RP Log - Before the Search
Who: Heero. MOMO, Omi, Sango
When: The morning of June 8th, before the currently in-progress search party log
Where: Food store, hangar, in between
Rating: PG for angst
Warnings: Angst, GW references, spoilers, and literary license for post EW, same for Xenosaga 1 & 2, but milder, and extremely mild for Weiss Kreuz
Notes: None
Summary: Omi runs into the new girl on his way to get supplies for Duo's search party. He's introduced to a new mech, and almost sees past Heero's defenses... if only he had been in the right mind to notice.
Omi bit his lip as he left his hut. He didn't really want to be out here... incase... Omi let that thought die. He promised Quatre he'd help find Duo, and the least he could do was get some supplies, since he'd just be tagging along.
MOMO was coming back from working her first shift at the clothing store when she spotted someone walking towards the shopping area. She smiled a bit and waved at him. After all, she had no reason to be unfriendly, and this was a small village.
Omi paused as he saw someone waving to him. It wasn't someone he knew, so he figured she must be new.
"Hello," she said as she got closer.
"Hi," he said back.
"Going shopping?" she asked.
"Yeah..." he said, looking down.
MOMO blinked. "I'm sorry... did I say something wrong?"
"N-no!" he said, waving his hands. "I'm just... I'm not feeling well."
"Oh..." MOMO clasped her hands in front of her. "Is it something I can help with?" she asked. "I know healing ethers."
"It's not like that."
MOMO tilted her head. "Okay," she said. "I'm MOMO, by the way."
"Tsukiyono Omi."
"It's nice to meet you." She gave him a little bow.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, MOMO-chan."
"Do you mind me asking what you're shopping for?"
"I'm getting supplies."
MOMO nodded. "What kind of supplies? I'm kind of new here, so I don't really know what kinds of stores and other things there are around here."
"Mainly food."
"I see." MOMO watched him for a moment. "Are you having a party?" she then asked. "The one last week was very nice."
"No... we have to go find Duo-kun."
"You mean Jr.'s friend?"
Omi nodded.
"What happened?"
Omi shook his head. "I dunno... But Quatre-kun's really worried about him."
MOMO frowned a bit. "I could probably help find him... but... I don't think Jr. would let me go right now," she said. "He's really worried that something might happen to be me because of Xellos and Albedo."
Omi shivered at the mention of Xellos.
"Jr.'s very protective of me."
"Yeah..." Omi thought of Aya.
She smiled a bit. "I don't mind so much," she said. "It feels good to have someone care about me like that." She showed Omi her bracelet. It had a charm on it... a bullet with "Sayonara, baby!" engraved on it.
Omi smiled at her. "Yeah..."
"He gave me that shortly after we met," she told him. "He said it was a good luck charm." She blushed slightly. "So... did you need any help with your shopping?"
"I..." Omi broke off. He wouldn't mind some company. "I don't mind..."
MOMO smiled brightly at him. "I'd be glad to help," she said.
Omi smiled back at her.
"Which store is the food store?" she then said, looking around.
Omi pointed the correct building out.
"Okay." She started that way, then paused, looking at Omi. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked him.
"I'll be fine..." Not really, he thought, but this would have to do.
MOMO nodded, leaving it at that for the time being, and turned back again, heading for the store. "So what kind of supplies do you need?" she asked as they walked.
"Stuff that keeps well, that we can bring with us."
The Realian nodded. "That makes sense," she said. "How long do you think you'll be gone and how many people are going? That will determine how much you need."
"Umm..." Omi wasn't sure. He figured the other Gundam pilots were coming, at least. Maybe a few more people... "Probably somewhere around 5-7... Plus Duo-kun, when we find him."
"Hm... okay... And you're not sure how long it's going to take... so we'll just have to make a guess," she said. "The island isn't that big that I can tell, and it seems pretty solid as far as just a cone around that volcano in the middle, so I would hope it wouldn't take too long for you to find him."
"I dunno..." Maybe someone who was there when they went after him would know better.
They stepped inside and MOMO looked around a bit. "Well, we should probably start where the snacks are... since they'll be individually wrapped... and I'm sure there's healthy stuff like granola in there."
Omi nodded.
She headed over, leading Omi along. "You should also get some bottled water," she told him.
"Yeah..." Omi was glad she was there. Made less for him to think about. He was having trouble focusing on things... Well, things other than...
"Here... these kinds of snacks," she said, stopping at the dried fruit, trail mix, and other non-perishable hiking and camping type foods.
Omi looked around for a basket to put stuff in. Spotting one, he went back to get it.
MOMO picked a few things off the shelves, easily holding a lot more than she looked capable of holding, and then waited for him to return so she could put them in the basket.
Omi brought the basket back, holding it out for her to put stuff in.
MOMO dumped it in. "That should probably be enough," she said. "You want to travel light, so bringing heavy food for entire meals probably isn't a good idea." She smiled at him. "Come on... let's go find the water."
"Yeah..."
They went looking for the water, which was in the same area as the soda and other bottled drinks that didn't need refridgeration. MOMO picked up a case of bottles, and then looked at the larger jugs. "Which do you think would be better?" she asked. "Each person getting their own bottle or just sharing one big bottle?"
"Probably each their own."
"Okay," she said. "I can carry this." There was clearly no room in the basket anyway, and it would be way too heavy in there.
"Are you sure?"
MOMO nodded. "I'm built tougher than I look," she told him.
Omi nodded.
MOMO realized that Omi probably had no idea she wasn't really human. She decided to leave that be for the moment. If he asked for more information, she certainly wouldn't hide it from him, but she preferred to have someone think of her as a regular human for once. She started for the checkout counter.
Omi followed along with the basket, not really thinking much about what the girl could or couldn't do.
She was also glad Omi hadn't picked up on her use of the word 'built'. She came up to the counter to see a dark haired girl sitting there reading something. She was wearing something similar in style to what Jin was wearing when she'd first met him. "Hello," she said.
Sango looked up and smiled at them. "Welcome," she said.
"Hi," Omi said quietly.
Sango stood up and looked over what they had. She made a note of it all, looking through the basket. "You must be going on a trip," she said, recognizing a lot of it as things Kagome usually carried.
"Yeah..."
"Okay," she said. She didn't want to press. "Well, have fun."
"Thank you!" MOMO said, picking up the water again.
"Thanks..."
"You're welcome."
Omi picked up the now bagged snacks.
MOMO waited for Omi to be ready and then headed for the door.
Omi followed behind MOMO.
Sango watched them go and then slipped the basket back where it had been.
"Are we taking these back to your hut?" MOMO asked as they stepped back outside into the muggy heat from the air conditioned store.
Omi shook his head. "The hangar... I think we're taking the mechs..."
"When are you leaving?"
"Pretty soon."
MOMO nodded. "Okay." She changed directions, wondering, for a moment, if Zebulun might be in the hangar. She hadn't even considered the possibility of it being in her connection gear.
"S-so you're from the same place as chaos-san and Jr-kun, right...?"
MOMO nodded. "Yup."
"Aaa..."
"Is there anyone else from your world here?"
Omi nodded slowly."
MOMO smiled a bit at him. "It's nice to have someone familiar here... This place is very strange." Not that she hadn't been to some strange places by some people's standards.
"Y-yeah..."
MOMO glanced at him, having caught the hitch in his voice. "Is everything okay?" she asked him.
"Y-yeah... Everything's fine..." Omi never had been the greatest at lying.
MOMO frowned a bit. "Did you have a fight with one of your friends?" she asked him quietly.
Omi stopped, and nodded slowly.
MOMO stopped as well. "I'm sorry," she said. "But, if you're good friends, then things will work out again." She smiled at him. "Especially if you really care about each other."
"I... I don't know..." He held his hand up to his cheek, which was starting to sting again.
MOMO looked at where he had put his hand.
Omi looked down.
"What happened?" she asked him, noticing what looked like a faint mark from a slap.
"I..." Omi bit his lip. "I had a fight with Ay-- with Abyssinian."
"He's your friend?"
"Was..."
MOMO frowned a bit. "Does it hurt?" she asked, referring to his face.
"Not that much... just stings a little."
She nodded. "Okay."
Omi gave her a half-hearted smile.
"Come on... if you have to meet the others, we should keep going, right?" she said, encouraging him to keep going.
"Yeah..."
She gave him a smile and then turned to continue their short trek to the hangar.
Omi continued after her.
MOMO opened the hangar door. They were apparently the first ones there. She didn't see Zebulun either. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but she turned to look at Omi as to where to put what they had.
"Umm... I guess we can set stuff next to Quatre-kun's mech..."
"Which one's that?" she asked.
"Ummm..." Omi looked. He pointed the right one out.
MOMO nodded. She was fairly impressed by them, but noticed that most of them were somewhat smaller than the ones she was used to. It was more noticable by the fact that Asher was sitting next to a black one with bat-like wings. "Do these have names?" she asked Omi.
Omi nodded. "Umm... The black one is Deathscythe. That's Duo-kun's." Omi wasn't sure of the names of the rest of them.
MOMO nodded. "They're more... human-looking than what I'm used to. Asher is Jr. and chaos's... I don't see mine." She put the water down next to the foot of the mech Omi had pointed to. "Oh!" She pulled out a small device from her pocket. "I wonder..."
"Huh?"
"My connection gear," she said. "I have a mech, too... but it's not here... but..." She pressed at a few buttons, a small screen appearing above it for a moment.
Omi blinked a couple of times.
Sure enough, a pink mech of an extremely different design from the others appeared next to Asher. MOMO giggled. "Zebulun!" she said happily.
"I-is that yours?"
MOMO nodded. The pink mech seemed to hover as the feet were extremely small, especially compared to the one they were currently standing near. It had what looked like wings on the back as well.
Omi's eyes went wide.
"Wanna see it?"
Omi nodded.
MOMO brightened and took Omi's hand in hers, pulling him over to where Zebulun was.
Omi let himself be lead to the new mech.
She climbed up on the gantry, still leading Omi along, and opened the double cockpit. "Our mechs usually carry two people," she said.
"Wow..."
"Mine has a bow," she explained further. "I usually pilot with Ziggy... he's my bodyguard."
Omi nodded, looking around. It was a lot different from Duo's.
"Have you seen the inside of the other ones?" she asked him, watching how his eyes had lit up beyond what she had seen so far since they'd met outside.
Omi nodded. "Duo-kun took me in his once."
"What are they like? They don't look like they have very big cockpits."
"They only fit one person."
MOMO nodded. "It looks like it."
"It's really cramped in the back of it."
She giggled. "These aren't that tight," she said, referring to her own. "The seat is actually pretty comfortable."
"Looks like it." Omi peered at the seat, which looked like it put the pilot in almost a standing position.
"Wanna sit in it?" she asked him.
Omi looked at her. "Can I?"
"Sure!"
A huge grin spread across Omi's face.
MOMO giggled at Omi's reaction and instructed him on how to get into Ziggy's seat.
Omi did as MOMO instructed, climbing into the mech, and being careful not to touch anything.
She smiled at him. "You like mechs, huh?" she asked.
Omi nodded.
She giggled. "I can tell. It's all over your face."
Omi blushed.
She giggled again. "It's okay. Everyone has something they like a lot."
"I always wanted to pilot a mech when I was younger... Watching all the anime on TV..."
"TV?"
Omi nodded. "Where you watch anime and dorama and news and stuff."
"We have the UMN... it's where we get all our information," MOMO explained.
That sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe chaos or Jr had mentioned it to him.
"Jr. still likes to read old books, though," MOMO said. "I don't really understand why."
"I prefer computers, myself."
MOMO nodded. "They're faster." She smiled.
Omi nodded.
She looked over to the door a few seconds before it opened.
Heero stepped inside, looking up at the new mech immediately. He blinked, surprised by the fact that it was pink.
Omi looked over when the door opened. "Oh... it's Heero-kun."
Heero nodded at Omi and the 'new girl', not offering much more than that in his current mindset, and headed over to Tallgeese.
MOMO watched him for a moment. "I guess he's a friend of Duo's?" she asked quietly, remembering what they were getting ready for.
Omi nodded.
"Is that his mech?" MOMO asked, noting he was heading towards a blue and white one. It looked somewhat regal, with a strange piece sticking up from the forehead. Humanoid, like most of the others, but with less detail on the face. It also looked like it had been sitting for a while, while the others looked better maintained.
"I didn't think so..."
MOMO glanced at Omi curiously, and then back to watch Heero.
"U-umm... Maybe I should go now..."
Heero had made his way into the cockpit and was running through some checks. The eye lit, flickered, and then went out again. Heero paused, and then stepped out onto the hatch to look around for a moment.
"Okay," MOMO said. She helped Omi out.
Omi climbed carefully out of Zebulun.
"Good luck on your mission," she said once they were down on the floor of the hangar again.
"Thanks..."
MOMO nodded, giving Omi another bright smile before turning and heading out of the hangar.
Heero watched them from above for a moment.
Omi smiled weakly after MOMO.
Since no one else was around, yet, and Heero was feeling even more less than sociable than ever, the 01 pilot went back inside Tallgeese's cockpit and went through the start up sequence again, just to make sure it worked.
Omi nervously walked over to the mech. "I got some supplies..." he called up.
The eye lit, but stayed on this time as Heero came back out to look over the edge at Omi. "What did you get?"
"Bottled water, and granola bars and stuff."
Heero nodded. "Hopefully, we won't be out there very long."
"Yeah..."
Heero looked troubled. After a few moments of awkward silence, he sat down on the edge of the hatch, letting his legs hang over the side. He stared off into space.
"Um... I didn't think that one was yours..."
"It isn't..." he said quietly.
"Oh..."
"It's Treize's... but he's not going to be using it." For some reason, Heero felt like he had to qualify the situation. He didn't really know why, so he just said it anyway. "He said I could use it since I didn't want to use Zero."
"Zero?"
Heero nodded towards his Gundam, standing silently between Deathscythe Hell and Sandrock.
"How come?"
Heero wondered just how much of it Omi would understand. "The cockpit system," he said. "It... does things sometimes. I don't think I can handle it right now."
"Oh... okay..." Omi didn't get it at all.
Heero sighed. He could still see something resembling confusion on the smaller assassin's face, but he left it at that. He didn't want to scare Omi. He knew he liked the mechs.
"Umm... do you think everyone else will be here soon?"
Heero nodded, looking at his watch. "It's almost time."
Omi nodded.
Heero glanced at Omi again. It was uncanny how much he 'felt' like Quatre sometimes. For a moment, Heero wanted to just spill everything out that was bothering him... the sudden surge of emotions, the garbage with Xellos, his fear for others back home... and, yet, there was enough of a difference that he felt held back from doing it. He sighed.
"D-daijoubu?"
Heero debated that. Was he? Not really... but he had to be. He had to be for Duo now. Yet, he still shook his head.
"Oh..."
"Gomen," he said quietly.
Omi shook his head. "I shouldn't pry..."
Heero shrugged. "There's a lot going on," he said. He was mostly worried about Quatre. Sure, he was strong when he had to be, but Heero knew he was beating himself up about it somewhere... when he thought no one else would notice. In some ways, they were all the same.
"Yeah..."
Heero glanced at Omi for a moment. He then posed the same question back at him. "Daijoubu?"
Omi looked down.
Heero took that as a 'no'. "I shouldn't pry, either," he added.
"It's not that..." Omi trailed off.
Heero looked at him curiously.
"I..."
"You don't have to say if you don't want to."
Omi shook his head. "I..."
Heero waited. He wasn't going to push, knowing firsthand how hard it could be to say things sometimes.
"A-Abyssinian..."
Heero had come to learn the codenames for that group. "What about him?"
Omi looked down, the red on his cheek painfully obvious.
"Is he alright?" The first thing that came across Heero's rather paranoid mental state was the fact that yet another person had gone missing... that Xellos had had some more fun with someone else.
"H-he's... fine..."
Heero nodded, somewhat relieved.
"H-he..."
The pilot watched Omi, wondering for a moment if the assassin was going to faint right there on the floor.
"He called me... Takatori..." Omi whispered the last word.
While Heero wasn't completely sure on the details since Duo had a tendancy to ramble when passing information, he remembered the Takatori that had been in the desert, and something about him being the same person as Omi... just from their future... He frowned a bit, not completely understanding why that was a problem.
Omi looked down again.
Feeling like Omi wasn't going to say anything else, Heero just sighed. He had gotten used to Quatre's open way of just letting it out without prompting and Duo's method of babbling because he hated silence. "And?" he finally asked.
"And he hit me..."
"Why?"
"I..." Omi looked down. He didn't want to talk about it further.
Heero noted Omi's posture and backed off. "It'll work out," he said quietly. "I've been shot by Duo... twice." He shrugged.
"H-honto ni?"
Heero nodded. "And... I haven't exactly been the best to him, either, at times..." he said quietly.
"Oh..."
Heero looked down, surprised by the sudden wave of guilt that overtook him. He hadn't expected it at all. He'd never really felt guilty about anything he'd done, even to the others... even to Relena. Now... He tightened his grip on the edge of the hatch.
"H-heero-kun?"
"I just..." And for a moment, he almost did it again... unloaded everything on Omi. And again... it all got stuck, just below the surface. "I just need to find Duo," he finally managed to force out.
"Yeah..."
Heero looked at his watch again. "You said you got supplies?" He came down off the hatch, joining Omi on the floor. He left Tallgeese powered up to give the computers a chance to work out any 'dust'.
Omi nodded, and pointed to the water and the bag of snacks.
Heero nodded. "We can load these into one of the Gundams for now," he said. "The others should start arriving in a few minutes."
"Yeah..."
And Heero went to do just that, not bothering to look and see if Omi was going to help.
Omi picked up the case of water, surprised at how heavy it was.
Heero opened the hatch on Sandrock's leg, since it had more storage than Heavyarms (which had missles in that spot) and Tallgeese (which didn't seem to have any compartments to store things in). He glanced at Omi then, noting his surprised look. "Something wrong?"
"This is really heavy..."
"Need help?"
"H-hai..."
Heero walked over, taking one end of the case from Omi.
"Arigato..."
He nodded, taking it completely once they reached the hatch so he could lift it up inside. It was pretty high up because the Gundam was upright, and Heero was taller.
Omi sank to the ground, exhausted.
"Are you sure you're okay to come with us?"
"Y-yeah..."
Heero wasn't one to argue about things like that very often, but he did frown somewhat as he offered Omi a hand up.
"Arigato..." Omi leaned against the leg of the Gundam. "I'll be okay... We're not walking, right?"
Heero shook his head. "We can cover more ground in the Gundams... Jon has a sharp sense of smell and shouldn't have any problems even from the hand of one."
Omi nodded.
Heero leaned against the leg next to Omi. "I hope he's happy," he couldn't stop himself from saying, his voice coming out as a low and instense growl.
"Duo-kun?"
Heero glanced at Omi, somewhat surprised. He hadn't realized he had said that outloud.
"I... I hope he's okay..."
Heero nodded. "It's that priest," he finally said, frustrated... very frustrated that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
"X-xellos?"
Heero nodded again, the anger showing in the hardset of his jawline.
"Oh..."
The pilot looked down.
"G-gomen..."
"It's not your fault."
"D-demo..."
Heero looked at him.
"I made you remember..."
"A lot of things make me remember," Heero said. "I have a lot of things I don't want to remember."
"Y-yeah..."
Heero sighed. He didn't like all the distractions in his head now... it made it hard to focus. It also made him wonder just how the hell the others did it. He was trained, but Duo? Quatre? They weren't soldiers like that. They had just gone and done what was needed. For a moment, Heero felt weak.
"H-heero-kun?"
"Have you ever felt inadequate at something?" he asked, his voice a whisper.
Omi nodded.
"I feel like I can't find my focus," he admitted after a few minutes.
"H-hai..."
In a way, Heero supposed he was feeling guilty... like he shouldn't have let Duo leave Quatre's hut alone... or at all... but he had. And now he was gone. And everyone was worried. On top of that, shortly after he disappeared, a Guardian and the girl with the girly Gundam had disappeared as well. And all this was after Kabuto had gone missing. Something wasn't right. And it had all started after the Mazoku had returned. Heero frowned deeply.
"H-heero-kun?" Omi had never seen the pilot acting like this, and it was unnerving him even further.
"Gomen," he said, automatically reverting to Japanese because that's what Omi used most of the time. It was a habit of his to pick up on other people's speech patterns and imitate them... maybe a throw back to infiltration missions. "Just... thinking."
"Oh..."
"These disappearances... they all coincide with Xellos coming back," he said. "It makes me think he's responsible for all of them..."
"Yeah..."
Heero glanced at Omi, catching something in the assassin's speech and posture. "You've dealt with him," he said.
"Once..."
"Hn." Heero frowned. It was still raw in his own mind. He'd dredged up a lot of things Heero had long tried to repress... and had, until he'd landed here, succeeded in doing. "Gomen... it's not easy to deal with."
Omi shook his head. "It was... right before... Before... the other me... showed up."
"He came to me shortly after he got back here..." Heero said.
"Oh..."
Heero shook his head. "It's almost time," he said, pulling himself back inside his wall. He got up from leaning on Sandrock's leg and headed over to Tallgeese to see if any errors had popped up while they had been waiting.
"Y-yeah..."
Without another word, the pilot ascended to the cockpit and disappeared once more.
Omi sighed, and sat back down to wait.
When: The morning of June 8th, before the currently in-progress search party log
Where: Food store, hangar, in between
Rating: PG for angst
Warnings: Angst, GW references, spoilers, and literary license for post EW, same for Xenosaga 1 & 2, but milder, and extremely mild for Weiss Kreuz
Notes: None
Summary: Omi runs into the new girl on his way to get supplies for Duo's search party. He's introduced to a new mech, and almost sees past Heero's defenses... if only he had been in the right mind to notice.
Omi bit his lip as he left his hut. He didn't really want to be out here... incase... Omi let that thought die. He promised Quatre he'd help find Duo, and the least he could do was get some supplies, since he'd just be tagging along.
MOMO was coming back from working her first shift at the clothing store when she spotted someone walking towards the shopping area. She smiled a bit and waved at him. After all, she had no reason to be unfriendly, and this was a small village.
Omi paused as he saw someone waving to him. It wasn't someone he knew, so he figured she must be new.
"Hello," she said as she got closer.
"Hi," he said back.
"Going shopping?" she asked.
"Yeah..." he said, looking down.
MOMO blinked. "I'm sorry... did I say something wrong?"
"N-no!" he said, waving his hands. "I'm just... I'm not feeling well."
"Oh..." MOMO clasped her hands in front of her. "Is it something I can help with?" she asked. "I know healing ethers."
"It's not like that."
MOMO tilted her head. "Okay," she said. "I'm MOMO, by the way."
"Tsukiyono Omi."
"It's nice to meet you." She gave him a little bow.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, MOMO-chan."
"Do you mind me asking what you're shopping for?"
"I'm getting supplies."
MOMO nodded. "What kind of supplies? I'm kind of new here, so I don't really know what kinds of stores and other things there are around here."
"Mainly food."
"I see." MOMO watched him for a moment. "Are you having a party?" she then asked. "The one last week was very nice."
"No... we have to go find Duo-kun."
"You mean Jr.'s friend?"
Omi nodded.
"What happened?"
Omi shook his head. "I dunno... But Quatre-kun's really worried about him."
MOMO frowned a bit. "I could probably help find him... but... I don't think Jr. would let me go right now," she said. "He's really worried that something might happen to be me because of Xellos and Albedo."
Omi shivered at the mention of Xellos.
"Jr.'s very protective of me."
"Yeah..." Omi thought of Aya.
She smiled a bit. "I don't mind so much," she said. "It feels good to have someone care about me like that." She showed Omi her bracelet. It had a charm on it... a bullet with "Sayonara, baby!" engraved on it.
Omi smiled at her. "Yeah..."
"He gave me that shortly after we met," she told him. "He said it was a good luck charm." She blushed slightly. "So... did you need any help with your shopping?"
"I..." Omi broke off. He wouldn't mind some company. "I don't mind..."
MOMO smiled brightly at him. "I'd be glad to help," she said.
Omi smiled back at her.
"Which store is the food store?" she then said, looking around.
Omi pointed the correct building out.
"Okay." She started that way, then paused, looking at Omi. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked him.
"I'll be fine..." Not really, he thought, but this would have to do.
MOMO nodded, leaving it at that for the time being, and turned back again, heading for the store. "So what kind of supplies do you need?" she asked as they walked.
"Stuff that keeps well, that we can bring with us."
The Realian nodded. "That makes sense," she said. "How long do you think you'll be gone and how many people are going? That will determine how much you need."
"Umm..." Omi wasn't sure. He figured the other Gundam pilots were coming, at least. Maybe a few more people... "Probably somewhere around 5-7... Plus Duo-kun, when we find him."
"Hm... okay... And you're not sure how long it's going to take... so we'll just have to make a guess," she said. "The island isn't that big that I can tell, and it seems pretty solid as far as just a cone around that volcano in the middle, so I would hope it wouldn't take too long for you to find him."
"I dunno..." Maybe someone who was there when they went after him would know better.
They stepped inside and MOMO looked around a bit. "Well, we should probably start where the snacks are... since they'll be individually wrapped... and I'm sure there's healthy stuff like granola in there."
Omi nodded.
She headed over, leading Omi along. "You should also get some bottled water," she told him.
"Yeah..." Omi was glad she was there. Made less for him to think about. He was having trouble focusing on things... Well, things other than...
"Here... these kinds of snacks," she said, stopping at the dried fruit, trail mix, and other non-perishable hiking and camping type foods.
Omi looked around for a basket to put stuff in. Spotting one, he went back to get it.
MOMO picked a few things off the shelves, easily holding a lot more than she looked capable of holding, and then waited for him to return so she could put them in the basket.
Omi brought the basket back, holding it out for her to put stuff in.
MOMO dumped it in. "That should probably be enough," she said. "You want to travel light, so bringing heavy food for entire meals probably isn't a good idea." She smiled at him. "Come on... let's go find the water."
"Yeah..."
They went looking for the water, which was in the same area as the soda and other bottled drinks that didn't need refridgeration. MOMO picked up a case of bottles, and then looked at the larger jugs. "Which do you think would be better?" she asked. "Each person getting their own bottle or just sharing one big bottle?"
"Probably each their own."
"Okay," she said. "I can carry this." There was clearly no room in the basket anyway, and it would be way too heavy in there.
"Are you sure?"
MOMO nodded. "I'm built tougher than I look," she told him.
Omi nodded.
MOMO realized that Omi probably had no idea she wasn't really human. She decided to leave that be for the moment. If he asked for more information, she certainly wouldn't hide it from him, but she preferred to have someone think of her as a regular human for once. She started for the checkout counter.
Omi followed along with the basket, not really thinking much about what the girl could or couldn't do.
She was also glad Omi hadn't picked up on her use of the word 'built'. She came up to the counter to see a dark haired girl sitting there reading something. She was wearing something similar in style to what Jin was wearing when she'd first met him. "Hello," she said.
Sango looked up and smiled at them. "Welcome," she said.
"Hi," Omi said quietly.
Sango stood up and looked over what they had. She made a note of it all, looking through the basket. "You must be going on a trip," she said, recognizing a lot of it as things Kagome usually carried.
"Yeah..."
"Okay," she said. She didn't want to press. "Well, have fun."
"Thank you!" MOMO said, picking up the water again.
"Thanks..."
"You're welcome."
Omi picked up the now bagged snacks.
MOMO waited for Omi to be ready and then headed for the door.
Omi followed behind MOMO.
Sango watched them go and then slipped the basket back where it had been.
"Are we taking these back to your hut?" MOMO asked as they stepped back outside into the muggy heat from the air conditioned store.
Omi shook his head. "The hangar... I think we're taking the mechs..."
"When are you leaving?"
"Pretty soon."
MOMO nodded. "Okay." She changed directions, wondering, for a moment, if Zebulun might be in the hangar. She hadn't even considered the possibility of it being in her connection gear.
"S-so you're from the same place as chaos-san and Jr-kun, right...?"
MOMO nodded. "Yup."
"Aaa..."
"Is there anyone else from your world here?"
Omi nodded slowly."
MOMO smiled a bit at him. "It's nice to have someone familiar here... This place is very strange." Not that she hadn't been to some strange places by some people's standards.
"Y-yeah..."
MOMO glanced at him, having caught the hitch in his voice. "Is everything okay?" she asked him.
"Y-yeah... Everything's fine..." Omi never had been the greatest at lying.
MOMO frowned a bit. "Did you have a fight with one of your friends?" she asked him quietly.
Omi stopped, and nodded slowly.
MOMO stopped as well. "I'm sorry," she said. "But, if you're good friends, then things will work out again." She smiled at him. "Especially if you really care about each other."
"I... I don't know..." He held his hand up to his cheek, which was starting to sting again.
MOMO looked at where he had put his hand.
Omi looked down.
"What happened?" she asked him, noticing what looked like a faint mark from a slap.
"I..." Omi bit his lip. "I had a fight with Ay-- with Abyssinian."
"He's your friend?"
"Was..."
MOMO frowned a bit. "Does it hurt?" she asked, referring to his face.
"Not that much... just stings a little."
She nodded. "Okay."
Omi gave her a half-hearted smile.
"Come on... if you have to meet the others, we should keep going, right?" she said, encouraging him to keep going.
"Yeah..."
She gave him a smile and then turned to continue their short trek to the hangar.
Omi continued after her.
MOMO opened the hangar door. They were apparently the first ones there. She didn't see Zebulun either. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but she turned to look at Omi as to where to put what they had.
"Umm... I guess we can set stuff next to Quatre-kun's mech..."
"Which one's that?" she asked.
"Ummm..." Omi looked. He pointed the right one out.
MOMO nodded. She was fairly impressed by them, but noticed that most of them were somewhat smaller than the ones she was used to. It was more noticable by the fact that Asher was sitting next to a black one with bat-like wings. "Do these have names?" she asked Omi.
Omi nodded. "Umm... The black one is Deathscythe. That's Duo-kun's." Omi wasn't sure of the names of the rest of them.
MOMO nodded. "They're more... human-looking than what I'm used to. Asher is Jr. and chaos's... I don't see mine." She put the water down next to the foot of the mech Omi had pointed to. "Oh!" She pulled out a small device from her pocket. "I wonder..."
"Huh?"
"My connection gear," she said. "I have a mech, too... but it's not here... but..." She pressed at a few buttons, a small screen appearing above it for a moment.
Omi blinked a couple of times.
Sure enough, a pink mech of an extremely different design from the others appeared next to Asher. MOMO giggled. "Zebulun!" she said happily.
"I-is that yours?"
MOMO nodded. The pink mech seemed to hover as the feet were extremely small, especially compared to the one they were currently standing near. It had what looked like wings on the back as well.
Omi's eyes went wide.
"Wanna see it?"
Omi nodded.
MOMO brightened and took Omi's hand in hers, pulling him over to where Zebulun was.
Omi let himself be lead to the new mech.
She climbed up on the gantry, still leading Omi along, and opened the double cockpit. "Our mechs usually carry two people," she said.
"Wow..."
"Mine has a bow," she explained further. "I usually pilot with Ziggy... he's my bodyguard."
Omi nodded, looking around. It was a lot different from Duo's.
"Have you seen the inside of the other ones?" she asked him, watching how his eyes had lit up beyond what she had seen so far since they'd met outside.
Omi nodded. "Duo-kun took me in his once."
"What are they like? They don't look like they have very big cockpits."
"They only fit one person."
MOMO nodded. "It looks like it."
"It's really cramped in the back of it."
She giggled. "These aren't that tight," she said, referring to her own. "The seat is actually pretty comfortable."
"Looks like it." Omi peered at the seat, which looked like it put the pilot in almost a standing position.
"Wanna sit in it?" she asked him.
Omi looked at her. "Can I?"
"Sure!"
A huge grin spread across Omi's face.
MOMO giggled at Omi's reaction and instructed him on how to get into Ziggy's seat.
Omi did as MOMO instructed, climbing into the mech, and being careful not to touch anything.
She smiled at him. "You like mechs, huh?" she asked.
Omi nodded.
She giggled. "I can tell. It's all over your face."
Omi blushed.
She giggled again. "It's okay. Everyone has something they like a lot."
"I always wanted to pilot a mech when I was younger... Watching all the anime on TV..."
"TV?"
Omi nodded. "Where you watch anime and dorama and news and stuff."
"We have the UMN... it's where we get all our information," MOMO explained.
That sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe chaos or Jr had mentioned it to him.
"Jr. still likes to read old books, though," MOMO said. "I don't really understand why."
"I prefer computers, myself."
MOMO nodded. "They're faster." She smiled.
Omi nodded.
She looked over to the door a few seconds before it opened.
Heero stepped inside, looking up at the new mech immediately. He blinked, surprised by the fact that it was pink.
Omi looked over when the door opened. "Oh... it's Heero-kun."
Heero nodded at Omi and the 'new girl', not offering much more than that in his current mindset, and headed over to Tallgeese.
MOMO watched him for a moment. "I guess he's a friend of Duo's?" she asked quietly, remembering what they were getting ready for.
Omi nodded.
"Is that his mech?" MOMO asked, noting he was heading towards a blue and white one. It looked somewhat regal, with a strange piece sticking up from the forehead. Humanoid, like most of the others, but with less detail on the face. It also looked like it had been sitting for a while, while the others looked better maintained.
"I didn't think so..."
MOMO glanced at Omi curiously, and then back to watch Heero.
"U-umm... Maybe I should go now..."
Heero had made his way into the cockpit and was running through some checks. The eye lit, flickered, and then went out again. Heero paused, and then stepped out onto the hatch to look around for a moment.
"Okay," MOMO said. She helped Omi out.
Omi climbed carefully out of Zebulun.
"Good luck on your mission," she said once they were down on the floor of the hangar again.
"Thanks..."
MOMO nodded, giving Omi another bright smile before turning and heading out of the hangar.
Heero watched them from above for a moment.
Omi smiled weakly after MOMO.
Since no one else was around, yet, and Heero was feeling even more less than sociable than ever, the 01 pilot went back inside Tallgeese's cockpit and went through the start up sequence again, just to make sure it worked.
Omi nervously walked over to the mech. "I got some supplies..." he called up.
The eye lit, but stayed on this time as Heero came back out to look over the edge at Omi. "What did you get?"
"Bottled water, and granola bars and stuff."
Heero nodded. "Hopefully, we won't be out there very long."
"Yeah..."
Heero looked troubled. After a few moments of awkward silence, he sat down on the edge of the hatch, letting his legs hang over the side. He stared off into space.
"Um... I didn't think that one was yours..."
"It isn't..." he said quietly.
"Oh..."
"It's Treize's... but he's not going to be using it." For some reason, Heero felt like he had to qualify the situation. He didn't really know why, so he just said it anyway. "He said I could use it since I didn't want to use Zero."
"Zero?"
Heero nodded towards his Gundam, standing silently between Deathscythe Hell and Sandrock.
"How come?"
Heero wondered just how much of it Omi would understand. "The cockpit system," he said. "It... does things sometimes. I don't think I can handle it right now."
"Oh... okay..." Omi didn't get it at all.
Heero sighed. He could still see something resembling confusion on the smaller assassin's face, but he left it at that. He didn't want to scare Omi. He knew he liked the mechs.
"Umm... do you think everyone else will be here soon?"
Heero nodded, looking at his watch. "It's almost time."
Omi nodded.
Heero glanced at Omi again. It was uncanny how much he 'felt' like Quatre sometimes. For a moment, Heero wanted to just spill everything out that was bothering him... the sudden surge of emotions, the garbage with Xellos, his fear for others back home... and, yet, there was enough of a difference that he felt held back from doing it. He sighed.
"D-daijoubu?"
Heero debated that. Was he? Not really... but he had to be. He had to be for Duo now. Yet, he still shook his head.
"Oh..."
"Gomen," he said quietly.
Omi shook his head. "I shouldn't pry..."
Heero shrugged. "There's a lot going on," he said. He was mostly worried about Quatre. Sure, he was strong when he had to be, but Heero knew he was beating himself up about it somewhere... when he thought no one else would notice. In some ways, they were all the same.
"Yeah..."
Heero glanced at Omi for a moment. He then posed the same question back at him. "Daijoubu?"
Omi looked down.
Heero took that as a 'no'. "I shouldn't pry, either," he added.
"It's not that..." Omi trailed off.
Heero looked at him curiously.
"I..."
"You don't have to say if you don't want to."
Omi shook his head. "I..."
Heero waited. He wasn't going to push, knowing firsthand how hard it could be to say things sometimes.
"A-Abyssinian..."
Heero had come to learn the codenames for that group. "What about him?"
Omi looked down, the red on his cheek painfully obvious.
"Is he alright?" The first thing that came across Heero's rather paranoid mental state was the fact that yet another person had gone missing... that Xellos had had some more fun with someone else.
"H-he's... fine..."
Heero nodded, somewhat relieved.
"H-he..."
The pilot watched Omi, wondering for a moment if the assassin was going to faint right there on the floor.
"He called me... Takatori..." Omi whispered the last word.
While Heero wasn't completely sure on the details since Duo had a tendancy to ramble when passing information, he remembered the Takatori that had been in the desert, and something about him being the same person as Omi... just from their future... He frowned a bit, not completely understanding why that was a problem.
Omi looked down again.
Feeling like Omi wasn't going to say anything else, Heero just sighed. He had gotten used to Quatre's open way of just letting it out without prompting and Duo's method of babbling because he hated silence. "And?" he finally asked.
"And he hit me..."
"Why?"
"I..." Omi looked down. He didn't want to talk about it further.
Heero noted Omi's posture and backed off. "It'll work out," he said quietly. "I've been shot by Duo... twice." He shrugged.
"H-honto ni?"
Heero nodded. "And... I haven't exactly been the best to him, either, at times..." he said quietly.
"Oh..."
Heero looked down, surprised by the sudden wave of guilt that overtook him. He hadn't expected it at all. He'd never really felt guilty about anything he'd done, even to the others... even to Relena. Now... He tightened his grip on the edge of the hatch.
"H-heero-kun?"
"I just..." And for a moment, he almost did it again... unloaded everything on Omi. And again... it all got stuck, just below the surface. "I just need to find Duo," he finally managed to force out.
"Yeah..."
Heero looked at his watch again. "You said you got supplies?" He came down off the hatch, joining Omi on the floor. He left Tallgeese powered up to give the computers a chance to work out any 'dust'.
Omi nodded, and pointed to the water and the bag of snacks.
Heero nodded. "We can load these into one of the Gundams for now," he said. "The others should start arriving in a few minutes."
"Yeah..."
And Heero went to do just that, not bothering to look and see if Omi was going to help.
Omi picked up the case of water, surprised at how heavy it was.
Heero opened the hatch on Sandrock's leg, since it had more storage than Heavyarms (which had missles in that spot) and Tallgeese (which didn't seem to have any compartments to store things in). He glanced at Omi then, noting his surprised look. "Something wrong?"
"This is really heavy..."
"Need help?"
"H-hai..."
Heero walked over, taking one end of the case from Omi.
"Arigato..."
He nodded, taking it completely once they reached the hatch so he could lift it up inside. It was pretty high up because the Gundam was upright, and Heero was taller.
Omi sank to the ground, exhausted.
"Are you sure you're okay to come with us?"
"Y-yeah..."
Heero wasn't one to argue about things like that very often, but he did frown somewhat as he offered Omi a hand up.
"Arigato..." Omi leaned against the leg of the Gundam. "I'll be okay... We're not walking, right?"
Heero shook his head. "We can cover more ground in the Gundams... Jon has a sharp sense of smell and shouldn't have any problems even from the hand of one."
Omi nodded.
Heero leaned against the leg next to Omi. "I hope he's happy," he couldn't stop himself from saying, his voice coming out as a low and instense growl.
"Duo-kun?"
Heero glanced at Omi, somewhat surprised. He hadn't realized he had said that outloud.
"I... I hope he's okay..."
Heero nodded. "It's that priest," he finally said, frustrated... very frustrated that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
"X-xellos?"
Heero nodded again, the anger showing in the hardset of his jawline.
"Oh..."
The pilot looked down.
"G-gomen..."
"It's not your fault."
"D-demo..."
Heero looked at him.
"I made you remember..."
"A lot of things make me remember," Heero said. "I have a lot of things I don't want to remember."
"Y-yeah..."
Heero sighed. He didn't like all the distractions in his head now... it made it hard to focus. It also made him wonder just how the hell the others did it. He was trained, but Duo? Quatre? They weren't soldiers like that. They had just gone and done what was needed. For a moment, Heero felt weak.
"H-heero-kun?"
"Have you ever felt inadequate at something?" he asked, his voice a whisper.
Omi nodded.
"I feel like I can't find my focus," he admitted after a few minutes.
"H-hai..."
In a way, Heero supposed he was feeling guilty... like he shouldn't have let Duo leave Quatre's hut alone... or at all... but he had. And now he was gone. And everyone was worried. On top of that, shortly after he disappeared, a Guardian and the girl with the girly Gundam had disappeared as well. And all this was after Kabuto had gone missing. Something wasn't right. And it had all started after the Mazoku had returned. Heero frowned deeply.
"H-heero-kun?" Omi had never seen the pilot acting like this, and it was unnerving him even further.
"Gomen," he said, automatically reverting to Japanese because that's what Omi used most of the time. It was a habit of his to pick up on other people's speech patterns and imitate them... maybe a throw back to infiltration missions. "Just... thinking."
"Oh..."
"These disappearances... they all coincide with Xellos coming back," he said. "It makes me think he's responsible for all of them..."
"Yeah..."
Heero glanced at Omi, catching something in the assassin's speech and posture. "You've dealt with him," he said.
"Once..."
"Hn." Heero frowned. It was still raw in his own mind. He'd dredged up a lot of things Heero had long tried to repress... and had, until he'd landed here, succeeded in doing. "Gomen... it's not easy to deal with."
Omi shook his head. "It was... right before... Before... the other me... showed up."
"He came to me shortly after he got back here..." Heero said.
"Oh..."
Heero shook his head. "It's almost time," he said, pulling himself back inside his wall. He got up from leaning on Sandrock's leg and headed over to Tallgeese to see if any errors had popped up while they had been waiting.
"Y-yeah..."
Without another word, the pilot ascended to the cockpit and disappeared once more.
Omi sighed, and sat back down to wait.