Every airport terminal was usually the same. People hustling to get to their gate. Others lounging at the bar, disregarding the time of day. Once stepping through security, time no longer mattered here. Andrew always liked the psychology aspect of it. If he could, he would just watch people all day. Watching what people would choose to do. Alas, he had to depart as Martin was making the preparations to board the Eternal.
Andrew was surprised to see that the person who came to pick him up was Dearka. He got into the silver car after putting his stuff in the trunk. "You don't get to be in the super-secret meetings but you get to be the one who runs all the errands."
Dearka smirked as he drove away. "I should quote Yzak when we had to be taken off the frontlines to be Athrun's personal guard, but I actually chose to step away."
"After the infamous video," Andrew leaned back. "I could imagine. You didn't use the line. Something you want to say now that I'm here? I know how to get around the PLANTs to get where I needed to be."
Dearka let out a sigh. Nothing escapes past the Desert Tiger. He didn't know what to say first. Andrew glanced over to him. He could see Dearka taking his time to figure out his thoughts.
"That bad huh?" Andrew chuckled. "Alright, I'll go first. That's not her type."
Dearka froze. The car started to slow down. A loud honk came from behind. Dearka got through his shock, stepping on the gas pedal, cars started to swerve around him.
"Woa!" Andrew looked over to him while he put the car on autopilot. "Easy there!" Dearka couldn't believe what he had just heard. Andrew went back resting on the chair, with a slight smirk on one side of his face. "Look, Rau would be a high maybe for her to marry. Rey, nah, little brother, not going to happen. Athrun, absolute no. Hard pass. Gilbert, same, hard pass. Gai, maybe. His sidekick, Elijah, she gave him a cute, little nickname, so yes. Ergnes, obviously. Look how they interacted when he escorted her. Lowe, like a brother to her. Mu, tried to kill him, so don't think so. List goes on. However, why would you marry the enemy?" Andrew tapped the side of his head. "Athrun is smug now that he thinks he's right. The evidence is glaringly there but, Selena put that gun to Mu with no hesitation, ready to kill him any second. It looked like she had to keep herself from firing." Dearka felt relief when Yzak wasn't brought up. He didn't want things to be much worse. Andrew continued on. "Selena has taste. Why stoop so low as to marry the enemy? My guess, to get closer to them. She sent something back to the Kingdom, why else did the Minerva get caught up in it. Don't worry, I spat out a good cup of coffee because of her. Wait, I also dropped it too. She owes me, big time."
"Wait, are you saying she's on our side?" Dearka looked over to him. "That can't be?!"
"Selena has her own side," Andrew closed his eye. "Whether we fall on her side or not, just depends on the situation. However, whatever happens, I am going to send her my bill for the emotional distress she caused. That was like a jump scare watching that whole ordeal. You can tell that she didn't choose that outfit for herself."
"Huh?!" Dearka was learning several new things from Andrew today.
"Even though you dated Miriallia," Andrew teased. "Still doesn't give you enough experience with women. Aisha was into fashion. She hated wearing the ZAFT uniform. The outfit she chose for Cagalli fit her perfectly. Aisha told me, Cagalli's color is seafoam green. Well, green is her color but seafoam green was at the top. Kira didn't know much about women either. He was blinded by how well she cleaned up. He didn't realize that Cagalli was accustomed to wearing gowns like that. Her poise, the grace of walking in heels. It may have been a while, but it wasn't something Cagalli forgot." Listening to Andrew, Dearka could understand his way of thinking. Every situation could be picked apart. "Selena's color is yellow, specifically light yellow."
"Wait, what's my color then?" Dearka blurted out, wanting to know.
"Orange," Andrew answered.
Dearka fell silent. How did he know? Dearka sat there. Thank goodness he no longer had to worry about driving. The car was going to where they needed to be.
Andrew let out a chuckle. "For someone who is pretty fashionable, you're surprised I knew. Don't let my clothing choices lead you astray. Aisha was my teacher when it came to fashion. She never chided on my choices; she said it brought out my character." He had a somber smile. "Plus, if you focused on my outfit, you weren't focused on what I was doing. Also, usually your favorite color is going to look good on you. Assess each situation with a critical eye. Selena was breathtaking, ethereal, the embodiment of a goddess. A silver goddess, no maybe Goddess of the Moon type."
Dearka's jaw dropped. He turned towards Andrew. "The saying! The saying! That's what it means then-then-w-we need to tell them!" It clicked. He understood the saying. It had stuck in the back of his mind. It was an odd saying.
"Too late for that," Andrew shook his head. "The sun wants the moon but the moon hates the sun, they'll soon come together as the moon can't outrun the sun." It was silent after he spoke. "The moon couldn't outrun the sun, could she?" Dearka turned back around. He couldn't believe he didn't notice it earlier. It was right there in front of them. The clone was in the colors of the sun and Selena was in colors of the moon. It wasn't about the actual sun or moon; it was about two people. "Don't beat yourself up about it. I don't lay every card on the table unless it's a dire situation. I observe and watch. It was part of the information Terminal gathered but it wasn't a top priority as Kira and Lacus had it cleared through astrophysicists. They brushed it off as his ramblings."
"They focused on the wrong things," Dearka murmured.
"Exactly," Andrew nodded. "Know your enemy. Let's continue to just go with the flow."
Dearka nodded in agreement. Andrew peered over to him. Andrew actually knew that Selena would never marry someone like that, all due to snooping through her sketch book after he had just met her. He remembered how mad he was that some young princess still wet behind the ears beat him in simulation after simulation. He wondered if she had cheated at all. The nickname, Tech Goddess, was thrown around anytime she was near. He wanted to see if that was actually true.
Andrew used slight of hand to snatch the sketch book away from one of her guards. He was curious to see what she actually sketches. He thumbed through, glancing at lots of scenery and architecture, different mobile units, floral arrangements, random people that have caught her eye. He stopped as he saw what he at first believed as repeating images. He flicked back through to see a boy around her age with a pageboy haircut. Some sketches seemed candid of him while others were focused on his determination. Andrew brushed it off as just a crush from a young girl. Typical. He thumbed through her sketch book all the way through. Nothing on coding or simulation algorithms. Just more of random things and her naïve crush of some kid she thought was valiant. He slipped the sketch book back to the guards the same way.
It wasn't until the Battle of Talbadiya, where he met Yzak and Dearka, who were careless in their own battle, and had to make an emergency landing on Earth. He was annoyed as those two had to join up with him. Almost like babysitting children. Obviously too green to take down the Archangel with sheer force, however at the time he thought he could take it down with tactics. The Archangel proved them all wrong.
Andrew wasn't fond of Rau Le Creuset. Having two of his pilots on his team, Andrew was even less fond, especially since he had to haul them on his hunt. He didn't get a chance to interact with Yzak and Dearka until he had to relay commands before the battle. He saw how much they didn't care for him, and his feelings were just as mutual. Andrew observed that Dearka was stubborn but wasn't the one who would be first to instigate. Yzak on the other hand, Andrew saw the fresh scar on his face. He made sure to point it out to him. Andrew felt something familiar about Yzak but he couldn't remember what it was.
During the battle, those two greenhorns didn't do as he commanded, as their mobile suits were not suited for the desert, and took off from the ship to only sink in the sand. Leading Dearka to shoot down the factory accidently, letting the Archangel get away. Later in that battle, Andrew had almost lost his life, and lost Aisha and the battle, all due to his foolishness of wanting to battle to the death.
When he was recovered enough from the Junk Guild to be handed back over to the PLANTs, he asked DeCosta for everything on that battle. He wanted to go over where he went wrong. He went over DeCosta's side of the battle. He went over his and Kira's battle. He couldn't pin point where the turning point was. It was getting exhausting. DeCosta showed up one day with a large floral spray and a few presents. Andrew teased DeCosta about pitying him, but DeCosta shook his head. These gifts weren't from him. These were from someone else. Andrew was baffled. He took the card out of the floral spray.
It had a generic message about getting well soon, but the person who sent it, gave him a shock. Princess Selena, herself, sent it to him. He wanted to cry as now he knew how it felt to lose his other half just as the princess had lost her twin. The presents were things to help him heal but also packages of different coffee.
As Andrew would reflect that past battle while staring at the floral spray, he let his mind drift along his thoughts. He remembered chastising Yzak about his scar, and yet here he was not wanting to remove any of his scars. He kept staring at the floral spray, thinking of how nice it was that the princess still thought about him. It took a moment but that itching familiarity of Yzak finally clicked. Andrew sat straight up. He blinked a few times. He couldn't believe it. That naïve crush of hers was that arrogant, stubborn, hot headed pilot who had Rau's praise! What did she actually see in him?! Maybe he was a nicer kid when he was younger, but he doubted it. Andrew became fixated on that association.
He had to figure out why she actually liked him. It just boggled his mind. He wondered if Sven ever knew. Did Sven approve? It was a rabbit hole, he needed to burrow into more. Andrew couldn't go as far as he hoped in that rabbit hole, as he had to nab the Eternal and try to end the war.
After the war, he deep dived all he could. He looked through files, pictures, anything he could get his hands on. In the end, it wasn't really anything for him to connect the two. As no pictures were of them together. It must have been just a naïve crush. However, when he broadened his search of Selena and the men around her, he noticed a trend. Silverly to white haired men with brooding temperaments that could quickly boil. He felt happy in a sense. She had a type. He gained some insight. The only reasoning of why she might like that type, was the pictures over the years where her smile had faded. She was always serious or emotionless. An aura that could be interpreted as menacing but really was indifferent.
Andrew started to enjoy having this insight as Dearka could barely keep it hidden at times. Which gave him the sense that Yzak had feelings for Selena as well, although he hid it very well. Andrew did come across a picture of the two dancing together at the soiree after the peace treaty signing. It was thanks to that AI system, 8, that had a plethora of pictures of Selena. Andrew didn't really care for the pictures of her and the clones together. Terminal already chose how they viewed her. However, seeing Athrun's distaste for her has clouded his judgement, seeing his reaction to this mutual affection between Yzak and Selena would be the best enjoyment. Andrew thinks Athrun would have shut down, frozen for a long time. Andrew kept silent as Dearka was trying to keep his cool while heading to where Andrew was staying.
The week of healing helped Selena to recover almost back to normal. Anita was working overtime to make sure Selena had the best care. When it was time, Selena moved from her hospital bed to the Room. She went through the protocols and was allowed to go to the conditioning room. It was a floor to ceiling white room, as were most of the rooms from this point on were.
In the center of the room was a sensory pod that was white just like the room. The lid lifted open upon walking through the doorway. Selena laid down in the water. Her wounds were sealed with a clear bandage. The water was warm. The lid closed around her. Her conditioning was a blend of classical and operant conditioning. It was easier to condition those in a silent and relaxed state. It was silent for the first fifteen minutes before an array of sounds, music, and words were spoken. This sensory pod was specially made to have sound and video play inside.
The conditioning went through the routine of having Selena decondition from a mission. She spoke when asked. She followed the commands. Listening to the sounds with her eyes closed. Watching the videos. The deconditioning went smoothly. When it was time to recondition, it failed. Selena would get close to following all of the conditioning, she would flinch or move, speak a different word, only to have the program start all over again. It was how she was conditioned. It had to be a flawless reconditioning. The program tried again. It was almost like a record skip. The program let her rest as it tried a few more times but no progress.
Above, in the private mansion, Yzak was off on his work out routine while Sven was in his office. He was chatting with Anita through a computer.
"How is she?" Sven leaned back in the chair with his legs propped up on his desk.
"Recovering," Anita was out of the void state. Her body showing the signs of fatigue. She was sitting down at a desk herself. She was still down in the medical room built to help Selena get back on her feet. She couldn't leave until Selena came back out of the conditioning. "I saw the video, finally."
"She's going to be in there for a long time," Sven speculated.
"Much longer than we thought," Anita saw an error on her side.
Sven leaned upwards. "What's wrong?"
"Her conditioning," Anita was tapping on her computer tablet that was below the camera's view. "She's not fully reconditioned. Her deconditioning went smoothly, but something is amiss on her reconditioning."
"How many times has it tried?" Sven pulled his legs off his desk.
"Too many times today," Anita scrolled through program that allowed to see her heart rate. "She's resting in a nearby room. They can't seem to recondition." She became worried, scrunching her eyebrows in the process.
"If that's the case," Sven looked away, thinking about what would happen next. "They're going to try to break her down then." Anita grimaced. "She'll rest, and then they'll try to punish her for marrying someone-well marrying the enemy. Her official paramour has been denied. It's like a harsh restart on the conditioning. Hopefully, she can get recondition, or else, he really put his claws into her."
Anita looked up to him. He was still staring off to the side. "Do you think his conditioning actually worked on her? This conditioning is full proof. Will her punishment be harsh then? What if they can't recondition her?"
"That I don't know for sure," Sven closed his eyes while thinking. "You treated her. She had the scars of burn marks, the hickeys, the chemicals injected into her body. Lots of variables. He may have gotten a pea inside all of those mattresses. I am more worried about our guest at the moment." Sven opened his eyes. "I have him fixed on training in my pilot simulation room. It only allows us to train for so long then we have to do other things. He's training his body right now. If they punish her by using him, its going to mess up everything." He looked up to Anita. "Things are being switched around. New variables in place. New possible outcomes. We cannot create new paths that could mess up her plan. She's already trying to manage getting captured and recuperating."
She narrowed her eyes. "How are you going to keep him safe?"
"Well, Selena loves him," Sven started to smile. "So, then Selena gets to help save him."
"You're using her way too much," Anita warned.
"Tell that to her when she gets out of the conditioning area," Sven stood up. "She's the one who planned all this."
While Selena was recovering, at a building in the Kingdom that dealt with the influx of the new people without any memories, Yuri and Romina Amalfi were requested to come there for an appointment. It was news to them. They didn't know why they would need to go to that building of all places. They were led to a room where they could see in but the people in the other side of the room could not. In another room, on the opposite side, another couple was seated.
"Thank you for coming all this way here," a person with a name badge came into the room to greet them. "I know this may be odd. However, we were notified of this person's existence. They are acclimating well with the condition they were in. This person does have someone they are fond with. Sometimes we see this when trying to recover. People will depend on one another. There is a second person with them, as the two can't part too long without the other. Once they continue to heal, this won't be such a big deal."
Yuri and Romina were still confused. The couple on the other side were greeted with the same thing. They were also in the same confusion.
"What I am about to show you, is in person," they headed to a wall. There was a window, the size of a poster. "On the other side, they cannot hear you, as it is sound proof. They also cannot see you. Once I click this button, take all the time you need. Come out when you are ready." The person clicked a button, and walked away. The couples watched the person leave. It was still odd.
Romina went to the window as she was curious to see what they were talking about. She clasped her hands over her mouth. She froze in shock.
"Romina!" Yuri ran to her. Grabbing onto her, trying to get her out of her trance. Her gaze was still fixated through the window. "Ro-mina! Are you alright?" She didn't budge. He glanced through the window, still worried about his wife. He did a double take. "W-what?" He froze, as if he saw a ghost.
It was a similar reaction for the couple on the other side. It was like they saw a ghost. It was a mixture of emotions. Shock, disbelief, grief, happiness, and disbelief once again. How did he survive? Where has he been all this time? He looks so healthy. He seems cheerful after everything. The couples were in there for a few hours before coming out. They all had questions pertaining to this situation. The couples went into a different room. Nicol and Tolle were performing a series of cognitive games to test their mental strength.
Romina spoke up first. "Is-is that really him?" The person that had informed them nodded. They introduced themselves as a psychiatrist to the couples. They had been watching how the people were adapting to their new lives.
"Yes," the psychiatrist nodded. "We have teams of experts that follow these cases. Your son, Nicol, was saved by the Aesculapius, a traveling mercy vessel. What the Junk Guild could not retrieve, they retrieved. The two almost fighting to save those lost in battle. However, this vessel was a front. Thankfully, Dr. Donovan Landry only wanted to experiment on recovery and restoration. Nicol has been restored back to a healthy condition; with this type of treatment his memories are lacking. This is normal with similar patients. Memory loss. Right now, he is living with his friend as roommates in our controlled neighborhood."
"That's fine," Yuri was still emotional. His son is alive and well. It did not matter that he had memory loss. His son was back in this world. "How did he know to travel here? How did he arrive here?"
The psychiatrist grimaced a bit. "Thankfully, due to your status with Her Highness' Royal Military, you may know. The other parents are not informed of this information. Her Highness personally rescued the two. The recent battle of the Minerva flanked by the Junk Guild and Serpent Tail, to get to the Kingdom, was due to them. A fourth did escape with them."
"Yes," Yuri nodded. "Her Highness was in a torpedo. We were informed about this situation."
"Nicol, as well," the psychiatrist explained. "As the other two, were hidden in the torpedoes."
"Her Highness saved them?" Romina spoke up. The psychiatrist nodded. "Does Princess Anita know?"
"Not yet," the psychiatrist shook their head. "Her Highness is currently helping Princess Selena recover. In due time, we shall inform her as well." The psychiatrist went onto explain how they will get updates on how their son is doing, and when the time would their help would be needed to jog their memories.
Romina and Yuri agreed to do whatever it took but also knew that if his memories never came back, that they were okay with how he was. It had been years since his death. Having him back was a miracle, they didn't want to push it any further. The other couple felt the same. Their son was back. Why would they want more than that. Since Yuri and Romina were already living in the Kingdom, the other couple started to make arrangements to move from Orb to the Kingdom for the time being. The Kingdom offered a special visa for those family members to stay long term as their relative recovered.