I'm sorry, I'm not able to respond to everyone this time. But I hope people enjoy the chapter. It's evil. Majorly evil.


Chapter Forty-Two: The Hero Dies In This One

Stellar Louissier was fast. This facility was a total maze to me, but she moved across it like she had lived here her entire life. And she was an absolute professional with that submachine-gun. The moment she saw a guard, or even an opposing Extended, she would shoulder the gun and fire in a controlled burst, hitting the target in the chest, neck, or head every single time.

She had the skill of a special forces soldier at a much younger age than what you'd expect.

After the second of these mercifully brief, one-sided skirmishes, I had this weird thought we were going around in circles, or taking a really weird way to the hangar. "Where are we going, Stellar? I'm getting kind of confused here."

"I need to get my unit. I need to get Joan, Sting, and Auel. I have to protect my unit. My unit needs to be safe too," Stellar replied.

I wanted to tell her that she was being extremely stupid, but I immediately realized that doing so was a double-edged sword. It would be contradicting how I had won her over in the first place.

I had made my bed, and now I had to lie in it.

Damn it.

"Okay, but try not to get too long. We're going to have everyone in this place after us."

One thing I was getting used to was avoiding the use of "die" and "kill" around Stellar. I kept emphasizing the word "safe", or something related to it, like "safety" or "shelter" or "protect", to keep Stellar warming up to me, to make her want to be with me. Warm words, as opposed to cold words. Or, as perhaps Stellar would call it, life words versus death words.

"That will not happen," Stellar said, confidence in her voice. "We have more than one fight going on right now. People are trying to break in. They won't be after us so much."

"More than one fight?" I asked.

"Yes. A ship landed in the dock about double-oh fifteen ago. They started talking, and then they began arguing," Stellar replied. "After that they began shooting."

The Archangel. Just like with the desert, it had come after me. If things had progressed to violence in less than fifteen minutes after docking . . . Murrue was really determined to take me back no matter what the cost. I had never had anyone willing to fight for me like that before, other than my parents, obviously.

Murrue Ramius was the most amazing woman on the face of the planet in that moment. I knew immediately that the moment I saw her again I was going to give her the biggest hug she would ever receive in her life.

"That ship is called the Archangel," I replied. "It's where I launched from. It was taking me to Orb."

"I understand," Stellar said. "Then that's where we'll go."

She took off again, blasting a half-dressed guard stumbling out of a random door and continuing on like nothing had happened.

What a girl. Who knew that saving somebody would mean the deaths of so many more people?

It made me feel like I had made a deal with the devil.

That was a highly uncomfortable feeling. More uncomfortable than anything I had done involving Flay.

A couple of more lefts, and then Stellar stopped. "Joan, Sting, and Auel will be here in a few seconds. Don't expose yourself completely."

I wondered how the hell she knew that. She hadn't gotten on radio or anything. Did she have ESP or something similar going on, or did she just know her teammates that well?

A few seconds later, there they were. I recognized Joan and Sting immediately, and some kid with blue hair I assumed was Auel. It was interesting, seeing Naturals with such odd hair colors, but maybe whatever turned them into Extended messed with their hair, turning them unnatural colors reminiscent of Coordinators..

Why this had happened to Sting and Auel and not Joan or Stellar was something I couldn't figure out though.

Joan immediately aimed at me, and Stellar raised her hands. "No, Joan! Don't shoot!"

I ducked a little bit more behind cover, and I heard Joan ask "Why, Stellar?"

"Because she said she would make me safe!" Stellar replied. "The ship that's here . . . that's where she's from. The ship was taking her to a safe place! I want to go there. I don't want to die. Dying is bad."

I could hear Joan's growl even from where I was. "Damn it, Stellar! Why are you believing her? She's an absolute stranger! You really think she wants to help you?"

"She does!" Stellar replied. I was personally amazed to see, and hear, Stellar stand up to her commander just like that.

Judging by the looks on the two guys' faces, Sting and Auel, they were amazed as well.

"Why?" Joan asked.

"She hugged me," Stellar replied, her tone softer. "No one's ever hugged me like she did. Not even your hugs are like her's, Joan."

Joan was struggling not to laugh. "You can't be serious! You turned against your fellow Extended and Doctor Malcolm, and me, over one single hug?"

"She made me feel safe," Stellar replied. "I want that feeling again. I want to feel safe all the time."

I leaned out, and Stellar had her submachine-gun aimed right at Joan. "Please Joan. Let's all go to where it's safe. Let's go to Cagalli's ship."

The green-haired boy, Sting, made a growling sound and aimed his gun at Stellar. "You idiot! Didn't you imprint on Joan or some crap? Why are you so willing to kill her?"

"Dying is bad," Stellar replied. "But . . . I want to go to where there's no dying. I am sick of the dying! I want to be safe!"

The blue-haired boy then aimed his pistol at Sting. "No offense, but we've got a predicament here, and I'm siding with Stellar. I like the idea of being safe."

"Have you lost it, Auel?" Sting asked, his narrow eyes seeming much wider. "Do I need to remind you of-"

"You will not mention Auel's block word here!" Joan shouted. "It is far more dangerous than Stellar's."

"Stellar's block word isn't even working, Joan!" Sting replied.

"That's how determined Stellar is to follow through on what she's doing," Joan said. "I don't think any of us can talk her out of it."

She paused for a second, and then lowered her weapon. "Oh, to hell with it. The unit stays together. That's what we're trained to do. Sting, don't argue with me here."

Sting sighed. "Fine. Unit stays together."

Auel stopped aiming at Sting. "Good. I didn't want to spray your brains or lack thereof all over me."

Sting growled at that, and Joan interrupted. "Enough chatter."

Stellar lowered her own weapon. "Joan . . . thank you."

"I hope we don't regret this, Stellar," Joan said as she walked past Stellar and towards me.

Meeting Joan again was not something I was looking forward to doing. She had already tried to kill me once already. I did not take my eyes off of her as she approached.

"Come on, Lieutenant. Follow us. We're leaving," Joan said.

"You're really going to do this? Why?" I asked.

"My sense of self-preservation is too strong," Joan said. "Stellar Louissier is the best soldier out of the younger Extended. I'll take her against everybody here. Including myself."

Strong praise, but considering how unstoppable Stellar had been so far, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at hearing that. "All right. Lead the way. Where's the Archangel?"

"Follow me. I know where it landed. It's not too far from where the Strike GUNDAM is," Joan replied.

She turned around and began walking away then, and then I followed my strange bedfellows.

It felt, in a way, like Tassil all over again.

But this time, it didn't feel anywhere near as desperate or hopeless.

Having allies, however uneasy they were, helped with that.


We eventually stopped in a room, an armory poached of a lot of stuff but there were still some ammunition and unused guns strewn all over the place. Joan sighed as she sat down on the bench and began reloading her rifle clips bullet by bullet. "I've never seen anyone convince Stellar so permanently before, not without the imprintment procedure."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"All of us Extended are hooked onto drugs before long. The goal is to enhance us so we are physically and mentally on the levels of Coordinators, if not better," Joan replied. "I've been on the bottom rung of those who pass for years. Though I suppose my competition is being murdered right now, so that helps my chances."

I decided I would interpret that as gallows humor. "What's this 'imprintment'?"

"It's a bonding procedure with brilliant but troubled Extended, to ensure that these mentally deficient Extended stay loyal and follow their orders. The block words are another way to ensure control," Joan replied. "The bonding procedure is mental, and places me as a type of older sibling figure in Auel's and Stellar's minds. They automatically think of me as family and will do whatever I say as a result. Seeing Stellar resist that was absolutely incredible."

"So there is some level of ESP at work here," I replied, amazed. Even after so much scientific enhancement, I hadn't heard of anything regarding telepathy or anything similar before. This was incredible.

"It's sort of like that," Joan said. "The ESP connection was because of a side effect in the drugs we take. It's like a short, sharp needle in your brain when you connect with somebody for the first time. Still happens when you encounter another human that has hostile intent towards you, and you have this sense of life around you too. I think in the effort to improve Naturals, I think what the Blue Cosmos people did was create a new type of human being. Us."

Joan finished loading her clip and slammed it into her rifle. "But you connected with Stellar on some deep level, even though you are not an Extended. But I can sense why, being near you. I can sense your warmth, your honesty."

"Say what?" I asked. This went beyond telepathy now, and into something that seemed even more impossible.

"It's something special that they did to us here in this facility. It's something that no one who was sent directly to the main facility in the Mediterranean can do. We can sense your feelings, the feelings of everyone around us. Including when they die."

"That's just crazy," I replied.

"It's not crazy. It's real. And it's because of you that they made this extra facility, at least, that's what I've overheard Doctor Malcolm saying to the people he talks to, or vice versa. Your existence, Cagalli."

"That's even crazier! What the hell am I that makes me so special, huh? Why would some crazy anti-Coordinator organization spend so much money and do all of this to children just because of me?"

Joan sighed. "I believe Doctor Malcolm has just entered the armory. I believe he may have some of the answers."

"He's what?" I asked.

"You're perceptive, Joan," Malcolm said.

I got up, and there stood, Malcolm, armed with his own submachine-gun. Auel and Stellar, who had been talking to each other nearby, quickly ran over and aimed their guns at Malcolm, who stood impassively. Sting, for his part, didn't raise his weapon at anybody, he just stood there, like a cool observer, still debating what side he wanted to choose.

"You have heard of the first Coordinator, George Glenn, correct?" Malcolm asked.

"Who hasn't?" I replied. "He found that fossil at Jupiter. He went the farthest into space anyone has since the AD era."

"Oh, that's not all he did. He found other things," Malcolm said. "He found a machine, and he brought it back to Earth. We have yet to figure out how to run it, though perhaps the PLANTs have. Those Coordinator bastards stole the goddamn thing twenty years ago-"

All of a sudden, Stellar opened fire, and Malcolm's head went up in a red haze, and his body crumpled to the floor.

It was a stunning sight, and I couldn't believe Stellar had just done that. I turned to her. "Why did you do that? He was saying something important to us!"

"He's why this place is so unsafe," Stellar said, her voice surprisingly shaky, tears forming in her eyes. "There's so much . . . so much hate coming from him. I didn't want to hear his voice anymore."

Hearing Stellar's words, in the context that Joan had given me, made cruel sense. Despite the mystery of what Doctor Jarvis Malcolm was going to say, and as much as I wanted to get angry at Stellar for what she had done, I knew I couldn't. Who knew what had been done to Stellar here at this man's orders. Malcolm, personally or by proxy, could have rendered Stellar's life a living hell any time he wanted.

Auel whistled. "Now that's my kind of girl! Get right to the point! Bang!"

Sting sighed. "Can we just leave now? I've already got all of the ammo I need. We're not too far from where that ship docked."

"You're right," Joan said. "Everyone, follow me, staggered formation. Sting, watch the rear. Cagalli, you get in the middle between us. Stellar, you take point with me. Let's move it."

And that's what we did, leaving the corpse of Jarvis Malcolm behind, and all of the information the man could have given us.

I thought of searching the body for the info, but didn't. And neither did anyone else.

This comes off as wimpy, probably, but I didn't want to take an up-close look at the bullet holes in the man's head from Stellar's burst.

I had seen enough death. I didn't want to see the aftereffects yet again.

Perhaps, just like Stellar, all I wanted was to be safe.

To be in peace.


There was only one more firefight between us and the Archangel. I just stood aside and let Joan's team do the work, which they did, quickly and efficiently. None of the four Extended had a scratch on them as we moved towards where there was more gunfire, and I realized that we were approaching the front line. Where the Archangel personnel must've hit a roadblock with the facility personnel.

We crouched behind what looked like the facility personnel's defensive line. Joan looked at her team. "Sting, you and Auel cook some grenades. Frag 'em. Stellar, you and I clear the hall. Cagalli . . . after we clear, you lead the way towards the other line so your people don't shoot us too."

"Yeah. Get it started then," I replied.

Auel had a demented grin on his face. "This is gonna be the best part. They won't know what hit them."

"Stay focused, you idiot," Sting snapped.

"I am being focused," Auel replied haughtily. "I'm focused on turning those idiots into a bunch of bloody smithereens!"

With that, he pulled the pin from his grenade, and Sting did the same. They both froze for what seemed like an eternity but likely only for a second or two, then threw them right where the facility guards were taking cover. The guards noticed the grenades far too late, and they exploded, and I ducked away before the images of them being blown apart would be ingrained on my mind.

Joan and Stellar immediately moved in, and there was a bunch of machine-gun fire, then silence.

Then Joan. "Cagalli, get your ass out there so your people don't shoot us!"

"Uh, all right!" I replied.

I couldn't believe it. Just like that. It was over.

I walked out, my hands in the air. "I am 2nd Lieutenant Cagalli Yamato! Pilot of the Strike GUNDAM. I have four of the Extended child soldiers with me, they have chosen to fight with me! Don't shoot them!"

I walked forward with my hands in the air. "I repeat, I'm-"

"Cagalli?" I knew that voice anywhere.

"Murrue? Murrue!" I shouted.

I saw Murrue Ramius, with her brunette hair looking a bit sweaty and messy, lean out from behind one of the corners. "Cagalli! You're all right!"

Seeing Murrue standing there, a pistol in her hand and a grenade in her belt, joining the battle for me personally, made me feel I was not worthy of being saved. It made Murrue look like an angel. I ran forward. "Murrue!"

I dropped my gun and ran forward and hugged her. I didn't care about rank or anything else like that in that moment. All I cared about was Murrue, and what she represented.

"Thank you," I said, my voice muffled due to being buried in her shoulder. "Thank you, Murrue."

"There'll be time for thank yous and you're welcomes later," Murrue said. "But I'm glad to see you're safe."

Murrue looked out past me, and I turned towards Joan, Stellar, Sting, and Auel, who were approaching Murrue and I cautiously. "Are you the four Extended who've sided with Cagalli?"

Joan sighed. "Yes, we are. Dunno if we're gonna regret it, but we are."

"Then you're coming with us and out of this hellish place." Murrue pulled out her radio. "Natarle! Natarle, listen to me! We've acquired our primary objective! 2nd Lieutenant Yamato is safe and in my hands! We're withdrawing immediately!"

I didn't hear Badgiruel's response, but Murrue wasn't taking no for an answer. "I don't give a damn about documents or files or flash drives! That's not what we came here for! The most valuable thing is human life, and what's what we have! Take what you can carry if you want, but we're leaving the rest behind! We're withdrawing, Natarle, and that is a direct order! "

Murrue sighed. "The Lieutenant-Commander says that we've stumbled upon scandalous territory here regarding the Earth Alliance. She warned me that by confronting the facility like this we'll be a rogue ship, we'll never be able to go to Alaska without facing the death penalty . . . but I didn't care. Not when they were being so obstinate. Not when I saw one of those kids like you four over there. It was just so wrong."

Murrue's lips quivered, and then she sighed. "Come on. We need to hurry. The facility has plenty of reinforcements, we only have a temporary reprieve right now."

"You got it, Murrue," I replied.

"Everyone, fall back!" Murrue shouted, and she ran down the hallway, and I followed.

It was a relief. A pure, bona-fide relief.

There was one person I could believe in besides myself, and that was Murrue Ramius.

I felt ready to follow her into hell.


Badgiruel sighed. "We had La Flaga and Allster clear the airspace, not like the facility had much in the way of air defenses besides ground-to-air weaponry. I think their intention was to stay as under the radar as possible. That's why ZAFT hasn't already targeted this place, they didn't know about it."

"Well, they probably know about it now," Murrue said. "I wish them luck on getting this place evacuated before ZAFT blows it to hell."

"Let's get out of here first before ZAFT decides that would be a good idea," Badgiruel replied curtly.

We had withdrawn to the final defensive line, the top walkway, which led to the Strike GUNDAM and the Archangel. I knew which way I was getting out of here, I wasn't going to get on the ship. Somebody had to get the Strike out of here, and that was going to be me.

There was a hallway that extended to one of the Archangel's doors, it was a few stories up, and below it was nothing but water. A vicious fall for sure.

"Get across, Natarle," Murrue said. "I want to make sure Cagalli can make it to the Strike before I cross. It's the captain's responsibility to make sure her crew is safe."

"You sure about this Captain?" Badgiruel asked.

"Yes, I am! Now go!" Murrue replied.

Badgiruel sighed, and she turned and ran down the tunnel.

I looked at Stellar. "You get onboard right now! You and the other Extended! You've all had enough fighting!"

"I'm staying," Joan said. "You need at least one elite soldier holding them off until everyone's going. I know you people have special-ops types here for some reason, it's not standard for a ship to have them, is there?"

"The special forces soldiers you saw were initially deployed in a town called Tassil, they were meant to extract Cagalli in a similar situation to this one," Murrue said. "They made it to the Archangel, and I'm glad they did."

"Are you sure, Cagalli?" Stellar asked.

"I ain't waiting for her permission! I'm outta here!" Auel shouted and he took off down the hallway.

Sting shrugged. "What can you do?" He followed Auel.

"Go," I said. "Get out of here. I'll head for the Strike and get out that way. Joan will be right behind you, got it?"

Stellar nodded. "Okay. When the Captain goes."

By this point, all that was left of us that hadn't evacuated were two spec-ops types with Joan, Murrue, Stellar, and I. As Stellar responded, one of the two spec-ops soldiers fell, shot in the head, and tumbled down the stairs.

"I think they're finally sending the Extended in full force on us," Joan said. "We're not going to hold them off."

"Let me help then so no one else has to-" Stellar was interrupted by Murrue, who grabbed Stellar's shoulder.

"We're leaving," Murrue said. She turned to me. "Get to the Strike. Get it out of here. Understand?"

"Yes, Murrue," I replied. It took me a second to realize something. "You've been calling me by my first name this whole time."

"Special circumstances," Murrue said with a smile. "I'll see you on the ship."

"You got it, Murrue," I replied.

Murrue and Stellar took off down the collapsible hallway, and I turned around. It was time to head to the Strike. It was time I escaped this nightmare. It was time I-

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud whistling sound.

And then Joan. "RPG!"

I had heard enough of those shouts, and enough of those sounds, to immediately know what that meant.

Rocket-propelled-grenade. And it didn't take a genius to know what the Extended would be targeting with that RPG.

And when the explosion erupted behind me, in the collapsible hallway that led to the Archangel, I instantly thought the worst.

I spun around. "Murrue! Murrue! Stellar!"

There was a huge gaping hole in the hallway. No human, not even a Coordinator like me, stood a chance of jumping that gap. Joan, myself, and the remaining special-ops soldier were all stuck here, our only escape being the Strike.

Through the smoke and the wreckage, was Stellar, laying prone on the other side of the gap, clearly knocked unconscious. Sting and Auel were running out to grab her and pull her inside the Archangel.

But Murrue. Where was Murrue?

I screamed her name and suddenly I saw her.

Her back was turned to me, and she was hanging onto the edge of a bent, snapped supporting railing with one of her hands. The midsection of her uniform was increasingly turning dark red.

No, I thought. No, no, no.

Murrue Ramius, my guardian, the person who had guided me throughout my journey, who had come time and time again to rescue me. The person who reassured me. The one person I could unquestionably describe as my hero. The person who, by dragging me into the Strike GUNDAM in the first place, inadvertently gave me the right to survive.

She was hurt. She was dangling, hanging on to dear life with just one hand. And there was nothing I could do to help her.

Please climb up. Please, somehow, some way, get the strength to climb up.

I screamed her name again.

It was as if the world was slowing down. It was surreal. Murrue's head turned towards me, and I saw a bleeding slash across her beautiful, reassuring face. She smiled at me briefly, and for a second, I dared to think everything would be okay. Because that's how everything always ended. No matter what went wrong, one thing was constant, and that was Murrue Ramius, her being captain of the Archangel, her being the crucial stabilizing, moderate force that guided us all.

She would be okay because her being okay was the clearest way we were still alive.

It would not be.

I saw a bullet strike her in the chest. A small amount of blood spewed out, and the momentum propelled Murrue away. Her hand let go and all of a sudden, she was falling.

She seemed to fall forever.

Then she was gone.