Amuro watched silently as the Ra Calium's technicians poured over the mobile suits and armors resting in the hangar bay, his mind devoted to thoughts about the battles that lay ahead of them. True, he had enjoyed the sensations of returning to the field with his Hi-NuGundam. The rush, the physical feel of adrenaline pouring into his system was unimaginable. Yet he still felt his only reason for returning was not to fight another war, as he told Sayla before at his home. He didn't care about the Earth Alliance's war with ZAFT or any other debacle. He only wanted to stop Char before the past repeated itself again.
Char Aznable.
The name alone made Amuro flex his fists open and closed with bitterness. The two were sworn and bitter rivals since the days of the One Year War. They had always fought to near stalemates every time they battled each other, both with mobile suits and with bare fists. Time after time both men had almost killed each other and because of their endless rivalry, an innocent life was caught between them and ripped apart.
Lalah Sune.
The memories of her tragic death still loomed over Amuro's soul after all these years, a scar that would never fully fade away from around his heart. He alone bore the weight of causing the young Newtype's death, since it was his Gundam's beam saber that pierced the cockpit of her MAN-08 Elmeth. He had felt her screams of death in his mind, felt her innocent soul float freely into space and away from him. Char had blamed him, of course, and it cemented their rivalry with each other even more. It had finally peaked in UC 0093, when the two of them nearly killed each other in one last battle with Earth looming before them. When Amuro went into his self-imposed exile, he sincerely believed that his long-forged rivalry with Char was over. Now the former "Red Comet" had resurfaced, forcing him to return to the battlefield as well.
'Char...' Amuro thought to himself. 'What the hell are you planning now? Haven't you done enough damage with that damn selfish ambition of yours?'
"I thought you'd be here, Amuro." He turned to see Sayla floating towards him, wearing the white uniform of an Earth Alliance veteran pilot or command-level officer. It seemed too reminiscent of their old Earth Federation uniforms for Amuro's taste, who stayed in his civilian clothing for the time being. He stayed with his conviction not to fight anyone else's wars anymore, yet... the lines were already blurred when he brought the Hi-NuGundam out of it's grave and into the battlefield.
"It looks good on you." Amuro commented as the blond-haired doctor joined him on the catwalk overlooking the mobile suit hangar. "So, you've officially re-enlisted?"
"As of two hours ago." Sayla replied. "Bright said that the Atlantic Federation, the military branch of the Earth Alliance, approved it and reactivated my old service record." She placed a hand on Amuro's shoulder, seeing the focused look his face had gained. "You should go see him, Amuro."
"I'll see Bright later." There was an uneasy silence in the air as the two Newtypes watched Astionage and his workcrews pour over the mobile suits below. Sayla already knew what was really on her friend's mind, since it also affected her as well. At one time, she had thought of Char as her brother, Casval Daikum. It tormented and tortured her for years that he would throw himself into recreating his ideas of what the Zeon ideals were. Zeon Zum Daikum, their late father when she was still known as Artesia instead of Sayla, had intended for the spacebourne Newtypes to be humanity's guides towards a new era of peace. It was the same ideals that George Glenn had studied and tried to practice with the genetically-enhanced spacenoids called Coordinators. Yet the Zabi family polluted her family's name and legacy, a legacy Casval swore to reclaim in vengeance with his life.
Sayla felt a chill run through her when she was briefly reunited with her brother, now known as Char Aznable, in the Texas Colony of Side 5 during the One Year War. His eyes bore the look of someone who had been haunted by revenge, cold and filled with bitterness. She desperately wanted him to give up his need for vengeance, begging him to come with her and be the family they were supposed to be. He told her, not in so many words, that he could never return to being Casval Daikum until his need for vengeance was satisfied. Over the years, Sayla had searched for him in a vain hope that he would abandon his desperate ambition and obsession to rebuild their father's dream. She later learned of his involvement with the Gryps conflict in UC 0088, when she visited Bright Noah on the Near Argama. She felt scared for Char, knowing that he would never rest until Zeon was reclaimed and restored.
Amuro had failed to end her brother's ambition in UC 0093, when both of them were presumed dead. Now, she suspected him being involved with this present war somehow. It prompted her own return from exile, a new resolve now set in her mind. She would have to be the one to stop Char, no matter the cost.
"He's still out there, Sayla." Amuro told her, confirming her earlier suspicions. "I just wish I knew what he was up to." He turned to her, seeing a cold look flashing in her ice-blue eyes. "I couldn't stop him during the Neo-Zeon war. Now, Char is somewhere out there probably trying to start this insanity all over again. The real question is when and not where, though."
Sayla stared directly ahead, her eyes full of cold bitterness and contempt for the man she once called her brother. "You know, I keep telling myself over and over again that he's not capable of being that way. Somewhere inside of him is the Casval that I love as my brother. But now... now all I can see is the man they call Char Aznable, the damned 'Red Comet' of the One Year War." She gripped the guard rail tightly, an icy fury burning in her blood. "I thought I could never hate him, Amuro. But he's gone too far too many times. I... I can't sense my brother's soul inside of him now. He's not Casval anymore... and it sickens me."
"Sayla..." Amuro was startled at how cold she had become at mentioning Char. Sayla always held a sort of optimism and hope for her sibling's return from blind ambition. The woman in front of him gave off waves of contempt and hatred for Char, quite different from the Sayla he knew. In a way, it almost scared even him. He was startled by the alarm klaxon going off in the mobile suit hangar.
"Enemy mobile suits detected!" Lieutenant Morgan's voice called over the COM channels. "All mobile suit and mobile armor pilots should report to the hangar immediately! Repeat: all mobile suit and mobile armor pilots should report to the hangar immediately!"
Amuro grimaced, an uneasy but all-too familiar sensation building in his mind. It was as if some force was throwing space itself into chaos. He had felt it once before during the One Year War at the battle of Solomon. Now the feeling has returned to haunt him from a totally different source.
"You felt it, too?" Amuro asked as he and Sayla headed to the locker rooms to change into pilot suits.
"Whatever it was, it felt powerful." Sayla replied. "It was almost like something was reaching out and trying to consume everything with cold hatred." With that, the two separated and went to the separate change areas.
"How close are we to Frontier One?" Bright asked the person at the helm controls, his back tense and straight as the colony started to come into view.
"We're at least another twenty minutes away at full speed, sir." The person, Ensign Markolis, replied as she brought up the Ra Calium's course on the main screen. Frontier One was originally known as part of Side 6, one of the few surviving colonies from the One Year War era. It was one of several that was reorganized after the Neo-Zeon conflict. Since then, it had survived both Operation: Daria by the Space Revolutionary Army as well as the Bloody Valentine incident one year earlier. The colony was home to millions of people who had hoped to escape the terrors of the war. Now it was in danger.
"Tell the mobile suit deck to stand by for launch." Bright instructed, his eyes beginning to see the familiar telltale flashes ahead of their ship. It was weapons fire from mobile suits.
Seebook Arno tried to keep as calm as possible, maneuvering the F-91 Gundam ahead in hopes of tracking down Korozo Ronah and ending this conflict for the Frontier colonies. The mobile suit was the end product of years of research and collaboration for the Strategic Naval Research Institute, the in-house mobile suit development division for the former Earth Federation. It incorporated several years of tested and proven technologies, such as a bio-computer for enhanced operating efficiency. Although it wasn't meant to be tested yet, the F-91 had fallen in Seebook's hands as a means of circumstance.
He glanced over to the 360-degree panoramic viewer, seeing the XM-07 Vigna Ghina piloted by Cecily Fairchild on his left. She was a close friend to Seebook, her past filled with many unanswered questions about herself. She had recently escaped from her life as Berah Ronah, heir to the Cosmo Babylonia that her family believed was the future for spacenoids. In the end, their idealism were nothing but echoes of the creed followed by the Duchy of Zeon and by ZAFT. Her father, Korozo "Iron Mask" Ronah, was driven by his own quest for perfection and power to the point of madness. He was betraying everyone close to him and hiding his true intentions behind his mask, forcing Cecily to turn her back on him and his ideals. She was NOT Berah Ronah, not anymore. Seebook couldn't be more glad for her.
"A man who can't do anything without his mask says he'll change the world." Cecily told him over the open COM circuit, a coldness and sense of disgust in her normally sympathetic voice. She hated Iron Mask bitterly now, for polluting her grandfather's idealism with his own desires for power. Meitzer Ronah, like Zeon Zum Daikun and George Glenn, only had good intentions for spacenoids and the colonies. His concept for Cosmo Babylonia was a vision to unite the people under, not against Earth, but so they would stand on their own. Iron Mask was different, using those ideals to create his own twisted utopia under Meitzer's nose. Now after witnessing the horrific and systematic killing done of Frontier 1 by the mobile 'BUG' weapons, Cecily was sure of it.
"Agreed." Seebook replied. "Anyone with that much power and conviction is too dangerous. He has to be stopped, now." He glanced over to the right, seeing that most of the backup fleet from the moon had been obliterated, the familiar sickness of death and devestation plaguing his senses. Was this what it meant to be a Newtype? "I wish someone could just call this off."
"That's why we're here, remember? We have to be the ones to take him out."
Seebook shivered as a cold feeling raced through him, pressure building in his head as if something was trying to overwhelm his mind. It felt sinister but mechanical in nature, as if it came from a machine rather than a living thing. He looked up to see a light in the distance, the evil sensations growing stronger as they went closer. Whatever it was, it was the source of the feelings of malice he sensed.
"Are there still signs of battle?" Acting Captain Leahlee asked, the bridge of the Space Ark tense as they waited inside the the underbelly of a damaged colony. The ship was only intended as a training vessel, not meant for actual combat duty. Not only was it outmatched by both the Crossbone Vanguard as well as ZAFT, but heavily understaffed. At the moment, the only surviving crewmembers were several trainees and volunteers.
"Yes, however, it seems to be slowing down somewhat." one of the officers reported. "We're still picking up the ID codes of the F-91 and Vigna Ghina."
"I see." Standing beside her was Doctor Monica Arno, Seebook's mother and one of the creators of the Gundam F-91. It was her help that transformed the Space Ark into a refugee ship so they wouldn't be fired upon by enemy forces. A tense look of worry over her son's well-being was written on her face, especially knowing that he was the one out there fighting with a weapon she helped to create. Leahlee understood the feeling, despite not having children of her own, and sympathized with her. However, there was also a sense of pride in Monica's face. She believed in her son and Cecily also, knowing that it was people like them who would bring about change.
"The performance rating of the F-91 and Vigna are well above average." Monica commented. She then started to blush with embarasment. "I'm sorry. It's probably just a mother's foolish pride, that's all."
"Not at all, Doctor Arno." Leahlee told the woman with a smile. "I've seen Seebook's performance and your absolutely right. He and the Gundam are definitely showing us the way... perhaps to a better future, I hope."
"Thank you, acting captain." Monica said with gratitude.
"Ma'am, we're getting a laser signal transmission from the Ra Calium." one of the officers, a young man named Cain, replied from the COM station.
"Bright Noah's ship?" Leahlee muttered, knowing fully the reputation of the former Earth Federation's finest battleship commander. He, along with the surviving alumni of the Pegasus-class cruiser White Base, were legends in their time. To have him getting in contact with their training ship was nothing short of an honor. "What does the transmission say?"
"They'll be here within the next eighteen minutes to render any aid necessary."
"Understood." Leylee returned her attention to the forward screens. "Until then, we'll just have to hope for the best."
"Here it comes!" Seebook suddenly shouted, using the F-91's thrusters to push him and Cecily out the way. They found themselves barraged by multiple shots from a source dead ahead, the beam shields of both mobile suits protecting their pilots for the moment. On impulse, Cecily forced the Vigna Ghina ahead, ignoring Seebook's warnings as she armed her beam rifles.
"I know that it's him." Cecily said to herself. "Now I'll cut these family ties myself." Her eyes were filled with a cold hatred towards the man called Iron Mask, the same man who abandoned her and her mother, Nadia, for the sake of HIS version of Cosmo Babylonia. She never truly saw him as her father anymore, merely as a madman who had too much power to his name. She dodged beam shot after beam shot, the feelings of cruel intent pushing at her consciousness.
'Where is this coming from?' the red-haired young woman thougt to herself. She then saw it, a giant red mobile armor with tentacles stretched everywhere. It bore a faint resemblance to a flower, it's 'petals' studded with beam cannon ports. She thought it was another one of the 'BUG' mobile weapons but soon sensed the cold cruelty flashing from it. It was definitely not a 'BUG', but the XMA-01 Rafflesia. It was Iron Mask's mobile armor.
She fired shot after shot from her beam rilfles, the blows merely glancing off of the Rafflesia's armor. The Vigna Ghina was the most advanced weapon the Crossbone Vanguard had manufactured. Yet even it's high-powered beam rifles were nothing to that monstrosity.
"Cecily, get back!" Seebook shouted over the COM, firing at the mobile armor with the F-91's beam launcher. It also did nothing to stop or slow it down. He dodged left and right, trying desperately to avoid getting caught by the flailing tentacles of the Rafflesia. This was rapidly becoming an uphill battle, since the Gundam F-91 only had a certain amount of energy for it's beam weapons. He then noticed some wreakage from one of the colonies floating nearby. It had come from Heliopolis, one of the PLANTs destroyed several months ago in the war with ZAFT.
'At least it'll give us some cover.' Seebook thought as he manuvered the F-91 towards the ruins. He saw that the Vigna Ghina was backing towards it as well, pursued by the monstrous mobile armor as well. "Cecily, use the wreckage as a shield!" Seebook shouted over the COM.
"But you don't understand!" Cecily replied, using her beam shield to divert one of the tentacles away from her.
"Let me deal with this!" Seebook told his friend, firing at the Rafflesia to draw it's attention away from her. Seeing that it was noticing him, he kept firing the beam rifle as he lured it closer and closer to the colony ruins. This battle was beginning to turn ugly unless they got some help soon.
Cecily waited by the hulled remains of several buildings, seeing the terrible struggle the Gundam F-91 was having with the Rafflesia. She couldn't leave it to Seebook alone; the power of that mobile armor was too much for even the F-91 to handle. He would be killed unless things changed. Besides, she could sense Iron Mask's smug superiority behind the controls. She wanted to kill him personally, an act of personal vengeance for betraying her family with his cold ambitions. She armed both beam rifles and rocketed towards the Rafflesia, seeing that it was indeed Korozo "Iron Mask" Ronah at the controls.
"Now I'll kill you myself!" Cecily shouted, throwing away one of the beam rifles and arming her beam saber. The tentacles came at her, slicing off one of her thruster nozzles, Cecily tried to ward them but succeeded in having the Vigna Ghina's left hand and part of the main camera sliced off. She noticed that Seebook sliced at some of the tentacles as he manuvered in front of her, protecting her damaged mobile suit as the Rafflesia loomed before them...
"Gillet!" Zabine Chareaux called over the COM circuit of his mobile suit, the XM-05 Berga Ghiros. It was designed as a command unit for the Crossbone Vanguard's mobile suit teams, intended only for use by veteran and proven combat pilots. Zabine used it as his personal unit in this battle, knowing it was a superbly designed mobile suit and perfect for an assault.
"I saw that thing leave from the Zarmouth Gar." Zabine continued. "What do you know about it?"
"It's not my concern." Gillet, the present commander of the Crossbone Vanguard flagship Zarmouth Gar, responded cooly. He was a blind idiot, willing to obey only Iron Mask's orders instead of thinking logically. Zabine was incredibly digusted with the attitude.
"Is this how Iron Mask operates?" Zabine questioned to himself. He then switched the COM circuit open again. "Meet me at the portside airlock. I want to have a few words with you." He put on his pilot's suit helmet and decompressed the cockpit, taking his sidearm with him. He was sick and tired of those like Iron Mask who let their own ambitions replace the common goal. Whatever that weapon was that left the ship, it was something that Meitzer never knew about and would never have approved.
He opened the hatch and saw Gillet standing at the airlock in a normal suit. Zabine wanted answers and he wanted them now.
"I want to know what that thing was, Gillet." Zabine told him as he floated towards the airlock. "Why did Iron Mask have it stowed onboard this ship?"
"I told you, it's not my concern. A decision like that can't be made of my own authority."
"Just remember that those who operate directly under Iron Mask aren't the only ones who can act as they see fit." Zabine calmly pointed his weapon at the faceplate of Gillet's normal suit, ignoring the look of fear in the man's face as he fired. It shattered, spilling glass and compressed air into space as he floated away. "As for the Rafflesia, if I didn't know about it then neither did Meitzer." Zabine floated back to his mobile suit, already forming a plan to deal with Iron Mask later. As he closed the hatch, he manuvered the Berga Ghiros upward towards the Zarmouth Gar's bridge deck.
"The Zarmouth Gar is to remain here until Iron Mask returns." Zabine instructed over the COM circuit. "Understood?"
"Yes sir." came the reply. With that, he signaled the the two XM-01 Denan Zon mobile suits with him to follow him. He wasn't going to have the Crossbone forces polluted by faulty idealism, not when he was so close to fulfilling his own goals.
Cecily forced the Vigna Ghina to dodge left and right, trying desperately to avoid the tentacles that seemed to be everywhere. She used her remaining beam saber to slice at them, one of them wrapping around and slicing off her mobile suit's leg. Again and again she sliced at the tentacles, determined to reach the Rafflesia's cockpit and end Iron Mask's life.
"You're too close, Cecily!" Seebook warned over the COM circuit, the Gundam F-91 also keeping the tentacles at bay with it's weapons.
"What was made by man can be destroyed by man!" Cecily said to herself, ignoring Seebook's warning as she came closer and closer to the heart of the giant mobile armor. She was too close to destroying Iron Mask to back off now. Suddenly, several tentacles snaked around her mobile suit, whipping her around and yanking her to the top of the Rafflesia. Cecily felt the familiar sinister taste of an evil presense in her mind as she looked on her monitors. Looking up at her was Iron Mask, his body language cool and composed with an air of superiority.
"Since you want to be close, let's have it this way." Iron Mask seemed to say. Though he was indeed talking to her, the psycommu drivers in the Rafflesia's computer interface amplified his thoughts. His voice boomed in her mind, chilling Cecily to the core. "You've been very naughty, Berah. Children should never suspect the actions of adults."
"I'm not a child anymore," Cecily retorted angrily, "and I'm NOT Berah Ronah anymore! You're just going against Grandfather because he transformed you into an Artificial Newtype! If you can still feel anything in that cold thing you call a heart, you'll stop this!"
"I had to destroy nine-tenths of humankind to bring about Cosmo Babylonia, so I HAD to change!" Iron Mask told her.
"That's stupid, you damn machine!" Cecily shouted, a wave of rage coursing through her at how cold and calculating Iron Mask was being. How dare he excuse what he was doing?
Seebook fought against more of the tentacles, seeing that most of them were wrapped around the Vigna Ghina, slowly beginning to squeeze the disabled mobile suit. Something snapped in his mind, telling him that he had to save her. He lost so much in the last few battles. He couldn't lose Cecily now.
"CECILY!"
He could feel an indescribable force rushing through him, light coming from every system in the F-91's cockpit. It poured through his mind, expanding his consciousness until it nearly overwhelmed his senses. He could sense everything at once and knew why. He pressed on further, not noticing that the bio-computer in the F-91 had begun to overheat, forcing the mobile suit to eject cooling fins from it's shoulder pads.
The Rafflesia's tentacles squeezed harder and harder into the Vigna Ghina, slicing into it's armor every so often. Cecily saw that the cockpit door had been sliced off, letting her see the mobile armor up close as well as the imposing visage of Iron Mask in his cockpit. An intense fear ran through her blood, nearly making her recoil.
"I'm not a machine, Berah." Iron Mask told her, his voice seeming to come from everywhere at once. "My ego was merely allowed to expand to let me fulfill my duties."
Cecily tried desperately to engage the ejection system, the sensation of terror growing stronger and stronger as the monitors in the Vigna Ghina finally failed. Surges of electricity flared back and forth through the damaged controls, finally silenced when a tentacle cut into the cockpit. She screamed, feeling how close she came to it's sharp edges piercing her pilot's suit and her body.
Iron Mask laughed at her cruelly, somehow enjoying the sharp feeling akin to fear and frustration coming from Cecily's mind. The power to invoke fear was intoxicating, no doubt a side effect to being an Artificial Newtype. He wanted to savor the feeling, let it consume his already-expanded ego.
"Frightened, are we?" Iron Mask asked sarcastically, opening the cockpit of the Rafflesia as he floated towards the runied remains of the Vigna Ghina. His helmet, which could also double as a breathing apparatus in space, was connected by fiber optic cables to the Rafflesia's controls. He could still command the mobile armor no matter how far away he drifted. As he touched the mobile suit, Iron Mask began ripping open the emergency hatch with his bare hands.
"I'm also capable of brainwave projection and control." Iron Mask said calmly as he ripped open the hatch, Cecily grabbing her sidearm from beside her. She fired in an attempt to kill the person standing before. This was no longer Korozo Ronah. This was some kind of horrific Newtype-enhanced demon, the true 'Iron Mask' of the Crossbone Vanguard.
"No!" Cecily screamed as Iron Mask grabbed her arm, yanking her out and forcing her to face him. She saw that his eyes glowed in an unholy fashion, even behind his mask. He was enjoying his power, languishing over the control he had over his own daughter. She could feel the dark sensations from his mind, insane visages of destruction that HE called Cosmo Babylonia.
"I can operate machines without using my hands or feet." Iron Mask continued, starting to grin coldly and sadistically behind his mask. "Yet you still look down on me, just as Nadia did." He brought her closer to his face, seeing the naked horror in Cecily's eyes and enjoying it. "Women have always been so hard to manage. Why is that?"
"All of that is your fault since you won't take off that mask!" Cecily said defiantly.
"I won't hear anymore of that!" Iron Mask commanded, feeling more and more godlike from the power over the Rafflesia. Cecily still felt terrified, her mind being tortured from the inside by the visions coming from Iron Mask, but unwilling to let him have control over her thinking. This man was insane, desperate to bring about his order through whatever means at his disposal. He'd even use his own daughter as a sacrificial lamb.
'Seebook... help!' Cecily cried out in her mind, seeing the F-91 fighting off the tentacles above them. She prayed that whomever was out there would let her friend hear her pleas.
"Huh?" Seebook looked on the monitors, seeing Cecily being held by Iron Mask on the Rafflesia. Anger poured through his mind, letting his consciousness fill the F-91. The mobile suit began moving faster as it's optic sensors glowed a bright blue, it's faceplate opening briefly to cool the rapidly-overheating bio-computer. Afterimages followed in it's wake, drawing the tentacles away from the Gundam as he came closer and closer.
"How many of them are there?" Iron Mask muttered, seeing the Gundam and it's afterimages moving towards the Rafflesia. He let Cecily go as he moved back towards the open cockpit, ignoring her screams as she began to float away.
"Cecily!" Seebook shouted, suddenly enraged at Iron Mask as he sensed his friend's mind. He truly was a wicked person, driven by his own damned ambitions to the point of madness. Again and again, he sliced though the tentacles surrounding him as they went after the F-91's afterimages. Iron Mask was shocked to see that the mobile suit was escaping the Rafflesia's weapons.
"He's a fast one." Iron Mask mused. "Could he be a Newtype?"
The F-91 moved faster and faster, slicing through the tentacles with it's beam saber with an almost-unnatural speed. Seebook quickly glanced at the digital readout on a nearby console, seeing that his mobile suit was starting to run out of power. He had to end this fast so he could go back for Cecily.
"Now die!" Seebook shouted as he pulled out his beam launcher, the strongest weapon in the F-91's arsenal, and aimed it directly at the cockpit. Iron Mask seemed to glare at him from behind his mask, refusing to concede defeat even in the last moments. Seebook pressed the trigger as he moved backwards, letting the tentacles chase the F-91's afterimages towards the cockpit. The last thing he saw was the Rafflesia being engulfed by it's own weapons fire and the destruction of the cockpit.
'I did it... Cecily...' Seebook thought as he fought to keep himself conscious, the urge to pass out too great. He couldn't risk giving up now, not when he still had to find Cecily. He checked and rechecked over the biosensors, hoping to see something that told him she was still out there and not some lifeless corpse. When the scans were negative, Seebook cursed in frustration and pounded on the controls.
Suddenly, he sensed a faint impression in his mind from nearby. It felt familiar and pleasant, almost like a gentle caress of a woman. It had to be Cecily.
'Hang on, Cecily...' Seebook thought as he attached a thruster pack to his pilot suit, opening the outer hatch of the F-91. He jumped out of the mobile suit, letting him see the condition it was in from the battle with the Rafflesia. It's leg was missing, most likely because of the tentacles, and so was it's right arm. Otherwise, it seemed to be in good shape. The Gundam F-91 floated silently as the last of it's reserves gave out, it's blue optics darkening as it's master went further away from it. It too was exhausted, desiring the abyss of sleep if only for a little while.
'Thank you.' Seebook muttered, letting the impression he sensed guide him to his destination. Tiny spurts of compressed gas spewed from the thruster pack, bringing Seebook closer and closer to what he hoped was his friend. Then his heart leapt as he saw her, floating unconscious against the moon's backdrop.
"Cecily!" Seebook cried out over the COM of his pilot suit, his own energy expended but still holding on. He was too close to lose her now. Letting the inertia bring him closer, he finally grabbed Cecily's body and held her to his own, finally letting tears fall from his eyes as he cried in relief. He could feel Cecily stir as he began to close his own eyes, the last of his own energy giving out in exhaustion.
"...Seebook..." he heard her mutter softly as her hand went to his helmet, cradling it's side gently. The two teens never noticed the distant form of the Gundam F-91 floating behind them...