We Met Two Years Ago

by Ben Firebird

The sequel to the story But We Just Meet, many of the pairings will remain the same, like Lacus/Kira and Cagalli/Athrun, but there will of course also be a few new once. This goes on in the Second Bloody Valentine War with quite a few change, like Shinn's sister Mayu still being alive.

40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

It was early morning in the park, not that far away from where the Minerva was being prep to leave.

But even true there wasn't really all that many people around there right now, a lonely man with a full grey beard a old black coat and a ugly hat that frankly did match the coat pretty well. Was sitting by himself underneath a tree.

And right in front of the poor looking man, was a thick blanket spread out, where there laid a few nice looking paintings and a bunch of cheap jewelry. Which made it seem like to those few people, that noticed him. That he was only there to sell some of his items, in an attempt to earn a little cash.

Yet what Kazuma Tokai's real objektive was in the park. Was quite far from trying to get his hands, on a couple of bucks.

What the Orb soldier, had actually been sitting around in this park for, the last couple of days. Was to keep a narrow eye on the grey Zaft space ship. Which was something that was pretty easy to do, from this location.

And thanks to his disguise, there was not one Zaft soldier, who had been by his little shop, that had suspect what he was really up too. They had pretty much all thought, that his only reason for being there, was to try and get a little money.

Properly the only thing Kazuma did not like about this assignment, other then the fact that not one girl gave him a second look in this getup. Yet what really got on his nervous, was the beard, it scratch like hell.

Yet fortunately for him, it didn't really seem like he was going to be forced to wear the fake beard, much longer, with all the work presently going on, over and by the Minerva. It was pretty obvious, that it wouldn't be long now. Before the space ship would depart.

He just hoped that they wouldn't head of in the direction, which he thought they would. If they did that, the ship would head directly towards the place where the Orb fleet, and the Earth Forces fleet was waiting for them.

And that could mean that the ship's crew, had a tough battle ahead of them.

Which it might just be necessary for them to interfere in again, hopefully this time around, Lady Cagalli could figure out someway, to convince the Orb forces to head back home.

Unfortunately as long as that bastard to Yuna Roma Seiran was leading them. It was very unlikely that they would even bother to take the time, and listen to her. Even true it could not be denied, that she was their rightful leader.

"Damn it. If I ever get my hands on that moron to Yuna, he is definitely going to regret getting our proud country in to all of this mess. He might say that this it's best for Orb to fight with the Earth Forces. But as long as I haven't seen any proof of that, he can go to hell!" He muttered angrily. Before he reached out and picked up a small bracelet from the blanket.

And after playing with it for a few seconds. He instantly snap the cheap piece of jewellery in two, then throw it back on the blanket, thinking about all of those friends he had lost when the Earth Forces had invaded Orb two years ago.

Back then, he had been the pilot of an M1 Astray, and had been fighting along side five of his really good friends. And even true they had without a doubt been doing well, until the three Earth Forces' gundams had enter the battle.

After that three of his squad mates had been completely slaughter by the Calamity. While Shinji who was the only other one who had survived the assault had lost both of his legs.

And that was the reasons why Kazuma just couldn't stand the thought of working together with the very people, that had made both him and all of his friend's families suffer so badly. There was even a small part of him, that kinda wish that he had die instead. Seeing as he was an orphan, and had no real family on his own. Yet when he had mention that to Shinji once, who had been their squad leader. He had given him such a hard punch in the stomach, that one of his ribs had actually broken in the process.

Yet what had really hurt about the whole thing, was when Shinji had asked him, what he thought their friends would say, had they ever heard him talk like that.

And after thinking about it a few days. He made the decision to do everything he could, to make sure that Orb and it's people, was safe no matter what.

Frankly if anybody asked him, he would say that working together with those Earth Forces bastards, was kinda like asking a vampire to look after a blood bank. It just couldn't lead to anything good, no doubt about that. Everybody who had at least just a little brain, in their heads, could see that.

Which was properly why, the Seirans thought that working with them, was such a brilliant idea, those bastards truly gave the word moron, a whole new meaning.

"Damn it all, I really really want to beat the crap out of them right now!" He whispered to himself. Before picking up another piece of jewellery, which he gave the same treatment, as the last one.

Yet as he was sitting there so far away in his thoughts about the past, and slowly breaking up his 'merchandise', there was suddenly a loud noise from the direction of the Zaft base.

Which immediately made him move his gaze away, from the fifth piece of broken jewelry, and over at the Minerva. Where he instantly noticed, that both of it's hangar doors was being shut, and that the ship was slowly gliding out of the port.

Seeing that it was getting ready to leave. Kazuma hurried got back up on his feet. Ignoring the small cracking sounds, both of his knees made, from sitting in the same position for so long.

The only thing he was interested in right now, was seeing precisely which direction the Minerva was planing on going in. And not really all that shocking, but still to his big irritation, it began heading towards south.

So after giving his low lips a small angry bite. He muttered out a few curses. "Damn it, I better get out of here and tell the others about this" He said, while wondering why the hell his Murasame had to be so far away from this damn place. He would seriously have love to help out in this battl. But it would seem like, he had to leave it to the guys down on the Archangel.

And with that in mind he bent down and picked up the blanket, not caring one bit about the few piece of jewelry that was left behind.

So after taking one more glance at the Minerva. He turned and began making his way back to his car, that was hidden not far from there.

Once there he throw the blanket and the other stuff in to the back of the car, then pull of the fake beard and got in front of the wheel and start the car, which meant that it did not take long before he was driving full speed away from the area.

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Yet as Kazuma was heading back to his apartment, so he could warn his allies on the Archangel about what was going to happen very soon.

Athrun was sitting by himself in the Minerva's mess hall. But even true there was a big portion of bacon and eggs right in front of him. He hadn't really touch it all that much, seeing as he had a lot on his mind at the moment.

Especially Kira's words, about not trusting the Chairman, kept on flying hastily through his head. And also the fact that at some point in the near future, he was going to become a father, which he could honestly say, that he was looking forward to a great deal. He had already found himself wondering more then a few times if it was going to be a boy or a girl.

And what Cagalli and him where going to name the kid, when it was born. He already had a small bunch of suggestions he was considering about talking with Cagalli about, when he saw her again.

Yet as he was sitting there so far away in his thoughts about the more happy future, he was sincerely hoping to have, with the one he loved with all of his being. He did not noticed the piss off woman, who was hastily approaching him.

And it was only when she literally slammed her tray of food down by the seat across from him, that he almost fell backwards of his chair, because of the minor shock she had just given him.

So after using a few seconds to get his act together again.

He looked directly up at Lunamaria's face, where he could easily tell from the female pilot's expression. That she was in a very bad mood about something. "Why hello to you too Luna. From the looks of things, I would guess that you had a pretty rough morning" He said.

Not realizing that the reason why, she was in this kind of mood so early, was because she was still quite jealous and angry over the fact, that he had call out Cagalli's name, while he was sleeping.

He simply thought, that she had ran in to Shinn not long ago, and he had said something stupid to her. Which had of course pissed her off, or maybe she had gotten in to another argument with her younger sister.

But before he could even get his mouth open and ask what was bothering her, she cut him off and began talking to him in a tone, that frankly reminded him more then a bit about, the tone of voice Cagalli would usually use, whenever she was truly cranky about something.

"So Athrun Zala did you have are good night? Did you dream about something interesting?" She asked, sounding quite a bit like a bad cup, that was going through an interrogate of a newly caught criminal, she wanted information out of, no matter what it took.

Slightly taken back by the realization that it was actually him that she was mad at, Athrun blinked a few times in confusion, as he tried his best to figure out what exactly he could have done, to deserve her wrath.

Yet in the end he pretty much came up blank. He honestly had no idea about what he could have done, that had made her feel this bitter towards him.

But after going out with a girl, as short temper as Cagalli, for two whole years. He knew, that it was properly a very wise move on his part, to give the red haired girl

some kind of reply, before she ran out of patience.

"I slept fine Luna, thank you for asking. Yet unfortunately I don't really remember what exactly I was dreaming about" He explained. While picking up a single piece of bacon, which he chewed slowly a few times before swallowing it. Still quite puzzled about why she was this angry at him in the first place, seeing as he hadn't done anything wrong as far as he knew.

So he came to the conclusion that this whole thing was just a way for her to blow of a little steam. Life on a space ship for a long period of time could after all be kinda stressful. Especially if you had nothing to do other then wait around.

And being trapped at this place since Kira and Dearka's attack, would most likely bore most people. Not that he had paid much attention to that, he did after all have quite a lot of things he needed to think about. So he had honestly appreciated their time stuck, at this in the middle of nowhere base. It had after all given him the necessary time, to come to a decision about some of the more vital issues, that had been bothering him. Since his little chat with Kira.

Hearing that he could not remember what he had been dreaming about, did calm Lunamaria down a bit. But that still did not help much on the deep jealousy, she was feeling right now.

"So anything new with you and miss Cagalli recently?" She asked in a loud nosy tone, that made it sound a bit like, she already knew the answer, to the very question she had just asked him.

But as much as the girl's behavior was a source of great confusion to the young man. Athrun knew, that there was simply no way for Lunamaria, or anybody else on the Minerva to know about Cagalli's pregnancy. And he was completely determined to continue keeping it that way. Even if it meant he had to tell the woman in front of him, a small lie or two.

There was just no way in hell he wanted to in-danger Cagalli's life, by telling the female ZAKU pilot the truth. He just didn't want those kinds of rumors, to be spread around the ship, at least not until he was absolutely certain, that Shinn had no more hostile intention towards his fiancée.

And with that in mind, he slowly moved his gaze away from his meal and back over at the cranky woman.

"Well, I haven't really had many chances to talk with her, since I left Orb and joined you guys" he said, before using a brief second or two to yet again wonder. If that truly had been the right decision on his part.

Not at all satisfied with that response Luna lean forward a bit and took a look up in to his green thoughtful eyes. "But you still miss her a lot don't you?" She asked in a demanding voice. Which did make it seem quite a bit like she wanted some kind of answer from him, no matter what.

Still not getting what all of this was about. Even after being a part of the Minerva's crew for such a long time, there hadn't been anybody, who had wanted to talk with him about Cagalli.

Yet now Lunamaria was practically interrogating him about the subject. Not that he had anything against, answer some of her question.

It was just the way she asked them, that was seriously starting to put a strain on what patient he had with her. It wasn't really what he would consider fun being on the receiving end of Lunamaria's quest for knowledge, about his and Cagalli's relationship.

"Yeah I miss her Luna, I miss her even more then you can ever imagine. I do after all love her!" He said loudly. While at the same time narrowing his eyes a bit, which was a pretty obvious sign, that he was really starting to get a bit mad at her.

Yet because of that he did not noticed the disappointed expression she had on her face at the moment. So he just continued on talking, now utterly determined to get the girl to tell him what all of this had been about.

"So now that we got that out of the way Luna! Would it be too much to ask of you to tell my why? You are suddenly so interested in what's going on between Cagalli and me, as far as I remember you never asked about that before" he said- While trying to figure out the meaning with all of this, by studying her face. But the only thing that was somewhat clear, was that her mind was running about hundred miles in hour.

Which seriously made him wonder what she was thinking so hard about, but he didn't say anything else to her. He just sat there waiting patiently for her to finish going through, all of her thoughts.

And finally after a few short minutes, she moved her gaze away from the table and looked back over at him.

"It's nothing really Athrun, I was just...just a bit curious, now I better hurry up and get going. I'm sorry that I disturb you, while you where having your breakfast. I'll talk to you later!" She said. Before she practically leaped up from her seat, grab her untouched tray of food, then quickly march directly over to another table as far away from Athrun as possible.

And that table just happened to be one where, Nicol was sitting by himself, enjoying a peaceful morning by eating his breakfast in a slow pace, while reading a comic book which he had borrow from Shinn a couple of days ago.

Seeing the girl do that Athrun slowly shook his head a few times. "No matter how much times goes by, I quite honestly doubt, that there will ever come a time, where I will be able to understand women. Even Cagalli gets some of her more crazy ideas, which haft the time, just doesn't make any sense" he mumbled to himself, feeling more then a bit like hammering his head down in to the table a couple of times.

But in the end he decided, that he definitely did not want to run the risk of permanent brain damage. By actually trying to figure out the answers, to such an enormous mystery, which obviously wasn't meant to be solved, at least not by him.

And with that in mind, he let out a small yet frustrated sigh, as he reached down to his plate and picked up another piece of well roast bacon, which he instantly put in his mouth, and once that delicious food had disappeared down his throat.

The young man sat there a few minutes, trying to decide if Lunamaria's strange behavior, was something which he should be concerned about. But now that she was so busy talking with Nicol. He made the decision that it was best not to disturb her and piss her even more of then she was already.

So with no more reason to stay there, and with most of his appetite lost, he might as well head on down to the hangar, to see if Vino and Yolant was finished with the check-up on the Saviour. He wanted to be absolutely sure that the mobile suit hadn't take any internal damage, from Kira's inventive attack with the shield.

Beside if he didn't start working on the lock to the red mobile suit's activation system sometime soon. It might end up with him never being able to find the time for it, and there was just no way he could afford to take such a risk. Especially not now when he was having so many doubts about, if he could really trust Zaft and the Chairman.

So after putting away his tray, he left the mess hall without saying a word to anybody.

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Meanwhile over by Nicol's table.

The green haired man slowly low his reading material, and looked at the girl where he instantly noticed, the deeply depressing expression, that was covering up most of her lovely face.

"What's wrong Lunamaria, it's been a very long time since I seen you look this sad?" He asked in a worried tone. As he reached over and gave her hand a light gentle squeeze, in attempt to comfort her as much as he could from this position across from her.

Not saying anything the first many seconds. The red haired girl just kept on sitting there, staring sadly down at the table, doing just about everything she could think of to hide her downcast eyes, from the person watching pretty much every moved she made.

But when she felt Nicol give her hand another squeeze, she slowly moved her gaze over at him, where she could easily tell that he was more then just a bit concerned about her.

"I...I...just had a small talk with Athrun, that didn't really end the way I had wanted it" she told him in a quiet voice. While a single tear, slowly made it's way down her right cheek.

Yet before it could leave her face and land on the table, Nicol moved his hand out a carefully brush it away. Then caress her cheek a bit, as he began talking to her in a caring tone.

"I know that you have a thing for him Luna, but it just can't be help, he loves somebody else, and I highly doubt that he will ever forget about those feelings he has for Cagalli. But if you ask me Lunamaria, you could do so much better then Athrun, I'm certain that just about every single guy on the Minerva would praise their Lords for just about all of eternity, if they could go out on just one date with you" he told her, while softly running his index finger over her hand.

Hearing him say that Lunamaria blinked a few times, while a small red glow appear on both of her cheeks. That truly was one of the most sweet things a guy had ever said to her.

And as she sat there staring so thoroughly at Nicol's handsome face, she began thinking about all of those times he had been there for her, whenever she had the need to talk with somebody. Even now he was trying so hard to make her feel better.

And feeling the way he kept on rubbing her hand, did make both of Lunamaria's cheeks get an even more deep red colour as she began feeling even more giddy and warm inside. And it was only at that exact moment, that she realized how many times her fellow pilot had been around to help her out, whenever there was something bothering her.

So after watching him a bit longer, without saying even one word to him, a small embarrassed smile slowly appeared on her face, before the light red glow which had been covering both of her cheeks for some time now, grew a bit more in size.

And not wanting him to see, how silly she looked right now with her whole face red, she hurried moved her blue orbs away from him, and back downwards towards her food and the table.

"That's really sweet of you to say Nicol, but what about you? How would you react if the two of us where to go out on a date together?" The female mobile suit pilot asked sweetly, now with a curious look in her eyes. And with more then tiny hint of curious expectation hidden away in her voice.

Of course somewhat taken back by that question. The pilot of the Minerva's only GOUF, hastily lean back in his seat, and looked over at the girl with his eyes widen in surprise, as he tried to figure out what to say to her.

He would most definitely be lying quite a bit, if he where to say that he did not think that Lunamaria was an very attractive young woman.

But pretty much ever since he had first met her, he had consider her to be a very dear friend. Which he could in no way deny he cared more then a bit about.

Yet now that she had asked him such a earnest question. He was frankly somewhat on the bottom about what kind of response he should give her. Nicol did of course realize that it had not been long since, she had gotten her feelings hurt by Athrun.

Which meant that she was most likely, still very conflicted about that, and wanted to hear a few kind words, in the hopes that they could make her feel a little better about the whole thing.

At least that was what Nicol thought the first couple of moments, after the red-head had asked him that question.

But that was only until he took notice of the look in her blue eyes, which made it pretty clear that she took this subject very serious, and that it had nothing to do with Athrun, she honestly wanted to hear his opinion on the two of them going out.

Up until now Nicol had never really given the idea of dating Lunamaria much thought, in his eyes she was simply a person that he had gotten very use, to have around in his life. One that which he could go talk with, when things became a little rough, and he needed a friendly ear.

Now however, as he sat there thinking about what kind of date it would be, he surprisingly found himself a bit entice by the thoughts. It wasn't in anyway an unpleasant idea, to go out with the red haired beauty in front of him.

And he was certain, that if they ever did try something like that. They would surely have a lot of fun together. Not in the way his old friend Dearka would properly call fun, but like going out to see a movie or have dinner together.

Yet all of these thoughts, did end up leading to one big very important question, was Lunamaria actually trying to get him to ask her out, or did she just want to know what he thought about the whole matter.

But as he was trying so hard to come up with something to say to Luna. The face of another red haired woman enter his mind, and he could now clearly see Mayura's happy face smiling at him.

It might have become somewhat easier for him to bear losing her, over the past two years. But now that another girl he liked and cared a great deal about was asking him about dates, and what it would be like, if they where to try it out.

He quite honestly didn't know what he was suppose to say to her, but as his mind was starting to overload in it's haste, to find just the correct words to say to her. The alarm began sounding all over the ship.

And it was only a few short seconds later, when they both heard Meyrin's voice tell all pilots, to board their machine immediately and prepare for combat.

Far from happy about the fact that they had been interrupted in their little chat, Lunamaria let out a loud unhappy grumbling sound, while looking at the ceiling with an angry look in both of her eyes.

"Ahhh why the hell couldn't they have wait just a few more minutes" she called out loudly, while taking a glance over at the very person, that she had wait so patiently to get a response from. Unfortunately the expression on his face, didn't really tell her anything about what was going through his mind right now. Yet for a brief second she almost thought, that she saw a tiny hint of relief in his eyes.

Yet when she heard his next words, she realized that she had most likely seen wrong. "Lets get going Luna, we will continue this conversation later once we are done beating the crap out of whoever is out there" he said.

Then swiftly turned around on one foot, and began making his way towards the exit of the mess hall, with the Minerva's only female mobile suit pilot following closely behind him.

But even with all the yelling and battle preparations that was going on around them, there was however a small part of Nicol that was somewhat glad that he now had a bit more time, to think about his answers to the girl.

Maybe if he was fortunate enough she would have forgotten all about her little question when the battle was done. Yet when he consider those thoughts, he could not help but feel somewhat let down and depressed over that.

For some reason, he almost felt like his heart was trying to telling him, that it was extremely important that he gave Lunamaria some sort of reply. And just as he heard the first sounds of cannon fire from outside the Minerva.

It took least then a second before a explosion shook the enormous grey war ship.

Which pretty much instantly, made the former member of the Le Creuset team grab on to the door frame he was standing next to, while his other hand shot full speed out and took a hold on Lunamaria's left arm, just as she had been about to lost her balance and trip backwards on to the hard floor, and most likely get a nasty bump on her head.

He did however only let go of her once the ship stopped shaking from the first attack, which meant that he stood there for almost an entire minute, holding both on to her and the door frame, in an attempt to keep both of them from falling over.

It truly would be kinda pathetic if they each got hurt before they could even enter the battle, yet whoever was attacking them obviously wasn't the kind of person that would just fire a small warning shot or two.

For almost immediately after the ship was done shaking and Nicol was about to let go of his fellow pilot, the Minerva was suddenly forced quite violently to the starboard side, just as they both heard two explosion hitting the place where the Minerva had been located only a few seconds ago.

"Damn it all, there has to be a lot of them out there, if we are forced to evade like that" Nicol yelled out loudly, over the sounds of the Minerva's own weapons being fired, at their attackers.

After that there was a few moments of almost calm silence, which Nicol immediately took advantage of by releasing both his grip on the door frame, and the beautiful mobile suit pilot, who he had unintentionally been hugging the last couple of minutes.

Yet before he could move to far away from her, the redhead reach down and grasp on to his hand, to make sure that if something else happened they where there to help each other out.

"Lets hurry up and get moving Nicol. Whatever is happening outside is definitely serious, we need to get out there and give the others a hand!" Luna ordered in a loud utterly determined tone. While the sound of both Tristans being fired, traveled swiftly through the ship.

Seriously not thinking it was necessary to argue about that with her. Nicol hurried nodded a single time in agreement, just before the two teenages continued onward towards the hangar, holding hands the entire time. So they where able to assist one another in keeping their balance, every time the ship took a shape turn to either the port or starboard side.

Fortunately they where able to get down to the hangar with no further difficultly, where each of them was slightly surprised to see that the Saviour was still there, they had both thought, that the other pilots would already be outside fighting by now.

And still feeling somewhat sour towards the blue haired FAITH member, Luna narrowed her eyes a bit, while they ran past the gundam and over to their own mobile suits.

"What the heck is he still doing here? I thought he would be outside already beating the crap out of those bastards, messing up our day!" The female mobile suit pilot shouted loudly.

Just before she dropped Nicol's hand, and grasped tightly on to the cable, that was meant to take her up to her ZAKU's open cockpit.

Hearing her complain so loudly about the Saviour's present down there. Nicol took a quick glance over at her, while he too used the thick long black cable, to get up to where he needed to be on the yellow GOUF.

"Maybe something happened that prevent him from leaving the ship right away. We can ask him about that, once we get in to our machine!" Nicol yelled back.

Just as he saw Lunamaria pretty much leap in to the ZAKU Warrior, where she almost immediately shut the cockpit after herself, and started powering up the mass-produced mobile suit.

Knowing that there was no way she could answer him now. Nicol was completely silence the next few seconds, until he could finally get inside his own war machine.

And after strapping himself securely to the seat. He instantly got in contact with the gundam and the red ZAKU. "Athrun, why haven't you left yet?" He asked. While the GOUF was slowly being lifted on the catapult, making it so that the mobile suit, was ready to launch at any moment now.

Hearing his friend ask that, Athrun hurried took a brief glance away from his fast typing on the keyboard and up at the monitor, where he noticed that both Nicol and Lunamaria, where watching him. Each with a curious expression on their faces.

He did however not pay much attention to either of them. Before he once more turned his gaze and his concentration, back towards what little work, he needed to get out of the way, before the Saviour could finally leave the Minerva and join the battle outside.

"I was rewriting the Saviour's OS when the alarm sounded. And it would most definitely, have lead to more then a few problems for me, had I left without finishing all of this first!" Athrun explained loudly, while his hands pretty much flew over the keyboard.

Finally getting why Athrun's departure from the Minerva had been delayed. Nicol got a deep determined glimmer in each of his eyes, while he reached for the control in front of him.

"Both of us understand Athrun, we will handle thing until you are ready to join us!" The GOUF pilot said. Then instantly after shouted out both his own and the yellow mobile suit's names, telling the people listening in, that he was taking off.

Seeing the GOUF leave. The young and only Zala, at least right now began writing that much faster on the keyboard, if that was even possible. He frankly needed to get outside as quickly as humanly possible. He might be having some serious doubts, about what Zaft's intentions was at this moment in time.

But even so he was still a part of the Minerva's crew. And there was simply no way he was just going to sit around in here rolling his thumbs, while his fellow pilots was fighting for their lives outside.

So while watching Lunamaria take off to join the party outside he continued working on the mobile suit's OS. Seriously wondering how in the world Kira was able to write so incredibly fast, without hitting the wrong keys in the process.

Yet as luck would have it, he did not get long to wonder about that, before he was finally done resetting the mobile suit's OS. So it was now back to how it had been before, he had started messing around with the machine.

And not wanting to waste anymore time, then he already had.

He hurried took in a sharp breath, while informing the bridge, that he was at long last ready to leave. Which meant that it only took a few moments, before the mobile suit was dropped loudly down, on to the catapult.

"Athrun Zala, Saviour heading out!" He shouted determined, only to be pressed tightly back, in to the Saviour's seat a half second later, while the gundam hastily flew forward, and left the grey space ship's hangar.

Once he got outside, Athrun could not help but narrow his eyes slightly, when he saw all of the Murasames, that was hastily coming towards them.

He had frankly hoped that it was just the Earth Forces that was attacking them on their own, and that the Orb fleet was somewhere else other then here. Yet when he took a small look around the battlefield, he could see the Takemikazuchi in the distance.

"Damn you Yuna!" He mutter out between his lips. Honestly blaming the purple haired Seiran for Orb's present in the area.

If it hadn't been for Yuna and the rest of the Seiran family. He was absolutely certain that Cagalli could have found some way, to keep the small country out of this mess. And have it remain neutral like it was meant to be.

He did however not get long to curse the Seiran family for what they had done, when he was suddenly forced, to roll to the side and get the Saviour over in to it's mobile armor mode.

Just as two Murasames began attacking him from below, fortunately the red gundam had more then enough speed and maneuverability, to avoid all of the beams that the two transformable machine was firing after him.

Yet before he could do anything to counterattack.

The first one of the fast red and white mobile suits, was suddenly got cut in half by Nicol's beam sword, while the other one was taken out by a few well placed shots from the GOUF's beam gun.

"You do know Athrun, that with Orb involved in this, Kira and the others might decide to interfere again" the green haired man said. While he continuously fired of the only long range weapon his mobile suit had.

Hearing his friend say that. Athrun got over beside him and got the Saviour back over in to it's mobile suit mode.

Where he instantly pull out the rifle, and started firing at a new group of hastily approaching Murasames, forcing them to break their formation, as both his and Nicol's attacks flew in between them.

Realizing that Nicol was most likely right. Athrun evade up over two missiles one of the Murasames had fired after him. Yet even as he was doing that, the Orb mobile suit transformed and instantly began firing it's beam rifle after him.

And after using the shield to counter the first attack. He swiftly ducked down under the next one, then fired both plasma cannons up at the other transformable mobile suit, blowing off both it's right arm and leg in the process.

Yet as he was doing that, he noticed that Shinn was fighting with both the Chaos and the Abyss at the same time. And it was obvious, that he was having a few problems dealing with both of them together like this.

Their tactic was clearly a lot more well organize and thought through then usual. They each made somewhat sure to attack at exactly the same time, one from the water and one from the air.

Yet even true the strategy was kinda simple, it was definitely very effective, when it was used against a single opponent. But if somebody else where to interfere in the battle, it was pretty easy to mess up the whole thing.

And with that in mind, he turned and shoot of all the long range weapons on the Saviour after a Murasame that had been about to attack him from behind, forcing the red and white mobile suit to back away from him in a hurry.

"You are properly right Nicol, it was pretty obvious from our last meeting with Kira and Dearka, that there where not planing on heading back home to Orb anytime soon. So I guess we should prepare to face of against them again!" He said, while taking a look around, at the big amount of Murasames and Astrays that was gather out there.

Hearing those words. Nicol didn't hesitate a second in throwing the heat rod out after one of the Astrays, making the weapon entangle itself around some of the more vital parts on the flight rotor.

And with not one hint of remorse in his actions, he send a few thousand volts in to the pack.

Which was more then enough, to destroy it completely. And with nothing left to keep the mobile suit up there, it instantly began falling full speed straight down, towards the deep blue water below them.

Yet when Nicol saw a Murasame grab on to the Astray in an attempt to help it out, he narrowed his brown eyes a bit.

Just as he lifted the right arm, and fired a bunch of beams down in to the back of the Murasame, making it blow up, before it could do anything to save whoever was inside the Astray.

And once Nicol was absolutely certain, that nobody else would try to get a hold on the still free falling mobile suit. He pull out the beam sword and looked over at the Saviour.

"You go and help out Shinn with the Chaos and the Abyss Athrun, I'll deal with these guys!" He said, almost sound like he was actually looking forward to fight all of these Orb mobile suits on his own.

And not bothering to give Athrun the necessary time to come up with a response. The green haired pilot took off full speed, towards the large amount of approaching mobile suits.

Seeing Nicol take off like that, Athrun again narrowed his eyes, as he looked down at the Astray far below him, yet even from this high he could easily tell that it was sinking slowly down in the water.

The Orb mobile suit might still be mostly intact, but it was very unlikely that it's pilot, had actually survived a fall from such a high altitude. "Nicol what's going on with you? I never seen you fight so utterly merciless before" Athrun quietly muttered, while thinking about the overly brutal method, which Nicol had chosen to use, to end the lives of both the Murasame pilot and especially the Astray pilot.

Yet knowing that he didn't really have the time to wonder about that now.

Athrun hurried turn around and looked out after the Impulse, which was presently equipped with it's Blast Silhouette and flying around, not all that far above the ocean surface, clearly being chased by both of the stolen gundams.

And seeing as Athrun wasn't really that overly keen on fighting with the Orb forces, those two frankly was the perfect target for him in this battle. And with not one bit of hesitation, he took off full speed towards the three fighting mobile suits.

Absolutely determined to show them, just what exactly he could do in this machine.

To be continued.