The Second Battle of Jachin Due concluded only after it claimed the lives of millions upon millions.
Most of the battle really was just one huge, confused blur in his memory. He remembers a lot of barking, both from him and to him through his MS intercom. There hadn't been much thought, really, but a seemingly unending flow of adrenaline. There was a flood of lights and death and information, and he did not have the luxury of processing it all in the cockpit of the Duel.
The only clear thought in his mind was that he could not die, not after he promised Shiho that he would survive.
His memory clears up where he started fighting the Raider, one of the OMNI's new gundams. He had already defeated the Forbidden, but the Duel had suffered serious damage and he knew that he might not make it this time.
Then the Buster appeared.
The rest of the fight turns into a blur again. He only really remembers watching the Raider explode as both the Duel and the Buster's phase shift armor shut down.
"…ak! Yzak, can you hear me?"
Dearka's voice, mixed with some static, shouted at him over the intercom. He inhaled and let go of the controls; the main power of the Duel was about to shut down anyway.
"Yes, Dearka, I can hear you. It's good to know that not everything dies when mobile suits run out of power."
He heard Dearka's familiar laugh on the other side. It almost felt like they were back in the old days, when the Creuset team was still intact and the world was a simple place.
But this was no time to be sentimental. They were still in the middle of a war, and two mobile suits with no protection or firearms was nothing more than a target.
"So what now, Yzak?"
"What do you mean, what now? Are you a fucking idiot? Am I supposed to sit here and wait for someone to come and blow me up?"
Dearka laughed again, but he sounded more resigned this time. Yzak gritted his teeth. He was not giving up; he was not going to become another scar in her life. He quickly checked the Duel's statistics.
"I only have my emergency battery left, and there are no friendly ships that I can get to with this little power."
He heard the sound of typing on the line, and he knew Dearka was checking the Buster.
"The Buster is completely dead, but…"
"But what, Dearka?"
"You're not going to like this."
"Believe me, there is nothing I'm going to like about this fucking situation."
"We can get to the Archangel."
Yzak froze. Of all the ships that could be around, it had to be that damned ship.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"…Unfortunately, no."
"I can't fucking go to the Archangel! I know they're your friends, Dearka, but in case you forgot I'm still a part of ZAFT!"
There was a slight pause.
"Yzak… You're my best bud, and you saved my life just now. You saved Cagalli, too."
Yzak frowned.
"Cagalli? Who the hell are you talking about?"
"The Strike Rouge you defended from the Forbidden. She's Kira…the Freedom's twin, apparently. And the princess of Orb."
Yzak vaguely recalled the pink MS he pushed out of the way of the Forbidden.
"Well I didn't know that."
"I know. But you also told them that the Genesis was coming. My point is, Yzak, you're not their enemy. I know you haven't fully come to terms with everything that happened, but this is our best bet."
Yzak closed his eyes. The Archangel. How ironic was it that the ship that killed Rusty and Nicol –the ship he spent the better part of the war trying to sink- was now the only chance he had for surviving?
If this had been a few months ago, he would rather have left Dearka and died than approach the Archangel. But now things were different. He had a responsibility to fill, and his personal grudge seemed inconsequential in the larger picture.
"If you're so convinced they won't shoot me on the spot, Dearka."
Dearka laughed again as the Duel started to move slowly through space dragging the Buster along.
xoxox
He listened detachedly as Dearka argued with the Archangel bridge as they approached the ship. He didn't expect it to be a smooth process anyway. All he could really think about was Shiho and his team. He attempted to send a message to Shiho while they were heading to the Archangel, but apparently running on emergency power meant he could only communicate within a twenty-feet radius.
After a few minutes of bickering, they were granted access to the ship. As the Duel and the Buster crashed onto the floor of their hangar, Yzak noticed how even his emergency battery had completely ran out. He was stuck on the ship whether he liked it or not.
Yzak and Dearka got out of their mobile suits. A man who seemed to be the chief mechanic punched Dearka jokingly and complained about the atrocious condition of the Buster, but the rest of the mechanics were staring at the strange intruder on their ship. A few were glaring. Yzak did not blame them; just as he had hated this ship, the crew on this ship must have hated the Creuset team.
He felt a tug on his arm. It was Dearka, who apparently had finished his bickering with the mechanic. His usually joking eyes were a little more serious now.
"The captain wants us to report to the bridge."
Yzak nodded, and followed Dearka through the foreign ship.
The bridge of the Archangel looked strangely similar to that of the Voltaire. A few of the operators were kids about his age. One of them, the CIC, stole a glance at Dearka and he saw the blonde return a smile.
The captain turned around, and Yzak was surprised to see a young woman. She looked like she had just been crying. It was just another proof that they –those who he used to categorize as an "enemy"- were really no different than himself. He wondered how they all ended up in the battlefield, trying to murder each other.
"I'm Murrue Ramius, captain of the Archangel. I've heard that you are Dearka's friend."
Her voice was gentle. Yzak wondered if he should give her a salute, but decided against it. The woman in front of him was not part of any military anymore.
"Yzak Joule, commander of the Joule team and pilot of the Duel. I thank you for allowing me to board your ship."
He could feel some of the crew tense at his introduction. Murrue, however, just smiled.
"I wish there was something I could do for you, Mr. Joule, but unfortunately we're still in the middle of a war. I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait it out here."
Yzak nodded and was about to exit the bridge when Shiho's face crossed his mind.
He couldn't wait it out in the Archangel. The Duel would have disappeared from the radars the moment he landed on the ship. They would have thought he was dead.
He had to return to the Voltaire. He couldn't leave his team alone. He couldn't leave Shiho alone. Not while he was actually alive, anyway.
"I have to go."
Both Dearka and the Captain looked at him in disbelief. The CIC even threw him a dubious glance.
"Yzak, are you out of your fucking mind?"
Dearka shouted. Yzak clenched his fist. He probably was, but that was besides the point.
"I need to get back out there, Dearka."
"The Duel is completely dead! You can't leave on a mobile suit that won't even move!"
"I'll figure something out. I can't just fucking sit here."
"You can, and you will. Have you gone suicidal?"
Yzak felt anger rising in him. He knew that Dearka was only concerned about him, but really, Dearka was not the one who was around while he was borderline suicidal.
"I can't just disappear from the radars like that! I need to get back to the Voltaire, Dearka. I still have a duty to fill!"
"I know you're a commander now, Yzak, but I'm sure your team will be fine without you for a couple of hours."
"It's not just my team, Dearka. They can function without me, and I've left them in the best hands."
"Then what?"
"…I promised someone I wouldn't die."
Yzak saw both the Captain and the CIC flinch in their seats. They probably knew what it was like when someone close to them never came back; they would understand. He inhaled, and repeated more quietly this time.
"I promised her I wouldn't die. I can't go MIA."
Dearka tried to retort, but he couldn't think of anything he could say. Instead, he glanced over at the CIC, who was still frozen in her seat.
The captain looked at him dolefully, and reluctantly started to speak.
"…We do have an extra battery pack for the Strike."
Instantly, the entire bridge turned to her in disbelief. Yzak himself could not believe his ears. Was she offering him a spare part for one of their own mobile suits? To their former enemy, who tried to shoot them down countless times?
"Wouldn't the Strike be needing that?"
"Not anymore, he won't."
The captain's eyes were full of pain, and her voice screamed that she was heartbroken. Yzak sensed that there had been another loss on the ship –one that hit very close to her heart. Before he could say anything, she turned to the CIC.
"Miriallia, please tell the maintenance crew to put the Strike battery pack onto the Duel, now. It needs to be ready to launch ASAP."
The CIC broke out of her trance and started to type. Yzak looked at the captain, then at Dearka, then back at the captain. He still could not believe what was happening, and neither could the Archangel crew, apparently. He did know, though, that he had never been so grateful in his life.
"Thank you."
The captain smiled sadly.
"I wouldn't want another girl to cry because of the war."
Yzak nodded firmly. He thanked the captain one last time before running out of the bridge.
As soon as the Duel had launched off the Archangel, Yzak started flying as fast as he could towards the Voltaire. Most of the battle was over; the only threat left on either side was the Genesis, and as a soldier of ZAFT, there was nothing he could do about it. Dearka had told him that Athrun and the Freedom's pilot was dealing with that, anyhow. As much as he hated to admit, those two were probably the most talented MS pilots alive. If they couldn't handle it, no one else could.
He quickly checked his radar, and drew in a breath of relief when it caught Shiho's CGUE. He wanted so badly to send her a message, to make sure she was okay, but there were other issues that also had to be dealt with. She was alive, and he was back on the radar again. That was enough for now. Instead, he opened his line to his entire team.
"This is Yzak Joule. Everyone return to the Voltaire right now. We are done, and we are falling back."
A few of his team protested, but after he repeated his instructions several times, he saw that all members of his team started to head back to the ship. Just as he reached the Voltaire, he saw a bright explosion where Jachin Due once was. He felt all the tension in his body dissipate, knowing that Athrun had completed his task.
The Genesis was destroyed, and the long, long war was over.
Shiho arrived at the hangar shortly after him. As soon as her MS was completely secured, she flew out of her cockpit to where he was standing. Yzak had never seen her look so mad, but he also had never been so relieved to see her at all.
"What in the world were you thinking?"
She practically hissed as she approached him. He attempted to feign nonchalance.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Telling us to retreat before we were technically allowed? You do realize they can court-martial you for that, right?"
He smiled wryly in return. That was probably the least of his concerns.
"I've done a shitload of things they can court-martial me for. One more won't make a difference. Besides, there was no point in any of you staying out there anymore, risking your lives, when the only thing that could do any serious harm was on our side."
Shiho simply glared at him before she spoke again, with a little less hostility.
"You went MIA for 27 minutes."
He grimaced. He was secretly hoping that she hadn't noticed, and that he could have saved her the agony. But Shiho was his best subordinate; of course she noticed everything. She added, a little shakily.
"…I thought you were dead."
Yzak pulled her into his arms, unable to meet the pain in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Shiho. I'm sorry."
He kissed her forehead, then whispered gently into her ear.
"But I'm still alive. We're still alive."
They stood there in each other's arms until they could stop shaking, and really believe that all of this was real.
They are finally actually moving on... or are they? Which, by the way, this fic will also cover the GSD timeline, so hang on there... please?
Updates may be a little slower since I just started college, and they are already giving us ridiculous amounts of things to do... But I won't stop writing, I swear. I will keep updating.
I got a review in my last chapter that the Joule team did not have the Voltaire at the end of GS, which is probably true. I have no idea. Sorry. My bad. It may eventually get fixed once I'm done, but for now please just smile and nod and pretend that I'm following canon.
The "anonymous" CIC of the Archangel is our lovely Miriallia, of course. Which reminds me... Mir or Miri? Miri is what it officially is (at least in the Japanese audio anyway), but Mir looks more natural. Please let me know, since there will be Dearka/Miriallia subtext coming up later on.
So if anyone needs clarification, Murrue gave Yzak an extra battery pack for the Strike. At this point the Strike was piloted by Mwu, who had just gone MIA. Because they are all part of the GAT series, I am just assuming that non-specific parts like batteries are probably interchangeable.
The Forbidden and the Raider are the MS of the OMNI extendeds (Shani, etc.). Yzak gets one by himself, gets another with the help of Dearka, which can I point out is a feat that even Kira and Athrun struggled with earlier in the series? Yes, I love Yzak. And I think he deserves a lot more love than he gets. So just thought I'd point that out.
Reviews, comments, criticisms, all more than welcome!