Disclaimer: Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny does not belong to me.
A/N: I wish I'm not so busy. Go on to the story.
Phase 19: The Dupe to a Challenged Battle
Kingdom of Scandinavia
As Kazuki had predicted, Nicol had arrived in the country taking part in the piano gathering. He observed Nicol being pushed around by a few followers of his whom Kazuki believed were the soldier of the URANUS.
Serene was in charge in keeping an eye of Nicol. She was to update Kazuki from time to time on their course of action. Looking through her binocular, she admired Nicol's spirit of fighting despite his disability. He was even one of the ace pilots.
Archangel
"The leader invited us to watch the international performance where all the pianists around the world will gather. It's a rare chance for us to contact people outside the ORB." Mwu said to Murrue who was sitting down sipping her coffee in the bridge.
"Cagalli-san, what's your take on this matter?" Murrue asked Cagalli who was standing at the side in daze. She was worried for Athrun who returned last night totally ignoring her presence and had been shutting himself in his room.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Cagalli asked.
"What's your order?" Mwu asked.
"Mwu… she's worried for Athrun-san. Athrun had been acting weird since yesterday." Murrue recalled Athrun taking off before their talk ended.
"Mwu, what did they say to you?" Murrue asked. Mwu described to Murrue everything he was told by them including the Zeus.
"Zeus is the other mobile suit meaning the partner of the Asterisk." Murrue pieced the pieces of information together to come to this conclusion.
"Kira-kun was defeated by that!"
Suez
Lunamaria was looking around for sign of Mayu. Mayu jumped out in front of her suddenly.
"Luna-neechan is looking for me right?" Mayu said smiling at her.
"Yeah… I was looking for you to play with." Lunamaria came up with an excuse. Smiling, Mayu took Lunamaria along when they started playing hide-and-seek once more.
"You are just like my oniichan." Mayu said lying on Lunamaria's lap. "He's an idiot"
"You mean the spiky blonde hair guy?" Lunamaria asked trying to sound her out for information.
"Oh, that's Stanley-niichan. He's not the one I'm talking about. He's too serious for that."
"What's your relationship with him?"
"Partners. He'll do all the fighting until I receive my own mobile suit." Mayu played in the leaves while lying in her lap.
"Fighting?" Lunamaria asked.
"I want oniichan to notice me." Mayu said and fell asleep. Lunamaria smiled as she brushed her hair. She accidentally touched her arm and realized that it was not the real arm.
Kingdom of Scandinavia
The people of the Scandinavia were getting ready for the arrival of guests around the world. Nicol was in his room brushing up and talking to Derrick.
"All is normal here, nothing is amiss." Nicol reported through his comm...
Meanwhile in a room, Rey was playing with his piano thinking about the mission Kazuki had given him to watch Athrun. Kazuki wasn't worried that Athrun would go after Zeus for now. It was Nicol Kazuki was worried. It was another friend of Athrun. They would not fight him no matter what, it would be the job of the Archangel should the troop arrive.
Minerva
Shinn passed by Lacus' room as he wanted to apologise to her for his rudeness. Lacus was lying flat on her bed. Her Haro was activated upon sensing Shinn coming in. Shinn quiet it down so that it wouldn't disturb her sleep. Shinn noticed that her face was tear-streaked. He wiped off her tears off her cheek with his fingers.
"Kira." She grabbed his hand on her face. Shinn was startled initially afraid that he had waked her up accidentally. He smiled sadly as he placed her hands back on her bed gently. He stroked her pink hair gently.
"I'll believe in Luna, my partner, my love." He whispered to Lacus.
Suez
Lunamaria carried Mayu who was sleeping soundly in her back to the black ship she had always wanted to get in. From the information she had gotten, Mayu was a crew of the ship, Julius. She was stopped by a number of crews. Upon seeing Mayu on her back, they let her in. They realized that it was a friend of Mayu who she had mentioned whenever she was free. One of them led Lunamaria to Mayu's room. They left upon reaching.
"Oniichan…" Mayu mumbled in her sleep as Lunamaria put her back in bed. She scanned around in her room looking up and down for clues. She opened up a drawer and saw a photo of Mayu and a guy.
"Shinn." Lunamaria covered her mouth immediately when she realized it. She turned to make sure Mayu was not awakened.
Slowly, she sneaked out of the room and came to another one. Stanley was having his bath in the bathroom. Sound of the gushing water was heard. Lunamaria decided to take a gamble. She sneaked into his table and tried opening up a drawer but it was locked. She was about to give up when she saw a key on the floor. Indeed, the drawer opened up. Lunamaria took the only disk in the drawer which read, "Euphoria." She took it and replaced it with another one.
The tap was turned off startling Lunamaria. She was worried and ran off hurriedly. The crews greeted her as she left.
Stanley was watching Lunamaria leaving. He was making it easy for Lunamaria to steal the data. "Soon, we'll battle it out, Minerva."
Minerva
Wasting no time, Lunamaria made it back to Minerva with the disk. She handed Yzak the disk immediately. Yzak looked at her suspiciously. It had been too easy. Was it a trap?
"I stolen it from a guy named Stanley, the one who almost killed Shinn and destroyed the facility." Lunamaria reported.
"Damn it!" Yzak ordered her to get ready for a battle. "URANUS will be coming for us soon, you had been duped." Lunamaria was stunned. "This disk was bugged with tracking device, Lunamaria."
Shinn who was outside the office heard everything. He was rushing to the office immediately upon hearing Lunamaria's return. In an instant, Shinn rushed to the hangar to prepare for the coming battle.
Yzak was right, a incoming ship was sighted by the crews on the bridge. Lunamaria realized that she had got them into trouble.
"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine." Dearka assured her when she reached the briefing room.
"They came here themselves, which makes it easy for us rather than we hunt for them right?" Shinn appeared suddenly in his old pilot suit.
"Shinn.."
"Don't worry, like Dearka-sempai had said, it'll be fine." He hugged Lunamaria. "I'm just glad that you returned safely back to me." Lunamaria nodded in his arms.
"Get ready, my girl, don't forget I'm around." Dearka cleared his throat. The couple blushed.
Yzak on the other hand headed to the bridge and saw Lacus ready by her position. Lacus heard voices from the other end of the comm.. She turned to where Yzak could be.
"Just open the hatch, they'll launch by themselves. Dearka and Lunamaria will launch first followed by Shinn if things turned out for the worse." He hollered at his crews who hurried over to the hangar sending them his orders.
A/N: Finally Shinn will be able to launch his mobile suit. I'm trying to send him out for battle asap. Stay tune for it. Please R&R!
