Yzak does not remember how exactly he got himself and what was left of Shiho's MS back to the Voltaire. In fact, he almost wishes that he could forget the entirety of that battle, the war, and the terrible, terrible loss that came with it.

As soon as both mobile suits were secured on the hangar, he jumped out of his cockpit. His thoughts were incoherent, a jumbled mess that pounded heavily against his skull. He simply knew that he had to get to her as fast as he could. He needed to move faster, faster, so that he could get to her in time.

In time for what, he simply refused to acknowledge.

It took longer than an eternity for the mechanics to pry Shiho's cockpit door open. The severe damage to the MS had caused the frame to shift and parts of it to melt. The mechanics' expressions were grim as they struggled with the ZAKU; while they worked with urgency, Yzak could see that none of them believed Shiho would have made it.

She is strong, he told himself. Stronger than any of us. He held on to that smallest fragment of hope because he knew his entire world depended on it. On her.

But even he could not deny reality when they finally cracked open that door and dragged her outside.

She was still conscious. Breathing. But only barely. The lower half of her body was completely mangled, and even through her bright red pilot suit, Yzak could tell she was bleeding too much, too fast. The unmistakable smell of death –the blood, the burned flesh, the complete and utter despair– filled his lungs. He saw a few of the crew avert their eyes at the sight. He almost wished he could too.

Instead, he collapsed on to the floor beside her. The rest of the crew watched, frozen in horror at the gruesome fate of their beloved officer. Even the medics stood back; there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that anyone could have done to save her.

"Yzak."

Her voice was barely a whisper. Her beautiful features were paler than they had ever been. He tried to respond, but the bile and tears in his throat choked out any word that he could have formed. He reached for face with trembling hands; she was too cold. Much too cold.

"Yzak."

She repeated, but this time the sound barely even left her lips.

"You'll make it through, Shiho. Everything will be alright."

He sounded utterly unconvincing even to his own ears. Shiho let out a sarcastic laugh, which only turned into a series of bloody coughs. His fingers shook violently as he tried to wipe away the blood from the corner of her mouth.

"I wish."

Her gaze was strong, unwavering, even at the brink of death. Her calmness was unnerving.

"Thank you. For everything. For giving me a glimpse of what life could be."

"Shiho…"

"I wish I could have lived that life with you."

She winced and gasped for air. Her breathing was shallow, rapid, uneven. He wanted so badly to ease her suffering, but the only thing he could come up with was a confused, utterly unconvincing jumble of words.

"Stop talking. You will be fine. Everything will be okay."

Shiho shook her head ever so slightly, which was enough to silence Yzak. Her lips parted again, but her words were nothing more than air. Yzak quickly pulled himself closer to her; he dared not miss a single letter of what she said. The very last words that she would leave with him.

"Promise me… that you will live on. For me."

Even though he held Shiho as tightly as he could in his arms, he could feel Death's cold hands slowly pull her away. There was no more time.

After all the years that they had fought for the world, for a future, for themselves, there was no more time left for what they had yearned for since the very first day they met.

"I love you."

And with a final draw of breath, she was gone.

Forever.

A deep, deep sorrow filled the air as the rest of the crew lowered their heads, but all Yzak could feel was an intolerable pain, like he was being torn into a million different pieces.

There were no words that could possibly have described the total and complete despair that smothered every fiber of his being as he realized that he would never hear her voice, or feel her warm embrace, or see her amethyst eyes glitter with any kind of emotion –sorrow, anger, passion, love- again.

There were a million memories whirling around in his mind. Her dark lashes fluttering against her pale skin. Her cool touch tracing his jaw. The faint floral scent that followed her wherever she went. Feverish kisses. How perfectly she fit in his arms. Her tears, her scars. Ice cubes clinking in her glass of whiskey. How she would whisper his name into his ears while they made sweet, passionate love.

The short-lived, beautiful dream they realized in the pilots's locker room before the battle.

All of it, gone.

He had never even told her that he loved her.

"Shiho!"

An anguished roar escaped from his throat as he drew her cold body to his chest. A soft sob broke out from the crew.

There was nobody left who could answer to that name.

I hope that this was not too anticlimactic. I tried to make it very emotional but I'm not quite sure how successful I was. I hope I was able to convey to the complete heartbreak that Yzak had to experience.

Thank you so much for your support, there will be an epilogue coming soon...ish... to conclude this whole saga. I swear that there will be some redeeming, happy things that will happen then.

Meanwhile, I have written a spin-off of this fic called Loose Ends. This is a Dearka/Miriallia fic, which will also tie into the epilogue a little bit. If you have time, please read that one too!

Again, thanks so much, please review!