SailorStar9: Chapter 23 goes up. This is Chapter 24. To all my non-reviewing readers, I love you all! Will love you more if you review! *hugs all round!*

Disclaimers: I don't own Sailor Moon and Gundam Seed since if I did own them both, the Planetary Senshi will have equal footing as Sailor Moon and Cagalli won't exist. But you don't see that happening do you?

Chapter 24: Grieving Skies

On the Archangel...

"Kira!" Miriallia echoed over the intercom. "Tolle, can you hear me? Please answer. Kira! Tolle! Kira!"

"What was the explosion?" Mu asked.

"I'm not sure." Murrue replied. "But currently, our connection with both Strike and Skygrasper Unit-2 have been lost."

"Kira! Kira!" Miriallia echoed frantically over the intercom. "Answer me! Tolle! Tolle!"

"That's enough." Natarle cut off the connection.

"Captain." she turned to Murrue. "What's the damage report of the ship? Nothing will be solved if we stay here like this."

"Master Sergeant Murdock." Murrue opened the link to the hanger.

"It's not too bad." Murdock replied. "We will be able to take off once we finish welding on the booster-bracket."

Meanwhile...

Dearka was led through the corridors with his hands bound while the Buster Gundam was loaded onto the mobile suit hangar.

"Lady Athena." one of the two soldiers turned when they sensed an overwhelming aura approaching them.

Dearka looked on, slack-jawed as Athena's Cosmo rippled outwards. That aura is… It's the first time I've ever felt that strong of an aura… it isn't like any I've felt before… it's very strong… no what I felt is beyond any other aura, like the universe itself! Probably no one has such a powerful aura! Could she be…!

"I'm sure you've felt me before in space." Athena told the silent blond. "But this is the first time we've met face-to-face."

In the hanger...

"We're collecting this?" one of the technicians asked.

"It was ours anyway." his companion replied. "It won't be good if we leave this here so somebody else can use it.

On the bridge...

"6 o'clock." Kuzzey reported. "Aircraft picked up on the radar. 3 of them."

"It's DINNs." Tonomura added. "Estimated time of an attack, 15 minutes."

"Prepare to intercept." Murrue gave the order.

"That's reckless." Natarle protested. "Currently, we can't even use half of our weapons. Like this, we can't even hold out 10 minutes against 3 DINN units."

"Kira!" Miriallia reopened the intercom. "Kira! Can you hear me? DINNs are..!"

"That's enough." Natarle cut off the connection. "Lieutenant Yamato and Private Kenihi are bot MIA. You know that."

"No way..." Miriallia gasped.

"Accept it." Natarle advised. "If you can't, you'll be the next ones to die."

"DINNs approaching." Tonomura reported. "11 minutes till their assault."

"Lies!" Miriallia was in denial.

"Milly!" Sai called out as the female CIC ran off.

"Power's returning." Neuman added.

"We're lifting off." Natarle ordered. ""Full speed ahead."

"Liftoff." Neuman echoed. "Full speed ahead."

"Where is the location where the Strike and Unit-2 were last confirmed?" Murrue asked.

"It was at a small island at 7 o'clock." Chandra replied.

"We can't go back there in this situation." Natarle protested.

"Major, how about your Unit-1?" Murrue asked.

"No, I can't go back out yet." Mu replied.

"Captain." Natarle voiced. "We'll be shot down if we don't retreat."

"But," Sai objected. "What if both Kira and Tolle escaped?"

"Did we contact Alaska headquarters yet?" Murrue pressed.

"There's no reply." Kuzzey replied.

"Captain." Natarle insisted. "Are you telling the whole crew to die together?"

"Maintain message attempts." Murrue replied. "Also, send a rescue signal and the location of the island to ORB."

"ORB?" Natarle echoed.

"It's a human rescue." Murrue reminded. ORB will heed to it."

"But, in that country..." Natarle protested.

"I'll take responsibility!" Murrue snapped.

"DINN approaching." Tonomura reported. "Distance: 8000."

"Engines at full speed." Murrue barked. "Our top priority now is to withdraw from here."

In the corridor...

"There's no way..." Miriallia muttered. "There's no way! Tolle!"

In the hanger...

"Are we withdrawing?" Mu wondered. "Captain?" before he noticed Miriallia heading towards the simulator.

"Tolle?" Miriallia looked into the simulator.

"Missy..." Mu muttered.

"Tolle..." Miriallia let her tears flow. "There's no way! MIA? There's no... because...! Because!" she sank to her knees and wept.

"Damn!" Mu slammed his fist onto the wall.

Elsewhere, upon receiving the rescue signal, Cagalli and Kisaka launched in a rescue plane.



On the Vosgulov submarine...

"Captain!" Yzak stormed in.

"You feeling better now?" the commander asked the pilot.

"What about Athrun and Dearka?" Yzak snapped. "The ship is moving, right? What's the situation?"

"Both are missing." the commander replied "We're received a return command from Captain Klueze."

"Missing?" Yzak echoed. "What do you mean missing?"

"I don't know the exact details." the commander answered. "First, we lost contact with Buster. Soon after, we confirmed a large explosion and we lost contact with the Aegis."

"What about rescue requests?" Yzak pressed.

"Nothing from either of them." the commander replied.

"Wha about the Strike and the legged-ship?" Yzak demanded.

"Bozman-squad is pursuing the legged-ship." the commander supplied.

"This is absurd..." Yzak growled. "Turn back right now! You think those two would die that easily? You think we wear red for nothing?"

"If so, then shouldn't your decisions also be cold-hearted?" the commander reminded. "We received a return command. Another squad will go out to search."

"But!" Yzak protested.

"A report came in saying that ORB is also moving." the commander informed. "Do you understand now?"

On the island...

The ORB rescue plane arrived at the island, landing near the wreckage of the Aegis and the severely damaged Strike.

"Looks like the red one self-destructed." Kisaka noted as they walked through the wreckage. "That's why the Strike is..."

"This is..." Cagalli approached the damaged Aegis.

"Stop, Cagalli!" Kisaka warned as Cagalli ran up to the Strike's cockpit, to find the seat melted.

"Kira..." she backed off.

"Cagalli." Kisaka muttered.

"He's not here!" Cagalli shouted. "What about his corpse? It might have been ejected. No, maybe he ejected alive."

"Cagalli!" Kisaka chided as the girl leapt off.

"Colonel Kisaka!" one of the rescuers shouted. "Over there!"

"Kira?" Cagalli stopped in her tracks.

"Kira!" she pushed the rescuers aside, only to find an unconscious Athrun on the beach.



On the ORB rescue plane...

Athrun awoke to find his arm bandaged in a sling.

"You're awake now?" Cagalli asked when the pilot struggled to get up.

"This is an ORB aircraft." she supplied, pointing a gun at him. "We've brought you here after finding you unconscious on the beach."

"ORB..." Athrun echoed. "What business does a neutral ORB have with me? No... they're with Earth now?"

"I want to ask you something." Cagalli remarked as Athrun pulled off the drip on his wrist. "Were you the one who destroyed the Strike?"

"That's right..." Athrun admitted.

"What did you do to the pilot?" Cagalli demanded. "Did he eject like you did? Or... I can't find Kira! Say something!"

"That guy was..." Athrun started. "Killed by me. I killed him. I... I bound him to the Aegis and had it self-destruct. There's no way he could have escaped. There was no other way! In order to get rid of him..."

"You bastard!" Cagalli jumped him.

"Shit!" she released her grip and slammed a fist onto the wall.

"But, why am I still alive?" Athrun wondered. "Is it because I escaped?"

"Or was it so you can shoot me?" he looked at the gun Cagalli was pointing at him.

"Kira was clumsy!" Cagalli said. "I never knew him what he thought about and he cried easily. But he was a kind person."

"I know." Athrun sighed. "He really didn't change. He's always been like that."

"You..." Cagalli stated.

"A crybaby and childish..." Athrun reminisced. "Even with great skills, he was still clumsy."

"You knew Kira?" Cagalli echoed.

"I knew him." Athrun let a smile creep up. "Very well. Since we were little. Always, we were good friends. We were close."

"But then..." Cagalli started. "Why? Why the hell did you have to kill him?"

"I don't know..." Athrun admitted. "I don't know. We went our separate ways... when I saw him again, we were enemies."

"Enemies..." Cagalli echoed.

"I told him many times to join with me." Athrun added. "He was a Coordinator! He was one of us. It's wrong for him to even be on Earth."

"You..." Cagalli started.

"But he never listened to me..." Athrun sobbed. "He fought against us, he hurt our people. He kille Nicol."

"So you killed Kira?" Cagalli concluded. "You?"

"He's an enemy of mine now." Athrun defended. "What other choice do I have?"

"You idiot!" Cagalli screamed. "Why does it have to be like that? Why does it have to be like that?"

"He killed Nicol!" Athrun snapped. "He loved to play the piano and he was only 15! Even then, he fought in order to protect PLANT!"

"Kira also fought to protect the things he wanted to protect!" Cagalli retorted. "Even if you were his friend, why did you have to kill him?"

"Kill because somebody was killed." she ranted. "Get killed because he killed. You think peace will ever come like that?"

On the Archangel...

"Torii!" Torii chirped on Athena's shoulder.

"Thank you, Torii." Athena smiled at the robotic bird. "I'm sure he's still alive."

"Torii!" Torii hopped off the Goddess' shoulder.

"A message from Blue Leader of the garrison." Tonomura reported as the battleship entered the Alaskan territorial waters. "'We will now withdraw'."

"Reply by thanking them." Murrue instructed.

"A registration request from the 18th Radar Site." Kuzzey added.

"It's our fist time docking in Alaska." Murrue noted. "Send our data. There should be no problems."

"But, thank goodness." Tonomura sighed in relief. "If the garrison was a second late, we would have been finished."

"But even so, the DINNs retreated a bit too easily." Sai pointed out.

"Even they probably wouldn't want to fight with Alaska by entering their territorial sphere." Chandra supplied.

"Is Alaska that much of a..." Sai blinked.

"How long are you going to be relaxed?" Natarle reminded. "We're still at second level of battle status."

"I'm sorry." Murrue stated. "I guess it's okay now. The second shift can have a break."

"Cancel second level battle status." Sai reported. "Second shifters may take a break."

"Captain!" Murdock complained over the intercom.

"Yes?" Murrue blinked.

"Captain, you try talking him down." Murdock requested. "Major Fraga keeps telling us to fix his unit. He's being hotheaded and wants to fix it so that he can go search for the boy."

In the hanger...

"Please?" Mu requested. "I'm asking you nicely."

"Major"! Murrue called. "I cannot give you permission to launch! Please let the maintainence crew rest."

"There's no word from ORB yet, right?" Mu asked.

"Yes, but..." Murrue started.

"The ship is fine now." Mu replied. "Then it's okay."

"No, I cannot allow it." Murrue insisted.

"But!" Mu protested. "If those kids did escape...!"

"I know!" Murrue replied. "When we can, I want to go searching for them. But, we can't do that right now."

"Captain..." Mu muttered.

"In this situation, I can't have you of out there alone." Murrue added. "If you were to not return, then I..."

"For now, we'll trust ORB." she composed herself, before finishing the sentence. ""For Kira and Tolle, please stay."

"Roger. Mu nodded.

In the corridor...

"Private Argyle." Natarle called and handed Sai two cardboard boxes. "I'd like you to clean up the belongings of Private Kenihi and Lieutenant Yamato."

"Belongings?" Sai echoed. "But it's still..."

"The captain has acknowledged them as MIA." Natarle reminded. "That's an order. If you can't accept it and just cry over it, you'll be the one to die next. That's what a battlefield is."

In Tolle's quarters...

Sai entered the dark room and was stunned to see Miriallia on a bed.

"Miriallia." he hid the boxes behind his back.

"Anything from Tolle?" Miriallia looked up.

"No." Sai replied. "But he'll be okay probably. The captain asked ORB to search for them. She said we might be able to find out something once we get back to headquarters."

"Yeah, probably..." Miriallia muttered. "There's no way..."

"Let's go to the kitchen." Sai offered, after sliding the boxes behind the bunker. "You shouldn't be here alone."

In the corridor...

"Seriously!" Dearka protested. "Stop treating me so bad! I'm wounded here. Geez... how long are you planning on keeping me here?"

"Shut up!" one of the escorts snapped.

"It's the pilot of the Buster." Neuman supplied, seeing Sai and Miriallia. "He's young."

"Sending children to the battlefield." Athena shook her head. "What's the world coming to these days?"

"So, a ship like this has a cute little girl, like this?" Dearka peered at Miriallia.

"Hey!" one of his escorts prodded.

"How stupid." Dearka snorted. "What are you crying for? I should be the one who wants to cry."

"Stop." Aisha pulled the enraged boy back. "It's prohibited to do anything harsh to a prisoner."

Elsewhere...

A ZAFT plane landed near the ORB plane.

"The escorts have arrived." Kisaka informed.

"Okay." Cagalli nodded.

"Athrun." she told the pilot. "The escorts are here. We can't take ZAFT soldiers into ORB."

"Hey, are you okay?" she chided.

"You're definitely a strange one." Athrun noted. "Am I supposed to say thank you? I'm not sure right now."

"Wait a minute." Cagalli started, pulling off her pendent.

"It's an olive branch, sacred to Athena." she supplied, putting the necklace on him. "You're too unstable. Get some protection from that."

"Even if I killed Kira?" Athrun asked.

"I don't want to see anyone else die, no matter who it is." Cagalli replied.

"You prick!" Yzak snapped from the escort plane. "What the hell did you come back to life for?"

"Strike was destroyed." Athrun informed him once he boarded the plane.

On PLANT...

"Why did you do that?" Lacus chided. "You shouldn't do that, Green-chan. Of you do that, I won't play with you."

"Pink-chan, you shouldn't do that over there." she looked over at the pink Haro which had bounced over to the pavilion where Kira laid.

"Good morning." she greeted when Kira opened his eyes.

Meanwhile...

"I see you're awake." Ushio noted as Nicol peered open his eyes.

"Where am I?" the former Blitz pilot choked.

"Athena's Sanctuary." Sho replied, handing him a glass of water.

"I'm alive?" Nicol echoed in surprise. "How can this be? I'm supposed to be dead."

"You were saved." Sho answered. "By Athena's Cosmo. Afterall, Athena's not about to let one of her Saints die a meaningless death."

SailorStar9's rant on the episode: Given the battles of the last two episodes, it's not surprising that we don't see one here. Also, given the fact that everything's wrecked, it's not even possible. I was surprised that Murrue left without Kira and Tolle, but she really had no other choice. Yet again, Natarle demonstrates that she has no feelings and really doesn't care for anyone else. She repeatedly tells everyone they'll die if they can't accept that Kira and Tolle are dead, and she forces Sai to clean out their stuff. Athrun meets Cagalli again, and this time it's also at gunpoint. Personally, I found their encounter a bit overlong and filled with too much crying, which seems to be going all around this episode. Finally, Kira is revealed to indeed be alive, but how did he get to a PLANT? According to the ASTRAY manga, pilot Lowe Guele found him on the beach and handed him over to the blind man Malchio. How nice and coincidental for Kira that Lowe just happened to be there.