In preparation for launching, Yzak was given another Nazca-class ship, the Rousseau, and was promoted to white-coat status.

It was an unnecessary measure. No, more than unnecessary; expanding the armed force was nothing short of a provocation to the OMNI. To the fragile peace they had won with bloody hands. Yzak protested when he was first notified of his promotion. He had no desire to become commander of a fleet; besides, he was perfectly capable of accomplishing any peacetime mission with the Voltaire alone. However, Dullindal –the mysterious man who saved his life who was now head of the Council- insisted, and ultimately, Dullindal's orders were the only ones that really mattered.

Dearka decided to return to ZAFT after a week of moping. It wasn't like there was anything else he could do, he told Yzak. There was no point in rotting away in his apartment like some kind of vegetable. He complained a little about being stripped of elite status upon reenlisting, a consequence for defecting during the War, though he added that he looked better in green anyway. Yzak would have been more relieved by his friend's "recovery" from his breakup if it had been even the slightest bit convincing. The blonde still looked like a lost puppy that had been kicked one too many times, as far as he was concerned.

Yzak sighed as he stood in the hangar of the Voltaire, overseeing the last stages of loading and stocking. It was disconcerting how familiar the mechanic noises and slightly stale air had become; finding a warship homely was not exactly a good sign, especially when he'd felt so out of place for the two years he spent in the real world. It seemed like a reminder that he was forever altered by the battlefield, that he would never be a normal civilian again.

He flipped through the clipboard in his hand as the new mobile suits were loaded onto the ship. Seven new ZAKUs, straight out of the line. He had to admit that he missed the familiar face of the Duel, but of course, the Duel had been scrapped into a useless piece of metal in the last war.

He paused in his thoughts, and flipped back to the page before. He scanned through the list of pilots in his team and their respective mobile suits until he found what he was looking for.

Shiho Hahnenfuss, ZGMF-1000/M [Blaze ZAKU Warrior].

He frowned. Shiho loved the CGUE; it was her poster child, in a way, as an engineer who actually contributed to the development of the MS. Unlike his MS, the CGUE was still intact after the war.

He reached for the intercom and messaged Shiho in the bridge to report to the hangar.

xoxox

Shiho walked in to the hangar with her usual confident stride and a slightly annoyed expression. She was in the middle of briefing some of the new additions to the team, and she did not appreciate the disturbance caused by the commander himself. The mechanics who saw her expression smiled to each other: Shiho Hahnenfuss, the only member of the team who was allowed to –and really, dared to- defy the commander was back.

"What in the world do you need me for? I was kind of…"

Her voice trailed off as Yzak turned to her. The last time they actually saw each other face to face was the night they reconciled; since then, they both had been too busy with transfers and preparations and everything else that had to be done.

Yzak's scar, the huge gash that marred his perfect features, was gone.

"What happened to your scar?"

He smirked; it always entertained him to see Shiho sincerely shocked.

"I figured I don't need it anymore, Shiho."

Removing scars was nothing compared to some of the things made possible by the technological advancements of the Cosmic Era. In fact, when Yzak was first injured by the Strike in the War, he had to explicitly request to keep the scar. It was an unusual request; he still remembered Dearka's aghast expression when he first revealed it to him. His mother had been mortified as well, pleading with him to fix his face for months before she realized it was futile.

The scar was intended to be a reminder of the humiliation of defeat from the Strike, and later the loss of his teammates. But it had become an irrelevant artifact from the past; the days when he was motivated purely by anger and vengeance were behind him.

Shiho stared at him for a minute before she reached her hand to his face, tracing the smooth patch of skin where his scar used to be. Her touch was oddly soothing.

"I like you better this way."

Her lashes fluttered as she spoke, and he could feel the blood rushing to his face. He felt absolutely ridiculous, like he was a grade school boy speaking to a girl for the first time.

He mentally slapped himself, remembering why he'd called her in the first place.

"Shiho, they assigned you a ZAKU."

She stared at him again, the irritation returning to her face.

"I know. And?"

"What happened to the CGUE?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know if you've been living under a rock for the last two years, Commander, but the CGUE is an outdated model. It's been off the lines for months."

"But it meant more to you than just a MS."

He could still remember her gentle expression as she faced her CGUE in the hangar of the Vesalius. She simply scoffed at him.

"Yes, I was attached to the MS I developed. I also knew its limits better than anyone else. The ZAKU has much better specs, and I'm not conceited enough to think I can hold my own in a mobile suit five generations old. I thought you needed a good subordinate, not another average one. I can always go back to R&D, you know?"

Yzak looked at her in amazement.

"You know what, Shiho?"

"What?"

"This is exactly why I needed you back on the team."

She smirked.

"If that's all you have to say, I'm going back. I know it must come as a surprise, but I am actually pretty busy."

Yzak could only nod, and watched her return to the bridge. As she walked out of the door, Dearka walked in. The blonde did a double take, and approached him with a look of disbelief.

"Who is that, and please tell me she's not taken."

Yzak scowled at his friend.

"That, Dearka, is Shiho Hahnenfuss, second-in-command of the Joule team and your superior officer. And you will keep your fucking hands off her."

He snarled, causing Dearka to take a step back. The blonde instantly reached an epiphany.

"That's her, isn't it?"

"Shut up."

"Chill out, dude, I'm not stupid enough to hit on your girl. Especially if she is capable of reducing the mighty Yzak Joule to that kind of miserable dump. Although…"

"Although what, Elsman?"

"She is fucking hot."

Yzak glared daggers at Dearka as the he walked away, laughing to himself.

Laughter sounded so hollow coming from such a dejected-looking mess of a man.

And so I try to make up for my non-updating for the last few months.

This is the last chapter dealing with the 2 year period between GS and GSD. Next chapter will be the beginning of the GSD timeline...

Hope you enjoyed, and THANK YOU to everyone who took time out of their busy schedule this holiday season to read this :)