From the Abyss
The Moonstone04, Xeno Night Club Special Edition!
***
Author's Notes: This chapter had the most difficult edit yet, the one I knew I'd have a problem with when I started. ^^;; But overall, it went better than I thought it would. ^^ However, as a reminder, this fic deals with a chaos/Tony relationship, so if you can't deal, flee now. ^^ I'm also giving this entire fic an "R" rating, just to be on the safe side. The original is a full-blown "NC-17."
Also keep in mind that I started writing this before the additional July21st EpII information. So it's already dated in some ways, but I'm too deep into it to start rewriting now. Always next time. ^_^
***
Chapter 3
When he was sure the captain was elsewhere, Tony returned to the bridge. At least piloting the Elsa was one thing he still had control of. When he got there, Hammer was already manning his usual station.
"The captain give our destination yet?" Tony grouched.
Hammer glanced up as Tony trudged by to his piloting station. "Yeah... You know he's planning on leaving off chaos, right?"
"You just caught on, huh?"
"Guess it kinda slipped my mind." Hammer said. "I noticed chaos seemed a little down lately, but I was so excited about everything... I should of known. It isn't gonna be the same without the little weirdo around."
Tony slouched over his console with a grunt.
"Listen. Maybe if the Elsa strays a little off course, we'll be able to buy some more time." Hammer lowered his voice. "One wrong gatejump, and a little bug in the system, and the Elsa could be out for days, maybe weeks."
Tony slowly lifted his head. "Hammer?"
"Y'think?"
"If the captain finds out, he's gonna kill us."
"What's one more person out to get me?" Hammer grinned. "And I don't want to see chaos go either. The captain isn't the most compassionate man in the world, but there must be something we can do to convince him to let chaos stay."
"I dunno..." Tony shook his head. "I've already tried. Unless you can buy enough time for a miracle, I'm not sure what we can do."
Hammer's fingers danced over the navigation console. "Well, a week is all we've got. That'll have to be enough for a miracle."
***
When the Elsa's faulty navigation ended them up back out in the middle of nowhere, Matthews wasn't pleased, to say the least. It seemed that Hammer was going to need at least a week to run the type of full diagnostic that the Elsa's systems needed. Or so Hammer said.
Just one more week for Tony to find a way to help chaos. In the meantime, Hammer was trying to teach him bridge protocol at the engineer's control. Tony didn't know if it was possible to make chaos crewworthy within a week, but they were sure gonna try.
Entering the bridge, he found Hammer standing over chaos with a blank look. The silver-haired boy was looking from one screen to the next, his slender fingers working energetically across the console. It almost looked like chaos knew what he was doing.
Since Hammer had just started teaching him that morning, that was impossible. Tony stood next to Hammer. "So how's it going?"
"Hey Tony." chaos paused to give him a cheerful smile. "This is fun."
"Fun, huh?"
Hammer gripped his arm, making him flinch. "Man, this is crazy. He works it like he's done it before."
"I'm not that good." chaos gave a small shake of his head. "You shouldn't make such a big deal about it, Hammer."
"Yeah, get a grip." Tony removed Hammer's hand before his circulation was completely cut off. "You're just a good teacher. After all, aren't you the genius?"
Hammer looked from Tony to chaos' console. "But I hardly told him anything! He just sat there and started running things on his own! Manually! No one's that much of a natural!"
Tony frowned. "Have you been on a ship before, chaos?"
chaos fidgeted a bit. "I don't think so."
"You sure?" Tony's eyes roamed over the engineer's console. "I mean, even we usually just let the system do this stuff automatically. You've gotta at least know something about eng-"
chaos abruptly pushed away from the console, his eyes panicky. "Guys, I really appreciate everything you're trying to do. But do you think we could go have lunch now? I'm really hungry."
Tony stared in concerned silence.
"Food, good." Hammer nodded wearily. He pointed at chaos. "chaos cooks. I think my brain is fried."
***
Hammer went into the restaurant, and Tony joined chaos in the kitchen. While chaos put together some sandwiches, Tony started up some soup.
"Tony?" chaos looked back to the counter where Tony was cooking. "Do you think you can show me how you fly the ship? I'd really like to see that."
"You sure you're not already some ace pilot?" Tony smiled. "Maybe you'll end up teaching me a thing or two."
"No," chaos rubbed his arm bashfully. "I'm pretty sure I don't know much of anything about piloting." He blinked thoughtfully. "And no one is as good a pilot as you are, you've said so yourself. There must be a lot you can show me."
"Hmph." Tony raised an eyebrow, wondering whether or not chaos was being sarcastic. The guy was so nice, it could be impossible to tell sometimes. He smiled with a half shrug. "Yeah, I guess there is."
"So, tonight after dinner and nightchecks?" chaos asked eagerly.
"Why not after lunch?" Tony turned off the stove. "That's kinda late, don't ya think? I'll probably be half asleep."
"There's still something I want to talk to Hammer about this afternoon. I don't know how long it'll take. We'll just play some music on the bridge, that'll keep you up."
Tony sighed. "Alright, we'll give it a try."
***
For the remainder of the day, Tony didn't see chaos. That was because Tony spent hours cleaning up the main hanger. He had thought chaos might at least drop by and help the way he usually did. It would have been nice to have someone to talk to. chaos could be chatty, even if he rarely talked about anything that made much sense. Hammer had once called chaos a 'mad poet', and Tony thought it might not be far from the truth.
At dinner, chaos was still absent. Hammer told Tony that chaos was still messing with something at the U.M.N. terminal. For some reason, Matthews rolled his eyes, and shook his head. When Tony asked what chaos was up to, Hammer's reply was choked with giggles, and Matthews told him to shut up while he was trying to eat.
After dinner, it was time to do the nightly system checks before calling it a day. On the way to the bridge, he noticed that chaos was no longer at the U.M.N. terminal.
He wasn't on the bridge, either.
"That's it for me," Matthews said, pulling down his cap brim. He stepped down from the captain's chair and turned to exit the bridge. "I'm gonna have one more drink before I turn in for the night."
"Translation: going to drink myself into a stupor and collapse in a booth." Hammer muttered from his station.
"What was that?" Matthews growled.
"Nothing, nothing..." Hammer hummed.
With a snort, Matthews trudged off the bridge.
A moment later, Hammer stood and went over to Tony's seat. He leaned over Tony with a rather disturbing grin. Tony raised his eyebrows, wondering if he wanted to know what was going on in the twisted mind behind those shiny glasses.
"What?" Tony asked in an exasperated tone.
"Mmm... I guess it can wait." Hammer chuckled in a way that reminded Tony of an evil overlord from an old U.M.N. program he once watched. "Good night!" The navigator walked off with a suggestive wink.
Tony momentarily wondered if Hammer had finally lost his marbles.
The last one left on the bridge, Tony sat back and waited. chaos still wasn't there. He wondered if chaos might have forgotten, but he doubted that was the case. Whatever was keeping him, he hoped he wouldn't be too much longer. Tony's eyes were beginning to get heavy. Seemingly an arm's length away, a field of bright, colorful stars glittered before him. Watching them, he was slowly lulled into slumber.
"Tony?"
With a short utterance, Tony jumped awake. His arms unfolded from his chest, and he looked up to see chaos standing beside him.
"Oh, there you are." Tony rubbed at his eyes. "Wasn't sure if you were gonna show."
chaos gave a nervous, little apologetic smile. "Sorry."
"Guess we should get started then," Tony yawned. Blinking to keep himself awake, he began to explain the controls. He wasn't sure if he was making much sense, chaos just nodded at everything he said.
After a few minutes, Tony noticed that chaos didn't seem to be paying attention anymore. He just seemed to be giving the controls a heavy-lidded stare. "chaos? Are you falling asleep on me now?"
"Uh?" chaos snapped out of it and looked over at Tony. "Oh. I'm sorry, I think my mind's wandering."
"Told you it was late for this," Tony smirked. "I think we should continue this in the morning. That way we'll both be awake."
chaos sighed.
Tony frowned slightly in concern. "You okay?"
At this, chaos looked at him, his blue eyes clouded with emotion. "I tried to ask Hammer to help me, but I'm still..." His voice became thick and hushed. "I'm afraid. I'm not even sure what I'm afraid of, it's just a whisper floating in mist."
Those eyes seemed to hold him there. Tony wasn't sure if he could've moved if he tried. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest. He didn't know why, but something in the air had changed. It was as if the bridge atmosphere had become thick and warm. Not just in his imagination, but something tangible that he could actually taste. Something sweet.
"Wh- What did you ask Hammer to help you with?" Tony asked.
For a moment, chaos seemed hesitant. He shifted his weight to one foot and bowed his head uneasily. Then he put one heavy boot forward and leaned across the pilot's seat. Tony leaned back in surprise.
***
chaos' skin hummed against Tony's with the now familiar whispery aura. Now that his head was clearer, the pilot wondered again what that sensation could be. Matthews' warnings about chaos' humanity came back to him, but Tony mentally shoved them aside. No, that had to be nonsense. Besides, Realian skin wasn't like that. At least the girls weren't. He'd never tried anything with a male Realian, but he didn't think there would be that big a difference. And with those blue eyes, he certainly couldn't be a Realian anyway. At the most, maybe he was uberhuman. Even if he was, Tony couldn't believe chaos could be dangerous. Hammer was more trouble.
His legs folded up against his chest, chaos leaned heavily into Tony, his head against his chest. He seemed ready to fall asleep right there.
Keeping him close in his arms, Tony let his head fall back against the seat. Stroking silvery hair, he fought to keep his eyes open. He could just imagine the various reactions from Hammer and Matthews if they were still there in the morning. Whether Matthews approved or not, he couldn't let him know. It was a long standing agreement that Tony couldn't bring girlfriends aboard. A boyfriend probably wouldn't be any better in the captain's opinion.
As their ragged breathing slowed, chaos finally lifted his head, regarding him with drowsy eyes. A tiny, satisfied smile was on his lips. Cupping the side of chaos' face, he kissed him deeply.