Finally, here comes the 100% original content (well... as original as FanFiction can be, at least).
Edge of the Red Sea
Allelujah groaned as he shifted around, opening his eyes to an unfamiliar bunk. Where the hell was he?
Oh yeah, that's right, he wasn't aboard the Ptolemaios.
He gingerly sat up, pushing the partition aside. The young blonde man with glasses was donning his uniform.
"Rise and shine," Sai greeted as he adjusted the collar.
"Morning."
"You sleep alright?"
"Yeah, I slept al-" his head hit the bottom of the top bunk, "-ow!"
"Ouch," Sai concurred, "you're not used to bunks, are you?"
"No... we each had our own room."
"Lucky. Come on, get dressed. You don't want to miss breakfast."
A few minutes later, Allelujah was sitting with Sai, Tolle and Kuzzey in the cafeteria. After a bit, Marie and Miriallia wandered in, with Marie showing obvious signs of lethargy.
"Morning everyone," Mir greeted.
"Good morning ladies," said Sai.
"Morn... in..." Marie mumbled. Allelujah perked up.
"You alright?"
"Wha... yes, I'm alrigh... just a little sleepy is all..."
"Ah... that's my fault actually," Mirialla admitted sheepishly. "I kept her talking for a while after lights out." The girls got their breakfast trays and sat down, with Marie slumping against Allelujah's shoulder. He smiled and nuzzled the top of her head.
"Was the bunk comfortable?"
"Mm-hm."
"How about?" he tapped the side of his head with a finger. She glanced up briefly before closing her eyes and nodding again.
"It was mostly peaceful."
"That's good."
"How long have you two been together?" Tolle wondered aloud. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all. We've been together for..." he ticked off his fingers, "32 days."
"Woah, that's precise." Marie blushed against Allelujah's shoulder and Mir held back a giggle. "How long have you known each other?"
"Since we were young." Allelujah's cheeks were turning pink now.
"Okay, I am actually impressed." Tolle looked to Mir, recognizing the subtle fluster in his girlfriend's face. "And maybe a little bit envious?"
"Envious?" Kuzzey inquired, "You and Mir have been together for almost a year."
"Yes, but we didn't meet until we were both in Heliopolis."
"Well," Mir said, shifting in her seat, "it isn't like we had any control over when we first met. Besides, things turned out alright." Now her face was turning red. Marie opened an eye and the two girls shared a glance before giggling.
"Good grief," Sai commented, turning back to his breakfast. Captain Ramius' voice came over the intercom.
"Everyone, we're about launch into the Red Sea. Everyone to your stations until we reach open ocean."
Ptolemaios II
en route to Lagrange 5
"We're certainly making good time," Lasse said, stretching his arms. "At this rate, we'll reach Lagrange 5 in a few hours."
"So we'll soon see these colonies with a funny name," stated Lockon, leaning by the bridge door.
"The PLANTs," Anew explained from her station, "according to that Elsman guy, it stands for Productive Location Ally on Nexus Technology."
"That's just a clumsy mouthful."
"I'm not the one who named them."
"I know, I'm just speaking my mind."
Setsuna awoke and got dressed. All things considered, even though they were essentially flying above a different Earth with a full blown war going on, nothing much has changed. They were still flying around, mostly keeping to themselves except for the random armed intervention. Setsuna found himself smiling at that old saying: the more things change, the more things stay the same.
Setsuna left his room and drifted down the corridor a ways before hearing a voice behind him.
"Morning Setsuna." He turned around to see Feldt stepping out of the kitchens, bearing a tray of breakfast.
"Morning Feldt-"
"Can you lend me a hand?"
"A hand? With what?"
"I'm taking breakfast to our guest." Setsuna raised an eyebrow.
"You need help with that?"
"Nope, but I would like to have someone to talk to. So please, lend me a hand." Setsuna was surprised by this sudden bout of frankness. She was smiling normally, but her eyes seemed slightly brighter than normal. Frowning somewhat, he nodded and drifted over. The two of them continued down the corridor toward the holding cell. Setsuna glanced sideways at Feldt. She had that same gentle smile, completely unchanged from before. He looked forward again, feeling awkward. Why did she need him again?
"Do you think Kira will do alright?" What? Oh, Kira.
"I think so. He's smart and he's a good pilot. And now he has Allelujah and Marie looking out for him." There was a lull. "Hopefully he doesn't need to make any hard choices."
"Hard choices?"
"Despite his skill, he isn't a killer at heart. And, technically, he's fighting against his own people. He was about to waver during our fight with the Tiger; that's why I intervened. And it didn't help that Waltfeld had us over for coffee."
"I heard." Another lull. "What was he like? Good? Bad?"
"Waltfeld? I thought he was good."
"A good person, or a good soldier."
"Both."
"I see." Lull. "A shame you had to kill him- oh." She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm not saying you shouldn't have; all things considered and all. Neither one of you had a choice."
"I know," Setsuna said with an understanding smile, "I knew what you meant." They reached the door to the holding cell and Feldt entered the passcode. The door slid open and the two of them saw Dearka reclining at an odd angle in zero gravity, fingers interlaced behind his head.
"Morning," Feldt greeted friendly, "we brought you breakfast." Dearka opened an eye to check them before righting himself and stretching.
"Thank you kindly. At least you two aren't that annoying one."
"Annoying one?"
"Yeah, the one who was asking all the irritating questions."
"Sumeragi?"
"I guess. Whoever the younger-sounding one is."
"Oh, Mileina."
"So, are you guys gonna put me through the ringer this time? Round 1 of your interrogation was more of an annoying chore then anything. Pretty much everything you guys asked was common knowledge."
"I'll be sure to pass it on," Feldt said with a smile, handing over his breakfast.
Red Sea / Gulf of Aden
As the Archangel crossed the watery threshold into the Indian Ocean, Miriallia was first onto the outside deck. Opening the jacket of her uniform, and grasping the ship's railings as the ocean breeze blew all around her.
"This feels so good!"
"I haven't been on the sea in ages!" Tolle gushed, having tossed his jacket aside with most of the other crew members, stretching his arms out. Allelujah also removed the outer layers of his top, leaving him with his shale colored undershirt.
"Not quite ages for me, but it has been a while." He took in a deep breath. "That's always relaxing."
"It is." Allelujah turned to smile at Marie, only for his eyes to snap wide open and was barely able to keep his jaw from dropping. Marie was half-way through pulling off her shirt, having lifted the hem far enough to fully show her pale cream midriff. She stopped and looked at him. "What is it?" Allelujah adverted his gaze.
"Nothing, I'm just surprised is all." Don't you realize there are so many other men here? She cocked her head at him.
"Is my stomach too much?"
"No, not for me." But why in front of everyone else? She then smiled, lowering her shirt.
"Better?" Yes, definitely, Allelujah thought, nodding with relief. But he could still hear the slight twinge of disappointment. Did she want to be seen like that?
"But this feels kinda strange," Kuzzey said suddenly.
"Strange how?" Allelujah wondered. Tolle figured out his friend first.
"Oh, right. It's your first time at sea, isn't it?" Kuzzey nodded. "You were born on Heliopolis, weren't you?"
"Yeah. The desert surprised me, but I find the ocean scarier. It is... very deep at parts, right?"
"Yeah."
"We may come across monsters out here!" Mir suggested with a mischievous grin. Kuzzey was visibly spooked.
"Don't tease him Miri."
"Yeah," Allelujah added, "most monsters only appear if you look for them."
"Sharks don't Tolle."
"Don't what?"
"Only appear if you look for them."
"I didn't say that."
"Huh?" Miriallia looked confused for a few seconds, then blushed as she remembered Allelujah was there. "Oh... I'm not gonna get used to this, am I?" The boys laughed a little. Marie chuckled too, only to then turn to look behind her.
"Where's Sai and Kira?"
"Sai is on the bridge," Tolle answered, "said he would step outside later."
"And Kira?"
"No idea, maybe the Strike?" Marie frowned.
"What's wrong?" Allelujah asked quietly. Marie subtly shook her head and lightly tapped one of her temples. She sensed something?
Ptolemaios II
Sumeragi poured two glasses of whiskey.
"No offense," Said Saji, "but I think you know from last time that I can't drink that stuff." She slid a glass over anyway.
"Just in case. Please, have a seat." Saji complied and Sumeragi sighed. "I honestly didn't think I would find anything, and if I did, then it wouldn't be where I looked." Saji perked up.
"You're... talking about my sister." So it was his sister. She nodded.
"Before we were defeated, we were aided by an A.I. construct, Veda. Before the UN Forces overwhelmed us, our connection to Veda was severed, most likely by the Innovators. However, we were able to archive encrypted data from before." She turned on the computer screen, displaying the data in question. "It took some mental effort, but I was able to decrypt bits and pieces, mainly names and places. Then I happened upon this." She isolated a segment of the data.
15-Q-20-T-13-Q-X-19-Q-9-5-W-2
"You said your sister died in Macau, right?"
"Yes."
"Off the top of your head, do you know of anyone important who resides in Macau?" Saji had to think about this.
"Not anyone important, no." She pressed a few keys and the coded segment changed.
L-A-G-U-N-A-X-H-A-R-V-E-Y
"Laguna Harvey?" He looked at Sumeragi. "As in, the Linear Train Company President, Laguna Harvey?"
"The same."
"He was one of the Observers, yes. Believe it or not, we were able to transport our Gundams into space using the Orbital Elevators. Of course, it helped that Aeolia Schenberg personally designed the whole thing."
"That... actually doesn't surprise me. But what does he have to do with-" he stopped abruptly, remembering something. "Wasn't he killed?"
"That's right, he was. That makes me wonder about the fate of the other Observers." She refilled her glass. "But, as far as your sister is concerned, the only Observer with both an office and a residence in Macau, was Laguna." Saji frowned.
"Are you saying Laguna killed my sister?"
"I don't know," she stated plainly, throwing her hands up. "He's the only Observer who was there and I never met the man. Is he the kind of person to kill someone because they are nosy? I don't know; he was a member of Celestial Being. Could he have ordered someone else to do it? I don't know; the name 'Gary Biaggi' is mentioned once or twice. Did he have motive? Yes. Did he have the opportunity and the means? Yes and yes. Did he kill your sister or have her killed? I don't know. And in all honesty, since Laguna is dead, we may never know for certain. I only brought this up because I promised to look into it."
Saji leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath.
"Yeah, thank you."
"Do you have anyone else back home?" Saji shook his head. "No one at all?"
"Well... there's one. But I haven't talked to her in some time." Sumeragi nodded pensively at this, draining her second glass and pouring a third. Saji remained silent for several moments, then gingerly picked up his own glass and, grimacing, took a sip.
Archangel
Kira sat in the center of the rear deck, arms around his knees as random thoughts trickled through his mind.
"Hey! Hey! Don't impose your bad habits on this guy!"
"I'm a soldier. This isn't ending until one of us is destroyed!"
"War is a waste of life... with no rules..."
"When every single one of your enemies is destroyed? Perhaps then."
Kira lowered his head into his arms, straining against the wave of anxiety that came over him. But if I don't destroy them, then...
The ship carrying Flay's father exploding.
"Because you're a Coordinator too, you're not fighting seriously, are you?!"
"Of course I know who it is, that's why I'm telling you to protect the Archangel!"
Kira shuddered, barely holding back those tears of anguish. He shouldn't cry, if he was weak, then he couldn't protect anyone. The door to the deck slid open and Cagalli stepped out in her usual red shirt and khakis, accented by a green malachite pendant she wore from her neck.
"Oh! So you are out on deck." Holding it in, Kira gingerly stood as she walked up to him. "Are you crying?" He turned to go back inside. She grabbed one of his arms. "Wait!" He saw her eyes. He saw concern. No, I'm not weak, there's no need for concern! He pulled away from her, only for Cagalli to suddenly capture him in a tight hug.
"H-hey, what...?" She's warm, like a second sun.
"It's all right." She said softly, patting his back. "Everything's fine. Everything will be just fine." He stood still from shock, but the warmth of her embrace was more than soothing. "Don't worry. Don't worry." He relented, gently returning the hug. He could hear her breathing, slowly but steadily. She was strong, maybe even stronger than he. She is strong, and she is gentle. She pulled back a little, keeping a hand on his arm. "Better now?"
"Ah..." He actually wanted the hug to last longer, but could he actually say that? He was with Flay after all. And she was warm too, at least her body was. He could his face heating up as his eyes locked with Cagalli's. Both looked down at her hand on his arm and she quickly let go.
"D-don't get me wrong!" she clarified hurriedly, her cheeks bright red. "I can't ignore a crying child, now could I? That's all it was! Okay?" Kira would've laughed if he wasn't flustered himself.
The door to the deck slid open again.
"So this is where you've been." Allelujah and Marie walked out, both Kira and Cagalli jumped somewhat.
"Oh, hi," Kira greeted, "uh... Hallelujah, right?"
"Ah-lei-lu-ya," Allelujah corrected as Marie looked over Cagalli, "common mistake."
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"That's pretty," Marie observed, looking at Cagalli's pendant, Kira then realizing that the malachite was shaped into that of woman with winged arms, "is that an heirloom?"
"No, not at all" Cagalli explained, waving a hand. She held up the pendant to better show it. "Ahmed, a boy with the Desert Dawn, gave it to me before we left. He explained the figure as Ishtar, goddess of love, war and justice."
"It looks very well-made."
"Yeah, I told Ahmed he was better off giving it to someone else, but he insisted, even when I told him I couldn't reciprocate his feelings."
"He made it himself?"
"Mm-hm."
"Aw, that's sweet."
"I know, but we will probably never see each other again, all things considered."
The girls continued to chat back and forth as the guys looked on. Kira couldn't help but smile.
"What is it?" Allelujah asked.
"Nothing," Kira lowered his voice, "she's a girl."
"What?"
Ptolemaios II
As Feldt entered the bridge and drifted to her station, Mileina was examining a distant blur on her screen. Cocking her head, she enhanced the image. That looks like, she squinted, a line of crystal hour glasses? Her eyes widened and she shot her hand up.
"I found it!"