Arch three begins!

Sorry for the wait, it's been hard to switch gears from total action to a more informative set up style once again. The last chapter was a closure of that arch and a bit of foreshadowing of what is to come. This chapter will set up the political scene and the paths of a few characters.

Phase 24: A Broken World

It was real. Everything was real. He wasn't dreaming. It all had happened and now Meiko Virea was gone. Forever gone.

It should have been darkness all around but in the aftermath of the terrible moment something else overtook him. Everyone who passed by him as he sat there alone beside the wreckage of his father's gundam gave him sympathetic looks but none of them really understood what it felt like. Where he thought he would feel a deep depression he was shocked to find himself surprisingly calm. He had gone through too much loosing his cousin and his close friend to the battlefield of ROW. It was as if everything around him told him that he had every reason to break and to destroy all that was left of who he was but he could not do it. For letting himself be numb to it all or letting himself succumb to it would only lead him to greater heartache. He saw everything clearly how. In his hands he held the simple heart necklace that she had given him and in his own heart he felt her strength, her light.

It was today that he fought back the tears, he fought back the pain and he fought off the numbness that threatened to take him. He no longer wanted to have this war within himself, he wanted to simply be Yaro Yamato again, the strong boy who could face anything. He felt it inside of him, a determination that many around him would not understand but through this all he knew that he could not mock the sacrifices that he had witnessed by becoming a broken fool.

Whatever the consequences of his past actions, whatever wrong choices he had made he could see now that he had to make his own future and leave behind everything that plagued him. Somehow in this day of darkness he had to see the light that had drawn Meiko to him and he had to embrace that light in order to fight for the future his dear friends had given their lives for. Though the darkness and pain of loosing so much followed him now he knew that he couldn't let it kill the hope he had for his hope was all he had left. He slowly stood up holding the necklace in his fist and ignoring the people that passed him there, today he would bury it all.

"No longer," he whispered as a few more tears slipped through his eyes he looked up to toward space. He wasted so much time vainly thinking of himself, now he was different. He saw the world in such a clear way, it was time to show them all that he could be stronger than this. He wouldn't let it break him. It was time for Yaro to show everyone who he really was.

Kira groaned as he felt the numbness in his arm. The doctors had insisted in setting it and numbing it though he tried to convince then that it did not hurt him that much. He thought back to everything that had happened after he left Meiko by the STING. He had been caught up in fighting off ROW units while he rushed through the battlefield toward the Eternal. It was then that it all happened, Meiko self destructed and he saw that the Eternal was heading for earth so he decided to re enter on his own. He was still very close to the STING when he started down so his unit was caught in the heat of the explosion and pelted with debris. He was overwhelmed by it all but he still fought to get to earth and he had landed what was left on the Freedom aboard the Eternal as soon as he came falling out of the atmosphere. Apparently he had passed out after that and fire crews had rushed to cool of the hot metal and they pulled him out of the wreckage. The doctor had pronounced him fine except for a slight fever and a broken arm.

"it's cold in here," he turned to see Lacus walk in. She sat down beside him and smiled warmly, "how have you been?"

"I'm doing much better than everyone seems to think," he replied with a slight laugh, "I'm glad we made it out alright. How are the kids doing?" Lacus looked down at the question thinking about her children and what they had all gone through. It made her angry that the war existed, she had never wanted them to experience the heartache and pain they all knew now. She could only imagine how Cagalli felt loosing a son the way she did. None of them had seen very muh of her since then and apparently she still found it hard to face the public in the aftermath of it all.

"I think Leyas and Kayla are really shaken from all that happened," Lacus began, "neither of them have said very much to me. Kiran is with the Minerva which is missing somewhere. Shinn and Lunamaria aren't with them Kira, I'm very scarred. What if something happens to him?" She didn't want to loose Kiran, after watching Cagalli she knew it would break her more than anyone else.

"Hey it's okay," Kira said placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her, "I'm sure he'll get out, if anyone of our kids can do it it's Kiran, he's much more determined than anyone I know." Lacus knew Kira was right, on top of what Kira said Kiran was with Meyrin and the crew of Minerva so he was in good hands. She just found it so hard to ignore the situation as fine because of everything they had experienced up to this point.

"What about Yaro?" Kira asked finally and Lacus looked at him with eyes wide in concern.

"I don't know Kira," she replied as tears filled her eyes, "when Meiko said goodbye he broke. He cried but then it just seemed to stop. He's shut everyone out and everything, I really don't know what he is thinking and feeling and I don't know what to do! He's not letting me in the way he used to as a child." Kira looked away from her for a second thinking about everything once again. Yaro had determined to kill Meiko yet something had gotten through to him that hatred was not the way. In the last moments of Meiko's life had Yaro come to see everything that he had seen. The girl was controled her entire life and had never made a choice on her own. Kira then turned to his next thought, if Meiko and Yaro had become close on ORB it was possible that he was now feeling more anger and heart ache about everything that happened and everything he had done. Kira knew he felt sadness for how things had turned out and he barely knew the girl.

"He's not a little boy anymore Lacus," Kira said wrapping his arms around her, "we've taught him what we know about life. We've taken care of him but now we have to trust that he'll make it through this. He knows we are always here for him and that's what is important now." He let go and looked her in the eye, "now I want you to know that everything is going to be okay. This is all hard right now but we'll make it through this Lacus. Just don't give up." He hugged her again as best he could with a broken arm.

"I won't Kira," she said hugging him back, "you know I never will."

"Look at all this!" Kayla declared as she stood on the top docks in ORB staring down at the water below. Andrew Waltfeld was watching over her as she had insisted on climbing all the way to the top and he looked down to see what she saw. The water looked very dirty indeed. Apparently the atmosphere and the explosion in space had dealt with all the large pieces of the STING so that there was no real damage to the planet below just pollution.

"It's pretty bad," Waltfeld conceded as the little girls eyes widened, "I heard that a lot of dust has settled on earth. It's because a lot of the debris is in the atmosphere that we can't locate the Minerva and a few other ships."

"Haro, Haro!" Lacus's pink haro bounced behind Kayla, "looks bad, looks bad!" Waltfeld sighed at the noise of the little robot; he had hoped that when Lacus was old enough the little thing would disappear, he never counted on her daughter loving it so much.

"Quite down Haro!" Kayla scolded turning to Waltfeld, "I don't think that anyone expected this." She looked down once again, "but I wonder if it really could have been worse. So many bad things have happened already but it seems certain that the fighting isn't really over yet. I don't think that mommy likes that Kiran is gone and that Yaro refuses to speak to anyone at this point. On top of all that the world is getting dirtied by this and all the big bad people are still in space. I wonder if the destruction of that huge warship really ended anything or if it is the beginning of even bigger problems." Waltfeld laughed at the little girl's assessment of things. She was always trying to figure everything out in her head and often times she came up with good conclusions and surprised people around her.

"Well don't worry about it," he said heartily, she was too young to be so involved with all this, "I'm sure everything will turn out alright in the end." To this Kayla got a faraway look and turned toward the horizon nodding her head in determination.

"It's not certain," she said closing her eyes, "there is so much darkness around the things that I've seen." She opened her eyes again and turned to him, "it all ends in darkness now. I thought there was light but ever since she destroyed her own life all I can see is a never ending blackness. I don't know how we will succeed now but I know we have to." He felt confusion at her words now but very few people ever really did understand her.

"We'll get through," he assured.

"Perhaps," she responded insisting in a bleaker outlook, "if the light shines again." He decided to stop trying to understand her, but he did feel a certain dread at her words. If there really was darkness in their future then where was the world headed now?

"NOT AGAIN!" Shinn spoke very loudly while trying to remain calm. Athrun and a few other ORB technicians were in the room as they all desperately tried to contact the Minerva.

"Just keep trying!" Athrun spoke urgently as everyone in the room seemed to want to give up. Kira and Lacus would not be able to rest easy until Kiran was back and the loss of the Minerva at this time would be a bad blow to ORB. Everything around them was on edge as the largest political power now was ZAFT and the PLANTs and Athrun was sure with the latest turn of events the PLANTs would be forced to decide where they stood. The nations of the world were on edge and he wasn't sure of everything that was going on but it seemed that many things were shifting now.

"How is it that I can get clear signals from the surrounding nations but not from our own ship!" Shinn responded turning off the comm device in front of him, "Where did they land?"

"We took video from what happened in space to try and project their landing pattern," a technician spoke up tracing a few lines on the map in front of him, "apparently the depth of the explosion forced them to move in a more southern direction than anyone else. I think they may have ended up somewhere in this nation here in southern Eurasia."

"Southern Eurasia!" Shinn yelled angrily, "all they way over there!"

"It's the projected path," Athrun spoke up looking at it once again, "and it seems that the nations surrounding the one they landed in are experiencing the unrest that means ROW is present. Things could have been worse but at this point we can only hope they actually landed on earth and didn't get destroyed."

"There is no way that Meryin would let the ship be destroyed," Shinn commented still very angry at the situation at hand, he should have been able to get back to them. Now if something happened to them he felt it would be his fault because it was his mobile suit that was assigned to protect the Minerva. What other hope did they have if they were attacked? There was only one prototype mobile suit aboard the ship and no pilots, they had to start searching for the ship soon or else things could end up very very bad.

"Then we will start sending out scouts to the area and focusing our satellites to see if we can locate it," Athrun said walking from the room. Shinn still sat there staring at the map. Southern Eurasia, too close to the enemy for him to relax.

Cagalli turned around as her maid announced her newest visitor, it wasn't surprising to her to see Murrue Ramius standing before her now clad in ORB's military uniform. The archangel and all the ORB forces had just returned from space along with the Clyne faction placing Cagalli in a very difficult situation with the PLANTs. She had a feeling everything was about to get confusing and with everything that happened she wasn't sure how she would take the coming storm. She didn't feel strong yet though it seemed everyone around her were getting through the last darkness and getting ready to face the next. Her heart was still burdened but she was beginning to feel like there was still hope. It was a hard place for her to be in but she knew forcing herself out of it was not right, with time she would be almost fully recovered though she knew she would never fully get over this.

"I am sorry I didn't visit earlier," Murrue said as they both stood there, "I know you went through a difficult time and I wasn't sure how much help I would be to you so I decided not to visit." Cagalli motioned for her to sit down as she got a faraway look then spoke.

"I never expected anyone to visit," Cagalli began, "I spent so much time wallowing in my own misery that I was hard to think of the people around me. I'm sure you know how loss feels, it eats away at you so much. I can still feel it but now I feel concern that I have abandoned my duties to much, a leader should be strong even in hard times. It's just I never expected anything like this to happen." Murrue put a hand on her shoulder.

"No one blames you," Murrue said with assurance in her voice, "No one ever expected something like this to happens and the people understand. I didn't come here to talk about that though..." Cagalli looked at her wondering what it is the older woman had to say, "I came her to inform you about a few things I have discovered."

"What things?" Cagalli asked a little confused by her words.

"The politcal land map of the world right now," Murrue replied opening up the laptop she had brought into the room with her, "for I understand there are many things ORB hasn't seen." Cagalli watched as she quickly opened up documents and stared at the screen shocked.

"The EA?" Cagalli questioned.

"I know after Gibraltar the treaty between the nations of the earth was dissolved," Murrue said putting her hands together and thinking of her former military, "but it seems in the past two years since ROW started reeling it's ugly head more prominently a large group of nations without ROW influence have rallied under the banner of the Atlantic Federation to form the New Earth Alliance or NEA. They have been fighting ROW as best they can but I have a feeling they have been struggling to gather their military. It seems ROW has invaded quite a few government systems and the NEA has found quite a few ROW agents trying to slip into their councils." Cagalli looked at her shocked, all this had been going on and she hadn't even known.

"How could this have just gone unnoticed by us?" Cagalli declared putting her head in her hands. On top of everything else she was dealing with, this had to come up now. What side would the NEA take in the upcoming dialogue with the PLANTs.

"The NEA's existence has been a complete secret until a few days ago," Murrue said, "but I was clued into it last spring when I visited my family in Atlantic Federation territory. I bring this all up now not because I think the NEA will be a threat but because I think they might be a help to us."

"How so?" Cagalli asked a little confused, "the old earth alliance had never really sided with ORB, why should the new one?"

"Because we are both fighting ROW," Murrue opened some more documents, "they hate what ROW has been doing into the world and they caught on much faster than any of us. It seems that in the past day the president of the Atlantic Federation, Fredrick Turnal has made a public statment praising our efforts against ROW in space and our victory. I believe that in the things that may be coming the NEA might be able to help us. I have brought this to you so that you can present it to the council Lady Cagalli. There is so much at steak now we need to forge new alliances and soon!" Cagalli looked at her and understood everything the woman was saying.

"You are right," Cagalli said looking at the photos once again, "I can't believe that we didn't notice this before but I agree with you. The NEA night be one of our only hopes in the upcoming battle." Now Cagalli just wondered what was about to happen if the NEA got invovled. The past wars were between the PLANTs and the NEA with Lacus Clyne siding with the PLANTs for the most part. So how would Lacus react to all this. Cagalli had to do what was best for her nation but she also had to be mindful of the Clyne faction that had allied with her. What path would they take with this new development?

"Damn that John Liene!" Jayley spoke very harshly as she sat now with two ROW agents in her office in the PLANTs waiting for the gathering of the council that would take place later that day. It seemed that everything she had done to keep the PLANT's from pressuring ORB at the time when ROW was attacking had all come to nothing, they had failed to bring the country to it's knees and they had lost two weapons of great importance. This failure represented the weakness of John Liene's own soul. Jayley knew that he thought of her as another one of his puppets in this war for the so called 'restoration of the world' but he didn't really know what he had unleashed when he had helped her earn power in the PLANTs.

"The situation was not all his fault," one of the agents who was known as Mike Shustre said, "Meiko defected and destroyed the STING and the Pain in one move. The only comfort Liene takes is that she killed herself in the process." Jayley could tell something was bothering Mike about everything. She did not know him very well but she knew that a lot of officers in ROW did not like him one bit, but it seemed Liene trusted him with his life.

"I told Liene the first day that I joined ROW that he was leaning tow much on this girl," Jayley spat slamming her hands down in front of her and standing up abruptly, "she was always wavering! Weak and wavering, that was what I told him but he couldn't bother to consider that what I was saying was true, he had already spent so much money on ensuring she was the best trained! He could have at least done that for some of his other young proteges then maybe we might not be in this situation!" She paced back and forth now unnerving Mike where he sat.

"You know as well as any of us that Liene did not intend for Meiko to fight alone," Mike said calmly, one thing she had never liked about him was his ability to be so calm in desperate situations.

"Of course but that's not his fault," she said sarcastically rolling her eyes then turning back to them angrily. "Of course it was his fault! He was the one who trained Rayla Frost, he entrusted her with so much information and never thought about what might happen if she turned and stabbed him in the back!"

"Rayla Frost is dead," the second ROW angent said now finally speaking up, "Liene does not let anyone speak her name in his presence."

"But if she were dead then we wouldn't have Redemption breathing down our necks in every operation we planned!" Jayley countered again getting angrier this time. "Has Liene not noticed that every time he makes a move a Redemption agent or some sort of intervention plan is always there? The situation in many of the nations on earth would be more in our favor if it weren't for Rayla's damned organization!"

Mike sat there unable to think of any way to reply now. He was dealing with so much now; Meiko had taken her own life and now Liene was leaning on him to help with the next stage of the plans. Mike could not see what he could do now, he was getting ready to leave ROW himself but he knew Redemption would be shattered by the recent events. He had failed his mission and it seemed that there was nothing left for him anywhere else. When they had escaped the STING explosion Liene had sent him and another ROW agent to the PLANT's immediately to beg that Jayley refrain from doing anything rash but he hated this duty. Jayley Lired had been the one part of the plan that he had openly protested to Liene, something about her did not sit right with him. It was as if she was ready to turn around and do something that was not in ROW's plans and in that event Redemption would not know how to counter it because of his failure.

"Liene is not asking you to do anything but wait for his commands now," Mike said slowly, "we don't want to loose control of the PLANTs, now more than ever we need you to cooperate." She looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Lacus Clyne must be destroyed!" Jayley said with hatred, "her and her forces must be stopped and if they are in ORB now we have no choice but to stop sitting here like we don't care about what is going on! Mike, I have the power to crush her at my fingertips now! The PLANT supreme council that was elected last are almost all under my control and ZAFT now answers to me! Liene is a fool if he thinks I am not going to use that power."

"You can't!" Mike yelled back. She looked at his face at this moment and saw something that she knew Liene had never seen before, Mike Shustre was different. He was not like the ROW agents she had trained with, he was more like herself and she knew at that moment that he was not with Liene. This realization did not startle her the way it should have. She always realized there was something about Mike that just wasn't clear to the people around him and the people in ORB, it was why the commanders had asked Liene to place Meiko in the care of another officer. The wheels in her head started turning as she kept looking back at him thinking of the possibilities. Could he really be one of the reasons that Meiko grew into such rebellion?

"So you mean to follow Meiko?" Jayley spoke softly now with a sinister smile, "how long do you think you can keep this act up before Liene leaves you for dead?" Mike took a step back at her words now knowing that she knew everything now. The other ROW agent looked confused now but he spoke up anyway trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"The point is that Liene has ordered you to do nothing until he figures a few things out, the political map of the world is in ROW's favor now," the second agent said, "and if you make any move you might just jeopardize that." Jayley smiled to the ROW agent knowing what she had to play now.

"Of course," she conceded stepping back and bowing her head slightly turning to the other agent, "we are all on Liene's side after all. So I will obey his orders, you may leave." The second agent hurried out but Mike lingered behind knowing that she would not really concede.

"Don't do anything stupid," he begged.

"I would say the same about you but I see it is too late," she said with a smile cocking her head, "I do wonder at it though. You've been with ROW since the beginning yet somehow all this time you've been able to stay unaffected by your own inner desires to turn your back on this life style. How have you been able to so deceive Liene all this time?" It was amazing to her now seeing someone so much like herself yet so different.

"I am with Liene," Mike tired to assure but he knew it was too late.

"I feel almost the same as you do about everything Mike," she said in a more seductive voice, "Liene's plans are brilliant but in the end he will destroy this world. The same goes for Redemption for the battle between the two is likely to end with something worse than the last incident. Mike you should join me!" He looked at her strangely not knowing what she was talking about but she continued any way, "you think that ROW and Redemption are the only powers waring it out secretly? No I have been working very hard to try and undermine things as well. Not only ROW but Redemption as well and the Clyne faction, yes all three powers now stand in the way of true world peace."

"What are you saying?" he asked not fully understanding her.

"I am saying that if things remain as they are this world will end," she said looking down sadly, "which is why I agreed to be Liene's pawn in the PLANTs, because from here I have power to change things. The battle between those three powers will destroy the world. We need to end the Clyne faction and then kill Liene if this world is ever to be saved. You can help me do this!"

He was shocked at all this. Jayley had always seemed to be the loyalest of them all, she too was defecting. He understood what she was saying about ROW but he couldn't understand what was bad about the Clyne faction.

"I don't really understand," he said looking at her in complete shock, "what is it you are planning."

"I am going to give you time to think about it," she responded, "for I know you can't really betray me since Liene trusts me, but I think I know which way you will lean. Ever since Rayla left you've been broken, angry not only at ROW but at her. You can't deny it all. Just think about my offer Mike." With that she exited the room leaving him there completely stunned. She had seen right through him and found everything that he really felt. He was angry with Rayla for leaving him with ROW, no matter what the mission he had. He failed on everything he had set out to do and now he was being offered a away to counter ROW for peace. He had to choose now between Redemption, the girl who had abandoned him and Jayley, someone who now offered hope. It confused him and now he wished more than ever that he could just end all the factions and bring peace himself. What could he do?

He stepped out of the car and closed his eyes at the cool breeze that floated by him before standing up and facing his destination. It was a very large building, it was where he had spent a year of his life. The ORB orphanage run by Cadrid Yamato and a very old Reverend Malchio. He stood there lingering for a moment staring at the large building as he heard the crashing of waves nearby. Apparently with the end of the second bloody valentine war, Cagalli had commissioned the building and the government kept it in top shape for all the children who lived there. Yaro still remembered how kindly everyone had treated him but he also remembered how he had once longed for a family. He remembered when Lacus had arrived, sad, scarred and alone. He did not understand everything that was going on, he only knew that he wanted her to feel the same happiness he felt there so he had talked to her. He had shared his toys with her and done everything a little two year old boy knew what to do in order to cheer the twenty year old Lacus up.

What Yaro had never counted on was Lacus remembering everything he did. It was all so simply back then. Lacus and Kira had come together with their baby twins Leyas and Kiran and Lacus had invited him to be part of her family. Through the years he had grown up in privilege and in peace with one of the most amazing families in the entire world. His relationship with his new father was like any father son relationship and his siblings knew him better than anyone else having grown up with him but it was his relationship with his mother Lacus that was truly special. Somehow she always knew what to say to him and he always knew what to say to her. The bond between them was strong. What more could he want in life?

But there had to be something more, something inside him always wanted to know what had happened to his real parents. His past was the biggest mystery within him and there were times when he longed just to know the names of his parents and maybe to know a little bit about them. Athrun had done all he could to find out information for Yaro but he had found almost nothing, just a bit of information on how Yaro had been brought to the orphanage and that his parents had been killed in the war. Now he stood outside the orphanage staring at the building and wondering who had really brought him here in the past and what her motives were for just dropping him off. He wondered who she was and if she knew his parents and if she did know his parents was she still alive and could he find her?

"So you have come looking for answers at last?" He turned around at the sound of Reverend Malchio's voice and saw the kindly old man leaning on a cane standing behind him, he was getting really along and years and by the looks of it he wasn't going to last much longer in this life.

"I've always wanted answers," Yaro said looking down and turning toward the setting sun, "I guess it's just taken me a few years to see that for myself." The Reverend frowned at this and walked toward the boy placing an hand on his arm.

"Come now," The reverend said turning toward the house, "we will talk inside. It is much warmer than it will be out here in a short while." Yaro followed the old man inside and greeted his adoptive grandmother Cadrid Yamato as well as the children that lived in the house now. The reverend insisted he drink some tea and then he led Yaro into a large warm sitting room to talk. Yaro was patient with the reverend knowing that since he waited 18 years for this moment a short span of time would not be much larger.

"Now I am sure Athrun has told you the story that I told him about the woman that came to me," the Reverent began getting a faraway look, "but I only told Athrun what she told me to tell him."

"You mean there is more?" Yaro asked filled with an odd feeling at the idea of finally knowing more about his past.

"Not much more," the Reverend responded sipping some tea, "But enough that I am sure you can come up with your own conclusions about the information." Yaro sipped some of his own tea as the Reverend seemed to be reliving the past in front of him.

"It was about, let me see, 17 years ago or so. You were just a small baby, you cried a lot back then but I always knew it was because you had lost so much, Cadrid used to say she would be worried if you didn't cry." The Reverend smiled at this, "but I remember a lot about her, the woman who brought you. She had so many names, I forgot some of them but one that always stuck with me was Rayla Frost, a very distinct name for a person that one only ever meets once in their life. She wore a rather odd white mask and she carried herself like a princess, like she was somebody important." Yaro listened absorbing everything the old man said and trying to envison the woman for himself, "I remembered she carried you like you were an important piece of her life. I didn't really understand why she was giving you up if you meant so much to her but she told me that she knew the life she was about to lead was no place for a child."

"Do you think she could have been my mother?" Yaro asked.

"No, no I don't see that at all," the Reverend said holding his hand up as if to grasp for something, "she did watch over you but I am convinced that she was as she said she was, merely a friend of your parents. She told me that your mother had been killed in the very first bloody valentine war, a tragic incident apparently she was caught in a trap laid for a coordinator by blue cosmos or something. When I asked Rayla about your father she replied that he had been driven mad with grief and that he took his own life." Yaro winced at this thinking about the circumstances, his father must have really loved her mother to go to those extremes.

"Did she say what she was to me, or where she was going?" Yaro asked, "please I need to know everything."

"You lost a lot in space didn't you?" The Reverend said causing him to bow his head, "I can see it in your eyes Yaro, the pain of loss that so grips your life. But I do know how it feels and I know that you are fighting it rather than letting it hold you which is good."

"There was just so much," Yaro responded, "so many things that should not have happened."

"Sometimes our lives are the tales of things that should never have happened," the Reverend said continuing his story, "Rayla's life was as this. I saw it on her face, the tales of loss and suffering, torment. She would not confide in me about her past but I knew her future was not a bright one. She said that she found you shortly after the incident with your parents and took you in but decided that she was not right to care for you so she dropped you off here. That is the extent of what I know besides the fact that I believe that somewhere out in the universe Rayla is still alive."

"Do you think she knows more than she let on?" Yaro asked looking toward the ground, "or that she would ever reveal it to anyone?"

"Do you wish to talk about the things that you have seen and lost at this time?" the Reverend asked catching Yaro a little off gaurd and when he turned away the Reverend kept speaking, "for sometimes the hurts that are nearest to us are the ones we hide from ourselves and the world around us. I believe that Rayla is still alive and that she is more ready to speak of the past that she was when I met her."

"But does it really happen?" Yaro asked, "does time really take away all the emptiness that comes with loss?"

"That will be something that you decide Yaro," the Reverend responded, "for sometimes in this race of life hurts heal, sometimes they just fade a little, sometimes we hold onto them forever and other times we erase them from our minds."

"The fact is that ORB is in alliance with Lacus Clyne and always has been," Jayley declared standing before the council, "they have ignored the fact that Lacus is a fugitive of the PLANTs and insulted us in every way possible. We have ignored this for too long, sure they were fighting off a ROW attack but are ROW really our enemies? It was Lacus Clyne who told us they were and we have discovered that she did not serve the best interest of the PLANTs. What has ROW ever done against us? If anything they are Lacus Clyne's enemies so we should consider them unhostile toward us." She had been deliberating with the council on this issue for an hour and they were finally starting to agree with her.

"Whatever ROW is they are not our concern and never have been," another council member spoke up, "and Lacus Clyne has been out of our vicinity for quite awhile now, there is no way that we can see her as a real threat anymore."

"The threat is that she can influence the masses more than any of us could ever hope to!" Jayley declared, "and we can't stop her from here! Who knows what lies and responses she has concocted! In space she was vulnerable but now she has 'witnesses' around her, people that will try and vouch for her! The people are easily deceived even though we have told them the truth, who says that they are going to believe us over her? We have to stop her!"

"Are you suggesting that we declare war on ORB?" a council member whom she knew very well, one that served her spoke up now. Everything was playing our perfectly.

"Yes, I am," Jayley said with a sly smile, soon very soon now.

She walked down the halls of the Eternal thinking about everything that was going on around her. She had been told to get off the ship and proceed to the Attha mansion but she had found herself unable to do such a thing. A sense of dread had filled her over everything that she had just witnessed in space. Leyas Yamato was shaken by it all. She stopped walking for a second to take a deep breath then continued on.

Always wondering why
Always feeling alone
Always breaking down
Is there any other way
For us to find light now

She sang the hopeless sounding words as she stopped in front of a photo of her family. She felt like this life they faced now should never have been theirs, like fate had been upset through all the things that were happening around them. They had lived in such peace on the PLANTs for so long, none of this was every supposed to happen, she should still be there enjoying simple life. Worrying about nothing but what she is going to wear to the concert or where she and her friends are going to go on vacation together. It was all she could do to hold it together at all times here in ORB. Nothing was right and she knew with the way things looked now things were getting worse.

Her thoughts turned to Meiko, somehow she had a connection with that girl yet she would now never be able to find it out because Meiko was dead and gone forever. If someone so strong could fall in such a terrible way how would the weak fair in the wars to come. It seemed that everyone around her was uneasy ever since that last battle. Kiran was missing and the atmosphere was still filled with dust and debris. Though the planet suffered no damage pollution ran wild as the politicians battled out what to do next. Leyas hated being stuck here, she felt that her nation was in trouble. The PLANTs were in trouble and she had no way of returning to them to help, no way of doing anything but staying to fight them off if they dared to attack her family again. The only comfort she took is that ROW was gone or at least they were hurt enough to stay away for now.

"You worried about your family," she turned around quickly a bit startled by the voice that spoke behind her, she hadn't expected anyone to come down the halls at this time. She turned to see that guy who had brought Yaro back from ROW, she had forgotten his name but from what she understood he was an ex ROW agent and her mother had sworn him into the Clyne faction just that morning. He was Meiko's friend and now their ally.

"Not worried," Leyas responded a little coldly, she was still resentful of his time in ROW. From what she understood he had piloted one of the machines that gave them trouble on their way out of the PLANTs. It would not be so easy for her to welcome him with open arms as it was for the people around her. "It's just too much at once, ROW really hurt us."

"I know," Trey replied looking down a little ashamed of his own time with them, "they are animals. They deceive even the people who fight for them and in the end they toss you aside. They used Meiko and it destroyed her." Leyas took one look and him and she knew he was hurting. She had no cause to really hate him.

"What was your name again?" Leyas asked.

"Trey," he replied and Leyas smiled.

"And I am Leyas Yamato," she responded.

"Leyas," he said her name, "I am really sorry for all the problems I caused you and your family while I was with that organization."

"There's no need," Leyas replied, "but if it makes you feel better I accept your apology. The truth of what ROW did weighs on us all because of the things that have just taken place. I don't know how things are going to turn out and I feel very scarred right now as I'm sure we all do. We're living in uncertainty so there is no time to wallow in the past."

"I know that," Trey replied breathing out heavily, "but I also know that right always wins and I believe that now I am on the right side. I am very grateful to your mother for allowing me to fight alongside of you all." Leyas smiled at this, she was sure with that Trey would prove a vaulable ally to them in the future. He had fought with ROW and he knew their methods better than anyone here. He had also fought alongside Meiko for a long time, perhaps by speaking to him about her Leyas would be able to unravel the great mystery of the connection between herself and that fated girl.

"What will happen to us?" Alicesia asked as her and Kiran both stood on the deck of the Minerva watching the sunset. Transmissions were still unsuccessful and without any word from ORB Captain Meyrin Hawke seemed to think that moving the ship was a bad idea. They still had no idea where they were and they discovered that their navigation systems were slightly damaged. A few engineers were working on getting them back to normal but it was slow going. Everyone on the ship seemed to think the situation was very grim.

"Cheer up Alicesia!" Kiran said in a happy tone of voice, "being down about everything can't be healthy in any way!" She smiled at his enthusiasum, somehow he was aways so optimistic through this situations and she wondered how.

"But aren't you even a bit worried about our situation?" she asked.

"Worrying never did anything for anyone," he responded a bit more seriously now, "in my limited experience I have found it a waste of energy that can be used doing much more practical things. Besides what do we have to really be worried about? We're inside one of the greatest warships of our time with an amazing captain and a strong crew." She nodded her head at this.

"That's true but what about Shinn and Lunamaria?" she asked, "and we don't know what happened to everyone else."

"I am confident that they all made it to ORB safely," Kiran replied, "and I am confident that we will get through one way or another."

Yaro stood now in the Morganrate factory alongside Mu La Flaga. After leaving the orphanage that evening he had proceeded to Morganrate to speak to the older pilot about something that pressed on his mind after his experiences today. He was originally placed in ORB as a child and he now wanted to fight for ORB, it was his real country. He was tired of being under the orders of superiors that were emotionally attached to him and he now wanted to fight under someone who wouldn't fear for his life and order him to hold back. Lacus Clyne hated killing and at this point ORB had no problem with it. He had witnessed the battles in space and he knew that ROW agents were ruthless and he now understood that some people deserved to die.

"Are you sure about this?" Mu asked him as the old Morganrate technician Erica Simmons led them into another chamber.

"Yes," Yaro replied.

"I have approved your request," Erica replied pressing some buttons on a keypad next to a large door, "ORB needs good pilots in the battles to come and I hear most of the Clyne faction is clearing out to keep from causing trouble." The doors in front of them opened and Yaro stared on shocked as beyond was revealed a really large Gundam machine. It was colored Blue and Green and it appeared to be very powerful indeed. He just stared on in awe of the large machine.

"It was commissioned by the council that we construct a few new super Gundams, one for Athrun and one for Uzumi," Erica said.

"Then this was meant for Uzumi?" Mu questioned. He didn't like this all one bit. Drafting Yaro into the ORB military was like taking him away from the Clyne faction. It was all so sudden.

"Yes it was," Erica responded, "Its the MOG - 8453 Dreamer. When Uzumi was shot down in space this machine had no pilot and I found no one really worthy of it until you came in here today. Though this machine is not done I have a feeling that there is no one better for it than you Yaro." Yaro stared in awe still at the machine before him.

"The Dreamer," Yaro said, "Uzumi's gundam."

Milady stood there with the doctor aboard the Reversal reviewing everything he had discovered on his newest patient. It had been a long past few hours waiting for all the tests to process and the poor soul looked terrible indeed. The endless night of space wore on as Milady sat there, ignoring the need for sleep and focusing now on one thing.

"After a considerable amount of tests the list of things that we have come up with leaves little room for hope," the doctor sighed holding the clip boarded report.

"What?" Milady questioned.

"Broken bones, specifically a Shattered wrist, dislocated shoulder, twisted ankle, two broken ribs and three more cracked. That alone is a lot of damage " he responded pointing to the images on the screen, "the shattered wrist causes the most concern see, bones are fragments all through there but they are just fragments. Repairing them is impossible." Milady looked at it in shock, she had never seen anything so torn into pieces in her life. She brought her hand to her mouth and turned away in anger. "And that's not the only thing Milady! There is a raging infection and a very very high fever. The patient crashed twice already and survival chances are very very low."

"No," Milady felt tears coming to her eyes as she looked at it all.

"We have to get back to base," the doctor said urgently, "back to our advanced facilities. I don't have the equipment I need out here!"

"Then we will increase our speeds and set our course back to base immediately," Milady said storming out of the hospital room. She had almost sacrificed her mobile suits for this moment sending them into everything and now she could not allow everything she had done so far to be in vain. She could not loose hope and she would do everything to ensure hope remained.

"You know I've been getting really tired of sitting around," Yack said floating into the dining hall where Milady sat finally recognizing that she needed to keep herself healthy and that she needed to stop spending all her time in the medical center.

"Patience Yzak," Milady responded with a slight worried smile on her face, "I think we're going to get our chances soon enough."

"What about the recent developments?" Yzak asked, "do you still believe in the Super Seed Theory?" She smiled at this, he was still skeptical about everything she had told him on this subject. She knew it seemed a little unreal but it was belief in this theory that had driven a lot of her plans. It was risky but now that she had seen it with her own eyes she knew it was real.

"Did you not sense it in your mind?" she asked, "did you not feel it? It is real, and I am sure that we have it with us. You need not be so pushy about getting your chance to fight. I know you've waited now for 13 years but I ask you to please be patient a little longer for I have a feeling ROW is not done. Liene will run and hide, he will hold back and lick his wounds but in the time to come ROW will return more powerful than before, of that I am certain. Meiko wasn't the only one that Liene trained, there are still more that we haven't seen, I only hope that everything turn out pkay."

"But what of Yaro Yamato?" Yzak asked her, "do you still fell you did the right thing?"

"Revenge was never my motive when I saved the child," Milady replied, "and I have no regrets for the things I did regarding him."

So it's finally done. I honestly did not expect to finish this today or to post it. I thought that this would be done next week or something. So this might be the last chapter of the summer, I have one more week till I go back and writing has turned into slow going again. I sat down so many times to write this week then got up after having written nothing and other times I sat down and wrote whole scenes. I refuse to write without being inspired to so it got a little slow this time around but I'm happy with how all this turned out.

So please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! I'll be watching my email to see what you thought about this chapter!

-WinterChill