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She'd gone looking for him in all the regular places. First, to the cafeteria, where he would've been sure to stuffing his face. Then, down into the hanger, where he often hid from her and the terrors of book learning. She wasn't supposed to be down here, exactly, not with people actively working on things, but the Fury was there, so it stood to reason that Vega would be, too.

But it wasn't.

So he wasn't.

"You didn't let him say goodbye," she murmured. "You didn't let Roxie say goodbye, or Yuri, and you didn't let Vega say goodbye, either." Sherry sat down heavily on the floor and rested her chin on her knees, curling herself up into as small a package as possible. She didn't want to cry, but it was tempting.

Instead, there was a familiar kind of numbness, which spread out from the back of her head and down into the rest of her. The same kind of feeling after all of her classmates had gone off to be eaten by monsters, and she was alone. Only, the difference was she hadn't really even liked her classmates. Vega had been her best friend aboard. But she would just have to get used to not seeing him, or yelling at him about studying, wouldn't she?

She didn't want to. A sniffle escaped, and Sherry worked hard to keep her face straight, her cheeks blotchy and red. It was embarrassing; Vega would definitely have made fun of her for crying. It wasn't like he was dead! Just sleeping. And maybe someday, he'd come back.

"It's okay. I'll wait for you," she mumbled. Sherry sniffle-hicced again and stood up, slowly scrubbing her hand over her face until she was sure any suspicious tears had been mopped up inexpertly. There was homework to do, and she'd have to teach him all this stuff if he ever returned. "Stupid." The little girl turned and began her long, miserable trudge to the Hub.

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Now, it was easy to see that there was a bit of animosity between Vivio and Sherry. Sherry didn't like Vivio's Nanoha-like cheeriness and the fact that she was quick to squeal on her.

However, as Vivio spotted the upset Sherry, the girl didn't care about that. Someone was upset and, despite the fact that she'll probably brush her off as usual, she wanted to help.

"Sherry...?" Vivio called out, a worried look on her face.

Sherry stopped short for a second and turned to look at Vivio. She looked a little bit like a deer in headlights, and her face colored with embarrassment and a bit of shame as she realized that she was probably about to be do-goodered. "What?"

Vivio saw that shocked look. It was easy to see that Sherry didn't want to be seen, at least not in her state. Frankly, it made her more than a tad upset herself, though less sad and more angry.

Her arms crossed a bit as she finally spoke. "There's no need to be ashamed at being upset."

"Why is it any of your business? We don't even like each other." Sherry snapped.

"Don't like each other?" Vivio said, shocked. "Sherry, you're the one pushing everyone away!"

She was wounded emotionally by that. And right now, she didn't care that Sherry was hurting, she was going to get some facts straight.

"I felt bad for doing what I did on Zokez II, you saw it when I wanted to help with that book of yours! I want to be your friend, but I can't when you're acting like you're more important than everyone else!"

"I'm not more important!" Sherry snapped. "It's just that you're so stupid sometimes I can't stand to be around you!" Vega had been dumb, certainly, but he hadn't been stupid like other people. Maybe because (minus the giant robot) he'd been just as normal as she was.

Vivio's never one to act on emotions. She's tried her best to always keep level-headed in certain situations.

However, this wasn't one of those times. She was extending her hand in friendship, willing to put everything aside to help someone in need.

The Violation she'll be getting as well as the scolding later on is worth it as she pulls back and swings, slapping Sherry in the face.

"Oh, grow up!"

Vivio had hit her.

Vivio had hit her.

Vivio. Had. Hit. Her.

At first, the sheer ridiculousness of the fact stifled Sherry's immediate instinct to react. Stacy was already calling out the Violation, but it fell on deaf ears. A nasty red handprint was already forming on the little girl's cheek, which would probably bruise up on her fair skin like a beacon. She didn't even feel that horrible sharp tingling sensation for a moment. Sherry just stared at Vivio, and maybe the other little girl had expected her to burst into tears, or argue that she was right.

Instead, Vivio got Sherry's fist right in her solar plexus, with everything Sherry could throw behind it. Stacy's cool voice rang out through the hallway calling out the Violation, even as Sherry turned and started to walk away. "Don't speak to me, ever again."

Vivio grunted as the punch connected, crumbling just a bit from the punch. She had been hit there worst, mostly from Einhart, and she had been trained to take it the best she could. Still didn't make it hurt less.

Regaining her breath, she caught what Sherry had said and was busy trying not to cry from the pain. "Fine! Who cares about you anyway?! Who would want a jerk like you as a friend?!"

There was a bit of coughing as the pain hit her again. Yeah, it was going to be awhile. She had a good arm.

Chris was a man who was good at his job, and was usually able to shove away his more emotional side for the sake of the mission. That didn't mean he was bad at reading other people, though... in fact, it came along with being a big brother-- he could always spot a girl who was sad.

He walked up alongside Sherry as she walked, putting a hand on her shoulder (he'd learned better than to ruffle her hair.) "Hey, kiddo. What's wrong?"

Sherry rubbed the heel of her hand against her eyes again, just in case something had tipped him off (aside from the moping).

"Nothing really. Just stuff." Sherry sniffled as she tried to puff herself up, and lifted her face to look up (and up) at her uncle. Still, Chris could be trusted. Even if she'd rather just go barnacle herself to her mother and continue to mope. "All my friends are podded now."

Man... she really came at him with the tough ones, didn't she? Chris hadn't had to suffer through "losing" anybody close to him-- though he could imagine, faintly, the panic that would ensure if Claire, Jill or Sherry disappeared back into the pods for whatever reason. That must have been awful... knowing that they were here, but having them gone with no hope of locating them.

"Jeez. I'm sorry, Sherry. That's gotta be rough," he muttered, suddenly not knowing what else to say.

Sherry sighed deeply and looked at her feet, "It's okay, Uncle Chris. It happens to everyone." A mantra for the ages, if there ever was one. "And they might all come back someday, so..." She straightened her shoulders a bit, "So..."

There was a sniffle and she bit down on her lips to keep from crying.

"Sher?"

Paco had been checking his omnicom messages when he'd spotted her, and it took him a couple distracted-tries to stick it into his back pocket, since he was more focused on her.

"You okay, half-pint?"

Sherry looked up at Paco and considered bolting. Her face was still blotchy from crying earlier, so she rubbed her face to try and cover it up.

"Yes, I'm fine," she lied. "Or I... will be fine, I guess."

Paco crouched down and held out his arms to her. "C'mere squirt, I got a hugging arm and a punching arm to help you out with your problems."

Sherry sighed heavily and skirted closer to Paco. She seemed to be weighing the pros and cons about hugging him, but gave up and planted her face in his chest. "Punching arms won't be that helpful in this case, but thank you."

Paco hugged her close, keeping his hands away from her hair so that he wouldn't even be tempted to ruffle it. Now was not the time for their usual teasing.

"Well, tell me what's wrong anyway. Maybe I can convince Jaime to do the punching -- he can punch more things than I can."

"My best friend is gone, can he punch Stacy?" she asked. She sniffled and sighed again, but resisted wiping her face off on Paco's shirt. That would be rude (also gross).

"Because I really want to."

"Well, he could, but it probably wouldn't do much." Paco gave her a lopsided, sympathetic sort of smile. "That sucks, though. Maybe she'll let him back out later, once his avia's healed or whatever needs to happen when she has to repod people."

Maybe. Hopefully.

"What happened?"

He knew an upset Sherry when he saw it. There was blotchiness and frowning and the whole deal.

Sherry's lip wibbled, and she tried to thin them so they wouldn't, which just made it look more like she was. "Vega's gone." She sniffled and rubbed the back of her hand over her eyes. "Again and I didn't get to say goodbye or anything and... and..."

No words. Words were stupid.

Instead Kon just immediately scooped her up into a big, giant hug.

Sherry clung to Kon and buried her face in his shoulder, muffling any stupid, shaking sobs with his shirt. She wheezed and hicced as she pulled away, "I'm sorry, I got your shirt wet."

"S'okay. I'm a superhero. I'm used to getting stuff like alien snot on my shirts."

He still held her. She wasn't exactly a small child anymore and was getting bigger all the time, but sometimes life on Stacy had a way of making you feel that way. Sometimes he felt lost like that even as an adult. Mostly it was to reassure her that he was there, and not going anywhere anytime soon (mainly because if Stacy tried to stuff him back in the pods, he planned to fight her damn tentacles). It wasn't like she was any heavier than a feather anyway.

"Do you wanna go watch a non-depressing movie or something? Throw rocks at stuff?"

Kid stuff. Having a best friend taken away was a lot for a little kid, especially when it was a friend that helped her be a little kid, and especially after everything else. He didn't want all the kid-ness to get knocked out of her just yet, stolen away by the ship and circumstance. That meant he'd even sit through a Disney movie if it meant he could actually get her to sit through one.

She was silent for a minute, trying to collect herself, "Can we do both?" It seemed like they ought to do both. It wouldn't even fix the fact she felt a little bit more lonely, but at least it meant she wouldn't be alone. Kon was good for banishing that totally alone feeling, more than he knew. She rested her head against his and sighed.

"This sucks."

"Yep. We can do both."

He started walking, still holding her, all squished up in this massive arms. She hated flying, so for once, instead of trying to get her used to it and torturing her just a little in his big broish way, he just walked instead of flying them both.

Throwing rocks first in the Sensoriums, then a movie. That sounded like a good itinerary.

"Everything sucks, and it'd be a total lie if I said it wasn't going to keep being that way."

So reassuring, but she was too smart to lie to. He wasn't going to insult her intelligence.

"But there's also a lot of stuff that'll unsuck. Vega might get let out someday--we might be able to make Stacy let people out. Even if we don't, he's safer in there than out here."

A pause.

"But you know all that stuff. So I'm just gonna say that in the meantime, you're not alone. You're never gonna be alone--you've got too many people that care about you. And him being away from you won't ever stop him from being your friend or you from being his friend."

Edited 2011-03-07 09:52 (UTC)

Sherry clung to Kon's neck and nodded glumly. He was right, of course, and she appreciated him not trying to sugarcoat and "make it better." She sniffled in reply and hid her face. The less people that noticed Sherry all wrapped up in Kon's arms like a little kid, the better. Let them think it was Vivio or someone.

Who cared?

"I guess I should just be okay with him being safe in a pod, huh?" She sighed heavily, like she'd aged ten years. "It's just not fair they get snatched up like they do." She liked her Uncle well enough, but he wasn't the person she went running to when she dreamed about Raccoon City.

"Nah, it's okay to not be okay with it," he said. "And no, it's not fair."

He'd lost people that way, too.

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