Author Note One

Usual reminder about canon scenes

"Regular speech"

'Thought'

"Soma/Hallelujah speech"

Unknown Airspace

As the two pilots flew back to the Ptolemaios in their gundams, Setsuna opened up communications with Tieria, "What did you find out? Who is leading the A-Laws?"

Tieria responded with conviction, "I found it Setsuna! The twistedness in this world! With the gundams we can eliminate it!" Setsuna thought to himelf, 'That didn't answer my question.'

Suddenly the two pilots heard an older, rougher voice coming from in front of them, coming from a large red mobile suit, "Easier said than done." Setsuna immediately recognized the suit. This was the suit that destroyed the capital of Azadistan. And now his fears were confirmed. Ali al Saachez had survived and was back.

Setsuna called out to Tieria, "It's the mobile suit from Azadistan." Tieria looked over the suit as it came to a stop. After a second, he realized exactly what it was, "This is an improved throne model. And that means he's back!"

And as the suit came to a stop, Ali drew his large sword into the suits right hand and excitedly proclaimed, "Let's get this started. It's a war between gundams of epic proportions! Fly my fangs!" He immediately launched his fangs and they began to circle around the two gundams. Both Setsuna and Tieria were caught by surprise at the speed of these drones. Both of them took shots at the drones, but none of them could seem to connect.

Setsuna spoke to Tieria, "They're fast!"

"Something is different about them!" Just then two blasts from the drones nailed the front of the Seravee, causing Tieria to cry out in pain and begin to plummet into the sea. Setsuna had little time to react as the suit charged towards him, Ali yelling, "You'll have to do better than that, gundam!" His blade clashed with Setsuna's two as the 00 tried to hold back the force of this mobile suit. Setsuna could see the sparks created by the clash.

Setsuna yelled out in anger, "So you're still alive, Ali al Saachez!" He could feel the power of Ali's suit. Even the 00 couldn't move this suit at this very moment.

Ali responded in a more excited tone, enjoying the fight, "Yes, but thanks to Celestial whatchamacallit, most of my body was burnt to a crisp! I took that guy's life and now I want more!" He shoved the 00 back, ending the blade clash and forced the 00 into a lower altitude.

"His name was Neil, you bastard!" Setsuna was about to charge him when he saw the drones return to the opposing suit. 'What is he doing?' He then heard Ali say, "You are going to pay for my regeneration treatments with your lives!" He charged in, meeting the 00 head on, and the two clashed blades, with the raven-haired pilot unable to go on the offensive. He once again tried to clash blades, but that was broken quickly by Ali delivering a solid blow with his sword, knocking Setsuna back from the combat. Just then several pink energy blasts came from below as Tieria began to open fire on this mobile suit, hoping to take advantage of the element of surprise, but Ali managed to dodge out of the way of the attacks.

Tieria tried to keep pressure on him to keep him at a distance, but he saw that the enemy suit was getting closer. He screamed in anger, "You're the guy that killed Lockon!" The red haired man didn't respond to that, quickly slicing the upper blasters of the Seravee off, creating a smoke cloud from the explosion. Ali savored his successful attack for a second, when he suddenly saw the arms of the Seravee attempt to grab him. He tried to pull back, but it was too late. The Seravee had a solid grip on Ali's suit and pulled him closer. Tieria spoke angrily to Ali, "I'll be the one that avenges him!"

Ali responded immediately in a flippant tone, "He got what he deserved! He entered battle despite being blind in one eye!"

"You damn-!" The Seravee pushed its knee forward, extending a beam saber from the knee joint. Ali spotted that and to Tieria's surprise, successfully dodged out of the way. The purple-haired pilot gasped out in shock, "He dodged it?" He then noticed that part of the foot of the suit activated its own beam saber.

As the blade came around to cut off the appendage holding the Seravee's beam saber, Ali retorted, bloodlust filling his voice, "Well I have a few of those too!" He cleanly cut the appendage off, causing it to explode after a second. He shoved Tieria back seeing that the grip had loosened. He scanned the battlefield, looking for the 00, when he saw on his radar Setsuna approaching from below, who quickly met Ali's blade with his own, sparks once again being created from the impact. Ali's instincts told him that that there was something going on and at the last second was able to stop the Seravee with one of the blades on the foot of his suit's feet.

Setsuna yelled out in frustration, "Dammit!" 'How has he gotten this good? And what kind of suit is that?' Tieria was equally frustrated, wondering how this suit could have enough power to hold off two gundams in a melee. Then suddenly Ali yelled out "Fangs!" Two of the drones came flying out the waist of the suit, lining up the perfect shot. Both pilots realized they were unable to dodge this and were hit by the blasts as they hit the torsos of the 00 and Seravee, causing enough damage to force the two of them back. Ali seeing how easily he was dominating this fight, began to gloat, "I see you can't handle the power of the Arche Gundam I see! I'll just make sure you are never able to by killing you both right now!" Just as he was about to charge the Seravee, more energy blasts came from another direction, forcing him to dodge them. Looking at his sensors he saw two more signatures appear. Realizing that these must be the other two gundams, he yelled out to the 00 and Seravee, "Four vs one is just a bit too out of my favor. You got lucky this time!" He put away his sword and dashed out of the battlefield at incredible speeds, with one or two of the hits from the Arios and Cheridum being deflected by the shield. Allelujah spoke evenly, "Setsuna, Tieria, Ms. Sumeragi has ordered us to return."

However, the Seravee began to chase after the Arche, but the Arios grabbed the Seravee by the shoulder, holding it back. Tieria called out to Allelujah in anger, "Why stop me!? That's the guy that killed Lockon!"

Lyle gasped out in surprise to himself. 'That was the man that killed my brother? These guys seem familiar with this man, so they would probably be able to fill me in.'

As the Setsuna and Tieria Gundam pilots saw the machine leave visual range, they recollected their thoughts. Scanning his systems, Tieria noticed that the damage wasn't too severe, though it would need some repairs from Ian. Internally, he was stewing with anger. 'How could we let the man that killed Neil get away!? He was right there!' He realized Allelujah was right, but he hoped he would get a chance to face him. 'And next time I'll win.'

Setsuna also had not taken too much damage, but the bigger worry was now the knowledge the enemy had a skilled pilot in a gundam. And the fact that Ali survived seemed like cosmic injustice. 'Why do men like that get to live yet good people still have to die?'

Allelujah's Room

Marie rested in Allelujah's room, feeling anxious about her boyfriend being sent out to fight again. She had no problems with him fighting and knew it was needed, but she still always worried about him not coming back. She was comforted by her memories of previous fights when Soma was in charge that showed that Allelujah had survived worse. But she was taken by surprise when she felt was seemed like yawning in the back of her mind. 'She must be waking up.' After a few seconds, she heard a voice going through her head, "Where am I? Who are you!? And why are you in my body?!"

Marie spoke back in a friendly tone, knowing Soma would be out of sorts right now, "I'm Marie Parfacy. I'm sorry I forcibly took over after you tried to kill Allelujah, but I couldn't let you kill him. And I am actually the original personality of this body."

Soma scrutinized those words, mulling them over. Soma then replied with some confusion, "If you were the original personality, then why weren't you in charge? And why didn't I know about you before?"

"If I had to guess, when I was implanted with another personality, you overrode my control. I was in some sort of coma like state, but realizing that you were fighting Allelujah must have woken me up."

"What do you mean implanted with another personality? Why would they need to do that?"

Marie sighed, realizing she would need to explain a bunch to her, "I or we were a designer baby, but unfortunately, very few of my senses worked. I could only speak out with my mind, but when they implanted me with another personality, we could suddenly speak, move and see."

Soma looked at her with suspicious eyes, "What do you mean we? Aren't we separate people? Separate personalities?" Marie thought for a second and realized a simpler way to get across what she wanted to tell Soma.

"Soma, look through my memories and tell me what you feel." Marie opened up her own mind, letting down her defenses. Soma, still suspicious of what Marie was saying, opened up her mind and began to scan the memories. As she scanned through the memories, that feeling of familiarity that she had previously felt returned. 'These memories feel like mine, yet they don't.' Now that she wasn't fighting something for control, she let herself bask in the feelings and memories. As she sat there, understanding began to come to her. Her and Marie were each one half of a soldier, of a person. She was reminded of what Hallelujah told her five years ago about not being a complete super soldier.

In a subdued voice, Soma asked, "We are both needed, aren't we? Without you, I wouldn't be a full super soldier?" Marie mentally gave her a confirmation. Soma continued, "Subject E-57 was right. I was an incomplete soldier. I lacked the support that the other personality gave."

Marie gently responded, "It's more than just that. We feed off of each other. Allelujah told me that he only was at his strongest when he merged minds with his personality. And he also had to work in harmony with his other side and understand them to truly be one. I don't want to give up my body, but I don't want us to have to fight over it."

Soma replied, "It appears as if you have solid control over our body, so you don't need to be worried about me taking over. And looking through your memories allayed my confusion a bit. I do want to thank you for telling the Colonel that. I wish I could have seen him again, but at least you told him what I wanted to say."

Marie smiled at that, "It would have been wrong of me to do that. He was your father in all but legal name. He kept both of us safe, even of both of you didn't know about me."

Soma replied reflectively, still trying to get a full grasp of the situation, "So where does that leave us? It's clear you don't want to fight and aren't going to leave your boyfriend's side. I feel happy I don't have to work for the A-Laws, but it feels strange to be on the other side of the conflict. I spent so much time fighting the Gundams, it's hard to accept them as allies."

Marie spoke to her in a calm voice, "I understand that. But you always wanted to leave a peaceful and normal life. While I can't say this is normal, you don't have to worry about committing warcrimes or hurting innocent people. And I promise you if Celestial Being can defeat the A-Laws, then I will do whatever I can to try to meet the Colonel again and let you talk to him."

"That is…acceptable. I'm still trying to fully wrap my head around this whole situation, but as long as you don't intend to hurt the Colonel, then I'm content to be where I am. I do want words with the other personality of your boyfriend though."

Marie could sense the animosity coming off her voice, "I'm certain he would also have some things he would like to say to you, but as far as Allelujah and I can tell, he's gone. You got him in that final battle."

In a suddenly aggressive and flippant tone, Soma said, "Good." Marie wanted to retort, but knew that Hallelujah had killed some of Soma's comrades, so she kept her mouth shut. This was a good first meeting and she didn't want to ruin it. Marie then felt Soma draw herself further into their mind. It was obvious for now that their conversation was done. Marie could still feel she was there and she could contact her at any time. 'At least I won't have to fight her like Allelujah and Hallelujah did. Allelujah will be happy to hear about this conversation. And I hope the Colonel is ok.'

Sergei's Ship

Sergei sighed as the call with his superior dropped. He had been assigned to watch over Suille in case they decided to act against the ESF, but he knew they weren't the big threat. Sure they had the strongest military in the middle east, but their suits did not compare to the GN-X or Ahead. They certainly didn't need someone like him to be a constant watchdog over them. It annoyed him the regular forces were being used as backup to the A-Laws and Sergei just had to accept that.

Maybe it was actually a good thing now. Soma was now with Celestial Being and he didn't know if he could fight them knowing that. Having a day to digest what happened had made him feel he made the right decision. Soma had probably not taken having to commit a warcrime very well and even if it was this Marie that was in charge, Soma would be safer with Celestial Being. It's not like he didn't have blood on his hands anyway. There was no way he could have kept Marie from getting dragged into the fighting. 'And despite my misgivings, Marie looked happy with that boy.'

He looked over at a picture of Soma and him on his desk. It showed them in front of a theme park sign, and she was smiling brightly, her smile reaching her eyes. Sergei just looked tired, especially after hours of walking around. Sergei had wanted to take her someplace fun, and thought back on when Andrei was a child. Him and Holly had taken Andrei after he had begged and Sergei enjoyed it more than he expected. Andrei had been practically vibrating the whole time, even if he couldn't go on some of the roller coasters. Based on that experience, Sergei thought Soma might enjoy the same experience, especially because she never got a chance to grow up normally. And he had been right after one of the roller coaster rides.

Soma bound out of the exit of the roller coaster, feeling the rush of adrenaline from the ride. Sergei followed behind her, smiling at seeing the super soldier so happy and carefree. She practically seemed to be floating. He spoke up with a teasing tone, "How does a soldier who fought in mobile suits even get excited by riding a roller coaster?"

Soma stopped and turned around giving him a beaming smile, "It's not the ride Colonel, it's the fact I can get a rush like that without risking my life feels so good! Let's go on another!" Sergei still found it a bit odd to see her so relaxed, but he preferred it to her being so tense and serious. Peacetime had been good for her. She was able to enjoy herself without any pressure on what she needed to do.

Sergei shook his head at that, "I'm sorry Soma, but this old man needs a break. If you want to go on another ride, don't let me stop you. I'll wait nearby." Soma nodded at that, wordlessly grabbing his hand and leading him to another ride. All the while Sergei could see the ghost of Andrei doing the same thing with his tiny hand years ago, Holly laughing at a grown man being dragged around by a child. A bittersweet feeling rushed through him, but he shook it off. Soma was a second chance, a chance to make up for his mistakes.

A tear rolled down his cheek as he thought back on the memory. She had walked around for hours with him, going on rides and taking pictures, including the one currently on his desk. He had been exhausted by the end of the day, but seeing her beaming smile had been worth it. He hoped one day he could meet Soma again, but for now he had to play the peacekeeper, even if he disagreed with the peace that was trying to be established.

Ptolemaios Briefing Room

After getting back from fighting off Ali al Saachez, the pilots separated, with Lyle following Tieria, bothering him with questions, while Setsuna found himself in the briefing room with Saji. Saji looked at him anxiously, "Did you happen to meet Louise?"

Setsuna nodded and responded evenly, "Yes, I met her as she was leaving the party. We talked for a bit before I had to leave."

"What did you talk about? And did you give her my note?"

"I did give her the note. And the conversation was mostly small talk and trying to catch up. She asked where I saw you and I said that I saw you in the colonies a few weeks ago. I didn't have too much time before I had to leave."

Saji looked down nervously, "Did she say anything about me?"

"Besides asking about if I saw you, not specifically. When your name came up, she became nervous and awkward. Even if she didn't say anything, I would say that she did miss you. I'm sorry I didn't ask further."

Saji waved that off, "Don't worry. I let her know how I feel in the note I gave you. We broke up several months ago-" He was cut off by the door opening and Tieria, followed by Lyle, walked into the room.

Both Setsuna and Saji heard Lyle ask in a harsh tone, "And what did you say about him killing my brother?"

Tieria turned around and glared at him harshly, "It's just what I said. The pilot of that Gundam is Ali al Saachez and he's the man that took Lockon's life."

Lyle narrowed his eyes at Tieria, "I want to hear all the details about this man." Just as he finished that demand, the other door in the room opened, revealing Marie and Allelujah, who saw at the intense looks at Lyle's face with confusion. Tieria saw that he would need to tell more of the story to him, so he motioned the two super soldiers to enter the room. Everyone made their way to the center of the room and Saji rested against one of the walls, curious about the story as well.

Tieria then covered the story of what happened to Neil, starting at when the trinities revealed the histories of the Gundam pilots, Neil's motivation for joining Celestial Being and him going out into battle without one of his eyes, resulting in his death at the hand of Ali al Saachez. Lyle followed along, letting Tieria tell the whole story. As the purple-haired man continued, the reasoning behind his brother's actions made more and more sense. 'Of course he would want revenge for what happened to our family. He always was the more hot headed one.' As Tieria finished up the story, the Irish man began to quietly chuckle, "So he faced this Ali guy to get revenge for killing our family?"

Tieria looked at him confused, "Why are you laughing?" 'Why is he so casual about the death of his brother?'

Lyle gave him a grin, "Placing revenge before reforming the world? That sounds like my brother."

Tieria gave him a slight glare, "Do you have a problem with that?"

Lyle smirked at Tieria, "Nope. I respect him for it actually. But our family was killed over ten years ago. I don't see the point of brooding over what happened. It is nice to see someone care for my brother so much."

Tieria scowled at Lyle, blushing at the compliment, but Setsuna, who had previously stayed in the back of the group in the room, stepped forward, saying, "Even if the one responsible is right in front of you?"

Lyle looked at him confused for a few second, their eyes meeting, then said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Setsuna replied with a hint of regret in his voice, "I was a member of the group that killed your family." Lyle narrowed his eyes, trying to understand why the raven-haired man needed to say this. Tieria looked at Setsuna, surprised he would say this.

Allelujah interjected with a confused voice, "Setsuna, you don't need to tell him this."

Still looking at Lockon, Setsuna responded, "He needs to know. My comrade and I were sent to Ireland to punish those that would abandon the holy land. I tried to convince my comrade to save his life, to not do it, but he called me a coward." Setsuna took a deep breath, remembering at that point he was already beginning to have doubts about their holy mission. He continued, more regret seeping into his voice, "I let my comrade walk away and kill all those people in that city center, including your family. Neil would never had become a meister if we weren't there." The group stood there silently, getting a handle on the new aspect of Setsuna's past.

Allelujah didn't realize how rough Setsuna had had it. 'Sure I knew he was a child soldier, but to have the guilt of allowing innocent people to die must be a lot. It's not like I'm much better.' Marie looked at him with sympathy. She could sense regret coming off of him. He went through so much and is even willing to risk his life revealing something he didn't need to? 'You picked a good one Feldt. I think he needs your help.'

With Saji, the pieces snapped into place. The fact he was a child soldier. His willingness to fight a potentially hopeless cause. 'He grew up in a world that knew only violence. Of course he's willing to fight for the chance change it. I'm sorry Setsuna. I should not have treated you like that before.' Tieria just watched, hoping Lyle didn't do anything stupid.

Lyle gave a heavy sigh, "It's not your fault. The events that happened there would have happened whether you were there or not. It was just a part of that chaotic time."

Setsuna spoke up, surprised, "But-"

"There is no point in dwelling on what happened. We can't fix what happened in the past, but we can fight to make a better future." The group look surprised at his reaction. He had more than a good enough reason to hurt Setsuna yet he didn't. And they all knew he was right. They had all done things in their past that they regret, but they could only move forward. Tieria suddenly moved towards the door, the hiss of it opening and closing the only sound in the room as he left. 'Fight for the future and my own sense of justice. Will that lead us to a better future? Will opposing the innovators lead to a better future?'

Bridge of the Ptolemaios

Looking at the sensors, Feldt saw six mobile armor silhouettes at the edge of the sensor's range. She activated the alarm on her display, starting the loud buzzing sound throughout the ship. Over the PA, she announced, "Six underwater mobile armors confirmed. Everyone to primary battle stations. Enemy is closing in and preparing to surround the Ptolemy!"

Sumeragi looked up at her, asking, "Estimate time till enemy attack."

Mileina responded quickly, "0024."

Sumeragi analyzed the enemy plan. 'The enemy accurately predicted we'd be over the equator. That's not bad.' The door to the bridge opened up and Saji and Marie walked in. Marie looked at Sumeragi and asked, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Sumeragi thought for a second and then replied, "You can sit in the auxiliary support chairs. Things are about to get rough. Lasse."

Lasse just nodded his head and said, "Roger. Ptolemy entering rapid surfacing mode." The Ptolemy rapidly began to face its bow to face the surface, the movement causing everyone in the bridge to hold on to something to stabilize themselves.

As the ship ascended, Mileina called out, "0004 until contact with the enemy."

Sumeragi, knowing the eyes of the bridge were on her, commanded, "Wait for it…"

Feldt then noticed more signatures on the sensors, "The enemy has launched torpedoes!" Sumeragi smirked hearing that. 'Just what I was waiting for.'

Over the comms she yelled out, "Arios, Cheridum, Seravee, activate Trans-am!" After a few seconds, the bridge crew could feel the flow of power rush through the ship, pushing the engines to go even faster as the ship glowed a vibrant red. She continued to yell orders, "Increase GN Field to maximum output! Initiate emergency ascent! Ride the explosions!" The ship continued to ascend spaceward as a series of explosions went off beneath them. The bridge shook from the kinetic force of all of the torpedoes exploding, but everyone on the ship could feel the Ptolemy being pushed even faster by that same force.

As the ship approached the surface of the ocean, Sumeragi commanded, "Change Ptolemy over to flight mode." Without a word, Lasse activated flight mode just before they burst through the surface of the ocean, leaving a large spray of sea foam as they broke through into the open air. The ship rapidly climbed through the air. Sumeragi gave another order to the gundams, "Setsuna, be ready on the catapult."

"Roger that."

As the ship travelled further and further upward, A-Laws mobile suits began chasing and firing at the ship to little effect, the shots either seemed to miss or just bounced off of the GN field. Marie looked at the visual sensors at the suits firing at them and noticed her, or rather Soma's suit was among them. 'Who could be piloting that suit? Is it Andrei?' She never thought about how Andrei might react to her "death" but it was too late now. She could feel Soma's grumbling about someone using her suit, but she spoke no objections otherwise. Sumeragi ordered the gunports to be opened and a barrage of missiles and energy blasts came shooting down on the mobile suits, taking out most of them. Andrei's Ahead survived the attack.

Their travel into space was going relatively smooth until a large energy blast hit the starboard side of the ship, shifting them off the predicted path. Sumeragi looked at this worryingly. 'The commander predicted our path. They are really good.' Unfortunately there was nothing they could do to correct that at this moment. If there was an ambush, she only hoped Setsuna would be enough to deal with the enemy, seeing as Trans-am was running out and that meant the three other Gundams would be low on particles as well.

As they reached orbit, the readings on the bridge showed all the power from the Trans-am had run out and the particles count in the engine was low. Feldt reported nervously, "Particles count too low for the GN field. We will be without if for a while." And worryingly, as soon as the GN field went, the ship was bombarded by energy blasts from six GN-X's and an A-Laws cruiser positioned close to them. The damage they were taking was light for the moment, but it could get worse. The crew looked at each other nervously, but they noticed Sumeragi wasn't worried. The tactical forecaster then calmly stated a command, "Setsuna, you are up." They then saw two of the mobile suits attacking them get destroyed by two pink energy blasts.

With the 00

The 00 flew into the combat space after taking out the two mobile suits. 'Sumeragi was correct about them not expecting this.' Setsuna effortlessly dodged past the mobile suits in space, heading towards the enemy ship. Energy blasts came in a large volume at him as he charged towards the ship, and he could sense they were desperate when trying to hit him. 'In the 00, you won't be able to hit me.' When he got close enough, he stopped and charged up his blasters, releasing two arrowhead shaped blasts. They hit the bridge head on, destroying it completely and the ship began to have detonations all throughout the hull, causing it to collapse and become space debris.

Setsuna headed back to the Ptolemy, prepared to deal with the suits attacking the ship, but they quickly disengaged from combat, retreating from the battle space.

On the Bridge

The crew was celebrating the victory over the A-Laws when Feldt noticed a message on her console. She opened it up and saw it was an open message from the A-Laws sent by a mobile suit. She spoke up, "Ms. Sumeragi, we have a message sent by a mobile suit sent by visual signal. Should I read it?"

Curious, Sumeragi nodded and said, "Go ahead."

Clearing her throat, Feldt read the message, "I express my respect for the tactics of Lisa Kujo of Celestial Being. Colonel Kati Mannequinn of the A-Laws. End of message."

Lasse spoke up, also curious, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Sumeragi was surprised to hear this message and frowned at the new knowledge. 'Kati joined the A-Laws. Why would someone like her join the A-Laws?' The crew looked in worry at Sumeragi's sudden silence. Feldt spoke up, "Ms. Sumeragi, what's the matter?"

Sumeragi spoke quietly to herself, regret in her tone, "I keep trying to escape, but I can't break free." 'Of that detestable past. The indelible past.'

Author Note Two

That chapter was certainly less intense on me than the last one. The only real change of note here is the fact I want to use the two personality thing more than the base show did, so I hope you guys are excited for that. Otherwise we are starting to get to some of the stuff I have been wanting to get to for awhile. So yay.

Once again I appreciate all the ways to show you are enjoying the stories. It keeps me writing. See you guys at the next chapter.