Author's Notes: This fic is a gift for "Sadistic Lunatic." Fans of "For the Want of a Nail," don't worry, it certainly hasn't been abandoned, but I promised that I'd get started on this one. Like my other fic, this is another "What if..." situation. It starts during episode 17 of Season 1, in the battle against Gauron in Helmajistan, but after a couple of chapters, skips ahead to Fumoffu. Although it starts off relatively dark and action oriented, it'll become more light hearted as it goes.

Disclaimer: If I owned FMP, there wuld have been a heartfelt Sousuke/Melissa scene, and episode 17 would have gone more like this chapter.

Title: Full Metal Panic: Shades of Grey

Summary: Although grievously injured, Grace "Gray" Wiseman survived the battle against Gauron in Helmajistan. In a bid to get away from her survivor's guilt, she requests a transfer from her unit, and winds up in Tokyo as backup for one Sagara Sousuke. Warning: Spoilers

Pairing(s): Sousuke/Grace. I know, I'm weird, but give it a try, you know you want to ;)


Chapter 1: Survival Instinct

"Batist! Jackson!"

Grace Wiseman stared in horror at the scene before her. She was too far away to do anything but watch as the last two of her comrades were brutally cut down. The only ones left now were her and Sousuke, and she had no idea where he even was. She assumed he was still fighting the support the opposition had pulled in from the rear, so now it was only her versus Gauron.

The dust cleared to reveal Gauron's AS, completely unscathed by Batist's self-destruct, and Grace was certain that this last fight was a foregone conclusion. She knew that her M9 stood no chance against that monster, which was slowly advancing towards her.

'Sousuke, where are you?' she thought furiously, 'You're the only one who can beat this guy.' Even as thoughts of defeat filled her head, she raised her AS's weapon and began firing as fast as the mechanism would let her, only to despair as she saw that none of the shots had any effect whatsoever. The silver mech just kept advancing at it's own pace as the rounds simply glanced off the fuselage. 'He's toying with me!' she realised, 'He doesn't consider me a threat, he hasn't even drawn his weapon.'

As her adversary steadily drew nearer, she tossed aside her ineffective rifle and drew the M9's close-quarters blade. As soon as the enemy AS was in range, she swung with all her might at it's head section, only to have her AS's arm caught by Gauron's own.

She tried to pull away, but her AS was held in an iron grip and couldn't move away. As the blade fell from her captured hand into Gauron's, she realised what was going to happen. Unable to move her metal casing and with her adrenaline pumping wildly in her veins, her survival instincts kicked in as she flattened herself against the side of the cockpit.

It only half worked. As her cockpit was impaled by her own blade, she was able to get her torso out of the way, but her legs were caught in her safety harness, and she screamed in pain as the edge of the blade caught her right thigh, viciously tearing open a deep flesh wound. Her stomach jolted horribly as her damaged mech fell like puppet with it's strings cut, and hit the ground with a resounding crash.

Grace's head was slammed forward into the controls, and while her headset protected her from most of the damage, she was left with a cut on her face from the broken glass of the display monitors, just missing her left eye. As blackness crept into the corners of her vision, Grace spoke into the communicator, and all she could do was hope that Sousuke was in range.

"S-Sousuke..." her voice was broken, and she could only manage that single word, but over the hiss of static in her ears, she heard a reply, just as she passed out, and knew that it had worked.

"Gray, I'll be right there."


Sousuke was pushing the Arbalest as fast as it could go. He'd left Zaied for dead, his distinctive red AS lying face down in the river. He'd heard everything that had happened over the Arbalest's communications system, included Grace's scream and her final, whispered transmission. He knew that Gray, in spite of being a good pilot, would not be able to stand toe-to-toe against Gauron in his upgraded AS.

'If I don't hurry, she's going to be killed,' he thought, 'If it weren't for that last transmission, I'd say it's a lost cause already.'

"Hang in there, Gray," he spoke quietly, but no reply was heard, and he didn't know if she was even conscious or alive to hear it.

He finally made it to where Mithril had made their stand against Gauron, and had to grit his teeth to stop himself from crying out in anger. The truck which had carried the nuclear warhead was upturned and there was an AS's blood-stained blade stuck through the windscreen. An M9 lay in several pieces not far from the truck, presumably the one which had self destructed. The nuclear warhead lay unscathed, but a second M9 was pinned to a rock above it with another short sword.

'Gray...'

"Gauron!" Sousuke yelled in a rage, "Where are you?"

A reply came over his communicator. "You want this?" Gauron taunted, "Why don't you come and get it?"

"You killed them," Sousuke growled dangerously, "I'll kill you!"

"Sergeant Sagara?" He froze.


Grace's head was pounding. She could hardly see and blood was running down both her face and right leg. The pounding was only getting louder, and she realised that someone was yelling in her ear. 'The communicator,' she thought through the mess her mind was in.

"-killed them, I'll kill you!" That was Sagara Sousuke's voice. As her vision became clearer she could see the hole in the cockpit, through which the white AS that could only be the Arbalest could be seen. It was stood before her, facing her.

"Sergeant Sagara?" she asked uncertainly, into the communicator, and she hated how weak her voice sounded. When the reply came, however, it didn't come from Sousuke.

"Still alive?" Came a new voice which could only be Gauron.

'Everyone else is dead,' the though echoed in her head leaving her feeling numb.

"No matter, I'll finish you once I've dealt with Kashim here." Grace saw the now hauntingly familiar AS appear on the rocky cliff behind and above the Arbalest. "Well Kashim, let's see how it's done."

"Sousuke, behind you!" Grace yelled. The Arbalest whirled round to face the cliff as the AS atop it jumped and began to descend through the air, it's hands glowing with charged power.

"Al," Grace heard Sousuke yell, seemingly addressing his mech, "Activate Lambda Driver!"

The result was the most spectacular thing Grace had ever seen. As the mechs collided, a massive explosion of light flooded the entire valley. Lightning arced from where the two war machines met as their pilots engaged in a fierce battle of wills, each trying with all their might to overpower the other.

Waves of energy began pouring off the two metal titans, and Grace found herself once again unable to maintain consciousness. "Good luck, Sousuke. Give him hell." Was all she could say before passing out.


In spite of the roar of the Lambda Driver that seemed to drown out everything, he heard Grace's message as clear as day. 'I can't lose now,' he thought as he grit his teeth with the effort of maintaining use of the Driver. 'If I die, Gray dies. I can't let that happen, I won't let anyone else die today."

With those thoughts running over and over in his mind, he gave one final push as an almost feral battle cry erupted from his throat. He could almost imagine the insane look of horror on Gauron's face as his AS was overtaken by the light and destroyed in the resulting explosion.

Sousuke ached all over and was completely spent, causing the Lambda Driver to immediately shut down. The Arbalest fell to it's knees, only able to move as much as its pilot could make it. As the dust cleared, Sousuke could only stare at the rear monitor in shock.

'Damnit, not now,' he cursed mentally, seeing Zaied's crimson AS behind him, gatling gun pointed directly at the Arbalest. 'I can't believe I've come this far, just to get attacked from behind yet again.'

It looked like the machine was on its last legs, but it was perfectly steady as it aimed at the Arbalest's back at point blank range. Sousuke, to tired to be able to bring his AS to even move let alone fight back, simply closed his eye's and waited for the killing blow to come. 'Gray, I'm sorry.' He waited in anticipation for the pain that was sure to come as he heard the sound of the gatling gun beginning to fire. He prepared himself to be ripped apart, but the pain never came. He could hear the shots, but nothing was happening. Cracking his eyes open, he chanced a glance at the rear monitor and was stunned at what he saw.

The AS had lost balance at the last second, firing it's weapon uselessly into the air. The barrels kept rotating even as the ammunition ran out, and Sousuke knew that Zaied was dead. It finally keeled completely over and fell to the ground, lifeless as its pilot.

Sousuke let out the breath he'd been holding. He simply sat there in the Arbalest, trying to regain his breath and strength, before he remembered with a jolt why he had been fighting so hard. 'Gray!'

Summoning strength he didn't know he had, he forced the Arbalest into a standing position even as his aching limbs protested painfully. The damaged AS made its way sluggishly and clumsily towards Grace's. "I won't let you die,"he repeated out loud, over and over, step after agonising step.

"S-Sousuke..." It was weak incredibly weak, but it was there and that's what mattered.

'She's still alive!' The thought renewed him, and he quickened his pace, making it to Grace's side before he and the Arbalest gave out completely, the AS crashing to the ground, sending up dust all around him. Doing the only thing he could do, he changed the frequency on his communicator and prayed that someone was listening.

Someone was.


Captain Teletha Testarossa stared blankly at the strategic screen monitoring the situation in Helmajistan. There had been no update from anyone for over an hour now, and she was beginning to fear the worst. The rest of the commander's had given it up as a lost cause, but Tessa could not be pulled away from the screen. 'This is my fault,' she thought demurely to herself, as her face slipped from its professional impassiveness to one of sadness. 'I could have stopped him somehow, I know it. Damn Mithril high command. They've sent him off to his death out there.'

She was so caught up in her thoughts that it took her several moments to realise that the console in front of her was beeping, and she nearly jumped when she saw that they were receiving a transmission. She frantically began hitting buttons tying to connect, having to start over several times in her haste. After many agonising moments, she finally made the connection and nearly yelled into the console in excitement, "HQ receiving. Who am I speaking with and what's your status?"

There was a pause, and for a dreadful moment, Tessa thought that there had simply been a malfunction, but she nearly jumped for joy when she heard the voice at the other end. "This is Uruz 7 reporting," came the voice of Sagara Sousuke, "All known hostiles have been neutralised. Casualty report: four dead, two wounded but stable. Requesting immediate transport for one AS, two passengers and cargo of one nuclear warhead."

"Granted," Tessa replied immediately, "We are receiving your coordinates, stand by for pick-up. Estimated time of arrival, two hours, thirty minutes." She was soon giving out orders to nearly everyone in sight, trying to get the transport ready as soon as humanly possible.

'I won't let you down this time, Sagara-san. Don't you die on me now. Please, stay alive out there.'


Two hours and twenty six minutes later, Sagara Sousuke looked up at the sky from next to the Arbalest and Grace's ruined M9. He could see the Mithril helicopters silhouetted against the perfectly clear sky, then turned to Grace, whom he had eventually managed to extract from her AS. She was still unconscious, and was lying beside him in the recovery position.

As he returned his attention to the silhouettes in the sky, the barest hint of a smile played across his face. 'We did it.' was his last thought, before he let the events of the day catch up to him and he collapsed on the dusty valley floor in a dead faint.


AN: Well, here's the start of my second fic. I'll try to spread my updates evenly between the two stories. (My other is in the Code Geass category.) I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Please leave a review if you did.