Changing Fate

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything pertaining to the Gundam franchise.

The final battle of the Bloody Valentine war was changed because of how one man felt for a woman.

Chapter 1: Destiny

ARCHANGEL

Arnold felt like something was wrong, but it had nothing to do with the ship he was on. He felt like Natarle was in trouble on the Dominion, call it suspicion but he had to make sure everything was ok. "Alex, take over for me," the younger officer took over; he was just as skilled as Arnold. A few months ago he had made sure he taught another officer to be able to do his job if something happened to him. Alex was the perfect candidate; he was confident in his abilities but not cocky. In fact Alex's skill might exceed Arnold's.

"Arnold, where are you going?" Murrue shouted to Arnold, who had stood from his chair and rushed to the elevator that connects the bridge to the main corridors of the ship. "I need to get to the Dominion, something is bothering me," he said as he got on the elevator.

"Please let me be wrong about this. Natarle be careful, Azrael has been known to kill those who disobey him." He said to himself as he checked that he still had the pistol in the holster on his belt. He started carrying a weapon after Alaska, when Mu instructed him on how to use the weapon. Mu wanted Arnold to be the last line of defense on the bridge in case the ship was boarded by the Alliance. The elevator reached the hangar. He ran to the closest shuttle and proceeded to launch, bypassing security measures to prevent unapproved launches. 'Being one of the smartest people on the ship does have its perks,' he thought as the shuttle launched as proceeded to the heavily damaged Dominion. It was so similar to the Archangel that Arnold was sure that he could bypass any security on the Alliance's new ship. The ship had stopped firing as often, 'don't let me be too late, Natarle. '

DOMINION

Natarle sat in her chair on bridge of the Dominion; she was disgusted with herself at the fact that she was following Azrael orders. 'These orders are outrageous! We are all going to be killed if we continue to do what he wants. I have got to stop this-'

"Archangel, look out!" Fllay shouted into her headset before Azrael pistol-whipped her. He took aim on the bitch who defied his orders. 'Time to teach a lesson to everyone,' the half-crazed man thought. He got ready to fire and then Natarle tackled him. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?" she yelled at him as they fought for control of the gun. 'I have to protect everyone, if I fail. Not going to happen!' Natarle thought to herself before she yelled for her crew to abandon ship. She was using her anger to add to her strength, but Azrael was stronger than he looked. She was shouting at him, but she couldn't focus on what she was saying, just on the weapon that could end this madman's reign. BLAM! The gun discharged, Natarle felt pain in her abdomen, her hands fell to the wound and Azrael tossed her away. He was saying something, but the pain caused Natarle to focus on stemming the blood pouring from the wound. He headed to the elevator, 'NO, he cannot leave here. If he does everything will be in vain.' Natarle pushed herself to her chair; she could stop anything from that one chair. She pressed a small button on the side. The security doors closed off Azrael's access way to the rest of the ship.

He turned around, anger showing in both his expression and his eyes. He fired off another round; his skill with guns was shown as he hit her in the shoulder, instead of her head. Natarle fell towards the helm; she looked at the chair next to her. Memories of the young officer on the Archangel flooded her mind, numbing the pain radiating through her body. 'Arnold, I'm sorry I never told you that I love you,' she thought as Azrael stood over her shouting something. Giving a defeated shrug, Natarle barely felt the bullet pierce her leg, shattering the bone that it hit. 'So this is it, I guess I couldn't stop him.'

Arnold stood in front of the elevator that led to the bridge, hacking into the access panel next to it. He heard something faint, it sounded like gunshots. "Damn, bastard. He pulled his gun when the captain objected to the things he was doing," a person behind him said. Arnold had run into the members of the bridge as he raced into the hallways of the battered ship. Once they saw him, they understood that what they were doing was wrong. Letting their captain face a monster that they were all responsible for was wrong. They helped Arnold get to the elevator; the interior of the ship was different than the Archangel. Some went to tell the others to stay on board the ship, because they were going to take control of it again.

BEEP

Arnold looked up as the elevator became accessible. He rushed into the elevator along with other soldiers who were armed. The elevator reached the bridge as Azrael turned to get to the weapons officer's chair. The madman looked up, aiming his gun at the men in the elevator. Arnold raised his gun and shot the bastard in the shoulder, the man dropped his gun. The other men put Azrael in handcuffs as Arnold rushed to the fallen woman. "Natarle...," Arnold stood, tears in his eyes, and grabbed Azrael by the lapels, and proceeded to punch the man in the face until one of the other men stopped him. He knelt back to focus on Natarle, who had passed out from blood loss. Using his jacket to bandage her shoulder, which was bleeding heavily, he gathered her into his arms rushing her to the infirmary, praying that she would be ok. "Natarle, you have to be strong, I still have things to tell you," Arnold said to the unconscious woman.

He entered the infirmary and placed her on one of the empty beds, her blood had soaked his shirt red. "You have to take care of her, please she can't die," his voice breaking, "I love her." "We'll take care of her son. Here," the female doctor handed him a shirt and jacket as Natarle was being surrounded by multiple doctors. They worked quickly and efficiently to prepare her for the several surgeries that she would need. Arnold dropped to the floor as Natarle was sent to surgery, he felt like his world had fallen apart. 'I couldn't even get to the bridge in time before she was hurt. I don't deserve her.' One of the doctors, picked him up off the floor, their hand firm on his arm. "You need to help on the bridge; they are going to need someone to lead them; someone to assure them that their captain will be ok." The doctor told him, her tone could have convinced a saint to be a sinner and vice versa; she must have been around Natarle a lot. Arnold raced to the bridge, where blood was still floating around. It saddened the members of the crew but helped strengthen their resolve to fight for peace. Azrael had been escorted to the brig, after being roughed up by members of the crew, seeing their captain in such a bad shape made them want to kill this man.

Arnold sat in the chair next to Natarle's; he couldn't bring himself to sit in her chair. He wasn't needed because Natarle had trained her crew to be able to work blindfolded and everyone knew how to the job of the person next to them. 'Damn, she is a good captain. Natarle you have to live, if you don't your crew will never recover and neither will I.' "Fllay send a message to the Archangel. Tell them that we will be fighting alongside them," he girl did as she was ordered. She was upset about what happened to Natarle, who had become like a sister to her in the past few weeks, but steeled herself as she sent the message.

Murrue was shocked as Miriallia read the message aloud, she couldn't believe that Natarle had turned traitor. "Connect me with the Dominion," Murrue ordered she wanted to hear it from Natarle herself, it was too good to be true. The bridge filled with gasps when the video feed showed the blood floating on the bridge of the other ship. 'What the hell happened? Please let everyone be ok,' the brunette thought. Arnold was the second thing that stood out, the first being Natarle's empty chair. "Arnold, what happened, where is Natarle?" The younger officer looked like he was about to cry at the mention of Natarle's name. "She fought against Azrael, she is in the infirmary now," the man said as tears came out. Murrue's heart went out to the young officer and the woman that was the light of his life. 'Natarle, you better come out of this. I need to tell you something,' both the brunette and the violet haired officer thought.

AN: Always wanted to rewrite the end of the battle to allow some chance for Natarle to live and I hated the fact that the crew all left Natarle to fight against Azrael. This way many people would have a good ending, Mu and Murrue, Natarle and Arnold, Fllay, Kira and Lacus, and that is about it. Please review.