Chapter Text
A few years ago, Sylia would never have imagined this would be the direction her life took, or that she would have ended up here, her younger brother resting beside her. Both worrying about the fate of the knight sabers and what they and the rest of Tokyo would do in the meantime when it came to getting society back up and running.
The two of them sat in silence for what seemed like hours, the only sound of note being Nigel in the other room getting the currently broken tv up and running. Neither Sylia nor a recently awoken Mackie wanted to bring up their worries to the other. Sylia had been pushed to her very limit recently, anyone able to notice through her sudden outbursts in the last couple of weeks, Mackie wasn't quite sure whether bringing up the others would help in anyway, small talk also being out the question.
Sylia on the other hand, was much more concerned about her brother in the current moment, to tell the truth she wasn't sure on how Mackie was alive right now, let alone with his memories seemingly fine. Worried that at any moment this miracle could be ripped away from her and how mackie would respond to her fears, she too, kept quiet.
There however, in that small room, the words unspoken however clear, both Sylia and Mackie were extremely relieved to be with each other again, physically and emotionally. The bond they had formed in the crisis of Mackie's potential demise had left the awkward interactions from before long behind them. Sylia had truly accepted Mackie as her brother, something she hadn't properly done since she was a young girl. She didn't have to convince herself they were a normal family anymore and Mackie couldn't be any less happy about it.
Sylia all but suddenly put her arm around her brother, embracing him as the both sighed to each other. For a few minutes, nothing else would matter.
Nigel, having fixed the monitor in the living room, pushed himself upward onto his legs. The door at the far back of the room practically glaring at him. He had been avoiding the two of them for as long as a few hours, wanting to give them time to be alone as a family. Deciding however it was time to go break the silence, he hesitantly pulled the door open to the small bedroom next door, only to be welcomed by the sight of both of them asleep, Mackie resting in Sylia's arms. Both of them at complete ease, he was almost jealous.
They had both been through alot, he wished he could relate in order to help them both through the ordeal with gelatea. Yet he did what he could, for the others too. Which unfortunately meant waking them to come up with the next course of action. The hit to the head he was about to give them both would be one regretted, that was for sure.
"If you two are done, we've got other things to worry about." Nigel stated before walking out the room, Mackie groaning loudly with Sylia getting up to follow him. " A simple "wake up" would have suffpiced." She walked over to the coffee machine, her usual routine, both in the morning and night. "Nevermind about that, have you actually given any thought to how we're gonna find the others, or are you fine with leaving them god knows where." Nigel instantly regretted saying that, knowing full well that Sylia wasn't in a tolerable mood." Oh sure, forget about the fact that Mackie is miraculously alive. Heaven forbid I have time to be thankful. For your information, I have been thinking of solutions ,not alot of options are open right now." Sylia ranted. Mackie watched the argument unfold from the safety of the bed, slightly dumbfounded. So maybe none of them had much time to process what was going on, he didn't expect everything to instantly go back to how it was before Gelatea's attack. But he supposed he should be thankful for that.
Both Nigel and Sylia went at eachothers throats for a while, well mainly Sylia anyway. The other simply making his trademark snide comments. Only stopping when Mackie loudly coughed from the other room, a clear sign to move on. "I may have some idea on where to look for the others, hopefully the only problem comes to getting there, depending on where they are we could take the van, but that's on the highly unlikely chance they aren't half way across the world." Nigel quickly opened up a laptop, revealing a document with some notes on it, most being to complicated for Mackie to see from that distance. "We don't really have much to go on, but the most obvious place to start would be the satillite co-ordinates. From there it may be plausible to isolate the areas they could have landed, However..." " That would take forever." Sylia finished. "If only the hardsuits were still in tact, we could track them down."
"That was never going to be an option, you know that, we all knew it wasn't going to be that easy. I'm surprised no one actually died" "I know, it just doesn't make much sense, speaking of which," Sylia turned towards her brother, a confused look on his face "Mackie, can you recall anything that could help us, even something small." Nigel quickly spoke up. "Hey, the kids been out of it for a while, no point in asking him." "You don't understand" Sylia's face lit up, glaring hopefully at Mackie "he could have learned something from Gelatea. She was on the satellite after all, even if half dead, she ergo he could have seen where they fell from."
Nigel pondered to himself for a moment, they had really only these two options, both of them a stretch. It's not like they could force Mackie to suddenly remember something, hell they're not even sure if he was still connected to Gelatea at the point of her death. What he wouldn't give to have Priss or the other two suddenly ring them up to get a lift back to Tokyo.
"I'll, try to think of something Sylia, but I can't promise anything, that and you'll need to give me time." Mackie softly spoke from the bedroom, his grey eyes giving the blank stare they often did. "Of course, only if you're able to, don't rush yourself." Sylia, quick to change tone, gently patted his shoulder as he lay back down. Nigel and Mackie could see the stress in her face, and wanted to do more for her. But there was little anyone here could do now, each of them felt as helpless as the other. Each thinking of the various terrible situations the rest of the Knight sabers were facing. Sylias face darkening especially at the realisation of what no hardsuits meant for them. There was something comedic about it, yet in reality it was far from funny.
The room was silent once again, yet this time there was an element of true unease that wasn't present before. Mackie was straining his head, clearly trying to remember something, if only to not let Sylia down. None of them really thought it would work, they were just desperate enough to fool themselves into thinking it might. The day flew by. each one of them trying to distract themselves in meaningless and mundane activities, talking aimlessly at eachother, anything to take their minds off it, and refusing to even bring up the fact that they didn't really have anywhere to return to but this house.
The rattling of keys startled both the siblings as Nigel left for the door. "I don't know about either of you, but I'm tired of waiting around for nothing, pointless or not I'm gonna go out looking." He grabbed the laptop on the way out." Wait for us!" Mackie struggled to climb out of the bed. To which Sylia practically shoved him back down. "I don't think so, you're not leaving the house for a while, I'm still not sure if you're one hundred percent okay." "The same could be said about you, you're both staying. It's getting too crowded around here." Sylia glared at Nigel only for him to completely brush it off. "Very well, just be safe.." but he was already gone, dragging Meisio who was already outside with him.
Sylia pulled Mackie out of the bed just for them both to witness their departure from the porch. The lights from the van illuminating the swing nearby, the humming of the engine fading slowely. Sylia stared at where the van had just been, slightly distraught by the sudden leave Nigel took, she had hoped that just like she had with Mackie, Nigel would take the time to open up to her. Sylia wasnt sure why he did the things he did. It seemed like the only thing that ever happened between them was her crying on his shoulder, something she felt incredibly guilty about. She was always ranting and voicing her anger to him, only for him to hardly react. It was only after a while she realised it was his own weird way of comforting her. Not giving her anything to fuel the fire with.
But it was never the other way around, Nigel kept his life to himself, acting as if she were mearly his boss instead of his, what she hoped, close friend. It wasn't like she was blind, she could tell that Nigel had issues, it didn't take a genius to see it, Mackie had once recited to her the night Nigel chucked a beer can at his head for no apparent reason. Nigel was closed off for a reason yet that was all she knew, it drove her mad.
Her mind wondered for a while about Nigel, only leading her back to the one fact she did know about him, his past with Genom. He had stated several times that he worked for the company before starting his current job, being there when the building was destroyed by Gelatea. It was how he knew about her and Mackie in the first place. She remembered back to when she met him after the earthquake, after Tokyo was rebuilt and she had set up her shop. No longer a naive little girl, Sylia naturally only felt anger towards him, a rage that most likely turned her face bright red. How dare he come to her for a job after he willingly worked for a company as greedy and corrupt as Genom. It was his fault that the earthquake happened, the constant headaches she had at the time also.
However, it was after that initial burst of anger that Sylia saw the man's charms, he was somewhat older that her and she needed someone to rely on at the time. Even without the Knight Sabers existence, she felt she made a good choice in hiring him. Using his skills in mechanics to keep her shop running properly. He never really brought up his past career around her, or anything really, Sylia being thankful for his understanding, and eventually learning to let her grudge go. They went from coworkers to good friends and although it would be a long time before she atmitted it, she sometimes hoped they would become something more.
She silently prayed that everything would go back to how it was, things were too abnormal as they were right now. Sylia didn't like the fact she had little control over the events occurring, as the one who sent these innocent women into battle against something that in reality, was all her and her father's fault.