Chapter V: Aftermath of Near Tragedy

Miriallia laid on her back staring up the tent above her head. It was morning now, time for her to get up but she was lost in her thoughts of the night before. She had almost died. If it wasn't for Dearka jumping in after her she would be gone now. Then there was his tears. She never thought it was possible for that guy to cry. But she was sure that was what she had seen, there was no doubt in her mind. He was crying for her. He thought she was gone and he cried over it. Of course she couldn't forget about cuddling with him next to the campfire either. She had never felt so safe and happy like that since she lost Tolle. That feeling was starting to creep back on her. That feeling she had before the end of the war. The feeling that she may love him.

She was broken from her thoughts when she heard Dearka outside the tent. It sounded like he was fiddling with something but she wasn't sure what. She stood up, fixed her hair and went outside. She was shocked to see her camera was in a million pieces surrounding him. "What are you doing! Are you crazy!" She said in shock.

He looked up at her with a slightly disgusted looking on his face. "If you recall you took this thing down with you when you did a swan dive off that cliff. It's filled with water and not working. I'm trying to fix it so that you can continue the job you were hired for. If we're lucky I can fix it, if not we need to make a detour and get you a new one" He explained.

"I'm sorry… It just took me by surprise." She said quietly looking away. "It is my livelihood after all."

"You don't get it do you?" He spat at her. She sat down across from him and looked at him confused.

"Don't get what" she questioned tilting her head.

"Why I was hired? Why any bodyguard needed to be hired?"

"I..." She was surprised to hear him talk to her like this again. After last night she thought that his beef with her was over. But maybe she was wrong.

"This assignment has the potential to be extremely dangerous. You know nothing of defending yourself. I'm here to protect you and when you refuse to listen to when I advise you of danger guess what? You get yours in trouble."

"I can take care of myself!"

"Really?! That's what you think? Because what I think is that you're just some girl with a camera"

"I'm an ex-soldier" she replied angry.

"You're an ex-volunteer-soldier. You never had any real training. You just were dragged into a war you couldn't possibly understand."

"And who's fault was that!" She snapped. "I was a student, in a neutral nation and you attacked us"

"I didn't attack you or your nation. My team attacked the Earth Alliance that was hiding out there with weapons they intended to use against us. You and Heliopolis were just collateral damage."

"After all that you've seen in the war do you really still believe that Dearka Elsman?"

"What I believe doesn't matter. What matters are the facts. Back then when it happened I was an arrogant soldier and I did whatever it took to complete the missions I was given."

"And what about now?"

"Now my mission is to protect the person my client assigns me to. And I all I know is that you were lucky yesterday. I was able to get to you just in time" He was quiet for a few seconds as he started to reassemble her camera. "You were gone" He said in a raspy gentle tone. She could tell the events of the night before were still playing in his head. In looked sad. "I kept trying to resuscitate you... much longer than the recommended time. I thought I had failed. Then you started to cough up water and I knew you were alive." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a minute before opening them. He looked her straight in the eyes and continued. "I'm nothing without you. If I lose you then I fail this mission. It wouldn't be the first one I have, but it would be the hardest to live with. You need me more than you're willing to admit. All I ask is that you listen to me when I tell you you're putting yourself in harm's way. Let me do my job and I'll make sure you can do yours."

Miriallia looked away from him. She felt defeated. Her eyes went over to where she had fallen. He had warned her and she didn't listen. Her lungs and chest still hurt from her near death experience. He was right she needed to trust him. She needed to put their complicated past behind her and focus on the future. She was about to tell him that when she heard the familiar click of her camera. She looked over at Dearka shocked.

"Looks like we're in luck. It's fixed." He said looking down at the picture he just took.

Miriallia crawled over to him and looked at the picture. It was so beautiful. It was one of the best pictures she had ever seen of herself. She was so deep in thought and it showed in the picture. "It's...perfect." She said smiling at him. Her voice was so kind and gentle, one he hadn't heard often. "Do you mind if I submit this for my bio?"

He looked at her surprised. "Ah… well… if that's what you want" he stuttered. She reached over and put her hands on her camera to take it from him. Her fingers brushed over his causing him to blush. See this she blushed as well. "Mir… about yesterday…" He started before her computer began to ring.

She stood up and walked over towards it. It was a incoming video chat from Frederic. She clicked the accept button and up popped his face. "Hello Frederic!" She said excited. "How are you this morning"

"Excellent Miss Haww"

"Call me Miriallia" She replied smiling. Dearka could help but frown looking at her talking with someone else. They seemed to make her so happy and he was only able to make her mad. But he was always busy fighting an internal battle within his own head. Fighting against what he grew up believing and what he believed now. Fighting against who he once was and who he wanted to be.

"How was your first night on assignment?" He asked curious.

"A little rough going" She joked.

"Is everything ok?"

"Yes. Derrick and I just need to get use to one another still I think. It's hard for two people to get to know each other in such a short period of time, especially in a situation like this."

"Is he treating you ok?" He questioned worried. They were after all just two teenagers sent out on an assignment all alone. He couldn't help but fear the 'Derrick' might try something inappropriate.

"He's treating me better than ok." she said. She looked up from the laptop towards Dearka for a second before looking back at the chat window. "The relationship might be rough right now but he is making sure to put my safety as the number one priority. I… I just need to learn to listen to him more. To accept his advice. It's difficult I have to admit. When I was a soldier all I did was do what others told me to do. Now that I'm out of the military and trying to find a life outside it I can't help be try to prove to myself I have what it takes to survive in this world on my own. But I think I'm forgetting sometimes you still need the strength of others."

Dearka couldn't help but smile at her. Even though she was speaking to Frederic he knew he words were meant for him. "That is good to hear. I know that independence is important to you but you still need him. Maybe someday you'll be about to freelance on your own but for now you should trust your partner. He is there for you"

"I know"

"How is things for the assignment itself going?" He asked.

"We stopped off on an island on our way to the first location. It's a little known battlefield from early in the war. I've been able to get some pretty interesting shots. Not sure if they will be of any use to the magazine but It gave me a good sense of what to expect."

"When will you arrive at the first location"

"By this afternoon. We will be packing up camp soon and leaving not long after that."

"Excellent. Then I will let you go. I will call again in a few days time. À bientôt Miriallia, and give Mr Eastman my best"

"Bye" She said waving before the video cut out. She closed the laptop and stood up. She stretched her arms up high and yawned. Looking down at Dearka she smiled "We should get going. I've taken enough pictures here and we need to get to the first location soon. Reconstruction is set to begin next week. If we want to get some honest images of what the war left the land looking like we need to go now."

"Right" He said standing up and extinguishing the fire. "Then lets get packed up. It's time we go face the battlefield that changed it all. It's time we go back to Alaska."

The entire flight was spent in silence once again. A different kind of silence this time though. It was a silence the both mutually needed. Alaska was a fight that changed the war forever. In that battle a cyclops system was activated by the Earth Alliance. The ARCHANGEL was left for dead and 80% of ZAFT forces sent there were eliminated. It was also in that battle that it was discovered Kira Yamato was alive. The crew of the ARCHANGEL learned things there that would later influence them to betray the Earth Alliance. A betrayal that would later cause Dearka himself to turn his back on ZAFT. Going back here was a difficult journey for both of them.

Miriallia heard Dearka gasp slightly. She looked out the window to see what was the matter. They had arrived at their destination. It had been eight months since the JOSH-A base had been destroyed. In that time the land had been left alone. No clean up had been started yet due to the war escalating after the battle that took place there. Parts of buildings and mobile suits laid down in a large crater created by the explosion they themselves had narrowly escaped.

Flashback

"Captain!" They heard Mwu yell as he entered the bridge.

"Commander?" The Captain said surprised "Wh-what in the world? What about your new post?"

"That's not important! Right now, we need to get outta here!" He said urgently "This is a screwy plan! What orders have the Defense Corps received?" He asked before they were hit with yet another blast from the enemy. "Listen! And listen well! A Cyclops System has been set up below the Headquarters! That thing is big enough to turn everything within ten kilometers into a smoking crater! It's impossible to defend the base with theses forces." He explained "Reinforcements from Panama will not be here in time. Soon the Defense Corps will be annihilated… the main gate will be broken… and headquarters will activate the Cyclops System to blow up the base! The plan is to take out the better part of ZAFT's fighting strength! That's the scenario for this battle written out by those high-ranking authorities!"

A blast hit them again. Was it all really hopeless? Were they really left for dead? "That can't be!" Murrue yelled surprised.

"I saw it with my own eyes!" He replied. "There's not one officer in the Headquarters! The only ones remaining to fight are the troops of Eurasia and the ships like the ARCHANGEL the hot shots have given up on!"

"So they left us to die here? Is that it?" The ship's pilot asked.

"Only after a desperate battle, so the enemy doesn't realize they've retreated." Mwu answered. The whole bridge fell into silence. A depressed lost silence until finally someone broke that silence.

"What kind of strategy is this!? Because this is a war... and because we're all supposed to be good soldiers... if they tell us to... then I guess we're just supposed to throw away our lives." Miriallia said with tears building up in her eyes.

End of Flashback

Miriallia could still remember that day like it was yesterday. The hopeless feeling. She thought they were going to die that day. Thinking back she couldn't imagine what was going through Dearka's mind back then. He was a prisoner on their ship. If they were defeated he would die but it would mean ZAFT finally won against them. Which side was he rooting for then? Did he want the ARCHANGEL to win for his own survival? After all he did surrender to them to save his own life. He must have been scared back then, not being able to do anything. His fate in the enemy's hands.

"I'm going to land in that clearing there" He said pointing out the window. "You can take a few pictures and then we'll head up to the cliffs that overlook it and set up camp"

"Are you sure we should land down there? It could be dangerous" She said.

"It will be fine, as long as you promise you'll listen when I warn you of impending dangers."

"I promise"

"Then I'm taking us down for a landing. You can change out of that flight suit once we land and then we'll get to work"

He safely landed the fighter jet among the debris of the battlefield. They took the first few minutes to change out of the flight suits and into some more comfortable clothing. They looked around the battlefield. It was covered in a light coat of snow. But that couldn't hide the deviation below. Miriallia started to get her camera ready to start taking pictures. When she looked up Dearka was no where to be found. She felt scared. She quickly turned around and saw his footprints in the snow. Following them with her eyes she saw him walking towards the remains of a GINN.

He had wild flowers in his hands. She looked along his footpath and saw that he had freshly picked them. She watched him stop in front of what was once a mobile suit. He almost looked like he was praying… praying for the ZAFT soldier who had lost his life in that suit. After a moment of silence he placed the flowers down in front of the machine. Miriallia couldn't help herself. It was a moment that touched her heart and soul. She held her camera up and took a picture.

As hard as it was for her to be here she knew it was just as hard maybe even harder for him. His comrades were being killed while he was trapped unable to stop any of it. He knew in his heart even if he had been there there would have been nothing he could have done. But that didn't stop the desire to have at least had the chance.

Dearka took a deep breath and headed back towards Miriallia. He looked at her and faked a smile. "They never said this was going to be easy… I just didn't realize how hard this really was going to be"

"We can do this" Miriallia said. "To find new lives outside of the war… We need to move past the war itself. Even if that means facing all the pain that comes with it."

Dearka looked back at the GINN. "Looking at all this do you really believe the peace can last… when our people are willing to do this to each other in the name of wiping one another out. Can Naturals and Coordinators really live in peace"

"I don't know… but… " She looked him in the eyes and smiled. "I'm willing to do anything to try and make it work. War can't happen again. This can't happen again. Maybe our people can never love one another… but if only they could tolerate one another… then peace can stand a chance. We need to show the world what war is really like and hope that is enough to show that this can never happen again"

He couldn't help but smile at her optimism. "Then Miss Haww let's get to work"