DISCLAIMER: GUNDAM 00 and the characters inside belong to Sunrise and Co.
Farewell
by DarkHonour
The cabin was quiet.
The light shining from the top had been deliberately dimmed.
A girl within the A-laws ship was lying down, fumbling with her handphone which projected a holographic screen.
She looked at the photo folder in it.
A certain folder, rather a former shell of its original content, caught her attention.
Louise Halevy pressed the buttons to move to that certain folder. It was blank. Completely blank. For some reason, her mind hesitated to delete that empty folder.
It had been months since she had deleted every single photo of it. Photos of her with her former boyfriend.
No, it was someone she never knew. She did not even want to recognise that person.
That person was related to Celestial Being. The same organisation which had killed her family and ruined her future.
On the pretext of fighting to stop all fighting.
It was total crap to her.
Celestial Being was a mere terrorist group that had to be eradicated. And A-laws was the right group to be in to stop all these fighting.
'Celestial Being should have been non-existent by now, handing over its role to A-laws.'
That sentence resounded in Louise' head. A certain person had told her that once before.
This certain person had helped her regain her standing from the ruined state she was in.
He had lime green hair.
Ribbons Almark had helped her in getting to A-laws.
The blonde haired girl looked at her left arm, noticing the line near her elbow.
That left arm was the symbol of Ribbons' sincerity in helping her.
Regaining her full self, she got up from the bed, turning on the computer embedded into the wall of her cabin.
The screen burst to life, showing an instant picture of the channel.
It was a news channel.
But the news today was special. It contained the coverage of a major thing she was involved in, as a pilot of A-laws.
'Collapse of the AEU Orbital Elevator,' the channel printed the words on the screen.
There was not a sign of emotion on her face. She continued looking at the screen.
'The Orbital Elevator of the Advanced European Union has collapse, with the top one-quarter of it falling back into the atmosphere. There were orders for it to self-destruct midway in the atmosphere after that to prevent it from creating a colossal impact on the surface.'
The newscaster on the screen continued her job.
'Princess Marina Ismail of the Kingdom of Azadistan, which has been annexed by the Federation, is confirmed to be dead in the explosion that led to the snapping of the Orbital Elevator.'
'For the sake of the world, she was destined to die...' Louise's words trailed off as she repeated what Ribbon Almarks had told her before.
The princess was a fool who advocated peace and sought the end of fighting to attain it. According to A-laws, she was captured before for detaining but Celestial Being had rescued her. That confirmed her identity as being truly having links to that terrorist organisation.
The screen changed to a picture of Princess Marina in her former heyday as a monarch.
'The Federation deeply extend its apologies to the people of former Azadistan for the death of their exiled monarch.'
The voice reporting the news continued the programme.
The blonde girl laid back on her bed, looking at the dimmed light of her ceiling.
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One day earlier...
The Orbital Elevator of the Advanced European Union stuck out from the earth's atmostphere like a needle pricking a cushion.
It was not as tall as its other two counterparts but it was functioning fairly well.
It was also the cheaper alternative for those who wanted to enter space.
However, that was some time ago.
Under pressure from the Federation, permission for its usage by A-laws had been granted.
On this day, a certain task was being carried out.
A very important person was to be handed in custody from A-laws to the Federation on the surface.
Princess Marina was to be trialed for treason in the Federation Courts on Earth. A-laws had captured her from the hands of Katharon, an identified terrorist organisation.
Under the Federation laws, a royal was to be treated different even as a terrorist. She had to be brought down to the Federation to be officially trialed in court and publicly executed.
The space vessel entered the spaceport of the elevator. As it landed, a hatch opened to form a ramp where the crew could exit through.
A group of people emerged from the vessel.
Surrounded by a group of people donning the A-laws uniform, the only person not wearing it was rather obvious. She had black, flowing hair, coupled with her middle-eastern style of dressing.
The royal of Azadistan was being escorted to the orbital elevator.
The A-laws group was soon approached by a group donning the light blue uniform of the Federation army.
A man emerged from the other group, approaching the fellow organisation.
'If you may,' he spoke sternly. 'We'll take the Princess from here.'
The other representative nodded, turning to the royal.
'Princess,' he spoke. 'Please go to them.'
She looked up at the representative for A-laws. Without a single fear in her eyes, she quietly walked over to the side of the Federation.
'My my,' the Federation representative commented as the Princess stood before him. 'I see you have much resolution even before death.'
'I'm prepared to argue my case in court,' she answered him without hestitation.
'That is for the upper heads to decide,' he responded, giving a gesture. Two men approached the princess, immediately handcuffing her.
'That is to make sure you don't get up to any sly tricks, Princess.'
And the two guards, with pure brute, push the Princess from behind to signal her to move forward.
The Federation group was soon far away from their A-laws counterpart.
Outside the Orbital Elevator, a fleet was station there, observing the surroundings.
With the princess being escorted to the elevator, there was a high possibility that the enemy would appear in order to rescue her.
The fleet of A-laws awaited outside, observing any abnormalities occuring.
There was none for now.
Celestial Being would probably ambush them if it was that quiet.
After all, they had Sumeragi as their accomplished tactician too. But their own tactician was also equal in feat to her.
Floating in midspace, a certain mobile suit faced the space elevator against the black backdrop of space.
Louise Halevy was in that mobile suit.
For reasons unknown, she was stationed near the elevator far away from her own comrades. There was only important order that she had to follow no matter what.
Other than that order, she would not get involved in the case Celestial Being was to attack the A-laws fleet.
Her eyes followed the space vessel leaving the port of the elevator.
It was a sign for her. The Princess had been safely escorted to the elevator, and they were probably commencing the operations for the elevator to descend to the surface.
For this special mission, she had been specially equipped with a weapon.
Andrei had told her that it was a honour doing this job.
And so did Ribbon said too.
This was the best time for her to show her true prowess as a pilot.
The female pilot waited out in space, continuing to observe for any abnormalities.
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The space elevator started descending. There were only two people sitting, the Princess and the Representative.
The rest of the soldiers stood by the side of the vessel, standing guard.
Princess Marina was silent.
The representative flipped open a switch, turning on a holographic screen.
There was a video playing. It was a demostration. There were tons of people rioting, with placards containing her name.
Her eyes widened at the image.
Those were people not from her kingdom, but people that seemed from all over the world.
The rioters were seeing her as a defender of peace.
To her side, she could suddenly hear a click. Her face turned to see the barrel of a shotgun facing her.
'I have orders, Princess.'
The representative replied coldly, placing his finger softly on the trigger.
'This is unorthdox.'
'It is definitely unorthodox,' he responded. 'But if you aren't, the enemy will know you too well.'
She looked intently at the eyes of the representative.
He lowered his arm, suddenly showing the shotgun on his palm before her.
'Princess,' he continued. 'First Proposal by the Federation. Commit suicide.'
'So the Federation intends to get rid of me without trial?'
'On the pretext of killing yourself, we can explain ourselves to the public better.'
'And if I don't?'
The man, in one moment, repointed the gun at the Princess' forehead.
'Second Proposal is to have you killed by pretext of army's self-defence.'
He placed his finger on the trigger again, placing much pressure on it.
'I will die with honour.'
'Then that means you choose the second one,' he pressed harder on the trigger.
A loud bang sounded through the moving elevator vessel as it descended further down into the atmosphere.
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The computer system of Louise's mobile suit turned up a red sign. There was detection of an enemy. It had to be Celestial Being.
Reflexively, she was about to take control of her mobile suit and move to the fighting zone.
She paused awhile after thinking.
Her order was not to enter the battle area.
Her job here had a further significance.
Her system soon began to detect a certain gundam approaching the orbital elevator at full speed.
It was a very recognisable gundam.
The 00 Gundam.
That vessel was piloted by a person who betrayed her by not telling his idenity.
'Setsuna.'
Her eyes focused on the system which showed the location of the enemy gundam.
Anyone who had betrayed her could not be forgiven.
Unless they were dead of course.
Or maybe even not, as she thought.
She moved the position of her newly-equipped weapon to the direction of the space elevator. High density particles began to gather around the weapon.
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The representative fell onto the floor, forming a pool of blood.
The princess looked at the fallen soldider, turning her head to the source of the gunshot. It was one of the soldiers.
'...Why?'
The soldier removed its cap, revealing to be none other than a familiar person she had seen before.
'It's been a while, Marina.'
The spectacled girl gave a warm smile to the princess.
'Shirin? But...'
'It's a long story,' she made a gesture to the rest of the bodyguards. 'All of us Katharon members have infiltrated the elevator, leaving that representative unaware.'
Shirin walked to the side of the wall, using her shot gun to shoot directly into it. The metal wall was dented with the impact of the bullets on it.
'We'll stop the elevator,' she replied as she opened the metal cover, throwing it onto the floor with a clang. 'And the rescue vessel will take us away.'
'But...'
'Enough Marina,' she snapped back at her princess. 'There's no dying with honour. Just look at how the Federation is treating you like dirt.'
The princess remained silent as she observed the Katharon girl manipulating the controls at the side of the wall.
A bright light caught her attention.
She looked at the clear glass window which was now so bright that she could not see what was outside.
Everything was engulfed in blinding white light.
Various portions of the cabin within burst into flames.
The whole room burst into explosive flames.
The last sight the princess could see was the explosion before the flames covered her body from view.
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Louise looked at the midway elevator vessel which had exploded into flames. The space elevator was beginning to bend.
It was not actually bending.
Rather, it was breaking apart. The explosion caused by the beam from her weapon had caused the orbital elevator to break.
Several explosions began to spread from the affected area up to the spaceport.
As her eyes followed it, the broken portion had now bended far down that it had began to be pulled towards the surface by the gravity of the Earth.
'Withdraw for now.'
The intercom in her cockpit sounded, signalling that her job was done.
A certain laser shot came her way, making her almost unable to dodge it.
The 00 Gundam was attacking her mobile suit.
'Damn you Setsuna!' She cried out.
She pointed her weapon at the gundam.
'Withdraw! You're no match for that gundam!'
She could not defy orders. She lowered her gun, dodging another shot. Turning the mobile suit around, Louise launched her vessel back towards the A-laws fleet.
She had completed her mission.
Handing the princess over to the Federation was on purpose.
It was to show to the world, especially Celestial Being, that for the sake of achieving its aims, even a troublemaker of a princess could even be disposed of by A-laws.
The blonde-haired girl felt pride in her mission.
She had killed a terrorist branded as a high level one by the Federation.
Her mind only told her she was moving one more step to helping A-laws achieve its goals.
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Louise awoke from her bed. She deduced that she must have fallen asleep.
The light was even dimmer than before.
Her cabin had a very gloomy view.
Her ears picked up the breath of someone else in the room, causing her to widen her eyes.
'Princess Marina did not want war.'
The voice filled her ears. It was not any normal voice.
'Saji?'
She looked clearer at the shadow before her. It was the image of a young adult man with short hair.
'She only wanted to end fighting, just like what I wanted too.'
His tone was serious, and cold too.
This man had betrayed Louise before.
He had betrayed her by revealing himself to be none other than to be part of Celestial Being.
The blonde-haired girl gave a laugh certainly.
'I see you've managed to sneak your way aboard,' she turned on the light fully, facing him with a smile. 'Saji Crossroad.'
'Louise, you don't know what you're doing.'
'Princess Marina was a terrorist,' she answered.
'Come with me,' he handed out his hand to her. 'Let's throw everything away and go somewhere nobody can find us.'
'Don't joke with me,' she grinned. 'You can for you, but I can't.'
'But I'll promise you that I'll do my best to survive this war,' she continued.
'Louise...'
She approached him, giving him a hug suddenly, surprising the man.
'Someday, Saji,' she spoke sweetly as in their former days as teenagers. 'Someday...'
A smirk formed on her face.
A gunshot sound ensued, sounding through the room.
The sound of a body hitting the hard floor resounded again.
Louise looked at the body which had been her ex-boyfriend seconds ago.
'...it's you who has to die.'
There was a revolver in her hand, where smoke was emerging from the freshly-used barrel.
Saji lied lifelessly on the ground. A direct gunshot to his neck, it had caused his artery to rupture, causing a pool of blood to seep onto the floor.
The girl looked down at his body, replacing her face with a blank expression.
'For someone who desires such fake peace,' she spoke softly. 'You deserve a fate just like that wretched Princess Marina.'
She bended down slowly, placing both her delicate hands on both sides of his neck despite the copious amounts of blood staining it.
With a quick move, she twisted his neck sidewards, effectively breaking it.
Through such, she could then confirm he was dead. He was anyway, especially with those wide-open lifeless eyes of his.
Louise got up from her bending position. Walking to the side of her cabin, she pressed a red button.
'Warrant Officer Halevy reporting,' she projected her voice through the receiver. 'I have been attacked by a certain intruder. The intruder has been eliminated. Please come to the room to clean it up.'
And she looked at the body again after pressing the red button again to switch off the receiver.
She was neither smiling nor crying.
Her feelings were dead, just like a robot.
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The lime-green Innovator reopened his eyes.
He had been observing Louise's movements through his link with her.
There was another Innovator behind him. That superhuman had purple hair with glasses resting on his nose.
'Saji Crossroad is dead.'
Ribbons Almark began his words.
'Killed by the girl whom he loved.'
Regene Regetta folded his arms, looking at his leader.
'That is needless to say,' Ribbons got up, turning to his fellow Innovator. He began to walk towards the exit of the large hall he was in.
He turned back to face Regene again.
'I believe you know your ways of informing his dear friend.'
Regene only gave an emotionless expression back to Ribbons' back facing him.
THE END