head to the back before Eric pulls a shotgun out of his ass and threatens to kill you, again."

Sigma tries to hold in his laughter, only managing to contain in a small snort. "You're horrible, Phi."

Phi shrugs unashamedly. "I try. And, Sigma," she adds, "don't let anyone steal my money. We may be passing by Vegas soon, but I'm still too young to legally gamble. So, I'm saving up for next year when I turn 21 to gamble it all away in a grand casino . . . and don't think you can claim my money because you're my dad, alright?"

Sigma lets out a chuckle as he arises from his seat and starts to walk to the back. "I won't, Phi."

Akane looks up from the checkbook in her hands when she hears the others suddenly quieting from their complaining and Sigma's familiarly heavy footsteps approaching.

"Sigma . . . " Diana's voice is hesitant as she grasps her beloved's fingers, but her face relaxes once Sigma squeezes her hand with his own.

"What's going on, Akane?" Sigma's face takes on a look of confusion, but Akane can see the restlessness in his eyes. "Does the second check have anything written in the Memo area that could tell us why I get two payments?"

Akane's hand stretches toward him, her fingers grasped around the checkbook. "You should see it for yourself."