Chapter 52

Ripples.

"Hope." .

She opened her eyes.

She looked around.

Her eyes widened as she found herself floating in a deep orange sea.

She was scared.

Panicked.

Then, she heard it.

"Go to the surface, Hope. Go now."

"Daddy, where am I?" Hope asked him in her mind.

"Go, Hope. Go now or you won't be able to go back. Go now! Don't stop until you get there! He's waiting for you."

Hope raised her head and could see light above her; she began with all of her might to swim upward and kept swimming forcing herself to get through.

She turned back and looked down below, he was smiling back at her. He was looking like he always did. White shirt. Blue jeans. Brown hair. His face held a happy and proud smile as he looked back at her.

"You'll be okay." He said to her aloud. "Go on, Honey, live your life. Give me lots of grandchildren and make me proud. Take care of your mother, brother and your sister. Go ahead. Time for you to go home."

"Were you there the whole time, Dad?" Hope asked him in her mind.

"Yes."

"What are you going to do now, Dad?"

"I am going to wait."

"Wait?" she asked him.

"Yes. My destiny and yours have been fulfilled. Now I can move on but I'm going to wait a while. I'll be around sometimes. I'll watch over you all. I won't be able to speak to you again but know I love you and I'm proud of you. Now go live your life and live it the way I told you to, with happiness and love. Remember me. Tell your children about me. Always remember with all of your strength you can do anything in this world. As for me I'm going to wait and watch over you all for a while."

Hope smiled at him as she thought. "Thank you, Daddy. I love you."

"I love you too." He said back to her as he reached out to her and only managed to touch her fingertips as she reached back to him.

She felt herself being carried back to the surface as she watched him fall back into the orange sea until he was no longer there, he smiled at her the whole time.

She turned her attention back to the surface.

She came up to the surface, breathing in a large dose of air, out of breath, treading water and smiling.

"SAWYER!" She called out.

Sawyer jumped to his feet and smiled back, as he saw her.

"HOPE!" He called out happily as he felt his heart beating wildly.

She swam over to him quickly and reached up her hand to him.

He ran over to the edge as he grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her out of the orange lake, looking at her with a smile from ear to ear.

She was drenched but had a wide smile on her face as she breathed heavy.

"Hope…you're okay." He said happily.

Hope nodded at him with a smile, laughing softly with tears in her eyes.

He crushed her soaked body against him as she laughed and wrapped her arms around him.

Staring back at her, with his palms on her cheeks he pressed his lips against hers, kissing her as if she had been gone for over a millennia and never wanted to let go.

As she parted from him and placed her forehead against his breathing heavily, she laughed again, still out of breath and said. "Its good to be back."

"I thought…I'd never see you again." He told her with a smile.

"I thought so too for a while." Hope said to him as she moved her hand through his hair.

"What happened?" he asked her. "I saw you jump into Angel 20 and then this twister thing happened and attacked SEELE and…what was it…do you know?"

Hope nodded. "Yeah, I know what happened. It was my Dad."

"Your…. father?" Sawyer asked with wide eyes.

"I can't explain how but my father…saved me and then he…. kind of became this thing…oh Sawyer, it was unreal." Hope said.

"Thing?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah, like energy or something….I thought I was crazy!"

"I saw it!" Sawyer told her. "I saw him! He came into SEELE's base and attacked them. That fat General Harris was behind it all! He was the one who killed Isao and the one who killed your father. It was like I could see in this stream of energy…your father smiling at me."

"It was him." Hope said. "What mankind has thrown out of balance…."

"…Will be balanced by the destiny of one." He finished.

"Where did you hear that?" She asked.

"I don't know. I guess, I've always known that." He told her.

"SEELE's been captured?"

Sawyer nodded. "Well, Harris actually killed all of SEELE. Harris is the only one left now. Its over now. Was Unit 1 destroyed?"

"Yeah." Hope said. "It was necessary."

"I think so." Sawyer told her.

"So its over now?" Hope asked.

Sawyer nodded at her and said. "Yeah it is. Are you hurt?" Sawyer asked.

"I was." Hope said. "My shoulder was broken…. in fact…. I was healed somehow. My Dad did it."

"He did?"

"My Dad saved me. Dad helped me to win. All along though it was Dad. He did it all."

"No, I think you did it together." Sawyer said with a smile.

Hope breathed out and smiled at him. "Yeah, but…."

"Some things, Hope. You can't explain."

She looked at him and smiled. "Some things you can."

"Okay, as far as the report goes, don't mention your father's spirit or anything like that, okay? I think we should keep that to ourselves."

"Yes, I know." Hope said with a smirk. "The next thing you know we'll both be on psyche eval."

Sawyer chuckled at back at her as she stared up at him. "Oh, I know that that's why I think its best to…"

"…. Hey, Commander. You still wanna marry me?."

Sawyer smirked as his lips met hers once more where it was long and romantic, holding her as long as he wanted and her arms draped around his neck just as a helicopter flew overhead and started to land. .

Hope and Sawyer held onto one another as they shielded each other from the winds that the chopper created.

As the chopper landed and cut its engine, the door slid open and Hope smiled when she saw who was coming out of it, dressed in desert battle fatigues but looking elated and a bit stunned.

Hope looked over to Sawyer and smiled as they both walked towards the individual.

The individual smiled proudly back walking towards them quickly with tears in her eyes.

Hope walked up to her and then smiled at her as she stood at attention and bought her hand to a salute.

"General Ikari, Operation Sandstorm has been successful."

The General smiling at her proudly, not caring that she was shedding tears, or letting her emotions came through, returned her salute.

Both of them drew their hands back as they looked back at one another.

"Mama." Hope said as she choked back her own tears.

Asuka smiled widely as she came up to her daughter and hugged her tightly, closing her eyes, shedding tears of joy.

"Hope!" Asuka called out happily, as she held her tight.. "I thought I lost you."

"Mama," Hope said softly as she held her mother. "Its over now. They can never hurt us again. They won't be able to hurt anyone ever again."

Asuka pulled back as she watched Sawyer walk over to them and smile at them both.

"Your father would be so proud of you, Hope." Asuka said happily.

"Thanks, Mom." Hope said with a smile.

"Commander Dell, well done." Asuka told him.

"Same to you, General." Sawyer said to her.

"I just heard from the President." Asuka said. "He's very pleased with the way the operation has been handled so has the Japanese Prime Minister. There might be substantial promotions for you both on your new assignments."

Looking back at each other, Sawyer and Hope both smirked saying "Hmmm."

Asuka smiled at the two of them and watched while Sawyer stood beside Hope. She saw Sawyer holding onto her daughter's hand and she nodded her head in approval. "Well, we better get back. The operation is now over and I don't know about you but I hate having sand in my shoes."

Hope chuckled at her mother as she looked up at Sawyer who smiled back at her. As they turned to walk towards the chopper, they heard a strange noise.

All three turned and watched as the LCL lake suddenly vanished right before their eyes.

"Okay," Asuka said as she looked at both of them. ", Definitely leave that out of the report."

Sawyer and Hope laughed and continued to walk towards the chopper