Revenant: Noun. One who has returned.
Killer: One who takes the life from others
Sweat dripped from the face of Zechs Merquise. Each drop was, remarkably, a thing of beauty for what composed it. Salt, water, phosphates, oils, and excess fats in one's pores. In essence piss was dripping off of his face, a plethora of excess fluids, and yet each drop was beautiful, a perfect, glistening sphere that descended to the surfaces bellow to explode into that many more little droplets that, in turn, would repeat the process until there was no longer enough energy for it to repeat any longer.
The sweat came for a very simple reason: It was hot. Remarkably hot. A wall of fire all but consumed his mobile suit. The extreme speed that only the Talgeese models possessed was saving him for the moment, but the flame was slowly gaining, and showed no signs of abating.
As it was the only option left, Zechs flew as quickly as he could, stopping for nothing, not even the small, ruined apartment building that he was forced to plow through, the result of which was a wide tear in the Talgeese's left arm.
And still the flame came.
Condemning himself to a fiery grave, he turned the suit around so that his left side faced the enormous explosion and sped into it. The immense heat roasted him alive as he did so, caused him to produce so much sweat that his glands could no longer keep up with the amount required of them and simply shut down.
The heat was far too much to survive, would kill him, would-
The heat promptly stopped to be replaced by a coolness that puckered the Lightning Count's flesh into a thousand goose bumps and left him shaking against the harness straps that secured his body.
The sudden change in temperatures not only left him gasping for breath and feeling as though he were being frozen slowly, but also with a splitting headache, both as his head attempted to figure out why he was suddenly so cold after an inferno and to cope with this new cold.
Failing to figure out the cause of his miraculous survival his brain turned its attention to the current situation with a strictly military style of thinking. The majority of his Mobile Suit's systems were down having been melted in the intense heat and in the act of saving him from death. The entire left hand side of the Talgeese had melted like so much soup and only a fraction of the left arm still clung to the ruined remains of the shoulder.
Most systems on that side were down as well, having taken the brunt of the heat, as were many of the systems on the opposite side of his suit. If the readings he still managed to get on the splotchy diagnostic screen before him were accurate and any indication of the other side of his suit he was lucky that both Vernie engines had failed to detonate as one would have likely been sufficient to shred his body and weapon.
The right arm still worked, though with only a limited range of motion. Examination of the Beam Cannon still strapped in place on his right arm revealed that, somehow, the thing was all but undamaged.
It actually makes perfect sense, Zechs thought, taking a moment to further examine the situation, That beam cannon is designed to withstand its own blast. The energy coming out of it is nowhere near as intense as that blast I just flew through, though with blocking and appropriately high fail-safe levels it's conceivable that it would survive entirely intact.
He suppressed another shiver before glancing at his dash again. There was an incoming transmission. Something coming in planet-wide.
"People of the Earth Sphere: I address you all today. I address you all as your new leader.
"This day I, Mariemaia Kushrenada, take my inheritance left to me by my father, the great Tres Kushrenada.
"Many of you likely remember him as the man who brought you into the final war with the White Fang organization when backing down and merely allowing them to take control would have been the prudent course. You remember him as the man who quite nearly killed both you and your families in his attack of the space station Libra which resulted in its near fatal decent toward Earth.
"I choose to remember him for what he deserves memorial for: The savior of the Earth. The White Fang organization was constructed, organized, and run by people with nothing in mind but their own power and personal gain. He rose, stood against them, and fought; He fought to the bitter end against those who would take power and horde it for themselves. He ultimately fights beyond that bitter end through me.
"You see, there are those among the Earth's populace who feel that feel it was not my right to take this organization and position myself as the rightful head of the Earth Sphere government, that my father did not earn the right to be seen as the leader of all mankind.
"I assure you that without me this peace that you have all come to know and love will fall apart. Today I was attacked, as were the brave men and women who serve me."
Mariemaia gestured to someone and images replaced her face being broadcast worldwide. The four Gundams and the two Mobile Suits that had arrived to oppose her and her new regime appeared in battle, the accidental casualties of her soldiers on account of the first five being highlighted in particular while the carnage wrought later by the Talgeese and Ntaku was shown primarily un-edited in all of its bloody glory.
"I assure you, people of Earth and the Colonies, I am all that stands between yourselves and this carnage." Wounded, dead, or dying soldiers appeared, their corpses mixed with the corpses of the crowd the same soldiers had fired upon. In the background the little girl bobbed silently.
"The men and women who attacked on this day are terrorists, and nothing more. My regime is all that will save you. I ask only that you accept me into your hearts, minds, and souls. Thank you, my subjects, I leave you with my solemn promise that I will do everything within my power to save, serve, and protect you."
Another signal was made and the transmission was replaced by a slow, mournful montage of the dead with the words, "This is what I would save you from," printed in every language both above and below the images as they appeared.
"I'm afraid I don't understand why I'm even here, anymore. You've addressed your 'subjects' already, and yet I wasn't called upon to swear fealty to you or anything to that extent. I assume that you're going to explain?"
The redheaded girl before Relena Peacecraft smiled in the delighted method any other child would have smiled had they been asked if they'd drawn their lovely picture of a farm themselves, revealing once more just how different she was from the rest of her generation.
"But of course, Ms. Relena. You see, this is my first address, and it has become necessary, due to the powers that have come against me, to twist the views of the public against the Gundams and their pilots.
"Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps a week from now you will have been 'found', beaten, malnourished, and in poor health in a location which has been harboring the Gundams. You will have been their prisoner, will denounce them as enemies of the nation and embrace my rise to power."
"And if I refuse to do so?"
"Isn't it wonderful what can be done with computer programs and the like today?" Came the reply, the smile on the little girl's face growing that much wider. Producing a small personal recording device from her pocket she activated it. A voice precisely identical to that of the woman before her was produced from the device, stating that she, Relena Peacecraft, now sanctioned Mariemaia and any action which she might take as the new head of the government.
"Granted there will be those who will claim that this is all false. It would much easier for all parties involved were you to simply state these words yourself, using makeup and the like to produce the image of you which we need. Otherwise, well, makeup isn't the only way to produce this image. You may well have endured such brutality that our best medical staff are, unfortunately, incapable of saving your life."
"Sir! Ma'am! We have another contact in the area! It's the Talgeese!"
"WHAT!" The incredulous reply came from the throat of Daacom who leapt forward to glare over the shoulder of the man monitoring the outer defenses.
"This is Zechs Merquise, the former leader of the White Fang organization and the last man to die in the Libra engagement. It is within my power to obliterate you all."
The Beam Rifle the Talgeese grasped split with an ominous shunk to allow for the build up of the energy necessary to obliterate the underground base that this new regime occupied.
"I think not," Daacom replied, his tone condescending at best. "Your own sister is in here." The words had a noticeable effect on Zechs, his eyes widening, nostrils flaring and head jerking back involuntarily to slam into the padding behind him.
"Relena? Is she-"
"She's standing right behind me, you maniac. With a mere spasm of my index finger I can end her life," Daacom continued, producing his side arm and aiming it at Relena's heart.
"Relena…"
"Zechs, peace is what is important in this situation!" Relena cried into the microphone to communicate with her brother, bounding forward to a position in front of the camera so that he could see her. "You have to do this… There must be blood on your hands, though this time for the first and last time."
Her brother looked at her, confused.
"I choose to die by the hand of Milliardo Peacecraft, my brother. The blood-encrusted hands of Zechs Merquise are no more." She closed her eyes. "Kill me, in the name of peace. Kill me in the name of the Peacecraft-"
"Relena, I can't kill my own sister!"
Her eyes opened and narrowed. "Yes, you can. You can do so in the name of peace." She indicated the dented and warped roof above her head from where Ntaku's detonation had very nearly ruptured the metal to scorch the inhabitants of the room.
"You're in much the same position as Daacom is. A mere spasm of a finger can alter the lives of millions of people."
"So this is it." A tear formed in his eye, perched to fall from his hanging head. Energy gathered in between the split-sides of his Beam Rifle. "I am the last Peacecraft."
"Indeed you are." The energy levels peaked to optimum levels and Zechs was alerted of as much by the electronic "Ding" the internal computer produced.
"Wear the name well, Milliardo. Wear it well." He pulled the trigger, releasing an enormous amount of pent-up energy straight down. The brilliant light raced downward to decimate and destroy his enemies. The brilliant light raced down to decimate and destroy his sister.
Killer Revenant: Proper Noun: The appropriate name for Zechs Merquise, the man who swore never to kill again, and kept that vow unto his death, though not following the resurrection of Milliardo Peacecraft.
A/N: No, this is not the end. This isn't nearly the end. I have so much in mind for this story that it's funny. I almost had so much in mind that it wasn't even funny, but unfortunately I ran out of ideas before I could reach that point.
More characters will die, and they will all act according to the news that they have. This means that the majority of the Earth Sphere and of MarieMaia's (Hah, now that I killed her I don't have to write that name anymore!)forces do not know of Ntaku's destruction, nor of Relena's death.
Oh, yes, and I'm not telling anyone what happened to Zechs for some time. His suit was terribly damaged going through that blast. He might have come apart just like Wing Zero did- only those Vernie engines would detonate if the rest of the Mobile Suit did so, killing Zechs.
So no, nobody gets to know just what happened yet.
Oh, yes, and official kudos to anyone who can figure out why Zechs survived by rushing into the fire: Here's a hint: It only worked because the explosion was so huge (And because he had a rather flame-retardant Mobile Suit)
Righto, that Author's Novel done, R&R, folks, else I might leave it at this! (Anyone who writes "He might leave it at this! WOO!" Will be shot with a buster rifle ala the real end of Endless Waltz.