Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam or any of its properties. I am not profiting from this in any way.

1. I always loved UC the best out of all the Gundam Series. The fandom seems pretty inactive on this site, but what the hell, maybe someone will enjoy this!

2. There will be multiple perspectives in this, because I feel like writing from one POV is limiting. The Prologue Chapter is from Lalah Sune's perspective, because I wanted to write the final act in 0079 from a new perspective.

3. Some of the dialogue is in Gundam: The Origin XII. I liked that version best of 0079 and felt it was the most definitive.

4. I'll start by saying I'm more left leaning, but I also hate the Social Justice Warriors that have made the part of the Democratic Party look like a circus of crazies. I feel like radical beliefs are what Tomino wanted to convey with Reccoa Londe. So, I'm drawing from my personal experience with politics for her (I actually really hate Reccoa so…).

5. Emma Sheen deserved better. So, I'm going to give her a happier ending in this.

Prologue

December 31, UC 0079

After the destruction of her mobile armor, she drifted for a time. She wonders if maybe she had died rather than safely ejecting into space. The shock is wearing off as she moves her arms. There are mobile suits firing upon each other. One floats close to a Zeon Warship and blasts the cockpit. She watches it erupt into flames for a brief moment before the flames exhaust in space. This is chaos. Humanity has lost itself so much in this war that killing is no longer something that fractures a person. It's a part of life now like some twisted right of passage.

Char is a killer. Amuro is a killer. She is a killer. That is what this world has made of them. This is what men and women with too much power have brought this world too. She has become a part of that cycle just as Char Aznable and Amuro Ray. She's no more than a tool to the Zabis - a thing to kill for them.

Lalah Sune gazes out into the abyss of stars. She could just drift. Someone will come eventually whether that person hails for Zeon or fights for the Federation. Someone will eventually come for her. Lalah breathes. She focuses, trying to find Char among the chaos that surrounds her. She grabs the controls on her jet pack. She moves through the dark abyss cluttered with debris and the dead. Char and Amuro are not among these dead. She can feel them still even in the chaos that surrounds her. She moves towards A Baoa Qu. If Char is anywhere, she imagines that this is where he will be. Lalah breathes. She needs to see him. She has to know that what she feels is real - that Char Aznable still lives.

Lalah sees the Gundam lying in a messy heap. It is a shadow of what it once was. There was a point in time that she wondered if the Gundam was undefeatable. So many had tried to take down this war machine, and now it lies abandoned. Lalah passes the Gundam. There's a gaping hole ahead of her. She can feel him. She moves inside the base. There is a tingling pressure on her forehead. Char and Amuro are both near. Also...someone else...she's felt this presence before.

The girl from the Core Booster, Char's sister…

Lalah moves through the halls. Several bodies are floating lifelessly in the corridor. A Baoa Qu has turned from a Zeon Base to a graveyard. Zeon has lost this war. It doesn't matter. The Zabi's war doesn't mean anything to her anymore. It has never meant much to her in the first place. Self-preservation should be her goal. Any reasonable human being would have found somewhere to hide, but no...not her. She has to make sure Char is safe. Char is all she's had for so long.

Lalah rounds a corner. She can hear a woman shouting. There is the sound of clashing metal. She can sense them all - Amuro, Char, and the sister. She propels herself forward and rounds another corner. She sees Char first. There is a piece of shrapnel caught in his helmet as he lunges towards Amuro with a rapier. He pierces Amuro's bicep with the rapier. Blood drips onto the blade of the sword.

"Stop!" Lalah shouts.

He pulls his sword from Amuro's shoulder. Her lips part as she gazes at his masked face. Lalah breathes. "It's over. No one has to die anymore. Just stop...both of you."

Her eyes lower and meet with his sister's. Her eyes are red from crying, and she can feel all of her grief in that moment. Her eyes move from the girls to Amuro's. Then, her gaze moves to Char. There a small moment where they are all connected. Char steps away from Amuro and releases the rapier into the air.

"Casval!" the sister's voice is sharp with anger. "How could you do this? Why should you hate him so? Do you have to win against this boy that badly? Stop it! I can't stand it anymore!"

Char removes his helmet and mask. Lalah gasps when she sees a cut across his brow. Char looks to his sister. "The oxygen's gotten thin in here. You go and get out of this place, Artesia."

"And you, Casval?" her voice is so thin.

"I…" he pauses. "I have unfinished business."

"Casval, just let it go!" she pleads.

"Artesia, I've lived this long for one reason, and one reason only. If I abandoned that, then all all that I have done will have been in vain."

Char turns away from his sister and Amuro. He kicks off the floor. He turns his head over his shoulder to his sister and says, "Be kind. Nurse him, and be the woman to die for."

"Casval," she cries again. "Please don't go!"

The girl is chasing after he brother. Lalah catches the girl as she floats in pursuit of her brother. "I will go after him. Your brother would want you to be safe."

Lalah's eyes fall to Amuro. He gives her a nod. Lalah turns away and propels herself down the hall in pursuit of Char. Her chest is tight and her nerves feel as if they are on fire. She can sense all of his rage. When she catches up to him, she sees a rocket launcher in his hand. Her heart is heavy with fear. What are his intentions?

Any sane person would have turned away from this. Lalah's not sure what keeps her going. She could so easily just leave with Amuro. She could start a new life and leave this war behind her. She could be safe. But where? Char is all she has in this broken world.

Lalah follows him into a large hanger. There is a ship still docked in the hanger. Her nerves are on fire as she pieces together Char's intentions. Char propels himself upwards. She sees him give a salute before he aims the rocket launcher. Her chest twists as her eyes widen. The sound of the explosion is deafening. The room erupts in flames and she's kicked backwards by the after shock.

Her ears are ringing as she floats aimlessly in the hanger. She can't move. She can barely even think. Was it Kycilia ship? Kycilia...Gihren - are both dead. She hardly knew either of them, but Char had served them. He killed them. Why? Her muscles are tense. She's shaking. Her mind is racing. Why?

He lifts her into his arms. "Lalah...Lalah…are you okay?"

Lalah looks up to him. She's confused, rattled, exhausted, and anything but okay. Nonetheless, she finds herself nodding softly in response. She has so many questions, and she's wants so many answers. Why does your sister call you Casval? Why did you kill the last of the Zabis? She wants to ask this and so much more.

Lalah sets her feet onto the floor and places hands on Char's shoulders. Their eyes meet. It feels like they day she left Earth all over again. She could ask him why? She could just run away from all of this. But, she won't.

"We should leave," Char says.

"Where will we go?" Lalah asks.

"Somewhere far away from here…"