Breakfast went on as usual although Matthews was late and didn't
have a hang over. Which as expected surprised Tony and Hammer and caused
them to run out of the room screaming about it being a sign of the
apocalypse.
Since when is a sober Matthews late for breakfast?" Shion asked
sweetly handing him a plate of her curry. Matthews swallowed about half
of his meal before replying,
"Needed to give some reports to Mary and Shelly. Oh and I saw the
Little Master as well. Poor guy, looks really depressed."
"Really?" asked Momo with a sad look in her eyes. Matthews
chuckled,
"Nope. He's just pissed." He shrugged his shoulders and continued
eating. Shion and chaos were having a discussion while ignoring Allen
that was sitting right across from her. Tony and Hammer soon returned to
discover that the galaxy did not implode into itself.
KOS-MOS and Momo sat beside each other on stools at the counter.
Momo still had a full plate of curry by the time Matthew's was finished
his. KOS-MOS watched the realian eating and wondered what Shion's
cooking would taste like. She knew that it must taste good for the crew
of the Elsa to be enjoying it but she knew nothing of taste.
She had been programmed with every sense but taste and it
fascinated her that it was so crucial to both humans and realians. She
knew she had no use to an android but it seemed strange that humans
never had invented a way to simulate taste through electronics the same
way with the other senses.
"Momo. What does it taste like?" She asked, her newfound curiosity
growing. Momo picked up a morsel of the curry with her spork and sampled
it.
"It tastes...well...like curry." Momo said failing to come up with
a useful description. KOS-MOS processed the information and said,
"With that response there are 392 different probabilities of how
her curry would taste. 32 different kinds if you only factor in the
ingredients on board the Elsa." KOS-MOS sighed knowing that it is
pointless to give a weapon the sense of taste. Momo giggled at the
response,
"Sorry I can't describe it better." She said with a smile as the
giggled subsided. KOS-MOS wondered why she would do that. Was it that it
was irony? Since Momo knew she had emotions and could express them then
it must be funny for her to quote statistics.
Ziggy stopped over and sat on a stool that was obviously not made
for his mechanical body. The two of them turned to look at him as he put
a hand on Momo's shoulder and said,
"That was the first time I have seen you smile in the four days."
Momo smiled at the cyborg as if he was her real father and replied,
"Thanks. I got a little help and now I am perfectly fine." Ziggy
glanced over at the android; KOS-MOS wasn't sure what the partial man
was thinking since he never really showed his emotions.
At that moment KOS-MOS wondered if he had seen the two of them in
her recharge station. Even though they didn't do anything it is entirely
possible for Ziggy to assume something did happing and that was what she
was worried about.
"By any chance was it KOS-MOS that helped you?" He asked setting
the pink hairs on Momo's neck to stand up. She stammered while trying to
think.
"Yes. She quoted some statistics about break ups and I just
couldn't stop laughing. It seems that all I needed to help me was some
laughter." Ziggy looked back at Momo and said flatly,
"So is that all it takes to win your heart?" Both KOS-MOS and Momo
looked shocked. Ziggy adjusted his weight on the stool that looked like
it would brake because of him. Momo stammered and pleaded,
"Ziggy please don't say it like that. She and..." Ziggy cut her
off,
"I don't care what actually happened or how it came to be. I just
want to know if you really love her or you're just on the rebound." He
said. Momo looked quizzically at Ziggy.
"Rebound is when you go out with someone just because you feel bad
about your own break up. I know how bad a rebound can turn out to be."
Momo shook her head furiously,
"No I am not on the rebound. I really love..." Her eye's shifted to
Shion sitting beside KOS-MOS. "...umm...love how this curry tastes." She
said trying to calm herself at the sudden shock of Shion almost over
hearing her.
"Why thank you Momo." Shion said with a smile that annoyed KOS-MOS.
KOS-MOS couldn't help but be worried that Ziggy would say something to
the scientist. Ziggy leaned towards Momo's ear and whispered,
"Don't worry I wont tell. Just make sure it's real." Real...Was
that word even possible between the two of them. They weren't humans and
people would probably think she was just using KOS-MOS because of the
break up. Was that why Ziggy was worried about her. She looked at him
with a hint of sadness and asked,
"What...exactly did you see...and why exactly didn't I see you on
my scanners?" Ziggy showed what appeared to be smirk,
"I was an in an anti-terrorist squad. Even if the techniques are
one hundred years old they are still effective. Over the past four
nights you haven't been in your bed so last night when I detected you
were walking to the park to followed you, then to were KOS-MOS was
recharging. I don't know how she is capable of loving you and I won't
ask." Momo smiled softly inwardly thanking him for promising not to say
anything then something he said echoed through her head,
"What did you mean by you know how bad a rebound can turn out to
be?" He lost that smirk as quickly as it appeared,
"Sharon wasn't the first person I fell in love with. When I was
eighteen I fell in love with a girl named Janice Roman. We had a bad
break up and I found someone else to try and cover for my sadness."
"Was it Sharon?" Momo asked with a hint of regret in her voice.
"No. Her name was Maylin Seraphim." A strange look came in Momo's
eyes as she noticed the last name.
"Thanks Ziggy for not telling anyone." Ziggy nodded and stood up,
and left the room. As the electronic door closed behind him KOS-MOS
stood up and walked towards the door. Shion noted the strange behavior
but got distracted when Momo suddenly asked about her curry recipe.
"Wait Jan Sauer!" Ziggy stopped in his tracks at the mention of
his near forgotten name. He turned around to see KOS-MOS standing a few
steps behind.
A fire burned in her eyes as she spoke words driven by devotion
for the one she loved,
"I promise you I will protect her. I will protect her with every
ounce of power I have." Ziggy stepped forward with a stern look on his
face. KOS-MOS didn't falter as he placed his human hand on her shoulder,
"That was exactly what I wanted to hear from you." He said with a
rare smile that only a father could have. Ziggy turned and left leaving
KOS-MOS standing there in disbelief.
Jr. was sitting in the park of his personal battleship with a sour
look on his young face. Why wasn't he happy? He had a gigantic
battleship capable of obliterating a small planet. He had a colony that
he was co-president of. He had tremendous power at his fingertips both
in his body and his battleship. He had plenty of guns and enough bullets
to take out every single gnosis in the universe. He had plenty of money
and could spend it however he pleased.
Yet there was a hole deep down in his core that threatened to
swallow everything including his enormous gun collection. That hole has
been slowly eating away at him for the past fifteen years. The gnashing
teeth of guilt were slow and almost unnoticeable over the past. Some
times he even forgot that the beast was inside him chewing at his
insides.
He even tried to stop the beast of guilt by loving a woman that
looked exactly like her. Almost as if the dead woman would forgive him
for his actions if he could prove he could protect someone who looked
exactly like her. He knew such actions were foolish but that hungry
beast of guilt was fooled for a short time.
His hand rested on the empty space beside him. That space that
once held the woman he thought he loved. Over the past three days he
would sit here during the day and inwardly assist that beast that chewed
so hungrily on his insides. Each time he sat and on every hour he found
more and more reasons to hate his very being.
This was were he first kissed Momo. No, this was were he kissed
Sakura. That was the person he kissed on that night. That was the body
he held in his arms. It was her eyes he stared into after that kiss. It
was her flesh he longed for after. His heart yearned for Sakura not
Momo. She was only a replacement in flesh not spirit.
His fingers clenched into a fist, as he thought about that last
night together. What he did to her, he yearned for fifteen years to do.
What he whispered into her ear during was what he wanted to say to her
for so long. Then when there was not a speck of innocence between the
two, he finally said those four words that awoke the beast of guilt.
"I love you Sakura."
That was the moment when it started to eat away at him once more.
That beast built from his guilt wanted revenge for him tricking it. Now
it wanted to eat everything around it until there was nothing left of
him to feast upon.
He knew only anger thinking of how wrecked he was. He couldn't
feel sad and seek redemption. He had no sadness in him to show all he
ever had was hatred, that was how and why he was created. His greatest
power was controlled by his hate, and it was that power that allowed him
to obliterate thousands of gnosis and even his own brother.
"Dude. You look pissed!" Came a nearby voice. Jr. didn't want to
look around and didn't even care who it was. His hatred soon targeted
the voice and he yelled,
"Go the HELL away!" His voice dripped with venom that had been
brewing for the past fifteen years. The man was taken aback by the
sudden outburst,
"Whoa." Tony said holding his arms out in front of him as if
expecting the short gunslinger to attack him. Jr. stood up and stared
daggers into Tony.
"Here to give me some man to boy talk about love? Damn it! Everyone
seems to be out to help me!" He spat each word with the strongest of
acid. Tony waved his hands in front of him trying to think of words to
say that wont reward him with a bullet.
"Have you seen a woman by the name of Ginevra. There has been a big
misunderstanding I have to fix." Jr. sneered,
"Man how many woman do you get! How would it matter what she thinks
of you?!" His personal disgust rose at the thought of other men doing
just the same thing. Tony sat down and Jr. stayed were he was ready to
walk off at any moment if the conversation got any where close to the
subject of love's folly.
"It's because...well I don't know. She just seems so right for me.
I actually love her, I am willing to fly through a black hole for her."
Jr. kept his anger visible even if Tony was speaking in a way that was
almost romantic.
"Then fly through a black hole and leave me alone its pointless to
say things like that anyway!" Jr. said with hatred dripping like acid.
"Don't say that. I really do love her, I guess it was kind of the
whole love at first site thing. We promised to meet here today so I
could take her on a date." Jr. never thought he would hear such caring
words from a man such as Tony but still his anger was too much to
control.
"Damn even I can tell your relationship will end horribly in some
kind of way." Tony didn't change his composure and said,
"I don't care! I don't care if it only last one date! Even if it
ends horribly I love her and...and..." Tony trailed off unsure of how to
finish his sentence.
Jr. was grinding his teeth as the beast of guilt ate away at him in
response to Tony's words. He stormed out of the room passing a woman who
was stepping through the doorway. The woman suddenly had a jealous look
as Jr. stepped on the moving floor that was redundant in the purpose it
was built for.
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