Murrue counted the hours between each visit from the nurses verses the doctors. She wondered how Cagalli was fairing as it was silent in the other room. She had tried calling out to her but there was no response. She could hear Cagalli cursing and yelling.
At one point, Murrue could hear the shuffling of feet and faint whispers. Someone else had arrived in a bed across from hers. She stayed silent wanting to know who could the other person be.
"Hey, you awake?" A male voice called out to her. It wasn't the one on the microphone.
"Yes," Murrue narrowed her eyes.
"Good," he let out a sigh. "You're on Earth." He started out first. Murrue was taken aback. "So you can stop your useless yelling. No one hears you but me and its annoying."
"That's where I thought I was," Murrue remembered she was out doing errands as Mu still disliked being in public with his scars.
"Oh? Good," the man nodded. "Cagalli isn't here as you thought she was."
"What?!" Murrue flinched up only to fall back down due to restraints.
"You were led to believe she was," the man explained. "She probably thinks you're where she is at, but the truth is, he made you believe the two of you were next to each other. Do you know where Cagalli last was?"
"At the peace treaty signing at the PLANTs," her voice trailed off.
He smirked. "I'm Canard by the way. Anyways, that means Cagalli is in space, and you're here on Earth. She thinks you're in space with her."
"I'm Murrue," she replied.
"As in Captain Ramias of the Archangel?" Canard perked up.
"Yes," Murrue hesitated. "Why would he want us to believe that?"
"Who knows," he shrugged. "But my guess, he'll need you two to be confused if he releases you. That's interesting. I could understand him taking Cagalli, as she's Kira's twin. Not quite sure why he needs the Captain of the Archangel though."
"So, you know who I am?" Murrue didn't know if he was an enemy or an ally.
He let out a scoff. "Doesn't everybody? I was a part of the Earth Alliance. A failed Ultimate Coordinator, some would say. Others believe I'm a sibling to Kira but according to these people's research and blood tests, that was just a rumor. Not related to either of them in any sense. Just have the same eye color."
"How long ago did they capture you?" Murrue was curious.
"If the peace treaty just happened then," Canard was counting back time. "Wait, how many days did it last?"
"About seven," Murrue guessed.
"Then just days before you," Canard let out a sigh. "I got stuck on an island doing mercenary work, no signal. Have you been receiving any medications?"
"Yes, injections," Murrue had memorized where they had placed them on her body. "Only two. One under the skin, the other in the muscle. How about you?"
"Injections, MRI scans, and radiographs," Canard hated being restrained. "Lots of injections. Don't know what he wants with you two but I know he's trying to fix me."
"Fix you?" Murrue didn't understand.
"Failed Ultimate Coordinator, remember," Canard kept trying his restraint by tugging on it. "Born in Mendel Colony but was then picked up by Eurasian Federation for their own research on creating the Ultimate Coordinator. Escaped, tried to kill Kira to finally see that I was better, went through more modifications, more fighting, ended up seeing that it was all for nothing when I finally met Kira, and now mercenary but yet skilled enough to end up here."
Murrue was silent for a moment. "It's hard when there are expectations of you that you never thought you needed or wanted to achieve. I know Kira well. It was hard on him and his friends. They only wanted peace but had to endure expectations of them in order to survive. I am sorry you had to go through that."
"Appreciate it," Canard nodded. "Not all bad now. Use to have no hesitation when it came to killing if I didn't like something. Whatever this guy has been giving me, I have seemed to mellowed out. Not all the way, but I guess he's still fixing those issues." He heard her move against the bed. "There's no way out, by the way. I tried." Murrue listened in. "I only got to end up here since I tried to hurt myself. Not something I usually do. I was on good behavior that I got to be in my own room no restraints but I heard your yelling. Thought if we could put our heads together, we can pass along something to the outside world if the other gets released."
"Are there more?" Murrue had been trying to think of a plan to escape.
"Don't know," Canard shrugged as best he could. "My guess is yes."
"At least two compounds," Murrue noted. "The people working here are covered with face masks and medical attire that makes it hard for us to find out who they are. Can't find anyone with a prominent feature that sticks out."
Canard was coming to terms that he may never get out. "When you get released, you probably will, let my group know I was captured."
Murrue wished she could show him with her facial emotions that she wasn't gong to leave him behind. "When I get released, I'm coming back to find you. I'm going to find everyone that this guy took. I'm also going to make him pay for all of this!"
The two continued to talk to one another until they both knew it was time for the daily check-in by the nursing staff.
Later, Selena and her crew finally made their descent back to Earth. They landed in the ocean miles out from the coastline. A few marine vessels escorted them back to the docking area hidden in a cliff. It was a long process getting back to the royal home.
The royal home was a beautiful manor built next to the mountain side with green acres in between. Inside the mountain was hidden base was well as under the manor. There were tunnels connecting to different docks, bays, bases, and other places Selena needed.
At the manor, the two were greeted by the butler. Hala was flapping besides Selena as it was finally free to roam around again. Anita came to greet them before Selena went to check in. Ever since the death of their parents, the children had to go to a certain room to check in. This room scanned the eye retinas and hand prints of the children. Sometimes the children were in there for hours. No one was allowed to go into the room unless it was requested by the room.
Selena headed to the room. She was there for a few hours. In the room, a pathway opened up, after she finished checking in, that lead to her private hangar. Anita was notified that Selena would be holed up for a while. This usually happens when the contents of the room did not like the update Selena gave. This wasn't something new either. Anita let out a sigh as she placed down the tablet. She had been tending to the plants in the greenhouse that was just for them. Selena spent the most in that room compared to the other two.
While she was working in the bunker, the investigation continued about the attack on the Konungr. They who knew who did it but they needed more information on how much power he was accumulating.
Back on the PLANTs, Athrun and Kira were in the elevator headed back to the docking area. The two were looking out at the scenery.
"Do you think we will find her?" Athrun kept his voice low.
"Cagalli is strong," Kira reminded him. "She's stubborn but resilient. She knows we are doing everything we can to find her. The same with Murrue. Both of them are strong. We have the teams up in space tracing all sort of routes and clues. The Minerva is headed out to start searching on Earth with the rest of the teams there. We'll find her. We'll find both of them."
"I hope you're right," Athrun let out a sigh.
"Stop beating yourself up," Kira patted him on the back. "I know Selena said somethings that were really hurtful but you're doing the best you can in this type of situation."
"Speaking of," Athrun looked over to him. "Don't you think its weird that her bodyguard, Mikael, didn't stop her or be the one to hurt me. Instead, it was all her."
"I did hear from the Joule Team," Kira added. "That Mikael put himself in front of her when she was drifting asleep in space, but he was facing her instead. It does seem weird. Usually when you protect someone, you face the threat." The elevator stopped. The group head to the docking area.
On Earth, in a forest in the United States of South America, Miriallia Haw was taking snapshots of a certain area in the distance. She had been on Earth when the laser beam shot into the sky. It shocked everyone. Reports came in that a vessel was blown up as a result. It became a catalyst of conspiracies of who owns that deathly laser beam and what their uses were for it.
News stations had leaked that it was the Royal Military vessel of Princess Selena from the Kingdom of Scandinavia. There were also reports of her sabotaging ZAFT missions. The news was painting her to be the villain, already nicknaming her The Black Queen. Since she was continuing to go against Lacus and the mention of being on Durandal's list. His notes also mentioned Selena as the Black Queen in the chess game.
Miriallia ventured to find where the beam had exactly come from. She was still an agent of Terminal. There were still signs of war. Miriallia was still needed. She snapped some more pictures before heading back to her motorcycle down the mountain.
She rode it back into a small town. Miriallia didn't know this small town actually had a feeling of familiarity. She parked her bike next to some bicycles. She walked down a bit to a small café that had some tables outside. There sitting on one side was a friend who had been waiting for her to arrive. Someone she never thought she'd see here, Sai Argyle.
He waved to her as she got closer. She hadn't seen Sai since First Alliance-PLANT war. She did hear he had gone back to civilian life, working with computers. He didn't know she was a freelance photographer. The two met by chance while she came upon this town in her travels. She pulled the other chair out to sit across from him. The two ordered a meal and drinks.
"Tell me what you did after the First War," Miriallia was curious.
"I went back to finish my robotics engineering degree," Sai started to explain. He still had the same haircut and wore the same glasses but it seemed he had a more mature side to him. "With my experience from the First War, I had a lot job opportunities ready but I decided to be close to my parents after everything that happened. It was going good until the Second War happened. I did get a reenlistment letter asking to fight again but I was back in ORB. It wasn't the same situation as the First War. We weren't trying to save ourselves on a floating colony." He frowned a bit. "It was during the Second War that I got this opportunity. I kept getting letters and requests to join and fight but it wasn't for the same position I had on the Archangel. It was for piloting mobile armors." He looked to Miriallia. "You know that's not me. I tried that. I failed. This is more my pace. I work for a nonprofit that helps rehabilitate injured civilians and soldiers. I don't work with them directly but some of the people have become wanted criminals because of governments. They were just people trying to survive war and now some of them have bounties on their heads."
Miriallia became interested, not only as herself but also as an agent. This could be useful information down the line.
Sai continued. "I am on a couple of teams. I work the bugs out of robotics that help patients gain their movement and mobilization back. I detect and handle cyber attacks since we use the people's real names. And I am on a special task force to look for a certain cyber attack that has been elusive. Its never the same virus and its always showing up in different spots. There are no ways to catch it since there is no pattern so far. The only thing I can do is clean up the mess after it."
"That sounds interesting," Miriallia smiled. "I'm happy you're doing something you enjoy. It was a lot on us. We were just living our lives and war happens. We wanted to live peacefully but people attacked us. I'm glad you can still do the things you enjoy."
Sai felt bashful after hearing her say that. "Enough about me. What about you? Are you still dating that ZAFT pilot?"
Miriallia laughed while waving her hand. "Oh no! I dumped him ages ago."
"What?! Why did you do that?" Sai was bewildered. "He seemed like an okay type of guy."
Miriallia quieted down. Her bright smile turned somber. "Dearka is a nice guy. After everything I did to him, I felt a guilty. He didn't know the situation I was in. Even though he defected from ZAFT to join us, he took in my apology, treated me with respect and kindness, I just couldn't do it." Miriallia let her shoulders droop. "I still wasn't over Tolle. I didn't know I wasn't over Tolle. Grief is hard."
Sai put his hand upon hers. "I know what you mean. I still have pictures of Fllay and I. Although it was a prearranged marriage, I still cared for her. We had happy times back then, back before war. I also had pictures of all of us before then too. We can't go back to that time but we can try to be happy and keep living." Miriallia felt comforted. "Although, I am seeing someone."
This surprised Miriallia. She blinked a few times before speaking. "Who? When?"
Sai started to blush. "She works at the nonprofit. She helps out every where she can. You'd like her. Like you said, grief is a hard thing. I didn't think I would be able to date anyone or see anyone, especially since it was a prearranged marriage but we've only started seeing each other recently."
"What's her name?" Miriallia wanted to hear all the details.
"Diana," Sai smiled. "Her name is Diana."
Miriallia kept probing him for more information about how they met, what she looks like. How their first date went. She felt happy that one of her friends of enjoying a great life.
On one of the PLANT colonies, Gatlin and Setona were watching the news unfold. Setona was saddened by the information that was being reported. Her idols being pitted against each other. She was glad her brother was on his way back home to the Mars Colony. She couldn't imagine what he would have done to try to save face. She also figured Selena wouldn't allow him to tarnish himself. Even though Setona had no idea what Selena would do, she figured it would be something Selena could do.
"Is this why we had to go secretly?" Setona looked over to Gatlin who was focused on the screens.
"Yes," Gatlin clicked the volume lower. "That's why I also had to take control of any social media accounts you had. Things will be fixed in the end but for now its best not to show our ties to her."
"Is that why also she was all those different people in your fan cd?" Setona wanted to know more about that.
"Yes, and no," Gatlin smirked. "It's easier to dance with Selena since she does know my faults and strengths but then it makes it look like I can't dance with any other person. I can! Its just all the ladies I wanted to dance with have their own battles going on. Selena stepped in to help them. They still get the profit of being in there. She's a good chameleon. She can dance their moves better than they can."
"Why doesn't Selena sing?" Setona continued.
"She sings but not like her rival," Gatlin explained. "Lacus sings, Selena dances. That's just how it's always been. Ah here we go!" He clicked the volume back up.
"With all this discussion about Chairwoman Clyne and Princess Selena," a news reporter spoke. "A video has just popped up showing a younger Princess Selena dancing to one of the songs by Chairwoman Clyne when she used to be a popstar. Some people online have been debunking this video. The song in question is 'Fields of Hope.' However, some are saying it could also be from 'Sinbad' the classical song 'The Young Prince and the Young Princess,' as this could be a tribute to her brother before mysteriously disappearing…"
Setona placed both hands over her mouth in shock as the two watched the video of Selena dancing to Lacus' song. Setona glanced at Gatlin. Was this a fake video? Was it true? She looked back to the screen. Everyone knew they were rivals. Was someone trying to make it look like Selena and Lacus were on good terms? Setona almost wanted to back to being Jess' maid since it was getting out of hand being in the world of celebrities and politics.