Sid still couldn’t believe what had happened. The Phantom-Elliot had been right there; ready to claim his spirit as it had done Ryan’s. But the cool embrace of the phantom had never appeared; when Sid had opened his eyes, he had been most relieved to find Jane stood not ten feet away; her outstretched palms still frosty. Years of medical training had kicked in, and his first thought had been to tend to Ryan, even though he knew it was already too late.

Everything since then had passed by in something of a blur to him; he was getting a little too old to be having brushes with death and surviving. Aki had awoken from her deep slumber almost the second Elliot had disintegrated; she looked at Ryan and her eyes said all that she couldn’t. Since then, the group had split up; Gray and the others were taking care of Ryan and the whole mess that this situation had created with the Washington command. Aki had retreated to one of the medical labs, saying simply that she wanted to be alone for a while. Sid had no doubt that she knew more about all of this than the rest of them; he was beginning to form some sort of theory as to what caused her connection with Hein, but he still didn’t know enough to draw any sort of true hypothesis. Despite his urge to question her further, he had honoured her wishes and taken himself to the ship. It was the only place where he knew he wasn’t going to be disturbed by anyone; most of the military would be worrying about the new developments outside the cities. Even though the thought of the Phantoms retreating back to the crater was supposed to be a good one, Sid couldn’t help but feel a little troubled by the news. Everything he thought he knew about the enemy had been thoroughly disproved in the last few days. Until recently, the general consensus had been that the Phantoms were bloodthirsty monsters; that they just attacked on instinct and never had any real strategy. But this latest development. . . Sid couldn’t help but think that they were doing it for a reason; there had to be some sort of explanation as to why they were going back to the crater.

He sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. He supposed he should get back to the labs; a mere brush with death shouldn’t stand in the way of locating the next spirit. He couldn’t just sit back and hope that the withdrawal of the Phantoms was a permanent thing. After all, Aki was still relying on him to save her. But he couldn’t; not right now. He just. . . needed to think for a few hours. Too much was troubling him; too much was casting a shadow over him.

His thought paused for a moment as he heard a distinct click somewhere behind him; like the sound of someone stepping softly on the metal floor. Another sigh escaped him, but he didn’t move. Maybe it was just a tech or something; someone who would quickly check on the status of the ship and leave.

‘Oh,’ He turned as soon as he heard the voice, half-surprised to see Aki stood in the doorway of the cockpit. ‘I didn’t think anyone would be here,’ Sid smiled slightly, gesturing to the seat beside him.

‘That’s what I thought,’ he said. ‘Great minds, eh?’ Aki managed a small smile, hesitating for a moment before slowly sliding into the seat. Sid couldn’t help but notice that she looked awfully pale; drained almost. He could only imagine what she was feeling.

‘Are you alright, Aki?’ he asked.

‘I should be asking you the same thing,’ she replied. ‘I’m not the one who was inches away from death today,’ Sid knew when she was trying to deflect attention away from her, and usually he played along with it. Not now; not when she looked so low.

‘Ah, but I’m not the one who’s inches away from death most of the time,’ She turned away from him, her eyes moving to stare firmly at one of the control panels.

‘I’m fi --‘ she started, trailing off as Sid shook his head.

‘Please, Aki. You know I can’t do anything unless you tell me what’s wrong. Let someone help you for a change,’ She remained silent, an almost hollow look in her eyes. Sid reached out and placed one hand on her shoulder. ‘Please,’

‘You can’t help,’ she said quietly. ‘No-one can. Not with this,’

‘I can try,’ She shook her head.

‘No. It’s too. . .’ She looked up at him for a moment. ‘Too many people have already died because of me. I don’t want to make anyone else suffer,’ Sid paused a moment, watching as she went back to staring at the controls before her.

‘None of this is your fault,’ he started, unable to finish as her face suddenly crumpled into a fierce glare.

‘Yes it is. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have done that to Elliot. He only did it because of me,’ She shook her head, tears in her eyes. ‘I have to stop him on my own; I can’t put everyone else in danger anymore,’ There was a long silence between them. Sid had worried that Aki would find some way to blame herself for all of this; that she would try to isolate herself from them all so as not to place them in danger. He now realised that she had come to the ship with the intention of leaving as quickly and quietly as she could, making sure that none of them found out until she was long gone.

‘He is the one to blame for this,’ he started slowly. He wouldn’t let her beat herself up over some psychopath who should have been locked up years ago. ‘Not you. Don’t believe a word he says,’

‘But he --’

‘Trust me, Aki,’ he went on firmly. ‘General Hein is not someone who should be placing blame on others; not after everything he’s done,’ He couldn’t hide the tinge of anger he always so carefully disguised when Hein was being discussed. As if sensing this, Aki looked up at him, doing her best to smile ever so slightly.

‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘Of course you are,’ The silence that followed was not entirely comfortable, but neither could think of anything to say. The mere mention of Hein made Aki more uneasy than she had thought it would, and Sid’s sudden change in demeanour didn’t help her nerves. So she sat and stared at the controls before her, a part of her still wishing that the older scientist hadn’t been sat here when she had arrived. Now she had no chance of leaving alone. Why couldn’t Sid see that by sticking with her he was essentially putting himself at more risk than she could bear? She could still feel the horror that had attacked her when she realised that he had been mere moments away from death at Elliot’s hands. She didn’t know what she would have done had he been taken too; she didn’t want to know what she would have done. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do now. She knew where Hein was, and she knew that she had to do something about him. But. . . what could she do alone? And what about the spirits? There were still three left to find; without her, would Sid be able to find them all in time? It was all too painful to think about; would she follow her heart and go after Hein or follow her head and find the other spirits?

She sighed deeply, finally tearing her gaze from the blinking panel and turning to look at her mentor.

‘What are we going to do now?’ she asked, knowing he probably had no more of an idea than she did. He smiled.

‘We? Does that mean you’re not going to leave the old man on his own?’ Aki couldn’t help but smirk, shrugging slightly.

‘I guess it does. But that doesn’t answer my question,’ For a moment, he looked at a loss.

‘I suppose,’ he started. ‘That we should find the next spirit,’ Aki nodded slowly, allowing the smallest sigh to escape her. This prompted Sid to frown. ‘Unless you have any other suggestions?’ Aki remained silent for the longest moment, her gut instinct to end this now battling with the knowledge that the other spirits had to be found. Every time she decided to go along one path, some little niggle told her it was the wrong thing to do. She couldn’t do both, yet both had to be done.

‘The spirits have to be found,’ she said quietly. ‘But. . . San Francisco,’ Sid frowned.

‘What about it?’

‘That’s where Hein is,’ she replied shortly; that was the only way she could stop herself from exploding with anger again. Sid’s frown deepened. Wasn’t Hein supposed to be dead?

‘How do you know?’ he asked, his tone more disbelieving than curious. Aki shrugged slightly.

‘I had another dream about him,’ That would have to serve as an explanation for now; she was in no mood to discuss it further. Sid remained silent for a moment, but then;

‘You want to go to him, don’t you?’ Aki looked down for a moment, a slightly sheepish expression crossing her face.

‘I. . . I feel like I have to,’ There was another somewhat uneasy silence between them, this time lingering longer than either of them would have liked. Aki chanced a brief glance up towards the older scientist. ‘He has to be stopped, Sid,’ It took a moment, but finally, Sid nodded; a heavy sigh escaping his lips.

‘You shouldn’t have to be the one to stop him,’ he said simply, standing and resting a hand gently on her shoulder. ‘But I know that you’ll try to, whether I help you or not,’ Something of a smile and he began to move towards the entrance to the cockpit. Aki twisted around in her seat, fixing him with an inquisitive frown. Surely he wasn’t abandoning her? She wouldn’t blame him if he did, but. . . Well, she would never expect Sid to do anything like that.

‘Where are you going?’ He turned back.

‘I need to collect some things. I hope you won’t be running off without me,’ Aki felt herself shaking her head, even through the relief.

‘No, Sid. You shouldn’t come with me,’ Sid smiled; one of those warm smiles she had seen so much before the war and the council had really started getting him down.

‘I’m not about to let my best student, and the closest thing I have to family, run off to confront some homicidal psychopath on her own,’ The smile faded just a touch. ‘And besides, who else will?’

It had been a long time since she’d been to a funeral. It was almost five years now; three friends of hers from the academy who had all been part of the same nest-clearing operation. She hadn’t wanted to go; funerals were never her thing. They were beginning to seem slightly pointless these days; once you finished mourning one friend you usually had to start grieving for another. No. It was easier to just avoid all of that; to concentrate on living your own life.

But she couldn’t miss this one. There was no way she’d allow herself to miss this one.

So, she stood on the edge of the crowd, leaning against the stone pillar beside her, watching in silence. She’d never thought that Ryan would have been the first to die; he’d always been the sensible one, the one who looked before he leapt into action. She’d always thought it would have been her; hell, it almost had been her. If it wasn’t for Doctor Ross, the Deep Eyes would have been mourning two lost soldiers instead of one. In fact, if it wasn’t for Doctor Ross, who knew how many others would have fallen to whatever it was that had taken Ryan? Gray had mumbled something about a Phantom, but in the middle of a secure unit, at a time when there were no Phantoms? Jane wasn’t stupid, but she had no real desire to go and seek out the real answer just yet. Maybe in time, when it stopped hurting to think about it.

She heard the footsteps approaching, not bothering to turn and greet the newcomer. It wouldn’t be anyone she wanted to talk to anyway; the Captain was stood near the head of the crowd, that grim expression on his face he always got when he was truly upset. And Neil? Neil hadn’t come. In fact, she hadn’t seen much of the tech since he’d come rushing back to the labs with a group of very perplexed Washington soldiers and found her and Gray knelt over the body of their comrade. Well, he’d always been sensitive. Maybe being alone helped him deal with it.

‘They never used to do mass funerals like this, y’know,’ Jane didn’t turn, but she had to let her eyes widen slightly. Well, speak of the devil and he’d try to creep up on you.

‘Back when the Phantoms were new, they used to have one funeral for each person. It was a real boom for funeral directors and churches and things, because there were so many people dying and so many others wanting to remember them in that special little way,’ He’d moved around her now, and was stood beside her, watching the proceedings with almost an amused expression on his face. ‘Funerals used to be the business to get into. That was, until the economy collapsed because so many people were dying,’ The priest was getting close to the coffin that held Ryan; the simple box distinguishable by the pair of Monk’s gloves placed on top. ‘That was when the government decided to start pooling its resources; you weren’t allowed to have anything of your own anymore. Not even a funeral,’ She could just see him shake his head slightly out of the corner of her eye. Odd. She hadn’t known him to be this coherent and sensible since. . . well, ever.

‘I didn’t know you were a history buff,’ she murmured. He turned towards her, his trademark smirk a ghost of what it usually was.

‘I’m a sucker for useless knowledge,’ Jane didn’t bother smiling; try as he might, not even Neil could cheer her up right now. Still, it felt somewhat comforting to have him here; it was better to mourn with someone rather than mourn alone.

‘I thought you weren’t coming,’ She watched him shrug slightly again.

‘I can’t really let the sarge leave without saying goodbye,’ he replied, watching the proceedings a little more intently now. ‘Not that this is really saying goodbye. A bunch of people standing around watching as they cremate bodies one by one isn’t what I would call a great way of saying farewell,’ As no-one could really go outside to bury people and the land inside the barrier cities was too valuable to fill with dead people, cremation had become the standard way of disposing of the dead. Mind you, you couldn’t always find the dead. Most of the people who died were soldiers, killed on missions outside the cities. The military always told you to save yourself rather than waste time extracting the body of one of your colleagues, and most soldiers obeyed. It was likely that most of the 40 or so coffins in front of Jane now were empty

‘How would you do it then?’ she asked, finally turning to look at him. Neil shrugged.

‘There wouldn’t be any point in changing it now,’ he said quietly. ‘But we can’t spend so much time worrying about those who are already dead, y’know?’ He had a funny way of putting it, but Jane knew what he meant. ‘I mean, if you let your mind become so preoccupied with death and all that, then you’re gonna be distracted. And being distracted is a good way to get dead these days,’ Jane remained silent for a moment, turning back to face forwards. There was one coffin between the priest and Ryan now.

‘Some people would call you cold for saying that,’ She could just see him smile slightly.

‘I’ve been called a lot of things, but that’s the first time that one’s been used,’ The priest had reached Ryan now, reciting the same passage he had recited for probably the last ten years. Jane couldn’t help but wonder if the clergy felt anything for the people they were committing to the afterlife, or whether it was all just another job to be done.

There was silence between them for a long minute, both soldiers watching as the priest moved onto the next box. Well, that’s it, Jane thought, just resisting the urge to turn away as the aides following the priest moved to pick up the box, carrying it solemnly out of sight. He’s gone now, The thought wasn’t as painful as she thought it would be, but then who wasn’t used to losing people these days?

They watched the rest of the funeral quietly, more out of respect for the remaining coffins than anything else. When the priest had finally blessed the last box, Jane found herself turning to Neil.

‘So what do we do now?’ Neil opened his mouth to speak, but paused as he noticed something over Jane’s shoulder.

‘I think you should ask the Captain, not me,’ How he managed to sound so chirpy was beyond Jane, but she forgot that for the moment and turned around, waiting for Gray to reach them.

‘I hope we don’t have to do that again for a while,’ Gray murmured, sounding a little more preoccupied than Jane might have expected. ‘I spoke with General Aikon before the ceremony and he wants us to stick with the doctors,’ Jane nodded slowly; she’d thought that might be the case. Sure, the Phantoms might have done a disappearing act, but there was no guarantee that it was for good. Since they’d lost Zeus, the military suddenly seemed quite fond of Dr Sid’s spirit wave and no doubt they wanted the project to continue to its conclusion as quickly as possible.

‘Well, it’s better than sitting around and waiting for the Phantoms to jump out from wherever they’re hiding,’ Neil said, earning something of a stare from Gray. The Thief did his best to look innocent. ‘What?’ Gray shook his head.

‘Come on. We’d better go and let them know,’

Aki couldn’t help but look back a little guiltily as she loaded the final few pieces of equipment aboard the Black Boa. Gray and the others should still be at Ryan’s funeral; something she’d wanted to go to until she’d realised that making a quick getaway without them would be the best thing for all concerned. Part of her felt so cruel for not having gone to the ceremony, and the rest of her. . . Well, part of her wanted to find Gray right now, find him and tell him to stay by her. Now she was on the very brink of leaving him behind again, she was realising just how lonely it had been last time. These last few weeks in his company had been more wonderful than she would have imagined; just having him near again. But, as much as she wanted him with her, she just couldn’t force him into danger. It’s his job to throw himself into danger, a little voice said sternly. Besides, he volunteered to help protect you. He knew what he was getting himself into, That little voice spoke more sense than Aki wanted to admit, but she couldn’t let herself listen to it. He doesn’t deserve to die for me, she thought. No-one does, No. It was best to leave him here, best to leave them all behind.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Sid, wearing the same expression she probably was.

‘Are you sure you want to go now?’ he asked, his tones showing his doubt. Aki shook her head.

‘No, but. . .’ She sighed. If she didn’t leave now, the doubt would make her wait for them. ‘We have to go,’ Sid nodded slowly and Aki felt grateful for the lack of an argument. As long as she wasn’t truly alone. . . Well, it made the near future a lot more bearable.

‘I’ll go start the ship,’ Sid said, giving her a faint smile and turning away. ‘We should be out of here in a few moments,’ Aki nodded, turning to take one last look at the empty hangar behind her. Her brow furrowed as she noticed someone – well, three someones – striding out towards the ship.

‘It couldn’t. . .’ she murmured, squinting slightly to get a better look.

‘Hey, Doctor Ross!’ The unmistakable cry of Corporal Fleming rang throughout the quiet hangar, filling Aki with something halfway between dread and elation. Why were they here? Why had they come back? And. . . why was she glad?

‘I’d hold off leaving for a moment, Sid,’ she said into the nearest communicator. ‘Looks like we have company,’ By now Neil had reached the ship, Gray and Jane following closely behind. All looked tired and worn out, but – to Aki’s surprise – none were wearing the looks of accusation of hate that her paranoia had made her expect.

‘Weren’t planning on leaving without us, were you?’ Gray asked. He sounded casual enough, but Aki had been around him long enough to know when he was upset. Neil and Jane obviously had too, the two exchanging a look before making some excuse about checking whether the cockpit still had the same seats.

‘I suppose General Aikon told you to follow us,’ Aki said, silently hoping that was the only reason Gray had come. The soldier frowned slightly.

‘He did, but that’s not why we’re here,’ Aki remained silent, pretending to examine some piece of equipment. Gray’s frown deepened. ‘You were going to leave without us, weren’t you?’ Aki built up the courage to look up at him; to look him straight in the eye. She didn’t want to say the words; she didn’t want to admit it.

‘We have to hurry,’ she said quietly; blankly almost, before looking back down at the floor and hurrying out of the cargo area. Gray watched her go, unable to dispel the frown.

‘You have to start thinking of yourself, Aki,’ he murmured. ‘Stop worrying about everyone else,’