Andraya scanned the horizon for any sign of land, finding only the empty semi-circle she had been searching for what seemed like days. Just over an hour, she reminded herself, glancing at her watch. She would find what she needed. All in good time.
I still can't believe she betrayed me… Andraya leaned back in her restraints, never taking her watchful glance off the horizon. I trusted her so much…
'Ah, now you see once again what happens when you place too much trust in someone'
Zia's words had hit home deep in Andraya's heart, penetrating her soft spot, her weakest point. Her trust. The trust she had just been starting to completely place in Duo…shattered. How could she trust someone again, after Zia's little stunt? For Andraya, trust had always had the potential to equal pain, and had almost always been just that. There had only been two people who Andraya had thought completely worthy of her precious trust… And I just killed one and left the other. Well, this puts me in a marvelous position!
A red blip on her Gundam's radar snapped Andraya back to reality as it beeped its alert. Damn! It's Duo! Though she had no way of confirming this, Andraya was sure it would be her new ally coming to bring her back to Howard's hangar. Or maybe not…she thought, remembering the vexing look she had last seen occupying her comrade's face.
The blip continued to close in on ArcticBlaze. I can't let him catch me! Franticly, Andraya searched for a way to avoid the Gundam now only a few kilometers away from her position, but to no avail. With a frustrated groan, Andraya sat up straight again, causing her to see land on her 180° viewscreen.
"Finally!" she said aloud, at last finding what she had been looking for. She could be at the base in less than a minute if she went full-speed! Giving full power to her Gundam's thrusters, Andraya zoomed away from the ever-closing blip and towards her destination. Perhaps my final destination…
+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+
"Damn it, Andraya!" Duo exclaimed, noticing ArcticBlaze's sudden acceleration. He had his cloak on, but had forgotten that Andraya's Gundam, being so similar to his, could still detect him closing in on her. She probably thinks I'm still angry with her…great.
Duo fed what little fuel he had left to his own Gundam's thrusters, and removed the cloak to gain as much power as possible to try and catch up to his new ally. He had no idea what she was about to do, or even where she was headed. His guess was that she wasn't acting rationally, in whatever she was doing, due to the emotional war most likely raging inside of her. Her best friend had betrayed her, one of the few she had placed her trust in, Duo knew.
Andraya…just please let me help you!
He reached the coast of the land Andraya had headed for, and continued to follow her blip on his radar. His comm system had failed again, with its usual impeccable timing. He was sure he could talk her out of doing this! Talk her out of doing WHAT though?
+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+-~-+
At last Andraya reached the destination she had been heading towards since the second she took off from the hangar. Not that she never planned to go back there, as Duo most likely thought. She was still on his side! She just had a little matter of revenge to take care of before she resumed her duty as a Gundam pilot.
Hovering over the woods adjacent to the OZ base, she contemplated the best weapon to use. Of course the self-destruct mechanism had entered her thoughts, but only as a last resort. I'll just have to wage an all-out war on them first!!
Rushing towards the Tokyo Main OZ Base, she brought her freeze rifle down even with one wing of the mammoth establishment. Pulling the trigger without a second thought, the wing shattered, just as Zia had. Good. This is what they deserve!
By now warning lights sprinkled over the length of the base had begun to flash and wail, alerting the soldiers to begin the battle. Damn! I should have taken out the Leos first! Hastily, she activated her beam saber and slashed madly at the weak mobile suits, even as the OZ soldiers entered them for battle. The few that she missed on the ground she took out in the air with the small cannons mounted on either side of her mobile suit's gargantuan head.
Grabbing her freeze rifle again, she destroyed yet another wing of the base. Comm message after comm message tried to get her attention on the console below her viewscreen, but none succeeded. She was too intent on destroying the base. The monsters that turned innocent people into bloodthirsty soldiers who betray their closest friends!
Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of Deathscythe hovering over the woods at the edge of the battle. Why is he just standing there!! He should…be trying to stop me, or help me! Or…something!
Andraya paid him little attention as she continued her onslaught of the base Zia had resided in during her final hours. Her hatred for OZ in general that had built up during her enlightening talks with the Gundam pilots and scientists was finally coming to the surface, riding on the edge of her sanity. No Zero system was needed to give her the edge in battle here, she had enough hatred and feeling of betrayal in her to suffice as fuel for the mad attack she was raining down on the OZ base before her.
Finally, nothing remained of the base but ashes and ice, an odd combination for the after-effects of a battle. Setting her Gundam down where a building stood only moments before, Andraya breathed heavily in her seat, still sitting bolt upright and staring wide-eyed at the viewscreen. Slowly, she calmed herself enough to relax back into a normal sitting position, with her eyes in focus on the snow outside. Snow…?
Opening the cockpit entrance, Andraya stepped up to the ledge and observed the scene she had created. Discolored snow fell from the sky in soft flake-like particles, though Andraya knew the real substance of these small crystals. Holding out her hand, she caught a few of them, the particles that held the lives of the people she had just killed, their home, their calling, their deceit. She leaped to the ground, crunching the "snow" as she did so. The nuclear winter-like flakes continued to fall as Andraya walked towards a small pile of scrap that had escaped her onslaught. Bending down, she brushed away some of the icy crystals to reveal a picture frame, its glass broken and its form bent almost beyond recognition.
Almost.
Andraya removed the glass shards to reveal a photograph of herself and Zia the day they were sworn into the OZ Organization. They were standing side by side, with their arms around each other's OZ-insignia clad shoulders. And they were smiling.
Andraya fell to her knees, crumpling the picture as she did so. She clutched it to her chest, and to her slight surprise, she started to cry. She never noticed Deathscythe coming to land beside her own Gundam, or the pilot that exited and rushed over to her weeping form. She did, however, notice the comfort he gave her, even after she had executed a terrible act of revenge that none of the people she had just killed deserved. She had destroyed these people's homes, something all too common in her life. Only none of these people had escaped.
Still clutching the photograph close to her, she cried the icy tears of betrayal, death, and remorse into Duo's shoulder, who knew those same tears all too well from his own life, his life as The God of Death.