It was certainly a big relief when the last attacker fell, for that meant that particular stressor was no longer plaguing them. However, there were still some demons left to deal with: The Gurren and the Lagann, having unfused from each other, showed a massive amount of damage that was going to take a while to repair, Exodus was missing and Simon was a wreck. The second demon would be made very well-known by Yoko; at her comment, everyone else seemed to just move away from her like she was about to explode. Kittan had wanted to chew Simon out as he and a few others dragged the wrecked Gurren and Lagann aboard, but lost interest after feeling the anger roll off the redheaded sniper's body in waves. Even the Supers sensed the palpable darkness enshrouding her and backed off, despite being physically superior to her.
Ron focused on Yoko's face through the camera to the cargo bay - which was also home to the legions of stored Gunman that could be deployed - and saw that she was indeed very unhappy with him and how things were. Ron too felt a signficant amount of animosity towards Exodus at this particular moment; why did he choose now to disappear? While Ron had no idea what Exodus was doing, he knew he wouldn't abandon his team unless it was of extremely signficant, personal importance. For some fairly tense moments, Yoko stared at the camera and Ron stared at her face on the screen; it was like a showdown of some kind, but one Ron was more than happy to lose. He knew his hands were tied, and he'd seen first-hand just how volatile Yoko could be. And he'd rather not have her rough him up. He breathed out a pronounced sigh before his effeminate voice played over the loudspeaker in the cargo bay, "I'm going to be level with you, dear. I do know where he is currently, or at least, where the Gunman he borrowed is. Though what's doing out in the middle of nowhere, I haven't the slightest clue".
Unseen to Yoko, he played computer wizard and uploaded the data to one of the Gunman near Yoko herself, a model that was more known for its speed than face-to-face combat capacity. "The Gunman in slot 12B, right next to you, has his Gunman's current position uploaded to its navigation system, so it's yours for the taking if you want to confront him". Of course, given her words to him, he surmised that she wanted to do such. Not that he blamed her; he too had questions about Exodus' odd behavior, but if anyone could get a straight answer from someone, it was Yoko.
While this was going, Exodus hadn't moved from where he had stood, feeling the memories play like a horrific slideshow in his mind. Each stood out, individual yet connected, possessing a unique identity despite being part of a whole. It always ended with the great explosion in the sky as Sovereign made his own Gunman self-destruct in order to save Harbinger and Exodus.
"...." Exodus muttered incomprehensibly as the memories then shifted to when he regained consciousness after being knocked out cold from slamming into the cliff face. Harbinger's warm, comforting embrace. His own despair mixing with hers at the loss of their beloved comrade. His heart wrenched as he heard his own words play back, his curses at the heavens as Harbinger treated his wounds reverberating in his ears. And then came the long walk towards the grave; almost automatically, his body moved as well, walking slowly while the scene from the past played around.
Sensations from that one, drawn out moment of dread, sadness, rage and hopelessness washed over him: The smell of death, the feel of the wind, the pain from his injuries even all came back to him. He was reliving the moment, with all the horrific details that it entailed. Every speck of ash, every smoldering flame, every piece of wreckage all stood out vividly to him; and yet, when he finally reached the site where the Dai-Gunten lay in ruin, his mind snapped to reality. And it was no different from his memory. Everything was left in place, as it was. The mentally tortured veteran fell to his knees, hunching over and resting his upper body on the scrap pile where his brother's corpse lay. His teeth ground hard, straining to hold back his tears as he growled, "Damn you.....Sovereign.......Why, damnit....Why did you do it.....It should have been me....It was my fault....." He choked back a few sobs before shouting to the darkened heavens, "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!!" He then fell forward, his hands resting on the scorched dirt just in front of the wreckage, his breaths a strange hybrid of panting and crying.
"Well, nice to see you're still the pathetic brooding idiot you've always been" he heard a gruff voice say to him; Exodus froze and tilted his head up to see the behemoth Sovereign sitting on the pile, still wearing the armor he never took off. His body was a faint, spectral hue, nearly see-through in compostion, but possessing enough clarity to be readily recognizable. The ghost-giant jumped down, landing soundlessly next to Exodus and standing beside him, looking up at the giant pile of parts. "Heh, I did a damn fine job, if I do say so myself".
Exodus was staring up at Soveriegn, disbelieving that his own brother was standing right in front of him; the poor man even tried to reach out to him, but his hand passed right through, like nothing was there. Sovereign looked down and said, "Yeah, I'm a ghost. Boo! Bahahahahaha! "But...how...." Sovereign just sighed and shook his head, "You know, Harbinger said it best...For someone so smart, you really are an idiot".
Exodus clenched his fist and shouted, tears trailing down his cheeks "How can you be so light-hearted? You died because I screwed up! Because I let my emotions get the better of me!" Sovereign let out a "Tch!" before replying "Because you didn't let me down with Harbinger....You loosened, manned up and became the man she needed you to be. And, I got to make one hell of an explosion too! Haha!" Exodus just stared at him, dumbfounded by his response.
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