Kira wanted to burst out laughing when he saw his friends' attire. Lacus was in a tomboy outfit (which did nothing to hide her beauty, although a cap was part of the disguise), while Athrun's dark glasses made him look like a bodyguard. Athrun noticed his sniggers.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing..." Meyrin had thought that the couple looked weird as well. Wisely, she kept her thoughts to herself. Tori, which had been away from its master most of the time, seemed to be happy that it was finally on an outing with him today. The robot pet flew around the four, chirping along the way.
As they walked through the city, Kira and Athrun remembered that they first met here; at the blink of an eye, it had already been more than ten years. Then, they were still little children attending preparatory school. Now, they were veterans of war, with blood on their hands. Lacus remembered her father's close shave here as well. Because of a shuttle malfunction, Siegel Clyne had escaped a terror bombing which killed the senior leadership of the UN. The first war began shortly after that. Despite their conflicting feelings, the four were determined not to let these get them down. They entered one of the many shops in the area.
The presence of the Eternal and the Archangel in Copernicus were noted by Sara, Meer's bodyguard. She then suggested that "Lacus" do something about it, now that there was a chance that "the other one" may be in the area as well. Meer gave the idea a thought. In a change of heart, she decided that she liked being Lacus; she would be happy to remain like this forever.
The four went around looking at what the place had to offer. Suddenly, a red Haro appeared in front of them and gave a note to Lacus.
"I'm going to killed! - Meer," said Meyrin as she read the note out loud. Athrun recognised the Haro as the one belonging to Meer. Kira was skeptical.
"It has got to be a trap."
"Trap or not, I will go. This girl had already risked too much for me," said Lacus sadly.
"Also, I think I owe her an apology for all that she had been through," remarked Athrun. Being a puppet of Durandal must have been hard on her.
"In that case, we will all go," declared Kira. Meyrin nodded.
The red Haro led them to an empty ampitheater, with only Meer in sight. In reality, the place was surrounded by armed men waiting in ambush. When Meer saw Lacus, she pointed a gun at her. Instantly, Kira and Athrun drew their pistols. Lacus walked up to her imposter. She could tell that Meer was confused; her hands were shaking.
"You are your own person with your own dreams, even if you look and sound like me now," said Lacus gently as she tried to calm Meer down.
"No! You're not the real Lacus Clyne! I am!" Meer was getting desperate. Deciding not to take any chances, Athrun took aim, and shot the pistol out of the girl's hands. Lacus unwittingly entered the view of Sara (who was also lying in wait) when Tori alerted his master to the threat. The two pilots began a fire fight with the assassins. Lacus requested for the Eternal's assistance. Waltfeld decided to launch in the Freedom. (He had decided to reclaim it. After all, he was once its designated pilot.) Over at the Archangel, La Flaga launched in the Akatsuki as well.
Between the pilots, they managed to take down most of the armed men and seriously injure Sara when a grenade thrown by the bodyguard was deflected back at her by Kira and Meyrin. With the Mobile Suits' landing, Lacus climbed onto the hand of the Freedom. Athrun invited Meer to come along with them. The girl tearfully accepted the offer. From the corner of his eye, Kira saw Sara struggling to fire one more shot at Lacus; he finished the bodyguard off. The whole lot then returned to their vessels.
On board the Eternal, her crew marvelled at the sight before them: two Lacuses standing side by side. As a gesture, both had removed their hairpins. As Athrun introduced Meer to them, he warned them not to abuse her in any way. She was their guest and would be treated as such. The crew saluted in reply.
As the ships left Copernicus, Durandal appeared in a global broadcast, taken aboard the ZAFT space mobile fortress Messiah, where he was now based. From the Messiah, he addressed the Requiem attack on PLANT, and assured the world that LOGOS had been defeated. However, he announced that there was one more enemy that humanity had to face, an enemy he identified as "ignorance and ambition". He accused Naturals of being too self-centered and conceited, essentially causing the suffering of others. Thus, he then announced that he had the solution to this problem, and revealed the Destiny Plan - every Natural and Coordinator would be assigned the role that they were most genetically suited for. On board the Eternal, Athrun nearly went berserk when he saw the Chairman. Durandal's words did little to soothe his anger either. Andrew had to remind his commander to calm down. When the commander remembered how close two ladies were to death because of Durandal, he clenched his fists. Lacus and Meer looked at the Chairman, then at each other. The older girl patted the younger one's hand.
"Everything would be fine."
On the Archangel, Kira was reminded of his secret yet again. According to the plan, what was his role? Regardless, Durandal's Destiny Plan would lead to humanity's destruction. The crew, too, were disgusted by Durandal's accusations.
The crew of the Kusanagi were busy as well. Besides reiterating to their allies that her plans had not changed, Cagalli decided to wait. If they made a premature move, they might pay dearly for it later.
The Atlantic Federation was the first to decide not to follow the plan, and the Arzachel Lunar Base mobilized its remaining forces in defence while the president of the Federation (who was at the base) attempted to contact Chairman Durandal. Without even responding to the request for contact, Durandal used the captured (and repaired) Requiem to destroy Arzachel; the base and part of the Alliance fleet crumbled to dust and the president was killed as well.
The Orb Union (with Cagalli announcing her decision on the Kusanagi) and the Kingdom of Scandinavia were then the only other nations which rejected the Destiny Plan. Cagalli understood the message sent out by Durandal; Orb and her allies would take down the chairman's trump card once and for all.
On board the Minerva, Shinn was beginning to have doubts about the Destiny Plan. However, they were quickly laid to rest when Rey revealed his true identity: he was a clone, and an artifically aged one at that. Shinn was stunned. This would explain his friend's strange behaviour at times (especially at the Extended facility) and his frequent use of medication. With his new-found conviction, Shinn then persuaded Lunamaria that their chairman was right, and that sacrifices had to be made, and obstacles removed in order for peace to return. Despite her doubts, Lunamaria agreed.
As the Archangel and the Eternal approached Requiem's first relay station (Station One), they encountered ZAFT's defence forces guarding the station. Lacus (together with Meer) attempted to convince the defending ZAFT forces to stand down but failed. As a result, an intense battle broke out between the allied fleet and ZAFT.
During the battle, Orb and her allies laid waste to the ZAFT forces at Station One and took out countless numbers of mobile suits and ships before ZAFT's Lunar fleet, led by the Minerva, joined the battle. The Archangel and the Minerva began their final showdown. As the battle wore on, the Minerva deployed her positron cannon. Although their target was the Eternal, the Archangel decided to stay in the beam's path. Both Murrue and Natarle gritted their teeth. One single miscalculation and it would most probably be the last mistake they would ever make...
"Fire," ordered Talia Gladys. As the beam surged towards the bridge, Murrue and Natarle gasped. This was it, they thought. The Akatsuki then used its body to block the blast.
"Well, that was a close one, wasn't it? Can't you two be a little more careful? Luckily, I didn't try to do that in the last war," joked La Flaga.
"If you did, I would have killed you," blurted Murre. For a moment, she thought that the Akatsuki would disintegrate before her very eyes.
"Oh? And why is that so? Is it because you loved me," continued La Flaga. He was secretly happy that his captain still had feelings for him. Murrue blushed. She looked on as the golden suit destroyed the Tannhäuser.
"Come, let's finish our business here so that we can all go home. Is that alright with you, Captain Ramius?" Murrue nodded her agreement.
Meanwhile, Yzak and Dearka (in their custom-coloured GOUF Ignited and Blaze Zaku Phantom) chanced upon their friends in the Freedom and the Justice. The squad leader thought for a while, and made up his mind. He had trusted them in the last war. Now, he would once again bet his life (this time, along with the lives of his team members) on Kira and Athrun. As Athrun listened to Yzak's outbursts and Dearka's verbal snipes, he smiled to himself. Some things just never change. The duo covered the Freedom and the Justice while they used their METEOR unit's heavy beam swords to slice Station One in two.
Meanwhile, the allied fleet attacked Requiem's main cannon, with much less success. Although the three leading Orb Izumo class ships fired their twin Lohengrin positron cannons at the Requiem, they were unable to penetrate Requiem's positron deflectors. Without warning, Durandal's mobile fortress Messiah appeared from behind the moon and fired its Neo-GENESIS superweapon, resulting in the destruction of part of the fleet. Cagalli watched in horror on board the Kusanagi as the ship barely escaped the devastation.
The Archangel, the Eternal and the ships with them regrouped with the main body of the fleet, and began engaging the ZAFT forces defending the Messiah space fortress and the Requiem. However, time was not on their side. Durandal had set the beam's next target to be Orb. Although her representative was here in space, Durandal thought that if Orb was destroyed, her fleet would surrender. As Requiem's second station moved closer into firing position, Athrun made his decision. The Justice, along with the Eternal, would attack the Messiah. Freedom and the Archangel would leave them to break through the Requiem's defenses and destroy it. Kira protested but his friend was firm on the matter.
"I'm the commander of the Eternal, Kira. Take the Archangel, and hurry!" The Yamato team went on their mission.
"Yzak! Dearka! I need your help. Protect the Eternal!"
"Now, you just quit ordering me around," snapped Yzak.
On the way to Messiah, the Justice and the Eternal were stopped by the suits whom Athrun and Meyrin had dreaded to see: the Destiny and the Impulse. Previously, in the hangar, Shinn made one final tussle with himself. Between loyalty and friendship, which would he choose? He looked at his sister's cellphone, and made his choice. Lunamaria had also made hers; despite Meyrin's pleas, the Impulse opened fire. Athrun wasted no time in disabling Luna's suit. The Destiny flew in front of the chopped up MS.
"Since when do you do such a thing, Athrun, bullying ladies like that?"
"I have no time for this. Get out of the way," urged Athrun.
"Not on my watch!" The Destiny charged towards the Justice. Sensing that this fight might take a while, Athrun gave his orders.
"Lacus, go ahead with the rest! I'll handle things here!" Acknowledging the orders, Waltfeld and the others headed for the space fortess.
The Freedom's way was blocked by the Legend. Rey was determined to obliterate Kira and thus, rid the universe of their "accursed" bloodline - the last vestige of the Mendel colony conspiracy's twisted legacy. He believed Kira to be his ultimate nemesis in life, as he was brought into an existence of suffering, just as Rau Le Creuset was before him, as a prototype clone so that Kira's birth could be possible as the final product. As the Freedom avoided shots from the DRAGOON system, Kira finally cleared his doubts. Rey Za Burrel was Rau Le Creuset, in a way. However, Kira convinced his enemy that, just because he was a clone like Rau, it did not mean that he had to repeat his mistakes. His life was his own, not anyone else's. Momentarily stunned by Kira's statement, Rey halted his attacks. Kira took the opportunity to fire all of Freedom's weapons at the Legend, disabling it.
The Justice was deep in battle with the Destiny. Athrun realised that Shinn was using every single technique which he had learnt from the older pilot. Kira was right: Shinn's skills had improved by leaps and bounds. The two Mobile Suits locked their swords together.
"Shinn, stop it! If that thing goes off..."
"I've made my choice, Athrun, and I intend to stick with it to the end!" The Destiny activated its wings. Its charge nearly took the Justice by surprise. As the Impulse watched the battle unfold, Lunamaria knew that there was nothing she could do. If her suit interfered, it could be torn to shreds in an instant.
The Minerva decided to engage the Archangel one last time. The ZAFT ship was severely damaged when the enemy ship destroyed both its beam cannon turrets, missile launchers, and mobile suit launchers. On top of all these, the Freedom blasted the engines dead. The Minerva then crash-landed on the Moon, a wreck, but the crew survived. Murrue and Natarle saluted their opponent as their ship sailed away.
Meanwhile, Durandal had authorized the firing of the Requiem and ordered the Neo-GENESIS to fire on the Orb fleet. However, as he informed his forces of the Neo-GENESIS firing, Yzak tipped off the Eternal and told them to move their fleet out of the way. Thus, the Neo-GENESIS missed its target, destroying some of the allied fleet's Earth Alliance ships and some of the loyal ZAFT vessels pursuing them. The crew of the Minerva were shocked by this. How could Gilbert do such a thing, thought the captain. After thanking her crew, Talia Gladys decided to use one of the ship's escape pods. There was someone whom she needed to see...
As the Requiem prepared to fire to destroy Orb, the Freedom and the Akatsuki reached the power core. La Flaga and his former student (and current commander) penetrated the Requiem's positron deflector shields. Unleashing the suits' full firepower, both pilots made sure that the power core was toast.
"Athrun, how are things over at your side," asked Kira as he escaped the explosion.
"I'm a little busy right now," came the reply. The Freedom surged towards the Eternal. Despite explosions which rocked the ship from time to time, not to mention the fact that the Eternal herself was under heavy attack, Meer politely declined Lacus's offer to stay behind in the cabin. She now had the opportunity to stand firm together with her idol, and she wouldn't give that chance up for the world.
"Lacus! I need the METEOR unit!" Once the Freedom had docked with its METEOR, the MS and the Eternal managed to destroy the Messiah's Neo-GENESIS with a mass missile attack. Kira then broke through Messiah's beam shields and heavily damaged the structure. There was still one last thing left to do. He disembarked the Freedom and infiltrated the stricken fortess. Unknown to him, Captain Gladys was already inside with Durandal. After regaining his senses, Rey, too, returned to the Messiah.
Athrun was getting desperate. As he went into SEED mode, he prayed for strength from Meer, his mother, Lacus... The Songstress suddenly had a strange sensation.
"Athrun... He's fighting... a close friend," whispered the lady as her pupils dilated. The crew, and Meer, stared at her in wonder. Their commander must be fighting for his life now, thought Andrew and Martin. Meer prayed for Athrun's safety.
As the Destiny took the Justice's blows, Shinn too had his own prayers: his family, Stellar, Luna... In SEED mode, the Destiny surged towards the Justice and in one swift motion, severed the Justice's shield arm. At this rate, he would not be able to protect Lacus and Meer... Athrun gave a loud cry. The Justice came from behind to sever the Destiny's left arm.
"This one's for Meer!" In a fluid motion, the Destiny's other arm was lost.
"And that was for Lacus!" Shinn was stunned by Athrun's counterattack. The Destiny retreated for a while before halting.
"You've beaten me, Athrun. I've nothing to say."
"Shinn, Lunamaria, get on board the Eternal. Your job here is over." After some thought, both ZAFT units flew to the ship, where they were recovered. On board, Meyrin hugged her sister, while Shinn noticed the crew staring at him and discussing among themselves. Andrew Waltfeld was more blunt.
"You are indeed worthy of the FAITH pin, son, although you chose to fight for the other side." Shinn smiled thinly at the compliment. However, his greatest shock (along with Lunamaria's) was to see the two Lacuses.
Within Messiah, Kira had a standoff with Durandal. Talia stood beside her lover, and despite herself, pointed her gun at her former subordinate. As the two men pointed their pistols at each other, they debated over the Destiny Plan. Halfway through, Durandal and Gladys spotted Rey behind Yamato. However, moved by Kira's desire for a future in which he could exist and seeing how the Destiny Plan that he supported would take away from everyone a right to a future of their own, the one thing he was denied in life, Rey Za Burrel shot his beloved chairman. AS the blond teen broke down, Talia told Kira to get out before it was too late.
"Captain, you can come along with me," pleaded Kira. He was answered by a pistol shot which landed in front of him.
"Tell Captain Ramius that I wished for her to meet my son someday. Now, go!" Kira saluted his former captain one last time.
"It was an honour having once served under you, Captain." The teen ran all the way back to his unit. As the Freedom took off, Rey walked over to the dying Durandal and Gladys. Before the fortess collapsed on them, the teen whispered a simple word: "Mother".
"Kira, what happened inside," asked Athrun. He was worried about his friend.
"Durandal remained behind, along with Captain Gladys and Rey." On the Eternal, Shinn and Lunamaria heard Kira's words. As the ZAFT pilots saluted the crumbling fortess, their eyes were wet with tears. After comforting a tearing Meer, Lacus decided to hail the remaining ZAFT troops to ask for a ceasefire. With the signal flares fired, Athrun and Kira sighed. It was time to go home. On board their rescue vessel, the crew of the Minerva mourned for the loss of their captain. Many who had fought today lost their friends and comrades. The battle of the Messiah would be a battle the combatants would remember for the rest of their lives...
After a few days' rest, Shinn found himself at the Orb memorial again. It had been quite a week for many of his friends. Cagalli, on behalf of Orb, began negotiations for a peace treaty with PLANT; Kira resumed his previous position as her bodyguard. Meanwhile, Athrun and Lacus were invited back to PLANT, and were busy with their preparations. Lacus had also granted Meer permission to retain her looks. After all, it could be explained that Meer was simply a rabid fan who decided to take her worship of Lacus a step too far (which hadn't been that far off the mark either). Also, Siegel took the girl as his god-daughter, a gesture which moved Meer.
Despite his busy schedule, Kira made good his promise that he would arrange for Shinn's family to come to Orb. He had already spoken with them on the shuttle, and asked Mayu to come to the memorial alone. He just wanted to have a chat with her, without their parents. It would be a brother-sister thing.
"Brother," chirped Mayu as she saw her brother. It was quite a while since she saw Shinn. The boy smiled. As Mayu updated Shinn on family matters, she noticed that her brother wasn't exactly paying attention to her.
"Brother, are you alright?"
"Mayu, do you think that your brother was a fool?"
"How could you be? You're the best brother in the world." Shinn shook his head.
"Your brother had been the biggest idiot in the world. Without determining what was right or wrong, he had attacked his friends..."
"He may have done that, Mayu. But, Shinn was not a fool," called out a familiar voice. The siblings turned their heads. Kira was there, together with the Hawke sisters, Athrun and Lacus. Mayu, being a huge fan, grabbed her brother aside.
"You never told me you knew Lacus Clyne," chided Mayu. Shinn smiled weakly.
"I thought I might find you here," said Athrun as his wife set flowers on the memorial, followed by Meyrin.
"Brother, who are these people," asked Mayu curiously.
"We are Shinn's best friends. Your brother merely chose to be loyal instead of trusting his friends." Tori took to the skies as its master affirmed his friendship with Mayu's brother. Shinn was close to tears. After everything, they still regarded him as one of their own. He took out his FAITH pin. He had always carried it on him. Despite Durandal's death, he didn't want to throw it away. Now would be the perfect time, thought the teen as he drew his hand back. Athrun and Kira stopped him.
"Why?" To his surprise, the two produced their own pins. The Hawke sisters were also curious as to why the aces had not discarded their pins.
"Although Durandal did get some things wrong, he was indeed a good judge of character. As such, we kept these badges in the hope that we would someday be able to judge people as well as he did. As far as we're concerned, he hadn't misjudged you either," explained Kira. As Shinn took in his words, Athrun stuck his hand out.
"So, we're still friends, right?"
"The best," replied Shinn as he stacked his hand on top of Athrun's. Kira smiled as he stacked his right on top.
"One for all..." began Kira.
"All for one," cheered the three aces. As Shinn's eyes watered, he blinked them back. The ladies too were happy that the three had patched up their differences.
"I believe a dinner would be the right way to celebrate. We didn't sit down together in quite a while," suggested Lunamaria. As everyone nodded their agreement, they left the memorial in pairs: Shinn and Mayu, Luna and Meyrin and lastly, Athrun and Lacus. As Kira stood alone at the memorial, he gave it one last look before joining his friends with a brilliant smile...
Afterthoughts
-Please RnR!
-After reading GSD: The Edge, I decided to retcon my work. Meer is such a sweet girl.