Gundam 00
I own nothing at all…
"This is truly an original idea. We have made preparations for the first ever space cruise-ship! Yes, just like you take a trip on the sea, you take one in space. This first run will be strictly reserved so buy your tickets in advance." The TV broadcast had been playing and playing ever since the space cruise-ship was started. Princess Marina got up from her couch and went to look out to her countrymen, why would she go on a space cruise for fun? She had too much responsibility going on. One of her advisors and best friend came in.
"Princess Marina there is some mail here I think you would be interested in." The princess lifted the envelope and opened the seal. It was a ticket and a letter. It read: To recipient. You have been hand selected to come aboard the first ever run of the space cruise-ship. The name will be revealed when we leave the port. Please come and support us in this journey. Marina reread the note and she told Shirin that she wouldn't. "But Princess, this would be good for you."
"I don't need anything to be good for me, my people are what's 'good' for me."
"Princess," Shirin continued, "this will be worthwhile for you to go. Think of how many other delegates would be on cruise. Maybe you can try to get some of them to become allies or something." She knew inside that Shirin was right and she could do nothing but accept the two week long cruise in the vast vacuum called space.
Setsuna boarded the ship along with two other companions of Celestial Being. He, Maria, and Hallelujah, had been asked to check the craft out. Veda had told them days before that a group might be planning something that had the possibility of endangering many, many people. Because there was no possible way to track a ship for two weeks without anyone finding out, they had no choice but to become passengers themselves. The ship had just closed its doors and started on course to space. A voice came on the PA system.
"Ladies and gentleman…I greatly appreciate your effort to be on this first run with us. Thank you again. It took time to figure out a perfect name for the ship and then it hit us…Titanic. It's perfect…the most famous ship – the ship of dreams - for a soon to be famous cruiser. Enjoy your time."
Princess Marina walked around the room, trying to get from the people greeting her. Everybody seemed to want to meet her, and all though this was supposed to be a pleasure trip, even though she didn't want to go, somehow someone always wants to propose an idea that will "help Azadistan's future". She was tired of it all and she decided to sneak out of the party. Just as she was about to exit, a voice called her back, and leaving her annoyed expression behind her, she turned around.
The man was tall and had a beard that matched his scruffy black hair. On top of the scruffy mess, was a hat, and that hat told her exactly who was in front of her. "Hello captain…"
"Oh yes, my name is Kale. Captain Kale." Beyond him, stood a man about twenty-three, and he too looked like he wasn't enjoying the party. "This is Setsuna… I just wanted to get him to meet such a beautiful woman like you…" Marina smiled. "Setsuna, this is Princess Marina of Azadistan."
Setsuna put out his hand, "Nice to meet you." As her hand touched his, she felt some sort of connection to this man and she held on, not wanting to let him go. "…" Marina realized the atmosphere around her had changed and she looked down at their hands and quickly let go blushing.
"I'm sorry; I need to go outside for a bit, excuse me." Marina quickly rushed out to the deck and stood staring at the stars, the moons, and the planets as they passed. She thought of the connection she felt with Setsuna. She didn't what was in store, but she knew that whatever it was, it would bring her closer to him.
"That was very peculiar. I'd say you've got yourself a fan here." Kale's throaty voice reverberated around the room. "Well enjoy the party Setsuna; I'm going to retire for tonight." As Kale walked away, the boy stood alone until he walked out.
"Did you find anything?" Setsuna looked around as he talked into what looked like a watch. The voice on the other side spoke of nothing, so they both clicked off. As Setsuna neared the edge of the turn, he saw the Azadistan princess getting harassed. She did not scream, but the look on her face was that of distress.
"Why don't you came over to my cabin, and I'll show you how you could take care of the people of Azadistan."
"Why don't you guys just leave? I do not want any problems."
"Oh, but neither do we…" Setsuna stepped up between the two men.
"Leave now." His face showed no emotion what-so-ever, and nobody there under the dim light could tell what his thoughts were.
"I don't think so son." The stockier man tackled Setsuna but missed as the boy dodged. The stocky man hit the window and fell in a heap. The other man, taller and more rugged, had already dropped his drink and used the broken shard as a weapon. The alcoholic beverage dripped off the tips of the glass and made a trail as he slowly walked up to Setsuna.
"You're dead." His arms rose higher, and quickly came down above the younger boy's' head. But the attack did not make contact, because Setsuna grabbed his wrists and threw him onto the other side of the floor. With both of them unconscious, he started walking away.
"Thank you…" Marina said, but he didn't even acknowledge her.
Marina went to bed, but she couldn't sleep. She was still thinking about Setsuna and the feeling that had come over her when she touched his hands. Because of this insomnia, she decided to trail the ship. She walked around without so much as a destination. She wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into someone. Being as light as she was, she was the one to fall on impact and a hand extended to her.
"I'm sorry," she said as she lifted herself up. When she got herself righted, she looked into his eyes and gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"No reason." He started walking away and Marina stopped him.
"Why don't you stay and watch the sky with me." He neither accepted nor declined and looked over through the windows at the sky. After a while, Marina spoke again. "You seem awful familiar to me… where are you from?" Setsuna looked at her and contemplated whether or not he should tell her, 'what was it going to hurt?' he thought.
"I'm from Krugis." She stared back at him in disbelief. Krugis was assimilated into Azadistan years ago, with some sort of force as she recalled.
"I'm sorry for what happened to your country. Azadistan taking control… but I do want to add that I am looking for a way for us to live on without relying on the military force so many countries want to give us. I want us to live peacefully with other countries and ourselves so that my people will not have to live in fear. If the world ever became peaceful… that'll be the day…"
"Wait for that day." Marina looked at Setsuna but he was still looking straight ahead into space. "One day that day will arrive."
"How do you know?"
"I just do. If you continue to want peace, there will be those who fight for it."
"I believe you…" The two looked at each other for the longest time and said nothing as if they had reached an understanding that need not have been put into words.
Many days passed and they were close to the Andromeda galaxy. Once they passed it, they would turn around and head on home. Today at dinner, the party was held to celebrate the halfway mark of the first space cruise. Captain Kale held up his glass high in the midst of other finely dressed passengers and toasted to them. "One step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He downed his drink and sat down to attack his steak piazzoli. The other diners began to eat and chatted lightly with their fellows.
The dance music played and the diners went to the dance floor. Setsuna sat with Allelujah and Maria. "Did you find anything out?" he asked.
"No. Everything's quiet on my end."
"Same here. There has to be something we're over looking…" said Maria.
"Hello Setsuna…" Maria and Allelujah looked between them both and must have sensed something because they both got up smiling and went to dance. "Would you like to dance?"
"No."
Setsuna was trying hard to find out what was going on with the ship, there had to be a reason Veda sent him on the cruise. He was contemplating this when he heard a scream. The music was loud enough that no one heard and considering their location, it would've been hard for anyone to find them anyway. If it wasn't for where he stood, he would have missed them completely. He saw two men once again harassing Marina. He didn't know why he was so mad, but he was.
Setsuna stayed back and watched them before he revealed his cover. "You're Princess Marina aren't you?" he heard one man say.
"You fetch a lot of money. Did you know your country sat right over an oilfield?"
"…"
"Cat got your tongue huh?" said another. "You can either give up the oil, or die and we'll take it by force. Either way, we'll get what we want." The man pushed the barrel into her temple.
"Do what you want. You'll never get that oil anyway." Both men heard the sound of a gun click.
"Whose there?" Setsuna stayed in the shadows. He spoke none as he attacked the one closest to him, the one without the gun pointing at the girl's head. He fell with a PLOP onto the cruise ship floor. "Speak!" The other man went into the light illuminated by a small lamppost, holding her in a headlock. He was now surrounded by darkness and Setsuna could see he was scared.
Marina took this as a chance. She grabbed his hands and steadied herself as she kicked his shin. Her heels made impact and he howled but he didn't let go. "That's how you want to play huh?" He let go of her only a minute only to slap the color from her face. His handprint left its mark and she was stilled. Setsuna on the other hand leapt from the darkness surrounding the circle of light and cocked his gun.
"Let the girl go." His voice was impassive.
"Why? What are you gonna do with your toy little man." The man laughed and pointed his gun at Setsuna. "Leave before I kill you too." Without so much as another word, Setsuna shot the man in both the kneecaps and then knocked him out. No point in having dead bodies with another week left. He went over to Marina and asked her if she was okay.
"Yeah, thank you very much." His hands went to her face and lingered there before he pulled her up. She looked at his watch and stuttered that it was late.
"Be careful Marina Ismail." She wanted nothing than to ask him if he wanted to stay with her but she knew that 1. It wasn't proper etiquette, and 2. That she didn't want to say it. Setsuna must have been reading her mind because he said that he was going walk her to her room and then get back to his own. What he didn't know was that that night he wasn't going to come back until the next morning.
"Setsuna!" Allelujah was banging on the boy's door when Maria tapped him on his shoulder. Allelujah saw he was still in his suit from last night and that he was roughed up and only one thing came to his mind. "You and that girl…?" Setsuna ignored him and went inside, leaving the door open for them. "What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Well I was just checking up on you since you didn't show this morning at our daily meetings…"
"I told you it was nothing."
"Allelujah he's right, nothing did happen. He'd be glowing if anything did and plus I can just ask Princess Marina can't I?" Maria smiled at him as he entered the bathroom and shut the door on them.
"He really is changing isn't he?" said Allelujah to no one in particular.
"Yeah and I think he knows it too."
The ship flowed past the galaxy smoothly, but as it made its turn, it drifted into an asteroid field. The crew members sounded the alarm and a call went down to the captain. "Were in an asteroid field!" yelled the man emphatically. Captain Kale remained calm and spoke to him.
"Just leave this to me and make sure the passengers don't find out." The man was skeptical but he soon agreed and went to his original task. Kale took to the wheel and began swerving as best he could through the field.
Captain Kale was in the middle of the field and his crewmen were cheering on his adeptness at maneuvering. He slowly turned the ship and stopped it in front of an asteroid. They looked at him… and asked why he stopped. Kale looked over at them and brought out his gun. He shot a silenced bullet into each and everyone of them until he was the last one alive in the room. "No need for you guys to alert the others." He went back to the control panel and pressed a big red button.
"Setsuna! Where are you? We're stuck inside of the rooms. It won't unlock and nothing will override it."
"I know. I hear people screaming that the door is locked. I'm outside so I'll see what's going on."
"We're in an asteroid field. We have to get to our gundams; if even one hits us we'll die," said Allelujah.
"Alright I'll handle this."
Setsuna was on his way to the cargo hold when he saw Captain Kale through the window. He was in a mobile suit and was leaving through a window in the room. Now that was peculiar and Setsuna could waste no time. As he climbed into Double 00 Raiser, he heard his name being said. He looked down and saw Marina Ismail.
"You're Celestial Being aren't you?"
"I don't have time right now Marina. We're all in grave danger." He powered up and she got the memo and left. The door opened and he saw Captain Kale.
"What do you think you're doing? I gave you what you wanted… let me go." Kale was yelling at the asteroid. He went over to it and kicked it. His suit clanked and was stuck on the floating chunk of space rock. Crystals were formed and started growing over his body. "Let me go!" His body was getting covered and he had only a few square areas left before he was fully enclosed in the crystals. Setsuna brought his gundam over to Kale and tried desperately to help. The asteroid started changing color and turned into a metallic purple color. Once that happened Setsuna heard screams from him and his companions.
"What's going on?" yelled Allelujah clutching his head.
"I don't know… Setsuna?" His head was hurting too and he realized that it was the QB, quantum brainwaves, that were getting affected by the - what he now figured the asteroid to be – alien. He grabbed his head and started screaming with the other voices coming through the link as he watched Captain Kale get assimilated.
Marina was on the deck when she went back to the cargo hold. She realized that the other two she saw with Setsuna could very well be Celestial Being too. She went to the cargo hold. What she tried to accomplish she didn't know, but anything that would help Setsuna would be good. As she walked around, she bumped into a very bumpy invisible wall. The princess felt around and realized it to be another gundam and a few feet away was the other one. Now she just had to find his friends.
Marina knew the doors were locked; she had been on the deck when it happened. She very well knew that the captain had control to all happenings on the ship. She went to his room and with the crowbar she found, used all her might to open the door. It just barely started to budge, and she continued to think of what she was fighting for. She was fighting for the people on the ship, and for Setsuna. She wanted to talk to him and if something happened to him fighting by himself how would she get her chance. She pulled more and more, harder and with more force than ever. The door opened just enough for her to slip in and see all the dead bodies lying on the floor. She willed herself to not look at them and saw the big red button. It was marked 'control locks' and she pushed it. Within minutes, she heard the cries of relief as the passengers filed onto the deck and into partial freedom.
Allelujah heard the commotion and looked to Maria. She watched as he opened the door and saw the mass of people in the hallway. "Hurry," he said aiding Maria up, "we have to help Setsuna." They hurried over to the cargo hold and when they got there, they saw Marina standing in front of the invisible gundams.
The purple metallic alien glided over to the ship and made a huge dent in it. The dent caused the whole ship to shake and the people to flail. Crystalline structures started to appear just like with Captain Kale and it began to enlarge and coat everything. A little boy ran over to the crystal.
"Cool," he said. He made one touch and his whole body began to swathe in the crystal. His mother stood at a distance yelling. The crystals finally broke down and the body was left as a fine dust.
"We were just looking for a place to be alone." Maria started an embarrassed chuckle but Marina dismissed it.
"I know you're Celestial Being." They looked at her, saying nothing. "I need you to take me to Setsuna. He may be in trouble."
"We have to go. He is in trouble and…"
"Please… he didn't tell me anything…" Maria walked up to her and placed and hand on her shoulder.
"Here," she took off her communicator and gave it to Marina. "You can talk to Setsuna without being in the fight and you'll know how he's doing. I need it back when this is over though okay?" Marina was sobbing into the communicator as she walked a safe distance away from the gundam's engines.
"Setsuna… can you hear me?" He heard her voice and replied to it.
"Marina?" His head was still hurting and he spoke, for some reason, to the alien. "Leave them alone. They did nothing to you."
"We need humans in order to survive and lately we've been in short supply."
"Why do you need them? Can't you find other ways to survive?" By this time, Setsuna was alone in a space that he knew nothing about. All he knew was the alien's voice and his own trying to make peace.
"They are unique specimens. You humans are able to adapt to the worst situations and that means that you can withstand our bodies if we enter you. Those that can't will die."
"Don't do this. This isn't the way!" 'Why is my head hurting?' he thought.
"…because you too have quantum brainwaves as do I. You and your friends are special… I need you humans, especially, to survive." Setsuna realized what that meant.
"Leave them alone." He spoke into the communicator. "Get out of here, help the people get away from here."
"Setsuna..."
"No! Just go and help them." Allelujah followed his orders, bringing Maria with him.
"Setsuna are you okay?"
"Marina?"
"Yes. Please be careful. I don't care that you're Celestial Being. I know you want peace and that's what I want."
The alien spoke again. "Give them to me."
"What if I stay with you forever? I have advanced quantum brainwaves and I'll probably last maybe years and years helping you to survive." Marina started to cry on the communicator.
"No you can't Setsuna. We just started to…"
"I have to. In order to make peace with the world I have to start here."
"Setsuna…"
"I'll still be here," he said as the alien engulfed him. Marina continued to yell his name, over and over again before she collapsed onto the floor.
"This reminds me of a movie I once saw," said a boy who turned his radio up.
"Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you…"
The sound floated through the ship and created a sense of calmness as the gundams pushed the ship back to Earth. The only thing they had of Setsuna's, was his gundam.
"…Far across the distance and spaces between us…"
They returned back to Earth. Marina was escorted back to Shirin by Maria and Allelujah. Shirin asked what had happened but nobody said anything. Marina was still crying when they left.
"…Near, far, wherever you are..."
Marina told Shirin everything, minus the part that she knew about Celestial Being. Every night she would look at the starry sky and cry herself to sleep.
"…My heart will go on and on…"
It had been nearly a month since they took the Titanic into space. Marina received a letter some time that afternoon. It was from Maria. It read: 'We are truly sorry for Setsuna, he was our friend too and I know how much he meant to you. The only thing I can say is that keep up the faith and I promise you he will return.' Marina wiped a tear from her eyes.
"…Love can touch us one time and last us a lifetime…"
Marina was asleep when she felt a breeze. She woke up abruptly and felt a familiar presence in the room. "Setuna…" she said. He didn't answer, but he stood in front of her in full metallic glory: he was one of them now. "Oh how I missed you!" They shared a hug and she controlled her tears.
"I came to make sure you were all right."
"I am now that you're here." She looked at him and knew even without him telling her so. "You're leaving again aren't you?" He nodded. "Take me with you then…"
"You know I can't do that. What about your people? Who will make the peace come? You have your own way of doing it and you're people need you."
"I know you're right, but I can't stand you leaving. I really thought that you were gone." Setsuna went and hugged her again, and he lied down with her on the bed. He was going to leave but Marina pulled him down. She kissed him some more and soon it led them to making love. As he readied himself to leave, he kissed her for the last time and she knew that this was as much as he could do for her.
Marina wakes up and goes over to the window. Over in the distance she sees the blue and white gundam that overlooks a small pond. It had a myriad of colorful flowers wrapped around it; it belonged to her lost love. She strolls into another room and finds Shirin inside.
"Hello princess."
"Hello Shirin." They both look at the children sleeping inside of the cribs. Shirin holds the crying child in her arms, on top of her rotund belly; she was expecting another soon. Princess Marina on the other hand caresses the cheeks of the twin boys that she had. They looked so much like their father that she wished he could see them. They stir under her touch and yell out for her. Marina takes them out of the crib and sets them on the floor; they hug her with much vigor. After they were bathed and had eaten, she takes them out to the gundam that sits outside the window. They would sit and stare at it.
"Mommy," says one of them. She looks at him. "Can you tell us the story again?" Marina shuffles their jet black hair and starts.
"It all started when Auntie Shirin insisted I go on the Titanic, the ship of dreams…"