Dearka & Miriallia
Author's Note: The first part of this is taken from Episode 31 and 32 of SEED Destiny, with slight alterations in order to add Miriallia to the group. The version used was subbed by SEED-Fansubs. Hope you guys enjoy. (smiles) Hugs to all of you! Thanks again for the support everyone!
Disclaimer: It is obvious by now if I'm here that I do not own Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny or any other Gundam Series. But any characters I create to place in this world are mine (But I don't mind if you guys want to use them too. I have no problem with that. You don't even need to ask me. I enjoy sharing to make other stories the best they can be.)
Chapter 48
Battlefield Confusion
Dearka moved down the halls toward Ian's quarters with the events of his short-lived day spinning in his head.
"Why is Yzak acting so stupid? I don't need help once I get Miriallia back here and bringing Renee into the middle of this isn't fair. He's using that stupid crush she has on Ian against him. But what if she has a breakdown during a battle? What will happen then? For crying out loud she was only a military receptionist on the San Juko base, huddled away where she couldn't even see any real action. Just because she trained on the systems to run a CIC doesn't mean she has the stomach to handle it," Dearka thought as he reached Block-B.
Dearka's hand moved over the buzzer to Ian's room and almost instantly the door swished open in front of him. Ian stood there already dressed in civilian clothes and his duffel bag ready to go.
"Been waiting for me I assume," Dearka said smugly.
"Let's just get this over with. I got a call from Shiho asking if I had seen you. I can only imagine you haven't filled Yzak in on any of your plans," Ian asked.
Dearka rolled his eyes at him and turned in the other direction to leave the ship. Ian looked him up and down before catching up to him.
"You're not even going to change out of your uniform?" Ian asked now keeping stride with Dearka.
"There wasn't time. Let's just say I couldn't get my point across to Yzak and decided not to waste anymore time. We had a little disagreement about Renee and I realized all the help he was trying to give me was only costing me more. We have to get Miriallia back and then I have to go get Belle. I just hope my parents don't do anything too foolish in the next few days or there will be hell to pay," Dearka threatened more to himself than to Ian.
The boys reached the shuttle area and Ian ordered the pilot to bring them to the station. The decision to disembark on the station and continue to PLANTs would force Yzak to lose any trace of where the two had headed. Dearka boarded and stopped short realizing Ian wasn't right behind him anymore. He twisted around and saw Ian right outside the shuttle with his communicator, making Dearka squirm nervously.
As Ian boarded the shuttle moments later, he felt Dearka's eyes pierce through him. He took his seat and waited for Dearka to speak up. Dearka said nothing but continued to stare. Finally feeling annoyed at the silence Ian decided to just speak.
"I wasn't turning you in, if that's what you were worried about. It was just a personal call," Ian replied reclining the seat.
"I didn't ask," Dearka said shortly.
"Yeah, but sometimes actions really do speak louder than words," Ian said mockingly.
Dearka turned his head toward the window he was sitting next to with his heart pounding. He had to get out of here before Yzak threw any no take-off orders at the shuttle crew to stop him from leaving.
"You sure get yourself into a lot of trouble, don't you?" Ian said with his eyes closed.
Dearka looked back over at him and huffed before answering.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked curiously.
"How many times have you walked out on ZAFT without looking back just to help Miriallia?" Ian asked without moving.
Dearka's eyes narrowed on his still form for a moment. And then he twisted his head away pushing his own seat back. Finally the shuttle began to take off making Dearka feel more at ease about his newest scheme.
"I didn't walk out on ZAFT and if that's what everyone believes then I only have one excuse for it. She's worth any penalty they can dish out," Dearka replied.
"Including death?" Ian asked.
"You act like I haven't faced that possible penalty before and besides, you're not much better," Dearka said mockingly.
"Well, I guess that's true on both counts. I have to ask though, you've been unconscious for days, and you hadn't even begun working on a way to find Miriallia. How is it that you are all ready to go if we have no way to locate her," Ian asked.
"Who says I don't have a way to find her?" Dearka asked smugly.
Ian opened his eyes and looked over at him in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Worst of all, he now feared what exactly Dearka had been up to before he left for his parent's place.
"Relax would you. You may think Yzak's heartless, but he's really just a pussycat. He was the one finding the intelligence on Mir while we were all wandering about aimlessly," Dearka answered without needing to see Ian's face.
"Don't tell me you swiped the information from Yzak when he wasn't looking," Ian groaned feeling Yzak's wrath would be severe this time around.
"It'll be fine. I'll deal with Yzak when we have Miriallia back safe and sound. He wasn't going to be of much help since he's about to be pretty tied up dealing with the Renee situation. She's too young and naïve to be working as a CIC, especially when her only part in this war was as a paper pusher on San Juko. Besides, he had to throw in his classic 'I told you so' remark. The last thing I need is any negativity while trying to rescue Mir," Dearka stated.
"What if he doesn't see it? About Renee I mean?" Ian asked.
"Then we have to convince her to leave when we get back." Dearka answered.
Hours later, on the Bonaparte…"This is your new unit," Neo said to a dazed Stellar.
Miriallia looked over at her and watched her stare at the huge mobile suit. Even she was in awe at its' sheer size and power. Stellar looked over at Neo tilting her head to one side.
"Stellars…new…?" Stellar replied somewhat confused.
"That's right. You need to fight again with this, Stellar. Or else, scary things will come and kill all of us," Neo replied playing mind games with the young girl.
Miriallia felt unease now and with the way Sting was glaring at Neo and Stellar, she was sure it wasn't going to get any better. Stellar fell into a panic from his words.
"Kill? Stellar too?" Stellar cried out.
"Yeah," Neo replied not looking back at her.
"Neo too?" Stellar asked grabbing onto his arm.
"That's right," he said now looking down to the floor.
Part of Miriallia wanted to say 'good riddance' to him, but another part wanted no harm to come to him either. Her own eyes fell to the ground, glossing over.
"No! I don't want that! I don't want to die!" Stellar screamed.
Neo turned to Stellar and cupped her face in his hands, "then you have to do it. You can do it, right, Stellar? You need to erase everything that's scary."
"Scary things… Erase…" she repeated softly with determination returning to her eyes.
The Bonaparte headed out toward battle and Miriallia moved to the Valor as quickly as she could still noticing Sting's anger that was so apparent in his eyes. The units began to load to the docks and Miriallia awaited her orders.
"X1 Destroy, opening the platform and the gate," came the Launch personnel's voice.
The carrier moved in more and the platform opened up for Neo, Sting and Miriallia's units on the side.
"All right, we're going too," Neo ordered.
Sting's image flashed on the screen as he protested once again.
"But why didn't you give me that thing? I'd be a lot better than that weird convalescent…" he insulted.
Miriallia sighed to herself as she prepared the Valor for take-off.
"She's just right for it. The data says that Stellar would be more efficient as its pilot," Neo snapped as his unit took off.
"Damn! Miriallia, let's go," Sting huffed as his own unit took off.
Miriallia nodded and proceeded to lift off the ramp and fall in behind both Sting and Neo. Within moments, a battle had commenced between ZAFT and the EAF. ZAFT made a valiant effort of the first round of attacks, never expecting the EAF's newest weapon, the Destroy.
Stellar hit a switch causing a huge reflecting beam shield around the unit and waited for all the shots to be deflected. In one foul swoop, she activated a laser that took out the entire front line of ZAFT soldiers. Sting and Miriallia's eyes widened in shock at the power of the unit while Neo nodded in triumph.
ZAFT Base…"Are you sure this is okay?" Dearka asked Ian with an uneasy feeling.
"We have to get to the Archangel, right? That's the only way you are going to get your mobile suit, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yeah," Dearka answered with a furrowed brow.
"Well, you're not the only one who has connections," Ian said as they ran through the armory.
Within moments, Ian located his friend and made a beeline for him.
"Hey, Cale!" Ian called.
The two took a moment to catch up as Dearka stood quietly in the shadows. He needed Ian to make it to the Archangel, so he chose to stay out of the way.
"You better promise to bring this back in one piece," Cale threatened.
"We will, I swear. I just need it to get somewhere. I won't be fighting in it," Ian promised.
"Fine, in fifteen minutes Heather goes on break and Kyle goes on shift, they always have a conversation outside of the booth before switching. That's when you can take off. They'll never notice it gone. Just have it back before tomorrow and contact me when you are heading back so I can make arrangements to get it back to the hanger. The two of you could get into some serious trouble for this," Cale replied.
Ian nodded that he understood and he and Dearka headed for the unit.
"And you say I take risks," Dearka mocked.
"Do you want to save Miriallia or not?" Ian snapped back.
"Fine, but remember, you promised him this wouldn't go into combat. We have to make sure to get to the Archangel so I can beg Cagalli and get the Buster. You have to stay on the ship and stay out of trouble," Dearka ordered.
"Yeah, whatever," Ian repeated getting the unit ready to take off.
Berlin…Stellar destroyed everything and everyone in her path. Beams shot out leaving no building or mobile unit untouched. Civilians were scattered about as the forces were decimated as the mass destruction mounted. Miriallia moved her unit around a few ZAFT units and took them down with ease. She refused to be taken down by what she felt were amateurs.
The group continued advancing from central Eurasia as Stellar destroyed more and more in an attempt to keep them all alive. Neo waited for his chance to activate Miriallia into her own destructive capabilities, not wanting the two young women to run into each other. He cared too much for both his female pilots to allow such a thing to happen. Three cities had been destroyed as Stellar continued her assault.
"I need to beat them… Everything that scares me!" Stellar cried preparing another attack.
The Archangel could see the Destroy from a distance as they watched the fires raging from afar. Kira, Murrue and Cagalli all looked horrified as they watched the destruction.
"I'm going, Murrue," Kira said before turning to leave the bridge.
"I understand," Murrue replied before the doors closed.
Fireballs and snow fell from the sky leaving civilians crying in terror and ZAFT scrambling to set up a line of defense. Smoke rose from the ashes of the falling buildings with the scent of burning wood and rubble filled the air. The chaos was overwhelming and people were in a panic.
"What the hell is that!" Ian cried as he and Dearka spotted the Archangel and the unit destroying the area and decimating the ZAFT forces.
"I have no idea," Dearka said in shock.
Dearka hit a few buttons to get the system ready to contact the Archangel.
"Don't go anywhere near it, head for the Archangel," he ordered.
Normally Ian would have protested that he was being ordered around by Dearka, but he knew in the situation they were in, now wasn't the time. He moved the unit closer to the ship, but remained out of range of any armaments. The last thing they needed was to be seen as the enemy before they even made contact.
Dearka's eyes flashed around the battlefield as he tried to make sense of the situation. And then he saw it on the monitor, the Valor floating above the transport vehicle behind the huge unit destroying everything and everyone.
"Miriallia!" Dearka cried when he saw the unit.
Ian quickly glanced through the field to locate the same mobile suit Dearka had. It was the same one that was on the videos from Aprilius One.
"Was it really Miriallia in there though? How could she be flying such a thing?" Ian thought to himself.
"Hey, we're going to get her back, we just have to get on that ship right now," Ian said snapping Dearka back to reality.
"Yeah, I know, I just didn't expect her to be here. I thought we would grab the Buster and have to locate her later," Dearka admitted.
"Well, let's look on the bright side, it saved us time that she is here," Ian replied with a smirk.
"It's not as good of a thing as you think. How am I going to get by that thing to get to her?" Dearka noticed.
Ian realized what he meant and felt a little anxious himself now. He hadn't thought of it that way. In such a huge battle, anything could go wrong and no one would listen to them if they said they would take care of the suit themselves.
"Didn't you say the Buster is a long-range attack suit though?" Ian asked as Dearka began to make contact with the Archangel.
"Yeah," Dearka replied.
"Maybe you can hit her from a distance and make her angry enough to come after you, away from the main battle," Ian deduced.
"I guess I could try that," he replied.
"Well, you don't have many options unless you want to take that thing on yourself," Ian stated.
"Huh?" Dearka cried looking up to the sky.
A beam of light flashed down at the Destroy as it put up its' shield with not a moment to spare. The beam deflected off of it and out from the clouds of smoke the Freedom appeared to take the Destroy on.
"Kira!" Dearka yelled over the communicator.
"Isn't that?" Ian began to ask.
"Shut up Ian! Kira! Answer me damn it," Dearka yelled.
Kira's ears perked up at the familiar voice.
"Lacus said you might be coming," Kira said with a small smile.
"Kira, Miriallia is on the battlefield. Don't let anyone hurt her. She's the one in the white and red mobile suit. It's called the Valor," Dearka begged.
"Roger that!" Kira replied as he continued toward the Destroy.
The bay to the Archangel opened in front of the boys and Dearka nudged Ian to head into it.
"But we didn't even contact them yet," Ian said.
"Yeah, but they heard me talking to Kira," Dearka replied.
The ZAFT mobile suit landed in the bay and Ian opened the hatch. Dearka jumped on the elevator line and touched down on the ground. Ian remained in the suit to commence its' final shutdown.
"Long time, no see kid. How ya been?" Murdoch asked approaching Dearka.
"I've been better," he replied honestly.
"So you come for that?" Murdoch asked nodding his head in the direction of the Buster.
"If Cagalli let's me take it," Dearka said feeling her presence coming up behind him.
"Borrow it, sure, take it, no" Cagalli said as she made her way toward him.
"I'm sorry, if she let's me borrow it," Dearka mimicked.
"I don't know, you think you can handle it? It's had a lot of upgrades since you last saw it. A lot more power, even more than that ZAKU you've been piloting lately," Cagalli teased.
"I'm not even going to ask how you know that much about me," Dearka answered raising his eyebrows.
"Is it really her out there?" Cagalli asked sincerely.
"I wish I could say no. I don't know what they did to her, but I'm going to get her back so I really need your help," Dearka asked.
"Take it, just don't get yourself killed and bring her back safely," Cagalli answered as she walked away.
"Thanks Cagalli," Dearka replied as he headed for the Buster.
"I'll be keeping an eye on you and Kira out there. Just make sure you focus on saving Miriallia, Kira can handle the rest," Cagalli said turning to give him a wink.
"Yes Ma'am," Dearka replied.
"You want a pilots suit?" Murdoch asked following behind Dearka.
"No, I'm fine like this. But can you do me a favor and take care of the DINN for me. We have to return it in pristine condition or ZAFT will have my head. The pilots name is Ian and he's really a nice guy, so he won't give you any trouble," Dearka said.
"Sure thing kid," Murdoch said looking back at the ZAFT suit.
"So, upgraded, huh?" Dearka asked.
"Yup, it has a lot more capabilities then it had back in 71. You now have atmospheric flight capability, a beam saber for any close combat. Although I don't recommend it, because the Buster is still heavy and slow, it's more for defense if you run out of ammo. The ammo barrels hold twice as much as it used too. It also has a copy of that High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon you might be used to. We were able to heighten the length of the Ultra Compact Energy Battery giving you longer battle time and the prize of this new suit is also it's highly evolved Phase Shift Armor, which can for short periods of time, use a shielding system to deflect attacks before kicking back into Phase Shift. Although, those are just some of it's updates. The rest are small adjustments, but you'll have no trouble figuring them out," Murdoch finished with a smirk.
"Nice," Dearka said smirking also as he headed up to the cockpit to prepare the Buster for take-off.
End
Author's Preview: Go Dearka! Save Miriallia! Yay! Please read and review for me so I can continue on my happy way.
Reviewer Response: Hello to all my wonderful reviewers. Thank you so much for all your support and reviews on all my chapters thus far. I love you all so much! Again, sorry for short replies, I was a little late getting this chapter up because I've been so tired this week. LOTS OF HUGS! Unfortunately due to possible changes in TOS (which is still unconfirmed) all responses are now located on my personal website. Please click on my profile page to link to the website. Thank you.