"All of the ZAFT space fleet was ATTACKED?!" Shinn jerked up from his chair, hands upon the table as he just heard the news from one of his commanding officers. The others around him felt the same but only muttered under their breath.
"Yes," Arthur jolted. "There have been casualties." He was explaining the situation to the pilots in the briefing room. "However, thanks to the Strike Freedom alongside the reserve ZAFT fleets, the causalities became minimum. Majority of all of the space fleets and teams have been docked for repairs. The reserve ZAFT fleets are now patrolling until directed otherwise.
"Each account has registered extremist Coordinators as the enemy," Arthur continued on. "Here on Earth, and on the Moon, no accounts of extremist Coordinators attacking any ZAFT. However, we cannot let our guard down. We still have the mysterious Archangel that has surfaced from an Earth Alliance territory. Our repairs are almost finished, we can head out again to patrol the area. Our orders are to keep an eye on this Archangel and corresponding territory." Arthur explained the rest of the orders before dismissing them.
Shinn and Lunamaria headed off together. They headed towards the top deck to get some fresh air.
"Every single ZAFT vessel had been hit," Shinn was perplexed. "Thankfully, Kira was there just in time."
"Yeah," Lunamaria agreed. "I hate to think of what would happen if they weren't. ZAFT has been formidable but after all of these wars, extremist Coordinators had the upper hand, that's almost a surprise."
"No, it isn't," Shinn opened the door to the outside. "It's ingrained into people that others are weak. Generation upon generation, we built classes into our societies. Shunned those around us. Lots of flowers to replant and regrow when outside forces meddle with it."
"Huh?" Lunamaria was confused on his answer.
Shinn was reminiscing how Kira explained to him at the memorial site how they would always fight for peace. "There's going to a be a time when that area can't grow anything."
Lunamaria went along with it. "Not necessarily. Just like us, plants can evolve to grow in places in hardy areas."
"It takes years though," Shinn leaned on the rails staring off into the horizon.
"And that's why we have technology," Lunamaria leaned into him. "Genetically Modified Organisms to the rescue! The flowers we will replant to live against the weather and other outside forces besides nature, will be modified to live against that environment. That's what Chairwoman Clyne, Orb Representative Atha, Kira, and Athrun are striving for. We just have to hold out and help them. Remember what Kira said? 'We'll never stop replanting the flowers, I'm sure of it.' We just need more gardeners!" She bumped into him making Shinn smile. She had a point. They needed more gardeners.
On the PLANTs, in Martius City, a quaint home that had never changed even if the owners did. One room had tan walls with brown base boards and dark brown floors. The staircase still had the blue carpet runner over it to keep the stairs white underneath of it. Even the office was left the same, three big glass door openings with sheer curtains. The floor was more of a mauve, and the walls were a light blue with dark wood framing. The pillars between the glass doors were all the dark chocolate wood. The desk in front of the openings, was more mahogany but almost similar to the wood behind it. A chair with similar colors to the floor and wood but in just a touch lighter tone, had been siting in the same place.
It was tough trying to rest on his own. In the living area, a laptop was left opened on coffee table. There was a chess set next to it, along with a notebook and pen. Yzak had just finished trying to rebandage himself when the doorbell rang. He ignored it as he tried to finish up the gauze he wrapped. The doorbell rang again. He was not going to answer it. To his dismay, the doorbell kept chiming. He let out a sigh, grabbed a shirt, put one arm into it, draping the rest over his other shoulder. There was no use in buttoning it as this person was clearly needing them.
He opened the door to see who needed to speak with him, only to see a bouquet of fruit arranged like flowers. He was confused for a moment. The edible bouquet moved down to see his rival, Gatlin. He gave him a look of disappointment while Gatlin was hopeful to see him.
Gatlin gave him a once over. He let out a whistle. "Glad I came." He let himself in as Yzak stepped to the side. There was no use now. Yzak shut the door. Gatlin eyed his surroundings. "You do know, that you're supposed to ask for help when it comes to bandages?"
"Wouldn't be the first time," Yzak followed him.
"No," Gatlin placed down the edible arrangement on the coffee table. "You never seem to take a rest."
"Am I supposed to do nothing?" Yzak lifted his chin, defending himself.
"Duh!" Gatlin placed down a few other items. "Learn to rest when you're supposed to, and if you say 'but there's a possible war coming along,' its futile." Gatlin mimicked him. "Sit." Yzak did as he was told. It would be better if Gatlin did what he needed to do and then just left.
Gatlin left the room, grabbed the medical items given to Yzak. He sat across from Yzak who took off the shirt covering his shoulder. Gatlin could see where it was healing but due to the type of injuries he sustained, Yzak was still out of commission. Gatlin examined the areas to make sure the stitches stayed in, before wrapping the areas with gauze, and other areas, taping it down.
"You have a chess game you can't solve?" Gatlin looked over to that area. He then helped Yzak into his shirt, helping him place his arm into a sling that was placed nearby.
"Not yet at least," Yzak looked over to it. "There's a way to beat it but it has to be a certain way. Thank you for helping me, but how did you find out?" He stared at Gatlin who was looking at the chess set.
"Hm?" Gatlin looked over to him. "Oh, how else? I have my connections. Came by to see how you were doing and to drop some things off. Might be a pickup," Gatlin looked him over again. "Might kick you when you are down." Yzak scrutinized him. Gatlin reached over to a packet. He placed it on Yzak's lap. "I know you heard the new song." Yzak glanced away. "Inside is what I can give you. I couldn't get you everything but it's the least I could do. I wish I could release the originals off of here but you know she wouldn't like that. We can at least be the ones to enjoy her voice singing the songs she wrote." Yzak looked to the packet. Gatlin let out a sigh. "She's no longer the same. If you see her, that's not my gal. That's not the person I rivaled against you for." Yzak looked up at him in shock. "To me, she's not my Selena. That is a person who took control and won't let my Selena out. I don't know how you will feel on that if you see her but my Selena is basically dead."
Yzak scrunched his eyebrows. "What? What do you mean?"
Gatlin looked him in the eyes. "The Selena we know and love is gone. She's gone full whatever she needs to be." He wished he could further explain.
"Wait, I thought that song was a goodbye to me," Yzak grabbed the packet. "I thought she meant that it was time for her betrothed to come out of hiding and for the engagement to proceed. That it was our official end."
Gatlin let out a chuckle that was tinged with sadness. "It was a goodbye to you, but it was also a goodbye to everything about her. Go through everything in that packet and let me know what you think." Gatlin placed down a business card as he stood up. "Contact me if you need anything. I'll try to help you out as much as I can."
Yzak placed the packet down on the keyboard. He stood up after him. "Why would I need anything from the Fairy Prince?"
Gatlin started to head towards the door. "Because the Nutcracker is turning back into wood." He gave him a wry smile. "Or we could just rename ourselves as mermen." He shrugged his shoulders.
Yzak stared at him. "She's not choosing someone else over us."
"But we both can agree if he's terrible, we will take him down," Gatlin winked at him. Yzak let out a sigh. He did agree to that. Yzak waved goodbye to Gatlin who headed into a luxury car. Yzak shut the door. He looked back to the packet. He couldn't open it just yet. It was a heavy emotion to deal with at the moment. The chess game was more important.
At the Kingdom, in a secluded room underground near the royal mansion and royal military base, a secret meeting was held. Several directors were present along with high-ranking committee members. They were discussing the recent attacks on the ZAFT space fleets. Images and videos of the battles were displayed in the center of the table where everyone could see. The discussion continued to the fleets they have and the information they obtained. They glossed over the battle between the Minerva and the mysterious Archangel. The group had similar thoughts. They wanted to end this oncoming battle that could lead into a war before it gets worse.
When the meeting was over, the group stayed to discuss amongst themselves.
"Ever think of throwing a dog a bone?" A man with long brown curly hair smirked. He glanced over to Ezalia who was organizing files. She didn't look over to him.
"Let her be," a man with short brown hair that was combed back. He was doing the same thing as Ezalia.
"All I want is Ezalia to find happiness," the first man shrugged.
"And how would you know Ezalia would be happy with him?" The second man asked.
"Would the both of you stop discussing my personal life?" Ezalia didn't look up at them.
"I would if you just give the High Chancellor a chance," the first man smiled. She looked over to him. "You can tell he's quite fond of you. Yzak is old enough, he would understand. Ezalia, we are in a place of peace and happiness. It's your turn to live your life to the fullest."
"Is being single not living my life to the fullest, Tad?" She shot back.
"Single life is fine, but there are more like-minded people here," Tad countered.
"He's biased," the second man interrupted. "He get's Dearka's failed letters through the High Chancellor. High Chancellor is single, you're single, Tad is bored."
"Yuri!" Tad chastised him.
Yuri shrugged his shoulders. "Am I wrong? Besides stopping this oncoming problem, we really don't know what to do with ourselves. Relearning how to fulfill life without grinding away is new. New to all of us. We kept fighting to survive, and now we have, and look at us, we don't know what to do with ourselves."
"Well, easy for you to say," Tad leaned back in his chair. "At least I can continue to work and develop vaccines and study deadly diseases with Princess Anita. That's on the hobby side of things. Working to help develop a cure for sterility is number one right now. However, the boredom does set in when they make us stop working."
"You have a wife you know," Ezalia chimed in.
"Yes," Tad gave a small smile. "She's enjoying the peace here. I've never seen her so happy. She's always out in the sun. I didn't think her skin could get that much golden but it has, and her blonde locks longer than ever."
"It's been nice, being here," Yuri agreed. He glanced around to the rest of the members who were still chatting away. "Look how we all integrated nicely. Jeremy is back with his wife after the divorce. Herman is now married with children of his own. All of us who were radicalized along with Patrick, now reformed and living a whole new life."
"And that's why you should give the High Chancellor a chance," Tad tried again.
"None of you ever asked about Yzak's father," Ezalia glanced at them.
"You've never spoken about him, so we never asked. We are curious about him though," Tad was intrigued. "Are you ready to speak about him?"
Ezalia looked at them once again. "No." The two let out a sigh of defeat. They were curious about him. "Enjoy the rest of your day, gentlemen." They nodded to her.
She left the room to head towards the underground railway to bring her to the royal mansion. It was the same eerily quiet mansion she was annoyed to go at times. Almost like calling someone and hoping they didn't answer.
She headed around, hoping to run into one of the princesses. She spotted Luka talking with a butler. The butler nodded before heading off. He noticed her. The two nodded to one another.
"Hello," Luka greeted as he headed towards her. She gave him a small smile, greeting him back. "What brings you here today?"
"Just wanting to speak with-oh!" Ezalia caught a glimpse of a figure in a white robe. Luka looked that way. He couldn't see anything. "Hold on." Ezalia strode down the hallway to catch up to the figure. It was the person she wanted to speak with the most. Luka followed after her.
The person Ezalia was following, stopped. She headed a bit more towards them before stopping. She placed her right hand that was closed in a fist, over her heart, and bowed her head. Saluting the person. "Princess, it has been a while." She greeted.
Luka was in shock. He saw the figure with the long pink locks and the long white robe. He looked to Ezalia. That's not. He wanted to tell her but he couldn't. He greeted in silence, following her.
"It has been a while," Selena's voice was soft and sweet. "You're here about the ZAFT incident. Don't worry. It shall all be handled. You may rise."
Luka felt conflicted. Ezalia rose up to see the figure was slowly turning around, to her surprise it was not the princess but the prince.
"Pr-Prince Sven!" Ezalia blanched. She was in utter shock.
"Director Joule," Sven kept speaking as if he was Selena, in a sweet and calm voice. "I have heard everything about you." He looked over to see Luka who was showing disappointment. He cleared his throat, speaking in his own voice. "The High Chancellor with his disagreeing looks. What? It's not the first time I have impersonated her. Although her voice is no longer gentle and sweet. It's cold and brisk." He cleared his throat trying to speak like her again. "As if the whole world needs to bow down to me." He brightened up. "That's her voice! Wooh! Still got it." He looked over to see Ezalia still in shock. "Oh dear. This is going to get some getting used to. Yes, you believed I was dead, no, I was not. Anyways, I'm not my sister, she's indisposed at the moment, but I'll try to help you out if I can."
Ezalia could not believe her eyes. There standing in front of her was Prince Sven. His hair just as long as Selena's. His frame is similar too but he would have more muscles than her if he was still alive this whole time and not wherever he was. He was in a white satin robe with matching pants, shirt, and shoes. He was holding a white walking stick.
"Then, would you be able to…"Ezalia trailed off.
"No, I cannot," Sven shook his head. "But we do have similar goals. Pay no mind to Luka, he has his own worries." Ezalia glanced over to see Luka's expression was getting darker. This was all a surprise to her. She looked back to Sven who was walking over to them. "Come, let us discuss the proposition."
"No," Luka interjected. "You can say it here and now."
"Alright then," Sven lifted his chin. "Can't undo what has been done, but I can help out in some areas. I don't want variables to further stray her away from the path she's on or affecting her during this time. I've already caused enough mess. I'll keep things clear for her until the very end. This way both of us can have a peace of mind until it's the right time."
"So then, how does that help?" Ezalia wanted to know.
"Neither of them will continue to know what's going on," Sven explained. "She's indisposed for a while. I'd say about three months. When there is no checking in, then the process is triggered. We're drawing near anyways so its high time anyways. While she's doing her thing, I'll make sure they keep apart." He walked towards a wall. "We're no longer dealing with the Queen."
"Queen?" Ezalia scrunched her eyebrows.
"Yes, I said Queen," he headed over to a large framed painting. "After many downfalls, we've been dealing with Queen Selena. Everything she does is for the good of the Kingdom. Now we're onto the next step, Empress. Everything around her has become her empire. She will do what she will to make sure no one else conquers it. And soon," he paused looking at the painting. The two looked with him. It was a painting of a Viking with red hair and green eyes. Around his mouth were black dots. There animals painted to almost blend in. "We will be dealing with the Deity. I don't want to deal with the Deity earlier than expected."
"What are you talking about?" Ezalia could tell there was an eight-legged horse, a wolf, and a snake in the picture after staring at it for so long.
"I don't want to cross her at all right now," Sven muttered. "My parents made levels in Selena. She's always a higher rank than us, even if we all are the same. She's Empress at this moment because that's the level she needs to be to get her tasks down. When those tasks are done, she goes into that damned room, and they raise her level. Deity is the highest level. As the name forebears, she can wipe out anything and everything. She can raise things to life. Neither me or Anita can sway from the command of the Deity. If she hears anything about her betrothed while she's in this state, I can't guarantee anything. I don't know what will become of her, except her rising in level. I don't know what she will do." He glanced over to Luka who still had the same dark expression. "I prefer not to chance it. It's a variable I cannot allow at the moment. We let Selena due my parent's bidding and make sure all outside variables stay outside. Agreed?" Ezalia nodded.
