In Another Time, Another World

by fnlrpa

You've all seen 00 as it is, but what if it was different? What if Marina was forced to look into the cost of her pacifism? What if our favorite split personality had a bigger role? What if Setsuna could actually react to romance? This and more inside. This is a rewrite with AU elements of Gundam 00 Season 2 that was long in the making (for me). Cross posted on Ao3.

26. Beyond

Author's Note One

Usual reminder about canon scenes

"Regular speech"

'Thought'

"Soma/Hallelujah speech"

With the 00

Seeing Hilling get destroyed, Revive yelled out, anger and betrayal inundating his voice, "Hilling!" The Gadessa aimed its blaster at the Arche, "You bastard! You'll pay for that!" He fired the blaster, which Ali responded to by pulling his sword out of the disabled mobile suit, kicking it into the beam as he moved out of the way. The Gadessa continued to attack, more reckless than usual.

As the two suits fought, Setsuna looked at Ali with simmering anger. 'Back to his old tricks. Betraying his master when it suits him.' His hands gripped the controls as memories of Ali's actions flowed through his mind. 'No more. He needs to be destroyed.' Feldt opened up communications, strangely feeling anger from Setsuna despite not seeing him. Her voice was firm, "Setsuna, we need to get in there. I'll keep track of whatever one you aren't fighting."

Setsuna shook his head, focusing again, "Understood." He charged into combat, prioritizing the Arche. Revive pulled back, looking at her odds. He knew both the suits outmatched his in melee combat and could dodge his attacks fairly well. 'Discretion is the better part of valor.' He knew Ribbons would be upset, but Revive knew it was better to be alive and have Ribbons mad at him then be dead. Only Feldt watched the machine escape, speaking to Setsuna in a frustrated tone, "The Gadessa got away!"

Setsuna responded in a strained voice, clashing blades with the Arche, "Let them go! Ali takes priority!"

She nodded at him, "Right!" She could sense his determination and conviction. 'Why can I sense that?'

Ali grinned in his suit, happy for the rematch. Both suits pulled back from their clash and Ali called out in a happy tone, "Good to see you Krugis punk! I've wanted a rematch since you beat me last time!" Ali pointed his sword at the 00, "And now I have it!"

Setsuna narrowed his eyes, "This time you won't escape! Not after all you've done!"

Ali viciously smiled, voice low, "Then by all means, try." Both suits raised their blades, prepared for the final battle.

On the Regular Forces Ship

Louise looked out the window of her room, nervous energy radiating from her. Kati had kept her safe for the last couple months, and finally had told her they were heading into space to deal with the A-Laws.

She had seen the swarm of enemies swarming the Celestial Being ship then the one she was on and lucky for her, they had not hit where she was. Moving her focus away from the decreasing numbers of suicide ships, she looked in the distance to see flashes of energy blasts around the large asteroid.

Her heart clenched thinking that Saji was there. Watching the swarm of mobile suits charge the Ptolemy caused her to worry intensely, not knowing if Saji would make it out of there. Her worry had decreased when the ship had gotten away from the swarm, but it had not completely gone away.

She also had no idea what was going on in these fights. She could only see flashes of combat. 'I hope the gundams are winning. Whoever controls this Veda thing needs to go.' She quietly prayed, hoping Saji and Setsuna would stay safe. 'I hope I can see both of them again.'

With the Arios and Gun Archer

The two gundams were forced to dodge another beam as the Regnant opened fire again, impacting the side of the asteroid. Soma returned fire, hitting the machine but barely scratching it. 'Damnit! It looks like my blasters aren't going to be effective.' Andrei spoke in a cold, harsh voice, "I finally found you, traitor. If I can beat you in an Ahead, then there is no way you can stand up to me in this." As he finished talking, the mobile armor began to shift and rotate, standing upright, revealing a head underneath a metallic hood. The electric wire launchers turned into arms almost as tall as the body, with the small wings forming a spike-like extrusion on the shoulders.

Soma and Allelujah looked on with shock, a similar thought going through both of their heads. 'This thing is a mobile suit!' Allelujah let out a quiet, "Shit." He spoke to Soma, "Let's go!"

She nodded at that, jumping into action. Soma charged the machine with a beam saber, but it was met by the gauntlet of the suit, sparks flying from the impact. She tried to push back against the machine but could barely get anywhere. 'How powerful is this machine?' The Gun Archer was then thrown back as the Regnant swung its arm. Soma cursed under her breath, knowing Andrei was not going to be easy to defeat.

As Andrei was distracted by Soma, Allelujah lined up a shot with his blaster, hitting the shoulder of the machine, knocking off the shoulder spike. Andrei looked at the Arios in annoyance, not expecting that an attack like that would have any effect on his machine. 'I wanted to make her suffer, so the other gundam has to go.' He rotated his right hand to face the Arios, launching the electric wire. Allelujah dodged out of the way, slicing the wires with beam saber, causing Andrei to swear in anger. Soma called out with a smirk on her face, "Not such an easy time? I thought we couldn't beat you?"

Andrei let out a growl of frustration, "You want to see the full power of this suit? I'll show you!" The red fingers launched off the hand, flying around the battlefield. They began to fire shots at the two gundams, forcing them to disengage from the Regnant. Soma and Allelujah began to fire at the fingers, hitting some of them, destroying them. Both of the super soldiers could feel their brainwaves functioning at full blast, them dodging blast after blast coming at them. Soma called out to Andrei again, "Oh now you need backup. Are you really that strong or are you just a coward?"

Andrei glared at her from his suit, his anger building. 'I'm not weak. I will help lead humanity to the future!' He launched the remaining electric wire at Soma, which she dodged. However she didn't notice one of the fingers take aim at her from behind, shooting off one of her legs below the knee. She felt the impact in her cockpit, the Gun Archer getting pushed forward. She shot at the finger in retribution, destroying it. The Arios shot the Regnant with his blaster, but knowing it could actually do damage, Andrei put up the Regnant's GN field, blocking the attack. Allelujah scowled in frustration. 'We need to get inside that machine to do damage.'

Soma called out to Allelujah over private comms, "Let's attack him together! You get one arm I get the other."

Allelujah nodded, "Sounds good!" The Arios and Gun Archer dodged the shots coming from the remaining fingers, both armed with beam sabers. They each attacked one arm, trying to move the machine, to cut through the armor. But they found no luck, the armor completely holding the attack. The Regnant smacked both of them back. The two pulled back to regroup as Andrei called back the fingers seeing they were ineffective. The chest cavity of the Regnant opened, the large energy attack coming shooting out, nearly hitting the Arios before it bounced, catching the edge of one of the wings. Allelujah let out a breath he was holding, opening comms with Soma, "What do we do? We can't overpower him?"

Soma simmered in frustration, "We can't hurt him due to his armor and GN field. How do we get him?"

Allelujah looked at the Gun Archer worried, "I have no idea. How is your energy?"

They were forced to dodge another blast, luckily missing the two of them. Soma looked at her display, seeing her energy reserves running low, her voice full of frustration, "Well we better hurry then, I'm running low!"

With Tieria

Tieria made his way through the asteroid, gun raised, having found an entrance. It was eerie going through the hallways, which were well decorated and well lit. 'This must have been a colony ship, judging by the size of the vessel.' He was on edge due to the fact the hallways were empty and he couldn't even hear the sounds of combat happening around the colony. He could see how this place would be comfortable and friendly if it was full of people.

He continued his journey, reaching the door that would lead into Veda. Opening the door, he floated into Veda's core. The room was large, with several vertical displays showing code and information from Veda, with a large sphere contained in the ceiling, blue lights dotting it. 'That must be Veda.' Tieria also saw that he wasn't alone in the room. Ribbons was looking up at Veda in a light green version of their old pilot suits.

The innovator turned to face Tieria, who aimed his gun at Ribbons, his eyes glowing gold and tone voice even, "Tieria Erde. Surely as an innovator yourself-"

"You're wrong! We are not the real innovators. We were artificially created to bring about the emergence of innovators. We are innovades! I'm taking Veda back from you, Ribbons Almark!"

Ribbons just smirked, "And what if an innovade succeeded in evolving himself?"

Tiera was incredulous, "What?"

Ribbons tone was smug, "I have surpassed the innovades. I'm now a being greater than a purebred innovator."

Tieria replied angrily, "That's utter nonsense!" 'This man is delusional!'. He tried to take a shot Ribbons, but was caught by surprise when he felt a bullet go through his torso, the purple-haired man's face contorting in pain. Tieria began to float down to the floor of the room from the momentum of the shot. Ribbons looked at Tieria like he was a lesser being, smoking gun in his hand, "I told you, didn't I? I am a being that has surpassed even the innovators."

He took three more shots at Tieria, sending him flying to the floor, "I won't return Veda, for I am the one that is destined to guide humanity!"

Tieria could feel his consciousness slipping with every shot. 'I'm sorry everyone. I failed.' His last thoughts faded as a bullet went through his helmet, hitting him right in the skull, leaving a large blood splatter on the floor, the glass on the helmet shattering.

Ribbons looked over his handywork with a smirk, "One less threat to deal with. Now either I deal with the purebred innovator or the foolish mercenary after they are done fighting." He had sensed that Ali had betrayed him, killing Hilling. 'He will pay. He's not allowed to break my tools like that.'

With the Cheridum

Even with the 0 Gundam and shield bits assisting him, Lyle could feel the weight of the assault on the ship. The suits just kept on coming and coming. 'Is there no end to them? At least the cramped space means trans-am isn't as useful.' But he couldn't fail. The crew was counting on him. Saji, Mileina, Lasse, Sumeragi and Anew all needed him. 'I'll keep you safe Anew. I won't let them get you!'

The enemy was beginning to get uncomfortably close to them and he could see that the 0 Gundam was running out of juice. He opened up comms with the bridge, "How's it going out there?"

He heard Mileina reply desperately, "The other gundams are engaging the enemy and I can't find the Seravee! Ms. Sumeragi left the bridge, but Anew is safe with us!" Lyle could hear Mileina was beginning to crack. 'The situation doesn't sound good. We are down one gundam and I have no idea who the others are fighting. I can't even help them! If I abandon the ship, they all die!' If he wasn't here, the ship would have already been destroyed.

He sighed internally at knowing Anew was safe on the bridge. In a tone of attempted confidence, he tried to reassure the teenager, "We just need to hold on a little longer. Tieria is probably recapturing Veda as we speak!" He had no idea if this was true, but they needed to keep morale up.

Saji spoke up, speaking to Mileina, "He's right. We just need to hold on a little longer. We will make it out of this alive! Feldt wouldn't want you to give up!"

Mileina's calmed down a little, still sounding shaky, "Ok. For Feldt and everyone!"

He winced seeing another shield bit get taken out by a suicide suit. He spoke quietly to himself, "C'mon guys, I'm running a bit low on those!"

With the 00

The 00 matched blades with the Arche, the power of both the suits creating a blinding amount of sparks. Setsuna grit his teeth, feeling the greater resistance from trying the Arche. 'His suit got upgraded! They probably gave him tran-am!' Setsuna attempted to kick the suit, but Ali saw through that and dodged out of the way, pulling back slightly. Ali spoke to Setsuna is a happy tone, "Nice try gundam! But this suit got touched up a bit. Now you and the rest of your little group will pay for the damage you did to me! Fangs fly!"

The drones flew out of the suit, firing at the 00 while they maneuvered around the battle space. Setsuna spoke to Feldt, "Use the wing blasters on the drones! I'll focus on the rest!" Feldt nodded at him and as he began to dodge the blasts coming at him, she took aim and began taking shots at the drones. However, she found their speed hard to keep up with, especially with the constant motion of the 00. But sometimes she had a flash in her mind and could feel like she knew where they were going. 'How can I do this?' She shook off the thought. She could wonder after this was all done. For now, she had to keep the drones off of their backs.

Ali swore in frustration at seeing the ineffectiveness of the drones. The 00 weaved between the fire, getting no worse than glancing hits. 'They failed me again! How can he dodge so well?!' He snarled at Setsuna, "Stay still and die!" Setsuna looked at the Arche gundam, sensing waves of frustration coming off of him. With the help of Feldt, he destroyed the remaining drones. 'If I could dodge you before while injured and not aware of my powers, then you stand no chance now.' A brief thought of vengeance passed through his mind, but he pushed that back. This was not about him. This was about removing a mad dog from this world. He steeled himself and charged back into melee, meeting the Arche's sword with his own blade. Ali yelled out in a vicious tone, "I should have killed you when you were a child! Especially since you act like you are a saint!"

Feldt called out angrily to the mercenary as the two suits pushed against each other, "You were the one that ruined his life! He wouldn't be this way if it wasn't for you!"

Ali grit his teeth, "Well it looks like there is a Mrs. Krugis punk! Did you think that bringing backup would help?! Well it won't!" He kicked the 00 back, nearly hitting the 00 Raiser with the feet blades. 'It's time for my secret weapon.' He grinned as he looked at the 00, "Time to show you the full strength of this suit!" The suit began to grow bright red, charging the 00 with all his beam sabers extended. Setsuna had little time to react, immediately finding himself on the backfoot, one of them clipping the end of one of the wings. Ali scowled, not expecting him to dodge that as well. Setsuna activated trans-am, teleporting out of the way of a slash from the main sword. Ali looked around, feeling uncomfortable with the particles saturating the area around them. 'It's that disgusting feeling again.'

Setsuna teleported in behind him, cutting off the left arm of the Arche. Ali swung the main blade around to slash where the 00 was, but all he got was the ghost of the 00 Raiser, particles dispersing as the sword went through. Setusna then came from below, slicing the legs off of the machine, causing a small explosion and Ali's console began to spark in the cockpit. 'How can I be losing!? This suit was unstoppable before! This was only the Krugis punk!'

As Setsuna was fighting, Feldt felt very strange. She could hear voices in her head, emotions in her mind. She winced, trying to make sense of the whirlwind of thoughts and feelings rushing through her. 'What is going on? Why can I feel this?' A sense of worry washed over her. 'Am I changing too? Am I becoming like Setsuna?' It was all so new to her and she didn't know what to make of it. With great effort, she kept her mind focused on Ali, pushing the new sensations she was feeling away as best she could. 'Now is not the time to be distracted!'

Setsuna teleported one last time to the right side of the Arche, cutting off the right arm of the machine, leaving the machine helpless. He then shifted the blade into blaster mode, aiming it right at the cockpit. He took a deep breath, readying himself to shoot. Feldt spoke to him, feeling Setsuna's satisfaction at besting Ali.

Ali raged in his cockpit, angrily smacking the side of the cockpit as he was being taken apart. 'I have to get out of here! I will come back stronger and make sure Ribbons and this punk pay! Ribbons said this suit could beat the punk!' When he activated the escape mechanism, a video appeared on his cockpit display, showing Ribbons sitting on a couch. The innovade began smirking, "This is a pre-recorded message, as I don't have the time to talk directly. I know you betrayed me by letting that rat give the info on the Memento Mori. I know you don't trust me and will probably betray me if I get attacked. So I disabled your escape pod. No more holes to run to." The video ended, leaving him looking at the glowing end of Setsuna's blaster. He yelled like a wild animal as Setsuna shot into the cockpit, the pink energy disintegrating the core of the machine, finally killing the mercenary for good.

Setsuna looked at the particles that used to be Ali al Saachez. For so long the man had haunted his past, yet with his death, he felt nothing personal. There was satisfaction, but not because personal revenge or justice. This man was a threat to the world, to everyday people. With him gone, the world was that much safer.

As he drifted away from the exploding machine, Setsuna was assaulted by the thoughts of his comrades. He could feel Allelujah and Soma frustration at being unable to defeat the Regnant. He could sense Lyle's desperate struggle to keep the ship and Anew safe. Mileina's desperation and worry over Sumeragi and Saji trying to keep morale up. Lasse thinking his time was up as the 0 Gundam ran out of energy. Sumeragi's determination to protect the crew. Saji's newfound focus on making it out of this alive. Stranglely, he couldn't sense Tieria.

His eyes began to glow bright gold and the scanner went over his eyes, a message showing trans-am burst appearing on the display. Feldt looked at the display, confused. 'Trans-am burst?' Waves of GN particles radiated at a much faster and greater scale than before, covering the entire battlefield in brightly colored particles. A sense of peace washed over Feldt, realizing this was radiating from Setsuna. Her mind was filled with awe. 'This is what is inside Setsuna, who he truly is.'

She opened her communications and saw Setsuna with bright golden eyes. She continued looking at him in awe, "Setsuna… I can feel you." She teared up a little, "This is your soul! Is this because of what you told me about?"

He smiled at her, seeing her eyes glowing a dull gold, "Yes it is. And I'm not the only one who has changed…"

Feldt looked at him, the realization hitting her, "Am I becoming like you? What does that mean?"

He sent her a feeling of comfort, like wrapping her in a blanket, "I am not completely sure myself. But we will figure this out together. I will not let you suffer through that change alone. I will always be there with you."

Feldt could feel tears streaming down her face, love and devotion flowing through their bond between the two of them, "And you won't be alone either."

With Louise

Louise saw the wave of GN particles rushing towards the regular forces ship. She put up her hands and closed her eyes, not knowing what this was or what it would do. But after a few second passed, she slowly opened one eye, not seeing or feeling anything happening. GN particles floated around the room, leaving her feeling at ease and a vague sense of familiarity.

But the strangest thing was the constant dull pain she was always in disappeared, her body feeling better than she had felt in a long time. 'What is this? Are these particles making me feel better?' If they were, she wasn't complaining.

She suddenly heard Saji's voice in her mind. "Louise? Is that you?"

Confused, she replied, "Saji? Why can I hear you in my mind? What is going on?"

There was relief in Saji response, "I'm so happy I can talk to you! But where are you?"

Louise's nerves began acting up at talking with Saji after so long, "I'm…I'm with the regular forces. I'm on their ship. I wanted to find you. I learned you were with Celestial Being and I wanted to see you so badly!"

Saji choked up at little, "I'm sorry it took so long to see you. I'm just so happy you are ok!"

Louise began to cry, "I got your letter. I missed you so much and the letter reminded me of that. I'm so sorry you had to go through all that you did." Her tone picked up a hint of worry, "Have you been safe with Setsuna? With Celestial Being?"

Saji chuckled at that, "Without Setsuna, I would have been dead. I owe my survival to him, even if I wasn't fair to him at first. You wouldn't believe how much he changed! He more friendly and even has a girlfriend."

Louise was taken aback by that information. A girlfriend? She had noticed he seemed more friendly when they met, but a girlfriend? Her tone became more lighthearted, "You'll have to tell me all about it when I see you." She paused for a second, then continued, "I want to hear everything. I also want to see this change you went through. You said you would get better for me. Just stay alive and we'll be together again."

Saji sounded like he was trying to hold back tears, "I'll tell you everything, though it might be a long story. And you stay alive too! I want us to have a real second chance." Louise smiled at that. She could feel that he meant that, that something had changed about him. 'I want to see that change!'

Bridge of the Ptolemy

Anew slowly and groggily opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She could clearly tell she was on the bridge, seeing Saji and Mileina in their usual positions. 'What is going on?' She looked down to see she was in a medical scrub. 'Why am I wearing this?' Her mind was abuzz with activity. She could see GN particles floating around the bridge, seemingly doing nothing. Yet she felt a strange connection to them. It was like connecting to Veda, but different. It felt less powerful, but more organic. Warmer than when Revive or Ribbons connected to her. 'These particles definitely have a quantum connection, but where is it coming from? It feels like when the 00 disabled my…'

Her mind immediately thought of Lyle. She looked around and saw the Cheridum on display shooting at the suicide ships. Her heart clenched, seeing him slowly losing ground. 'Lyle, I'm so sorry!' Mileina heard movement from the auxiliary chair that Anew was sitting in, looking over to see the purple-haired woman looked around, focusing on the display showing the Cheridum. Her voice was nervous, remembering the hostage situation, "Ms. Returner? Are you… normal?"

Anew turned to face the girl, guilt flooding through her, "Yes… it is me. At least I think I am." Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, "I'm so sorry I held you hostage. I didn't want to, but…"

"It's alright!" Mileina chirped, interrupting her, her body tense, "We can talk later! Right now, we are in danger. We found the enemy base and the gundams are trying to capture Veda. The Cheridum is holding against a wave of suicide ships." Anew could detect the worry in her tone. 'They found Veda? Does that mean they can free me from Ribbons's control?' If they could do that, then she didn't have to worry about the tyrant taking control of her. 'I don't have to betray my friends. I don't have to betray Lyle!'

Anew replied in a serious tone, "Where is Sumeragi? Lasse?"

The worry in Mileina's tone increased, "Ms. Sumeragi went out in the hallway to hold off automatons that boarded the ship. Lasse is in the 0 Gundam, though he ran out of power." Anew could easily tell the situation wasn't good. 'Of course I had to wake up in the worst time possible. Lyle would probably make a joke about…'

It now hit her that Lyle didn't know she had woken up. Looking at the console in front of her, she opened an audio link. She yearned to see his face, but right now she wanted to distract him as little as possible. She tried to control her emotions, but some desperation leaked into her voice, "Lyle, it's Anew! I'm awake and safe. Just keep holding the line! I believe in you!"

His response was full of disbelief, "Anew! You're awake?!" His worry about her dissipated, happiness flowing through him. 'I don't know how, but she's awake! She's back!' The GN particles floated all around him, going unnoticed by him. He spoke in a yearning tone, "I'm not dreaming, right? You are back?"

Anew rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm back! And keep your ass alive so you can see me again!"

Lyle smirked at that, happy to hear her sarcastic tone, "Yes ma'am!" He looked over at haro, "Ready buddy?"

The orange robot looked at him with a blank look, flapping its wings, "Ready when you are! Ready when you are!" Lyle activated trans-am, the Cheridum glowing red. Anew could see from her spot that Lyle began to push the small horde of suits further and further back between his own weapons and the shield bits. She looked at him in pride. 'That's my boyfriend!'

With the Arios and Gun Archer

As the two suits dodged attacks from the Regnant and its fingers, the wave of particles rushed over the three combatants. Both Soma and Allelujah immediately felt the rushing quantum particles, their reflexes increased. Allelujah immediately heard Hallelujah speak to him, sounding like he was holding back his excitement, "Let me take control! I have an idea!"

He was wary at the excitement in Hallelujah's tone, mainly hearing that tone when the crazy personality wanted blood, but replied cautiously, "Alright. Just don't get us killed." He couldn't think of anything, so maybe Hallelujah had an actual idea.

Hallelujah smiled viciously as he took control. He called out to Soma, "Follow me! I know how we can beat him!"

Soma recognized the change in tone and voice, sensing that the other personality had taken over. She spoke evenly, holding back the same wariness as well as lingering anger at hearing that tone, "What do I need to do?"

He nodded at the white-haired woman, "Just keep your beam saber ready and stay close. And act when I say." The Arios charged towards the Regnant, activating trans-am, Soma then pushing her machine to try to keep up. Andrei looked at the charging suits, not worried. 'If they couldn't hurt me then, they can't hurt me now.' While he was angry, the short break in intense combat had calmed him slightly.

What caught him by surprise was when the Arios flew directly in front of his right claw, putting it in melee reach of the mobile armor. Andrei swiped at him, but the Arios easily dodged out of the way. 'They are more stupid than I thought.' Soma looked at him worried, curious and worried what he was doing. Despite his attitude, Soma had come to see Hallelujah as a friend. And here he was doing something as suicidal looking as this.

Hallelujah yelled out to Andrei, "You may be able to block my attack at range, but not at this distance!" The barrel of his blaster glowed, energy building up. Soma's eyes widened, realizing what he was doing. 'No! The feedback will hit you!' Unfortunately for her, she was too far away to stop him even as she was closing in. Andrei also realized what was going on but had no time to react as the beam came bursting out of the blaster right into the right palm of the Regnant, expanding as the trans-am powered beam carved through the arm, blowing it off up to the right shoulder.

Hallelujah braced for the backlash, knowing releasing that much energy at point blank range was going to hit him too. 'I don't think either Soma or Allelujah expected this.' While this did sound stupid on paper, sometimes unexpected strategies can pay off. They were having trouble trying to damage it steadily, so they had to destroy it in one blow. And he had to deal with the consequences of his recent action. The pink energy came back to hit the Arios, destroying the blaster, blowing off the arms up the elbow and singeing the surface of the machine. He could feel the heat even on the inside of the cockpit as well as the concussive force of the exploding arm. As this was happening, he called out to Soma, "He's defenseless! Get the cockpit!" He heard Allelujah call out to him in shock, "Why did you do that?"

Allelujah replied with a weak smirk, "It was the only way."

Soma, caught by surprise, felt her soldier instincts take over, "Got it!" She roared at the A-Laws soldier as she charged into the core of the mobile armor, aiming for the cockpit, "This is your end!"

Andrei, caught by complete surprise by the two suits, did not have enough time to even bring up his other arm to defend himself. The beam saber stabbed into the cockpit, intense heat radiating off of it as it melted the armor protecting him. Andrei's last thought flowed through his mind. 'It can't end this way! I was supposed to…' The thought was forever ended by the weapon going through wall of the cockpit, piercing right through Andrei, who slumped and began to burn as the beam saber was pulled out of the Regnant.

Soma began to see explosion perforate the mobile armor and quickly grabbed the Arios, pulling it out of the blast zone as the particles the covered the battlefield disappeared. She watched the Regnant explode into a large cloud of red particles, the realization that the man who had haunted her nightmares, who had caused her so much pain, was gone. Four months ago, she would be grinning viciously at this, but now, she didn't know how to feel. Andrei was gone, but he was no longer the demon in her head. He was just another threat they had dealt with. And even more, Hallelujah, her most hated enemy five years ago, had risked his life to give her the opportunity. 'Wait, Hallelujah!'

Her worry spiked at seeing the damage the Arios had taken. 'That bastard! That idiot!' Tears began to flow as she remembered the same thing happening five years ago. She yelled at Hallelujah angrily, tears streaking down her face. "You can't do that to me! I will not go through this again!"

She ripped open the hatch to the cockpit, showing Hallelujah with his eyes closed, some of the displays melted. She opened up her own hatch, making sure the Gun Archer kept a grip on the Arios. She entered the cockpit of the Arios, her visor fogging up from the tears. Just as she got close, she saw Hallelujah give her a lazy grin and speak to her in a weak voice, "About time."

She grabbed him by the front of his pilot suit, worry and anger intertwining, "You do something that stupid and then say something like that! You can't scare me like that!"

He laughed, then winced in pain after a second of laughing, "What else would I say? I'm sorry?"

"Yes! Or not do something that stupid!" Her tears intensified. She didn't know when, but this idiot had become way more important than she even wanted to admit. She wanted to pull him close, but she also wanted to smack him at the same time.

"While I would love to look at that pretty face of yours, I think I need some medical help. You can hit me after I get better."

Soma blushed, letting him go as the tears stopped flowing and anger went away, "I'll hold you to that."

In Veda

Ribbons felt the headache subside as the GN particles dispersed, "All those GN particles disrupted my quantum brainwaves!"

He heard Regene's voice echo in his mind, "I was waiting for this moment."

Ribbons looked around confused, "Regene?" The displays all around him turned from green to red as he was forcibly disconnected from Veda. He clenched his fists in rage. 'What is going on?! I'm the master here!' "Did Veda just reject my link? Does this mean-"

Regene's voice once again popped up in his head, "Ribbons, we are not going to just let you do what you want. Isn't that right Tieria?" Ribbons looked down at the corpse of the gundam meister, whose eyes began to glow gold. 'What is going on?! Was all this because of those particles?!'

Bridge of the Ptolemy

Mileina saw the Seraphim appear on her sensors. 'Mr. Erde is alive!' The suicide suits charging the ship then all began to shut down, floating in place where they were. Mileina called out happily to the crew on the bridge and to Lyle, "The Seraphim has activated the Trial field! All Veda connected machines have been disabled!"

Saji craned his head towards Mileina, "Does that mean we recaptured Veda?" Mileina nodded, pumping an arm in the air. Anew let out a sigh of relief. 'Ribbons will no longer control me anymore. I am free!' Right now she just wanted to kiss Lyle, to celebrate her newfound freedom.

Saji could feel the happiness in the room. While he certainly didn't have the dedication the others did, they had achieved their objective, leaving him a feeling of satisfaction, though there was a seed of doubt in the back of his mind. 'It's all over, right?'

With Feldt and Setsuna

Feldt and Setsuna made their way through the base after finding a mobile suit hanger, leaving haro behind to watch the suit. Following the floor plan to Veda's core, they opened the door, their guns raised. Both of them scanned the room, seeing the large sphere at the top of the room. Feldt spoke breathlessly, "Is that Veda's core?" The sheer scale of the power that Veda possessed hit her. It was one thing to interact with it, but another to see it in person. 'Aeolia really was planning for long into the future if he made it this powerful.'

She then heard Setsuna call out in a worried voice, "Tieria!" She turned to see what Setsuna was looking at, which was Tieria's body. She floated over as Setsuna examined Tieria. Setsuna looked for signs of life, but saw a bullet hole through the purple-haired man's skull. 'I'm sorry Tieria.' He spoke quietly to himself, "I'll avenge you." Feldt floated up behind him, gasping at Tieria's fate. 'Not Tieria!'

Tieria's voice rang out in the room, echoing everywhere, causing Setsuna and Feldt to scan where it came from, eyes wide, "I'd rather you not be so quick to write me off."

Both of the 00 Raiser pilots called out, "Tieria, where are you?"

"Right now, my consciousness is linked with Veda." Both of the pilots looked up in awe at the core of Veda, Tieria continuing, "I'm sure glad I was an innovade, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to save you. And by linking with Veda, I was able to learn many things."

Feldt chimed in, curious, "Like what?" 'What information was being kept hidden from us for so long?'

Tieria replied evenly, "I'll start with the Aeolia plan."

Author Note Two

And that's a wrap on that chapter. I hope you enjoyed the different matchups. I found them to make more sense in my story and Ali in general to be a better fight that what happened with Louise, though I know why it happened. And innovator Feldt was something that made sense to me and I tried to foreshadow it earlier. She was in the suit as much as him by the end, so it's only natural that she develop the powers too. Granted she's just awakened them, but it gives her and Setsuna something to connect over, pun not intended. It also means he's not alone when figuring out what is going on.

We are coming up on the final fight now, so I hope you guys are ready. Only 3 or so more chapters then this will be over! Get hyped!

Thank you to those who show feedback and the rest of you readers! Reminder that I have a slowly growing 00 Discord for those that are interested. The link will be below for those on Ao3 or on my home page on . Till next time!