Phase II: Startling Realisation

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"W-What, how," she stammered as her feet moved as if on their own towards the man standing before her. He didn't say anything, just grinned at her, his eyes shone as if they were laughing. He looked just as he did when she'd last seen him. The only physical difference that she could see was a couple of scars across his handsome face. Otherwise, he looked like the same old Mwu, her Mwu. He was dressed casually, looking laid-back as usual. His short dirty-blond hair was slightly messy, and there was something about his grin that reminded her of a little boy. But there was such kindness and love in his shining crystal blue eyes as he looked at her. She could almost feel the sunny warmth radiating from his presence.

When she got close enough, she reached out a shaking hand to touch his face. Her fingers recoiled a bit before making contact, as if afraid to find out that this was just an illusion like the others. But what they touched was real, and she stroked his warm skin in wonder.

"Surprise?" he smiled lopsidedly as he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. And after getting over her initial disbelief, she hugged him back.

"Oh Murrue, I missed you so much," he whispered as he cupped her face that was full of surprise. "I'm so glad I finally found you."

"Are you real?" she managed to blurt out, dumbfounded.

He laughed and kissed her. "Yes, I'm real."

"But, how…"

"Well, it seems that I'm extremely lucky," he laughed as he released her. "Come on, I'll tell you all about it." He led her down the beach, walking away from the little house, her previous tasks forgotten.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked down the beach, the cool waves lapping at their feet.

"Well, after, well, you know," he trailed off, not wanting to remind her of what she'd seen. She nodded to signal him to continue. "Anyway, I woke up some time later—I'm not sure how much later—in a hospital on Copernicus, sore all over and unable to move. The doctors told me that apparently a ship that managed to survive the battle found the cockpit of the Strike still in tact, and brought it aboard. Then they brought me to Copernicus when they found me inside. I never saw my rescuers, or had any way to thank them," he broke off softly, gazing into the distance. Then he blinked away those thoughts and continued his story.

"It took about half a year for my wounds to heal enough that the doctors would let me go outside. I didn't exactly have a fun time learning how to walk again," he smiled wryly. "Even the doctors were surprised that I wasn't paralysed. Apparently I had amazing survival skills and luck, though I have to attribute it mostly to the latter. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones!" he laughed, but it died as he saw her only smile weakly. He saw her gaze at the scar on his forearm, and supposed it was painful for her to hear. He didn't like to see her so sad, so he stopped and hugged her as he whispered in her ear, "But now, I'm the luckiest man alive, because I've found you."

He nuzzled her neck and was pleased to hear a giggle out of her. She laughed as she detached herself from him. "Stop it and continue with your story!"

He grinned, glad that she was okay, and continued walking with her hand in his.

"But after I was well enough, I had no idea how to find the Archangel. I asked around, but nobody seemed to know where you guys went after the battle. The Kusanagi apparently returned to its original lunar orbital fleet, but the crew had changed, so nobody knew where the Eternal or the Archangel went.

"I needed money, so someone suggested that I go back to the EA. I didn't want to at first, after what happened at JOSH-A and Jakin Due. But well, it was the only thing I could think of to do. Besides, I thought that maybe they'd have some information about the Archangel. And I'd have excuses and the means to travel around."

He glanced a Murrue, she listened intently, but looked sad. He stopped, not sure whether to continue or not. But when he stopped talking, she looked at in mild surprise.

"And then what?"

He hesitated, "Are you sure you want me to continue?"

She nodded. "Yes, I want to know what happened. How did you find us?" she looked up at him with a smile, a somewhat false smile, he noted, but didn't say anything.

"Well," he continued, "I couldn't go on my mission right away, because I had work for the military. But whenever I was sent to a new place, I'd ask about the Archangel. But it seemed that no one, at least no one in the EA knew anything about it.

"Last month, by some stroke of luck, I ran into Colonel Kisaka. And he was the one who told me that you were at Orb." He sighed in feigned exasperation. "I wanted to smack myself when I heard that, thinking how stupid I was for not thinking of that. But I guess that explosion knocked some intelligence out of me," he laughed, but immediately shut up as he felt her stiffen. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Anyway," he said quickly, getting back to his story, "It took me until now to take some time off and come to Orb. Good thing Orb is small, and good thing that I know the Representative."

"So," he looked at her a bit wistfully, "How have you been?"

She seemed somewhat surprised. But quickly collected herself.

"I'm okay, I guess." Then at his guilty look, she added, "My friends have been very supportive, and I've managed with their help." A pause. "Mwu, there's something…" she trailed off, as if not wanting to continue.

"Yes? What is it?" he asked, sensing her worry.

She bit her lip before answering, "Nothing, never mind." She seemed to shove that thought away as she smiled at him. "I hope things haven't been too bad for you. Judging by those scars, those wounds must've hurt."

"Like you wouldn't imagine," he muttered as he wrinkled his nose. "But I'm worried about you, I mean, it must've hurt for you too, when…" he trailed off, and sighed. "I'm sorry Murrue."

She smiled gently and shook her head. "It wasn't your fault. I admit that it hurt a lot at first, but not so bad when," she bit her lip again and shook her head, as if shaking the thought away. "But it doesn't matter anymore, because you've come back."

"Yes, I'm so glad that all my searching wasn't in vain. Now we can have that second chance!" he grinned happily. But that grin faded a bit as he noticed that she did not share his joy. Her head was down, and it seemed that she was avoiding his gaze.

"Murrue? What's wrong?" he asked softly, concerned.

He was greeted with silence, before a mumbled "Nothing."

He sighed inwardly. He knew something was up, but wasn't sure whether to ask or not.

"Don't worry, I am real," he laughed weakly. "I'm not a ghost you know."

"I know."

"Aren't you," he started, a bit unsure, "Aren't you happy that I'm back?" he asked quietly, sound a bit hurt.

She opened her mouth to reply, when the ringing of her cell phone interrupted her.

"Excuse me," she told him sheepishly before taking the call.

He regarded her gently as she nodded and spoke to the other person. She looked so beautiful and graceful, yet she emanated a silent strength reminiscent of a warship captain that he admired so much. When he had been in the hospital, he had been able to get through the physical pain by thinking of her, by the hope that one day he would see her again. It looked as though she was glad to see him, yet for some reason, she seemed sad at the same time. He felt a pang of guilt at that thought, because he knew that he had broken her heart, and it probably wasn't easy for her to see him suddenly show up like this.

"Oh, don't worry, I remembered to buy the milk…"

Mwu tried not to listen, but the volume of her cell phone was turned up somewhat high, and he was standing close enough to her to hear snippets of conversation. He was about to walk away farther to give her some privacy when the next words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Bye Murrue, see you at home later, okay?" he heard a male voice on the other side say before a click indicating the person hang up.

Mwu felt the air leave him as he stared at the woman standing before him in shock. Who was that? And what did he mean by "see you at home"?

"Murrue, who…" he started to ask, but his throat suddenly felt dry.

He cleared his throat swallowed hard, trying to swallow the lump forming in his throat. "Who was that?" he managed to ask, trying to see her face, but she wouldn't look up to meet his eyes. He was half hoping that she didn't hear him, because he was afraid of the answer.

Silence.

"My fiancé," came the low, mumbled answer finally.

Mwu failed to hide the gasp that escaped him. He looked, and for the first time, noticed the ring on her finger.

(...to be continued...)

AN: wow, that came out longer than I thought it would (this is probably as long as it gets, I don't like long chapters...). It wasn't the easiest to write, as I had to think of a way for him to survive (besides having to bargain with the writers XD). In case you don't know, Copernicus is that neutral (I think) city on the moon. and in Destiny, we see Colonel Kisaka with the EA for some reason, so I thought he'd be perfect to tell Mwu about her location.

Mwuahaha, cliffhanger ending! Review please!