"All hands prepare for take-off, Setsuna, Tieria, Apollo, go to your Mobile suits and prepare for whatever may happen."
"Already there, Sumeragi-san," Tieria replied, "Setsuna, Apollo are you locked in."
"Setsuna F. Seiei, 00 Gundam Qan(T) Exia, prepared for launch," Setsuna said over the comm-link.
"Apollo Zala, Omega Gundam, set to go," Apollo added subsequently.
"Ptolemaios 2 Kai is set to go, GN Field On, Mirage Colloid On," Gray Feldt stated, "GN Thrusters at 60%. All Systems reporting clear. Heading into the atmosphere." The ship descended to Earth in a cloud of GN Particles acting as a pseudo-heatshield to prevent the ship from experiencing too much friction while re-entering. The Mirage Colloid system did its work and made sure that the ship remained hidden from sensory systems. The ship rattled as it descended. Everyone was held in suspense as they approached Earth, waiting for the inevitable response from Earths' military units.
"No troop movements in response," Serah Zellott added, "We're in the clear. Setting a course for Union territory."
"Thank god, " Sumeragi sighed. After about two weeks of preparation the hardest part was finally over, and all they had to do was pick up their man. Serah, Gray, and Sumeragi got up from their chairs and removed their space suits. Grey Dylandy the grandson of Feldt Grace, took over her spot on the Ptolemaios as a navigator and engineer. He has messy, dark red hair and gray eyes. He wore a gray version of the Celestial Being uniform that had the sleeves cut since the uniform barely fit him because of his bulkier, muscular build. Serah on the other hand was the sweetheart girl aboard the bridge serving as the Ptolemaios's gunner. Serah Zellot wore a yellow coat Celestial Being uniform with a pink shirt beneath and it blended well with her ginger hair and light skin.
The daylight filtered through the windows of the Ptolemaios as they made their way toward Union territory. They passed over the great prairies of the midwest, over the Rockie Mountains and made their way towards the Pacific Coast after a few hours of flying. The Ptolemaios made its way into a hangar nested in the hills of Northern California, undetected by Union security measures thanks to the effectiveness of the Mirage Colloid system. The team aboard the Ptolemaios hopped off the ship and made their way to land. For most of them it was the first time off the ship in nearly six months of being nested in their orbit around Earth. "Ah it feels good to be back on the ground," Serah exclaimed. She stretched her arms out and was dressed in shorts and summer gear as if she was planning on hitting the beach. "What is this..." she said as the wind blew across her bare skin.
"This is Northern California, Serah," Tieria said while adjusting his glasses, "the climate around here is generally much colder than most of California, holding around 50-70 degrees most of the year, its also fairly windy so it gets colder. I suggest you change into more suitable dress." The winds blew over the redwood and evergreen filled landscape, rustling through the trees. Apollo having lived on Onogoro most of his life, was amazed by the vast forest. It stretched out for miles around with no end in sight. He changed into some casual wear that was his size, putting on a dark red shirt, black pants, and a white and gray jacket. Tieria had on a purple wind breaker with a pink shirt beneath and khaki pants. Setsuna wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a yellow patterned shirt and a blue jacket.
"Tieria, Apollo, let's go," Setsuna said as he hopped in the truck, the three of them boarded and headed off. While the rest of the team went off hiking around the hills and doing routine maintenance on the Ptolemaios with the squad on the ground, Setsuna, Apollo, and Tieria made their way down into the valley and out to the coastline to the place Kira supposedly lived. Time flew by as they drove through the dimly lit and treacherous roads of the mountains. The sun was beginning to set and the valley grew darker and darker. Their progress once it became completely pitch black slowed tremendously, but they continued forward into the darkness. They followed a river that flowed through the valley all the way out to the coast and upon the arrival on the coastline, they a small house built next to a lighthouse that overlooked the sea.
The three of them stepped out and looked around. They walked up to the house and waited. The house's lights were dimly lit and the lighthouse spun around illuminating the dark world as the light passed. Then they heard a voice coming from inside the house, "Kira, who are they," she asked.
"I've been expecting them, let them in," another voice said. They heard footsteps plodding towards the door, and then the door opened. Before them stood a girl with long pink hair with a golden hair clip in it. She wore similarly pink night robes that seemed very comfortable and had a smile just as soothing.
"Please come in," she greeted. The three of them walked in and took a look at the house. It was quaint to say the least, a simple one bedroom, one bathroom house with a fire place and a couple of computers and monitors for whatever work they did. On the floor tending to the fire and watching the pot of boiling soup sat a young man with messy black hair, perched on his shoulder was a mechanical bird exactly like the one Apollo gave to Reina. "Birdy, Birdy," the bird chirped. The young man turned around and he got to see him face to face.
"Good evening you three, my name is Kira Yamato, but I guess you should've already known that," he smiled, "you've already met my wife."
The woman smiled, "its a pleasure to meet you all, my name is Lacus, Lacus Clyne," she said but then realized that she messed up and used her maiden name. "Lacus Yamato," she corrected; she blushed a bit. Apollo's mind was being blown as he was meeting two historical figures for the first time. He hid his excitement to make sure that he didn't scare anyone with his excitement. "You may have a seat the table, we were just about to eat supper." The three of them helped set the table for dinner while Kira finished preparing the stew. Eventually all of them sat together at the table.
"Well its an honor meeting you all," Kira toasted to them, "I wish that everything will go well between us." He held his canteen up and placed it back down on the table, everyone followed and did the same with their glasses. They passed the pot around and poured out a helping of the stew. The aroma of a variety of herbs filled the air as the stew was being passed around. It was the first time Apollo had a home cooked meal in many years it seemed. Most of his time was spent with the boys at the Black Flag barracks, and they almost never cooked meals like this. Apollo took a spoonful of the soup and it lit up his taste buds. The combination of the carrots, potatoes, and the meat was absolutely heavenly.
"This is good," Apollo said to Kira and Lacus, "really good." He took in another spoonful and savored the flavors.
"Thank you," Lacus replied, "I don't recall getting any of your names."
"I'm Apollo," he replied, "thanks for the meal." Apollo smiled brightly as he feasted on the stew.
"I'm Tieria," Tieria added, "and this is Setsuna." Setsuna only looked up and nodded. He continued to eat in silence. Tieria continued, "may I ask what's in the stew?"
"Carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, salt, pepper, deer, and a mix of herbs and spices," Kira replied, "hunting deer was the easier part, I can't imagine tending to the garden everyday like Lacus does to have the potatoes, tomatoes and carrots ready." Kira smiled at Lacus, and she smiled back. Apollo found it really cute how nice of a couple they were. It was almost too surreal how cute they were.
"So, Kira are you packed and ready to go," Tieria asked as he took a bite of the meat. He looked at Kira and expected an answer. The rain began to fall and a sudden storm picked up. The waves crashed against the shoreline and the wind howled against the sides of the house.
"Well I am ready to go, but I don't think the storm will let us," Kira replied, "we'll have to wait it out." Kira got up and peeked out the window, he couldn't see anything outside of a few feet from the window. "Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to make the trip up the mountain, you should probably tell your crew that we'll be late." Tieria picked up his satellite transmitter and began sending messages to the Ptolemaios.
"Already on it," Tieria informed. As Tieria spent his time contacting the Ptolemaios, Kira sat back down at the table and continued eating. Once they were all finished, Apollo and Setsuna collected the dishes and helped Lacus and Kira clean up the dining area. The work went by really quickly with all of them working together. Afterwards, Lacus grabbed some extra blankets and pillows and set up a place for the three to sleep in the living room by the fireplace. The storm continued to rage on and rain battered the roof and windows of the house.
"Good night," Lacus wished. She retired to the master bedroom with Kira and slept by his side. Setsuna and Tieria fell asleep quickly leaving Apollo by himself. The wind and the rain kept him up and he couldn't stay focused. Far from his family aboard the Eternal, the thoughts about their faith left him unsettled. He placed his arm over his face as he tried to rest. He eventually fell asleep.
Later that night, Apollo heard footsteps, he woke up suddenly and found Setsuna and Tieria still asleep. By that time the storm passed and everything was completely still. The fresh sea air filled his lungs and reminded him of his home on Onogoro. He noticed that the door outside was left slightly open. Apollo got his stuff together, put his shoes on and headed outside. He could feel the dew on the tall grass brush against skin as he walked around. Barely seeing anything in the dark until the light of the lighthouse passed over once every few seconds. He looked up at the top lighthouse and saw a figure being illuminated by the balcony whenever the light passed over it. Apollo walked up to the lighthouse and went up the steps to the top.
There he found Kira with a cup of tea in his hand. He was dressed in a light jacket and his pajama pants. "Aren't you cold," Apollo asked as he walked up to him. Kira turned around astonished that his exit from the house wasn't stealthy enough.
"Hardly," Kira replied, "compared to some of the other places I've served the Union , this is a walk in the park." He took a sip of tea and looked out across the sea.
"What are you doing out here," Apollo asked. He was curious as to why he would be out in the cold during this time of the night.
"It's just a habit, I guess," Kira said, "I'm pretty excited, to tell you the truth, I couldn't get much sleep." Kira took another of the tea and laid back against the railing of the lighthouse balcony, the light passed over them another time.
"I see, so what did you do before this?"
"I was an overwatch for Union troops stationed in South America, we were up in the Andes on my second tour. We thought the ESF and the Union was committed to non-combat, but there were locals there that weren't really compliant," Kira recalled, "I sat up in the mountains with my GN XIV - Frostbite-C the barrel aimed down into the valley to watch for enemy mobile suit movement just in case the people did happen to have them. While the rest of my crew went down and took care of the business." Apollo listened intently, he was always interested in war stories like this because he heard them all the time growing up in the Black Flag unit. "I zoomed in on my scope and saw them, my own men shooting civilians, it horrified me at first, but I tried to keep calm. I thought maybe they were enemies of the state they were uprooting, but then one of them pulled a gun on a family and killed them in cold blood. It wasn't some isolated incident either, our mobile suits mowed down building after building, our troops set up firing squads and killed hundreds of the locals every minute. That was the last string, I told myself. I aimed my rifle and pulled the trigger and took down our own mobile suits then proceeded to turn my gun against my own men. I killed every single one of them." Kira stopped and took another sip of his tea, his face showed how he felt. He hated the fact that he had to kill his own comrades, but he had to do it or else more innocents would die.
Apollo was disheartened, "that's awful." Apollo never saw anything like that happen under the UHFS rule, but it was still bad on Earth. Most of the nations were in turmoil after the formation of the UHFS because the wars devastated the population of the Earth and left everyone in shambles.
"Anyways, afterwards, they convicted me of the murders and treason but had no substantial evidence, so instead of sentencing me to death, I was dishonorably discharged and told to never speak of what happened that day. Now, a year or so displaced from that incident, I'm here. Apparently, the Union isn't the only one doing this to underdeveloped nations, the HRL and the AEU are covering up similar injustices for unknown reasons. Celestial Being figured out my situation and they contacted me, and I gladly accepted their invitation," Kira confided in Apollo, "I'll fight these injustices for as long as I live." Apollo looked at him and was proud. This world's Kira may be different than the Kira that lived in his world, but he was still just as noble. The sun began to rise over the hills and the sunlight shined over the vast ocean in front of them. They turned around and saw the chimney of the house began to smoke, "well it was nice conversing with you, Apollo, I look forward to working with you."
"Same," Apollo replied. Kira headed down the steps of the lighthouse and went to the house. He greeted Lacus at the door with a kiss and went inside. Apollo stayed out there a bit longer to look at the ocean and reminisce about his time at Onogoro. The view reminded him how awfully he missed the island nation and he felt a bit homesick. Eventually, Apollo headed down the lighthouse to find Setsuna and Tieria up as well. Everyone was getting ready for the day and Lacus was preparing breakfast. The four of them sat down and quickly ate. Kira packed his things into the truck and said goodbye to Lacus one last time. He kissed her on the forehead and held her close one last time and took off with Tieria, Setsuna, and Apollo.
The ride back up to the Ptolemaios didn't take nearly as long as the ride down the valley, and once they reached the hangar, they were greeted by the crew of the Ptolemaios with big smiles. They were all worried about them as the storm that passed over was pretty big, but they all smiled and joined together aboard the ship. Kira was given his new Celestial Being uniform which was a green version of it. The crew of the Ptolemaios cheered welcoming their newest member and celebrated aboard the ship.
Home seemed closer than ever.