"In this world there's sadness so profound you can't even cry, like you're being surrounded by a deep, endless darkness..."

- Day-Break

"...but the twilight has a different color now."

- See-Saw

"I believe your love. Never give up, spread open your wounded wings. Flying up to the sky, you sketch a boundless dream, so far away."

- Two-Mix

Lacus held Athrun's hand tight in the dull humming darkness of the cockpit. His arm wrapped around her as she squeezed her eyes shut and tucked her helmet underneath his. Together, they took a long breath.

They hadn't fooled themselves into thinking it was going to be a graceful escape.

The sound of straining metal roared from every direction. Fires broke out as debris struck the volatile storage canisters lining the floor. The hangar was bathed in the color of blood as every emergency system in the sector whined and blared in alert. Machine guns were constantly firing while bullets ricocheted. Athrun and Lacus's tiny enclosed world was in a constant earthquake. But the most frightening thing was the argument between Patrick Zala and his men being broadcast through the hangar's loudspeakers.

"Issue a remote shut down!"

"It's refusing the command, sir! Our signal is completely locked out!"

"Don't tell me they've BOTH been compromised!"

"No, the Justice set is still working. Freedom's been sabotaged!"

"Reinforce all of the harnesses!"

"It's broken through them!"

"Shut down the umbilicals!"

"They've been ripped off, sir! He's already running off the reactor!"

"How the hell did they get the startup codes?"

"They didn't use the codes, sir! It was some sort of Executive override!"

"What?"

"Biometrics, sir. A fingerprint match. Not one of ours. Siegel must have had extra credentials encoded when the project was still in development. We had no way of knowing he left it in there!"

"Siegel? How in the world is a dead man hijacking a mobile suit?"

"The override wasn't triggered by his prints, sir!"

"Then whose?"

"His daughter's!"

Athrun aimed his sights and cleared a path using the suit's head gatlings. Lacus crossed her arms over her helmet and shrieked as ten tons of broken steel beams rained down from the scaffolding and smashed across the cockpit's camera view.

"Is it still in Phase Shift Down?" Patrick's voice hollered through the hangar.

"All diagnostics are being jammed! We can't get a clear visual! It probably hasn't been operating long enough to…"

"Is it using the damn armor yet or not?!"

"That's a negative, sir."

"Argh, activate Titan Protocol Wayland-Svanhild! Blast the damn thing to oblivion! She's not going to get away unless we let her!"

"Half of the engineers are still down there! He's your own son, for Christ's sake!"

"Do you think any of that matters now? We can't let her fall into the wrong hands! Start the countdown!"

There was nothing left restricting the mobile suit's movement, but there still wasn't enough clearance to push it to its full power. Athrun steered the cameras as far up as they would go and, in sheer desperation, with Lacus still holding his arms as she curled into a shivering terrified ball, he began reaching. The cockpit shifted roughly to the left and right as he alternated the controls.

"It's out of the hangar bed. We can't contain it anymore!"

"Seal all of the launch bay doors!"

"It's no use, sir! It's already past Bulkhead 3!"

"How in the hell? The floodgates are shut! The exhaust from the thrusters should have vaporized them!"

"It… it's not the Hi-MAT, sir! It's propelling itself through the elevator manually!"

"It's WHAT?!"

"It's climbing, sir!"

Athrun could start to see the stars beyond the immense blanket of smoke. The final airlock was wide open and the light at the end of the catapult bay was getting brighter.

"At least get it on the grid! I want to know where they're taking her! I want to know which treasonous PLANT district they're conspiring with!"

"It's a complete ghost, sir! All of its tracking systems have been jammed!"

"GOD DAMN IT!"

Athrun held Lacus close as he continued steering with one arm. He spoke just loud enough so she could hear his soothing voice over the brutal cacophony.

"Do you know where to find Cagalli?"

"Mmh." She nodded simply, still keeping her eyes clenched shut.

A spiral of fire erupted from the outside port of the launch silo. Within the scorching red tower was the outline of an angel spreading its wings for the first time as it painfully dragged itself up from the pits of Hell. Its bright golden eyes were the only discernible feature of its fiery silhouette. Freedom assumed its Phase Shift colors, launched into open space, and quickly disappeared into a twinkling dark corner of the Lagrange point, heading towards Earth.

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed my retelling of the SEED episode 1 ending with Athrun switched into Kira's role and combined with Robot Jox references.