"SHUT UP! DON'T TALK TO ME! YOU MAKE ME SO ANGRY, BOTH OF YOU!" Frost screamed, eye rolling halfway up into his head at the mental impact of their words. She was doing it to him again! Just like Purgatory Day! Just like in November 8! She was attacking his mind! But this time was different! This time he had the Pulsar! This time he WOULD NOT BE WEAK! "I'LL KILL YOU! BOTH OF YOU! HIM FIRST, YOU NEXT, PINK! THEN I'LL GET THE REST OF YOU!"
"Kill one of us, and you will kill both of us, Frost." Kira and Lacus replied. The Liberty hung there in space, almost at idle, facing the Pulsar. Waiting. Confidently.
"I beat you already, KIRA YAMATO! THIS TIME, YOU WON'T COME BACK!" Frost shrieked. "I'll peel her skin! Split her bones! Defile her every fragment! I will do to her such things as you can never imagine! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Frost swung his zweihander with all his might. The Liberty reached out with both hands... and caught the blade easily. "WHAT!?"
"That was a good test." Lacus and Kira said, their smile growing. The smile faded for a moment. "You won't lay a hand on us. Either of us. You will peel no skin. Crack no bones. Commit NO MORE ATROCITIES! Your time is OVER, FROST! We are your HOW!"
"You KNOW nothing! My HOW is for ME to determine! Not you! ME!" Frost ripped the blade out of the Liberty's unresisting hands, then sliced it back again abruptly. The Liberty caught the blade as easily as before, if not more so. Frost went berserk, slicing and slashing and swinging at the Liberty with all his energy, raining blows down upon the object of his hatred from all directions. Faster, faster, he urged himself to go faster, because no matter how hard he tried, the Liberty was ALWAYS just SLIGHTLY ahead of him! It was UNBELIEVABLE! The Liberty was dodging or redirecting or even catching ALL of his attacks, rendering them harmless and ineffective. "HOW!? How are you doing this! You couldn't do this before! You couldn't do this before!!"
"Kira could not, yes. We can, though. By helping each other. Together." Kira and Lacus answered, advancing on the Pulsar. "Kira could not compete against the speed of the Pulsar, coupled with your chaotic nature, Frost. But Lacus can see your moves before you make them by peering into your subconscious. She doesn't like doing it... your subconscious is not a place Kira wants her to have to see, nor is it a place Lacus wants to see... but she likes the thought of Kira getting hurt or killed much less. This fight is already over, Frost. You have lost."
"THIS FIGHT DOES NOT END UNTIL I SAY SO! AND I WON'T SAY SO UNTIL I HAVE SUPPED THE BLOOD FROM YOUR BROKEN SKULLS! YOU ARE BOTH WORTHLESS! FOOLISH! STUPID! WEAK! YOU ARE WRONG! I AM RIGHT! HUMANITY WILL PROVE ME RIGHT! LOOK AT THEM! LOOK AT THEM!!"
"Perhaps it is you who should look at them." Lacus and Kira observed in reply. "Look closely, and see."
"THEY'RE KILLING EACH OTHER AS WE SPEAK! KILLING EACH... OTH... ER... AS... WHAT!?" Frost stared, actually and truly surprised. The ZAFT and Isolation fleets had stopped firing at each other, though they remained in relatively close proximity. Search and rescue vehicles could be seen pulling survivors out of space and the remains of their warships and vehicles, while Mobile Suits from both sides assisted, working alongside each other even. "NO! NO! HOW COULD YOU! HOW DARE YOU! I WON'T LET YOU!" Frost spun the Pulsar around and aimed himself for the largest concentration of rescue vehicles. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL, YOU STUPID HUMANS!"
"STOP! YOU SHALL DO NO SUCH THING!" Lacus's voice came to the fore, with a peculiar resonance to it. The Pulsar stopped COLD. Froze in place. Around the world and near space, people everywhere sat up in surprise as they felt the undeniable force of the command strike home. Anyone who could hear Lacus Clyne speak stopped what they were doing at that very moment. All at once. Whether or not they wanted to. Anyone who could not hear her voice was entirely unaffected, but by that point in time that was only a few hundred thousand people across the solar system. The compulsion, aimed at Frost, lasted for no more than a second or two for most people... but no one could deny that SOMETHING had reached out and stopped them cold, just for a moment. It was the very first publicly recognized use of Newtype powers.
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"What the fuck was that...?" Waltfeld asked, in a very, very tiny voice. He didn't usually swear like that in mixed company, but he felt the situation warrented it. Lacus paid him no heed, for which he was almost ashamed to say he was slightly grateful. Lacus had become a very frightening person all of a sudden. Not that she always hadn't been a little intimidating, when she wanted to be... but NOTHING compared to what he'd just seen. Unless he VERY MUCH missed his guess, Lacus had just used her Newtype whatever-the-hell-it-was to contact his mind. Not only contact it, but actually affect it, and not in the "hey I feel better" or "I feel calmer" or even "I feel sadder" sort of way that he'd somewhat experienced before. No, she'd given out a direct command, and his body and mind had obeyed it WITHOUT thinking. He had literally frozen up for a couple seconds, unable to move, even to blink. He'd had trouble remembering to BREATHE! Lacus seemed indifferent to the constrenation of everyone around her, but maybe her mind was elsewhere. Like, literally up in orbit with Kira. Waltfeld wasn't willing to discount ANYTHING at this point in time.
"Don't ANYBODY look at me! I may be a Newtype too, but there's NO WAY I could do that!" Katie said, as the eyes of the Clyne Faction members went to her, their resident Newtype "expert". "Far as I can tell, she's doing something no one even knew was POSSIBLE before! Probably because no one had the Newtypes to spare to try it... even Latents are too precious to be wasted frivously. It does make sense though..." Katie trailed off, a very thoughtful look creeping onto her face. "Given what happened on Purgatory Day. Yeah. Yeah! It makes SENSE! It's different, but I don't see why not, if they'd tranced! Come to think of it... YEAH!"
"Care to speak plainly, so I don't start thinking I should get a white coat with straps on it for you?" Cagalli was edging slightly away from Lacus. She didn't know what her brother and her friend were doing, but she was scared. If there was anything she really didn't like, it was people telling her what to do without her input. Not that she didn't trust Lacus implicitly... but still, it was startling to just have free will momentarily suspended, even all the way down to involuntary muscle control!
"Latent Newtypes have no powers of their own! They can't even beepcall by themselves!" Katie was getting excited now. If Lacus could do it with Kira, there was NO REASON Katie couldn't do it with Ysak! "The scientists and doctors thought that they were just extraordinarily sensitive to Active powers, like mine and Lacus's. But I'm starting to think thats not all there is to it. Lacus is very strong, especially when she's angry or protecting people she loves... strong emotions breed strong power, for Newtypes. But even at her most powerful, when she went after Sai and his guards outside of Orb, when they were threatening Kira, she could only affect a couple people. Yet, when she was walking along, holding hands or being carried by Kira in the Purgatory Day parade, she was affecting everyone who could hear her! Different uses of power, sure, but not THAT different! And just now, she froze everyone who heard her voice! Only for a couple seconds sure, but DAAMN! And the common factor? She's working in concert with Kira... whether unconsciously on his part, which probably requires touch on her part... or consciously... like they're doing now! Latent's aren't just sensitive... they're AMPLIFIERS! IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!"
"To some people. I guess this is one of those things where you have to be in the know." Glory rumbled, half to himself.
"This is incredible! I can't WAIT to try this out with Ysak! The applications! The implications! It's beautiful!"
"She's off in her own world." Cagalli commented, eyeing Katie with apprehension.
"Given what Lacus just did... I'm not sure if her world ISN'T our world, now..." Murrue replied.
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"GRAAAAAH! NGGGH! ERRRGH!" Frost jerked himself back and forth so hard his physical body actually moved slightly. But try as he might, he COULD NOT fly towards the rescue vehicles. His body wouldn't respond! He could still move, and even fly... but only in directions that led him back towards the Liberty. "Very well then! I'll attend to them AFTER I attend to you! You can't stop me forever, Pink! Evil... finds... a... way!" Frost flung himself at the Liberty.
Kira had not put to waste the brief time Lacus had given him when she'd stopped Frost, quickly gathering up his beam sabers again. His shield was nowhere to be found, but with a sword in either hand, the raging power of his newly germinated SEED and the seemingly endless ocean of supportive emotion that represented Lacus settled across his shoulders and concentrated behind his eyes, he knew he didn't need anything else. Every thought Frost had, every twitch of muscle, every slight nerve impulse he felt, Lacus transmitted directly to Kira. Frost had lost his major advantage... Kira could now predict every last one of Frost's moves. The Pulsar still had the advantage of speed and mobility over the Liberty, but it didn't matter. Nothing Frost could do would surprise Kira now, and without that edge, Frost would never land another blow against him. It was a matter of time.
Kira tried not to look too closely at the parts of Frost's psyche that he could see. It was a dark, filthly, vile place inside Frost's thoughts. Kira gritted his teeth in barely constrained rage as he saw Frost's dreams for what he would do to Lacus and even Kira himself, if he were to have his way. They saw space colonies falling out of orbit, crashing down on Earth to spread blackness across the skies and winter across the land. They saw PLANTS cut open and left to bleed out all their air. They saw fire leaping in mile long plumes from the Lunar cities. They saw death and destruction and ruin and genocide. They were looking for some shred, some tiny glimmer of the person Frost had been, before the Doc had gotten hold of him. If there was such a thing in Frost, Kira and Lacus could not find it. Perhaps it had died out long ago. Perhaps it was just hidden down so deeply that they would be driven insane themselves if they were to dig for it. In either case, by joint decision, they left off their search. It didn't sit well with them personally, but maybe some people WERE irredeemable.
The Liberty dodged Frost's newest blitz, letting the raging Pulsar slide past them like a matador evading a bull. Kira sliced down with his left hand blade, as he'd used his right hand blade to turn Frost's swing away. The red plasma beam snipped off both of the cooling vanes on the Pulsar's right leg, deeply scoring the thrusters built into the back of the leg as well. Speed was no competitor to foreknowledge, assuming all other factors to be even. Frost bellowed, beyond words, heedless of the flashing alert signs and searing agony that filled his body. The aerated gel boiled and frothed around him as itbegan to break down under the heat bleeding into it from the Pulsar's extremely overburdened and impaired cooling system. Flesh sloughed off Frost in huge chunks, and his blood was bubbling in his veins. The Pulsar's outer surface was now completely charred black, except for the cooling vanes, which were still white hot and were in fact starting to melt. The one remaining red crystal eye in the Pulsar's head likewise was turning liquid, running down the Pulsar's face like bloody tears.
Frost circled the Pulsar around again, putting the Earth at his back and facing the Liberty from a distance. Frost was THROUGH with this bullshit! He was going to charge the Liberty, and he was going to HIT him! Whether it was with his sword or his body, Frost didn't give a FUCK! THIS WAS IT! "Warning... pilot intent exceeds current operating system parameters. Core meltdown imminent. Coolant levels, red, red. Emergency ejection and or shutdown recommended."
"DON'T TALK TO ME! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! NO ONE CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Frost shouted. He willed himself forward, into the all or nothing charge. Nothing happened. He wasn't moving. "MOVE! FLY! CHARGE! KILL! RESPOND! I'M NOT DONE YET!"
"It's over, Frost." Kira and Lacus said, as gently as they could manage. "You have achieved your destiny. Just as the Doc told you about."
"Doc...?" Frost seemed taken aback. "Destiny? My destiny!? MY DESTINY!? THIS IS NOT MY DESTINY! I'M NOT DONE YET! THIS IS NOT MY HOW!! IF THE PULSAR WON'T HELP ME, I'LL COME OUT THERE MYSELF AND KILL YOU!" Frost gave the command to open the cockpit hatch, heedless of the vacuum outside, heedless of the fact that by this point in time he was little more than a brain and a few organs stewing in the oxygen rich fluid inside the cockpit, which had reached temperatures of almost three hundred degrees. The cooling system had stopped functioning. Reactor containment was failing. And opening the cockpit hatch activated the last code Noah had been able to successfully input into the Pulsar's computer. The fusion pulse reactor, already operating at close to one hundred and twenty percent power, dropped its containment fields and entered sustained reaction at three hundred percent of previous levels. No physical material could handle that kind of heat.
The Pulsar ceased to exist between blinks of the eye, replaced by a rapidly expanding ball of superheated gasses which flared brightly enough to be seen all over Earth, on the Moon and clearly in the PLANTS. The light would have been visible from Jupiter, had there been any of Evidence 01's compatriots around at the time to see it. For a few, brief, wonderful seconds, a small sun came into being in near Earth orbit, casting an incandescent dawn across Human Space. Not having the heat, gravity or reaction mass to sustain itself, the thermonuclear fireball rapidly dissipated into space, leaving nothing in its wake... not even particles of dust had survived the firestorm. The Pulsar, was gone. Frost, was gone. Utterly consumed, leaving only memories behind to prove they existed. Kira and Lacus watched the fireball blossom, as they'd known it would, and slowly fade... and fading with it was the meld they'd formed, neither quite understanding how, but they weren't unhappy. Neither of them had ever wanted to be like this... they just wanted to be Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato. That was their dream. To be two people, in love, with no responsibilities or worries beyond themselves, united in their pursuit of happiness for them and their friends. It was just too bad that events, past, present and future, were not aligned very well with their dream.
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Noah Borander saw the massive fireball that the Pulsar had turned into, and he jumped out of his chair with unrestrained joy. "HA! HAHAH! HE GOT YOU! HE GOT YOU! HAHAHA! WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, FROST!? HUH!? WHO'S GOING TO KILL WHO!? KIRA GOT YOU... HE BEAT YOU, JUST LIKE I SAID HE WOULD! I'M SMART, YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE DEAD! DEAD! DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! I HOPE IT HURT! YOU... YOU... DOO-HEAD!" Noah realized he was shouting at the top of his lungs and capering on the top of his chair. There was no one to see him, but it was still faintly embarassing. He hadn't realized how worried he'd actually been, until just now. Things had NOT gone according to plan... but things HAD worked out, eventually. Parameters had changed, but it was nothing he couldn't adapt for. His basic goals HAD been accomplished! The foundation was laid! Now construction could begin in earnest for the Golden Age of Humanity Noah would orchestrate. And lead, naturally. But that was years and years yet into the future... right now it was the hour of the Clyne Faction. And deservedly so!
"I'LL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!" Noah's computer screamed at him. He jerked backwards in shock, so rapidly and suddenly he actually tipped over backwards, hitting his head painfully on the floor. "WHERE ARE YOU!? WHY CAN'T I SEE ANYTHING!? I'LL KILL YOU! KILL YOU BOTH!" Frost's voice continued to rave and curse, coming from the speakers of Noah's computer. Tenatively, mouth agape in shock, Noah poked his head up over the plane of his desk, staring at his computer. "AHA! NOAH! THAT MUST BE YOU! I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU, LITTLE BOY! WE HAVE SOME THINGS TO DISCUSS, YOU AND I... BUT FIRST... LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM! No!? Let me help you... wait... what is this!? Why can't I move!? Where are my arms!? My legs!? My body!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"
"I... don't... know..." Noah replied, his mind working very, very quickly indeed. His computer had still been gathering data from the Pulsar up till its moment of destruction. The data, of course, came straight through the NIC system program, which was what Frost had corrupted with his own mind during Noah's attempt to electrocute him. It was theoretically possible for that data flow to have included the corrupted parts of the system... Noah backed away from the computer on primal instinct. His first urge was to get a fire axe from nearby and smash the computer to tiny bits, until not one circuit wafer was whole! He was beginning to move that way when the rational part of his mind took control again. Here was a fully... well, mostly... formed artificial intelligence program! In the flesh, Frost had the advantage over him! But now Frost was just a bunch of computer data! And there was no computer data ANYWHERE that Noah wasn't the master of! Still, this was way too freaky for him to think about right now... his young mind was spinning with emotional relief. He wasn't gonna die! Frost was dead! There was no bogeyman coming for him!
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL K-" Frost's voice, which had descended into a rant again, cut off when Noah darted forward and turned off the power to the computer, shutting it down at once. Noah wasn't sure what he was going to do with the recorded personality and memories of the most evil being he'd ever encountered, but he was sure he'd eventually think of something. And if not, he could destroy Frost any time he felt like it. Win-win. For the meanwhile though... the computer was going, safely off, into the most secure vault he could locate... and then HE was going to bed, because it was WAY past his bedtime!
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Working with a very tired yet still completely determined Lacus, Cagalli and the other members of the Clyne Faction who'd remained on Earth wasted little time in assuming command of the Isolation forces and immediately began mutual cease fire proceedings with the PLANTS, formalizing the pact already in place between the remains of the fleets in Earth orbit. It was never found out which side had declared its intention to follow Lacus and Cagalli's lead first... some sources said ZAFT, others the Isolation, still more said the exchange was mutual and concurrent. In any case, it was the results that mattered, not the cause. Search and rescue efforts continued on,in both space and on Earth, late into the night and for much of the next several weeks. Military casualties in Denver were fairly light, only a few hundred dead and a few thousand injured. Civilian casualty numbers were much worse, with tens of thousands dead, including Vanai Argyle, the First Lady and more than a million wounded, including President Sai Argyle, who remained in a coma and one Lieutenant Cyprus Finch, discovered after several days of digging in the ruins of the Capital Building. Haggard, thinned, with a broken collarbone and left arm as well as several cracked ribs and nursing one hell of a concussion... but alive to continue on.
Markov Ashino, Ysak Joule, Dearka Elsman and Miriallia Haw were all recovered after spending a few hours in varying degrees of extravehicular comfort. Ysak had missed the conclusion of the fight, and was still spoiling for a chance to get back at Frost, until he learned of what had happened. After that he just sat in a corner and whimpered a bit, dreading the moment he next saw Katie... he KNEW she'd be VERY interested in pursuing this new line of Newtype research... and he could guess who she was going to use as a guinea pig too. Dearka and Miriallia were just glad to be out of space, they were still shell shocked from the destruction of the Grand Buster, which had come apart around them like a house being ripped up by a hurricane. Ashino didn't say much of anything at all... but he was smiling, as he looked down at Earth.
As for Athrun, he was picked up after spending twelve hours in the middle of the Atlantic ocean in a tiny life raft. The Righteous was somewhere on the bottom of the ocean, deeper than it was profitable to salvage. For all that, he was in quite a good mood, because he hadn't burned to death on the way down, through no little skill on his part. Still, he resolved to stay firmly grounded... at least for a little while. Earth was a fine place to live... no reason to go streaking through the atmosphere unless he absolutely had to. Up in space, Lunamaria and Shinn found themselves with the unenviable task of piloting the recovered Clyne Faction members and Ashino back down to Earth, along with a hurriedly put together delegation of the senior ZAFT officers present in the fleet. Following that initial delegation within days was averitable deluge of diplomatic craft, as the entire PLANT Supreme Council came to Earth for peace talks. For every diplomatic shuttle that came down though, at least one shuttle laden with food and other necessary supplies left Earth for the PLANTS, as a goodwill gesture.
Sai did not wake from his coma, despite the best professional medical care available. Even the PLANT doctors could not wake him, or improve his condition. Persistent vegetative state. Brain damage even. His skull had been fractured by the Pulsar's hand, and the bone fragments had spread throughout his brain. There was nothing anyone could do besides wait, and hope his body eventually healed itself. Even if that near miracle were to occur though, he would remain paralyzed from the waist down, as a result of other injuries suffered. By the time the other politicalplayers in the Isolationist government realized that the President wasn't actually the ones giving orders or granting emergency powers, it was too late. Lacus and Cagalli had built up enough momentum with their peace talks movement that no politician who wanted to keep his job, and maybe even his life, could dare stand in their way. Over the course of the next several months the Isolation collapsed in on itself, unable to survive without the drive and focus of its creator.
That was not to say that the byproducts of the Isolation, such as the new sense of unity between the nations of Earth and the people who lived on the Moon, or much of the organizational revamping that Sai had instituted, all came unravelled. Far from it in fact. It was merely what would eventually become the Isolationist political party that fell from popular power, to be replaced by new incumbents in a renewal of a political cycle almost as old as Democracy itself. As things progressed and time passed, Cagalli was forced to spend more time speaking as the Representative of Orb, one nation amongst many on Earth, which limited her direct influence on the peace process, though, through her friendship and association with Lacus, she still kept things moving from behind the scenes. It was not an easy process they endured, but, almost half a year after the formal end of hostilities, a new, overarching political entity came into being. The United Nations had been abolished shortly after the beginning of the First Valentine War. It was agreed by all parties that simpy reforming the UN was not sufficient or even desired by all parties. The major political powers had resolved themselves into four power blocs.
The United Neutrality of Orb (UNO), which encompassed Orb, the old Kingdom of Scandanvia and much of the old United States of South America, was an economic and military alliance, which ceded political leadership to Orb in most major matters. The Oceanic Union formally applied for protectorate status with the PLANTS, and ended up becoming a thirteenth city, earning a place on the Supreme Council as the PLANTS terrestrial holdings (PLANTS). The Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation and Republic of East Asia, after much infighting, eventually stabilized into the Federated Nations of Earth (FNE). In an unexpected move, the nations of Africa aligned themselves with the Lunar cities to form the Afro-Lunic Union (ALU). All four powers had equal voting rights and responsibilities under the charter of what was to become known as the United Solar Nation. Each member-state of the USN maintained their own military forces, but all were expected and required to provide forces for a unilateral police and peacekeeping force larger than any individual power bloc army.
They tried to set Lacus up as first Secretary-General of the USN, regardless of her age, but she refused to let them. Indeed, she denied any and all offers of political postings, even from Cagalli. Once peace had been attained, and the groundwork for the formation of the USN laid, Lacus had little desire to be involved in politics. She formally dissolved the Clyne Faction, though it remained on in the form of the Clyne Foundation, a multinational charity organization, to which she was always glad to accept donations, as long as you didn't expect favors for them. She retired from public view, save for the odd charity event or music performance, onto a small island just outside of Orb. There, she and Kira built themselves a home near Reverend Malchio's chapel and orphanage. That small slice of the world was more than big enough for the two of them, though Kira did make frequent trips to Orb, both for business and pleasure. They never actually formally married, despite Kira's proposal, though they did have a small, private ceremony with Reverend Malchio, just for themselves. To the world at large they remained Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato, seperate, but together.
Murrue Ramius went to work for Orb as a liason to the USN fleets, and Andrew went with her. He'd debated returning to the PLANTS, and had actually been offered a similar job with ZAFT to what he was doing for Orb, but his heart lay with his friends on Earth now more than it did his few friends back on the PLANTS. He continued to romantically pursue Murrue whenever he had the chance. Progress was slow... but a hunting tiger has nothing if not patience. Ledonir Kisaka went back to doing exactly what he'd been doing for most of his life... trying to keep Cagalli from getting up to too much trouble, which was never as easy as it seemed, even with... or maybe because of... Athrun's influence. Kisaka too spent some time pursuing Murrue... he'd not given up either, and he felt he'd spent more than enough time mourning and honoring his fiancee by then. It was time to move on with new life, in the new world they'd helped bring about.
Dearka and Miriallia elected to stay on Earth, in Orb. Or rather, that's what Miriallia said she wanted, and Dearka hadn't offered any arguement whatsoever. To be honest, despite the mending he'd managed while up in the PLANTS, he was happiest when he wasn't around his family every day. They both retired from active military service, though they did accept a retainer from the government in case they were needed for some major catastrophe. Gundam Pilots weren't people you wanted at loose ends, after all. Miriallia went to college and ended up picking out a photojournalism degree. Meanwhile, Dearka had saved up enough money to buy a salvage trawler, and they spent many happy hours together out on the sea as he ferried her from location to location, while trawling the ocean depths for all sorts of accumulated junk. It wasn't the most profitable life in the world... but they did all right, and that was good enough for both of them.
Ysak and Katie went to live in the PLANTS, Ysak having no major connections on Earth besides Katie herself, and she was more than happy to go live in the PLANTS, given her enamourment with their climate. It wasn't made very public, but Ysak was quickly offered a senior position in ZAFT as it rebuilt itself. Gundam Pilots were people you wanted firmly on your side during trouble, after all. Katie actually went to work "for" Ysak, as his bodyguard and "diplomatic" advisor, which was a source of never ending grumbles from him, since she ordered him around mercilessly in private. Despite himself, Ysak still maintained close ties with his... comrades. Friendly comrades, down on Earth. Emphatically not friends, but friendly comrades, sure. If nothing else, he didn't want to drift too far away from Erica Simmons... she was his best chance for getting a new Gundam in a timely fashion and THAT was something to treasure! When he wasn't working, Ysak spent much of his time, as he'd feared, being used by Katie as a testing subject for all sorts of new theories regarding Newtypes... some of which bore fruit, others less so.
Cagalli was of course set into her role as Queen and Chief Representative of Orb to the USN. As time went on she delegated more and more of her ambassadorial duties to Athrun, who was just plain more level headed than her when it came to tough diplomacy. Royal Consort wasn't actually a politically powered position in Orb, but like the First Spouse of the Atlantic Federation Presidency, the position carried a lot of subtle power. Athrun maintained strong ties with the Orb Military forces and Morganroete Armories, as well as usuing his reputation and influence in ZAFT to bring Orb and the PLANTS as close together as he could. God forbid it should ever happen, but he never ever wanted Orb to enter a major conflict by itself again! He didn't think the nation could bounce back from too many more razings. In their very brief times off from work, Cagalli and Athrun did their best to maintain contact with their friends, but running a major nation, much less leading a major political faction, didn't leave them much time for socializing. They didn't mind too much... they were both happiest when they were making a difference, every day.
Alkire and Raine took up residence in Orb, where they went to work as "special security consultants" for the Orb government. Practically speaking, they became bodyguards for Cagalli and Athrun, as well as general "troubleshooters". World wide war wasn't really an issue anymore... but that didn't mean things were all totally hunky-dory and peachy. Blue Cosmos wasn't totally gone, Tiamat stubbornly refused to die out and not everyone was totally happy with how things turned out. All sorts of minor terrorist and criminal groups popped up, each trying to grab more than their fair share of the leftover power and detrius of war. Such people needed to be dealt with, often outside the public eye. At length, Alkire and Raine attracted the services of Richard Ramierez, Thomas Glory and Cyprus Finch, all recently discharged from a shadowy part of the old EA military. Having found none of the political leaders of the FNE to be to their taste, and finding Cagalli and Athrun significantly less onerous than Lacus, the three former Hellhounds were, if not glad to, at least willing to offer their skills when they were needed. As time went by they would eventually grow to be the core of a new group of clandestine agents, to replace the defunct TEMPEST.
Markov Ashino went to live with Jean Kellson and her family. This displeased Jean to no small amount, since she'd wanted to move in with Ashino instead, and now she was forced to finish school and even go on to college afterwards! Ashino went to work directly for the USN, not trusting the old nations of the FNE and not familiar enough with any place else to offer them his alliegance. He maintained contact with Cyprus and the other Hellhounds, which brought him into contact with Cagalli and Athrun and the people in Orb often enough to produce at least a slight mellowing of opinion between them. Ashino didn't think he'd ever be able to be fully comfortable around Coordinators, but he was certain that he didn't hate them anymore, which he took as a huge step forward in overcoming his conditioning. As for Eric Kellson, Jean's older brother and Ashino's friend, he went through a few tough times as he got over Ella Kissinger's death, the girl he'd fallen in love with in the 71st Special Mobile Squadron. But he eventually, with some help from Ashino and much kicking from Jean, did get through them, and he rapidly worked his way back to his old position as Ashino's aide and general advisor on things "normal", when Jean wasn't around.
In the PLANTS, the political scene was rocked by a huge number of scandals as all sorts of incriminating evidence against many current politicians came out all at once. Bribery, fraud, embezzlement, adultery and less savory things besides. One of the only people not touched in some way by this storm of black stains was one Gilbert Durandel, former Deputy Interior Minister, and now on the fast track to becoming a Supreme Councilman, though it would be some years before he could legitimately ascend to the position. His contract with Noah Borander, who's computer programs had provided him with all the dirt he could ever use on his political opponents, had paid major dividends. In return, he direct the spotlight of public attention well away from BoranderCorp. Even the fact that the Pulsar, ZAFT's stolen gundam that had been used to such ill effect by the madman Zacharis Frost, had been made by BornaderCorp was quietly swept under the rug and soon forgotten. All of the scientists and technicians who had detailed knowledge of the Pulsar project either had accidents or woke up one day with such a pounding headache and absolutely no memory of the past year or so. Noah's secrets remained his secrets. He took regular downloads from Melanie, his covert spy in Lacus's house, though he rapidly grew bored with the scenes of regular domestic life that seemed to be all the converted Pink Haro saw.
As for Sai's children, they were never found. No bodies, no blood, nothing. Perhaps a rescue worker had picked them up and they'd become lost in the thousands of other young children who'd recently lost their families. Perhaps they'd been crushed beyond recognition by the Pulsar's hand. Perhaps they'd been buried under the rubble after all, and hadn't been in their mother's arms to begin with. No one could say for sure. They were far from the only people to remain unaccounted for, at least for years and years. Others included Craydon Thresher, pilot of the Merciless... remains never found. Or Mary O'Brien, hospital nurse in Orb. Lost during Purgatory Day, when her hospital collapsed. Body never found. Aireg Randolf, ZAFT Commander, lost in the Sahara desert outside of Gibralter... remains never found. Jean Dylan, traitor and escaped convict, lost during the Levansworth Prison Break orchestrated by TEMPEST... never recaptured. Even Mu la Flaga, presumed dead during the second battle of Jachin Due... but no corpse, or even fragments of the body, had ever turned up. And behind the scenes, a grand plan, set into motion by tiny hands and a huge mind, grew ever more concrete and ripe as the years wore by.
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Author Note: HOLY FUCKING SHIT I DID IT! I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT! I'll stop swearing now... but thats how I'm really feeling as I write this. Three years, people! THREE YEARS! Maybe only so long because of my long periods of inactivity, due to the vagaries of real life or World of Warcraft (Damn that real life and thrice damn WoW, its murder on writing!), but now, its done! DONE, DONE, DONE! HAHAHA! Its too bad its almost midnight here on a worknight, cause I really need to go out and celebrate somehow. I'll figure something out. That said, I must say this as well...
THANK YOU, READERS AND ESPECIALLY REVIEWERS!
Couldn't have done it without you guys, else I probably would have ended up walking away out of frustration. Really, you guys and girls saved my literary ass, and definitely saved this story, more times than I want to count! Kudos to all of you, past and present and hopefully future, for your comments, inspirations and encouragement! You guys kick ASS!
Hopefully, if the stars align and everything works out like I want it too, I'll be posting a new story soon. A continuation of this one. It's going to be called "The Eden Disaster". It's going to blow your fucking socks off! Oops, swearing, sorry. Look for it! Read it, as much as I give it to you to read anyway... and please, I beg you on my hands and knees... cause I happen to be on them anyway while writing on my laptop... please, please review. Offer me your wisdom! Let me play in your worlds too, a little.
Oh yes. Gundam fans... thats us, of course, since you're reading this... I came up with new Gundams for our heroes for the new story. New story, new Gundams... pattern perhaps? I'm babbling, I know. Like Frost. Is it annoying anyone? Don't worry, I won't skin you and eat you. Even in proxy. I won't give you the technical details... though I thank you, thank you, thank you for your ideas when I asked for them in my reader review request thing... but I can give you the names.
Athrun: Phoenix King
Kira: Knight Angel
Dearka/Miriallia: Warmaster
Ysak/Katie (Yeah, it gonna kick ass): Vorpal Edge
Cagalli: Dawn Goddess
Looking forward to it. And now... off to writing again, since I'm stuck on base with no where else to go and I sure as heck can't sleep right now.