Disclaimer: See Chapter 1


"Dearka…" Miriallia's voice broke into sobs as the rest of ArchAngel's crew looked in horror. The smoke was immense and took forever to clear. It finally did clear and they saw the gold remains of the Apocalypse and pieces of dull gray metal that were obviously not from the Buster.

"What the…" Yzak muttered as the Buster came into sight, fully intact. 'I'm going to hit him for scaring me like that,' he thought as he sighed in relief. Miriallia looked up in bewilderment and smiled through her tears when she saw the unharmed Buster.

Dearka stared at the scene in front of him. "Gee, that was close," he said to himself as he leaned back in his seat. He looked at the battlefield cloaked with debris and scraps of gold armor. "I guess it's finally over." A few pieces of the gray remains of a Gold Cosmos ship drifted in front of him. "Thank you," Dearka said to the fallen ship. At that moment, Kira appeared on his screen.

"Are you alright? You gave us a scare."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Great. Orders are to return to any one of the battleships so we can count our losses. They're going to negotiate a peace treaty later after we've all organized our forces."

"Okay," Dearka answered as Kira switched off the screen. He turned Buster around and flew for a nearby ZAFT ship, but after some hesitation, Dearka changed course and flew towards the ArchAngel. After a few minutes, he docked in the hangar. He exited the cockpit and after nodding to some of the crew, exited the hangar into an oxygen-filled room.

"Dearka!" Miriallia cried as he removed his helmet. She floated to him and he caught her in an embrace, dropping his helmet. "You idiot! You scared me!"

"Hey, didn't I promise you I'd come back?" Dearka asked teasingly.

"I just thought…" Miriallia started crying in relief. Dearka had no idea what to do and just held her reassuringly.

Yzak, who was watching nearby, laughed. "You've got a lot to learn."

"It's not like you know anything," Dearka retorted and after a few minutes of attempted glaring, all three of them broke down laughing. "You've got to tell us what happened. We all saw two explosions from the ArchAngel."

"Well… how about over some food? I'm hungry."

About fifteen minutes later, they were all eating in the mess hall. "It's like this…" Dearka started after taking a long sip from his drink. "We both fired and this nearby Gold Cosmos ship flew in front of me." He was quiet for a moment, deep in thought. "It's ironic. In the end, they died protecting a Coordinator when they had sworn to destroy all of us. Well… that's why you saw two explosions. One was the gold mobile suit from Gold Cosmos and the other was a Gold Cosmos battleship."

"I see…" Miriallia said to herself.

"By the way, when are these peace talks going to take place?" Dearka asked.

"Um… we're planning to hold a conference in 20 hours in the PLANTs," Yzak responded. "We're invited to attend and take place in the actual negotiations."

"The PLANTs? Are you sure about this? I mean, they just tried to kill us all earlier," Dearka said.

"I'm sure it'll be okay. The head of ZAFT suggested it after all." Yzak stood up, "Well, we all better start heading to Aprilius 1."

Kira and Lacus walked across a park on the PLANT, Aprilius 1. "Well, we still have half an hour," Lacus said. "Do you want to walk by the lake?"

"Sure," Kira responded softly as she took his hand and led him to the lake. They sat down on the grass, observing the peaceful scene.

"Is it going to finally be over?" Lacus asked as she played with a flower she had picked.

"I think it's for real this time."

"That's a good thing to hear." Lacus leaned her head against Kira's shoulder. He put an arm around her. "Peace is coming."

Athrun quickly ducked behind a tree to shield himself from sight of the lake. "What's wrong?" Cagalli asked. "Come on, we only have fifteen minutes left."

"It's Kira and Lacus. I think it's best if no one disturbs them. Lets go to the other side of the lake. There are more trees there."

"Hey, what?" Cagalli asked and Athrun grabbed her hand and they ran off. Finally concealed from sight. Athrun turned to her.

"I… um…" Athrun muttered.

"Naw, you don't have to say it," Cagalli said as she kissed him, causing him to blush fervently.

"Okay, I won't," Athrun whispered as he kissed her back. They stopped. "I'm glad you're alive."

"You're the one who's most likely to have died," Cagalli turned around, blushing.

"Ha, maybe you're right." They started laughing together. "I think it's time to go back." The two headed back towards the building where the conference was going to take place. Kira and Lacus joined them.

Dearka glanced at his watch. "Uh oh, only five minutes left." He looked over at Miriallia, who had been staring out at the park. The entrance to the conference room was just in front of them and nearly everyone was inside, waiting for the last five minutes to pass. "Did you want to tell me something earlier?" Miriallia nodded, still looking out the window.

She finally started to say something, but Dearka couldn't catch the words. "What?" he asked, walking over the window and standing next to her.

"I… I love you," she finally said, loud enough for only him to hear.

Dearka turned slightly red and answered, "What a coincidence, I love you too."

"Take this seriously!" Miriallia said, looking away and blushing vibrantly.

"I am," Dearka whispered as he took her hand gently turned her face with his other hand to face him. They kissed and after over a year, she felt as if her heart had truly fully healed.

Yzak opened the door slightly, "Hey you two, conference's starting. Are you coming in or not?"

"We're coming," Dearka said as Miriallia and he walked into the conference room, hand in hand.

"It's finally over," Miriallia whispered.

"Yes, it is," Dearka whispered back.

The peace talks went quite well to everyone's surprise, and the chains of hatred that held the Naturals and Coordinators apart were broken. The war was over, and production of armaments on both sides was ceased forever. Kira continued living with Lacus in the PLANTs and Athrun and Cagalli returned to Orb, where they rebuilt the nation. Miriallia decided to stay with Dearka in the PLANTs, where together, they both worked towards the goal of maintaining absolute peace between the Coordinators and Naturals. The war was finally over, forever…

The End