Thy Will Be Done
Chapter 3 - mired in tragedy
by Meimi

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Disclaimer: Am not associated in any way with Namco, Monolith, et al. No profit, blahblahblah.

Notes: Take a sharp turn right after Episode 1, head straight into Alternate Universe/Timeline territory, add in a few speculative theories, shake well.

Warning: Episode 2 spoilers starting as of now.

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14 Years Ago

"I don't see how that can be comfortable," Canaan commented blandly as he checked over the E.S. Asher's systems. The loss of the arm was going to make their withdrawal from Miltia difficult, but he was confident it could be done.

"I never said it was," chaos mumbled through the red hair he was unsuccessfully attempting to tuck under his chin. The co-pilot seat for the E.S. was made for one person not three. It probably would have been easier to keep the two U.R.T.Vs from falling off of his lap if they had been awake to help; however, that was not an option. "Unfortunately, direct contact is necessary to maintain the ether's effect for such an extended length of time."

"Just make sure the red one doesn't wake up," Canaan almost frowned as he glanced back at chaos and his burden, "We don't need a repeat of the E.S.'s reaction to him during our ascent."

When they had finally returned to the Asher with their objectives in hand, the E.S. had refused to accept Canaan's commands when the U.R.T.V in question had been touching it. It had been chaos' suggestion to put him to sleep that had finally given them a workable solution. It was a little known fact, but most problems with an E.S. operating system arose from conscious thought. How chaos, a complete unknown to Canaan until this mission, had knowledge about that particular quirk was anyone's guess.

Of course, Rubedo hadn't been very agreeable to their plan, but Nigredo's condition left him very little choice in the matter. They had to get off Miltia to get him the medical treatment he was in dire need of. chaos had managed to keep him alive so far, but only just.

"Do not worry, they will sleep and heal as long as they are in my care," chaos smiled faintly as he closed his eyes, resting his cheek against Rubedo's head.

"We don't have enough thrust on our own to escape the atmosphere. We're going to have to... 'hitch a ride' on another vehicle." Canaan did frown then, he couldn't seem to recall where that phrase had originated from. Strange.

"Oh?" chaos asked, his lashes lifting sleepily so he could gaze down at his companion. His lips twisted in amusement at the Realian's obvious consternation.

"Yes." Shaking his head slightly, Canaan decided that a complete diagnostic scan once this mission had been completed would be most welcome. "There have been several transport lift offs from an auxiliary port about fifteen miles south of our location. It's a long way, but it appears to be the most successful course of action."

"How are they avoiding being attacked?"

"Some form of illegal sensor cloaking technology, most likely. We're probably the only ones who can see them."

If he hadn't known better, chaos could almost say that Canaan sounded smug. Well, he did know better, and the Realian did sound smug, but that was a truth to be unveiled at a much later date. "They must be U-TIC, but I trust that you know what you're doing."

"Of course."

~*~

The journey to the auxiliary port had taken longer than expected, they'd been forced to backtrack and skulk around to avoid some very heavy fire fights. There had also been a few unavoidable encounters with some Federation troops that appeared to have lost their sanity, but nothing quite so serious as the one with Captain Uzuki.

"I'm surprised their security is so light," Canaan remarked as he slipped the Asher past an unmanned checkpoint and into the port.

"Arrogance breeds complacency, and from what I know of them, the U-TIC organization has a veritable surplus," chaos murmured wearily. He'd managed to keep his two charges on his lap and still asleep as he said he would. However, the effort needed to do so was starting to take its toll, or at least, that's what Canaan assumed was happening.

"No, I don't think that's it. It looks like they're fleeing, for all intents and purposes."

"Really? That's interesting..." chaos trailed off, his eyes shooting open as a terribly familiar melody began to waft across the city again.

"That song?" Canaan looked up, tilting his head to the side to try and hear the sound more clearly.

"We have to go. Now," chaos ground out, tightening his grip on the boys as he used some of his buried powers to make sure they stayed asleep no matter what. He would not allow them to wake up to the coming horror. No one deserved that.

"That is the wisest course of action," Canaan agreed, noting the odd sensation that had just begun to tingle down his spine and then shoving it to the back of his mind. He could go over it with more detail after the mission was completed. Checking one of the Asher's panels, he gave a quick warning, "There's a transport taking off right now. Hold on."

The E.S. Asher was not meant for speed. Its potential was geared more towards power and outright assault. That wasn't to say that Canaan couldn't make it do what he wanted it to when it was absolutely necessary. The sprint to the transport took less that thirty seconds, it would have been even less if there hadn't been an artillery cannon, which had to be destroyed, between them and the ship.

Later, Canaan would label the following minutes as the second truly surreal experience he had ever gone through. He had secured the E.S. to the ship just as the engine kicked into full power for lift off, and that was when he had allowed himself to identify the sounds that had begun shortly after the song.

The screaming.

As they began their escape from the planet Miltia, the Asher's communication system flared to life without prompting. So many signals, all of them chaotic, all of them senseless. They washed over him, and in a small, well hidden, corner of his being, Canaan knew fear.

"Mizrahi has gone insane!"

"What are those fucking things?!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"-NETARY EVACUATION HAS BEEN ISSUED. I REPEAT, THE ORDER FOR IMMEDIATE PLANETARY EVACUATION HAS BEEN ISSUED. PLEASE FOLLOW THE PROTOCOL-"

"What the hell is going on?"

"Oh my God."

"... God can't help us now."

"It's just like before, only this time, I am alone," chaos whispered.

"You're not alone. I'm with you, and so are the U.R.T.Vs," Canaan said in confusion, ripping his mind away from the wisps of madness that were attempting to sink their claws into it.

"I suppose it appears that way, but it is truth nonetheless. We who Fall, we are always alone."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It's not meant to."

~*~

Present Day

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" MOMO asked Shion worriedly.

It had taken over two hours for the Elsa to receive authorization to land, over two hours of the Second Miltian Government, the Kukai Foundation and the Federation issuing veiled threats at the Space Port to let them land. It had taken so long for the simple fact that there had been nowhere for them to land. The entire Space Port had been buried under ships that had been grounded thanks to the highly unexpected military operations going on just beyond the planet's atmosphere. The port's officials weren't too thrilled with any of them at the moment.

"I'll be fine, MOMO," Shion offered in as soothing a voice as possible, she didn't want MOMO to keep worrying about her. She didn't quite believe herself though, neither did KOS- MOS for that matter. The android had kept a steadying hand on her back while they had disembarked from the Elsa and even now was keeping a close eye on her. Shion was rather thankful for that. She was still quite wobbly and her head still felt like it was full of clouds.

MOMO gave her a skeptical look before turning a pleading one on Ziggy, "Maybe we should go with her to make sure."

"I'm sorry, MOMO, but Representative Helmer is expecting us," the cyborg stated stoically, seemingly unfazed by her puppy-dog eyes. There was, however, a barely visible tick under his left eye which Jr. found highly amusing.

"All right," MOMO murmured dejectedly before whirling around and throwing herself into Shion's arms.

KOS-MOS's hand instantly returned to steadying Shion, which she was very grateful for, otherwise she probably would have fallen over. "Don't worry, MOMO. I'm just going to drop KOS-MOS off at the Second R&D Division and then I'll head... home to rest." Shion said comfortingly as she hugged the little Realian back. She wished she could go with them, but there really was no reason for her or KOS-MOS's presence.

"Okay." MOMO frowned, holding back apparent tears and doing a rather good job of it. "We'll see each other again, right?"

"Of course." Shion gave her another squeeze before stepping back. "We'll all see each other again."

"Undoubtedly." Ziggy nodded at them in farewell, then placed a guiding hand on MOMO's shoulder and began to lead her away.

"Yeah Shion, you should drop by the Foundation whenever. Gaignun could always use another pretty woman to distract him," Jr. smirked cheekily, ducking under Shion's good-natured swat to give her a quick hug before following off after Ziggy and MOMO.

"Well, I guess we should get going too then." Shion muttered wistfully.

"Allen should have acquired transportation for us by now," KOS-MOS said in her typical monotone, still keeping a steady hand on Shion's back as she began to walk towards the east end of the terminal.

~*~

"Rubedo."

Jr. froze at the utterance of his name. Who? Looking around wildly for the speaker, he spotted a rather familiar looking orange-haired Realian off to the side. "Canaan? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick you up. The recent events have left a lot of people rattled," Canaan explained simply as he gave the group a once over. There was someone missing... "Is chaos not with you? I had heard he was."

"chaos?" Jr. blinked blankly for moment, then looked around again this time in abject confusion. He had completely forgotten about chaos. How the hell had that happened? "He stayed back on the Elsa... I think."

"You think?" Canaan raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think. Don't ask, I'm not really sure what's going on either." Jr. shook his head. What the hell was wrong with him, forgetting a friend like that?

"Well, at any rate, I'm supposed to escort you, the 100-Series Observational Prototype and Ziggurat 8 to the government building." Canaan glanced at each of them in turn as he spoke their designation.

"Her name is MOMO," Jr. grumbled in annoyance, and then blushed slightly when she beamed at him in gratitude.

"MOMO it is then," Canaan agreed amiably before ushering them towards a Staff Only exit. The sooner this little job was over with the sooner he could get around to finding chaos. Some odd feeling told him that something wasn't quite right with his old friend.

Jr. grimaced at the door they were being led to, "Please don't tell me you brought the Asher."

"All right, I won't." Canaan almost felt like smirking at Rubedo's audible groan. Almost, he didn't really experience emotions, after all, and amusement was an emotion at its core.

"Goddamnit, fucking sleep spell," Jr. muttered acidly under his breath.

~*~

"Delayed?" Shion blinked owlishly at the Second R&D chief. "What do you mean delayed?"

"I'm sorry, Chief Uzuki. I thought you had already been informed," the man spread his hands apologetically. "Everything is more than ready to install KOS-MOS's new weapon systems, but we've been told to delay the procedure for an undefined amount of time."

"But why?" Admittedly, Shion hadn't wanted to turn KOS-MOS over to anyone for any reason, but this just didn't make sense. Second R&D had been developing new weapons for KOS-MOS for quite awhile now, it made no sense to delay installation even further.

"I wish I knew the answer to that," the chief answered rather unhappily. His entire division was in a nigh uproar over the affair, but there was nothing to be done. "All that I know is that she is to remain in your care, Chief Uzuki, for the time being. The orders appear to have come down from very high up, so I imagine they won't be changed anytime soon."

"I see, how strange," Shion murmured distractedly. It had taken her tooth and nail to get her director to agree to leave KOS-MOS in her care, and that was just through the U-TIC ordeal. Why would someone give an order like this now of all times? Shaking her head, Shion bowed apologetically to the Second R&D chief, "I'm really sorry about this. I have no idea what's going on." There really was no point dwelling on it since she didn't have clue one as to what was happening. Best to just wait it out and see.

"It's quite all right, Chief Uzuki, it isn't your fault. Some idiot is just throwing their weight around over our heads." He bowed in return and then made a shooing motion with his hands. "You should probably go rest, I hear you've been through quite a lot lately."

"Yes, you could say that," Shion laughed weakly, and bowed once more to the chief just to make sure she really did look apologetic, "I do think I'll take your recommendation though, I'm feeling rather exhausted."

Turning at his nod of farewell, Shion smiled up at the android who had been silent for the entire exchange even though it had been about her. "Say KOS-MOS would you like to see my home... and protect me from Jin?" she added as an afterthought.

"I will always protect you, Shion, but yes, that would be fine."

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And when you look for a long time into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
- Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche