May 2nd, C.E. 71
Joint Supreme Headquarters Alaska
Archangel crew quarters.
Miriallia sat on her bunk, trying to stop the tears from streaming down her face, but failing rather miserably. On the bunk across the room sat a box filled with Tolle's possessions. Poor Sai had been ordered to inventory and round up the belongings of Tolle Koenig and Kira Yamato. Their deaths were as hard on his as they were on her.
But now Sai was back on duty, watching over the CIC even though they were all in safe harbor. The Archangel's original mission had been to load and deliver the five prototype Gundam mobile suits to either the Lunar base, or barring that, to JOSH-A. After months of unending battles and chases from ZAFT, the beleaguered crew had finally made it.
Their last battle had nearly killed them all; the Buster had them in his sights when Mu intervened. Kira and Tolle had held off the Aegis until the bitter end, costing both young boys their life. Milly cursed the war and all of the hatred in the world for taking her two good friends.
A knock on her door made her jump a little. "Who is it?" she asked as politely as she could, keeping her voice even.
"It's Murdoch. Can I come in?" he asked.
"Sure." Came her reply.
He opened the door and walked in; examining the sparse environment she slept in. Closing the door behind him, he fixed his eyes on Mir. "How ya holding up?" he asked. As Milly opened her mouth to speak, Kojiro held up a finger. "And don't say 'fine' or something that's not the truth." He warned.
Milly gathered a shaky breath and answered. "Horrible. We finally make it to Alaska, thanks to all of our hard work, especially Kira's, and then he dies with Tolle less than an hour before we get here!"
"That's true, but I think Kira and Tolle would want us to be happy that we're safe now." Kojiro said kindly.
Miriallia looked at Murdoch, her eyes suddenly filled with tears again. "I want them back …" she whimpered before the tears started to flow again.
Murdoch's expression softened considerably and he gently hugged her. "I know you do sweetie, I know. Who knows, maybe the Orb search party will find them." He consoled her.
It felt so natural to be held by Murdoch, Milly could swear that he had done this before. "What's going to happen to us now?" she whispered.
"The Joint brass will probably send the Archangel somewhere to help with the fighting, but I'm not sure about her crew. I'd expect that all of the young people would be allowed to leave with discharge papers, but the senior crew … who knows."
She buried her head in his chest. "I don't want us to split apart, everyone is like family now." She said, her voice muffled.
"Family eh? I guess we really have come a long ways." Murdoch sighed a little unhappily.
"Chief Murdoch? What's the matter?" Mir asked.
"Call me Murdoch, little one. Or Kojiro. I was just thinking about my girl." He replied.
"You have a family?" she tried not to make it sound rude.
"Not anymore. My wife Teresa got a divorce when I joined the Alliance's Archangel Project, and she took my little girl Cheryl. She'd be your age now, and she's just like you, kind and caring." Kojiro explained.
"Mister Murdoch …"
"Hey hey hey. I said Murdoch, or Kojiro. None of this "mister" or "chief" business." He reminded her.
Miriallia giggled lightly. "I guess being the Chief Mechanic doesn't just apply to machines when it comes to you, does it?"
"Not when a guy like me meets a bunch of crazy teenagers like you and your friends." He laughed. "C'mon, I'll treat you to lunch."
Suddenly the thought of interacting with other members of the crew didn't seem so bad. Perhaps with the help of some good friends, everyone could overcome the grief and sadness that had replaced Kira and Tolle
"And remember, my door is always open if you need to talk." Mir smiled and nodded her thanks. As she stood, an image formed in her mind, of Tolle in heaving, smiling fondly and waving to her. Kira was nowhere to be seen, and her heart panged as she tried to squash the thoughts that he might still be alive.
'No, they're both dead, don't torture yourself into thinking that they may have survived.' She scolded herself mentally.
"Little one? You ready?" Kojiro asked.
She returned to reality and graciously took his offered arm. "Better now than never."
But as hard as she tried, that little nagging thought that Kira was alive hung around, which eventually led to her total and complete shock when Kira did come back alive.
Just something that bugged me a little about Destiny. When Miriallia returned to the Archangel, she and Murdoch seemed to be excellent buddies, but in SEED she was barely shown to have interacted with him.
I figured, what better way to have them grow close than to have him comfort her after Tolle dies and Kira disappears? But that's just me.
Prayer