Update: Tweaked/rewritten January 2022.
It's Not Over Yet
Eclipse screamed in frustration, wishing she could just go out and hack them all, but with both ships now gaining ground with their bigger guns, there was no way she could fly out and start being a hazard or potential victim of friendly fire. She had been ordered to be an honorary turret, so that was what she planned on doing, even if she was going to probably be cursing every moment. Her forte was melee, not picking off things from a distance, but she supposed her help was still better than nothing.
Turning, she aimed at the mobile suits coming in from her left, but the shot went in between the group, making them all scatter. It wasn't the uncommon outcome of her efforts and she snorted until it shifted to a curse when the Stealth rocked, its alarms blaring when a beam cut through its left leg. That had been the second well-placed shot within the past 10 minutes and she could only cuss as her hands went to the controls and she steadied the suit, the momentum of the shot altering her position. She grabbed onto the shield in front of her and kept the weapon upright in her left hand as she swung her torso forward. The remainder of her left leg propped itself up on the remainder of the shield in front of it. Really, it looked more like a crutch given how thin it had gotten over the past attacks, but she wasn't about to be picky.
"Addict, increase power to the HiMat to stabilize the suit and increase rotation degree for the waist."
"Roger that," Coffee Addict replied as Eclipse brought the weapon back up in time to distract another GINN from getting off a shot at the Eternal's wing.
"Adjustments made," the CA said.
Just in time for another shot to take off the GINN's head.
"What's the matter, Mu?" a deep male voice asked on an open transmission, Namarra barely hearing it over the blood rushing to her ears. "Playing babysitter?"
"Rau Le Creuset!" Mu shouted, but didn't leave Namarra's side as she had predicted. He still swept her suit from side to side, aiming and taking fire at the many mobile armors trying to overpower the damaged suits. Namarra's hands were curled near her stomach, the ache enveloping her entirely, but it was more than that.
She was pissed.
She hadn't gotten a chance for last words—hadn't been able to say the simple words of "thank you" or even "I love you." No, she had been reverted to watching her brothers die slowly for months and then their ultimate destruction happened as a flash on her screen. Two of them; two of them were gone and Namarra's fingers grew numb as she clenched them against her palms. There was the possibility of Clotho still being alive, but the Decay had lost sights on him amid her despair over Shani and Orga. If she could save him, she would, but that was only a desire of Namarra's, not the other half that already had a curled set of fingers around the sheet in the back of her mind, its grin hungry to swallow the Natural whole and enact its own form of vengeance.
"Maybe I should just leave you to these rats," the male continued, Namarra's ears perking at the confirmation of his name, but that was all she knew about him, his reputation. She had never met him face-to-face and yet she didn't want to, Mu's anger enough to make her want to take him out. His mobile suit, however, had yet to be picked up by either radar and that knowledge peaked both Naturals' frustration.
Mu didn't respond but Namarra's patience was gone, her fingers uncurling in her lap just as another set of fingers pushed her back behind the sheet in her mind. Letting loose a frustrated shout, the Berserker tore the Decay's arm from Mu's grip and spun on the Strike.
"If you won't get him, I will," she spat, more than happy to make a little carnage of her own. "If his tongue's going to be flapping that much I want to see cut off and on the floor."
"Leave him to me, Nam," he ordered, and the conviction in his voice saved him from further argument, the Berserker responding with a snort.
"Fine."
An Earth Forces ship had taken advantage of their state much like the other mobile armors had, its shots surrounding both the Decay and Strike in a bouquet of colors. The ship had other motives, however, its barrage covering a launch of what Namarra figured was more members of the Peacemaker Force. The mobile armors were cute to the Berserker and the grin that was normally in the back of her mind danced on her lips, her tongue following its path upwards until she snorted a laugh.
"You go after the pest. I'd rather play with the big boys."
Without waiting for an answer, she sped towards the battleship, her scythe leading the way as she cut down two Daggers when her speed and direction had taken them by surprise. The Berserker made sure to aim for the cockpits that time—basked in their dying screams that only played like a ghostly melody in her mind. No, none of these mortals deserved to live. Her brothers deserved to live, not these nameless soldiers, and she was damn sure going to make sure they understood that.
"Enjoy Hell, bastard," she hissed as she sliced through one more, managing to grab its beam rifle before the explosion caused the weapon any damage. With the scythe in one hand and the rifle in the other, she did quick calibration work and aimed at the mobile armors slipping out of the ship with the nukes.
She fired twice, hitting the nuke on the second one, but she only snorted at the poor aim, blaming the miss on the lazy calibration as she shrugged when debris and aftershock hit her suit. Despite her confidence and bracing herself for the impact, the aftershock was much more powerful than she had anticipated. Even in her Berserker mindset, she found herself battered around the cockpit and cursed loudly. Her side hit the controls to her right, joysticks and levers jabbing into her ribs as her head knocked itself silly against her seat. Adrenaline served her well, however, the Berserker propping herself back into the seat with nothing more than a headache and the faint metallic taste in her mouth.
Her suit, on the other hand, didn't fare as well. One metal piece of debris wedged itself in the Decay's head, looking like an arrow through the temple, and another piece sliced off the remaining foot while still two others—albeit small pieces—buried themselves into the Decay's hip.
She wasn't the only one affected by the blast, however, and the Berserker laughed. "Please run, little mobile armors," she cooed at the three still righting themselves after the shockwave hit their own machines. "I always enjoy a game of cat and mouse."
It was a short chase, to be sure. Namarra realized after the first couple times of trying to surge the Decay forward that her thrusters had been damaged by the debris and she cursed, using her borrowed rifle instead to take aim and just sniped them off. Her shots pierced the sides of each machine, only one going wide and she laughed, her misses suddenly adorable. Perhaps she should try and do it on purpose.
Make this battle a little more fun.
Three nukes and mobile suits remained after that barrage. One she hit with a well-placed beam and that one exploded into one other. The third was slowly getting out of reach, however, and no amount of immediate prodding would make her suit change its mind. Looking up at her damage report, she realized one thruster was still functional and gave a small cheer.
"Chicabo, bypass the damaged thruster and reroute all propulsion power to the remaining one."
There was no response and the Berserker clicked her tongue, wasting no time giving the order once more and instead braving the time to do it herself. Snorting, she brought up the operating system and made the proper adjustments, eyes glancing occasionally at her flickering cameras. The mobile armor getting further and further away and she cursed, risking another long-range shot. It wasn't needed, however, the mobile armor and its concealed nuke exploding in an array of lights just before she saw the Strike Rouge fly away to chase after the Justice and frowned. The Berserker had let a rookie pilot make the kill and it frowned.
"Fuckin' newbie luck," she muttered and continued tweaking her mobile suit as the battles around her died down. Despite the pure chaos before, she was suddenly surrounded by an eerie silence and she risked another look at her cameras. The only conversation she tuned into was the clash between Mu and Le Creuset and that was nothing more than their bickering over the radio. Bringing up their battle, Namarra finished up the adjustments as she took in the mobile suit the Strike was facing off against and scoffed. It was by far superior to the Strike and she puffed a burst of air through her lips. She would help Mu, she decided. While the Berserker wasn't known for her sense of camaraderie, she didn't want the skilled pilot to just get killed.
Just as she was about to force her way into the fray, Le Creuset unleashed an attack that even impressed the Berserker. The mobile suit Le Creuset was piloting had an odd system, one Namarra had never seen nor faced before. While the machine still had a humanoid body, it also had an additional system to its typical weaponry. The back of the suit housed a giant shell, one reminding her of a bulkier version of the HiMAT flight system the Stealth had. The main difference being, the spokes of the flight system were actually mobile and could fire on their own. No doubt the pilot had to be impressive to be able to handle such a system and despite the circumstances, the Berserker whistled.
The system released a barrage of beams, the crossing green rays searing through the Strike's armor and limbs. There was nothing Mu could do to block the attack and even less that Namarra could do looking on, but despite the devastation, Le Creuset didn't seem to be searching for the killing blow. He had maimed it, made it so its Phase Shift armor flickered, but the cockpit was intact and that small blessing was enough to shift the Berserker from being impressed to being pissed. Le Creuset was toying with Mu—a bully picking on a weaker kid and Namarra had finally seen enough.
"Le Creuset!" she yelled, but not even her anger could get her there in time, the strange machine speeding away faster than her damaged thrusters could handle.
"D-damn," Mu stuttered, Namarra slowing the Decay near the Strike as she connected back to him via video. He looked as bad as his suit, blood racing down his cheeks from inside his helmet, but he was alive. Sorta. Holding his side, she saw him sputter a little, red liquid trickling out the side of his mouth and she frowned.
"You're not going to last long."
Looking her in the eye, he matched her frown before his lips curled into a sheepish grin. "Through your Berserker eyes, I'm sure I look like shit. Remember though," he coughed, "your other half has a lot more faith in me than that."
Namarra gave a "Hmpf," and moved one joystick forward, the Decay's hand reaching out to grab the Strike's remaining appendage. "Then we'll get you back to the Archangel."
He gave another cough. "T-thank you."
Eclipse was blind. Well, mostly. Her cameras were cracked and distorted, anything she aimed at most likely not even getting skimmed. She was little more than a wounded sitting duck, instead of the healthy one she had been before and really, there didn't seem to be a major difference in her performance, but feeling another shot hit the Eternal deck next to her, she begged to differ.
"Stea…atus?" the transmission asked, the link too full of static to recognize the voice. Since the buzzers were wailing in her suit as well, she was lucky she had even heard a word.
"Not good!" she shouted back. She could spend the next 15 minutes recalibrating the gun to account for the kaleidoscope vision, but she opted for being suppression fire and nothing more. That would be enough. Her biggest worry was the nose of the ship and not having a clear path to destroying anything threatening the bridge.
"Damn it, I need eyes." She cursed once more as her hand hovered over the lever to the cockpit door. If she could open it only enough to get accurate sights on the nose of the ship...
"You're kidding, right?" Coffee Addict hissed. "Any beam that comes close to you will incinerate your human body."
"I'm counting on physics to help me here," the redhead responded uneasily, eyeing the shielding still wedged around her and the three walls of the cockpit. "And it'll only be a gap."
"All of my battery will be put into the life support system to keep you warm," Addict argued further. "I can't sustain it for a long period of time."
"Hack into the Eternal."
If the CA could sigh, it would have, but Eclipse didn't wait to hear any further arguments. Flipping the switch, the door edged open and the redhead waited until she got the view she wanted, ordering Addict to short the door and giving a relieved laugh when it halted.
"I love it when a crazy plan comes together," she announced and snuggled back into her seat, the shiver coursing up her spine snuffed out when she heard the Stealth's internal heating whirl around her. The plan could have been worse and she gave a triumphant laugh when she managed to destroy a missile just off the nose of the Eternal. Her elation didn't last long, however, having to shift her aim to the left to get two more guided missiles from that same barrage. She fired six shots, four of them missing, but she finally managed to get them both before anything could hit the port side.
This was maddening, the redhead heaving a curse as the Stealth rattled once more when something hit near the machine's backside. The sweat dripped from her forehead as she was jostled, wincing through some labored breaths while she took stock of both her weaponry and the Three Ship Alliance's advancement through the ZAFT defense line. It seemed as if they had barely moved and the exhaustion hit her all at once, only one determined bite on her lip keeping her from giving in entirely.
Her moment of rest, however, almost costed her, another salvo from the approaching Nazca-class battleship heading right for her little foxhole. She saw it partly on her screens, and partly live, but her limbs had frozen, her eyes following the trajectory and knowing it was going to hit the shield right in front of her partially open cockpit. She could take a hit to the side, but with little to nothing left to protect her from such a high intensity beam, she cursed and braced herself.
The Stealth surprised her, however, its left hand reaching over in front of the shield and her small opening to block the beam with the forearm. The armor remaining on the Stealth still wasn't enough to keep it from getting damaged, but even if parts chipped off the appendage, the shield between her and the attack remained intact to block the debris.
Her lips moved to thank her mechanical ally, but instead of feeling grateful, Eclipse was pissed. Their Alliance was trying to keep the Naturals and Coordinators from obliterating each other and despite their efforts, they were stuck at the same coordinates, Eclipse forced to bunker down and play turret. It was pathetic and Eclipse forced the switch herself that time, pulling open the door in the back of her mind and sending the Berserker out into the fray, its survival instincts needed far more than Eclipse's exhausted mind.
"You sons of bitches! Go fuck yourself in Hell!" the Berserker spat, aiming and firing two bursts into passing GINNs, one going right through the cockpit and another to take out its companion next to him. "Or better yet," she added, shaking the sweat away again, "go fuck each other."
The Decay and Strike couldn't move too fast given the state of each mobile suit. It was amazing, actually, that they could even truck on their own and not get aimed at, but the area they were in was desolate, the fighting having moved over towards Jachin Due and GENESIS. The only other fighters left were the Archangel and Dominion, still on their warpath towards destroying each other. Or that was what they had assumed. As the suits drew closer, both pilots could see the fight was at a ceasefire and the Dominion looked to be—
"Evacuating?" Namarra asked. "But why?"
Mu didn't reply, but she could see him crane his neck up to see. The man was pale, which was the most cliché and appropriate way to describe his state. The blood on his face looked black with such a ghost-like complexion and knowing his only salvation was aboard the Archangel the Berserker gave a little ironic chuckle.
"We're lucky they aren't fighting, actually. Maybe they'll let you back on without a fuss."
"We can only hope," he replied breathily. "Damn it. Here."
Namarra felt the Strike shift its weight off of her and start warming up its thrusters once more. "Should you be doing that?"
"The propulsion system's fine, believe it or not. And if we want to make it to the Archangel before all Hell breaks loose, I suggest we book it."
Namarra didn't complain and added as much power into the thrusters as she dared, Mu opening a line to the Archangel as they neared. The Berserker didn't hear any of the conversation, but saw the ship opening the side hangar hatch in response. It was mostly for emergency landings and given the extent of their desperate journey—well—emergency was a good word to describe the predicament.
The Decay announced it first, the warning alarms whirling into existence within her cockpit. The Berserker was startled, but Mu was not, his reaction quick despite his fatal injuries. The Strike was in her hand and then it wasn't. It was so simple and yet so dispiriting at the same time.
The Dominion wasn't dead in the water. In fact, it had dropped the hatch for its Lohengrin gun and the Archangel seemed none the wiser, the Berserker wincing as a scream echoed in the back of her mind. If the Dominion fired, the Archangel would be lost. It was, again, so simple and so dispiriting at the same time.
The Berserker's fingers twitched on the controls, knowing she should chase after the Strike, seeing the machine racing towards the Archangel. But it was more than that. The Berserker didn't want to help him and Namarra reached around the sheet to pull herself back in control only to find herself frozen again; powerless to stop the events from unfolding.
The Dominion fired.
And the Strike stepped in front of the Archangel bridge to stop the blast.
"Didn't I tell you I could make the impossible, possible!" Mu shouted, his strained voice the last thing Namarra heard before the Strike exploded.
She couldn't breathe. Her brothers and now Mu? Mu wasn't supposed to die. Him and Eclipse were supposed to be the ones piecing her back together. This wasn't happening—it was a ruse. "Make the impossible, possible." He had said it himself.
"Mu?"
No response.
Impossible, possible, she thought, her hands trembling as she screamed his name again at the screen, but still nothing responded other than a different voice adding her pain to the Natural's cry. Namarra recognized it instantly and her eyes narrowed around her tears, breath returning in ragged rage as her anger hissed through her teeth. No, she was sick of it; all of it. She was tired of watching her loved ones die. Kill Azrael—that bastard needed to die. Destroy that damn ship—erase every sign of her brothers' suffering.
"Destroy it all!" Namarra screamed, relieving control again and even the Berserker fed off her despair, lips forming the only order her mind could comprehend. "Murrue Ramius, fire!"
The distraught Archangel could do nothing else.
Eclipse couldn't see much of what the Kusanagi was doing, but she could feel the Eternal every time it shot its beam cannon. That time in particular, she wobbled back and forth, the biggest jerk happening just as she was firing at a turret on a Nazca-class. The shot missed, as expected, but two more mobile suits appeared on her screen as blue crosshairs. After a moment, names formed underneath, the Justice and the Strike Rouge and the intensity in her shoulders was released in a rush.
"Hey, took you long enough!" the Berserker yelled, having to readjust her position again after the rocking tipped her off center. "You'd better have done more than dilly dally!"
"So says the person sitting on the job," Cagalli replied, setting the Strike Rouge right down next to the Stealth on the Eternal's bow. "Damn, rough time?" she mocked.
"Sorry, I don't have a shiny new model like you do."
Cagalli snorted. "You should be in the hangar," the blonde chided further and Eclipse was already shaking her head.
"I'm fine."
"I demand that ZAFT cease firing GENESIS immediately," Lacus ordered, her voice straining over a universal communication line and the cousins stopped speaking, the Rouge taking up a similar position next to the Stealth and sniping down anything that came near. "We've experienced the pain and sorrow of the nuclear attacks, yet we're inflicting the same suffering on others? Will anything be made right if we fire it? Or will more innocent men, women and children lose their lives? Is this justice? Don't you realize yet what these attacks on each other are giving birth to?" Lacus continued, but Eclipse doubted anyone else had even heard what she was saying. "Do you want even more sacrifices?"
"Rouge, Stealth!" Waltfeld shouted as soon as she was finished. "We're going to fire on GENESIS. Brace yourselves!"
"Roger that," the girls replied, the Stealth reaching out and grabbing onto the Strike Rouge as the pink suit did the same.
"This had better work," Cagalli muttered, but the Berserker had no time to respond, the Eternal rocking as its Gottfried cannons fired.
And didn't even make a dent in GENESIS's Phase Shift armor.
"Nothing," Eclipse breathed. Cagalli jumped from the Eternal deck to better see the damage, but the Berserker hadn't been wrong and the blonde's curse was unmistakable.
"What should we do?" she asked.
"We'll have to push our way into Jachin Due and destroy the controls," Athrun responded, his resolve indicating he had come up with that decision a while ago.
"Athrun!" Lacus yelled and Eclipse was about to add in her own two cents, but there was no argument to be had. Cagalli muttered a simple, "Copy that," over the transmission and sped off to join the Justice near the Kusanagi. No doubt, she was going too.
"There's no time," Athrun said, disconnecting the Justice from the Meteor. "Let's go."
"Athrun! Cagalli!" Lacus yelled, but even Eclipse knew nothing was going to sway their determination and the Berserker growled.
"We'll be fine. Trust us," Cagalli said, but trust wasn't the problem. The Orb Princess was a novice fighter and even more amateur when it came to infiltrating enemy bases. If the Stealth had been up and functional, there would have been no doubt in her mind that Eclipse would be the one following him in. Instead, the two machines took off, probably not thinking beyond the instant adrenaline and Athrun's sudden urge to stop his father before he did anything drastic.
As if what he had done thus far wasn't bad enough.
"Athrun, no matter what happens in there, it's not your fault. Got that?" Eclipse added a little more force into the last two words, but she couldn't see his response, receiving only silence as an answer and she sighed. "I don't think he got it."
"Athrun will be Athrun," Lacus muttered, apparently listening in on their conversation.
"Yeah, and you youngsters will never change either," Waltfeld grumbled. The fighting hadn't stopped completely, but there was a slow enough lull that the ships could update each other on statuses and despite her waning hold, the Berserker listened in as intently as she could.
The Kusanagi had three M-1s left, one playing sniper on the Kusanagi bow much like Eclipse and the other two had made it to the hangar. The suits were no longer functioning, but at least the pilots were alive. All three Astray pilots had been destroyed early, the memory of girls' deaths leaving Eclipse with a sour taste in her mouth as it was broadcasted.
The Eternal was functioning at about 40 per cent. The Justice was with the Strike Rouge and the Freedom was still strong with its Meteor. The Stealth was… working. That was really the only update she had.
She didn't know Namarra's condition exactly, but Eclipse had already been relayed the bad news about Mu. If she hadn't been berserk, she probably would have shed some tears, but no amount of death could make her battle worn body do anything other than stay alive.
Dearka was injured and sitting in the Archangel hangar. At first, she wasn't sure how the Buster could get massacred enough to send Dearka to the infirmary, but a new machine had entered the battlefield and one good look at the monstrosity of a new model lit a few light bulbs. The Stealth flashed the name Providence and while no pilot information was given, the voice on the open transmission was unmistakable.
"But the real world isn't as kind as the one in pop songs." His voice was soft, patronizing, and definitely smug; all combinations that pissed off the Berserker and lucky for her, he was within range. The small reprieve ended quickly when the Providence arrived, ZAFT renewing its attack against the Three Ship Alliance and the Berserker snorted, already knowing her target. Le Creuset had lorded over her for long enough and even if she probably wouldn't be sending him to his final resting place, she would savor putting a chink in that armor of his.
"Just stop talking," the Berserker muttered and aimed, but her shot didn't get too far, a smaller beam cannon coming up on the Stealth's left side. At first, she thought it was a piece of debris having been knocked around by the renewed attack on the Eternal by ZAFT, but as the tip began to glow a light green, her eyes widened.
"You made a good run, Berserker, but it's time to share the spotlight."
It fired, a beam melting through the arm holding the upgraded beam rifle and she recoiled from the sight, the bright lights making her shout as she was momentarily blinded. She cowered as deep into the cockpit as she could, only one arm reaching out as if the close the cockpit, but Eclipse had been right, physics was saving her. The Stealth's armor was still between her and the beam, but even that knowledge seemed insignificant. Despite Le Creuset's words, she was nothing but a mortal and the scream caught in her throat as her cockpit began combusting around her. Controls popped, sending both sparks and levers into the trapped pilot and at some point, she heard a hiss before her body temperature suddenly dropped despite the heat around her. Was that the life support system on her pilot suit? If that was true, she was lost, not even the Berserker's hot rage able to hold off space's lifeless temperature.
"Transferring all data," her CA said, repeating the action a couple more times as Eclipse slowly uncurled to assess her situation. The Stealth's arm and gun were out of sight, but that was the least of her worries as she noticed her warming blanket had fled along with the rest of her suit in the chaos. She was still on the Eternal, but not even she thought that was for long, knowing the Stealth was dead even before her hands wrapped around and pulled at the levers.
It was a strange thing to not hear anything going on outside, the bright lights bouncing around her blackened cockpit as her ears seemed to shrink in on themselves in such silence. Her communication equipment was gone so there was nothing she could do but sit there and enjoy the fact that she was going to freeze to death.
"S-seriously?" she stuttered, her body's survival methods making her shiver to keep warm and she pulled at the levers again. "D-death by ice-ice cube?"
It didn't seem like she had long to complain, however, a growing flash filling her cockpit with a green glow and Eclipse cringed, hearing the damage against the side of the Eternal and feeling the Stealth shift.
And not stop shifting.
It tumbled across the Eternal's deck, hitting one turret and then rolled end over end out into space. Eclipse held on as best she could, the adrenaline rush giving her body a small amount of heat, but she was forced to spread out to keep herself steady.
Her first thought, ironically, wasn't nausea, but when was she going to stop? No gravity meant she would never slow until she ran into something and while there was debris a plenty, the battle was taking place in the other direction. If she didn't hit anything before someone noticed, even if they caught her before she left the battlefield, she would have frozen to death.
Concentrating, she listened for anything, but could only hear the blood rushing to her ears. She was spinning so much she couldn't even make out a distance and despite the carnage the Three Ship Alliance had left in its wake, nothing seemed to want to slow her path out to space.
Had anyone noticed what had happened?
Did the Eternal notice?
…Did anyone notice?
"Addict."
No response.
"Coffee Addict!"
Nothing.
"Helmaya, please—Coffee Addict, respond!"
Her breath quickened, fogging up her helmet as her adrenaline rush started to fade. She was alone and who knew how far away? With no communication and no CA, she was as good as dead.
Dead.
Die.
Die?
"Coffee Addict!" she shrieked, but that shout was the last ounce of effort her body could handle and it took her body heat with it.
I'm gonna die.
It was hard to remember when she started to care. She had no final wish to fulfill for anyone. There was no, one person she had sworn to survive the war for. No, lingering need for revenge. So, at some point, she had decided she wanted to live for herself. Over the course of the past months, she had come to that conclusion and it had taken the moment of her death to realize it.
How... ironic.
Crash.
The Stealth stopped rolling.
Eclipse's body collided with the right side of her suit, her previously bruised shoulder taking the brunt of the force and she groaned, but that pain had jolted her from her stupor. If the Stealth had stopped, that meant she had run into something, but she could be anywhere. Prying open her eyes, she only saw the black of open space. The battle had to be a long ways away if she didn't even see an inkling of light.
The Stealth turned and her voice screeched, the now deafening sound of metal on metal piercing her ears as fingers of a mobile suit wrapped around the corner of her cockpit, pulling the hatch down and open. Blinking, it took her a moment to recover, her eyes focusing and unfocusing until a bright light shown into the space around her, blinding her as easily as the noise had deafened her before. She was truly defeated then, her body curling into a ball and grasping a loose lever as she willed her eyes to focus through that light. If she had a savior, she wanted to make sure she was still warm and conscious to thank them.
There was another loud hiss and whatever was producing the light, opened, Eclipse able to distinguish the familiar lights and screens of a mobile suit cockpit.
Had someone found her?
…Was the pilot friendly?
Watching the hatch flop open, she concentrated on breathing, determined to go down seeing her savior or killer, depending on the soldier's agenda. She might be dead at the end of all this, but at least this soldier would remember her eyes before she perished.
Her brain couldn't make out the color at first, but as the pilot unbuckled the seatbelts, she began recognizing the uniform of a ZAFT redcoat. So, ZAFT had found her? The idea was horrifying, but her body was too far gone to react, and she wasn't able to do anything even when the pilot propelled across the expanse into the Stealth's cockpit.
"Oh, God, you're half frozen! Your life support—"
Wait, she recognized the voice, didn't she?
"H-how're—" the voice was male and he stammered through further curses as his fingers went to hers wrapped around the controls.
"Y-Yzak?" she said, but it came out a whisper and her lips barely moved.
He didn't seem to hear because he didn't respond, but not even her sluggish mind could mistake that voice and she willed her body to help him free her, her hand slowly opening and releasing the hold on her prison. Finally loose, he wrapped her up and carried her into his suit.
"Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God," he chanted, closing the cockpit and rubbing his hands fast over her arms as she sat across his lap, armrests digging into her back and calves. Some ice actually chipped off into the cockpit and he reached over to turn up the internal temperature. Unclipping her helmet, she gave a small gasp of a cry as he pulled it over head and wedged it off to the side, eager for her to get both better airflow and make sure her ears didn't freeze further. The air inside the Duel was stale, but it was still better than her recycled air and she took a deep breath as his fingers fumbled with the top clip of her pilot suit, unzipping it down past her ribs in order to get the warmth closer to her body.
"Fuck! Eternal!"
She was still in a daze, so she didn't hear much of the conversation, but the heat from the cockpit and Yzak's efforts were working, bringing her body temperature back up to shivering. She tested her fingers and toes as the conversation muffled around her, her focus on them and then Yzak's shoulder as he leaned forward to grab the blanket under his seat. Unfolding it, he shifted to wrap it around her waist and legs, hands returning to take hers into his as he rubbed them together to get the blood flowing.
"Damn it, Lexi! You never make anything easy, do you?"
"L-Lexi?" she stammered as another shiver overtook her. "Y-you c-called me L-L-Lexi."
"Well, that's your name, isn't it?" he shouted, sweat beginning to dot his face behind his helmet as he, no doubt, needed anything but tropical-level heat in his cockpit. "Damn it, you say the stupidest things. Just shut up and concentrate on getting warm."
Watching him, she missed another transmission from what sounded like Dearka, but she was more amused by his shouted response and more preoccupied with her warming limbs to pay attention to the screen at her right.
And impressed he hadn't noticed she had been berserk the whole time.
"Damn it, Athrun apparently infiltrated Jachin Due, the Archangel, Eternal, and that Orb ship are breaking through our defenses and the commander's fighting the Freedom." He paused to start rubbing her calves and shins, trying to get the blood pumping. "And I'm here keeping you—my apparent enemy alive? Well," he added quickly, "who ZAFT dictated as my enemy anyway. And now GENESIS is going to self-destruct?" After a couple more minutes of grumbling he sighed and Eclipse felt the Berserker finally fade away, its survival instincts no longer needed.
"Th-thank you," she said but was still too cold to smile. Actually, she wasn't even sure if she was saying it solely to Yzak or to the Berserker too.
Startled, Yzak looked down and they made eye contact for the first time since he brought her aboard. It was a brief moment and he cleared his throat, shaking his head while mumbling something akin to "Don't mention it," before he gave her back her helmet and returned his hands to the controls. "C'mon, you have to get to an infirmary and I have to make sure no ZAFT personnel are near GENESIS if it fires."
Wincing, she sat up further so Yzak could have a little more mobility and zipped her suit, putting the helmet back over her head before inching the blanket further up her body. Still sitting across his lap, she tried to contain her random shivers and turned to look out the cameras to what was left of her Stealth. Coffee Addict had been in the process of transferring so she knew the system would be fine, but she would never see her chimera again and the pit in her stomach that time wasn't from her near-death experience. It had served her well and she was grateful to the mobile suit, her eyes following it off screen as the Duel started turning away.
"This is going to be interesting," Yzak muttered, flexing his hands on the controls. Eclipse felt his arm twitch and fingers move at her back, knowing her position was going to make things difficult, and she gave an apologetic smile, her cheeks finally warm enough for the expression.
"I c-could—"
"No, now grab onto something not a weapon and make sure you don't flop around."
She gave a brief chuckle and winced, feeling the pain in her chest through the motion. Apparently, her lungs had frozen a bit more than she had anticipated, but she kept that information to herself, not wanting him to fuss over her more.
"Yes, sir."
Namarra shook her head sharply, determined to make that tear move from her vision. She had thought watching Orga and Shani die had been horrible, but merely hearing about Clotho's death seemed worse. The best words Dearka had used to describe Clotho's mental state at the end was, "nervous breakdown" and the description had broken her heart all over again. No matter how many apologies she would be given, however, she was still pissed. Why did Kira, after spewing so much nonsense about wanting to save everyone, did he do nothing for them? She would have to talk to him later.
"Decay, I need you to try and damage that mirror as best you can," Murrue ordered, her voice calmer than she had expected. After destroying the Dominion, the Berserker had expected the older woman to break down, but she was holding strong. Perhaps she was focusing so hard on finishing the battle that she could bury the pain of losing Mu. Namarra, on the other hand, decided anger was the best method.
"Roger that," she replied, her scythe once more in her hands. The blade flickered at first, the Decay complaining about its lack of energy, but even Chicabo was just a faint voice in the background. "Oh, get over yourself!" she yelled, hitting the console and throwing the weapon off to the side. Glancing around, she noticed a beam rifle much like the one Eclipse had been using on the Eternal but it had been used by Earth Alliance personnel and she grinned. Grabbing it, she checked the condition and compatibility then looked at her battery level. She would be able to get off one good shot and then exhaust herself. While it wasn't a promising end to her involvement in the fight, she was determined to go out with a bang and this was a bang.
"Technically," she began, "the Earth can just suck it. But then again." Connecting the gun to her main battery, she sped off towards the triangle mirror in front of GENESIS. "I don't think even I would like to live in space forever."
She relayed her plan to the Archangel who promised to swing over and pick her up after she fired. Realizing that was the best service she was going to get, she stopped out of GENESIS's blast radius and aimed. "I'd better get a fuckin' medal or something for this."
She fired.
Yzak was relaying orders while she sat there staring at the screen in front of her. Yzak had put GENESIS up and she watched Namarra aim and fire at the mirror. She was alive then and Eclipse released a breath, happy about the news. The weapon she had used, however, hadn't been high enough caliber to cause much damage to the mirror, but it might have changed the trajectory so that the Earth wasn't in the direct line of fire. Mission accomplished as far as Eclipse was concerned.
The redhead's shivering had stopped a couple minutes ago, the warmth in the cockpit bringing up her body temperature enough so she could relax and she promptly told Yzak to turn it back down, knowing he was probably overheating.
If there was one thing she didn't like about shivering, however, it was how tense her muscles got and stayed throughout the whole endeavor. Even if she was warm by that point, she now had other aches to be concerned about, the biggest one being in her chest. All the rattling inside the cockpit must have bruised a couple of ribs, as well as reminded her she had two very sensitive organs called lungs. She had yet to take a deep breath because it hurt so badly, so she took many shallow ones. Knowing Yzak had a lot to concentrate on, she didn't expect him to notice and she didn't try to flaunt it.
"How much time is left until the base explodes?" Yzak asked, the Duel still on course to the Eternal.
"We're guessing under two minutes, sir," the soldier replied and both pilots in the Duel tensed.
"What? And GENESIS is just going to fire?" Yzak hissed.
"We have no way of stopping it, sir."
"So, you're just going to give up and let it wipe out life on Earth?" The soldier didn't reply right away and Eclipse could feel Yzak's dilemma. It was a hard choice for a solider to choose between duty and morals.
Yzak snarled. "Don't you get it? There are Coordinators on Earth too, you bastard! You won't be wiping out just the Naturals and where do you think we get most of our resources?" He cursed and snarled through another response. "How dumb can you be to think we can attack our mother planet and still survive?"
"But, sir—"
"Forget it. Just make sure everyone stays away from GENESIS." He cursed again and broke the transmission, catching Eclipse glancing up at him.
"Under two minutes isn't a whole lot of time. What weaponry does the Duel have left?" Eclipse asked, but Yzak was already shaking his head.
"Duel's on her last legs. Even if I had anything strong enough to shoot, we'd be dead in the water."
"So, we're just gonna watch?"
A battle caught her attention at the lower left corner of the screen. She recognized the Freedom immediately and when she saw the Providence waltzing in-step and she frowned. They were getting terribly close to GENESIS.
Yzak didn't seem to notice, his lips already curling up in a frustrated snarl. "You think I don't want to do something?" he hissed. "Units have been attacking the mirror in an effort to throw its trajectory off, I'm afraid that's all we can—" Yzak stopped short and both pairs of eyes bolted to the screen. The light reached them first and then the sound, but their shock outweighed anything that was happening outside. It definitely hadn't been two minutes, but neither of them was seeing things.
Jachin Due had self-destructed.
Just before GENESIS began to glow.
And just as the Freedom and Providence slinked into its blasting radius.
"Shit!" Eclipse shrieked and Yzak's curse accented her own. If her breathing was harsh before, it definitely hurt now. With the added adrenaline making her blood pump faster, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the added discomfort of it sometimes skipping a beat. Her discomfort must have been evident because even Yzak noticed despite the horrid picture on the screen outside.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine," she lied, staring at the screen as she watched the gamma ray not fully form, its shot thin and missing the Earth entirely. She would have cried from relief if the explosion hadn't been odd. The destruction had begun in GENESIS, not the base and as far as they knew, the base was supposed to self-destruct, not the weapon.
"How?" Eclipse breathed.
"That blast had to be a large one in order to destroy that thing," Yzak replied, just as breathy. "On par with a nuclear explosion, I should think."
"I thought all the Earth Forces's nukes had been destroyed," Eclipse responded, and turned from the screen to watch Yzak's eyes go wide. "What?"
"The Justice and the Freedom have nuclear cores."
Now, Eclipse's eyes grew. "Athrun was at Jachin Due."
"Yzak! Yzak!" Dearka yelled, his voice barely audible through the static in his transmission. Eclipse hadn't even heard Yzak patch him through, her mind panicking at the idea Athrun might have self-destructed the Justice and to add to that panic, she knew Cagalli had probably been with him.
"Yes, we're fine, but—"
"Did Athrun and Cagalli make it out of Jachin Due?" Eclipse cut in, her voice rising in volume as she stared at the grainy video of Dearka on the Archangel bridge. "Please tell me neither of them were involved in that explosion."
"I don't know anything, Lexi, I'm sorry," the blond responded, his face bleak. "We don't have a visual on much of anything at the moment. Have you seen the Freedom?"
"Last we saw he was fighting the commander around GENESIS," Yzak responded, his face grim. Apparently, he had been paying attention. "A little too close to GENESIS."
"He has to be alive," Miriallia said, Eclipse seeing Dearka look down at the girl he was leaning over the shoulder of.
"Namarra?" Eclipse edged.
Dearka returned his attention to her and nodded. "She's on the Archangel, just not out of her suit. As far as we can tell, she's uninjured."
Eclipse released a breath. "Thanks, Dearka."
"We're gonna check in with the Eternal," Yzak said. "Then I have to make sure ZAFT doesn't try anything else rash."
"Roger that. Good luck, Yzak."
The Eternal had been making its way to the Archangel as they spoke, followed closely by the Kusanagi. They each shared much the same concerns about Athrun, Cagalli, and Kira, but none of them had any updated information. The only thing they could say for certain was that both the Justice and the Strike Rouge had gone into Jachin Due and Yzak added in their additional information about the Freedom.
Everyone was nervous after that.
"Duel, you're clear to enter the hangar," DaCosta said over the transmission, Eclipse giving a small smile at hearing his familiar voice.
"Copy. I won't stay," he confirmed, his arms shifting around the cockpit to line up the Duel with the opening hatch. "Just dropping off Lexi."
"Thanks, Commander. We owe you one," was all DaCosta said and Yzak settled the Duel on the hangar floor as soon as the hatch closed, kneeling the suit so he could release Eclipse into their care.
Three doctors met them at the cockpit and he handed her off, Eclipse remembering last minute to return the blanket to him—as minor of a thing as that probably was. The doctors immediately busied themselves getting her to a gurney and strapping her in, the redhead barely having enough time to utter a thanks and hear Yzak's parting remark.
"I'd better hear that you didn't die after all the effort I put in to save you."
She wanted to laugh but didn't have the energy or time, the doctors hurrying her out of the hangar just as Yzak closed the cockpit hatch and started walking the Duel to the catapult.
"Attention, I have an announcement for all members of ZAFT and the Earth Forces in this region. At this moment, the PLANTs are preparing to conduct negotiations between the Earth Forces and the PLANTs' sponsored nations. Immediately following the commencement of these discussions, the PLANT Provisional Supreme Council will propose a request for the Earth Forces to cease all combat activities in restricted regions."
The Berserker tapped her armrest impatiently. While Murrue's speech was nice and all, what the hell was she supposed to be doing now? The battle was over, her brothers, Azrael, and Mu dead, Eclipse lying comatose in the Eternal infirmary, and she just sitting in the Decay. There was no one to welcome her back, no one to appreciate the fact she had survived, and no one to even suggest she step out and enjoy the victory party.
"And what victory party is that, I wonder?" she scoffed, her fingers tapping faster. "Funny, I'm technically on the 'winning' side yet I don't feel as if I've 'won' anything. Maybe a headache and a few bruises, but I wouldn't even consider those consolation prizes."
Turning her head, she pressed a button on her keyboard and brought up a visual of the hangar floor. Murdoch was standing in his mechanic gear talking to Lathan and occasionally pointing up at the Decay. Apparently, the Rymyr boy had already been over to see Eclipse because there was no way he would come to see her first. Besides, he was blind anyway, so he—technically—couldn't see either of them. She wasn't even sure why Murdoch bothered pointing.
Turning off the monitor, she looked back at the one to her right. The Strike Rouge had finally landed on board the Kusanagi, much to the delight of everyone aboard. Cagalli apparently had Athrun and Kira in tow, much to the delight of—well—everyone else. Athrun had destroyed the Justice in GENESIS, the explosion taking out the weapon before it could fire a full blast and because Cagalli was there, she had gathered him up and made sure they both made it out safely. Namarra had only heard snippets of what had happened during the fight between Kira and Le Creuset, but the Freedom had been mostly scraps when the Rouge had arrived and Le Creuset was no where in sight. Basic deduction hinted that Kira had killed Le Creuset and Namarra clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Earlier, the Archangel had been asked to escort an Earth Alliance ship to the PLANT Homeland and, originally, Murrue had been asked to be an observer to the peace talks as a third party, but she declined, leaving that spot open for Kisaka. Given the trauma Murrue had just gone through, even the Berserker thought that was a good decision.
Hitting the button once again, she looked down at the hangar floor. It seemed as if Commander Waltfeld had come over from the Eternal as well, his gestures similar to Murdoch's as he spoke with the other two men. If he was on the Archangel, that meant Lacus was probably around too and Namarra scoffed. If they wanted to come up and force her out of the Decay, why not just get it over with? She was always up for a good struggle and with the righteous Kira taking a coffee break over on the Kusanagi, she could use a little excitement.
Or maybe he wasn't taking it easy after all.
Namarra felt a smirk curl up her face when a transport beacon blinked on her screen. It was from the Kusanagi and the only way Kira wouldn't be coming over was if he had been injured. As far as the Natural knew, Eclipse and Dearka were the only two to take much damage. Well, other than the ones who were dead.
"Nam, it's Lathan," he said, speaking through an open transmission from the computer on the hangar floor. "Are you hurt at all?"
"No," she replied curtly, still staring at the transport approaching the Archangel hangar.
"Well, that's a relief. Can you come out anyway so the doctors can make sure? You could have internal bleeding or something and we would never know until we found you decaying."
"Wow, good one, Lathan."
"Just telling like it is," he replied, a hint of a smile in his voice. If there was one thing she had always admired about Lathan was his blunt manner towards her and his sister. He probably knew she was berserk, so he was trying to appeal to her on a certain level. A good tactic, really, and she found herself impressed enough to throw him a bone.
"I'm waiting for someone."
"Lexi's in the infirmary on the Eternal so she can't make it over for the meeting."
Ah, there's a meeting, she thought. The sudden migration made a little more sense.
"The doctor's expecting a full recovery in time."
"She's not the one I'm waiting for." That made him pause and she smiled. Not even the insightful Lathan could guess everything. Her brothers' deaths were still fresh and no matter what limited information she had, Kira was the prime target, even if it was only to have a little talk about ideals. She needed to cause some havoc and now.
"Well, Lacus—"
"Be a dear, please and leave me be, would you? I'll come to the meeting when I damn well feel like it."
"Don't worry," Lathan grumbled, "we figured that much. It's on the Archangel bridge, if you wanted to know. It's broadcasting the peace talks."
"Sounds exciting," Namarra said, yawning loudly. Smiling, she saw Lathan pull the headset away from his face and shake his head. Shrugging, he relayed what she had said and the three of them moved to leave. Waltfeld didn't seem to want to take no for an answer, but he didn't linger for long, his hand on his hip as he looked up at the Decay from the hangar floor. She felt his reprimand even if she wasn't at the tail end of it but the Berserker snorted. Waltfeld couldn't get his way all the time and he finally left. It was good timing too because her target was just entering the hangar.
Three people stepped out of the transport, one wearing a light red spacesuit and matching helmet, another wearing his ZAFT red one and the other in his old blue one. Her lips curled at the sight of the blue one.
Yes, the Berserker was about to have a whole lot of fun.
Namarra shut the locker room door behind her and locked it before turning on her captive. Her face was an ugly snarl at first, but immediately the sour look flipped, turning over into a grin. "Let's talk."
"Talk about what?" Kira asked, standing comfortably against the back wall which was odd seeing as he was face-to-face with a Berserker.
It was simpler than the Berserker had thought it would be to get him to meet her alone. A quick request and Kira said he would meet the others on the bridge, following her back to the locker room instead. Maybe he thought it was a good opportunity to do some apologizing. He should have been more scared to be alone with her, the Berserker believed, but then again battle fatigue had a tendency to make people stupid.
"Tell me," Namarra began, sitting down on the bench and crossing her left leg over her right. "Do you feel like we have some kind of victory?"
His face drooped. "You called me back here to talk philosophy? I'm sorry, Namarra, but I can't do this right now." Uncrossing his arms, he stepped around the middle benches and aimed towards the locked door, but the Berserker had other plans. Putting one arm behind her, she braced herself as she kicked out her left foot. It slammed against the lockers, making the other pilot pause. Looking up at him, she smiled again. "Oh, c'mon. You'll be watching peace talks for the next five years, why not spend five minutes with me?"
Namarra wasn't sure if it really was battle fatigue at that point because Kira flat out denied her then, trying to step over the propped leg blocking his path. She knew Berserkers had been getting a poor reputation among the Three Ship Alliance and watching this pilot flat out disregard her pissed her off. Standing up to her was one thing, but ignoring her? The Berserker wasn't some roadblock and she definitely wasn't someone to be snubbed like some younger sibling.
"Hey!" she hissed, bringing her foot back an inch and slamming it against the lockers again. "I'm not done talking to you yet."
"What's your problem?"
Could he really not tell that she was berserk? Or maybe he just didn't care?
"My problem is that you're not answering my question. Do you think there's any kind of victory here?"
"I don't know what you want me to say."
Namarra groaned, dropping her head in defeat and taking a deep breath. If she had to explain it to him then she was going to, but she definitely wasn't going to enjoy it. "Fine, if you're that stupid, I'll spell it out for ya." Jumping to her feet, she grabbed him by the collar of his Earth Alliance uniform and slammed him against the lockers. Taking pleasure from his grimace she continued, "You, out of all these people, prided yourself on the fact that you wouldn't kill anyone else."
He didn't respond.
"Well, didn't you?"
Apparently, now he was too dumb to speak.
"You killed Le Creuset, didn't you?" she asked and his eyes shifted low and to the side, all but admitting it and she smirked. "Why did you kill Le Creuset then if you didn't want to kill anymore?"
"I had to. I couldn't let that devil—"
"You 'had to'? What, did God give you the right then or are you God now? Deciding who lives and dies?" She half expected him to shout something like, "There is no God," but he stayed silent once more. The attitude was really starting to piss her off, but there were other ways to curve his behavior.
"So, God," she did a mock bow, "if Le Creuset was the devil of that time, who's the new one? Is it me? Or perhaps Lexi?"
He snorted as if the notion was absurd and the Berserker felt the grin twitch at the side of her mouth. "You're not Le Creuset, Namarra."
"No? You sound so sure. Maybe we're not devilish enough, or perhaps there's someone else much worse?" She paused, cocking her head as she leaned in, her nose close to his so that he could feel the grin shift on her lips. "Is there someone else, Kira, who shouldn't have existed? Who was shaped to be humanity's savior and because of that, has the right to manipulate it? Will this person go insane soon then?"
He swallowed lightly and she knew she had hit some kind of nerve.
"Will he come to realize his role in society and use his ultimate potential to curve the world back to sanity? To show the world the true peace he had always known?"
Another swallow, but this time it wasn't as well-hidden.
"Does any of this sound familiar?"
The Berserker saw Kira twitch and felt his breath quicken, his chest heaving under her grip. His mouth moved as if he was forming words, but his eyes read differently, more like he was panicking despite his effort to keep a calm exterior and she snorted a light puff of air in triumph. Clearly, there was something running through his mind that she had no recollection of. The Berserker wasn't about to complain, however, enjoying how the words were sinking in and with such minimal effort on her part. He had even stopped struggling against her hold.
Now that tickled her curiosity.
"Tell me, wouldn't Le Creuset have started out the same way?" she continued, leaning back and finally letting go of his jacket, reaching up to straighten out the fabric. "I'm sure there are many individuals who could praise Le Creuset or even swoon over his juvenile cuteness. Wasn't he…" she paused her straightening and turned to look off to the side, patting his shoulder twice as she looked for the right word. "Special?" she ended on and turned back to him brightly. "And because of that specialness, he could do incredible things, right?"
She had prodded a weak spot that time.
"Come to think of it," she went on, "there had to be some kind of event; one moment in time that tipped his mental scale. Perhaps he was just tired of being different, or of being compared to someone else. Or maybe people expected too little of him." She gave one final swipe and returned her hands to her side, taking a half step back as she hummed into her next question. "Or expected too much of him?"
He flinched.
The Berserker gave a toothy grin.
"Tell me, Kira—I think we both know where this is headed, so when will that moment happen for you? When can we expect you to turn into the devil? After all, you and Le Creuset are quite similar, aren't you? Hm," she continued, bringing her fingers to her mouth and running one across her bottom lip as his rigid form seemed to sink into the background behind him. "Perhaps you're just talking to Cagalli one day and, bam! You snap. Or Athrun could be telling you something and you just freak out." Laughing, her hand dropped to her side, but before she could give another chuckle, her face changed, not liking his lack of reaction that time and her eyes narrowed into a glare as her palm smashed back against the locker near his head. Cocking her head, she smirked and leaned in close, angling close past his cheek to whisper into his ear. "One of these days, Kira, you'll snap. No human is able to contain a god's power and stay as he is."
Kira finally pushed her back, his hands against her shoulders as he shoved her against the benches. "You're just talking shit."
Namarra laughed as she put a hand up to brace herself against the seat. "Oh, really? If I'm talking shit, why did you kill Le Creuset when you vowed never to kill again? Isn't that one of the first steps?"
"You don't know anything about the situation."
"Tsk, tsk, temper, temper. You don't want to trigger anything now, do you?" Her finger waved back and forth before she brushed a stray hair around her ear. "Why are you angry, anyway? Clearly you have unlocked potential," she slurred. "I mean, I heard you had gone into a rage after Le Creuset destroyed an escape pod."
Another phrase that struck a nerve and possibly one that held deeper cuts than the idea of him losing control. His face was ugly, lip up over his teeth as he snarled and Namarra felt one eyebrow arch at the expression. She never thought she would be the target of such a look and definitely not from Kira Yamato. If she didn't know better, she would have said he was pissed and her lips parted in a laugh.
"Ah, ah, ah. If only you could see how close to that madness you really are." In fact, she honestly wanted him to witness it. The locker room was too quiet, the hum of the engines and the stale air being the only signs that the Berserker actually wasn't have a beautiful dream. If he could see himself now, what would he do?
"Beautiful," she breathed and kicked forward slowly, her hand reaching out towards his cheek. "Absolutely beautiful." She got no further, however, his hand snapping across and his fingers wrapping around her wrist before it could touch him. It didn't matter though, his ugly look was still there and her tongue trickled out in the next grin.
"Yes, so very close."
Throwing her arm down, he pushed off the lockers and unlocked the door, fleeing the room in a huff, the Berserker's laughter following him down the hallway.
A/N: Well, this turned out shorter than I thought is would be, but here it is, the last battle! I made it, but we're not done yet! I'm thinking two more chapters yet of aftermath. Wow, almost there! I can't believe I got this far... I really put my characters through the running here. I don't know why the main canon characters in SEED and Destiny really don't have much happen to them. Are they really that good? I dunno. So, I guess to compensate that, I put my own characters through Hell. Seems like a good trade. *shrugs*
Anyway, I'm sick today so I managed to finish the editing on this. I need to throw a special shoutout to all my Betas because I maybe had three things right during this chapter and they saved my tail from getting the 411 from you tech buffs out there. I have a feeling there's still one or two things off, but hey, I'm not perfect. (In fact, I'm technically challenged.) Anyway, thank you Death-Scimitar, Maderfole, and CSSStravag. And think too, guys, you've been with me for most of Waltz and it's almost done! You guys get a whole lot of credit too!
My reader/reviewers seem to have dropped off within the past couple chapters. "Thank you" to those who have been loyal through my lull months and to those who have wandered away, you're always welcome to come back!
Corrections to the Narrative:
As you've probably noticed, I made some changes to the battle sequences/ending battle, but not as much as the last chapter. Also, since I'm moving beyond the canon in the next couple of chapters there won't be much to alter anymore. Yay!
Questions/Gripes:
Well, I was a bit short on the reviews last chapter so I have nothing to answer or to explain.
Thank you all for your continued support and I'll see you next chapter!
Strata