Cody's stoic mood didn't improve in the slightest upon being beamed back in. If he was honest with himself, considering what was going through his mind at the moment (in particular, Wind Crowrang's last words to him and how true they seemed in hindsight), he didn't much feel like talking to anyone…

…but alas, he had an obligation to keep.

Pretty much ignoring everyone else in the Navigation Room (including his girlfriend, surprisingly enough), he pulled her into the Repair Bay.

She didn't protest, as she knew they both needed to be there anyway, but his silence still concerned her.

"What did you want to talk about…?"

Under normal circumstances, that would've been London's cue to start rambling about whatever was on her mind, often to the chagrin of everyone around her.

They both knew this, which made the yawning silence that followed all the more uncomfortable.

Eventually, it became too much for the heiress to take. "Say something!"

The blonde's voice took on an unusually sarcastic bite. "Isn't that your job? You're the one who wanted to talk…"

"Yeah, well…" She trailed off, so many thoughts whirling around in her head. She really didn't know where to start. "How…?"

"Huh?"

"How do I fix you?!" The girl all but screamed, as she practically, no, actually, jumped up and down, waving her arms around wildly. How do I make you better? I can't make Zack come back! I can't even make you see that you're strong! I…I keep hurting people and I can't stop…"

This outburst, if only for a moment, brought Cody out of his despondency. "You're not hurting people! At least, not on purpose…"

She looked down silently at her feet for a second before whispering, "He saved me, you know."

The dour mood was back for him, along with a healthy dose of guilt. "I know. He might've told me that, too, if I'd just stopped to listen to him, instead of just scolding and lecturing him as if we were still back home…"

"Well, it's not like you can do anything about it, so will you two just quit whining?"

One look at each other confirmed that the voice didn't come from either of them. It took them a second to place the voice.

"Axl…?"

Suddenly materializing seemingly out of thin air, the navy blue reploid had up a peace sign. Bailey was right beside him, looking none too pleased. Whether it was with her boyfriend, or the current situation, was unclear.

"'Sup Princess! Knew you'd make a speedy recovery! Yup, never doubted it for a second…"

Cody didn't quite buy that last sentence, perhaps due to the decade and a half of practice that comes with living with a somewhat habitual liar (albeit one that he ultimately loved to death).

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," the farm girl answered, arms crossed. "I'm not chopped liver, you know…"

Her tone and features softened significantly. It was clear to anyone that he was taking this hard. "You know you can talk to me, too, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Bailey, how do you fix people?"

Everyone looked at the oldest teen blankly. Leave it to her to take a sledgehammer to an emotional moment.

Whether she actually noticed or cared was anyone's guess. What both teens recognized as her "stop ignoring me" pout was laced with a touch of that feeling of helplessness from earlier that day.

"That's…a loaded question."

A tilting of the head. "What's that mean?"

"It means there's a lot of parts to it," Bailey explained as she watched her boyfriend go off to heal himself. How to get her to understand? "People are all different, and they act differently at different times. They don't always act like you remember them acting or think they should."

"Okay…"

Thankfully, she had a good example present. "Even you know that Cody's never been this quiet and closed off."

A chill ran down London's spine. "He's changing…"

"Yes, he is."

Both girls glanced back at him as he was apparently finishing up.

"I want him to get better…" She felt the truth of her own words as they tumbled all too easily out of her mouth. "He…They're like my little brothers."

"Oh…" It was actually quite shocking for Bailey to hear that she could care about people to that extent, as most others were either people who gave her what she wanted (like those that helped deliver whatever she bought) or barely existed to her.

She didn't say anything more for a bit as she watched London take her turn in a healing pod.

"Can I ask you something, Bails?"

Cody had broken his brief silence. Despite his healing, he still seemed tired. She couldn't blame him.

"Of course."

"Do… Do you think I'm weak?"

His girlfriend didn't skip a beat. "Absolutely not! You wouldn't be out there at least trying if you were. True, you could afford to start going to the gym and all, but…"

He looked away and sighed. "Not quite what I meant." He paced around for a few seconds to formulate his thoughts and debate with himself whether he even wanted to ask what was on his mind.

"Do you think I can take care of myself?"

"Where on earth would you get the idea that you couldn't?"

"That Bird Brain," London scoffed, clearly still annoyed with that thing.

The blonde shook his head. "It's not just him. Throughout this whole thing, I've pretty much always been on the backfoot. What happened with Boomer, I can accept, but having to be saved twice," He took a quick aside from his rant to thank London again. "That's unacceptable!"

Bailey jumped in, wary of how he was acting. "Whoa, there. You're being way too hard on yourself! You seem to be doing perfectly fine against minor enemies…"

"Yeah, what she said," the heiress added rather unnecessarily.

"Those are just toys compared to the more sentient Mavericks like Vile and that Zero ghost thing. They'd want me dead, and I still can't even pull the trigger…"

"Let me ask you something, kid," Axl threw in, leaning idly against a wall near the door. "You really think that brother of yours would be okay with you sulking like this?"

Cody really wanted to say 'no' and say that he'd find a way to cajole him out of his comfort zone and keep him moving forward (he had always been good at that) whether he liked it or not, but he couldn't in good conscience. He wasn't entirely sure that he wouldn't in fact be avoiding him like he had for the past month and especially so given what happened when they last spoke.

The Kansan girl wasn't about to let him sulk, though. "Cody."

It was said as an order, with equal parts concern and conviction mixed in. He looked at her, who, by her eyes alone, expected a certain answer to what she'd ask next.

"You know that the brother you know wouldn't like seeing you act like this, right?"

"Before all of this, no…"

She nodded subtly. "Remember that, because we're eventually finding him, wherever he is, and you guys are going to kiss and make up like usual, because we don't have the luxury of dealing with you two being at each other's throats."

"But Zack said he hated all of us, not just me."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "You're not the only one with siblings, you know. I've had my fair share of fights within my family, too. I don't always get along with them myself, either. We all eventually get over it though, because we love each other deep down. Simple as that."

"The Hunters…"

"He'll have to get over that, too. We all need to trust each other if we're getting out of this mess."

He didn't have a rebuttal for this. She made sense. "You're talking like Zero did after…"

She got the picture. Her volume lessened significantly, sounding a lot meeker. "I…I still don't like what he said, but he's right, especially given recent…events. We're not on the ship and we can't act like we are."

She didn't dare elaborate on said events. In the silence, Cody and London exchanged looks. They were very aware of the words she could've used anyway.

Nothing was said until Axl decided to speak up again. "Are you three finally done? 'Cause I wasn't just here to bring her along because she twisted my arm," She glanced at the farm girl, who had to work not to roll her eyes at him.

"I guess…"

"Yup."

Axl spoke quickly. "We can't find the shorter kid. Alia keeps trying to track his coordinates, but she's still coming up with nothing. Those two who kidnapped him are gone without a trace, too."

The girl's twitch came back again, and she balled her fists and began walking towards him. "What wonderful news…"

"L-Look, from what you've saying, he's smart enough to figure out a way out on his own. Even if he can't, we'll find him. Something is going on, but we want to wait until X gets back, and we're all well-rested to deal with that."

Nobody, bar Axl, really realized just how much they'd been through until he'd said that.

Once the adrenaline (or whatever the reploid equivalent was) and emotions wore off, it was obvious.

Cody had initially wanted to be alone anyway, so he obliged, saying a polite "good night" and leaving for his barracks.

He knew even before he got there that he would be uttering a silent prayer for his safety before his head hit the pillow.

-000-

Bailey let everyone except London leave.

She knew she had to get this out here, or else she was likely never going to have another opportunity.

She forced her words out. "Sometimes, you hurt me too."

It was downright scary how much the face in front of her differed from the spoiled, self-absorbed brat she'd known for about two years up to this point.

In an almost childlike mixture of sorrow and fear, she asked, "How?"

"When you insult my family, my choice of hairstyle, and just about everything else about me."

"I…"

"I know I do it to you, too," She had to be honest on her end, too, or she'd be a hypocrite. "In fact, until we got here, it was pretty hard not to see you as some pampered girl that only sees everyone around her, like me and Cody, as 'the help'. I thought you didn't care most of the time."

"I…care," came a whispered response that seemed to be aimed at the floor rather than her.

"I know you do, especially after all this! I just wish you'd think about the fact that other people have problems too and do the stuff they do for a reason. You know that 'rat's nest' I wear sometimes?"

London's nose instinctively wrinkled at the mention of the patchwork mess. Bailey noticed her biting back what was most likely an insult.

"My Auntie made it for my mom before it was given to me one day. It got beat up a lot over the years. Wear and tear of being on a farm."

"She made that?"

Please don't say anything," the brunette warned gently. "Anyway, it's all I have left of her…"

"I'm sorry, I…"

She wanted to quickly push past the painful memory before it could really sting. "It happened a while ago, but that blouse still reminds me of her. I just wish you would think about that kind of thing before you speak sometimes, okay?"

"Okay."

"Also," she took a breath and continued, wanting to wrap this up, "I never thought I'd say this, and I meant to say it when you guys were on the plane, but… You were a real hero back there. You've changed a lot, and... I'm proud to be your friend."

London would've shed tears at that if she wasn't a robot. While most people assumed she was too stupid to notice, she always heard the secret whispers of the people who she paid to do things. Most people only ever found her annoying. Someone was actually proud to be her friend? "I… thank you."

After a brief hug, inundated with a paradoxically uncomfortable and comfortable silence, they both headed to their respective rooms.

-TBC-

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