August 15, 2005, Whiskey Corridor, 1205hrs

"Mir Campbell... Long time, no see." A voice spoke over the radio. Kira Hibiki realized the connection between Mir and their longtime nemesis, Alisa Markova. Kira was befuddled. "How could Mir have worked for her?" she thought to herself. At that moment, another aircraft appeared directly in front of her. She could hear the bullets clanging into her craft. As the craft passed by Kira, she tried to turn to engage the enemy bird, but she now had no control over hers.

"Kira! Do you read?!" Her wingman Lance Klijn attempted to get through to Kira.

"I read you, Lance. But I can't fly this thing. Eject!" Kira pushed a button that was supposed to open the canopy, but the canopy had been welded to the craft by that unexpected pass. The warnings blared as Kira looked back and saw the Berkut fly back toward her. The Berkut pulled up only after firing off another missile. At long last, the canopy opened, allowing Kira to eject and retreat.

"Kira Hibiki here, I've just ejec..." Her radio fell silent as Lance and Mir saw the explosion coming from Kira's Black Widow. It took a glimpse of Kira's falling body to realize that she didn't make her escape in time. There was complete silence.

"Enemy aircraft has withdrawn, return to base." The order given to them sounded like it was slowed to the sunrise and sunset of a whole day to Lance. It took a repetition of the order for him to turn his plane around. As they flew back home, he reflected on the battle. "Mir Campbell... Long time, no see."

"Mir, what did she mean?" Lance asked about any possible link between Mir and Markova. When Mir failed to answer, Lance asked again, trying ever so hard to stay calm. "Archangel 10, do you read?"

"Archangel squadron, you are cleared to land." Commander Baelz's voice came on. The two surviving pilots slowed down. Lance slowed down a bit more to allow Mir to land first. The two craft descended and made a perfect landing. Their cockpits opened and they undid their harnesses. Lance had rested his head on the seat when the plane touched down. He needed every ounce of his will to leave the cockpit. The critical moment played again in his head. "Mir Campbell... Long time, no see." Lance realized what those words meant. Mir just happened to be within Lance's field of vision. Lance charged at Mir, prepared to strike him across the face. Mir offered no resistance. Now that Lance knew his secret, what right or reason did Mir have to defend himself. He had his hand in this sequence of events. Now he tried to atone by letting Lance throw him around. He soon found himself pinned against a wall with a gun to his head, Lance's gun.

"'Mir Campbell... Long time, no see.' Now, I know exactly what she meant! So how did you become friends with Markova!?" Mir could feel the gun shaking in Lance's hand. He took a breath and prepared for what could be his final words.

December 20, 2003, 1130hrs
Mir Campbell

"Cadets, you have shown the qualities that are a must should you wish to take to the skies for Erusea. You all have shown heart, dedication, endurance, and most important of all, courage. Over the last four years, each of us has suffered tragic losses. But it takes the qualities I have seen from you, all of you, to stand up for yourselves, your families, and each other. From this point forward, you are no longer cadets. Let me be the first to address you as Airmen of the Federal Erusean Air Force!" The commander of the Air Force, Alisa Markova, came up to each one of us and shook our hands. I could hear her congratulate each one of us with the same but still heartfelt "congratulations", then she came up to me. She shook my hand, but instead of a simple "congratulations", she told me that I would "do many otherwise impossible things." She continued down the line until she had met every new Airman here. I became her most favored Airman.

But this brought me more harm than good...

December 16, 2004, Faith Park Ravine, 1640hrs
Federal Erusean Air Force
SAC Mir Campbell, Blue 4

"ETA, 15 seconds." Commander Markova told me. "All aircraft, flow to ravine." My instincts told me to dive for the deck. As I found safety in the ravine, I quickly leveled my plane, lest the ground do me in. "As long as we have Stonehenge, we have their fates in our hands. Isn't that right, Blue 4?" I could only watch as the ISAF pilots struggled to retreat to the ravine we were flying in. I had a front row seat to Stonehenge's display of almost divine power. Usea was nothing without this turret network, it had saved the continent from desolation. Now, it would save Erusea from her oppressors. White streaks lined the skies in a fireworks display that would never be rivaled. It was then that I saw several planes literally disintegrated and its pilots atomized. One shot hovered just above me and exploded near a fellow Erusean pilot. I radioed my wingmen.

"This is Blue 4..." My voice was lost to the radio chatter. I listen carefully to every callsign mentioned.

"Black 2's dead!"

"Black 8 off the scope!"

"White 5 shot down!"

"White 1! Do you read?!"

"Blue 3 is down!" My heart skipped a beat when I heard the callsign of my best friend since the Academy. We were blood brothers our first day there. We stuck up for one another. We were almost always seen together. Just yesterday, we were more than wingmen. And now I was alone. He would never touch down.

"A-Alex? Alex! Oh, God... no... no! No! Alex!"

On that day, everything I knew became a lie...

December 31, 2004, Comona Islands, 1340hrs

"This is Blue 4! Plane is inoperable! Ejecting!"

"Blue 4, there is no damage to your craft." Ignoring the AWACS, I pitched my craft down toward an island and the canopy opened. I was thrown from the craft while my bird fell into the island below me. The parachute opened up as my plane crashed into the woods. I was safely lowered to the city under my feet.

Once on the ground, I had to start over...

March 14, 2005, Chopinburg, 1534hrs

"Flight 701 here. We were shot on takeoff and our captain's injured. This is First Officer Nagase."

"10-4, an escort is inbound. Both aircraft maintain your course." The Eruseans were hell bent on keeping the secrets of the Stonehenge Turret Network out of the hands of the ISAF. But I knew that they had another reason to get us. I looked out through the window and saw the air battle above us. Just in time to see a missile impact Flight 702.

"Flight 702 hit!" It was then that I saw a lone ISAF pilot cut through the sky toward us. The Erusean pilot stopped firing upon them to engage the escort. With no effort, the ISAF ace took out the Erusean. It was only moments later that we were told about two more pilots coming our way.

"Flight 701, can you raise altitude? This will assist the ISAF escort"

"Negative. We cannot maintain cabin pressure if we climb!" Nagase turned toward us and told us to take the captain to the back. The ISAF fighter engaged the two Erusean fighters who were not quick enough to turn from the missile and were destroyed. We could hear the dogfight from inside the airliner. Almost immediately after that encounter, Nagase took advantage of this crucial moment.

"SkyEye, this is Flight 701. Scramble the fire engines and ambulance back at base."

"Flight 701, SkyEye. You are almost out of Erusean airspace." There was nothing left but to watch the air battle near Flight 702. The ISAF fighter turned around and engaged the three Erusean craft. Intense maneuvers kept the Eruseans busy, but every so often, one of them got a shot off and threatened the civilian aircraft. There was eventually an explosion.

"Wow, that ISAF plane is flying solo!" Another Erusean fell while the other three pilots entered a fully fledged dogfight. The ISAF plane outmaneuvered his foes while they tried to do the same to him. It worked for a while. The wings of the Erusean pilots were clipped when the ISAF pilot took an extra step and broke rhythm, allowing him to shoot down the two fighters that had harassed him for so long.

As we crossed that border, I realized what I should have fought for. But now, in her eyes, I was a fallen angel...

"SkyEye, this is Flight 701. All passengers and crew are safe."

Having heard Mir's side of the story, Lance retracted his pistol from the former Erusean's head.

"Fine... but don't think you can get my trust back that easily." With two fingers, Lance pointed at both of his eyes and then at both of Mir's eyes. "I have my eyes on you, Campbell..."

Author's notes

After watching Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny (plus Darkmoon Fleur's fic Vanishing Dreams), and footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, I talked with a friend (a different author) about his plot analysis of Vanishing Dreams and the Blood Brothers mission from MW3. He later wrote a short fic deriving from and taking place after Vanishing Dreams (which he has decided not to post). I actually had the idea for this fic for a while before acting on it and a week later, here it is. Yes, I did change the order of events from its portrayal in AC4, but this is to give background on how Mir ended up fighting for the ISAF and is not intended to be accurate in any way. I plan on writing a second chapter involving Erusea's true last stand at Megalith in the near future. Until then, read and review; your criticism will not go unheard.