Denouement

Canon scenes happen like normal

"Regular speech"

'Thought'

"Video call or voice chat"

Setsuna

'Feldt! Please be alive!' The Exia quickly reached the Ptolemy, the damage looking worse and worse as Setsuna approached it and could see it with his own two eyes. The ship was completely wrecked, though the hull was mostly in one shape. One thing that caught his eye was the fact that the other assault pod was not on the ship. The two standard pods were still there, ruined as they were. 'Did anyone make it to the assault pod?! Please let that have happened!' A bit of hope grew in Setsuna's chest, calming down his worried mind. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but he wanted to believe Feldt made it. He had to, for his own sanity.

Feeling calmer, he collected his thoughts. 'I wonder who else made it.' Setsuna's first thought was to check the bridge, likely a location where someone might be. Looking onto the bridge, he was shocked by the sheer damage and devastation. No longer was it full of consoles and other tech. Now it was just a burned-out husk, the walls charred and floor just blank. It felt wrong seeing it like this. Memories of the bridge full of people, working and bantering as they planned operations, keeping track of sensors and other tasks came to the forefront of his mind, causing Setsuna to frown. 'Why did it have to come to this?' Setsuna would never have said he was particularly close to most people on the crew, but the weight of the tragedy still weighed on him.

'Maybe the rest of the crew made it?' During his scan, he had spotted no bodies, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint of metal from behind a larger piece of debris. As he began to move the piece of debris aside, a sense of dread growing in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he moved the piece aside, and saw a sight he should have expected, but had hoped didn't. Christina and Lichty's body floated in the corner of the bridge, holding onto each other, a large chunk of metal in the side of Christina and Lichty's body shredded, which was strangely robotic. 'Was he always like that?' Setsuna had not gotten close to the bridge crew, so he wouldn't know, but just seeing the two bodies caused Setsuna to ball his fists in anger at his helplessness. There was nothing he could have done to help them and yet he wished he could have. 'I was supposed to protect them, and yet they died. Feldt must be devastated.' He hadn't seen her body, so he would continue to hope that she survived. He pursed his lips, looking back at the two bridge crew members. 'At least they had each other.'

This sight brought back memories of his helpless as a child soldier, uselessly attacking Azadistan mobile suits. He could only watch as his comrades die, their bodies lying on the streets, bleeding out along with the civilians. 'Is this what the civilians who the Trinities attacked felt like?' And even with multiple Gundams, the machine that had saved him, Christina and Lichty had still died. There was no savior for them here, just death and tragedy. 'No, I am still alive. We aren't dead yet. I won't give up. I can't.' Celestial Being wasn't done yet. He was still alive in an intact more of the crew had survived, bringing him a semblance of hope. A thin one, but one he could hold were out there somewhere.

Gripping onto the ship with the Exia, he exited the Gundam, travelling through the ruined ship. He needed to check the rest of the ship for survivors. The hallways were not in as bad a shape as he expected, but to see them so empty and desolate just hurt. This was his home for a few years and now it was gone, destroyed by an enemy that months ago they were dominating. Passing by his room, he only saw a hole where his quarters used to be, the door blown out. Looking in the room, all he could see were destroyed objects and furniture. He never really had anything personal, but it bothered him, nonetheless. 'I hope I don't see my scarf.'

As he got near the medbay in his exploration of the ship, a familiar pink cloth floated in front of him. 'That was the kimono I got Feldt!' Grabbing a hold of it, a tear rolled down his cheek. A heartfelt gift being destroyed by the cruel world. She had been beautiful in it and would have loved to have seen her wear it, now that that their feelings were out in the open. But that had been shot. Setsuna made a silent vow. 'I need to be sure. I have to find her body if she's dead.'

He tore off a bit of the already ruined cloth and tied it around his arm, wanting to keep a reminder of the memory. The cloth floated off, hitting a wall. Looking into the medbay, he saw the corpse of Dr. Moreno floating, face twisted in fear, his faceplate broken. 'Dying like that must have been horrible. Hopefully he died quickly.' Setsuna grabbed the body, bringing it back up to the bridge and rested it next to Christina and Lichty. Setsuna hated the fact this was relatively easy for him. He had seen it all before and felt like he should be more shocked by this, but he couldn't. 'My history seems to haunt me no matter what I do.' There was a sense of growing dread, not being able to confirm if Feldt was alive or dead. He had never had this much worry when searching for anyone before.

As he was about to head in again, her heard a ping on the Exia's sensors. Entering the mobile suit, he saw what looked like the signal of the Kyrios in the distance. 'Allelujah!' Leaving the ship where it was, he chased after the signal, which was slowly moving away from him. He could easily catch up with it, even with the Exia in the shape it was in, so it wouldn't take him long to get to the origin. Hope bloomed in his heart. 'At least Allelujah made it. With two of us, it will be easier to operate and find everyone else.'

As he rounded around an asteroid, his hopes were dashed. Instead of the Kyrios limping along, it was only the GN drive of the suit lazily floating through space. Setsuna gripped the controls, a few tears going down his face. He really was alone right now. Either Allelujah had been captured or dead and he didn't know what was worse. He had no idea where he could be and Setsuna wasn't in any condition to stage a rescue, even if he knew where he was. Gritting his teeth, Setsuna grabbed the drive with his free hand. 'If I can keep this out of the hands of the UN forces, at least I'm doing something.'

Making his way back to the ship, Setsuna rested the drive in the open bridge of the ship. Looking down at the assembled bodies, he knew what he had to do. Finding a piece of debris from the ship, he rested the drive safely inside, along with the bodies. He then bent the metal around them, creating a cocoon of sorts. 'If I can have this floating off, maybe the crew would find this. At the very least it will be lost in space.' And he could give the crew a funeral, as minimal as it was. Holding onto the debris cocoon, he aimed away from the planet and shoved it away from the Exia. As it began to float away, looked down into his lap, eyes closed. His voice was solemn as he spoke, "Lichty, Neil, Christina, Dr. Moreno. I'm sorry I didn't save you. But we will keep fighting to make this world a better place. We will carry the torch. And I hope you are happy, wherever you are. So please, find peace."

Setsuna let the silence reign for a few minutes. A moment of piece in the aftermath of this tragedy. He knew he had to move on soon, so he had to scavenge as much from the ship as possible. He needed food, water and parts for the Exia. He couldn't replace the arm and his sword was damaged, but the head wasn't destroyed, and he could make small repairs on the legs. Heading back into the ship, he began the process of scavenging.

After thirty minutes, he had gathered as much as he could scavenge, some of the parts having to be bolted to the Exia, some wrapped around it. Drifting away from the ship, he gave it a bitter look. He knew the UN forces would try to scavenge it, so that had to be denied to them. Aiming his blaster at it, he shot several times into the hull, small explosion rocking the ship, causing a chain reaction. The ship began to break apart, large pieces scattering in space. Setsuna quickly turned and fled the scene, knowing this would definitely draw attention.

As he travelled, Setsuna realized he had no idea what to do. He had no resources, an ID that he had no idea was known to his enemies, and nowhere to stay. 'It'll be like the times after the KPSA was destroyed. Moving and struggling.' While he did have a Gundam, he needed a safe place in order to fix it up. 'After that I'll try to look for the rest of Celestial Being. Hopefully I can find them.' He opened up the image of Feldt in her kimono on his mini-terminal, his heart clenching. 'I know she's alive. She wasn't on the ship. The sooner I find them, the sooner I get back to her.'

Setsuna spoke quietly, "I'm so sorry Feldt." He looked into the infinite depth of space and then back to Earth. He shook his head, centering himself. He had tasks to do. He could wallow in his memories and worries later. 'Survival first, everything else came after.'

Feldt

Feldt steadily ate her food at the Lagrange 3 base, the cafeteria mostly empty. It had been two months since Fallen Angels, the name the world had given the operation, and throughout that period, she had been in a grief filled, depressive slump. Losing the crew, particularly Christina, Neil, who she had learned was Lockon's real name, and Setsuna, had been a hard blow. And for about two weeks after arrival, she had basically all but locked herself in her room, only coming out for food. Linda and Ian had tried to get her to come out, but she didn't want to. She couldn't. Everything had gone wrong and the closest people to her were gone, either dead or missing. In the back of her mind, she knew she was putting up her walls, the walls that had been collapsed since Christina and Setsuna had entered her life, but it was instinctual. She didn't know how not to. Despite all she had grown, she was still partially the scared little girl who grew up without her parents.

What had surprised her in all this was the help and support she got from a person she would never have expected to do this. A few days after she had gotten back and locked herself in her room, Tieria had occasionally brought her food and asked how she was doing. She had expected him to ask about everything, but he had been respectful, just checking in on her and making sure she was eating, showering, and doing other small things. Maybe he understood her. Tieria had also been gutted by the death of Neil Dylandy. He seemed to have taken it better than her, but she didn't know what he was like behind closed doors, so she couldn't one hundred percent know.

And with his help, she had come out of her room, going about her daily tasks. She had slowly begun to open up more, initially moving almost like a zombie from task to task, but Christina's message eventually took root. She couldn't wallow in her sadness and depression. She had to live on for all those who died. She needed to find out if Setsuna had survived, believing that he's out there, lost. Selfishly, she wished he was back now, so she could talk about everything with him. But she couldn't do that locked into her room. It had hurt when Sumeragi left, her saying she failed them and none of them could convince her, leaving Celestial Being down their tactical forecaster and Feldt down a mother figure.

She suddenly felt something sit down next to her, and saw Tieria giving her a smile, causing her to smile back. Tieria chuckled, "It's nice to see you smile again."

Feldt blushed, retorting, "I thought you didn't like people smiling and being happy."

Tieria blushed slightly, "The old me was a bit of a stick in the mud. I still kind of am, but I would say I've gotten better."

Feldt nodded in agreement, "I like the new you too." She gave Tieria an appreciative smile, "Without you, I don't think I would have left my room. You didn't need to help me, but you did."

Tieria shook his head, "I did need to. You shouldn't have to be alone, and I understand what you are going through. I would have hated to be alone as well."

Feldt looked down at the ground, voice soft, "And thank you for not asking about…well everything. I don't know if I'm ready to talk about…"

Tieria patted her shoulder, "Don't worry about it. The crew was important to you, and I had learned that you and Setsuna were close. I'm the same about Neil."

Feldt just nodded and the two ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Tieria spoke up again, "By the way, I have good news for you."

Feldt perked up at that, "Oh?"

Tieria had a bittersweet smile, "During a scan, the bridge found the signature of the Kyrios's drive. A shuttle went out to investigate and found debris from the Ptolemy."

Feldt tilted her head in confusion, "How did it end up here? And what made it so important?"

Tieria shrugged his shoulders, "It probably drifted, but the important thing was it was wrapped like a cocoon. When we opened it up, we not only saw the drive, but the bodies of Christina, Lichty and Dr. Moreno."

Tears came to Feldt's eyes as the news of the bodies hit her. 'I thought they would be lost to space, but they weren't!' One of Feldt's regrets was they never got to give the crew who died a proper funeral, which they all deserved. She had never seen her parents get one, and she didn't want to see the same for the crew that died during the attack. Tears dripped down on her lap, relief hitting her hard, but then a thought came into her mind. 'Wait, someone had to intentionally do this. They were wrapped like a cocoon, so it had to be from a…' She turned to face Tieria, who gave her a look like he knew what she was thinking.

Tieria nodded, smirking, "Only a mobile suit could do that and only someone part of Celestial Being would know about the bodies and drive." Feldt's eyes began to shine as Tieria continued, "It has to be Setsuna. He's the only drive we don't have and could have done that."

Happy tears began to flow from her eyes, and she grabbed onto Tieria's arm, smiling widely, "He's alive! He's alive!" She had always believed he had survived, but now she had proof. He was out there and hopefully safe, but now she had something to work with.

Tieria patted her head, smiling warmly at her, "Yes, he is. He wouldn't die on us. And he will come back to us, I know it. We just need to help him find his way back to us."

Feldt looked up at Tieria, nodding, "I know he will." The pink-haired girl grinned at Tieria, "Thank you for telling me." Tieria just nodded and happily mussed up her hair, which Feldt didn't mind.

"Feldt, I have something I want to show you." Ian's voice rung in the cafeteria and Feldt turned around to see the mechanic standing at the doorway, looking a bit guilty. 'Why does he have that look on his face?'

Feldt tilted her head slightly, "Is this about Christina? And the others? Because Tieria just told me about that."

Ian rubbed a hand on his neck, "No, it's something else. While I am happy that happened, it's something you will want to see."

Feldt nodded and looked at Tieria, "I'm going to go with him. I'll talk to you later." Tieria nodded and as Feldt was about to pick up her tray, Tieria stopped her.

"You go ahead, I'll do this for you." Feldt just nodded at that and moved towards Ian, who began to lead her through the hallways of the base. Feldt followed Ian down the hallways, curious why Ian seemed a bit cagey around her and had a look of guilt in his eyes. 'What did he do?' She could tell he was leading her to the medical wing, but why?

Ian eventually stopped at a T-Junction leading to long-term care, looking down at the ground and letting out a breath before looking back at her, "Feldt, before we get where we were going, I have something I need to confess." Feldt looked at him confused, nodding at him to continue, "I wasn't allowed to tell you as you grew up due to Veda, but I was on the same team as your mother, Marlene."

Feldt's eyes widened, "Wait, you knew her and you didn't tell me?" Her anger began to rise. 'Ian knew about my parents, maybe even how they died and he didn't tell me in private?' She knew there were logical reasons why he might not have told her, but right now her rising anger refused to accept that.

Ian could tell Feldt was getting angry, and his shoulders sagged, "Yes. Veda had forbidden it and I felt guilty about what happened to them, but I have no excuse why I didn't tell you after we lost Veda. There was a lot going on, but I was a little worried how you would react." Ian rested against the wall, "But there was something else I knew that I was especially not allowed to say."

Feldt's eyes narrowed, her voice a simmering flame, "What was that?"

"Your mother didn't die." Feldt's eyes widened, tears of anger coming up. Ian saw that and put his hands up in a pleading motion, "Please Feldt! Just hear me out. I know you're mad at me, but your mother was in a long-term coma due to the mission she where her team died. We recently got her out of her coma and have been getting her back into shape."

Feldt balled her fist, "Why didn't you tell me immediately!?"

Ian slumped in shame, "Because we didn't want to get your hopes up before we could tell if she recovered. I should have done it, and Linda said so, but I judged it that way, so blame it on me." Ian laughed bitterly, "Marlene even said she didn't want you to see her look so weak. It's very like her."

Feldt glared at Ian, her previously happy mood all gone. Right now, all she could feel was anger and frustration. Ian had been someone she trusted, but he had lied to her about the most important thing to her growing up. She had always wanted to learn about her parents, and Ian had kept it hidden. Logically, she knew Veda kept a lot of secrets, but right now all she could think of was the betrayal. Her tone was terse as she spoke, "Show me where she is. Now."

Ian silently nodded, guiding her further into the medical wing. Ian tried to talk with her, but Feldt refused to reply. She did not want to speak with him right now. At last, they reached a larger room, a blonde woman with a wide ponytail dressed in a quartered white uniform with a green diamond in the center, white pants with grey running on the inside and a dull yellow jacket on. The woman seemed to be reading something on a tablet, smiling. Flashes of memories went through Feldt, tears beginning to flow. Even if the memories weren't clear, she knew this was her mom. Blonde hair and a warm smile.

Without a word, Feldt blew past Ian, opening the door and rushing in, tears falling like a waterfall. She made a beeline for her mom, wrapping her arms around the blonde woman. Her voice was weak, emotions overwhelming her, "Mom." She closed her eyes, wanting to bask in the happiness that was in front of her

Her mother just simply wrapped an arm around her back and rested the other on her head, running her hand through Feldt's hair and softly replying, "My little girl." Feldt's dam burst, and tears and sobs came endlessly out of her. All of her anger at Ian was forgotten, worries about Setsuna disappearing. Her mother was here and holding her, something she had dreamed about, but never expected to happen. She could feel like a piece of her heart had returned. It wasn't whole, but it already felt better. She felt her mom's tears running into her hair, which only made her sob more.

The pair stood there for a few minutes before Feldt looked up at her mom, who smiled warmly down at her. Her voice sent a warm feeling in the pink-haired girl's chest, "I'm back, and I promise I won't let you go again."

Feldt just pressed her forehead into her mom's chest, smiling, "I missed you so much!"

The blonde woman just caressed her back, "Me too. Me too."

Author Note

And the surprise change! Marlene, Feldt's mom, is alive in this AU, though there is more to her as you will learn in the sequel. She comes from the 00P prequel novel and I haven't read it, so I am going off of wikis for her personality as much as possible. The rest is my best guess how she would act. Also I'm cutting out the whole secret Gundam team from the novels. It's just Marlene that survived from her team in terms of Gundam meisters. There are side effects from the way she should have died, which you'll see later. Also if you want to imagine a voice in your head, my version is Mary Elizabeth McGlynn from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

I hope you enjoy this change because it's going to be fun to write. I'll see you guys next week and please review, like, favorite, comment, etc.! And remember you can always PM me if you don't want to publicly comment!