One with the Angels

Lagrange 4

Among the endless line of shipwreck and asteroids floating in a violet nebula lay the Celestial Being training station of Lagrange 4, now blended in with the space rocks by its hangar doors coated with the same ore as the asteroids outside. Beyond that door was an array of bright lights that led to the docking bay, as well as a transformable mobile suit in orange stripes that belonged to no other than Allelujah Haptism, an ex-super soldier created by the now dissolved Human Reform League who serves Celestial Being as a Gundam Meister. He himself was hanging out with his girlfriend Marie Parfacy, while the Meister candidate Feldt Grace sat in its cockpit, punching buttons and tilting her twin joysticks as more and more hostile mobile suits approached on the screen.

The first attacker, a GN-X 1, got too close and forced Feldt to destroy it with her beam saber. Despite Celestial Being's rapid advancement in mobile suit technology, Feldt was rolling with Gundam Nadleeh, a mobile suit without any special features and relied purely on standard issued weapons. It was for Veda to evaluate her combat style, and develop a suit that fits her the most.

She dropped her sabre and raised her GN rifle upon seeing another pair of GN-Xs hovering off her left flank. She missed a couple of shots when she obliterated the first one and went for the second, and gave the computer system an opportunity to close in and attack her with its GN saber powered by its Tau drive, a cheap replica of Celestial Being's prized GN drives.

Feldt was quick enough to pull off a backflip with Nadleeh's drive, while dragging her rifle with her. She reached for her dropped saber with her free hand, and bent her left arm to block the incoming attack from her side. She thrusted her right arm forward and into the gut of the GN-X, still holding her GN rifle, and finished off the grey mobile suit with several brutal shots, igniting its Tau drive.

She panted heavily and removed her white helmet, allowing her strands of pink hair let loose. They were growing again, and soon enough she would have to ask Ian to cut them for her. The cockpit hatch of the Harute II hissed open, and waiting outside was Linda Vashti, wife of Ian and currently supervising Feldt along with Tieria. She had an orange Haro unit in her hand, which also acts as a means to communicate with Tieria without going into the dark room on board the Ptolemy.

"You broke your high score again." Linda complimented as she scrolled through Feldt's combat statistics. 10648, about 600 more than her last score a few hours ago.

"Next time you'll be facing Aheads. Don't get too full of yourself." Tieria commented from the Haro. The two decided it was time to stay away from the Harute II for a while, and went for the construction bay only around the corner from the hangar. "I'm not gonna be satisfied until I beat Setsuna's." Feldt replied eagerly.

The sight of a mobile suit frame with an armoured chassis and legs stood in front of the two ladies as they entered the construction bay. Almost instantly Feldt came across a feature on the frame she had never seen on any other Gundam units. "What's with the legs?" She pointed at the lightly armoured legs with stripes of red on it. Unlike most other mobile suits its legs had three joints, which almost resembled a kid's common drawing of a thunderbolt.

"It's a new transforming mechanism the engineers wanted to try out. When folded, it will look nothing more than a pair of propulsion units." Linda answered. "And before you try anything, that's Marie's. So don't think you're setting foot in your own Gundam anytime soon." She continued.

"What are you going to call it?" Feldt asked curiously, while scanning the rest of the unfinished frame of Marie's new mobile suit, looking badass as every Gundam does despite being incomplete.

"Huh? Gundam Ahriman. Named after an angel as always."

Back outside the silent asteroid came a pack of automated yellow mobile suits soaring through the nebula, its red and angry eyes seeking for a target to satisfy their bottomless bloodlust, a result of an extremely intelligent ex-criminal's programming. None of the units transmitted to each other at all, as such an act was deemed unnecessary by their programming. That was until one of the unknown mobile suits switched to heat vision and detected an anomaly on one of the asteroids. A massive heat signal, with outlines of possible hostile mobile suits among the heat signal as well.

"Contact. 100 miles out. Combat commencing." It muttered to the rest of the units.


Feldt drifted to the mess hall with a carton of juice in her hand, where Marie was fondling with her smartphone to kill time until the pink haired Meister candidate decided to resume her training. "Hey Feldt." The super soldier with white hair called out to her. Feldt plopped down onto a seat next to Marie's, and removed her pink jacket after realising she was sweating badly, despite the coldness of deep space.

"Peries-san!" Feldt greeted, but soon noticed Marie was holding her laughter, for some reason. "What's so funny?" She asked.

"What is going on in your little head?" Marie grinned devilishly, although she was already quite clear of what Feldt was thinking thanks to her quantum brainwaves. She was only pretending not to know so she would be less embarrassed. That was the same kind of thoughts when her Marie personality first resurfaced, only it was more mature and she was more serious about living with her love Allelujah Haptism.

"What do you mean by that?" Replied Feldt, oblivious about Marie's ability to read her mind.

Marie couldn't help but let out a chuckle. As cruel as it sounds, Feldt's feelings for Setsuna, especially when unraveled, was quite amusing, and Feldt's denial only made it even more amusing. "Have someone in mind?" Marie pursued.

"No! Certainly no...or..." Feldt eventually sighed in defeat and told her story after remembering she had the guts to tell old captain Sumeragi the same thing. "...well...I do." She admitted, her face now red as the blood in her veins.

"Don't worry. Nobody's listening." Marie reassured, and looked around the mess hall to make sure her statement wasn't denied by some other crew. "What do you think of him?"

Feldt stared at the blank table, trying to process Marie's sudden question. But in the end, all she could come up with was her honest answer. "I want him to know, but...I don't think he'll ever see it, or if he can even come back." She said sadly and twitched her finger to cope with her nerves now racing faster than a Ferrari.

"That's why some people tend to simply say it. It's the easiest way to let him know." Said Marie. "Because the Setsuna I know...is just stupid enough not to see it." She continued when Allelujah stepped into the mess hall, with a towel over his neck and his hair reflecting the light from the ceiling.

"Who is stupid enough not to see what?" He asked curiously, startling both Marie and Feldt. "Alle!" Marie protested, while Feldt giggled next to her upon hearing the Meister's new nickname. "Oh Alle's a cute name." Feldt teased, only to be slapped from behind by Marie. Allelujah plopped down beside Marie, the water on his hair still dripping off the table.

"Great. Now I've completely forgotten what I wanted to say to her." She said sarcastically. Allelujah almost instantly dropped his smile and was about to leave the mess hall when Feldt stopped him. "Wait. You might know something I don't." She requested.

Allelujah hesitated, but eventually concluded that he and Marie were actually the only ones qualified to give relationship advice. Ian and Linda were far too outdated, Milenia's love for Tieria was likely to be nothing more than a simpleton crush, and Lockon's love interest Anew Returner was long deceased. "Good point." He finally said just before a siren came ringing in the hallways and into the trio's ears.

"Report from the lookout! Four unknown mobile suits! All hands battle stations! All hands battle stations!" The lookout staff announced through the broadcasters. Allelujah grimaced, and took Marie and Feldt with him to the hangar where his Harute II was waiting.

"Both of you, to the turrets. The only pilot going out is me." He ordered and hastily donned his orange pilot suit, while fitting himself into the tight cockpit of the now replenished Gundam. Its cannon pack was only installed minutes ago, brand new and completely untested, with the same outlook as the original Harute's cannons. Unfortunately aside from the standard beam sabers on its skirt the cannons were Allelujah's only weapon, since the model was only constructed hastily days ago by the unceasing efforts of human engineers and countless Karels.

Marie and Feldt rushed to the well-concealed turrets in their white space suits exclusive to Celestial Being operatives, and activated their weapons while Allelujah marched his mobile suit to the launch catapult a dozen meters in front of him. He certainly wasn't happy about having his break interrupted by the intrusion of those mobile suits, and as a result he decided to play his favourite music in his cockpit, an act initially rejected by Veda and Tieria, but approved after conducting an experiment on Feldt's mobile suit training. She unknowingly proved that listening to music before a battle could significantly improve one's performance, and once Allelujah heard of it he quickly scrambled through the internet to find the music for his type.

He settled on a song performed in the 21st century, considerably old but good enough to keep the super soldier moving. "The first words that come out, and I can see this song will be about you..." He hummed as the bulking Harute II locked its mechanical boots onto the catapult below him, followed by a greeting from control center's mini boss. "Good day, Allelujah-san. Transferring launch time to Harute II."

"Roger." Allelujah left his music playing on its own and simply replied. I can't believe I can breathe without you, but all I need to do is carry on.

"Gundam Harute II, Allelujah Haptism, commencing interception!" He thrusted both controllers forward, sending the Gundam flying out of the hangar and in an interception course towards the yellow mobile suits in the distance. The next line I write down, and there's a tear that falls between the pages.

I know that pain's supposed to heal in stages, but it depends which one I'm standing on...