Sigma/Star

Chapter 20: Silky Smooth

"You know I can just turn around if you're really not that into this. I can always just try to find some other girl." There was a genuine tone of sadness in Chase's voice and Nami forgot that she had to at least pretend to like him to keep this working.

"Oh no Chase this is fun! I was just...looking at all the different stars. They're so pretty." That ought to hold him, she thought.

"Well alright then, if you're sure." The old false sadness routine, he thought as he told the story. It works every time. The two rode around to the other side of the moon and Chase turned off the jets to let them drift in silence and prepared for the next few lines he would use on the girl.

"Chase, were you scared during the fight?" Nami inquired with her innocent-looking eyes.

The young man was stopped in his train of thought, feeling the cars derail and collide in a fiery wreck. "What?"

"Like when everyone was disabled and Ramirez was going to cut all our suits open. Or when he said he had the bomb. Weren't you scared?"

"Well I mean..." Chase was stuck. The tough guy act would be hard to pull off in this case. How could you lie enough to prove that when you were trapped on the ground with a maniac holding weapons above you that you were feeling confident you'd survive?

"Come on Chase, not even you could tell me you seriously thought we were going to come out of there alive with ease. You couldn't move, I couldn't move, nothing could be done!"

"I know alright!" Chase snapped back. He had lost himself going through that memory again, of lying there in the cockpit and thinking of all the things he hadn't done in life. He had been so scared then, unable to even speak, shivering in his seat. Now he was there again, brought back to it by Nami's questions. "I know what happened and where we were. I was...I was scared." There was a little tear shakily travelling down his cheek. "We can't all be confident all the time. I just...I didn't want to see anybody die while I was...so helpless."

"Chase, I'm sorry, I mean I was just asking because of how I felt and-"

"-no you wouldn't know. You don't really know me anyways." Chase turned away from Nami and looked out at the large dark shadow of the moon. "When I was young my mother was...she was..." Chase paused until Nami placed a small hand on his shoulder. "She was beaten by a gang..to death. And I was there and I couldn't do anything because I was so weak. And now I...I mean I have to be strong Nami, the strongest, so that nobody else can be hurt around me. My dad left my mom when I was young. You guys, this school, it's the only family I have. I have to protect everyone in it by being the strongest in the entire universe."

Nami blinked. It was the only thing her body seemed able to do. She couldn't move or speak or even process what was happening. Chase had feelings? And when did her hand get on his shoulder? Then she felt the tears come to her eyes and she pushed out of the chair and wrapped around Chase in a big hug and for a moment while they sat in the silence of space, she thought that she might not just be embracing Chase because she felt bad. Maybe she felt something else too...

* * * * *

Ardwen sat on a bench in one of the hallways. He had heard the ship come back and now it was his turn to impress. From out of the door he saw the two exit, with Nami giggling and Chase looking proud, though a bit tired. Ardwen could only wonder what had happened out there in the tiny space they had occupied but he doubted Nami would have been able to stomach Chase's attitude for very long.

Chase stuck his tongue out at Ardwen as he went another way and left Nami to him. There was an awkward bit of silence between the two as they thought about the stupidity of the game being played. "Umm, did you enjoy the moon Nami?"