PHASE TWENTY-TWO: The Final Battle
C.E 79 PLANTs – ZAFT Military Headquarters (Present Day)
He had given them only one fleeting, brief moment of compassion in his thoughts. Only one. Just that one brief thought as Lacus Clyne had sang her song of peace, he had allowed himself to be immersed with the gentle tune and, for that one small moment, but it was one moment too long. It was one compassionate thought too much. Yuri Amalfi could barely stop his hands from shaking, fists clenched together to control himself, as he looked at the devastation that had once been Aprillius. More specifically, it was Aprillius One to Six – half of the colony wiped out in the blink of an eye with the fire of what was an extraordinarily, painfully familiar weapon. If there were any thoughts of compassion, there were none now. How could he have wanted to stop fighting, to follow Lacus Clyne and stop all this madness, when such injustice had always been inflicted on Coordinators?
Aprillius was hit.
The Council... Those people who had fought...
Those lives, wiped away in the blink of an eye.
He had to give it to the Naturals – when they wanted a fight, they could choose the exact best time to inflict the pain. But it wasn't as if he himself hadn't been thinking of firing the GENESIS ZERO in a few days. The order had been given, after all. If the Naturals hadn't fired, there was that very high chance they, the Coordinators, would have done so with GENESIS ZERO. Amalfi shook his head, a dry laugh escaping his lips. How could he have possibly allowed that small moment of doubt? How could he have allowed himself to? He was here for a reason. Those in the battlefield were there because talks of peace had not succeeded. If there was anyone who had learned that lesson, it was him, Yuri Amalfi. And if there was anyone who needed to learn that lesson, it was Lacus Clyne.
His stupidity amazed him to the point where he thought he was going to lose his mind. Gone was his Council. Gone was the backbone of PLANTs. But he was alive, and he had the authority. Until his death, he would exercise that authority for the safety of the Coordinators.
After the initial shock was over, Amalfi moved over to the intercom by his desk, pressing it. The plan was already in his mind. Preparations to fire the GENESIS ZERO had started forty-eight hours ago. They would need more time, but it would be a worthwhile wait. He would make sure of that.
C.E 79 Heliopolis – Lagrange Area 3 (Present Day)
The shot had come from near them. It had come so amazingly close to them that for a moment, for one very brief moment, Yzak thought that it had been Heliopolis that had fired the gamma attack onto Aprillius. But of course, that was simply impossible. He hadn't stationed himself in Heliopolis all these months to not know if they had been hiding a mass-destruction weapon without his knowledge. He would throw away his uniform if that were the case. The fact that the attack had come from somewhere near Heliopolis, however, was disturbing. Perhaps a two day's travel on a ship, but still far too close to his liking. He had been in the hangar of Morganroete when his name had been called, the song Lacus was singing abruptly cut off as the attack landed on Aprillius.
...And to think there was a very high chance that his mother, being a council member, was in the colony...
Yzak shook his head, refusing to allow the thought to pass through his mind. No. He could not afford to play with 'What if's' right now. At the moment of impact, when his name had been summoned, he had exchanged a glance with Dearka, the silent communication that passed between them only lasting a second before they sprinted towards the Aurora. Miriallia had followed, her knowledge with the CIC kicking in as they made their way to the ship's bridge. The place had been chaotic, several crew members crying over their loss or from the shock of seeing several colonies taken down in the blink of an eye, too similar to what had happened during the previous war. The CIC workstation was empty – Meyrin was nowhere in sight. Momentarily, Yzak had remembered seeing her escorting Kira to the side of the hangar with Lacus almost an hour ago and he cursed. There were no room for questions, even as Miriallia instinctively positioned herself at the workstation, her fingers tapping the keyboard easily.
Now, twenty minutes later, she was still there, throwing one report after another on what had happened, but it was clear that they would need to wait just a little longer to get the details from the PLANTs.
"It seemed to have come from the abandoned colony of Artemis. It's been camouflaged as an asteroid, and it's closer to PLANTs now," Miriallia said quietly. "We can locate its precise position in three hours. ZAFT is preparing for a full-scale attack against the Earth Alliance."
"That's nothing new," Yzak muttered, pacing back and forth. "Estimated time?"
"48 hours before they launch."
"Roughly 150 hours before the battle," Yzak concluded. He exhaled loudly, running a hand through his finely combed hair, a million thoughts running through his mind. Yet, frustrated as he was, this was one thing he – they – had been waiting for. One thing they had anticipated for so long. And it was finally happening. Yzak turned, exchanging a look with Dearka. "We'll need to prepare ourselves."
C.E 79 Heliopolis – Archangel (Present Day)
"Set the course to Artemis. Increase thrust output by twenty percent until you reach maximum. Archangel, launching!"
Kira tightened his hand around Lacus's as the ship began to move, exiting the hangar of Heliopolis. He exchanged glances with her, noting the red-rimmed eyes that were the only evidence that she had been crying following the declaration of war from the Earth Alliance to PLANTs... To the Coordinators. There were no words of comfort that he could give her, nothing he could say that might possibly calm her emotions. They had faced this exact same position one too many times already, and Kira knew that Lacus, like himself, was tired of fighting. She turned her head, a much delayed reaction, to smile tentatively at him.
And once again, Kira was lost for words.
"Kira-kun, you're needed in the starboard hangar," Murrue said suddenly, breaking the moment. Kira turned to glance at Murrue and nodded once before moving his gaze back to Lacus. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as she shook her head, smiling peacefully as ever.
"Go, Kira. I'll see you soon," she said quietly.
So he left, making his way back to the hangar of the Archangel – a place that was as familiar to him as anything could ever be. In fact, the hangar, and the Archangel itself, were more familiar to him than his home had ever been... wherever his home was. It was a word that Kira hardly dared to toy around with, knowing the significant meeting of permanency associated with it. He felt at home as long as Lacus was near, but there wasn't any one location in the world he could truly call his.
Kira weaved through the silver corridors towards the hangar, looking around in search of any familiar faces though expecting none. Everyone, since the Archangel had landed in Heliopolis, had worked with very little amount of sleep and almost littler to eat. Kira was tired, but not completely exhausted as he knew many Archangel crew members were. They had worked day and night with Morganroete to restore the ship, to repair mobile suits and enhance them where possible. A surprisingly large number of civilians had also turned up in Morganroete following the attack on Aprillius, volunteering to help where possible. Their offer had not been misused in the least, for they, like everyone else, were well tired beyond belief. They had long been.
Arriving at the hangar of the Archangel, Kira spotted Mu immediately, talking quietly with several technicians while waving his hand to a silver mobile suit behind him. A short glance told Kira that it was the old Imperial, Hikari's mobile suit, now standing there and hopefully ready to launch. His gaze travelled across the hangar. The Justice and Akatsuki weren't there, both transferred to Kusanagi while the Gaia had been transferred to the Eternal. Three Enigmas were stored with the Aurora, belonging to Yzak, Dearka and Shiho. The only mobile suits that remained with his Freedom was the Destiny, Lunamaria's Enigma and the Imperial. Kira felt a small pang in his chest, knowing that Athrun and his sister weren't in the Archangel – he would fight alongside them in battle, but he had hoped that he was able to speak to them before they needed to launch.
"Kira!" Chief Murdoch called him. Kira turned, nodding and moving to close the distance immediately. "Look at you. You're dead on your feet," he scowled.
Kira smiled. "I'm fine. How is it? Better now?"
"Ah, we tweaked it a little more, so if you can go and check the compatibility with the Freedom, that would be great. Last time, we're still on 85 percent. I want it on 90 at the least to feel as if you can use it," Murdoch said, frowning. He was worrying more than he should, but that never went wrong in his book.
"Thanks, Murdoch-san," Kira smiled, climbing into the cockpit of the Freedom. Installing the 'Wings of Hope' power enhancer on the Freedom had been Athrun's idea, and the Chief definitely seemed more than happy to try. Kira scanned the system, wondering what his best friend would be doing in the Kusanagi now. He wasn't surprised to find that the Freedom, as reported by the Chief, seemed well compatible with the power enhancer they had managed to build in the little time they had. If there was one thing Kira knew about the Chief, it was that the elder man never disappoints. The Freedom and Justice would be the first to launch when the battle begins – they would be launching simultaneously and the Eternal would also release both METEOR units at the same time so they could equip instantly. With that, they would clear a passage for the other mobile suits to pass – the ZAFT forces that had remained loyal to Lacus, the remaining Orb forces, the soldiers who had decided to join them after the battle on Earth, the forces they had received from Factory... These would be led by the top pilots, namely Kira, Athrun, Yzak, Dearka, Shiho, Shinn, Lunamaria, Cagalli and Mu. It was a much larger force than Kira had fought with during the previous two wars, but he knew the sacrifice that would come with their decision.
He just hoped that they wouldn't be too late by the time they arrived in the battlefield. If Yzak had calculated correctly, they'd probably arrive at the same time as the ZAFT forces.
"Kira..."
Kira blinked his eyes open and started, knocking his head against the side of the cockpit. He hissed slightly, his hand moving to the side of his head, but his eyes were still staring directly at the figure in front of him. She was as he had always remembered her, dressed in Earth Alliance's uniform. Long red hair down to her shoulders, and piercing silver eyes. A face that had once saved him.
"Fllay?" Kira breathed. It had been years since he had seen her... since he had been able to speak to her. She had even stopped appearing in his dreams since five years ago. "Where have you been?"
Fllay laughed lightly, her face serene and happy... as how Kira had known her to be back in Heliopolis, not the stranger he could never recognise on the Archangel. "I've always been near, Kira. Always. Please be careful when you go out there. I'll protect you with all I have, but you must live."
He shook his head. Fllay, protect him? He never deserved such kindness, not when he had been unable to protect her. She was the one who needed protecting. And he had promised her too many times, and failed every single time. "I'm sorry," Kira whispered, for the thousandth time in his life. "There's a lot I cannot do."
There was a shake of the head, followed by a light laugh that trilled around the small area between them. "Silly Kira. You can do many things. Do your best, Kira. And remember that there is someone out there who you need to protect. Someone who loves you. I'll always be here."
"All hands, level one battle status! Pilots, please move to your mobile suits. Battle stations, ready!"
Kira jolted awake, knocking his head again. He cursed, climbing out from his cockpit and moving down to the floor of the hangar. Everyone was moving quickly, but they were not panicking. It was the usual rush of energy before a large battle, the usual buzz as people moved to clear the mobile suits and mobile armours as fast as possible. Kira spotted the one man he had been looking for easily. "Murdoch-san!"
The technician stopped, turning with a smile at him. "Well, kiddo, the time is finally here. Hope you've enjoyed your nap. I was worried you'd start doing work again if I woke you up." Kira grimaced. What kind of pilot was he to fall asleep before battle? The Chief seemed to read his thoughts. "Don't worry about it. You've done enough, and there was nothing for you to do anyway. Napping or not, you seemed to be doing something in that cockpit. The Freedom has been fully optimized. I won't even question how you did it."
Fllay... Kira thought, a smile coming to his lips. "Where are we?"
"Approaching the battlefield. ZAFT got there a good hour before us, so the fighting has begun already. The Captain wants the suits to launch in twenty minutes. You better get into your pilot suit."
"Understood," Kira nodded, picking the pace as he ran towards the pilot changing room. What had happened? One moment he had been working on the Freedom, and the next... they had arrived. He was sure his encounter with Fllay had been no more than a few minutes. Not nearly long enough to move from Heliopolis to Artemis, but here they were. And his Freedom... had somehow been optimized as how Murdoch wanted it to be. Did Fllay have something to do with all that? Or had he been in a long trance, just working with his consciousness turned off until they had finally arrived? He supposed he would never know.
Lunamaria and Shinn were already exiting the pilot changing room when Kira arrived. He stopped, regarding them both. Shinn managed a small smile. "I'll be sure to beat more of those out there than you will," he said good-humouredly, giving a thumb's up.
Kira couldn't help but smile. "Be careful out there."
Shinn snorted. "I think you're the one who needs that advice."
"Well, I'm going to beat Athrun's numbers," Lunamaria said smugly, nudging Shinn in the ribs.
The black-haired blinked, distracted. "There's no way you can do that! I bet I'll beat them both to it!"
They moved away, and Kira watched with a shake of his head, amused more than anything else. To think that during the last war, they had been fighting against each other... and had finally come to being close comrades. It was a thought that he took a great deal of comfort from. He moved to his locker, dressing into the lightweight pilot suit in quick, habitual movements. It took only a few short minutes for him to secure the suit, snapping the collar in place. He raised his head, looking at himself in the mirror, only to realise that there was another person reflected behind him. She looked torn, long pink hair secured in a ponytail and dressed in white and purple. Kira turned, spreading his arms and finding her inside his embrace instantaneously.
Grateful, he pulled her close. "Lacus. Thank you," he said softly, kissing her lightly on the forehead. He had been worried he was out of time to search for her.
"Be careful, Kira," she said quietly – admittedly the only thing she could say every time he was to go out into the battlefield.
"I will. You as well, Lacus," Kira answered.
"I will speak to everyone again," Lacus said.
Kira raised his eyebrows. Truthfully, he would have preferred for her to keep away from the battlefield this time. One of the reasons why he wanted her on the Archangel was because he was worried the enemy would assume that the Eternal was the flagship as they had during the last war. He did not want to announce to the world that the leader of peace was on board the Archangel, providing such an easy target for those who Kira knew despised her. Perhaps not Lacus herself, but at least the threat she seemed to be carrying in trying to stop the battle. But if this was what she wanted to do, then he held no right in stopping her. Not when she was faithfully allowing him to enter the battlefield against her heart's wishes.
He needed to give her strength. And he needed to give himself strength. So he did the one thing that, for too many years, had been long overdue.
"Lacus..." Kira said, taking her hands in his. She tilted her head, her eyes quizzical. "After all this is over... I would like you to... stay with me. I always want you to stay with me. Maybe we can have a house that belongs to us again... and a life that belongs to us truly..." he trailed off, his cheeks red. Lacus looked surprised. "If that's what you want, of course. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to... I'm okay now, but if you want, then..." he trailed off, biting his lips. Her expression was unreadable now. "Marry me, Lacus. After all this is over."
Perhaps it only appeared so to him, but he believed she took far too long to respond. Her eyes were shining, tears of happiness cascading down her cheeks as she hugged him. "I will, Kira. I definitely will," she answered.
The relief he felt made him believe that the war was over. Kira pulled away, pressing his lips over hers. "I love you."
"And I love you. Come back to me, Kira."
He smiled, resting a hand on her soft cheek. "I will. You know I will. I have to go now, Lacus."
She squeezed his hand. "Yes, Kira. Go, now."
Kira managed one last smile, one last tug of the corners of his mouth for her, as he turned and ran out of the pilot changing room. He couldn't help but feel joy and hope in his heart and wondered if that in any way would make him fight any better than he normally would.
C.E 79 Artemis - Omnicide (Present Day) (Miho)
Cocking his head to his side, Miho looked curiously at the radar built inside his Omnicide. He could easily read the names of the ships located there and detect what was out of the ship he was still docked in. The Renegade had been one of the first that he had managed to detect, but he was never interested in that ship. No, the interest came to the new ships that were now popping up on his radar. The Archangel and its little followers. The way the ships, mobile suits and mobile armours were plotted around his radar was like a map of the constellation of stars... only they were moving dots, not stationary. It amused him to see the little dots, to see several suddenly vanish, several suddenly appearing... Whatever was going on outside, it was a heck of a battle and he was already feeling rather giddy.
The screen in front of him suddenly flickered and he raised his head, eyes questioning as he looked at the CIC. Rita was behind him. "Miho," Rita said, her eyes worried. He raised his eyebrows. "The Archangel are coming in and they are fast. Very fast. It looks as if they're going right into it, straight to Artemis. While that makes our job easier, we can't allow them to kill our forces. There's movement – they're deploying their mobile suits."
"So I can finally launch now?" Miho asked, annoyed. What use were little details to him? What the Archangel wanted to do was none of his business. He wanted the Freedom. And he wanted that cowardly blue-haired.
"...Yes, you can launch now," Rita sighed. "Engage the Freedom."
"As if I need telling," Miho snorted, cutting off the communication. He activated the Trans-Phase Shift as the mobile suit was transported to the catapult system.
C.E 79 Artemis – Advocate (Present Day) (Genei Alens)
The hysterical laugh was all that was audible inside the cockpit of the Advocate as it slashed through the ZAFT mobile suits with complete ease in the vacuum of space. The explosions were beautiful, the sounds of screams from the intercom delightful, but apart from that, space was as it had always been – infinite in silence. Though he couldn't stop laughing, and he had long ago tuned out the orders and reprimands from the Renegade. He felt... alive. The pills were in his mouth and down his throat as soon as the Advocate was launched, and it soon became a bloodbath consisting of the shriek of metal and flashes of beams. He was having fun. He was having fun for the first time in many months, maybe in his whole existence. He was losing control over his consciousness. All that was taking over were his reflexes and survival instincts. For once, it delighted him on how animalistic he could be.
The dark green and gold Advocate boosted its thrusters, releasing its DRAGOONs to an unsuspecting Nazca-class ship. The enemy mobile suits were on his tail at once – he was fighting reckless, and he knew it, but it did not matter to him. He was just killing time. Activating the Voiture Lumiere propulsion system, the Advocate was out of sight in milliseconds. He laughed again, shaking his head at the adrenalin rush he was feeling as the Advocate equipped its beam sabers, moving like a whirlwind of flashing white and green as it impaled one mobile suit after another. The pilots never saw it coming, not with such massive numbers against one lone mobile suit.
The alert that came from his radar was the only thing that managed to distract him from his killing, just for a second.
"Finally," Genei sneered. "The Freedom."
C.E 79 Artemis – Divine Justice (Present Day) (Athrun Zala)
"The Archangel is going to move directly to Artemis. Right now, it's heavily guarded by the Earth Alliance forces, and we need to get past ZAFT first as well. Justice, please clear a path as well as you can for them to pass. You'll be working with the Freedom."
"Understood," Athrun said, activating his armour as he was transported to the catapult.
The plan was simple, but he knew that executing it would be more of a challenge. The plan, as how they wanted it to appear, was to have the Archangel heading straight to Artemis, effectively destroying it. That would leave disabling the forces from the Earth Alliance and ZAFT to stop the battle. That was the plan on the surface. What Kira and Meyrin seemed to believe was that the GENESIS ZERO would also be trying to fire at any moment, just as how Artemis was ready to fire towards PLANTs. It was most likely that GENESIS ZERO was already among them, currently hidden behind a protective layer of colloids... at least that was what Waltfeld seemed to believe. If their plan worked right, they would be able to detect GENESIS ZERO once they were closer to Artemis. Having the Archangel heading there was actually bait for ZAFT to fire... to eliminate the Archangel and Artemis with a single fire of their weapon, especially when the Freedom and Justice would be there protecting it. In such a case, the barrier surrounding the weapon would need to be put down, and the small gap between discovering the location of the GENESIS and having it fire would be Athrun and Kira's only chance in destroying it... before it destroys everything else.
It was the one single way they had in bringing the weapon down. Time was not on their side to know where the weapon was located even though Athrun knew their detectors were working hard in trying to pinpoint the coordinates, even as he moved.
"Justice, please launch!"
He closed his eyes, praying with all his might that this would be the end. If the GENESIS fires, it would be over. With a weapon that could fire in multiple locations, it was likely that Artemis wouldn't be its only target. Heliopolis, the next closest target, would be next, followed by Earth. PLANTs had already suffered damaging blows with Aprillius One gone. If Artemis fired again, it was possible that even PLANTs would not be able to support itself in repairs. The war seemed to have gone down to just eliminating what was possible.
"Athrun Zala. Justice. Launching!"
Athrun cleared his thoughts, pushing the power of his thrusters to the maximum as he was catapulted out of the Kusanagi. His radar detected the Freedom to his far left instantly, followed by the telltale alert that his METEOR unit had also been released. Athrun slowed the Justice, allowing the mobile suit to fall into place in connecting to the METEOR. The Freedom seemed to move in sync with him as the Eternal slowed, allowing the Archangel and Kusanagi to bypass it. There was the familiar momentum as METEOR clicked in place and immediately, Athrun activated the new system, turning on the multi-lock weapons system. Kira suddenly appeared on the screen in front of him. "Athrun!" METEOR was already locked onto the Freedom.
"Ah. Let's go, Kira!"
Blue and red flashed by as both mobile suits boosted their thrusters, speeding ahead. Their radars picked out the enemy mobile suits coming towards them instantly, and Athrun wasted no time in adjusting the angle of fire, knowing full well to disarm and not to destroy. A pull of the trigger was all it took as flashing beams of red, white and blue shot out, followed by supporting beams from the Archangel, Kusanagi and Aurora behind them. Explosions filled the black sky, and all hell broke loose.
Along with the usual blue and white Windams, Athrun was half-surprised to see that the battlefield surrounding them was littered with N Dagger N mobile suits. The dark green and black mobile suits were sturdy mobile suits that had been produced in limited numbers during the previous war due to the mirage colloid capabilities and were officially disbanded though still unofficially produced. It was unknown just how many were produced under the Atlantic Federation, but now, Athrun supposed there was no reason for the production to remain secret. He had heard the reports, of course – how the approaching ZAFT battleships had been firstly ambushed by these N Dagger Ns, but Athrun never knew the numbers would be so large. They fought with white Enigmas and multicoloured GOUFs – Daggers and ZAKUs seemed almost nonexistent now. The enemy was finally showing its true fighting potential, unleashing weapons that had been so brilliantly hidden before this. There were also a large number of black and white Strike E mobile suits... ones that looked achingly familiar. Yzak hadn't been kidding about that, at least. Their numbers were swarming around them instantly and Athrun had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from cursing as he manoeuvred away, cutting off limb after limb before shooting the headpieces, rendering one mobile suit after another completely useless.
For a moment, he was overwhelmed. Large numbers, floating pieces of debris, flashes of explosions and beams being fired in a battlefield that does not have limit in area confused him. They had launched into the middle of the battle far too irresponsibly, though it provided them with the advantage of shock and confusion they had been aiming for. In the midst of the fighting, the green-coloured jewel exploded in the back of his mind as they inched closer and closer to Artemis. In the background, he could just hear Lacus's command to stop the fighting, echoing in his cockpit again and again as she warned everyone that they were there to destroy Artemis. That they did not need such a large weapon of destruction in today's world. It was chaos everywhere.
In the midst of his confusion, Athrun only managed to catch small glimpses of his comrades. He saw Cagalli protecting the Kusanagi, engaging two Strike E's and a GOUF. He saw the Destiny and Lunamaria's Enigma fighting far ahead along with the Duel and the Buster, clearing the path where he and Kira could not. He saw Shiho's Enigma trying to take down a Nazca-class ship, and he saw Mu's new Imperial taking down weapons from other ships. Athrun fired and fired again, multiple beams shooting out and allowing a brief lull in the fighting as his comrades took advantage in disabling the stunned mobile suits. Kira, Athrun saw, kept his focus more on incoming ships, using his quick skills in long-range fighting to render them unfit for battle.
It was during one of these small glimpses that Athrun spotted the one enemy he had been keeping his eye out for. It didn't matter that he had been looking for that particular enemy – he could feel the presence coming closer. He saw, with horror, the black and red mobile suit coming at full-speed towards the Freedom. Another, a familiar dark green mobile suit that was now equipped with a gold flyer was coming from the Freedom's left. Kira seemed to have not noticed, engaged as he was with four mobile suits that he was disabling quickly... though not quick enough.
"KIRA!" Athrun shouted, fear and anger clenching his heart. He screamed, the sudden pain ripping through his skull as he boosted his thrusters, equipping his 'Force Stealer' Sonic Anti-Ship Sword. He raised his weapon and for a moment, the Freedom turned and Athrun caught a glimpse of Kira's face in the cockpit, eyes wide, and surprise in violet orbs. Athrun heard Kira say his name, though whether from the speakers or inside his mind, he didn't know. His eyes were wild, and he cried out, a million images of their past flashing through his eyes in half a second. "Damn it, Kira... Look out!"
The green seed exploded again, though this time in a shower of gold and white.
"It is highly possible that you have gone through the process of evolution completely. This can only be done with great determination, and a great desire to achieve and protect something. In your case, it is highly likely that you are forced to enter this third stage of SEED after what had happened in the facility."
"But why?"
"Those who possess the SEED tend to believe that this world is still worth saving… So perhaps that is why."
The Force Stealer missed the Freedom by inches, clashing against the Strike sword of the black and red mobile suit instead. The Freedom paused, but only momentarily as it was forced to equip its beam sabers, just in time to block the attack by the Advocate. They moved back at once and Athrun turned his head, glaring angrily at the new mobile suit in front of him. The unknown needed no name. "Miho."
The black and red mobile suit pulled back, storing the sword and taking out its beam rifles. "You're the blue-haired. You don't want to kill the Freedom."
"No, I don't," Athrun agreed.
"It'll hurt you. But I don't mind," the voice snickered and was abruptly cut off. Perhaps so, Athrun thought, his eyes narrowing. But it'll hurt you as well and that's all we need.
Athrun exchanged his sword to his railguns just in time as the Omnicide deployed its Exodus DRAGOONs. Boosting his thrusters, Athrun shot up and released his triggers, firing towards the DRAGOON units that were chasing after him. His weapons locked onto the moving targets and he fired, too many beams hitting unsuspecting mobile suits around them instead. There was too much trouble being a large target and he knew it. METEOR will play a very little role from here onwards, at least for now. Athrun sped, shooting and moving as he came to the closest ship to him – the Archangel.
"Archangel! I'm deploying the METEOR unit here. Please take care of it!" Athrun said, disengaging the large unit from his back and boosting his thrusters again to lure the dangerous mobile suit away from the ships. He could barely hear the response from the Archangel from where he was, the adrenalin rushing over him. The DRAGOONs chased after him, but Athrun was ready. Taking a sharp turn, he faced the Omnicide and fired the cannons mounted on his shoulders. Miho dodged, quickly moving to close-range as it equipped its beam sabers instead. The DRAGOONs turned, firing behind him and Athrun hit the propulsion system, missing the attack by the width of a hair. Turning, he took out his beam sabers, a small smile on his lips now. Close-range fighting was his forte, just as it was Miho's.
Sabers clashed in the blackness and though Athrun was extremely quick, Miho was ready to intercept. They lashed out, one hand after another, taking short breaks as the DRAGOONs fired or as cannons were released before coming into contact again, two mobile suits dancing in the vacuum. The Omnicide was extremely flexible, moving with absolute ease as if Athrun was fighting an actual person rather than a machine. His mind was abnormally clear, though he was aware of nothing else apart from the enemy in front of him. Sweat poured down his face as their sabers clashed again, then again, then again. Athrun pulled back and Miho chased. Another clash of sabers and Athrun moved forwards while the other retreated. And the fighting went on. Even without a propulsion system to match Athrun's, the Omnicide, being so small, was relatively quick. ZAFT certainly had done the suit justice.
"Where is your weapon?" Athrun asked quietly, though the line wasn't established. "Kuso. Where are you hiding it?"
C.E 79 Artemis – Ultimate Freedom (Present Day) (Kira Yamato)
Kira cried out in surprise as the right side of his METEOR exploded, sending his Freedom to the side. He equipped his railguns, boosting his thrusters as he sped towards the Advocate. The Advocate seemed ready to intercept but Kira hit the controls and the Freedom spun to its side, releasing the remaining half of METEOR which slammed against the mobile suit. The explosion was large, larger than it should for something that just barrelled into another. Kira breathed deeply and cursed as the Advocate, now missing its left leg, flew out of the explosion, having fired its cannons just in time to avoid direct impact that would have split his mobile suit into two. Briefly, Kira glanced to his right where the Destiny was fighting against the Zantetsuken. Shinn had come to interfere with the battle for the umpteenth time, and as usual, Kira was grateful to have him by his side. Further away, he could see the Justice fighting the unknown, which Kira suspected was Miho. The Justice had long gotten rid of its METEOR unit, preferring to fight in close-range against the Omnicide – something Kira was now going to do with the Advocate.
There was no doubt that the pilot had gotten stronger. Much stronger. It reminded Kira of the three Extendeds they fought against during the first war, the ones that had to rely on Gamma Glipheptin to function normally.
He had little doubt that the pilot of the Advocate had taken the drug. There had been nothing but hysterical laughs from the cockpit of the mobile suit since it engaged Kira in battle. The quick movements, the enhanced fighting abilities... No, Kira had very little doubt.
"Kuso... What have you done..." he hissed through his teeth, facing the mobile suit again. The gold flyer was familiar, belonging once to the Premium Gundam. And Kira knew exactly what was equipped with the flyer.
The two mobile suits hit their hyper-propulsion systems at the same time, both disappearing into nothing more than a blur. Advanced Voiture Lumiere and Daisuke's antimatter system – beam sabers clashed in the air, the telltale signs being sparks and flashes of light and nothing else. To a close observer, it seemed as if they were both moving in sync as they deployed their DRAGOONs, lashing out again and again. Kira gritted his teeth, manoeuvring away before firing his cannons. The Advocate dodged smartly, but even Kira knew that it was fighting a losing battle now. There was simply no way for the Advocate to win, even if it kept up its pace.
"Stop it," Kira breathed as his DRAGOONs attached itself to his back again.
"You don't get it..." the voice that responded was tired, excited, but overall, sane. "This is what I'm built FOR!" The Voiture Lumiere system activated itself again and Kira's eyes widened.
"KIRA!" The Justice sped towards him, the Omnicide chasing after.
Kira turned his eyes back to the Advocate. "Just hurry up and do it! Fight! Fight, you coward!"
"KIRA!"
Kira cursed angrily, his hands gripping his controls as he dodged the attack, moving up.
"Let's go, Kira!"
He blinked away the angry tears quickly. Athrun was fighting alongside him. That had to count for something, even if he couldn't save the two mobile suits. The Justice and Freedom hit their Wings of Hope, both mobile suits suddenly sprouting white and gold wings as they sped quickly in sync. The Justice lashed down on the Advocate while Kira deployed his DRAGOONs, moving at an unimaginable speed as he equipped his Strike Sword, swinging it full-force at the Omnicide. There was a cackle of delighted laughter as the Omnicide held him off with his own Strike sword, the DRAGOONs deployed to intercept Kira's. One of Kira's DRAGOONs fired at the same time as the Justice brought down its Force Stealer, penetrating the headpiece of the Advocate before the cockpit was sliced into two by the high-powered sonic sword of the Justice. The explosion was large, distracting Kira for a split second. A second too much.
The Omnicide boosted its thrusters, pushing the Freedom back. Kira gritted his teeth, maintaining the hold of his sword as he pushed against the force of the smaller mobile suit. "I won't let you do it..." he said angrily. If Athrun could not kill Miho, he would. Anything to release the pain from his friend.
"Kira!"
A second sword slammed itself against the Omnicide's sword, sending it back. Kira took the opportunity to thrust himself up, flipping back and bringing his sword down cleanly as he sliced the Omnicide into two. A second explosion followed and Kira cried out in surprise as his mobile suit was thrown with the force of being so close to the blast. In his line of vision, he saw the Destiny take the Zantetsuken down. The Renegade ship exploded moments after. It was over.
A distance away from them, Artemis was ready to fire.
C.E 79 Artemis (Present Day)
10 minutes
The multiple firings from the Archangel, Kusanagi and Aurora did not seem to do the small asteroid any damage. Cagalli clenched her teeth together in frustration. The shield around it was powerful.
"Archangel! I'm going inside! There must be a generator that's putting up the shield. I'm going to look for it!" Cagalli said, turning and boosting the thrusters of the golden mobile suit as she moved past the barrier into Artemis. Time wasn't on their side. She could hear desperate voices calling her name from the ships, but Cagalli paid them no heed. Heliopolis was in danger. PLANTs was in danger. Even Earth was in danger. And she could not afford any of the three to suffer any more damages. She just couldn't. It had been her father's legacy to fight against fighting, and even though the notion was pretty contradictory, Cagalli could not help but fight for what she believed was right. She couldn't protect anything with emotions alone. Kira had taught her that.
Another mobile suit flanked her as she entered and she realised with surprise that it was no other than Mu inside the Imperial. "Someone has to look after the princess," Mu sighed in explanation.
Cagalli grimaced. "I'm perfectly able of taking care of myself!"
"Maybe. But with Artemis this big, it'll take two of us. Come on, Cagalli!"
They sped inside hurriedly and Cagalli was more than aware that there were mobile suits chasing her tail. Her mind worked furiously, wondering if she could spare the time to take them down before locating the barrier. A beam beat her to it as it destroyed the headpiece of a mobile suit. Cagalli allowed herself to look back only long enough to notice that the Hyper Duel had followed them. "Tsch. I can't trust the Naturals to ever take this down," Yzak said hotly from his mobile suit. "Dearka, Shiho, take care of everything outside!"
"Roger!"
Momentarily, Cagalli blinked. Shiho? So he's finally on first-name basis with her? she thought, a smile tugging at her lips as she allowed the very brief moment of happiness to wash over her. She sped quicker, aware of the explosions behind them as Dearka and Shiho attacked the pursuers. Still, it was as she had predicted – once inside, the number of enemies lessened by an amazing degree, It had been like this when she had followed Athrun inside the GENESIS during the first war.
"I think that's it," Mu said, stopping his mobile suit. They faced what looked like the central core of the small fortress. The Duel readied its missiles and Mu and Cagalli both prepared their armaments. "Let's do it!"
9 minutes
"Mobile suits have broken through the barrier!"
Ryuu clenched his fists. "Fire the Artemis! Kill them while they're inside while they're at it. For goodness sake, the Archangel is right there!"
"Eight minutes to fire! Power is rerouting! Something is disturbing the controls!"
8 minutes
Patience and observation. Those were two things that Amalfi believed play the biggest role in the winner of this battle. He had been patient. And he had observed. The moment word had been sent out that the Akatsuki had entered Artemis, he had ordered the GENESIS ZERO to fire. Ten minutes. The Akatsuki would never be in and out within ten minutes. Never. Ten minutes to get the shield down, to have the prism in place by the Nazca-class, and to fire. Ten minutes.
GENESIS ZERO was a ship, and he was on board it. A large ship – not as large as their Gondwana-class, but large all the same. Large, but carrying none, except for the weapon which the ship was named after. And the prism would be brought by the Nazca-class that was ever so productive in what it could do.
"Shield down! Nazca-class already set to the coordinates. ETA nine minutes!"
He was playing with one big weapon of destruction. Like what it had been named after, the prism could not control the beams. Not entirely. He had set the main target for Artemis, the second being Heliopolis, but the prism itself was a double-edged sword. The GENESIS ZERO was a weapon just like Artemis. Should Artemis's beam enter the prism, they would die. It was as simple as that.
"Charge complete! Firepower routed. seven minutes to fire!"
7 minutes
"KIRA!"
"I see it! Shinn!"
"Roger, Commander!"
Three mobile suits immediately disengaged their enemies and boosted their thrusters towards the ship that had just made its appearance. ZAFT suits sped towards them instantly, held off by the ships they had from Orb as well as the Eternal. Kira sent a silent thanks to Waltfeld, fully aware of the Archangel's position so close to Artemis. Cagalli was there... so was Lacus. There was no chance for him to allow them to be taken down. Not now, not on his watch, not ever. The Freedom and Justice activated their hyper-propulsion systems, shooting past the Destiny as they made their way to the new ZAFT ship that was there.
As soon as he was within shooting range, Kira deployed his DRAGOONs while Athrun began to engage the Nazca-class ship that was bringing the prism. It was nearly like an orb, though once closer, one could definitely see the facets that made the surface of the prism, much as how it had been described by Waltfeld earlier on. The countermeasures were against them in a heartbeat and Kira cursed as he fired his cannons repeatedly, then equipping his Strike sword as he lashed down on the large ship. A very large ship, larger than the Eternal even. He moved back, deploying his DRAGOONs again, only to have the alarms going off deafeningly in his cockpit. On impulse, Kira dodged as a high-energy beam nearly blew him into smithereens. The incoming forces from ZAFT were moving in quick.
"Shinn, on me!"
"Roger!"
Leaving the Justice to deal with the remaining Nazca-class along with their remaining forces, Kira locked his cannons onto the ship and fired again, easily dodging its close-in weapons system as it fired towards him.
5 minutes
"Come on!" Cagalli shot her cannon once again towards the core, joined almost instantly by Yzak's and Mu's missiles. The explosion was large, causing a chain reaction along the lines as it began to create chains of blasts, one after another. But the core still hold, glowing ever so brightly. "Kuso! One last time!"
"And I thought you could settle this," Dearka's voice suddenly joined them. The two Enigmas stopped beside Yzak's Duel and Cagalli smiled, delighted now as the Buster readied its combined cannons into a Hyper Impulse Cannon. Shiho's Enigma readied its Gatling Beam Cannon and they took aim again. "Those idiots outside stood no chance."
"Shut up, Dearka," Yzak snapped, preparing its last round of missiles. "This last one should do it. The one who stays to watch is an idiot."
"Well, we'll need to see who that will be," Mu said, amusement colouring his tone.
The core exploded again and they fired, flashes of different coloured beams and missiles moving as one. Cagalli didn't stay to watch. She turned her Akatsuki and hit the thrusters, speeding away from the core as fast as she could.
3 minutes
The ceiling above them exploded, showering them with sparks and smoke. Amalfi coughed, shaking his head. He was still on target. Still on target. Three minutes to go! Even if he couldn't hit the prism, he could still hit Artemis! He could still hit the Archangel! He could still end this!
"Sir! Thrusters are down! So are our weapons!"
"Abandon ship! Go, now!" Amalfi shouted, running towards the control panel. He pressed down on the button to fire, again and again, but the thing wouldn't work. Two minutes. "Out with it already!" Amalfi cursed as his crew members all abandoned the bridge, leaving him alone. The external cameras were still working, showing the Freedom moving at high speed as it tried to bring the ship down. But this wasn't a normal ZAFT ship. Amalfi smiled smugly as he watched the Freedom's attempts – successful as they were, it just wasn't powerful enough to bring a ship down in two minutes.
Amalfi's eyes narrowed at the sight of the Justice trying to move the Nazca-class away from its intended position. No. NO. This had to work. It had to! The GENESIS ZERO would fire, would hit the prism, would obliterate the whole battlefield and beyond. It had to!
2 minutes
"Kuso!"
Athrun slammed together his beam sabers and dashed forwards, his lashes perfectly on the target as he sliced one mobile suit after another. The Murasame fighters were being overwhelmed, and Athrun had no idea what he could do next. He activated his hyper-propulsion system, moving with quick speed and deployed his boomerangs, watching as it crashed into the Nazca-class. It was obvious that Athrun had rendered it unable to fight any longer, but it was still in position. The prism, secured safely in the middle of the ship, was simply impossible to destroy with the time he had. But Athrun knew that from the beginning. No, what he needed was to move the ship away.
Well, there was one thing he could do. A sense of déjà vu settled within him as he backed away, readying his Force Stealer.
For those who had died. Miguel, Nicol... For Lacus. For Kira and Cagalli.
Athrun boosted his thrusters, crying out in both anger and determination as he hit the Wings of Hope. White and gold wings sprouted from his back and he accelerated at a speed that was almost impossible to control. He disengaged his Fatum-02 sub-flight lifter and lashed down with his anti-ship sword, feeling the sonic emitters working through the metal of the large ship. His red backpack rammed through the ship starboard side and the Nazca-class began to move with the momentum. It was slight, but it was enough. Athrun flipped, slamming his sword down once again and boosted his thrusters, well away from the Nazca-class.
1 minute
It took three different moves. Three different moves that worked at the exact same time as Kira and Shinn brought the large ship down. Kira had deployed his DRAGOONs and activated his Wings of Hope, gold and white wings decorating the blue, white and gold mobile suit as it lashed down on the weapon with its Strike sword. The Destiny fired its assault cannon straight into the mouth of the GENESIS ZERO and backed off, ready for the ship to explode. Only it didn't. As a last move, Kira fired his cannons towards where he suspected the bridge was located, his DRAGOONs moving in sync along with him.
The ship began to explode, and for a moment, Kira thought they had finally succeeded.
0 minutes
From light to dark, bursting out in the open space was relief for Cagalli as she headed straight towards the Archangel. It wasn't until she was right beside the white and red ship that she allowed herself to look back, watching as the Artemis began to explode from inside. There was a moment of silence as everyone seemed to hold their breath. Cagalli watched as the two Enigma units followed her, with the Imperial and finally the Duel behind, leaving the fortress.
She turned, and saw that the exact same thing was happening with the large ZAFT ship, the GENESIS ZERO. They did it. They had succeeded!
The amount of firepower that had been ready to fire did not compile and explode as how they had predicted it would. Rather, it had to find the quickest way to exit the chamber, the pressure and heat too much for the exploding fortress. The Artemis fired, followed by the GENESIS ZERO, in the exact same second, both heading straight for each other. The GENESIS ZERO missed the prism from the Nazca-class, and right between the two beams was the Archangel-class ship.
Athrun's eyes were wide in horror, but Kira was already racing towards the ship, hand outstretched as he cried aloud, his voice inaudible, even to him.
They had been too late. Far too late.
But two ships weren't.
It was perhaps rather comical that the workers of Heliopolis and Orb had already decided their reason in creating the large disks that they had installed into the two ships that had participated in the battle was to protect those who had gone into the battlefield. It was perhaps rather comical that they hadn't stayed behind to use the shields to protect Heliopolis, as how the bearer of the name of the disks should have. They moved in position, almost a split second too late, on either side of Archangel. Blue and white particles of the shield turned a shade of red as they intercepted the attack, exactly as how they had during the test they had endured a few short weeks ago. Only the redness began to turn darker and darker still, until it looked like blood in the middle of the universe.
Athrun held his breath as the last of the gamma firepower was fired from both GENESIS ZERO and Artemis. For one split second, the fighting stopped, all eyes trained on the two Protectors of Heliopolis. The Protectors of Heliopolis were now protecting the Archangel... protecting Cagalli and Lacus... the true protectors of Heliopolis. Those within the line of fire was reduced into nothing in a matter of seconds. The firing stopped, Artemis exploding straight after, but the GENESIS ZERO held. The disks continued to glow red, darker and darker, and Athrun realised he still wasn't breathing. He couldn't.
Inside the Akatsuki, Cagalli watched in horror as the power contained within the disks could no longer be held in place. The ships exploded, one after another, on either side of her, overpowered by the power of the attacks. Cagalli hit the controls of her Akatsuki, tears streaming down her face.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
C.E 79 GENESIS ZERO (Present Day)
Kira didn't know how he knew for certain that Yuri Amalfi was alive and inside the GENESIS. It was exactly the same as how he knew Durandal had been alive and inside the GENESIS during the last war. And just like during the last war, he could hear Athrun shouting his name from far behind, desperately catching up. Hot tears were streaming down Kira's face. Tears of betrayal and anger. Tears of relief that Lacus had survived, but anger that he had allowed himself to feel that relief at the cost of many good lives. He stopped short in the middle of the corridor as he spotted Yuri Amalfi making his way on the opposite side, stumbling once from a grave injury by his side. The oxygen was leaking out of the large ship, but they still had time. They had all the time in the world if Kira was to display his anger at the other man.
Amalfi gazed at Kira long and hard. "Freedom's pilot?" he guessed, tilting his head. The first time he had truly met the boy. The one face among many faces that was labelled as the suspect to Freedom's pilot, but this was the real one. He was surprised by how young he looked... young like Athrun. Like how his son would have been.
"Kira Yamato," Kira said quietly, gazing at the man in front of him. "I'm here to take you out of here."
Amalfi chuckled and shook his head. What a man, worthy of the name of his mobile suit. He raised his hand, pointing the gun at Kira's face. "No. Not for me. Unless if you want all this to continue again."
"Kira!" Another familiar figure emerged and Amalfi smiled. At least I got to meet him before I die... Nicol's saviour...
"Athrun Zala."
"...Amalfi-san."
Kira was looking at him with an unreadable expression in his wet eyes. Eyes that, Amalfi realised, was always full of sorrow. He recognised those eyes well. Eyes like his. "This doesn't have to continue again. Not if you don't want it to," Kira muttered.
"An idealist," Amalfi mused. "Perhaps it's not bad when the one in power is as such."
"Why does it have to continue?" Kira asked quietly.
"Because my son died for it," Amalfi spat, Nicol's picture burning in his chest pocket. "Don't you get it? Don't you understand just how many Coordinators had died because the Naturals killed them? It's the only way for us to survive! To feel at peace!"
"It's not!"
"My son died! A Natural killed him and a Natural will keep on killing us!"
Athrun had his gun pointed at Amalfi, though at his words, he couldn't help but glance once at his best friend. Kira hadn't raised his gun. Athrun had been prepared for that, ever since Kira learned the truth through the data block that they had received from Hikari. "Kira..." Athrun said quietly. Kira shook his head. He sighed.
"...Your son wasn't killed by a Natural," Kira whispered. "It was me. I was the pilot of the Strike. If it makes you have one less reason to kill, to wage war against the Naturals, to prevent us all from living with each other... You have reason to kill me," Kira said, stepping forward once. His eyes were tired as he gazed at the gun pointed at his head. Almost as if he was willing for it to fire and end it all for him.
Amalfi's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No. It wasn't. Athrun..?"
"It was," Athrun confirmed. "Kira is my childhood friend. I thought I had killed him... but I hadn't. He survived. And I realised that even if I had killed him, it wouldn't bring Nicol back."
"...No, it brought a whole load of other deaths instead," Amalfi said harshly.
Kira winced.
"And you hadn't?" Athrun countered. "It's time for us to end it. We have all killed. So has Nicol. But we all wish for nothing but to stop it from happening again."
"And what makes you think you'll achieve it this time?" Amalfi asked curiously.
"Because we're able," Kira answered, casting his eyes down.
Amalfi stared at the two in front of him. One was a friend of his son whom he admired greatly. A fighter, one who never gave up in search for peace and justice. And the other... the pilot of the Freedom. The Freedom. The legendary mobile suit who would constantly disable its enemies instead of bringing it down. It would save the lives of the pilots inside the cockpits, even if it knew that the pilots would likely just get new units. All for a chance. A hope. A dream. But he had killed his son, and to Yuri Amalfi, that was all that mattered.
The sound of a gunshot rang throughout the corridor, followed by an ear-piercing scream. Only one gunshot.
Author's Notes: I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter. Truly, truly, truly, I am. Unfortunately for me, I'm smack right in the middle of my finals right now, but I seriously couldn't put off this chapter any longer. So here you go. A full day writing this chapter out for you guys and I'll worry more about studying a bit later. I hope, in the end, that this battle has met your expectations, though I always found that it's the aftermath of a battle and not the battle itself that holds the biggest impact in a story like Gundam SEED. Which, in any case, if this battle had not met your expectations, I hope the next chapter will. Because it'll be full of what I do best - tying the strings and character interaction and exploration. I won't say when the next chapter will be out. Being right in the middle of my finals, I should not promise. But it should be out by the end of this month and that's all I'm going to say about when the next update will be.
Anyway, I hope you're all still out there, dearest readers. Please drop a word and let me know your views? I know some things have yet to be explained. Save the questions and it'll probably be answered by the end of the fic. I thank IgNighted, Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius and blackphoenix4ever for reviews left for the previous chapter. And thanks for all the alerts and favourites! My thanks as well to those who have read and reviewed the first chapter of my next fic, GENESIS. :D That fic will be a heck of a lot different to this, but I promise I'll try my best and not disappoint. I have high hopes for that fic. Happy New Year, and tune in for next time (apologies for the cliffhanger)!
IgNighted: That song was one of my absolute favourites. I was really upset it didn't get more of a role in GS/D, so I just had to use it. :D I'm glad you liked it!
Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius: Thanks for the review! XD I admit Ryuu had such a great timing for the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one!
blackphoenix4ever: Thanks for your review, and I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. Real life can be quite nasty sometimes. But I hope this was worth the wait!