Here is the second to last chapter. I hope you like it. Leave me a review and tell me what you think.
I'm still looking around for people who are willing to beta my Owari story. After this story is over, I would like some help going over Owari v.2. If you are interested, send me a message.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Seed Destiny
There was a muffled noise as the cannon fired, like it was being blown under water. Yzak's face fadded slightly, ignoring all the calls from his staff. He stood up from his chair, staring at the beam of light that began to illuminate the screen. They would be killed, all of them.
Shiho...
He closed his eyes as the blast reached them.
A blue and white blur streaked across the viewscreen. Holding up a sheild, it deflected the blast from the other ship. Yzak opened his eyes, hearing the initial contact. The beam was split down the middle by the gundam's sheild. Yzak stumbled foreward, trying to steady himself as the blast passed by the Voltaire.
They were alive.
A strange silence past over the bridge as the mobile suit that had just saved them came into view. It was blue, white, and striped with orange-yellow color on a few of the edges. The other members of the bridgecrew might not have recognized it right away, but Yzak did.
"The Duel."
Shiho gritted her teeth, glancing backwards at the Voltaire. It was not in any danger of explosion, but it would not last much longer if it continued to battle Grein and his ship. Captain Grein hailed her, and his disheveled face came up on her viewscreen. Seeing who she was, she took in a feeling of satisfaction as the color drained from his face.
"You're sheilds are almost completely gone, captain." she said, "I warned you not to screw with me."
"Hahnenfuss!" he yelled, "I destroyed your ship! You're dead!"
She frowned, "I've come back from hell to pay you for that favor."
He ground his teeth together, "I'll kill you. You and the rest of your damn race in the name of Djibril-sama and Blue Cosmos!"
"You fight with your principles and as a captain myself I admired that, even though they are sick and twisted." she said, "You may fight for your reasons, but I will not stand back and let you destroy my fiance's ship."
"Fiance-" he stopped, and the he burst out laughing. "That's rich! Djibril-sama knew that Jule was engaged. Who'd ever suspect that it was to Captain Shiho Hahnenfuss herself?"
Drawing the double beam sabers, she activated them.
"That last one was for Yzak." she said, "This one is for myself."
The Duel shot towards the Cosmos ship, and with one swoop, she used a saber to slice through the bridge of the ship. It exploded behind her as she flew across the length of the ship, using her second sword to slice through the engines. Clearing the way, the entire ship was engulfed in smoke and flames as it exploded.
As the bright lights from the debris of the ship fadded in her field of vision, she turned back to the Voltaire. There was not much time left until the enemy troops would call for further reinforcements. She needed to regroup the remaining allies and launch an organized attack. Although the whole fleet was a little worse for wear, without Grein's ship, they had gained the upper hand.
There was a beep on her system as she was hailed. It was the Voltaire.
She sucked in a breath of air, and pressed the switch with shaking hands.
"Hail the Duel." Yzak told his CIC, not bothering to sit down his chair. The CIC nodded, and began to work through the damaged communication system. They had all watched as the gundam destroyed the Naszca Class warship. Everyone was well aware that not just any mobile suit could destroy a whole starship by itself, so any doubts of whether it was the Duel or not, were gone. Yzak suspected that it came from his mother's base, and that she originally intended it to be made for him. Whoever was piloting it was skilled, but it was his gundam and he felt strange not knowing who it was inside his old suit.
"I have the pilot on the line, sir." the CIC reported.
"Put them on screen."
Yzak stared at the figure that came up on screen. Catching the rank bars on the pilot's flightsuit, he was not surprised to find that the pilot was ranked captain.
Yzak smirked, "You saved our asses, captain."
There was a pause as they waited for the person to respond.
"All fair in love and war, Jule. I owed them a debt of revenge myself." she said, it was a woman in the gundam's cockpit.
That voice. No way...
"I'm going to assume command of the squadrons." she said.
With that the screen blinked out. Yzak's heart had stopped, and he stumbled backwards, falling into his chair.
"Get her back on." he said, his voice had dropped a few octaves.
"I can't, sir." the CIC said, "She's blocking me. She taking control of the troops though."
They were going to win the battle now. The enemy's flag ship had been destroyed, so now all Yzak had to do was sit and watch, not that the Voltaire could do anything else. His mind was racing with thoughts. In his head he knew that woman pilot was familiar, but it could not be Shiho. He had seen her ship destroyed with his own eyes, and they had not been able to recover any of the escape shuttles.
He would sit and wait for the battle to be over to make sure.
Cagali stood on Orb's beach, looking at the ruins of the ships in the distance, and the smoke rising from around the edges of the island. They had managed to keep the battle contained, there were only a few casualities in the main city blocks. Prisonars were being escorted to Carpentaria to be held. The brig system there was much larger, and would give them more time to keep the Cosmos soldiers there while deciding what to do with them.
"You look so deep in thought, Cagali-sama."
Rayena Yuna smiled, walking in her direction. Cagali bowed slightly,
"Thank you for your help. We would have been in a lot of trouble."
"It was really no trouble. Besides its Captain Jule that you should thank, he's the one that's been kicking butts in space to try and win this war."
Cagali drew in a deep breath of the air, she missed the ocean. Other then the desert, she felt the most at home at sea. Her father had always teased her about being so environmentally flexible when she was younger and in training. She was never the sort to go to balls in frilly dresses.
The remaining Cosmos ships were being escorted to the base by the Archangel and a mutltitude of other ships from ZAFT, Orb, and other allied forces. Looking towards the gundams a fair distance down the beach, Yune laughed,
"They are too skilled for their own good. How is it that four gundams manage to protect a place like this?"
"They fight with their souls. Good pilots always do." Cagali said, watching the cockpit door to the Justice open, and Athrun jumped down. He began chatting with Kira, Shinn, and Lunamaria. Kira said something, Shinn made a face, and they all burst out laughing. She turned to Rayena, "Excuse me."
Runing down the dune on the beach, she waved her arms towards her friends. Athrun noticed her first, breaking away from the others, he swept her up in his arms.
"Hey soldier." she smiled, looking up at him from his arms.
"Hey princess." his forehead touched hers, "Saved by luck again, huh?"
"I guess so." she laughed, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It takes more then impossible odds, an overwhelming number of enemy ships, and dire straights to hurt me."
Cagali burst out laughing again, wrapping her arms around his neck. She loved this man more then life itself. He leaned over and kissed her, pulling her tighter into his arms. They were completely oblivious to the onlooking of others till Lunamaria shouted at them.
"Hey you two! Get a room!"
Cagali blushed instantly, and Athrun turned around to stick his tongue out at them.
"Oh, that's mature, Zala." Shinn made a face.
Athrun set her down and pulled her along as they headed over to talk to the others. There was still a lot that needed to be done, and Cagali knew that she would be spending a long time working on the reconstruction of Orb...again. But at the moment, all they wanted to do was celebrate that everyone was okay and alive, and she did not have any qualms with that.
Over in the distance, they heard a roar. Kira noticed it first, turning his head towards the north, and he saw a ship sailing towards them. He gasped,
"EVERYONE DUCK!"
The ship slammed into the beach before anyone could stop it. Sand, rock, and debris blew in every direction. Cagali found herself yanked to the ground, and Athrun threw himself over her. When the air settled, they all looked as Orb gaurds and other personal headed in their direction. Cagali frowned, what was going on?
"That's a Cosmos ship." Shinn said, pulling Luna with him as he stood.
They all jumped as the door to the ship began to open. Soldiers surrounded them, follow by Captain Yune, all their guns were pointed directly on the ship. There was a moment of silence as the ramp to the small shuttle hit the ground with a loud thunk. The ship was covered in scorch marks and blast marrs, and it looked like it had come a long way.
Cagali stepped in front of Athrun, ignoring a sound of protest that he made.
"Whoever you are, come out now."
There was another long paused, and then a distinct noise of footsteps. From the dark inside of the ship, two figures showed up. The girl, Cagali did not recognize, but she had someone slung on her shoulder, a tall man. Both of them looked frazzled, and then man she carried was covered with injuries. That was not the first thing Cagali recognized, however.
The girl wore a ZAFT uniform and the man wore an Orb uniform.
"Please!" the girl called, she had a thick french accent, "Please, help us!"
Cagali ordered the gaurds to lower their guns, and called for the medic. The two strangers sunk to the ground and Cagali and Athrun reached them. Athrun instantly recognized the man that now lay in the new girl's lap.
"That's Commander Remi Fredericksen of the Coursica." he said.
"What?" Cagali looked at him, recognizing him despite his battered face.
"My name is Suisette, and this is my brother. Please, you must listen to me!" Sue grabbed on the edge of Cagali's sleeve, "It's very important!"
"What is it?" Cagali said, "It's okay, now. You two will be safe here."
"No! None of us are safe! We must contact Ezaria-sama and the others and warn them!"
"Warn them of what?" Cagali asked, kneeling down next to Sue.
"The Requiem. Djibril has the Requiem aimed at Earth!" she said, reaching into her uniform pocket and taking out a disk. She thrust it into Cagali's hands, "Please. Please warn them. If we do not act quickly then it will be too late."
Cagali's blood ran cold the moment Sue told her about the Requiem. She stared at the disk in her hand and turned to Kira and Athrun. Athrun was already in action, shouting orders to the others, and Kira promptly took the disk from Cagali and headed towards Morgenrate.
"Cagali-sama." Rayena approched her.
"Send a message to the Voltaire." she said, "I don't care who does it or how it happens, just do it. Everyone's lives depend on it."
Yzak sat on the bridge, watching the battle die down. He was receiving confirmation from the allied troops of where battles were ending.
"What's the situation?" he asked, almost as an afterthought.
"We've completely taken control of the field." Bjorkland answered, "Most of the fighting has died down, and the other captains are reporting back confirmation of surrenders of the Cosmos fleet. As for the Voltaire, the fires around the engine room have been put out, and workers are trying to repair out main systems as well as then engines."
"Put priority on the systems. There's nothing left to really do now except wait for reports to come in." he said, "Send a message to bring back our squadrons so we can take scope of the damage and repair what we have."
"Yes sir."
He turned to the CIC, getting out of his seat and half-levitating, half-walking towards the elevator. He was too dizzy and exhausted to do one or the other. "Order the pilot of the Duel to return here as well."
"But sir-" he started, and stopped as he saw the pale, tired face of his captain. Yzak looked like he was going to drop where he stood. His face was still covered with blood and there were dark circles under his eyes. The hours without sleep, the battlle, as well as the physical and emtional fight he had been raging over the last week and half was tearing at him. Nodding, the CIC turned back to his console, "She says that she is on her way."
"Bjorkland, take command. Send the injured to the infirmary, and get a formal damage report." he stepped in the elevator. Once the door shut, he let out a sigh, leaning into the wall. He could barely stand. What he really needed was a few hours of sleep, a trip to the doctor, a cup of coffee, and a couple asprin but there was one other pressing matter that he needed to attend to first.
When the elevator opened on the correct floor, he ran down the hallway as fast as he could.
Dearka jumped out of his GINN, yanking off his helmet as he and the other squads watched the Duel land in the mobile suit hanger. It was a magnificant machine, and judging by what he had seen, it was not even the tip of the iceberg. When the suit powered down, the cockpit opened, and a woman pilot stepped out.
A woman?, Dearka's eyebrows went up. There were not many women pilots that were skilled enough to operate a gundam. He could count the ones he knew on his hands, one of them being Shiho. But he knew that it could not be her, Shiho was supposed to be dead.
Lowering herself out of the cockpit, she walked up to Dearka. He reached out a hand and shook hers.
"You're quite skilled." he said, "Thanks for the help. Take off your helmet at least, I think all of us want to know what our savior looks like."
She reached up to take her helmet off. As she did this, Dearka noticed the bay door open, and Yzak came in. He was breathing like he had just been running a marathon, and Dearka was surprised that Yzak could even stand at all, noticing how terrible the Voltaire captain looked.
Yzak's breath stopped, his blue eyes fixed on the pilot in front of them.
She pulled off her helmet, her long brown hair falling freely around her shoulders. Not binding it together like she usually did when she left the base, it drapped around her shoulders and her back. Dearka's mouth dropped open when her violet eyes opened, and she grinned at him.
"What's wrong, Dearka?" Shiho asked, "Never seen a dead person before?"
He opened his mouth to say something, and then his eyes fell on Yzak. Seeing that Dearka was staring behind her, Shiho turned around, her hands gripping tighter on the flight helmet in her hands. Yzak was staring at her, his wide eyes fadded a second to a different look that she had never seen before.
There were tears in his eyes.
Shaking his head violently, pulling together all the rest of the energy he had, he ran towards her.
Flinging her helmet aside, she ran at him. She did not care that the entire crew was watching them, or that they would probably loose their jobs, or be thrown in prison...she just did not care anymore.
Yzak through his arms around her, crushing her into his chest. She started to cry herself, burying her face into his uniform. He was so tired he could barely stand, she could feel him shaking as he held her. Biting his own lip to keep himself from crying with her, he turned her face in his hands, looking into her eyes.
It was her.
"Yzak-"
His mouth closed over her lips, his hands digging in her hair. He had to make sure that was real, not just some hallucination brought on by his head injury. When he felt her kiss him back, her arms moving to wrap around his neck, he suddenly decided that he did not care if it was a mind trick or not. At least he could see her again.
"Yzak." she murmured into his lips, "I told you back then...don't you remember?"
His eyes stared at her as she smeared the tears out of his eyes, trying to brush some of the hair out of his face that was sticking to the blood from his head wound.
Shiho touched her forehead to his, "I'd never leave you. I promised I never would."
A smile spread across his face, and he suddenly felt like it was okay to let go of everything. Shiho gasped as his legs gave out, and he collapsed into her arms. Unable to compensate for the sudden dead wait, she cradeled him in her arms, sinking to the floor herself. Suddenly taking in the full extend of his appearence, an alarmed look filled her eyes as people rushed to their aid.
"Yzak!" she shook him. His forehead was warm, and only god knew what other things he had wrong with him, "Someone take him to the infirmary!"
His head rest against her shoulder, a soft smile still touching the corners of his mouth.
Yzak's eyes cracked open slightly, and he stared dazed at the ceiling. Had he really seen her, or had it been a dream-
Shiho's face came into his field of vision. No, it had not been a dream.
"Shiho?"
"You dummy." she said, "You need to sleep and eat to survive! You can't just and live off coffee for weeks. The doctor says that you have a fever, anemia, a concussion that you somehow managed to-"
She yelped as he grabbed her arms and pulled her into the bed with him. Despite his weakened state, he was still strong. Before she could open her mouth to berate him for exerting himself, he kissed her.
"I just had to make sure you were real." he said, kissing her again, and then rest his cheek on her forehead, "That you just weren't some...trick."
"I'm real enough." she smiled.
"I saw...oh gods..." he laid a hand on her face, "I would give up everything not to have seen your ship destroyed. I-I...I thought..." he did not finish the sentence, "Where have you been? What are you doing with my old gundam? What has-"
"Woah." she smiled, brushing her fingers over his lips, "Only one question at a time. I survived the explosion, I'll tell you about that later. As for where I've been, I was with your mother. She had me hidden on her base to keep away from Blue Cosmos. The Duel was orignally supposed to be for you, but she gave it to me instead. She said was a wedding present."
He snorted, "Some wedding present."
"That's what I said." she said, still brushing her hand over his face, "Don't worry, we'll have plently of time later to talk about it. I don't really want to think about it now. You're exhausted and you need sleep."
"Will you stay with me?" he asked. His arms closing around her.
"Sure." she said, leaning back into the pillows.
She threaded her fingers through his white hair, listening to him breath deeply when a com link sounded in the back of her mind. She pressed the button on the monitor next to her head.
"Yes?"
There was a pause, "Hahnenfuss?" it was Bjorkland.
She smiled, "Hello, commander. Long time no see."
There was silence, and then he laughed, "No kidding. Say, there's an urgent message from Orb."
"Captain Jule is in no condition to come to the bridge. I'll be right there." she said, sliding out of his arms . His eyes fluttered open, only to have his lips kissed, "Go back to sleep, love. I'll be back."
Yzak nodded and fell back asleep.
Shiho marched down the hallway, dressed in a captain's uniform. It felt good to have it on again. When she walked on the bridge, she was greet with smiles, cheers, and whistles.
"It's damn good to see you, ma'am." Bjorkland shook her hand, "Promotion?"
"Long story." she smiled, "What's the problem?"
"We got a message from Orb. It's Cagali-sama." he said.
Looking at Yzak's captain chair, she smiled to herself, but turned to the CIC instead, "Pull it on the main screen."
Cagali's face come on the viewer, and she gasped.
"Shiho-san?" Cagali stared at her, her face white as a ghost.
"It seems I couldn't stay dead." Shiho told her, "What's wrong?"
Cagali shook her head, her expression returning to that of desperate concern, "We have a problem. How much time until the Voltaire is repaired?"
"A while. We'll have full power in 4 hours, but we only have 3 out of 4 operational engines."
"You need to alert troops in space and the rest of the allies." Cagali said, "It's about Djibril."
Shiho frowned, "What is it?"
"Requiem." Cagali told her, "The Requiem is aimed on Earth."
There is one more chapter and an epilogue after this, they will probably be up at the end of the week. I've already started working on the next story, and the first chapters of that will be up next week. Finals are going well, and I ended up doing better in one class then I thought I was going to, so I'm happy. I have a bit of a cold this week, so if there is a delayed update, it's just because I've been sleeping more then anything lately.
Yay...sleep...
I hope you liked the chapter! Leave a review and tell me what you think!
Arigato
Lilith