"Wow, I was expecting the beach or something, not karaoke" Hilde said, following behind. Marcel and Victoria also quickly followed Hilde, Garret however lingered outside for a minute.
"I remember this place…" he said with a sad smile on his face. He walked into the building and followed the others to the second floor. "So who goes first the blonde pilot asked, sitting on the soft seat that went around almost the entirety of the circle room. Jutting out from the wall was a screen and in the centre of the room was what looked like a dance floor with a microphone standing in the middle.
"I reckon since it was Aston's idea he goes first" Marcel said, eager to hear how badly his Commander would sing. Everyone's eyes fell on Aston as he slid his sunglasses up into his hair and took the microphone. As he removed the microphone from the stand the screen turned on and a voice began to speak.
"Please speak name, song title and artist" the voice spoke.
"Aston Falcon, Invoke by T.M. Revolution" the Commander spoke into the microphone. There was a loading symbol on the screen for a few seconds and then the music for the song started and Aston began to sing. "Every time we hurry past each other, we hit and tear ourselves on impact
and we feel the pain of each other's wings. We were embraced in unclean, impure arms
because in our loneliness we didn't know any better. The moment we connect, eternity will awaken, I long for it. Exposed in a flickering instant that flew by too fast, I can't reach anything alone,
these mere wishes and fading words, can't get us anywhere by themselves. Though I fixed my eyes right on them, I've still lost sight of the stars, but their light remains, and no one can steal it." Aston sang, his eyes closed and not even reading the lyrics that appeared on screen.
"Holy crap… he's good" Marcel said amazed. Everyone watched and listened in awe as the Commander sang the song perfectly, surprised by his singing voice. Garret leant against the wall, moving his lips to match the lyrics as he read them.
"Did you know he could sing like this?" Victoria whispered to the blonde pilot. Garret nodded silently in reply, watching the Commander. As the song finished the others all applauded Aston who sat down next to Garret, a satisfied smile on his face.
"Wow, I haven't done that for a while" he said. "Who's up next?" Aston asked, looking between the others. Marcel quickly leapt to his feet and approached the microphone. He selected a song and began singing. The others tried their hardest not to cover their ears from the off key singing of the rock song Marcel had picked.
"I thought Cecil was bad last time we were here" Garret said quietly with a smile. Aston tried not to laugh at the comment.
"No, I think Cecil is still winning in terms of worst singing, he did make us leave the room after all" Aston said, looking at Garret. "Amazing mobile suit pilot, horrible singer" the Commander added. When Marcel finished it was Garret who stood up.
"Garret Kross, Shoot by Seki Tomokazu" Garret said and Aston's eyes looked at the blonde young man. He remembered when he had come here with Garret and Cecil, Garret had refused to sing, saying that nobody would ever hear him sing. The music started and Garret took a deep breath. "Starlight, bursting in the distance, scattering down fragments of a dream, wounding the palm that reached for them. On the days we only fought, there were probably some things we could have just talked over, but we only believe in the strength of our solitary fists. Even my hatred is turned into power Back-to-back, deep emotion passing by me, growing even closer, my eyes looking the resounding future in the face. Shoot for the future, to a place that still shines, boosting speed to survive Accelerating this much, this glow by my side, suddenly, I wished I could have protected it" he sung.
"That's a nice song, and Garret has a really nice voice" Victoria said quietly to herself, watching her friend. The group sang on long into the night before heading to a hotel that Aston had booked for them all. Garret sat in the room he shared with Marcel and Aston staring out the window at the cityscape below.
"So how come we didn't just go back to the Ceres?" Marcel asked, looking at Aston.
"Well I figure since we're on vacation, what's the point of having a good time and then just going back to a military ship, it wouldn't really feel like a break" the Commander explained in reply. Marcel saw his reasoning and fell backwards onto his bed. Aston looked over at Garret and saw a look of unease on the young pilot's face. "Something wrong Garret?" he asked, walking over to his old friend.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm ok. I guess I've just gotten so used to being ready to go out into combat on a moment's notice for so long it feels kinda weird to be able to relax like this" Garret explained.
"I know how you feel. But for the next week, let's just forget about this whole war and take it easy. I think this break is well deserved for all of us" Aston explained, placing a hand on Garret's shoulder.
"I'll try" Garret said, turning his head back to the window. Aston took a deep breath and cleared his throat, causing Garret to turn around again.
"Garret Kross! I hereby order you to have fun for the next week! Failure to follow this order will result in solitary confinement for forty-eight hours!" Aston said strictly, staring Garret dead in the eyes. He kept his gaze until Garret started laughing uncontrollably. "Is there a problem soldier?" Aston said loudly, sounding like a military drill instructor.
"How the hell did you say that with a straight face?" Garret asked between laughs. He clutched his stomach as he doubled over, trying to breathe. Aston smiled, having accomplished what he had wanted. He glanced over at Marcel and saw the boy smiling; he had been worried about Garret as well.
"Just make sure you have fun Garret, for all of us" Aston said, walking over to his bed. After the first day, the Ceres crew's vacation seemed to fly by. The pilots spent time on the beach, shopping and doing various other things to relax. The final day of their vacation came and the group decided to remain at the hotel for the whole day.
Garret stood on the roof of the tall building leaning on the railing, his blonde hair and black, leather jacket fluttering in the wind. He stared out at the peaceful city; smiling at the people he could see enjoying their everyday lives in the streets below. "I think after this war, I'll come back here. Would you like to join me?" he spoke, hearing a pair of footsteps approaching.
"I'd like that. I want to get away from all this fighting, I think we've seen our fair share" Victoria replied, walking up next to him. She raised her hand to hold her long hair as it started flying around wildly in the wind. Her other hand pulled her jacket closer to her as she watched Garret staring out at the city.
"To be honest Victoria, I was going to get Aston to make you go back to being in charge of the CIC when you first became a pilot" Garret said, looking down to his friend.
"What stopped you?" Victoria asked.
"I saw how good you became. At first I was worried every time you went onto the battlefield, but now I feel like I can trust you with my life. I feel like if I was going to be shot down, I know you'd be there to save me" Garret explained, stepping back from the railing and turning to Victoria.
"I would be there" Victoria said. Garret smiled at his friend and took her into his arms. Victoria's eyes widened with surprise before she returned his embrace. The two stood together for a long moment. Garret leant down and whispered into Victoria's ear, words that made her eyes widen again and her cheeks go bright red.
"Let's bring down Purity, together" Garret said and Victoria nodded in reply. "Let's head back inside, the others are probably wondering where we are" the blonde young man said and the two headed back inside the hotel.
The next day the pilots all returned to the Ceres and gathered on the bridge where Captain Phillips waited to give them the ship's orders. "Welcome back everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your vacation. Now however, it's time to get back to work" the black-uniformed man spoke, looking between his pilots and seeing the renewed determination in their eyes.
"What are our orders Captain?" Hilde asked, looking at Richard.
"I don't know if you know about this Hilde, but Purity has constructed their own mass driver on a large artificial island to the east of Orb. We're tasked with moving out alongside the Izanami and heading to destroy the mass driver and the island it was constructed on. It is imperative that we succeed so that we can deal a major blow to Purity's space campaigns" Richard explained.
"I know Purity have a mass driver in Africa but I wasn't aware of this one, it must be something they've only just finished" Hilde commented.
"We were only alerted to this when Orb forces witnessed a large number of shuttles launching from it earlier today. Admiral La Flaga will be joining us on this mission seeing how important it is, so he will be providing assistance on the battlefield should he deem it necessary" Richard explained to the pilots. "It will take us about two days to reach the battle zone, so you have today to prep your machines and prepare for the battle. The mass driver will most likely be heavily guarded so be prepared for a difficult fight" the Captain added. He dismissed the pilots and watched as the group left the bridge, headed for the hangar.
"So we're finally going on a real offensive against Purity… about time they're taking us off defense" Marcel commented.
"Oh Marcel, I forgot to tell you something. We're receiving two more pilots for our squad. They'll be part of the Izanami's crew but I want you to head over there when they arrive as sort of an ambassador for our ship" Aston explained, walking ahead of Marcel.
"What? Who is it, and why does it have to be me?" Marcel asked, moving up so he was walking level with the Commander.
"I'm not entirely sure who it is, I didn't choose you anyway, Captain Phillips did" Aston replied. "They'll be arriving on the Izanami at 1300 hours today, head over in the Chaos a little earlier" he added.
"Fine, I'll be there" Marcel said with a sigh. The group of pilots arrived in the hangar and each boarded their machines. Garret booted up the systems of the Duel and watched as the screen lit up and watched it go through the start-up sequence.
"I'm back partner" Garret said, placing his hand on the main screen. "We've got a big battle ahead of us, it's gonna be rough" he told his Gundam. "I think since we'll be fighting a large amount of enemies I might have a frag grenade loaded onto the rifle. Since it'll be a long battle I'll have to be careful I don't expend my battery too quickly, I might have to see if there are any physical weapons onboard that I can take out with me" Garret thought to himself as he rapidly typed away on the keyboard, making sure all of the systems were working as normal.
Just as a little side not for any who didn't pick up on it. The song that Aston sung was the english lyrics to the first opening of Gundam SEED and the song that Garret sung was the english lyrics to Yzak Joule's character song.