"25 Minutes Too Late"

"Twenty-Five Minutes Too Late"

By Azure

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A/N: Here's my first shot at a fluffy, one-shot songfic. Don't get me mistaken with someone else. I'm not Rouge. I'm the guy-half, Azure. This strays from the original story of GSD, starting from Neo's return to the Archangel via Skygrasper.

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On the day that, not so long ago, Neo has been released by the Archangel's crew, with the Captain herself seeing him off. Just as his mind was set on returning to his duties as Colonel Neo Roanoke, the Captain said something that set his gyro off-balance.

"You can never be him…"

The words hit him like a shell from a tank: just one hit that packs a powerful punch. He was so sure of his decision that he had to return to the Earth Forces, where his duties waited for him. But somehow, something is causing him to have a heavy heart… a VERY heavy heart. He stood there speechless as the Captain left in tears. Without a clear thought on what to do, he boarded the Skygrasper and took off. As he left, the Archangel was thrown into battle with the Minerva. He was worried, for some unknown reason. As Neo, he knew that they were his enemies; both the Minerva and the Archangel. However, as the battle progressed, each hit to the white ship is like a rope being thrown at him, trying to pull him back. He felt like he had to help. No, he wanted to help. It was like that ship, or something inside that ship, was so important to him that he wouldn't mind taking on the Minerva with a mere Skygrasper. He finally made a decision, and as he was about to turn around, the Archangel gained the upperhand, pushing the Minerva to its limits. He thought he was a stranger to the ship and its crew. However, the crew knew him, by a different name. It felt like he knew them too… the ship, the crew, the Captain. And somehow, a part of him said that the ship can handle itself. Seeing how the Archangel stood up to the Minerva, he heaved a sigh and flew off, to the nearest Earth Forces Base he knew.

Nearly a year later, the events that transpired on that ship still haunts him. Having been promoted to Rear Admiral, he should be happy, yet he felt like something was missing. It was as if he was getting somewhere, yet he left something very important along the way. As these thoughts haunted him, so were dreams of his past. Landing through a broken gate, being shot by the Lohengrinn… He had considered if these were really fragments of his lost past. After all, those 3 Extendeds that he took care of had their memories altered, so he wasn't any exemption. He tried to see if there was a basis behind these dreams. As a high-ranking officer, he had greater access to the archives. He looked for a name by which the Archangel's crew referred to him.

MWU LA FLAGA

His discovery astounded him. He was like an exact duplicate of the man. To confirm this, he opened up his own file and compared the data. Like the wind blowing on a candle, his hopes that they were different were completely destroyed. Biologically, he was a complete match, down to the fingerprints and genes. This new fact left his mind in a blank. Was Neo Roanoke actually Mwu La Flaga?

He tried to cross-examine the evidences, but both lead to the same conclusion. He then thought about why he had no memories of his past, why he dons a mask, and why he was seemingly attached to the Archangel. However, before he can make any conclusions, a message appeared on his console. He was set to test a prototype Mobile Suit. It wasn't the job of a Rear Admiral to test suits, but since this new suit was going to be his, he decided to test it himself.

Minutes later, he was already wearing his purple flight suit and was walking to his new unit. He discarded the mask ever since he left the Archangel, got a haircut and was wearing a helmet with the feather print. Even with this, he still can't conclude if he was Mwu La Flaga. Nonetheless, he decided to shrug it off and settle it once he gets back. He got into his Mobile Suit and flipped a panel in front of him. Earth Forces Mobile Suits had similar cockpits, so this shouldn't be any different. However, something was causing him to feel rather uneasy. He booted up the OS and, as coincidence would have it, the Suit itself was implying something.

"GAT-X105S Mu Strike…" he mumbled as he read the booting screen.

Flashbacks filled his head. His sparring session with the Freedom. His first battle at ORB with the Strike. And for a brief moment, flashbacks invaded reality as he imagined seeing the Archangel's Captain floating towards the Mu Strike's cockpit. He opened the door and jumped out automatically, but seeing no one was there, he simply scratched his head and went back in. The gates opened to begin testing, and the sudden flood of light reminded him of something. The time when the screen went white before he was hit by the Lohengrinn. His breathing became shallow and sweat poured down from his head, his heartbeat moving at twice the pace. It really was a wonder what the mind could conceive. Without a second thought, he ripped through the walkways that crisscrossed in front of him, preventing him from going through the gate.

"What is she to me? Why does she torment me? Why can't I get her out of my mind?"

Reaching the gates, he throttled up and took to the skies, activating its Phase Shift, transforming his gray unit into a bluish-purple one.

"Could it be… that I love her?"

After some time I've finally made up my mind
She is the girl and I really want to make her mine
I'm searching everywhere to find her again
To tell her I love her
And I'm sorry 'bout the things I've done

He immediately looked at his instruments. He rushed himself just so he'd know which direction leads to ORB. If he wanted to find her, that would be the first place to look. Having been powered by a Nuclear Reactor, he didn't worry about his battery dying on him, and him dying from the crash.

Only a few minutes later, the mainland of ORB was within his visual range. However, as he expected, he wasn't welcomed with open arms. Squadrons of Murasame intercepted him out at sea, but with his trusty beam saber, he made short work of the squadrons and went off to the mainland. He had other things in mind, and he can't die until he settles it. As he approached the mainland, Astrays fired at him from the ground. They weren't really posing as a threat, given his caliber as a Mobile Suit pilot, but somehow, they were starting to annoy him. As with the Murasame Squadrons, he made short work of them, but this time, with his beam rifle. He turned towards the east to search for her.

He circled around the area for a while. His mere presence brought out the people, but nowhere among them was the person he was looking for. After all, he should be able to spot her if she was that important to him, with or without his spatial awareness. He did the same thing for the west section of the city, but to no avail. And then, something strange has struck him. He's been flying around the city for a while, but no one else intercepted him. Are they out of units? It's impossible. He had another theory in mind: someone else was coming. True enough, his sensors indicated the approach of a single Mobile Suit, the Strike Freedom. Just as he was about to attack the Freedom, a rain of fire fell on him. Multiple shots from the Freedom hit him, taking out most of the Mu Strike's limbs. The torso fell from the sky and had a rough landing on a vacant lot. Somehow keeping his unconsciousness, he climbed out of the damaged cockpit and looked upwards. The Strike Freedom was just there, as if watching him to do something. Does its pilot know him? Does the pilot want him to do something? Knowing he had more important matters at hand, he ran off. Surprisingly, not one soldier came after him. Is it because the Freedom's pilot stopped them? Or are they preparing to snipe him from a distance? Whatever the case was, he didn't care. All he needed was to find her. He arrived at a church in the middle of Onogoro. Obviously, there was a wedding then and there. A flash of a familiar face urged him to move closer, but when he did, he felt like being thrown into one of those paper shredders he had in his office.


I find her standing in front of the church
The only place in town where I didn't search
She looks so happy in her wedding dress
But she's crying while she's saying this

He slowly approached her, with the pain growing exponentially with every step he took. He was stunned to see her, wearing in a simple yet elegant white dress that stretched about a meter or two behind her. Her veil was covering her face, but even with that, he could see how beautiful she was. A sudden gust of wind blew, strong enough to blow the veil off her head. Incidentally, it landed right on his face. It had a scent that he was very familiar with. This brought a smile to his face, but as he removed it from his eyes, what he saw hurt him even more. In front of him was this woman, whose name he forgot, but whose importance to him he remembered, crying while uttering his old name, his name that he lost in his memories. His new haircut seemed to magnify the situation, giving him the look of his former self.

"Mwu…"


Boy I missed your kisses all the time but this is
Twenty five minutes too late
Though you travelled so far boy I'm sorry you are
Twenty five minutes too late

Again, memories flooded back into his head. Memories, not of his identity or his childhood, but memories of him and her. Memories about his relationship with her, and what she was… is to him. And with his sudden flood of memories came a sudden flood of facts that were pretty hard to swallow. She just got married, to another man, and he was too late. He took a few steps back, away from her, with agony painted on his face. Murrue tried to reach out to him, to stop him from what he thought he was going to do, but she was a bit too late.


Against the wind I'm going home again
Wishing be back to the time when we were more than
Friends

He ran off, like a coward which he never was. Not knowing where to go, not knowing what to do, all he wanted to do was to get as far away as possible. He wanted to break down, he wanted to cry, but the place where he wanted to cry belongs to someone else. And so he ran, the wind blowing against him, as if it was telling him to go back to her. In his mind, he asked "To where?" Obviously, she's with someone else. So he continued to run, against the wind. Behind him, the Freedom slowly flew and watched over him. Was it watching him to prevent him from doing anything to ORB or watching him because he might do something to himself? Again, he did not care. All he wanted was to let go of all his pain inside, all his anguish and all his sorrow. From the looks of things, it felt like being court-marshalled by the EAF and shot by a firing squad was heaven compared to what he's experiencing. After running for quite some time, his legs finally gave way and he fell face-first at the slopes of ORB's volcano. He did not dare to move and he kept staring at the object before him. A feather. It was the thing that identified him as the Hawk of Endymion, aside from his custom-colored flight suit. He believed that he could make the impossible possible, but now, it seems like he can't do it when he needed it the most. He knew he couldn't turn back time, but he wished it so. Even if he lost his memory, he didn't care. All he wanted was to go back to the time when he decided not to return and help the Archangel against the Minerva. He knew those urges had to come from somewhere, like Someone was telling him that it was his second shot at happiness. However, he learned his lesson the hard way. Suddenly, he felt the wind go against its original flow. If only the wind's change could be the same as his fortune. But it wasn't so. Weakly, he flipped over and looked. It was the Strike Freedom, coming in for a landing. Its pilot jumped off and threw off his helmet, rushing to his side, carrying a medical box.

"Mwu-san!" the pilot called. But he was too weak to respond. His vision was getting darker. Was it the end for him? If only. But he knew better and he knew that it was just fatigue, and he was simply losing consciousness. He thought that it would feel better if he just stayed that way and did not wake up. As he drifted to the unconscious zone, a part of him, the Mwu-part of him responded to the sight of the young pilot's rush to help him.

"Hey, kid… Since when… Did you… become a medic?" his cocky smile, though weak, surfaced. The sight of an old friend seemed to have helped by a fraction, but it was not close to helping his current emotional problem. Too bad he's unconscious and unable to weigh the thoughts.

The next day, he found himself in a hospital bed. He wasn't bandaged or anything and he felt better, physically at least. He looked around and saw that no one was watching him. He felt it odd that an intruder like him was unguarded. Nonetheless, he took this as an opportunity to escape through the window. Conveniently, he was just on the 2nd floor, and the nearby mango tree was a great help. Unknown to him, someone was expecting this to happen, a young General and a Princess.

"Are you sure we shouldn't tell him instead? Explaining to him sounds like a much better idea to me. This idea of yours might cause trouble." the Princess asked, wrapping her arms around the General's arm… her brother.

"Yeah. I'm sure. He's not the type to wreck people's relationships for personal reasons. As far as I know, he'd probably sacrifice his own happiness for the Captain's." the General responded.

"What if you're wrong?"

"Kill me if I am."


But still I see her in front of the church
The only place in town where I didn't search
She looks so happy in her wedding dress
But she cried while she's saying this

He returned to the church, to finally get a full grasp of the facts. As he tried to recall the events of a few days ago, a familiar voice called out to him. A voice which he could not ignore, no matter how much he tried to.

"Mwu…"

He grinned. Hearing her say that name, his name once again. It was like he won a lottery. A small one though, knowing that she will never be his. Trying to hide his pain, he acted as he, Mwu, usually did. Or rather, he didn't have to act. Her mere presence was enough to temporarily cover his emotional wounds.

"How many times must I tell you? I am not this Mwu person. I'm Neo Roanoke!" he grinned, turning around to face her.

"No matter how I look at you, you're still Mwu." Murrue chuckled, in a manner which she hasn't done so for the past years. A moment of silence immediately followed, and for a brief moment, they stared at each other. Trying to break the silence, Mwu was quick to spark up a conversation.

"So, where's your husband? What's a married woman like you doing, meeting a bachelor like me here? Don't you think it's a bit too early to cheat on him?" he cockily smiled, trying his best to hold back his urges to hold her and cry, and to tell her the truth about what was going on in his mind.

"He's somewhere around here. He allowed me to go here when I explained that I might end up seeing you here."

"He seems to trust you a lot. That's going to cost him sooner or later." he chuckled, not knowing what he meant.

"Believe me, he won't. I'll make sure of it." she smiled again, "He told me that he loves me, and in loving me, he trusts me. He said that love cannot exist where there is no trust."

"Well, that is true." he crossed his arms and leaned on the church walls. Another moment of silence followed, and Neo finally dared to bring about a very untimely topic, "I guess I was too late, huh? By almost three years."

Suddenly, a car's horn broke through the tense atmosphere. It was her husband's car. She immediately walked away and headed towards the car. But before she got too far, she turned around and answered his question.

"You're wrong, Mwu. It's not three years… You were just twenty-five minutes too late."


Boy I missed your kisses all the time but this is
Twenty five minutes too late
Though you travelled so far boy I'm sorry you are
Twenty five minutes too late

His eyes widened as a feeling of immense shock ran through his body. What he heard was something he hadn't counted on. Could he have taken her back if he arrived 26 minutes earlier than he did? These thoughts overwhelmed his mind, causing him to drop on his knees, stunned. He was that close to victory, yet failed.


Out in the streets
Places where hungry hearts have nothing to eat
Inside my head
Still I can hear the words she said

Later that night, he wandered ORB's streets. Once again, he knew not what to do or where to go. He knew not whether he'll come across her on the streets or not. All he knew was he had nowhere to return to, and nowhere to go. He knew that there are people that care for him and would take him in, the Princess and the General. But it was already enough that they granted him the freedom to move about in ORB's territory, knowing that he's part of the EAF, the faction that tried to invade ORB more than once. He continued to wander under the glow of the city lights. For once in his life, he felt like he really was a hawk, the solitary Hawk of Endymion wandering through the night. His aimless walking led him to a solitary place, perfect for a solitary hawk. He walked nearer to the edge of the cliff and leaned on the rails, overlooking the ocean. The moon was on the other side. If only he, the Hawk of Endymion, be like that myth whose name was the source of his own legend. If only he could be like Endymion, sleeping eternally, to escape the harsh realities of the world. But he was no Endymion, just the hawk. He knew it was impossible, and the least that he asked for was that he become a literal hawk, just to fly away and fade into the night. And as it was earlier, it was impossible. Heaving a sigh of defeat, he turned around and walked back towards the city. However, as soon as he reached his seventh step, he heard a mumbled cry. He looked around and saw no one. He walked around a bit and saw no one. He then returned to where he stood, by the cliff, and looked down. Below him was the sea-wall, with a number of benches behind it. The sight gave him the greatest pain that he's had yet, greater than that of Murrue's marriage. It was the sight of the woman he loved most, crying.


Boy I missed your kisses all the time but this is
Twenty five minutes too late
Though you travelled so far boy I'm sorry you are
Twenty five minutes too late

Falling on his knees, he silently cried, holding on to the rails to keep himself upright. He had no choice, he had no hope. All he could do was cry. And as he cried, her words echoed in his mind, to torment him for the rest of his miserable life.

"…You were just twenty-five minutes too late."

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It is done.

- Azure -

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