The main island of the Orb Union was a fairly welcome sight as the Minerva pulled into the dock. While most of ZAFT's soldiers were curious about where they landed, Shinn looked with a glare before walking off.
Standing on the Minerva's upper deck, Mayu watched as they slowly pulled in. A bittersweet feeling of belonging formed in her stomach as the nostalgic air brushed at her face.
Onogoro Island… I'm home…
Cagalli was the first to step off the ship, before she was greeted by a man with purple hair tied in a ponytail. "Cagalli!"
Running up, he embraced her in a hug, with both Talia and Arthur looking surprised.
"I'm glad you're okay. Oh, you had me really worried, you know!" He said.
"Oh… well… um… sorry 'bout that." Cagalli apologized, as Athrun looked away at the display.
"Come on, Yuna. I know how you feel, but this isn't the place." Yuna's father stepped up.
Mayu was watching from the Minerva's deck above. While the rest of ZAFT were relaxing inside the ship, she chose to stay outside. She saw the political discussion with her captain and Orb's leaders, but turned away since she was too far to hear. The Minerva was getting all sorts of looks from the people of Orb. She didn't notice two figures in particular were looking from a separate room.
"Still, I wonder what their true intentions are." A woman with brown hair said, looking at the ZAFT ship.
"Hm?" A tanned man with a scar over his left eye looked at her.
"Seiran has always favored the Atlantic Federation." Murrue Ramius said. "Even with Cagalli back, their position is too extreme…"
"You're right about that." Andrew Waltfeld said, looking at the Minerva. "Whatever the case, what's happened has blown things out of proportion."
Mayu watched Athrun getting into a car as Cagalli was taken elsewhere. Seeing as they wouldn't be taking off until repairs finished, she walked back inside.
Talia and Arthur were talking to ZAFT's mechanics, as the ship was undergoing repair.
"Yes, I suppose so. We should be fine if we leave the ship's hull to Morgenroete. But you should handle all the interior repairs yourselves." Talia said.
"Yes ma'am." A mechanic nodded.
"They've offered us whatever material and machinery we may want, so focus on doing a good job." Talia told him.
"But are you really sure about this, Captain?" Arthur asked.
"Hm?"
"I understand our need to replenish here, but personally I think we should wait with the repairs until we get to Carpentaria." Arthur suggested.
"I understand what you're getting at." Talia said. "Shall I put on record you made the suggestion?"
"No, that's fine." He said.
"But you need to prioritize the ship's safety over the need for secrecy." Murrue spoke up, walking to them with a tanned man and dark hair. "Unless ships- especially battleships- are in top form at all times, it's that much more burdensome for the Commander, isn't it?"
"Who are you?" Talia asked, pulling Arthur back from eyeing Murrue.
"Pardon me. I'm Maria Berenes of Shipbuilding Division B." She introduced herself. "I'm in charge of the work being done on your ship."
She held up a hand, which Talia momentarily stared at before shaking it. "I'm Captain Talia Gladys. Nice to meet you."
Murrue nodded and smiled, looking notably relaxed as the two walked over to the side of the hangar to watch repairs. "I heard that the Minerva hasn't been officially launched yet. But it appears to already have a lot of history to it."
"Yes. Unfortunately." Talia agreed. "I never expected anything close to what we went through. But such is fate. What happened has happened. It's true of everything. You really can't tell what awaits you in the future. I feel even more strongly about that right now."
Murrue leaned on the gate. "I agree."
"I'm guessing that Orb isn't really in a position to be lending a hand with repairs to a ZAFT ship." Talia said.
Murrue smirked. "Well, you may be right about that. But it's as you said. We don't know what awaits us in the future. So right now, we can only do what we believe to be the right thing at this moment. If we learn later that it was a mistake, we'll cry and pout about it for a bit, and then think about what needs to be done next."
"Yes, I guess so." Talia agreed, finding familiarity with the woman.
Rey walked by the door of the breakroom and overheard several of the others.
"Huh? Really?!" Meyrin said.
"Well, I can't say for sure yet." Yolan said. "I'm just thinking, if we're gonna be here for a few days with repairs, so there's a possibility that we'll be allowed to disembark."
"We've been pushed to the limit to get here, after all." Vino added. "Although it all happened so quickly and everything was pretty crazy, it's more like we focused on our jobs, and found ourselves here. Oh, by the way, about Orb-"
Rey walked on, before entering his shared room with Shinn. The young pilot was lying on the bed, seemingly bored. Seeing as his friend probably didn't want to be bothered, Rey kept silent as he changed into a different outfit.
"Do you think… we'll be allowed to disembark?" Shinn suddenly asked.
"Dunno." Rey said, before heading to the shower.
Shinn looked at the wall of the room, wondering if Mayu was feeling the same way he was right now.
Athrun drove down Orb's road, having borrowed a car. He pulled to a stop, noticing a few familiar faces were down by the beach. He honked the horn a few times to get their attention.
Several of the orphans ran up, excited, as Kira and Lacus walked up to him.
"Welcome back. That was quite the trip." Lacus said.
"I hear you had quite the time, too." Athrun said. "I hear the house was washed away, and you had to move over here. Are you all okay?"
"Yeah, our home is gone!" One of the orphans said.
"We didn't see it, but these big waves came and smashed our house apart!"
The orphans kept speaking one after the other, overwhelming Athrun. Both Kira and Lacus looked a bit amused at their excitement, before Lacus stepped in. "Oh, my. Please wait, everybody. We can't even get a conversation going."
Lacus took the orphans back down to the beach, letting Kira and Athrun talk. "Where's Cagalli?"
"At an administrative meaning. I imagine she's got a ton of work." Athrun answered, watching Birdy land on Kira's shoulder.
"Kira, go ahead!" Lacus called. "I'll bring the children back from the harbor later!"
Kira nodded, as he and Athrun stepped into the car to talk more.
Mayu was sitting alone in her room, wondering if Meyrin would be coming back anytime soon as she stared at her phone. Flipping it open, she went through the various photos of her family in happier times. Seeing her parents, her brother's smiling face or her own unscarred one brought back bittersweet memories.
She was so focused that she got surprised when her laptop went off with a notification. Moving over, she saw she had an email that was addressed to her from ZAFT. Raising a brow, she opened it and saw a quick message and an attachment.
"Huh…?" She read through the text. "Chairman Durandal wants to meet with me?"
The attachments were papers giving her permission to travel to the PLANTs, with a ticket for a ship from Orb to take off tomorrow afternoon.
Why does he want to meet me in-person?
The next morning, the first thing she did was knock on the door of her brother's room. When she didn't get a response, she knocked again. "Big Brother?"
"Shinn's not here right now." Rey said, walking up. "I believe he's practicing his marksmanship."
"I see…" Mayu said.
"If you want, I can give him a message." Rey said.
"Well, that's fine by me." Mayu said. "It's that I got a message from the Chairman and I'll be temporarily leaving the Minerva to meet with him at the PLANTs."
Rey was rather surprised at that information. "Why does he want to meet with you?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Mayu shrugged.
Though surprised, Rey did pat Mayu on the shoulder. "He doesn't often call someone to meet him directly. You should be honored."
"I'll feel honored once I know why he called me up." Mayu said. "I'm going to pack now and spend a bit of time in Orb before I leave."
"Shouldn't you tell Shinn yourself?" Rey asked.
"Well…" Mayu rubbed the back of her head.
"Not sure about how he'd react?" Rey guessed. "He's your brother, so I'm sure he'd understand if it was the Chairman of all people calling for an audience."
"Alright, alright." Mayu said. "I'll go to him."
Rey smiled at her as she walked down the hall, but it was replaced by a curious frown. Gil… What are you planning for her?
Shinn landed headshot after headshot on the targets, determined to get them all. He was so focused that he didn't notice Mayu had entered the room. She waited for him to finish the session, before he took off the protective earmuffs. "Big Brother?"
He turned around, surprised. "Oh, hey Mayu. What's up?"
"Well, I was wondering if I could tell you something. It's urgent." Mayu said.
"I've always got time for you." He said, putting down his gun. "What is it?"
"I just got a message from the Chairman. I'll be leaving for the PLANTs this afternoon." Mayu said.
Shinn blinked a few times, registering what Mayu just said. "H-Hold up, huh?!"
"I don't know why, but he wanted to meet with me." Mayu said. "If that's fine with you-"
"Of course it's fine with me!" Shinn said. "I'm just… pretty surprised, that's all."
"I'm surprised myself." Mayu said. "Which is why, since I'm leaving later, I wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"We have permission to disembark." Mayu said. "So… after I pack up… can you… come with me somewhere?"
The sky was just about starting to change colors as the Asuka siblings arrived at their destination. There were flowers everywhere, with recently built stairs and railings to mark out the memorial. Shinn looked down at the ground, remembering where he had fallen. Clenching his fist, he remembered that horrible day.
"Oh, no! My cell!" Mayu shouted, watching her phone fall down the hill.
"Forget about it!" Her mother said, trying to pull her over.
"No!" Mayu childishly pulled.
Without hesitating, Shinn jumped over, running down to grab it. Seconds after picking it up, he heard two loud blasts, before an explosion went off behind him. He was sent flying from the blast, rolling on the ground before painfully hitting the asphalt. He was barely holding onto consciousness from the landing. He heard footsteps as he slowly picked himself back up.
"Are you all right?!" An Orb soldier said, helping him up. "This way! Hurry!"
Shinn's eyes widened before he turned around. "Where's Dad? Mom? Where's Mayu?!"
Looking back at where he had fallen, there was nothing left except for a huge smoking crater. Shinn's eyes widened when he saw a fallen body. He recognized the clothes.
"Mayu!"
Running forward towards her, he froze seeing the state his sister was in. Her right arm was missing from the elbow down, and her right leg had been torn off at the knee. There was no blood, because the flames had cauterized the stumps. Her face was badly burnt on the right side, with a few remaining scorches still burning. Arms shaking, Shinn knelt down, gently picking up his sister. She was still breathing, which was the only relief he felt before he looked upwards at the hill, seeing the broken corpses of their parents.
The sounds of battle seemed to completely dull around Shinn, as he held his sister tight, broken tears running down his face. He heard the Orb soldier shout for extra hands to get Mayu medical attention, but his focus changed as he slowly looked up at the fighting mobile suits in the sky, his face turning into a hateful glare.
With all his frustration and pain, he screamed up at the country that had failed to protect his family, and at the mobile suits that had robbed the two siblings of their parents.
"It's my fault…"
Shinn looked up at Mayu, surprised by her words.
"If only I wasn't so stupid… if only I didn't stop us because of my phone…" She muttered, looking down.
"Mayu, Mayu!" Shinn put his hands on her shoulders. "We went over this before, it wasn't your fault! There was no way we'd know what would've happened!"
"But if I didn't stop-"
"You don't know what would've happened, so stop blaming yourself!" Shinn said.
"Even if you say that, it's hard to not feel that way…" Mayu went in close for a hug, as her brother rubbed the top of her head. "Anyways, I'd better go now…"
She pulled away from the hug, as her brother looked at her, concerned. "Stay safe, okay Mayu?"
"I will." Mayu put on a smile as she walked away.
Shinn watched her as she left, until he couldn't see her anymore. Frowning, he turned and looked back at all the flowers, before noticing there was a young man standing by the edge of the place, looking down at a stone tablet. Curious, Shinn walked over.
On her way to the aircraft meant to take her to the PLANTs, Mayu noticed that several Orb soldiers were stationed nearby, and she saw a familiar face.
"Mr. Todaka!" She waved.
A middle-aged man turned with a look of surprise before smiling and walking over.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise." He said. "It's good to see you've been doing well, Mayu."
"It's you I have to thank for that." Mayu said with a bow, remembering that Todaka was the one saved the siblings, having arranged for her medical treatment, as well as giving her and her brother the arrangement to live in the PLANTs.
"What brings you back to Orb?" He asked.
"I'm a mechanic and medic aboard the Minerva." She answered. "I'm currently going to the PLANTs because I was called up there by the chairman."
"That so?" He looked pleasantly surprised. "So young and you're already moving up in the world."
"Ha ha, yeah, I guess so." Mayu rubbed the back of her head. "Though I am planning on coming back to Orb after everything."
"Then I'll just have to keep Orb standing until you do." Todaka said, fixing his hat.
"I'll come see you again with Big Brother later." Mayu promised, before looking at her phone. "Oh, I have to go now. Talk to you later!"
Todaka waved her off as she went towards the airfield. She's doing rather well in spite of what she's gone through. She's a strong girl.
Mayu had just sat down on the ship set to take off towards the PLANTs. Though she wasn't expecting a certain someone to have the seat next to her.
"Mayu?" Athrun said, having spotted her.
"A-Ah, Athrun sir!" Mayu quickly stood up with a salute.
"You… don't have to do that." Athrun said. "But what are you doing here?"
"Oh, the chairman asked to meet with me." Mayu said, sitting back down. "I'm not completely sure why, though."
Athrun raised a brow as he sat down next to her. The chairman asked for her? Why would he do so?
"But what about you? Why are you here?" Mayu asked. "I thought you would be with the representative."
Athrun's eyes briefly narrowed. "I'm going to seek an audience with the chairman. The situation on Earth has gotten worse."
"Worse?" Mayu repeated. "How?"
Athrun's choice to remain silent let her know he probably intended to keep it between himself and the chairman. But if the situation has grown worse like Athrun said, there's a good chance that she'd find out sooner or later. Leaning back in her chair, she pulled out her phone and started looking through the photos.
Athrun caught a few glimpses out of curiosity. Seeing pictures of Mayu unscarred, of Shinn smiling and free of anger, only strengthened his determination.
A/N: Orb feels different through the eyes of someone that doesn't hate it, does it? Writing SEED Destiny from a different POV is interesting, especially since Mayu's so different from Shinn.
Here we also see the opening of of the story again, but this time from Shinn's POV. One more folks are familiar with.
Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.