Mu La Flaga POV
When Mu La Flaga awoke, he found himself on the beach of a tropical island, the waves splashing around him with the soothing sounds of the ocean and tropical wildlife filling his surroundings.
"What the hell?" Mu swore to himself. The last he remembered, he was inside of the Ptolemaeus Lunar Base, attending a meeting on the upcoming ZAFT operation. He remembered how and many others of the squad collapsed in pain, their souls being lit on fire as something strange was occurring in their bodies.
While Mu could feel the distant pain of his squadmates, he saw something different. He saw a woman, the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid his eyes on, the living embodiment of perfection. Despite the fact that he had never seen her once in his life, Mu knew that she was the love of his life, someone close to him that he needed to protect at all costs. He tried to reach out to her, to get into contact with her, however with each step he took the distance between the two grew farther. Mu ran, desperately doing everything he could to close the distance, but it was to no avail. She kept on getting farther and farther away, until she was nothing but a distant image, completely out of his reach.
To Mu, this was the worst experience that he ever felt in his life, him being at his most vulnerable and being unable to reach out and hold onto the woman he loved. Yet despite all of this, he had never seen her and didn't know who she was.
Mu got up and attempted to find his bearings, and found himself completely surprised that neither his uniform nor body were wet or covered with sand despite him being planted face first on the beach and his pants reaching out into the water. Mu reached out and made contact with the water, yet felt complete emptiness. Well...not quite. It was hard to describe, but he knew that the water was there and that he was making contact with it, but he couldn't feel the familiar wet sensation and his hands remained completely dry.
"So I'm in a lucid dream huh? Well...I wish for a stack of a billion dollars and a spaceship!" Mu shouted, yet finding no change to his immediate environment.
Mu shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, worth the shot." He said to himself. Then again, he never really had lucid dreams before so he didn't know how they worked and he probably couldn't just pop things into existence. At the very least, it had to be a lucid dream. He couldn't just transport from the moon to a deserted island instantaneously while also not feel water and sand.
Bored and hoping that the dream would soon end, Mu began to walk around the shore of the island. In the distance he spotted what looked like a couple, a blonde man and a brunette woman, walking side by side with hands along the beach until they stopped.
"Hey there!" Mu yelled, waving to the two. Neither one responded, once more affirming to Mu that this was most likely a dream. Wanting to see just what the heck his inner conscious had cooked up, Mu decided to travel and see just who these two were.
Mu briskly jogged over to the two lovers, who seemed to be having an intimate moment. When he got close enough to get a good look, he stopped dead in his tracks and stood in shock. The brunette was the same woman who he was trying to reach out to in the squad room. Or at the very least, appeared to be the same woman.
The woman who he had been chasing earlier was far younger, most likely in her early to mid twenties. This person was slightly older, either in her late twenties or early thirties. Despite being older, she was just as if not more beautiful, radiating an aura of charm and grace mixed with wisdom and maturity. She was sporting a tropical sundress, one that did nothing but help to radiate her unwordly appearance in combination with the exotic environment.
"Murrue." Mu whispered softly, himself surprised by the name he uttered. Somehow he knew that this was the name of the angel before him, it just felt right.
"Murrue. Murrue. Murrue. Murrue Ramius." Mu said, each word feeling so strong and right.
Mu then looked to the man on her left, and found himself completely stupefied when the man appeared to be none over than an older version of him. His hair was far longer, slightly just staying above his shoulders and in an unruly mess. He also seemed to wear an Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts, something that fit well with the environment. Another striking feature that Mu noticed was that he had some sort of ugly scar that went through the center of his left cheek and then branched off into a fork to split across his nose and forehead. Despite this ugly feature, Murrue didn't seem to mind at all, gazing at him with complete adoration and love.
The fact that Mu was somehow completely aware of what was going on scared him. This was no ordinary dream, he shouldn't be able to know with such perfect clarity the identity of a woman who didn't exist and see his future self talking a romantic walk with her. Something was very wrong.
Mu ran up to them to try to ascertain just what the heck was happening, with his hand reaching out to Murrue's back, only to phase right through her, herself seeming to not care or notice him at all. When he got closer, Mu was able to hear what their conversation was about, though only the tale end of it.
"Murrue, ever since the war ended I've been a broken man. I had my entire past taken away from me, my identity, taken away from me. I had nothing left, I was a monster and I had no way to repent for all that I had done. Despite all of this, you stayed by my side, helping me along each step as I recovered, as I regained the humanity that I lost. You could have left at any time, hell I wanted you to leave at some points, you deserve so much better than a mess like me." The other Mu said.
"Mu, I would never leave you." She said softly.
"I know, and that makes me the luckiest guy in the world. I want continue being together with you for plenty of years to come. I want us to have children, raise a family, and grow old together. I don't care what path life takes me on, so long as I get to spend the rest of my days with you." The other Mu then got down to one knee, causing Murrue to get excited, with Mu pretty sure of what was to come next.
"Murrue Ramius, will you marry me?" Mu asked, pulling a box out of his pocket and presenting to her an engagement ring with a large diamond.
"YES!" She shouted excitedly, Mu then stood up and the two then engaged in a long passionate kiss. After they had seperated, the other Mu put the ring on Murrue's finger, signalling the start of their new life.
"Quite a happy scene huh? If only she knew that her Prince Charming was a fraud and that I, or I guess we, have been long dead for years at this point. She just said yes to a doopleganger with my will." Said a bitter voice behind Mu, one that sounded exactly like his own.
"What the hell?!" Mu exclaimed, turning around to find well...himself. Unlike the man who had just proposed to Murrue, this version of Mu was someone that looked like him as he was now. The main difference between the two was that Mu was currently wearing his Atlantic Space Force casual fatigues while his opposite was wearing his trademark purple pilot suit.
"Wait, you can see me?" Mu said in shock.
Pilot Mu gave a sad smile in response, "Yeah, I was the one who brought you here."
"What kind of a sick dream is this?" Mu questioned. In response he was met with a light slap across the face from pilot Mu. Despite the fact that it should have been a dream, Mu keenly felt the light sting from contact, one made harder with the gloves of the pilot suit.
"Look, I don't have a lot of time left, I wasted some getting you to witness that little spectacle so I'll be straight and get to the point. This isn't a dream, but this isn't reality either. Right now we are at a point outside the boundaries of space and time, I brought us here thanks to the huge cracks left by Zeon's entrance into our reality. What I'm showing to you right now is the future, a future where we die at the end of the war and the woman we love, Murrue Ramius, spends the rest of her life with that damned impostor standing right next to her." Pilot mu said, pointing with venom at the third version of himself who was hugging Murrue as the tide slowly surrounded them.
"That man right there is a botched clone that our father made to try to replace us, technically our half-brother. The only reason he got together with Murrue is because I was stupid enough to try to fight back and stay on Earth after I died. Since my body was dead my soul couldn't remain, so a small fraction of us, our will, found him and latched onto his body, making him believe that he was us and we somehow made it out of the war alive and we were brainwashed. He willingly killed his previous identity and transformed into a copy of us, well technically he is but mostly biologically, he still should have been his own person."
The revelation left Mu in a large state of shock, his mouth gaping wide open in shock at the fantastical exposition that had just been dumped onto him.
"Wait a minute! So you're saying that you are a dead version of me, from the future, who came back in time to warn me that the woman over there-"
"Murrue." Pilot Mu said, insisting that his past self call her that.
"Murrue, fell in love with a clone of us created by our father, who thinks he's us because a piece of our soul latched onto him?!"
"Pretty much. Glad I don't have to repeat things twice with you."
"Oh my God, I'm going insane." Mu said, dropping down onto the beach and slapping himself in a desperate attempt to wake up from whatever delusion that he was in. He was stopped by Pilot Mu, who crouched and held both of his arms.
"Oh no you don't. I'm really not supposed to be here and I'm not going to waste what valuable time I have left watching you have a meltdown. Hang on a second." Pilot Mu then took his right hand and centered it on Mu's forehead, closing his eyes and concentrating. Mu was about to take it off, until he felt a sudden click, as if a bolt of lightning was striking him. Within a fraction of a second, Mu felt his perception increase exponentially with what he felt like his soul awakening. It was a sensation similar to what Mu had felt many times in his life, only on a much larger scale.
Pilot Mu let his hand go and opened his eyes. When he did so, Mu felt a sudden connection be opened to his counterpart, with him knowing that every word that he said was the truth.
"You believe me now?" Pilot Mu said, with Mu slowly nodding his head. "Good."
"Wait a minute, if you're dead, does this mean that there's an afterlife?" Mu said in shock.
"Yep. Fortunately I was good enough that I traveled to the clouds and earned my wings. Normally I would have absolutely no power to do something this big, but an impossible opportunity came up and I grabbed it with both arms. Just hope the big guy is merciful when I get back." Pilot Mu said, as if confirming the existence of heaven was just the most natural thing in the world.
While Mu wanted to ask a million and one questions on just what the afterlife was like, he could feel the slight agitation from his counterpart and knew that he shouldn't waste time. "Wait, so if you're from the future, are you going to tell me about everything that leads up to your, my, our death?" Mu asked.
Upon receiving the question, Mu could feel his future self suffer from a mixed feeling of nostalgia and sadness. "I wish I could, but sadly the same event that gave me the opportunity to come here has pretty much erased most of our likely futures. Most of what I went through has been completely erased and will not show up in the new timelines of this reality. You're going to walk thousands of different possible paths, and almost none of them will bare any resemblance to what led to my death. The existence of Zeon has made sure of that." Pilot Mu said.
It was the second time Mu heard that word, and his future self seemed to place great importance on it. "What's a Zeon?"
"You'll find out soon enough, but basically it's a new nation that comes from a reality much like ours yet completely different. Zeon's going to be very important to your future. Depending on what come's next, it'll either be a great ally or your worst enemy. Keep them close and be cautious of the Zabi family." Pilot Mu said.
"Is that what you came to warn me about?" Mu asked.
"Not exactly, but it is part of it." Mu then went silent, staying still for a couple of seconds before getting highly frustrated. "Dammit, I'm running out of time. Okay, here's the powerpoint version of what's important.
Like I said, most of what I went through doesn't matter, but there are still some common threads that matter. First off is Murrue Ramius. Find her, and when you meet her go after her and don't let go. She is the most important person we will ever meet and she was my entire world when I died. I had to wait a long time to meet her again, and when I did, she was all but a complete stranger to me. No matter where the hell this war goes to, unless the fate of humanity is at stake, she is the most important. Do. Not. Screw this up.
Second is Mr. Fraud, a guy who guys by the name Neo Roanoke. I can't explain too much, but like I said, he's a clone Dad tried to replace us with. You probably won't find him on your own, just take the time to look into what Dad was doing before he died. The trail will either lead you to him or you'll cross paths sooner or later. He's not a definite enemy, just deal with him one way or the other.
Speaking of, Dad also has a bunch of clones of himself running around. The most important is Rau Le Creuscet. In addition to protecting Murrue, kill Rau at all costs. As long as that demon breathes, humanity is a couple steps closer to killing itself. The others are relatively harmless. When you meet Rau in battle, do everything you can to end his life.
With Zeon's existence, your inherent powers shall soar to new heights and you shall gain new abilities. You are a Newtype, remember that and embrace it strongly. Your soul has great potential and with luck and training you may be able to fulfill it. Find others like us and help them survive and thrive. We made the jump too early and the future is going to be wild and uncertain. Humanity shall either embrace or reject its potential, help them embrace it.
Lastly, this war you're fighting in is going to be bigger than you could possibly think it is. This conflict is going to help determine the path humanity walks upon, whether we evolve or bring an apocalypse on ourselves. It's far from black and white and you're going to find enemies and friends on both sides. Don't restrict yourself with nations or ideology, fight for what you believe is right. Stick on the best path and the future gets a little bit brighter.
Pilot Mu then stood up, with Mu mirroring him. "Did you get all of that?"
Mu slowly nodded, "I think so, but it doesn't make a lot of sense."
Pilot Mu smiled to him sadly, "You'll understand one way or another. I wish I could stay longer, but this is a miracle enough as it is and I'll take what I can get. Just remember what I said and you'll be okay.
Pilot Mu then put both his hands and laid on Mu's shoulders. "Good luck." He simply said, then pushing Mu, causing him to fall backwards into what felt like an eternal void.
With a heavy gasp, Mu awoke with cold sweats and found himself not on that tropical island, but in what appeared to be a medical ward filled with Atlantean doctors, lying in a single bed with the rest of the room being filled with unconscious members of his squad.
As the doctors quickly moved to check in on him. Mu La Flaga sat in a daze. He wanted to believe that what he just witnessed was some sort of fever dream, yet he felt deep down that every second was real. So if it was real, just where did Mu go from here?
April 1st, 70 C.E. 5:00 P.M Orb Standard Time. Kazuto Keitamura Memorial Hospital. Yalathaf. Orb Union. Uzumi Nara Attha POV
Of all the decisions that he had made within his long life, the one that Uzumi Nara Athha would never regret was his decision to adopt Cagali, his beloved daughter and the shining sun within his life.
With his younger brother Homura's aversion to children and Uzumi's asexual orientation making the possibility of producing an heir with a spouse unlikely, Uzumi had to adopt in order to make sure that the Attha name would live on after his death. When the Yamatos had come to him seeking asylum after the death of Ulen Hibiki, they had offered Cagali to him as a way to keep the twins safe through separation. To honor his old friend Ulen, Uzumi had agreed to do so, granting House Athha not only an heir, but more importantly a new family member who had brought color to Uzumi's once dull life.
Sure Cagali may not have been the perfect heir with her disdain for many of the political traditions of Orb and aversion to her power and position as princess, but none of that mattered when Uzumi looked upon his daughter and saw the boundless energy, ferocious spirit, and creativity that she embodied. For Cagali, the sky was the limit and anything she set her hearts to she would accomplish, a shining beacon of optimism that was representative of the Orb youth that Uzumi wished to guide into the future. It was and still is a wonderful journey for Uzumi to watch her grow into an amazing young woman. Uzumi knew that given time, Cagali's immense love towards her nation would help her mature to become a great leader, one who would not only fill Uzumi's shoes after he left but leave a greater impact than he ever could.
Uzumi loved being Cagali's father, and he wouldn't give it up for the entire world.
It was because of this great love, that Uzumi was currently in a state of great grief and turmoil over the current state that Cagali was in. He could do nothing but watch helplessly at her bedside as Cagali was comatose, completely unresponsive to the greater world.
While Cagali may not have had the enhanced genes of her twin, she had always been a healthy child who had persevered through the S2 epidemic and never had any major health scares beyond the minor cold or flu once a year. Yet with absolutely no warning while she and Uzumi were having lunch, Cagali collapsed from the table and began to shake in a manner akin to the seizure, violently screeching in pain.
It was not only this terrifying event that scared Uzumi, but the words that Cagali was saying before she had lost consciousness.
"Kira! Where are you?"
She had been hollering for this Kira, begging for him to reveal herself to her as she was searching for him, even though for a great amount of time it was only her and Uzumi in the dining room. This set off an endless number of questions within Uzumi's mind. Was Kira some important person who was close to her? While Cagali did not reveal every aspect of her life to Uzumi, she was open to Uzumi most of the time and Kisaka would always speak to him directly of any important developments. To his knowledge, there was no Kira among her personal relations.
This could only mean her twin brother, but how could she have possibly known about him? The last time he had seen Haruma and Caridad Yamato, they made it very clear that they wanted Uzumi to stay out of their lives, a wish he had always respected outside of keeping tabs on them from a distance to make sure that Blue Cosmos was nowhere near targeting young Kira. Right now they were currently living happy lives in Heliopolis. Cagali had never been to space and she had no desire to travel to Orb's sole space colony. How could she have possibly come into contact with Kira without his knowledge?
'I'll never know the answer until she wakes up.' Uzumi thought sadly. Even if she did make contact with Kira, Uzumi would not get mad with her over the affair. All he wanted was his shining light to wake up once more.
Uzumi's watch over Cagali was interrupted when he felt a soft hand touch his right shoulder. Uzumi turned to see his younger brother Homura hovering over him.
"Uzu, there is a Lieutenant Commander from Naval Intelligence who is desperate to see you. I tried to kick him out, but he was very adamant and said the only way for him to leave was by force. Says that it's a matter of national security."
Hearing about the intelligence officer turned Uzumi's somber mood to great anger. There were many times in the past fourteen years where time that he had wanted to spend with Cagali was cut short by his duty as an Athha and Chief Representative. Now, when his daughter was in a coma from who knows what, they dared to take him away from her!
With a great huff, his face becoming red, Uzumi marched on out of the private room, promising to return to his daughter as soon as possible.
Exiting, Uzumi found a lanky individual in the grey uniform of ONI. At first the officer appeared to be relieved upon seeing Uzumi, only for his face to warp into fear when observing the mood of the Chief Representative.
"Lord Uzumi! I-"
"YOU!" Uzumi shouted, marching up to the man and violating his personal space by getting mere centimeters from his face, his arm pushing him the man to the wall. "Hours ago I just watched my daughter collapse in front of my eyes, and now she's in a coma! She could not wake up for days, weeks, months, years! I don't even know if she'll survive by the end of the day BECAUSE THE DOCTORS DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER! Yet when I'm trying to be in the company of my daughter, YOU DARE to wrestle me away for most likely a trivial concern such as East Asia or the Federation's fleet skirting our borders!
Unless someone is about to launch an invasion of Orb, I will not leave by my daughter's side, DO YOU HEAR ME?! If you do not leave this building within the next five minutes, I shall have you arrested for treason in defying the Chief Executive. Do you-"
"One of our intersphere traders had been taken hostage by a rogue force belonging to what appears to be a space nation which popped out of nowhere, two fleets along with military asteroids have just been detected in L4 and L5. Also right now ZAFT and the Alliance are engaging in the largest battle of the war so far but we have no idea how it relates to the appearance of these stealth fleets or colonies that are parked on the far side of the moon." The officer rapidly blurted out in the hopes of calming down the Chief Representative and to get him to come with him.
Processing the information that he just heard, Uzumi's face transformed from fury to confusion.
"A space nation that popped out of nowhere? Stealth fleets?" Uzumi questioned, though he looked around afterwords to make sure he hadn't bleeped state secrets to any civilians passing by. Fortunately the hall was absent aside from Uzumi, his brother, and the officer; mainly due to Cagali being interred in a private wing of the hospital reserved for the Great Houses and other national/foreign VIP's.
"Lord Uzumi, I completely sympathize with you in your current situation, and if it were anything else, I would happily leave and allow you to stay by Lady Cagali's side. However, the recent events that ONI has just picked up in the last few hours is something that we have never seen and we cannot possibly prepare for. It's bad enough that Lady Cagali fell victim to the event, but now we have some complete unknown on the-"
"Wait just a minute!" Uzumi barked, halting the officer mid-sentence. "What do you mean my daughter has fallen victim to an event? She just had a seizure. Did someone try to assassinate her?!" Uzumi asked in panic, completely forgetting all sense of decorum.
'That doesn't make any sense, if someone or some group tried to kill Cagali, why haven't Homura and I been evacuated. Why her and not us?' Uzumi thought to himself.
"Wait...Lord Uzumi, are you completely unaware of what's happening within across the planet?" The officer said, disbelief etched across his face.
"Across the Planet? No, I've been by Cagali's side this whole time and I haven't left other than to let the doctors tend to her. What's going on, an S3 outbreak?" Uzumi asked, an absolute nightmare for the Chief Representative. The S2 epidemic was one of Orb's darkest hours, a third strain after less than twenty years would tear the nation apart.
"No it's...no one's dying right now from it per say, but tens of millions of people have suddenly collapsed across the world. I thought...I beg your forgiveness Lord Uzumi, but it appears that one of my superiors has messed up badly and has left you in the dark, either intentionally or through neglect. Regardless, this is something that needs your situation right now my Lord. We must withdraw to the command center so you can organize a response to all that's been going on. I'll fill you in on the way."
Uzumi looked back towards the suite where Cagali was staying at, looking at her seemingly lifeless body, the daughter he had loved dearly for the past fifteen years at death's door. Uzumi wanted to do nothing more than to stay at her side and completely block out the world until she recovered. However, as Chief Representative it was his duty to not only see to the welfare of his citizens, but to have Orb act as a beacon to guide the world on the path to peace, something he has sadly failed in for the past decade.
He knew what he wanted to do, but it needed to come second to what he had to do.
Uzumi looked towards Homura, his younger brother addressing what was on his mind. "You go brother, I'll stay here until she wakes up. I now Cagali will understand and she won't blame you all. I'll call if anything of her condition changes."
Uzumi walked to his brother and gave him a light hug. "Thank you." It was a great shame to Uzumi that Homura had never wanted to raise children. He had always been such a good uncle to Cagali and Uzumi was sure that Homura and his brother-in law would've made wonderful fathers.
Uzumi then walked towards the officer. "I apologize for my lack of behavior. Lieutenant Commander-"
"Kato, my Lord. It's quite alright, I have a daughter myself and if I were in your shoes I would have most likely reacted in a similar manner. However, I would like for us to travel to the Command Center as soon as possible."
"Lets." Uzumi agreed, his Royal Guard soon falling in to escort the two out of the hospital.
When they exited the hospital, Uzumi began to realize what exactly Kato meant by an event as he saw the building be swarmed by thousands of people, each hall that he traveled through being cramped by those who were worried for their loved ones. Some tried to talk to Uzumi, asking him if he had any answers for what was happening. All he could say in reply was to have faith in their Doctors and they were doing everything they could to respond, even though he had no idea of what exactly was happening.
On the way Uzumi was debriefed of what was occurring around the Earth sphere. How at 1100 hours, tens of millions of people across the entire world, tens of thousands within Orb, were struck by some strange phenomena that had them screaming in pain, then later collapsing.
Kato had shown him footage on his laptop of how the Raifuku Maru was seized by this Brunswick, a ship that appeared to have some relation to hundreds of closed type colonies within L2. The dialogue in particular was puzzling to Uzumi. The Captain of the Brunswick used so many jargon and terms that were alien yet he seemed to absolutely believe in them. Side 7? Principality? His absolute denial of the existence of Heliopolis or Fuzan Shipping. There was also mention of a bio attack, which if Uzumi had to guess most likely was the same event that occurred across Earth. Yet how could an outbreak occur both in Earth and in space at the exact precise second?
That was another odd thing, the fact that hundreds of colonies now existed in L2. While it sadly wouldn't surprise Uzumi for him to find out of the Earth Alliance members having secret facilities on the far side, they could not possibly construct hundreds of colonies then launch them simultaneously. Even if all the colonies were barren on the inside, it would cause any nation to head towards bankruptcy. So if these colonies were populated, who could they have belonged to?
There was also the fleets in L4 and L5. Both pointed to ownership of either East Asia or PLANT, so then who was behind all of this? Most importantly, where these mystery colonies and fleets connected to this global pandemic?
Once they arrived at the command center, Kato and Uzumi entered at a rather brisk pace. After a small journey, most of the time spent on security, Uzumi entered into the Noble Bunker, a facility both to lead Orb from and to shelter the five Great Houses in the event of a nuclear strike in the worst case scenario.
When Uzumi entered, he was saluted by a collection of Orb's highest ranking officers in the Self-Defense Force, a salute that Uzumi returned. It seemed that Uzumi was not the first noble to arrive however as Shigeru Fuzan was present, something that made sense considering the hostage situation involved a ship owned by the man, yet it was unsettling how he had arrived before Uzumi.
Uzumi approached his bald peer, the man keeping up his usual friendly poker face, even in such a time of crisis. Among the Five Great Heads, Shigeru had always been a bit of a wildcard in terms of ideology. Whenever there was a split he would usually be seen as the tiebreaker and manipulate any outcome to his favor. There had been several times where he had allied with Uzumi, and several times where he had went against Uzumi. He was neither friend nor foe, rather a colleague. It was something that made Uzumi rather uncomfortable in dealing with him rather than the likes of Unato, a man whose goals while conflicting with Uzumi's, were clear for the world to see.
"Shigeru, I hope I haven't kept you waiting long." Uzumi said warmly, reaching out for a handshake which the Fuzan patriarch returned. It was a rather diplomatic way of saying, "How long were you here before me?"
"Don't worry Uzumi, I only just got here ten minutes ago. I know it's not my place to be involved in these kinds of situation, this belongs more to you and Koto, but it's my ship that has been taken hostage by...whoever these people are, and I'd like to see my people returned home safely. I suspect you'll have to call a meeting of the Council soon anyways, what with this plague ravaging the Earth sphere. To think that even Heliopolis would be struck." Shigeru said.
"Let's not act too rashly and start handing out labels like plagues just yet. This is far too extraordinary for a natural or engineered event, I would rather we gather all the facts first than cause a panic." Uzumi said, Shigeru nodding in agreement.
The two nobles then headed to the Security Council Chambers, where the heads of Orb's Self-Defense Force gathered to meet their lords. While Orb's military was undoubtedly the weakest of all the Cosmic Era nations (barring South America who chose pacifism and let their nation's defense be run by the Atlantic Federation), what they lacked up for in numbers they made up in high quality, the average Orb officer being the equal of an Atlantic or Eurasian. While Orb's leadership was well aware that they would lose in an outright war, their objective was to bloody any nation that dared to attack it so hard that they would be forced to sue for peace before a proper escalation could occur.
It was a doctrine that might soon be put to the test in the worst case scenario with these unknowns.
"Have these people sent us any demands for the Raifuku Maru?" Uzumi asked.
The head of Orb's Space Self-Defense Force, Rear Admiral Akiyama Nanba, was the first to speak. "At this current time, we have not received any demands. In fact, it appears that this unknown force has not transmitted anything beyond the far side of the moon. While we are detecting a wide arrange of communications near equal to the daily average within East Asia, they are almost exclusively within L2, the far side, or between the two. They are even ignoring the Lunar colonies on the near side."
"Is there not any way to contact them?" Uzumi asked.
Admiral Nanba let out a soft sigh. "The problem with that Lord Uzumi is that we don't know who to contact. The scans the Raifuku Maru sent us reveal hundreds of space colonies within L2, far outnumbering the total number of colonies throughout the rest of the greater Earth sphere. They could all belong to some collective organization or nation, or they could belong to different polities and one colony we contact could have no affiliation with this Brunswick.
"What about the fleets that appeared in L4 and L5. They appear to have the same class of ships of this Brunswick. If we contact them then they could transmit it to their common leadership." Shigeru offered.
"While the idea is sound my Lord, we once again run into the problem of if they are even aligned together. The Atlantic Federation and South Africa use much of the same arsenal with South Africa's entire Space Force purchased from the Federation. Much of the EU's old hardware is Atlantean made while Scandinavia has large stocks of weaponry that were built in Eurasia. The same principles could apply here." Admiral Nanba said.
"I believe it's time that we address the elephant in the room. We all know that it's impossible for the Alliance or ZAFT to have created these colonies and grand fleets. The Alliance would be bankrupted, even in a joint effort, and ZAFT is far too impoverished to construct even a portion of what we had seen. So we know that this can't be the works of any Earth nation, it's far too distant for Mars, then what exactly are we dealing with?" Admiral Shinzo Shigeyoshi, the head of the Orb Navy and highest ranking officer of the Self-Defense Forces said.
With the Admirals words came the silent proclamation in the room, that somehow a nation just popped out of existence and landed on the doorstep of the moon.
'This reminds me too much of some cliche Isekai Homura and I watched as children.' Uzumi thought, holding back a laugh at the ridiculousness of the thought. Yet what other possibilities could there be?
The room remained silent for a while until Shigeru broke the ice. "Perhaps it is a nation from another world." He said, receiving bewildered looks from those present.
"What? In the transcript of the dialogue with the Brunswick, they utterly refused to recognize the existence of Heliopolis and my company, it's like denying that the Earth is round or that Coordinators are real. Not only that, but they kept on throwing foreign words like the Principality or Side 7. Why would non-state actors or any other nation act like reality is different when they were confronting a freighter. We all know it is impossible to have these fleets and colonies be constructed in the Earth sphere, and they didn't spontaneously warp from Mars unless the Martians have developed FTL, so what other possibilities are there?" Shigeru deduced, having one of the few logical, yet impossible explanations present.
"Well, with a name like Captain Edgar Cruz of the Brunswick, we at least know they are human and not invaders from outside the system." Uzumi lightly joked, alleviating some tension with a small round of laughter in the room. "We can sit here and question just who these people are all day, but it doesn't change the fact that we have Orb citizens who are being held hostage from a foreign power and they need to be released today. We must open all avenues of communication and negotiate for a release of the ship and its crew. I shall record a message asking for the opening of negotiations and the release of the ship's crew, and we shall transmit it to the two asteroids."
Admiral Nanba was about to retort, only for Uzumi to release his hand. "Yes I know they might not be in league with those responsible, but their appearance occurred at the same time as the L2 colonies, so they are connected in some way and even if they are innocent, then we can at least open up dialogue with some of the unknowns and find out just who these people are. At the same time, Admiral Nanba, I would request for a flotilla of Izumos to be organized to be sent to L2 and act as a diplomatic force for direct negotiations."
"But Lord Uzumi, we can't possibly engage in a direct conflict over just one ship, no offense Lord Shigeru. Discounting the asteroid fleets, there are hundreds of warships in L2 that must be in league with the Brunswick, to confront them would be suicide." Admiral Shigeyoshi protested.
Uzumi sent the Admiral a minor glare, causing him to slightly slump in his seat. "While Orb may not attack another nation, we will not allow another to attack us. I have no wish to engage in warfare and will use any and all means to prevent such a travesty from occurring. My wish is to simply have the Izumos act as a small show of force to have our demands be taken seriously and for us to be treated as equals. If this group of unknowns truly are visitors from...somewhere, then they will not have any knowledge of our lack of overwhelming raw power and assume that this flotilla is a small fraction of a greater force."
Hearing his Chief Representative's reasons, Shigeyoshi bowed his head slightly in respect, "Forgive me my Lord for assuming the worst, I am simply anxious due to how this is the biggest crisis our nation has faced since our formation. I don't think anyone could've prepared for a situation such as the one we are facing."
Uzumi nodded his head in understanding, "It is quite alright. The appearance of these colonies is quite bizarre, though we shall not let the size of this unknown party deter us and keep our hands in the sand. We have kept the Pacific powers at bay for decades, this is merely the same concept though only bigger and in space." Uzumi said.
Shigeru turned to Uzumi, "While I applaud your wisdom Chief Representative, this is no mere skirting of territorial boundaries where East Asia travels along our waters and we tell them to back off. We must involve the Alliance so that in the worst case scenario they may intercede on our behalf and protect us against the unknowns." Uzumi began to protest but Shigeru cut him off, "Yes, it would be a violation of our principles of neutrality, but we simply do not have either the hard or soft power to handle something of this magnitude in space, where our only presence is a space station and a colony on the other side of the Earth sphere. As disgusting as it is, falling into the debt of the Alliance is a small price to pay if we are to truly prevent war being inflicted upon our people."
Uzumi let out a soft sigh. As much as he hated it, Shigeru had a point. A trade dispute he could manage, but one of Orb's ships being taken hostage by a grand armada that appeared out of thin air may be too much for the great "Lion of Orb". As disgusting as it would be to be in further debt to aggressive imperialists after the immense financial costs of Heliopolis and Ame-no-Mihashira, the humiliation was a far better price to bear than the blood of his citizens.
"I will consider it, but only if our current avenues of diplomacy fail. Now-"
Before Uzumi could continue, a tan female ONI commander pushed the door of the council chambers open and burst into the room.
"Commander, just what do you think you are doing interrupting a-"Admiral Nanba began.
"Sirs, my Lords. I have grave news to report. Western Europe, it's gone dark."
April 1st, 70 C.E. 2:00 A.M. North American Eastern Standard. Prince William Medical Center. Mannassas, Virginia. Atlantic Federation. George Allster POV
When Flay had fallen into unconsciousness from a sudden and violent seizure, George Allster felt as if the world was ending right before him. After losing his wife to the S2 Outbreak, Flay was left without a mother and George as all that she had left to rely upon and guide her into the world as a young child. He may not have been the best father, and there were several times where he was unable to be there for his daughters due to the duty he had done towards his nation, but George had always done his best to be the father that Flay had deserved. His only child was the center of his world, the one thing that kept him going every day to help try to build a better world for her to grow up in. Yet, right before his eyes, it appeared that she was on her way to death's door.
When the ambulance came and they went to the hospital, George stayed by her side every second until they came to the emergency room, with himself almost attempting to fight the doctors and nurses to let him be in the same room while they worked on her. The hour that she had been under examination had been the second worst of George's life, the first being the last moments of his wife Emilia while she was on her deathbed. When he had received word that Flay was in stable condition and was nowhere near close to death, George was ecstatic. He felt as if two decades of his life was returned to him and he thanked God that his little angel would not be taken away so soon.
Four and a half hours after Flay had collapsed she had awaken on her hospital bed, a miracle to George as he had feared that she could remain comatose for weeks or months. His jubilation did not last long as upon seeing her father, Flay entered a bout of great hysteria and clung onto George greatly, pleading for him to stay at her side and once more repeatedly asking that he wouldn't die.
'Why would she think I would die, she was the one who collapsed not me?' George questioned in great fear. While he may not have been the most healthy individual and could certainly stand to lower his cholesterol and blood pressure, he was far from the picture of ill health and could easily live a couple more decades. Unless someone were to strike him down right now there were no chances for George to die.
After George had repeatedly assured his daughter that he would stay by her side and most importantly, not die, Flay's hysteria was lowered, though it was replaced by a general mood of sadness wit her collapsing into a fit of tears before becoming somber and quiet, refusing to do anything else other than to make sure he was in her sight at all times. When George had attempted to briefly take a trip to the restroom, Flay had freaked out and acted like he was abandoning her on the side of the road. It took him several minutes to get her to calm down, while he was forced to do his business as fast as he could to return to her.
'What could cause her to act like this?' George wondered. One second his daughter was a normal girl who was struggling with studying for her exams, the next she entered into a frenzy over his well being.
In this situation, George stayed by his side for the next near three hours, something that calmed Flay greatly, though not entirely.
George knew that he was neglecting his duties at the State Department, him not bothering much of an explanation besides a short phone call and ignoring several calls and texts. However, this was his daughter's life on the line and it was far more important than the politics of Washington. If the Department forced him to pick his job over his daughter, he would choose Flay and resign, to hell with them!
The calm moment between father and daughter was interrupted by the intrusion of a middle aged Hispanic doctor, a Doctor Juarez, who was one of the ones who attended to Flay. "Secretary Allster, I don't really have an easy way of saying this so I'll be blunt. With your daughter's current condition being stable, we need both you and her to check out from the hospital at once." He said.
The announcement sent George into a fury, causing him to bolt from his chair next to Flay's bed and rush to meet Juarez face to face, though he did notice Flay desperately trying to reach out to him. "What the hell do you mean we have to leave?! My daughter just collapsed hours ago from a seizure and you're kicking us out! What kind of a quack are you?! I'll have you know that I have friends in Health and Human Services and I can and will make sure that your license is revoked and you'll never step foot in a hospital ever again!" George yelled, not giving a damn about the scene that he was causing around him or how he just openly threatened to use corruption to ruin a Doctor's life.
To the Juarez's credit, he was barely unphased by the threat, an act most likely created by years of experience in dealing with bad patients. "Secretary Allster, I am well aware of your influence and connections. I have absolutely no wish to do this and if I could I would have Flay be kept under observation for the next 24 hours. However, at this point in time Flay shows no physical ailments and as such I cannot keep her here when the hospital is about to reach max capacity."
"Max capacity, what do you mean?! What was there some kind of terror attack or shooting? Even then you should have more than enough resources to allow my daughter to stay." George countered.
"Have you watched the news?" Juarez asked.
"No, I've devoted all my attention to my daughter." George said, confused on why he would need to see the news.
"I'll be the first to let you know then that your daughter is not the only victim of a suddenly violent seizure despite no past history. Around the same time as her event, tens of millions of people across the world were hit with similar symptoms. Right now there are countless cases in the Washington area and we are forced to accommodate not only local victims, but Washington is sending us their patients as their hospitals are already full."
"Tens of millions! My God, is it an S3-"
"DO NOT finish that sentence!" The doctor said, raising his volume for the first time, despite George's earlier threats. "At this moment we have no idea just what the hell we are facing, and we cannot have a panic at a time like this. There are already riots in most of the major metropolitan areas. A couple of states are even mobilizing the National Guard." Juarez informed, making George greatly regret ignoring his calls and texts from work.
"Look, if Flay experiences any sort of lapse in health, come back immediately. Until then, we cannot keep her here while we have hundreds of comatose patients that we need to attend to. Make sure she has plenty of rest and have her condition checked upon every hour. Once this clears up, have her come in for a checkup. Until then, our hands are tied." Juarez explained.
George still wanted to protest, until he felt his suit be tugged upon, causing him to look at his daughter's worried face. "Please daddy, just do what he says and let's just go. I'm fine, other people should be treated before me." Flay requested.
Not being able to say no to his daughter as he was multiple times before, George relented. "Fine. Where do I sign her out?"
Shortly after George went through the process of checking her out while Flay quickly changed into her old clothes. On their way out, Flay requested to stopped by the hospital's cafeteria to get some small snacks from the vending machines as neither Allster had eaten for the past several hours. Flay got a small cup of yogurt, while George had bought a Danish.
Both Allsters made their way to a small garden in the center of the hospital to eat their food in peace. On the way George began to notice just how packed the hospital was, while glances at the news on television had confirmed the Doctor's words, something that George also saw on his phone.
While the word was on fire, George refused to deal with it for now until he made sure that his daughter arrived home safe and sound, although he wondered just how they would get home with the roads most likely being clogged up by the panic. The father and daughter ate their respective meals in silence, neither knowing how to start a conversation. After they were done, silence reigned for a couple of minutes, then George asked Flay the one thing that had been eating at his mind for the past several hours.
"Flay, when you collapsed, the last thing you said was repeatedly asking me not to die. When you woke up, that was also the first thing that you said. Why do you think that I would die?" George asked.
Upon hearing the question, Flay wrapped her father in a tight hug. Her eyes began to drain tears once more which slowly traveled onto George's jacket.
"Daddy, when I fell down, I...I saw some things." Flay said cryptically, unsure herself of just what exactly she went through, yet knowing deep down that it was all true.
"You saw things? What do you mean, like a vision?" George said as a light joke, though his mood turned somber when he noticed that Flay nodded her head slightly, deeply scaring him.
"I know it sounds stupid, but it felt real, it was real. I was in space, in some sort of tropical colony."
"Tropical colony, you mean Heliopolis?" George asked. That was the only space colony to his knowledge that had its interior based on the tropics.
"I don't know, but probably." Flay responded. "I was living life there, on my own, and a bunch of mobile suits came and attacked the colony. They were probably, no, they were ZAFT." Flay said.
Her statement only caused George's confusion to rise to greater lengths. Orb was one of the staunchest defenders of the PLANTs, especially with two of their five Great Houses being filled with Coordinators. There was absolutely no way that ZAFT would attack the neutral colony of Heliopolis, no matter what the rhetoric of Blue Cosmos said about them. Outside of the stupidity of attacking one of their few remaining friends on Earth, there was absolutely no strategic benefit to attacking a colony on the other side of the Earth sphere. Orb had nothing of value besides financial capitol.
"I got away from the colony and then I got onto a warship. I don't know what happened there, but I got onto the bridge of the ship and I had Lacus Clyne at my side as a hostage." Flay said, as if holding the daughter of Siegel Clyne at gunpoint was the most normal thing in the world.
"Lacus Clyne?" George asked in disbelief. The idea that his angel would ever take anyone hostage was ludicrous enough, but the Songstress of the PLANTs? Flay was probably just listening to one of her CD's and probably had a bad dream, that was all.
Yet George was once again met with a nod from his daughter as if it were the truth. "We were on the bridge, and I saw ZAFT forces attacking a cruiser that you were on. I said that if they fired on you, I would kill Lacus. But...they still fired on you. A beam hit your ship, I saw you in the hangar, you were trying to leave and it burned you daddy, there wasn't anything left. I watched you die, I felt you die. I-" Before Flay could continue, without warning, she broke down into a loud horrified scream. Hollering high to the heavens, Flay fell down onto the ground and sobbed uncontrollably.
Fearing the worst, George held onto his daughter desperately. "FLAY!" He shouted.
"Daddy, I can hear them screaming, I can hear them all screaming! People are dying, it's terrible!" Flay whined greatly, despite the fact that the outside park was very quiet with no noise besides Flay's own yells.
"Whose screaming Flay? It's just you and me." George asked, trying desperately to calm down his daughter.
"It's not here, it's not anywhere near here, but it's going to spread. I don't know what's going on, I can just feel them dying, all of them." Flay said crying uncontrollably. George attempted to lift her up, to rush her back to the doctors, but Flay refused to have him move her.
"No, I'm okay. It doesn't hurt like before, i just hear the screaming. Just please stay with me daddy."
"But-"
"Please!" Flay begged. Against his better judgement, George stayed, his daughter still continuing to release a steady stream of tears and holding onto him tight and he did his best to calm her down. After a long period of time had passed, Flay spoke once more.
"It's not gone, not completely, but they're not as loud as they used to be." She said cryptically, George still unsure of just what was going on.
"Flay, I don't understand, what's happening to you?" Before she could answer, two men in black burst into the park, spotting the father and daughter with one speaking into his radio upon visual confirmation.
"Eagle Eye, we have made contact with Big Bull, moving for extraction." The one on the right said, his taller partner on the left then stepping forward.
"Secretary Allster, I'm Agent Hepner of the Secret Service. President McCarthy has just declared Hibernation. Since Secretary Hood is in Eurasia, we must escort you to Air Force One according to protocol." Hepner said.
Upon hearing the words George froze. Hibernation was the code word used for a contingency scenario where the President had to flee to a secure black site in the event of an imminent nuclear strike. George only knew of the plan due to the Secretary of State necessitating to be evacuated as part of the Security Council, and in Hibernation he would fill that role if his boss Secretary Hood was unable to join the President.
"Oh my God. ZAFT launched nukes on the planet?" George asked in horror. He knew that after Junius Seven, even with the "Stalwart Shield" Siegel Clyne in charge that eventually ZAFT would launch some sort of retaliation. But he had thought that the attempted drop on Victoria was such an operation, not for them to launch a nuclear strike on Earth!
"We don't know at this time, but about fifty minutes ago we lost contact with the British Isles and Western Europe, they've gone completely dark. Not to mention satellites have picked up imagery of the battle in orbit, let's just say it's going extremely bad for us.
George looked to his daughter, wondering if her pain was somehow connected to the event as they occurred roughly at the same time. She cried about people dying, was this what she was referring to?
"I'll go, but my daughter's coming with me." George demanded.
"Fine." Hepner said. "Eagle Eye, we have a plus one with Big Bull, proceeding to extraction. "Secretary, if we don't reach Air Force One soon they can and will leave without us."
Nodding in understanding, George gently pulled his daughter up. "Come on Flay, we have to go." Silently giving her acceptance, Flay got up and clinged tightly to George's arm as the two agents escorted them out of the hospital and into a small convoy of SUV's where they made their way to Air Force One.
This was how George spent the first hours of the April Fool's crisis, the spiraling series of events in space pushing him to a fate completely alien to his original death.
April 1st, 70 C.E. 2:30 A.M. North American Eastern Standard. New York City, New York. Atlantic Federation. Murata Azrael POV
In his private penthouse in the center of the city, Murata Azrael lay collapsed on the floor of living room, his blonde hair in strewn about in a mess, fragile objects such as vases or glasses of wine broken and spread across the floor, while a dead cellphone laid centimeters from his right hand.
In a single moment, life flooded back into Azrael, the businessman and Natural supremacist slowly regaining consciousness, waking up in a great daze while his head felt like it was on fire.
"Uuugh. What happened?" Azrael questioned to himself, standing up on his legs and finding his suite a great mess.
Memories were starting to come back to Azrael of what had happened. He was in the middle of a business call with the Pentagon, primarily focusing on the mass production of the Moebius Zero which so far had proved to be a great success thanks to the efforts of Zero Squadron. Azrael was about to close the deal, when all of a sudden he fell into a great amount of pain and agony, tearing apart his apartment as he struggled with his mind tearing itself apart.
Azrael also saw images flashing before his eyes during that time. These were not flashbacks to what happened before in his life, but of events that had not taken place yet. These were mostly concerning with what appeared to be a dystopian version of the war with ZAFT marching across the Earth unopposed while Azrael desperately tried to rally the resources of Blue Cosmos and LOGOS to protect the planet from those horrid fiends. He saw himself leading some sort of amphibious invasion, observing three mobile powerful mobile suits wreak death and destruction at his bidding, and himself going to space and leading the charge against the PLANTs.
Azrael smiled to himself as he remembered with vivid clarity the last thing he saw, himself launching the Alliance's nuclear arsenal against the PLANTs with those ugly constructs destined to be blown away. If he didn't know any better, he'd say those hallucinations were a sweet dream.
Azrael grabbed his phone to check and see if anyone called him, when the second he grabbed it, Azrael felt the pain returning once more. While it was nowhere near as intense as the first time, he could still clearly feel it. It was of a different quality though. The first time it felt as if someone had struck Azrael with a sludgehammer to the brain. Here, it felt as if thousands of fire ants were launching an attack against him, small burning sensations spreading throughout his body.
Azrael also began to hear voices. These were not individuals who resided in a city, but felt like he was hearing millions of men and women across all ages screech out in pain and agony. These screams were not direct, rather they appeared to be distant echoes. Still, the combination of all of these voices turned into one massive cry for help, a large volume of sheer terror despite the city below running its usual life and Azrael's personal environment consisting of only himself.
"Where are these voices coming from?!" Yelled Azrael to the heavens, pleading for an end to the madness, yet nothing coming. This continued for several more minutes, Azrael once more lying on the ground, swaying back and forward in a desperate attempt to remain calm in fear of losing his sanity.
After a while, the voices gradually subsided and lowered down in volume. They did not disappear completely, as Azrael could still hear various cries, but they became more distant, like soft whispers in the wind. Ever present, though not as invasive as they once were.
For all of his life, Murata Azrael lived in inferiority, always fearful of the superhuman who he saw as waging a war to lead mankind to their extinction, to be replaced with monsters of science that wore the skin of humanity yet had no souls. Azrael dedicated his life towards one mission and purpose, to protect the Naturals and wipe out the Coordinators who sought to mold the world in their image. Despite all of this, an intense feeling of jealousy had always existed with the man. A question of "Why was I not born perfect?", a desire to have the same abilities as those he sought to destroy.
On April 1st, 70 CE, Murata Azrael would finally obtain his wish. Through a miracle that saw a nation be transported across space and time, Azrael would fulfill his spiritual potential and reach the next stage of human evolution. Murata Azrael became a Newtype.
A/N: First off we have Mu's POV and his Newtype vision, which is where I'll admittedly be taking a lot of creative liberties in how Destiny came to be. I know a good number of you are going to be confused on the exposition given by future Mu, but let's just say that what Mu saw was a canon scene from years after Destiny and that Neo Roanoke in Cosmic Crusade is a different person from Mu La Flaga. Trust me when I say that I'm going to majorly expand on this plot point in the future and it will be explained in great detail. Let's just say that while many Gundams have Char Clones, Cosmic Crusade has a Full Frontal Clone.
Next we have Uzumi, with him trying to respond to Cagali's Newtype awakening with what he assumes to be a life or death situation, as well as trying to find out just who Zeon is and why they took the Raifuku Maru. This will be dealt with directly in the next chapter, but let's just say that Orb is on a faster track than ZAFT and the Alliance in initiating first contact.
Also, I took some somewhat major creative liberties by making Uzumi asexual and Homura being uninterested in fathering or adopting children as a way to explain why Cagali literally has no family besides Kira, her father, and adopted uncle. It always seemed odd to me why Cagali was the last Athha and while I could give her OC cousins, doing so fundamentally breaks a lot of Seed and Destiny's plot that I can't excuse even with a large amount of handwaving. Hope this explanation makes sense and feel free to give criticism on my decision.
Then we have George's POV which is generally him trying to deal with and understand Flay's Newtype awareness. Like I said in the notes for Flay's chapter, I want to portray George as more nuanced and realistic than his usual fanon betrayal which is a racist Dixiecrat who wants all Coordinators to die. Literally the only lines he says from the anime is requesting the Montgomery to hurry up and being worried for Flay's safety, normal dad things. Yet somehow from this everyone thinks he's Azrael's right hand. While he won't be a super progressive or fan of Coordinators in general, my portrayal of George is generally going to be an overworked single father whose trying to do his duty to his nation yet is caught in the middle of the shitshow that is the Atlantic deep state. I'll elaborate this more on future chapters with George and the greater government of the Atlantic Federation.
Lastly we have the revelation of Murata Azrael achieving his Newtype potential. Azrael becoming a Newtype, as well as the existence of Newtypes in general, is going to present a great philosophical dilemma for Blue Cosmos as while Newtypes are psychics that contain some abilities that are superior to Coordinators, they are Natural-born and tens of millions of Naturals suddenly became Newtypes overnight, with a great many other members of Blue Cosmos sharing Azrael's experience. This will greatly impact and shift their course in the future. Whether they shall embrace Newtypes or become Oldtype Natural supremacists remains to be seen.
This chapter was beta'd by Jaenera Targareyan, so thanks Jae and to all readers please go check out her work!
Next time we shall switch back to a couple of POV's from Zeon as well as seeing ZAFT's immediate reaction to Uroboros and their next move to Zeon. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!