category: Gundam SEED
disclaimer: I don't own it.
FORTY-NINE.
It was Kira who broke the absolute silence. "Are you sure?" he asked evenly.
"Positive." Cagalli massaged her temple with her left hand.
"Not again," Shinn spoke up, his voice firm. Everyone's heads turned to look at him in surprise, but he only raised his own higher. "We can't allow it."
"To counter it would mean to react in a similar manner," Andy observed. "Which is precisely what we want to avoid."
"But what are we to do? Tensions are rising around the globe," Athrun recounted tiredly. "The African Community is constantly feuding with the South African Union. Small-scale riots throughout the United States of South America are growing exponentially in severity. The Eurasian Federation continues to pressure the Kingdom of Scandinavia. They're all problems we've seen before and yet it's different this time."
"They're more focused, aren't they?" Dearka tapped a finger on the table ponderingly. "That's dangerous. Even the largest fires start as small sparks."
Lacus twisted her hands together in her lap. "It seems we have forgotten too soon the losses incurred the last time this happened."
"I'll admit I'm not in the loop anymore, but I haven't heard anything serious about these issues," Mu interjected. "How can you be certain?"
"ZAFT has sources among the insurgents at the hotspots by the Horn of Africa." Yzak answered briskly.
"Scandinavia keeps Orb informed of the interactions with Eurasia," Cagalli continued. "And Miriallia was in South America for intelligence two days ago."
Miriallia pulled out photos of masses of people and the devastating wreckage of roadside bombs for everyone to see. "The government's working media damage control nonstop and travel in and out is extremely limited. It's not shocking that the news haven't leaked yet."
Murrue rested her forehead in her hands. "This is too much. We all thought we were past this already."
Cagalli gathered the courage to say what she had been meaning to, quickly scanning over the expressions of those surrounding her. They ranged from overwhelmed to slightly panicked to angry. "I'm having the ships and mobile suits moved from Onogoro."
There was another long silence during which no one dared breathe. "To the holding chamber under Murrue's house," Cagalli persisted.
A cold dread swept over the table with her words. The problems weren't distant anymore; they were pressing and real and trailing them at every bend in the path. And the Archangel and Eternal were being moved from storage after years – for accessibility, they all realized.
"What does this mean?" Lunamaria asked quietly.
"We haven't left the battlefield after all." Kira moved his distant gaze to the soft rain outside the windows and no one said anything for a very long time afterwards.
notes: Ahh! Only one update left; I can hardly believe it!
I feel like all I do in these end-of-chapter notes is gush about how quickly time is passing and how far we've come. But truly, every time I put up another chapter of SPTW, I think that we are closer and closer to the end, which makes me all sorts of sad. And yet happy too, because I can hardly wait for the day a few months from now when I can kick back and read this from beginning to end with the amazing GS/GSD soundtrack playing in the background. (The chapters are a little too fresh for me to properly enjoy the experience at the current time.)
Please allow me to extend my sincerest thanks as we move into the final chapter. I appreciate each and every reader who takes the time and leaves a review or messages me about the story. All of you have helped shape STPW a great deal.
NEXT PHASE: Why is it that they can sit there so peacefully, so normally, can smile and eat and talk laugh? Wars never end.