Sorry about the long wait. I've been prepping my novel Nanomancers for publication on the Kindle. It is a YA novel, very similar in tone and style to this work but it follows a 15-year-old boy's POV and doesn't center around GUNDAM-esque machines.

The novel will be released tomorrow on the Kindle. If you choose to read it I hope you enjoy it and tell your friends about it. :) I am seriously hurting financially and even the small amount of money that I can get would be helpful.

Mood music for Nanomancers, if you're the type who listens to music while you read, would .probably be Yuki Kajiura's Fate/ZERO score, easily findable on Youtube. I didn't write the novel to that score (how could I, I wrote it last year, long before the show was even on the air) but that soundtrack fits what I'd like a theoretical movie soundtrack to sound like.

And yes, the enemy pilot in this chapter is an OC. Why she exists in this universe will be explained in time, just like why Cagalli is in Kira's place.

EDIT: Apparently this chapter got randomly deleted somehow for some reason. Fix'd.


Chapter Twenty-Eight: Town of Fiction

The Strike GUNDAM was ready early the next morning. While it still looked a little bit beaten up, it at least didn't appear like a trash compactor had gotten ahold of it.

I was amazed to see the Strike so intact, actually. It had got through the wringer. How many machines could take a fall through the atmosphere and getting the crap kicked out of it and still be ready to fight? The answer is: not many. I guess the other GUNDAMs could qualify.

"You like your machine?" asked a voice from behind.

I turned around and saw Hilda Harken. She had snuck up behind me and I had not heard her. The realization sent a chill down my spine before I could even reply.

"Of course I do. It's why I'm still alive," I replied.

"That simple, huh?" Hilda asked as she walked up beside me and gazed at the Strike. She chuckled after a moment. "I'm not surprised. I've heard you and the Strike have been through a lot."

"Yes, and we're about to go through even more together," I said. "Why do you care?"

"Have you ever thought about handing the Strike over to someone else?"

She wasn't understanding how much a barrier Kira had put over the Strike. "I would if there was another Coordinator. The O.S. prevents a Natural from flying it."

"Oh. Now it makes sense," Hilda replied.

Was she really that stupid or just playing dumb? Whatever the case, she was making me nervous. Why was she going out of her way to unnerve me? What was she getting at with this?

"Look, I'm doing this to protect everyone on the ship, okay? That's all there is to it. Is this what I wanted? Of course not. But I promised everyone on this ship that I would protect them until we make it to Orb."

"Orb, huh?" Hilda asked, somewhat surprised.

"You haven't noticed that a lot of people here are Orb civilians?"

"They all look like soldiers to me," Hilda replied.

"Half of the crew on this ship are Orb civilians who have been retroactively enlisted in Atlantic Federation forces," I replied. "The moment we make it to Orb, their enlistment ends. The war is over for us. It should have been over already if it wasn't for me."

"Your fall," Hilda said.

"Yes. The captain decided that I was worth saving. And you know what, that means something to me, okay?"

"You shouldn't be so defensive," Hilda sighed, and she turned around and walked towards the nearest Skygrasper.

I couldn't get how weird she was out of my mind. There was no point for any of this but making me feel uneasy. Why would she do that? Did she hit her head when she had to eject?

Speaking of hitting, I heard Flay yell out in rage and slam her fist against the simulator. I turned, and saw her rubbing her hand, her blue eyes clearly determined and pissed off even from this distance. Her red hair, usually meticulously combed, was a sloppy mess that scarcely resembled her usual hairstyle.

At least Flay had determination. I couldn't take that away from her. She wasn't taking any of this anger out on anyone, just an inanimate object, so in that phase, my plan had worked. Really well. Better than I expected.

But that determination was worrying me. And a brief "what-if" popped into my mind.

What if she really did it? Passed the simulation? Became a pilot?

Was this crazy girl really who I wanted to watch my back?

Flay or Hilda? Potentially crazy bigot or the strangest, most eerie woman on the planet?

What a choice.

"Hey, princess, get your head out of the clouds, you gotta launch!" La Flaga yelled from his own Skygrasper.

"Uh, right!" I managed and threw on my helmet.

At least now I only had to contend with Hilda. At least she was being paired up with Mu.

For my own sanity, I hoped it would stay that way.


I couldn't get very far off the ground even when I was airborne. Earth's gravity was just too much and flying was annihilating my battery power.

Murrue Ramius' voice was coming in loud and clear. "Just worry about providing cover. You're the decoy, Ensign. Draw their fire."

That sounded comforting, not. However, the "Ensign" label reminded me that I didn't have the right to talk back, much to my dismay. I desperately wanted to be sarcastic and coarse. It felt like it was the only way I was going to make it through this without losing my mind. Eventually, I wasn't going to be able to bite back any sardonic remarks.

"Yes, ma'am," I said, in a tone that sounded dreading and rueful even to me.

"You'll be fine. You have the firepower," Ramius said.

I landed the Strike on the ground and approached Tassil cautiously. Any second, the town would be in my sight and following that I was going to have to start a fight.

"Yeah, and Kira's adjusted everything really well," I said.

"He's Petty Officer Athha right now, Ensign," replied Natarle Badgiruel.

Just because I was in the military now didn't mean I wanted to be reminded of that. Though Badgiruel seemed to be confident in the security of our communications considering she had blathered Kira's famous last name on our channel.

"Yes, of course, Lieutenant ma'am whatever," I grumbled, before I could stop myself.

Ramius thankfully spoke before Badgiruel could tear my head off. "Prepare for battle, Ensign. You're approaching Tassil. La Flaga and Harken will begin their preliminary attack runs any moment."

As if on cue, I saw both Skygraspers rocket over me and charge to Tassil directly ahead. One more sand dune and I'd be able to see the city.

"Just let me know what's happening," I said as I increased the Strike's running speed.

But as I neared the top of the dune, I heard La Flaga. "Princess, it's a trap! Stop! We need to pull back immediately!"

"A trap?" But I had already made it to the top of the dune, and what I saw was something I could never forget.

Tassil was gone.

All that stood were broken ruins not even two stories high. Not even a puff of smoke escaped them. It was total obliteration.

And then I saw it.

There was a Mobile Suit standing there. No. Not just a Mobile Suit.

A GUNDAM.

And it looked almost exactly like the Duel.

"H-How?"

Harken's voice. "It's safe to say there aren't any survivors. We need to get back to base."

Ramius. "What's going on? What happened to Tassil?"

"It's the Duel. It's right there," I managed to say.

"The Duel?" Badgiruel shouted. "I thought you destroyed it, Ensign!"

"I . . . I did," I said.

The Skygraspers shot past me again, heading back in the general direction of the Archangel. They knew better than to fight a GUNDAM head on.

And then the Duel shot towards me, blasting out of the shattered ruins and coming right towards me. It would be on top of me within thirty seconds.

Ramius began shouting to me. "Ensign, if the Duel is moving toward you, fall back! We need to reassess the situation!"

I wished it really was so simple. But the realization came that I had to stay and fight. The Duel was the one responsible for wiping Tassil off the map. What would stop it from charging right to where we were hiding if I ran? I'd lead it to the Archangeland ZAFT would know where we were hiding!

"I don't think I can do that," I said, and I readied my rifle. I had the Aile Pack, which at least gave me both melee and ranged options. Plus I probably had more power than the Duel anyway. I could outlast it.

I aimed and fired.

The Duel raised its shield and it deflected my shot into the sky.

Much to my surprise, it didn't shoot back. It took me a moment to realize that it didn't want to have a ranged fight. It wanted to kill me up close and personal.

That was fine with me. Everyone knew I was best with melee combat anyway.

I dropped the rifle and drew one of my pair of small swords. If this was how the Duel wanted to do it, then I was going to oblige.

I fired my Igelstellung machine-guns at it to give it a distraction, and the Duel raised its shield to block that salvo. Then I charged, holding down the machine-gun trigger while raising the sword for a strike.

I couldn't worry about how the Duel could have survived me destroying it. What mattered was that it had blown up Tassil. It had killed thousands upon thousands of people. For what? To draw me out? To piss me off? Or just because the pilot was a depraved psychopath and found this fun?

I didn't hit the Duel. The Duel got its own sword up in time and blocked me, and then rammed me with its shield and I was driven backwards.

I quickly repositioned myself, thank God for Kira's modifications. But the Duel didn't try to press the advantage, and instead, just stood there.

Why?

Did it want me to come after it again? Was it sizing me up? Or something else?

Then my coms beeped. The Duel was trying to message me.

Did I want to bite? La Flaga had lectured me time and time again about going on an open channel and talking to my enemies.

No. I wanted to know how exactly the Duel was standing in front of me when I had destroyed it! I had killed its pilot and annihilated the machine! How was it still here so it could do this atrocity? How was it still here so it could threaten the Archangel?

I answered, and I saw the face of a female pilot who looked uncomfortably similar to the face of Yzak, the Duel's pilot.

The resemblance was enough to make me briefly wonder if Yzak had gotten a sex change over the last few days.

"So," the Duel's pilot said, with her unquestionably female voice, "You are the Strike's pilot. Cagalli Yamato, is that right?"

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

The pilot chuckled darkly. "Oh, hearsay from here and there. I just wanted to make sure I had your name right before I blew you all to pieces."

Okay, she was mad too. Somehow I wasn't surprised.

The pilot smiled sickly at me. "I bet you're wondering how the Duel is back, aren't you?"

"The question did come to mind," I replied. It took me a moment to realize that I had begun backing the Strike away, slowly but surely. I conscious stopped the movement, but the fact that I had been doing that meant that the Duel was scaring me.

"This isn't the Duel you blew up, and I'm not the pilot you killed. When we got it, we took a copy of its design. We made a new Duel. A better Duel. This is the Duel Assault Shroud. It's more advanced and capable than all of the other stupid GUNDAMs Morgenroete bothered to create!"

Well, that explained a whole lot. I didn't exactly want to think about how ZAFT had been able to copy and improve upon the Duel's design so quickly, though. Production should've taken a lot longer than just a month or so! And I was no techie. It was just common sense!

"Why are you here? Why did you blow up Tassil?" I asked.

"Oh, I didn't do that. I asked for a salvo from orbit. Boom," the pilot said. "Having connections to the Le Creuset team and a mother high up in the government has its advantages."

Rau Le Creuset. It figured he'd be behind this. Did that mean that he had killed his own allies, though? The ZAFT had been patrolling the city just a couple of days ago!

The pilot chuckled. "I know what you're thinking. I can read faces really well, Yamato. Don't worry about the ZAFT soldiers that were in here. We gave the 'Desert Tiger' plenty of warning to pull out. Pissed him off a ton too. But it doesn't matter. Wiping out Tassil gave me the opening I wanted. Now I have you exactly where I want you."

"Who are you?" I asked.

The pilot cocked her head to the side, and her eyes widened just a little bit, and that sick smile widened just enough to show some teeth. "My name is Asta Joule. You killed my little brother. Prepare to die."

The picture vanished. And then the Duel charged without any further warning.

The new Duel was fast. Faster than any GUNDAM I had ever faced. It was a total blitzkrieg.

Her voice began shrieking wildly in my ears, so audio communications were still working even though the visual was off. "Is that all you got, Yamato? Are you really the one who killed my little brother? You're nothing but a joke!"

Her movements were so fast that I had to rely on my shield, not just my sword, to block her. She wasn't kidding about the improvements to the Duel. And she had clearly had everything calibrated for the desert. None of the problems her brother had in his final battle against me were present.

I tried, vainly to find an opening. But every time I could think to counter, the Duel would strike again and I would have to block yet another blow.

"C'mon, you bitch! Fight back! Make me enjoy killing you!"

Before the war, I was wondering if people really did say psychotic things like that. Guess it's true.

The Duel kicked me and I was knocked down the sand dune and slid all the way down. I managed to look up in time to see the Duel leap into the air and plunge right towards me. I quickly leapt backwards and the Duel pounded the ground, sending a small sand cloud into the air.

Finally, an opening! I lunged forward, looking to stab the Duel in the chest, where the cockpit was, and end the fight just like that.

The Duel got its shield in the way in time, but there was no way I was going to let it regain the initative.

I was going to make the Duel work to kill me.

I attacked it over and over, trying to find some way to catch the Duel off guard. But Asta was good at this. She wasn't like her brother, who had trouble with me whenever I turned the tables on him. She knew how to protect and block.

And, even worse, Asta could counterattack.

She lashed out with one of the Duel's legs and successfully knocked the Strike off balance, and I scrambled to get away as the Duel immediately picked off where it left off. It made no attempt to shoot at me. Apparently skewering me was the only thing on this woman's mind.

It took me a moment to realize that the way I had killed Yzak was by stabbing the cockpit. Was that what Asta was aiming for, to kill me in the exact same way?

If so, how could I turn that into my advantage?

Could I even think about stuff like that when Asta was trying to skewer me left and right?

Then rockets blasted the Duel from behind and I heard Asta cry out from shock. "What the-"

"You okay, princess?" Once again, Mu La Flaga was back to rescue me.

"Better now," I said, and then I attacked the Duel.

I heard Asta shout "Damn it!", but no exclaimation was going to be enough to stop me. Asta barely got the Duel's arm up in time to have it get sliced off instead of the cockpit and it bounced into the sand.

Asta growled something unintelligible and snarled "I'm going to cut you into dozens of blood-spewing pieces, Cagalli Yamato! Just you wait! I'll avenge my baby brother!"

As she said that, the Duel blasted up the sand dune and ran off. I prepared to engage engines to follow, but I heard Harken's voice. "It looks like the Tiger's forces are entering the area. If we try to finish the Duel off we could be surrounded."

La Flaga agreed. "This is a battle for another day, princess. We need to retreat back to the Archangel, try to figure out what the hell is going on."

"No, there's no need," I said.

"What is it, then?" asked Harken.

"The pilot flat-out said it to me. It's a modification of the Duel's design that ZAFT made. She's here to kill me because I killed her brother. That's all it is."

Silence on the coms. Then, finally, La Flaga. "So we have someone out for revenge."

"We can discuss this later, we all should pull back before the Tiger winds up on top of us," Harken replied.

"Good idea," I said, not exactly wanting to face Andrew Waltfeld with only half of my power remaining, approximately a third of which I was going to need to run back to the Archangel.

I turned the Strike around and shot towards the Archangel's direction. This was the last thing I needed, someone out for revenge against me. Revenge solves nothing. All it does is briefly fill an emptiness when you finally get what you desire against the person who wronged you. Then you realize you've descended below your enemy's level in order to hurt or kill him, and you realize you're just a monster.

But, at the same time, it's so easy to seek revenge out. Because that motivates you to live. It gives you something, something energizing, something primalthat entices you with a glimpse of that satisfaction when you finally win.

Too bad I was never going to explain this to Yzak Joule's older sister.

Most likely, I was going to wind up killing her before this was over.

And that would be a bigger tragedy than her getting revenge against me.

Why?

Because all that would mean is that someone meaninglessly wasted her life to try to kill me and fail. She had lived only to die.

That is the worst way to die.

I hope I will never die like that.