Prologue:

...

"Well then... then you should just use the power of the spiral... why can't you use that power? To bring Nia back? And not just her! ... all the other people we lost..."

"Sorry, but Simon isn't God... Gimmy."

Tears fall from my face from utter confusion.

"Those who are dead... are dead. If we bring them back to life, then they'll just get in the way of the next generation, right?"

He walks over to put something in my hand...

"It's in your hands now, Rossiu."

"But... Simon?..."

"I'm just... Simon the Digger. There's someone better suited to go down the tunnels I dug."

His eyes are looking directly in mine when he made that statement.

Rossiu emphatically says "You can count on me."

I open up my hand... and I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing...

I've been having the nightmares again. They started happening right after the Battle with the Anti-Spiral, but they've been reoccurring in my mind again. But they aren't necessarily nightmares. They are flashbacks. In a moment so dark, it was him, who was the only one who could be justifiably upset... but he... just kept walking. Once he started, he never looked back. We never saw his face again. I... I...

I just don't get it.

Not one damn bit...

Chapter 1:

Here is the story 20 years later. So many things have changed...

Footsteps are heard walking up the stairs at the GSPC headquarters.

"Leeron. It's good to see you."

"Ah, the Galactic Spiral Peace Conference (GSPC). I hope it goes well."

"We may be fellow spiral races, but we're different species, and have different ways of thinking. It's taken 20 years to be put together."

"The job would have been impossible for anyone else, President Rossiu."

"I just... wonder what he's up to."

"He's out there somewhere, watching over us. That's the sorta man he is."

"No matter, we must continue forward to stop the Spiral Nemesis. He wouldn't want us to quit. Is Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren 2.0 ready to take off?"

"Countdown is in approximately half an hour ^.^"

"Good. We will teach those bigoted spiral races not to oppress the weaker spiral races. We will be unified, and we will defend those who cannot defend themselves, no matter what the cost."

"Sounds like a plan!"

...

15 minutes until take-off outside the Simon Space Station (SSS).

"It's finally time... Gimmy."

"Yeah... finally."

"You know, its funny how it all worked out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if it wasn't for Kamina, Simon and the others coming to our village, we would have died off a long time ago you know? It's not that they didn't belong with us, its that we belonged with them. When we drew those two straws, if they didn't come, we would have died. But instead of drawing towards our death, we drew those straws... To become! The next pilots of Gurren Lagann!"

Darry points her finger in the sky. I realized at that moment: that's the way that drills work, isn't it? Drills. They always point towards the sky.

"You're right, Darry. We're following in the footsteps of the heroes of yesterday."

"Don't be so down on yourselves, you kids"

"Wuh? Leite?"

"You guys are heroes yourselves. Just don't keep the wife and kids waiting at home, alrite Red?"

"Of course not. This is a simple treaty meeting. We're only coming in case there is an ambush or an attack. It's just for insurance."

Sounds good to me. Take-off will happen in a bit, make sure you Co-Supreme Commanders get yourselves prepared!"

"Yes ma'am!", me and Darry exclaimed.

You may be wondering: Wife? Kids? Twenty years has passed since the me and Darry were 14. A lot of things have happened. Both with me... and her. Some great things... and some terrible things. It has been a hell of a twenty years though, thats for sure...

...

19 years before all this happened, probably around 6 months after the defeat of the Anti-Spiral, me and Darry started our first day at Littner High School, which was right on the shore of Kittan Island, which is just a few miles away from Kamina City, which is the capital of the country of Jiha.

Our culture and civilization only took 7 years to build. I remember Leeron saying once that its possible that past civilizations took decades, possibly even centuries to sustain a successful civilization like we did, but since we kept a majority of the traditions that the Spiral King left behind from when his collapse ended and sent everyone into the underground, we retained our genetic intelligence and maintained a level standard of intellect.

Yoko became the principal of Littner High School. She was quite the disciplinarian, but we we're favorites of hers when we went there. We were able to access the lounge and had lunch with her all the time. She told us about times that me and Darry forgot about for a while. Me and Darry vaguely remember Adai Village. All I remember is when we drew the straws and came up from the surface for the first time. It was so beautiful. We also talked about when Kamina died. How Yoko was madly in love with Kamina. I never knew. It was so sad. But she said that she wasn't sad.

"He gave me the fire, drive and passion in my life. He gave me my desire. When we had our first kiss, he said he'd pay it 10 times over. At first I felt betrayed and abandoned by him, but he actually gave me the strength and will to live. I remember something he said once...

'I wanna give Simon, and forehead boy, and Gimmy, and Darry... a world where kids could look up at the sun without a care in the world.'

Its his spirit that pushed us forward even though it felt like he left us forever. He loved you guys a lot."

I felt guilty again. It was one of those "He didn't die to save us, he did all that because he wanted to." type of thing. I wonder if we say things like that to make us feel better. I'm not sure yet.

After our first semester of high school, when we started the 2nd semester, I became upset with Darry. She started hanging out with this boy, and for the first time, I felt like I wasn't a part of her life anymore. We were always known as the 'Adai Twins" We were always with each other, for better or for worse. It kinda hurt at the time, but after I while, I thought,

"Maybe this is a good thing... maybe we need to separate ourselves. For the good of our individuality. We aren't little kids anymore, its about time we started acting like it!"

They dated each other for a couple of years. Our junior year of high school started... a year that none of us could forget...

...

Darry's cell phone began ringing in her back pocket at the park.

"Hello? Ugh, Gimmy, what do you want? I'm with Stephen right now, can't we talk later?"

"I'm just wondering when you guys are gonna get back. We do have a curfew, you know. It's already 8 PM."

"We'll be fine, we're about to head out here in a little bit. Now don't call again!"

Darry hangs up the phone.

"Now where were we? ;)"

"I never understood why your brother never liked me..."

"Gimmy? Don't worry about him, he just doesn't understand relationships... and the fact that I'm older. We fought a lot about it at first, but he has given up on getting me apart from you a long time ago."

"Yeah, but he still gives me a cold glare. I'll never understand it... I guess."

"Enough about Gimmy, geez, I thought we were having a good time?"

"We are. But lets head back in a half hour or so, kay babe?"

"Fine..."

An hour passes.

"Thank you so much again for a wonderful night Stephen."

"No problem sweetheart. I love you so much."

Both Darry and Stephen meet lips for a quick kiss.

"Alright hop on the airbike."

Darry puts on her helmet and sits behind Stephen on the airbike. She fits her arms around his waist and lays her head on his back. Stephen turns on the airbike as it begins to levitate. They take off and head own the road.

As they head down through the passages, Stephen notices a sign...

"WARNING: CREVASSES ON ROAD. MAKE SURE TO SWERVE TO AVOID GRAVITY MALFUNCTION. ALTERNATE ROUTE WILL BE UP TOMORROW."

"Well, if I just be careful, I think we'll be fine.", said Stephen in his thoughts. "My backroads have plenty of crevasses, and I dodge them all the time. We'll head on."

Stephen made his way half-down the road. Darry was asleep by this point. Stephen successfully managed to avoid each crevasse with ease. Until a white blinding light zoomed passed him at approximately 98 miles per hour. Stephen juggled the steering a little bit, but was able to maintain control. But what he didn't know was just ahead of him.

Stephen didn't realize there was a series of several crevasses in front of him. He tried to miss the first one but he didn't make it. Stephen's airbike flipped, and tossed both him and Darry as they went flying. Stephen's face went straight into a rock, as Darry bounced several times over her body. She had several bruises around her body and a black eye. She frantically got up to go see Stephen. It was too late. "GIMMY! GIMMY! COME QUICK! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD... NONONONONO. I JUST CALLED AN AMBULANCE, OH PLEASE BE OKAY..."

"Darry... whats wrong?" Darry was heard crying over the phone... "Stephen is...

Stephen is dead..."