KnightOfZaku: I definitely agree with you there. Hell, even I got frustrated writing the plot armor, unfortunately, I needed a good many of the characters for the next arc, which will prove even more tragic in a few ways.
'I'm blind?!' Alma thought to herself, desperately righting her mobile suit.
"Switching to backup sensors!" Alma said quickly, quickly inputting a code in her suit, some of the monitors began to show lower quality images of the battle outside her suit, just in time so a shot from the Ground-Type Gundam barely missed her cockpit, instead, it pierced through her shoulder and lopped off her left arm instead.
"Alma!" Ryan shouted over comms.
"Ryan-chan!" Alma said in relief,
"Pull back! Your mobile suit is too heavily damaged! That's an order!" Ryan told her and Alma nodded, more than relieved at the order. Quickly rocketing towards the back of the camp, she managed to safely escape the battlefield.
Ryan watched as Alma pulled back, "Seven! What is it looking like?!"
"We've taken 20% casualties! The enemy has taken 10%!" Seven informed him, "The Zein has been destroyed, Aria has been moderately damaged, and the Arheim & Zolar have both taken hits!"
'They've taken out 12 mobile suits while we've only got 2 of theirs? We can't keep operating like this, or else…' Ryan never got to finish his thought as the Golden Gundam rushed at him, forcing him to block its beam saber with his Heat Hawk.
In response, Ryan swung at it with his heat rod, but only dealt a glancing hit as it rocketed backward. Slowly but surely, however, he began to come up with a plan.
"Mash, Gaia, Ortega. I have an idea." Ryan explained,
"Shoot. It's better than anything we have." Ortega shrugged,
"Alright. From the looks of it, the Gundam has extremely poor close combat capabilities. It's relying on its beam rifle and explosives to keep us at bay. However, if we can corner it on or between the Dobdays, we might have a shot at taking this thing down." Ryan said,
"But that'd put the Dabude's themselves at risk." Gaia pointed out,
"A risk we'll have to take." Ryan said simply, "Spread out and corral it towards the Dabudes!"
Rose fended off a slash from the lead Gouf before leaping backward to avoid a rocket from a Gouf to the side of her.
'They've started to spread out…why?' Without warning, three of the Gouf's closed in front of her, slashing and shooting at her and forcing her back.
Suddenly, Rose realised their plan. 'They want to corner me using the Dobdays!' She thought to herself, and it was working. She was slowly but surely finding herself pressed against the front of a Dabude, and while she was out of the firing angle of it's secondary turrets, it didn't change the fact she was being cornered right now.
'Then…I'll just have to go out on a limb!' Letting out a loud warcry, Rose pushed her throttle forward and rushed straight at the leading Gouf.
Ryan stared in shock as the Gundam suddenly charged at him, stepping back, he caused the Gouf to go off balance, and could only watch as the Gundam used its thrust to power a kick straight into the Gouf's head, smashing it's main sensor and fluid pulse wires.
"Gah!" Ryan gasped as the Gouf fell back, from the impact. The Gundam's eyes flashed green as it approached the downed Gouf, extending a single work arm, it prepared to level it's beam saber at Ryan's cockpit.
"Ryan!" Gaia rocketted towards the Gundam, and threw himself into it, causing it to stumble and tip over, however, the Golden Gundam immediately used it's high thrust to balance itself out and thrust it's saber through the head of Gaia's Gouf, taking it off instantly and throwing the Gouf into the Zolar.
"Damn you!" Mash ran at the Gundam, holding the sword to his side as he prepared to slash upward. In turn, the Gundam ran at him, beam saber at it's side, however, when Mash prepared to slash, the Gundam fired up in the air, proceeded to use the Gouf as a springboard - crushing it's head in the process - and launched itself into the air with manuverability one would've never expected from it's looks.
"She launched herself into the air using Mash's Gouf!?" Seven called out in amazement,
The Gundam hovered in the air briefly before bringing the beam saber down hard on the bridge of the Zolar, cleaving through it in one broad slash.
Rose panted as she landed behind the disabled Dobday.
"Commander!" Helios called out,
"We need to fall back!" Rose said, "We've done the best we can!"
"Like hell!" Federico snarled, "Those bastards killed Kiln and Vega!"
"Then you can take revenge for them alone, Lieutenant Colonel." Rose said sharply, "The enemy is regrouping. Every moment we spend here is another moment that Zeon reinforcements close in on us."
'Damn it…Lilith would've been perfect for a mission like this. A tight space and lots of chaos. Temperament or no, this was one situation we failed to utilize to our advantage.' Rose thought to herself,
"01st MS Team! Withdraw!" Rose ordered, firing a red flare before transforming into fighter form right as the last remaining Quad-Star - Ortega - slashed at her mobile suit.
"Damn it…Semovente Corps! Fall back!" Federico ordered, firing his own flare and drawing the Semovente Corps to his position as they laid own cover fire for their retreat. The combined force of Gundam's and Zaku's slowly but surely withdrew into the forest.
"The enemy is pulling back!" Seven said in relief,
"Damage report?" Ryan asked, and Ryan could feel the dread in her voice.
"We've lost two Dobday-Class battleships - the Berlint and the Zolar. On top of that, the Aria has been heavily damaged. Nordit's company has lost twelve mobile suits, four are heavily damaged, and four are fine. We've lost nine mobile suits, ten are heavily damaged, and another fifteen have suffered moderate to light damage of some kind." Seven summarized.
'Ten mobile suits…no, ten people. People under my command…' Ryan unknowingly increased his grip on the controls. Every single one of those people had been with him for months, he had slept, ate, and fought alongside them…
And like that. They were gone.
"It could've been worse Commander." Vanessa patted her on the back, "Think about it, we came out of all that and we all lived - well, no offense to the Semovente Corps. Rest in peace, Kiln and Vega." Vanessa muttered the last part.
"It's just…ugh." Rose drained the last of her coffee thermos, before staring down into the empty depths of it.
"If I'd planned this better…maybe Kiln and Vega wouldn't have died. Maybe we could've taken them all out." Rose said,
"Hey. You did your best. Colmatta foisted this mission onto your shoulders and you didn't buckle, you went with it, and our entire team came out mostly unharmed. I wish I could say the same for the mobile suits…" Vanessa looked wistfully at her damaged Gundam, it's front was completely torn apart from the explosion of Lou's rail cannon.
"I guess. It just feels like I didn't make the most out of this. No matter how hasty it might've come. We finally had a fight with them on our terms, we finally got to set the rules, and I blew it." Rose sighed,
Vanessa wagged a finger in Rose's face. "Nuh-uh. That's not our commander."
Rose looked up at her, "...huh?"
Vanessa sat down beside her, "Listen…I know we haven't known each other for very long. But I do know that you're not some cuckly little girl, so stop acting like one. You got us out of there alive, and that's not something that just anyone could do." She grinned at Rose and punched her in the arm, "Lighten up Commander, what do you say we drink this mission under the table once we get back?"
Rose looked at the determined raven-haired girl and smiled. "I could go for a drink. Let's do it."
Ryan slowly dragged his fingers across the eyelids of 2nd Lieutenant Yor Torres, a boy whose posting to the 300th Newtype Corps was his first military assignment.
And his last.
Ryan's face darkened as he felt a small pair of arms wrap around his waist, he looked down to find Seven looking up at him worriedly.
The pair didn't say anything as Seven continued clutching at Ryan, who began slowly petting her head.
As Ryan gazed down at her, he couldn't help but reflect on his 'memories' of the future. What happened to Seven? Or Alma? Why those specific scenes of the war? Why couldn't he knew when they happened? Or why?
'...will I be able to prevent them?' He wondered,
"...S'okay. I'll be here, big brother…" Seven muttered into his waist, and Ryan's breath hitched, and the reality of the situation truly hit him.
Unlike normal soldiers, most - if not all - of the residents of the Flanagan Institute were orphans or were simply abandoned there by their parents. Meaning there would be no letters home, no one to cry for them, other than the same people they'd fought with.
They were phantom fighters. And, for all history cared, they might as well have never existed at all.
Ryan wrapped his arms around the little girl, as a solitary tear made his way down his cheek.
Rittmeister Airfield
As Rose disembarked from her Golden Gundam, she looked around at her teammates in varying emotional states and inhaled.
"Listen up!" She shouted as she lowed herself down to the hangar floor. "I'm sick of all this. Sick of being run like a rat in a lab and single-handedly holding the frontline against the powers that be. But Ensign Karanes here-" She nodded towards Vanessa, who waved smugly, "-has given me the wisdom to take the entire team out drinking."
This immediately got the entire team perked up. "Commander, you serious?" Helios asked hopefully,
"As a heart attack." She chirped,
"What about Colmatta? Won't he be mad?" Lou asked nervously,
Rose smirked and approached the nervous Ensign.
"Come on Lou. Your absolute bombshell commander is asking you out-"
"Technically, you're asking the team out-" Lou began, but Roses cut him off.
"Details. Ensign Lou, details. Point is, how long are you going to be a stick in the mud?" Rose gave him a wide toothy grin, and Lou finally relented.
"Good! You guys get us a truck, I want to pick someone up." Rose gave them a thumbs up before
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to track down any relatives for the deceased here. And as their commander, I thought it would be best if you determined what happens to their bodies." A medic explained to him,
"Thank you…" Ryan muttered quietly, "We'll give them a proper burial."
The medic nodded, and Ryan looked back at the bodies covered in white sheets.
"If we're going to host a funeral, we should do it quickly, and return to the frontline." Char said from behind him.
Ryan didn't look at him, but continued staring at the sheets before finally tearing away from them.
"We shouldn't bury them here." Ryan said, "I…think I know a place." Ryan stated, "We'll take the team out in a few minutes."
Char looked at him, "And what about you?"
"I'll be right behind you." Ryan gave one final salute to the bodies in front of him, before turning to follow Char.
Outside Munich - Dresanger Bar
"To our first real victory!" The 01st MS Team clinked their beer glasses together.
"I really can't believe we pulled that off." Helios reclined in his seat, a beer glass in hand. "We actually killed some of them. Think about it! Us! We need like - a medal or something."
"Give us some shore leave and I couldn't care less," Vanessa said, before taking a big gulp of her beer, so much that it began flowing out of both sides of her mouth before she stopped.
"Amen sis." Rose chugged the remainder of her glass of beer, before slamming it down and drunkenly demanding a refill.
"I feel a little bad. I mean - couldn't we invite Semovente Corps? They helped too." Lou Kou insisted,
"Trust me." Rose threw an arm around the Ensign, suddenly sober, despite the fact her face was still flushed red. "It's better this way. The Semovente Corps needs a little time."
"If you say so…" Lou sighed,
"Lilith! Come on!" Rose flopped into her lap, "Lighten up a little!"
"I'm good, commander." Lilith stated blandly,
Rose pouted and kicked her legs childishly, clearly intoxicated. "Come on~ I didn't invite you here for no reason!" Rose whined,
"Commander, you're drunk." Lilith deadpanned,
"So? It's a bar, Lily."
"Lilith."
"Potato, patato. I'm ordering you to get shitfaced with us." Rose flipped over on her lap and pointed her finger straight in Lilith's face.
"..." Lilith remained silent, staring down at the girl lying down on her lap.
"Orders are orders!" Kayla came up from behind her, quickly taking her by the shoulders as Vanessa reached across the table
"Bottoms up Aidan!" Vannessa shoved beer down her throat, and forcing her to swallow.
The girls finally got up as Lilith sputtered from the liquid being shoved down her throat.
"See~? That wasn't so bad." Rose grinned, sitting up in her lap before grabbing a refilled glass and raising it up
"Here's to the 01st MS Team!"
A casket was slowly lowered into the penultimate of ten graves. Each one was marked with a headstone adorned with flowers (courtesy of the younger female members of the Corps) and their officer's caps lay on top of their headstones or at their base.
2nd Lt. Yor Torres
Ens. Ken Dorian
2nd Lt. Persley Heim
Ens. Lyla Remus
Ens. Mina Oreh
2nd Lt. Zeke Derio
Ens. Hans Baker
Ens. Yang Rose
Ens. Forger Doil
2nd Lt. Stella Loussier
"Not a single one over twenty…not one." Ryan heard Johnny mutter beside him as the last casket was lowered into its grave and Ryan clenched his fist. Johnny was right, the oldest among them was…what - twenty-five? Ryan himself was only nineteen, and yet here they were. Sacrificing kids to fight one of the deadliest wars in human history. Was this what they were bound to become?
How was he any different from the leaders of the Federation and Zeon responsible for this meat grinder?
Ryan was suddenly snapped out of his stupor by a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he found Alma standing beside him, her hand on his shoulder, her blue eyes looking up worriedly at him.
Seven stepped forward, placing a wreath of flowers on the last coffin.
The crowd saluted in unison as a Zaku pushed soil over the graves.
"Lily…drink with us…" Rose muttered drunkenly, being carried on the back of Lilith.
'I did warn her.' Lilith thought to herself, but…for some reason, she didn't mind carrying the Commander like this.
Sighing, she placed the commander in the passengers seat beside her, and took to the driver's seat, as she was the only one with any semblance of sobriety.
Rose giggled drunkenly as Lilith fastened her seatbelt in, but her gaze lingered as the girl began to peacefully sleep as she did so.
'War is more than killing the enemy.' Lilith couldn't help but think back to Rose's words to her.
She scoffed, war was nothing but death. No more, no less.
A/N: So...I need honest criticism on this chapter. This chapter was an experiment with juxtaposition and how it can enhance (or hinder) a story. Initially, the two separate scenes here were meant to be their own chapter, but then I thought: "Hm. Maybe I can make these work together." and that's how "Graves and Grievances" was born.
In other news, I finally finished watching Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky, and I'm moving on to Bandit Flower. It's definitely given me a lot to think about for seasons 3,4, and 5.
Official fandom link: Official-solar-century .fandom. com