On Earth, Cagalli's vessel was slowly getting into position, still trying to keep the element of surprise. She waited for Anita to give her the signal on when to attack the compound. The crew got word that the battle had commenced in space. The silver and red, shiny ZAKUs have not been launched into battle yet. This increased their anxieties. The enemy could fire off the laser at any time.
Anita finally appeared on screen, easing some of the tension. Cagalli let out a sigh of relief. Anita had her hair pulled back into a bun, and wore black tactical gear.
"We are drawing near," Anita explained. An image appeared on the screen to the side of her, a map of the compounds. "You can deploy here, here, and here." Markings on the image appeared as she spoke. "However, refrain from coming to this area. We have a tactical team deployed just for that section. I will send the detailed map of what we can to you. Remember, there are civilians who do not know they have been resurrected along with those who have been rehabilitating them with no idea what they are actually apart of. There will be a signal before we attack the compound."
"What is the signal?" Cagalli asked.
"It will be obvious," Anita answered. "But we can inform you when we will be attacking." Cagalli nodded as if she knew what an obvious signal was. "I am signing out. We shall keep communication to a minimum unless plans change." Cagalli nodded again.
The screen went blank. Cagalli let her shoulders fall, trying to relax.
Amagi, Captain of the Kusanagi, tried to comfort her. "The royal majesties from the Kingdom are different. We will keep watch as well." He meant watching for this obvious signal.
This did comfort Cagalli. She can always count on her crew and Orb. Next, they discussed where they will deploy troops and how to keep hidden until the signal.
In space, on the Morningstar, Ra was explaining to Selena through his mobile suit communication. Ra did not have the time to enter her cockpit. He also did not want to deploy yet until he felt she was ready. He used some conditioning imagery with sounds for her, priming her to the level he wanted her to be at.
"Who must you take down?" Ra asked her while he prepped his machine.
"Kira Yamato," Selena responded, devoid of any emotion.
Ra smiled. "Good. Good. What shall happen if anyone gets in your way?"
Selena answered. "Strike them down."
"Perfect," Ra was enthused with her response. "I will let you launch first, and will be right behind you."
Selena did not respond. She focused on her machine. Ra communicated to the bridge about letting his plan.
In the battlefield, Athrun with Shinn and Lunamaria were in the thick of it, cutting down extremists. Kira held back protecting Lacus. He believed Selena was going to head to her first.
On the Eternal, a soldier informed Andrew that someone from the Kingdom's vessel wanted to communicate just between the two.
"Huh," Andrew was confused. "Alright, let them through." Andrew looked at the screen.
There were audible gasps from the those on the bridge when the person showed up on the screen. Lacus covered her mouth with both hands as she couldn't believe who she was actually seeing.
"We meet again, Desert Tiger," Sven greeted. He kept receiving this treatment every time he showed his face, he hid his annoyance of it. "Or should I say Space Flamingo."
Andrew was shocked. That was Sven before him. His short pink hair were now long tendrils, naturally curled, flowing down, past his shoulders. He was no longer an arrogant teenage but now a young man. Hearing him say the new nickname made him fling his head back in laughter, tears coming out of one eye. It was hard for the soldiers around him to react to the situation.
"This is a swan," Andrew explained as he regained his composure. "The beak doesn't curve at all."
"There is no such thing as a pink swan," Sven countered. "Although your anger is on par with a goose or a swan, it's your flamboyancy that stands out the most. Space Flamingo is fitting for your demeanor."
"Did you just come to harass me or," Andrew smirked. He wanted to keep chatting with him but they were in the midst of battle.
"I cannot speak on my sister's behalf," Sven explained. "The Royal military from the Kingdom of Scandinavia does not side with the upcoming militant group lead by the clone named Ra. We are working with Orb on Earth. Anita is leading that mission."
Lacus regained her composure. "Are you going to stop Princess Selena?"
Sven shook his head. "I wish we could, but we have been commanded to not interfere. We are here to help turn the tide but our soldiers were commanded to not go against her, get in her way. I would advise you to do the same, if you can. The Kingdom does not want another war."
Lacus thought about it. "We will take your advice into account." Sven nodded. The communication screen went back to the battle. "Keep our soldiers away from her if we can. Those who are seasoned in battle, like Kira and Athrun, are only allowed to fight against her. We don't want any more unnecessary bloodshed."
"Agreed," Andrew relayed the command to the other captain Lacus' decision.
In one area of the battlefield, Yzak was piloting over to where Dearka and Shiho were fighting at. He saw they were struggling.
"Let's give them some backup, huh, Hala," Yzak started to maneuver the mobile suit towards them, blasting away the enemies.
"Hothead!" The Haro responded.
Yzak flinched at that name. He glanced at the little white ball with its flashing red eyes.
"Tsk," he smirked. Still annoying as ever. Yzak thought to himself. He didn't care for the Haro as it always annoyed him, but this is her mobile suit, that is her Haro. Yzak felt honored to be even sitting in the cockpit let alone piloting it. He felt so close to her even if she was piloting a ZAKU. "Seems like I wasn't needed after all," Yzak communicated to his team after taking down an enemy. He heard several rejoice by calling out his rank. He was happy to be back with his team.
Dearka was happy to see Yzak but he was even more surprised to see him piloting the elusive white GUNDAM. "Look who came riding in on a white horse," he teased. "Or should I say white GUNDAM."
"Commander," Shiho greeted while fighting. "It's nice to finally see you again. The Joule team has been worried about you."
"How did you get the chance to pilot THE white GUNDAM?" Isaac interrupted them.
Dearka added to it. "Yeah, Yzak how did you get the chance to pilot it?" His question tugged at the lines of an inside joke.
"Another time," Yzak changed subjects. "We're in the midst of a battle." Dearka let it go for now but when this was over, he was not going to let up on the jokes.
It became quickly known on ZAFT's side that Yzak was piloting the white GUNDAM.
"Commander Joule is piloting what now?" Shinn had to ask again.
Lunamaria was surprised but happy to hear the commander was healthy enough to be back on the battlefield. Athrun had the same reaction as Shinn. Kira was relieved to hear that he was healthy again. Reactions like that swept through them. Andrew felt similar to Dearka.
"I guess Her Highness can't be all bad," Mu muttered to himself. "Letting a ZAFT commander pilot a prized possession." He dodged a blast.
The shiny, silver, white ZAKU appeared on the battlefield, garnering the soldier's attention. She was heading towards Kira. He didn't want her to get close or even in the same proximity. He flew his machine to meet her in the middle of the battlefield.
"Selena," Kira gritted his teeth as he countered her missiles with his own. The explosions rocked the mobile suits around them. "Stop this now!" The two continued to spar. "What has changed from the peace signing treaty for you to act like this?"
A missile came flying towards Selena that was from the area where the Eternal was at. The Eternal did not fire it off. Selena slashed the down the missile with her beam sword. Kira glanced back at the Eternal. He assumed she was going to go after it. Kira entered SEED mode. His anxiety of wanting to protect Lacus, made him change easily. On Sven's armchair, numbers with a percent sign appeared, however the numbers were moving up and down as if being configured manually.
"Stop this!" His beam sword clashed with hers. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Kira, it's no use," Athrun spoke with him, trying to fly over that way.
Ra chuckled, coming near the vicinity in his ZAKU. "The son of Patrick Zala is right. Your words have no use on her."
Athrun scowled. Shinn didn't care for the words between them, he moved closer for another rematch.
"You should accept your fate now," Ra sent out his DRAGOONs, blasting those who would interfere with the battle between Selena and Kira. This was his chance to see who actually was the better ultimate coordinator. He didn't want others to ruin this spar.
As if the two knew what to do, Athrun and Shinn both came at Ra with their mobile suits. Ra stopped both of them with two beam sabers. The two pressed on. Ra kicked one, while slashing the other. He flew back a bit.
"Two on one, may seem unfair," Ra was eager to fight himself. "But it shows that you need two of you to actually compete with me!" He slashed at another, firing off blasts at the other.
"It shouldn't be this hard!" Shinn clenched as he shielded himself from a blast. "How is he so powerful?"
"Keep it up," Athrun spoke to Shinn. "He can't be this strong."
"You're only saying that," Shinn countered. "Because this is your first time fighting against him."
"If you did the job correctly the first time," Athrun sent out missiles. "We wouldn't be in this position."
"Oh yeah, yeah," Shinn parried Ra's saber. "Not everyone can be the amazing Athrun Zala or Kira Yamato, I forgot."
The three battled letting Kira to try again. "Selena, please. At least say something. No one wants to fight you. I know you don't want to fight either." It was no use, even if he did get to see her on the screen. She was focused on the battle. She was primal in her fights, yelling out. Kira didn't see the metal bands keeping her in place, but he noticed how she felt like she was under something. It felt like he was fighting against Extended Humans. At times it felt like he was fighting Lacus too, continuously seeing the pink hair. He parried against her. "Selena, you're in there, I know you are. Whatever he has done to you, you can fight against it. You're better than this. Where is the woman who fought for peace at? Think of your neutral Kingdom. Selena!"
The numbers on Sven's armrest kept ranging between the tens upwards to the eighties, trying to find the correct number to be placed at. Sven watched the battle, glancing at the numbers as it mirrored Selena's movements.
"The Ormr is headed out," a bridge soldier informed Sven. "It's Mirage Stealth Colloid system is being activated as it leaves the vessel. Mobile suits are headed into place."
"Things are coming together," Sven muttered. "I hope things just turn out the way she wants." He glanced back at the moving numbers.
The white rope like that was coiled around the vessel started to float off slowly, disappearing due to the Mirage Stealth Colloid System. It moved on its own, slowly forming around the whole battlefield. It started to become smaller as parts of it created to form out like a honeycomb stretching out. Four mobile suits which were using the same system, were positioned at four points. Waiting for something. Similar honeycomb like structures came out of the back, making it look like insect wings or a spider's web behind them. The structures connected with the Ormr's.
Back at the fight, Kira thought he might have gotten to her. "Selena, please!" He could see some movements from her seemed like hesitation.
"You can try all you want Kira," Ra warned him. His communication was broadcasted to those in the battlefield. "You won't get through. It is I whom she follows. She is my moon, and I am her sun. Your pacifism is astonishing though, but your conviction is lacking." He landed a hit on Shinn. "The moon get's her glow due to the sun. Selena would not be an ultimate coordinator if it was not due to my predecessor's interference. She would not be this deadly if it wasn't for my persistence. Your words mean nothing to her. All of you trying to sway her from her destiny means nothing. Her parents and relatives died by accident, ha! I had them assassinated since they wouldn't hand her over. I even killed her twin as he tried to interfere. You have no chance of swaying her, none of them ever could. She belongs to me! And she will follow what I say. Finish your task, Selena!"
Selena landed a blow on Kira. The conversation opened the eyes around them. Some already knew she was being brainwashed, like Andrew, but for someone like Athrun, it was shocking to hear. Kira could not longer hold back, as he was mostly defending himself. The two continued to fight, with each swing, and blast, being more deadly than the last.
"I can get through to her," Kira muttered as he shielded himself from her attacks. "I know I can!" However, Selena was getting more dangerous, her aims seemed more towards to the Eternal in Kira's view point.
Yzak had left to join up with Shinn and Athrun since he got the upper hand for his team before leaving. He could not fight Selena, but he could not let this clone continue to make Selena his puppet.
"Helping!" The Haro spoke out.
To Yzak and the rest, it looked like he moved through Athrun's mobile suit, to lay a blow onto Ra's mobile suit.
"Thanks, Hala," Yzak was mystified that he got to be in the cockpit of that particular maneuver. It was incredible. He was going to have to ask how this technology actually works. It was just amazing.
"Hothead!" Haro responded.
The blow jarred Ra's mobile suit. "Three on one, huh. Well, well, well. Yzak Joule. It's a pity you're on that side. Even piloting one of Selena's creations. You would have been a great general, leading the Silver Brigade. I was even going to appoint you as her very own Moon Knight! But now, like the rest, you shall be the blood on this path."
Dearka couldn't help but laugh in response to hearing that. The material for his teasing just kept coming.
"Like old times, huh," Athrun felt some nostalgia.
"You wish," Yzak countered. "This time I think I have the better mobile suit."
Athrun chuckled. "Let's see about that."
"Reminiscing is great and all, but can we just take this guy down?" Shinn was getting tired of the friendly banter.
Shiho was staying out of range, firing taking enemies down by long range attacks, keeping the enemies from attacking the vessels. An enemy close by to her was cut in half.
"Don't get too comfortable back here," Mikael spoke to her.
"Ah, th-thank you!" She didn't see his mobile suit anywhere on her screen or on the radar at all.
"You must be wondering where I am," Mikael answered her thoughts. "However, I can't show my position just yet. Just make sure ZAFT doesn't get too close to these coordinates. We wouldn't want any accidental causalities." He sent her some coordinates. It was like a crescent shape line. She relayed this to the others around her.
Shiho felt a whirlwind of emotions. Shock since this person came out of nowhere, but also a weird sense of familiarity. She ignored those feelings for now and went back to fighting.
The match between Selena and Kira was so deadly that no one was fighting around them for miles. Even Ra himself was keeping himself at bay, not wanting to interfere.
"Sir, there's something wrong," a soldier on the bridge of the Morningstar spoke only with Ra.
"Go on," Ra continued fighting against the three.
"The princess is showing signs of erratic behavior," the soldier explained.
"Of course," Ra was pleased with this behavior.
"N-no sir," the soldier shook his head. "She's starting to show the side effects from the electroconvulsive therapy treatment."
Ra glanced at her screen. She was focused only on the battle, similar to the first battle against the Minerva. She never spoke only let out shouts and similar sounds. However, she wasn't going after Ra, which what he was mostly worried about. She was so far, still under his control. "Just keep watching her, but she looks like she's doing fine. Erratic behavior is necessary for what she needs to accomplish. We have to ride the line of fear if we want to succeed."
The sabers parried, bringing the mobile suits close to one another. Kira raged on. His words were falling on empty ears. Every now and then, Selena would blast towards a coming missile from the same area the Eternal was it. Making Kira even more anxious as he did not want any harm to befall Lacus. The numbers continuing to move until a gloved white hand stopped the dial stopped on a number, as if knowing Kira had started to attacking on the offensive.
Sven glanced down to see it stopped on the number twenty four point forty five percent. He jerked his head up to watch the battle again. Kira was making deadly strikes with Selena barely missing them. Her upper hand on him now falling behind as he gained more power over her.
"Sir!" The bridge soldier tried to warn him.
"I see it!" Ra gritted his teeth as he saw Selena struggling. "Kill him, Selena!"
"Sir-sir!" The bridge soldier spoke even without command. "We're receiving errors on our end. She's not going to hold out. We're trying to bring her back. She's not listening."
"And the injections?" Ra parried Shinn's saber.
"No response, all have been injected," he continued.
"Selena," Ra commanded but she was not listening. "Get out of there!" He could see she wasn't paying attention, her moves more erratic, she was becoming sloppy leaving some openings. Ra pushed the ejection button for Selena as Kira was getting very close to destroying her machine. He was going to blow it up but first he needed Selena out of there. "Kill him or leave!"
Malfunction warnings blared on the screen as the metal bands securing Selena in, were not allowing her to leave.
"Dammit," Ra could not focus with the three battling him and handle trying to pilot Selena's mobile suit. "Get out of there, Selena! Selena!" He pushed the ejection button again but another malfunction button showed up. He glanced up just in time to see Kira's saber starting to slash through the cockpit of the shiny, silver, ZGMF-X3000Q Providence ZAKU. Her scream echoing in the minds of those affected.
A light started to emit from that area. Yzak looked over to that side only to be blinded by the light. He turned his head back only to see a naked, translucent, floating Selena in front of him. He jerked his head back to the bright light before looking back at her. She gave him a comforting smile.
He didn't want to think about it. It couldn't be true. Little beads of tears started to float in his helmet. Selena came closer, her hand cupping his helmet. The glass opening so the droplets could continue to move out.
"N-n-no, no-no!" Yzak didn't want to believe it. He started to shake his head.
"Are these for me?" Selena watched the floating droplets. Her hand trying to catch them. "You've always been so sweet." She looked back at him with a soft smile.
His throat tightened and his heart squeezed. "No." He whispered. He ungripped one hand to reach out to her, only to miss and his hand went through her. He choked back, hoping it didn't harm her. It did not but it seemed like she didn't even know it happened. "It-it-"
Selena kept her comforting smile as Yzak yanked his hand back. She came closer placing a kiss but Yzak was in shock that he did not close his eyes. She glanced over to the light saying something but he could only catch the last part of her sentence. "To a place that still shines."
"S-s-Se-lena!" Yzak tried to grab into her, his hand grabbing empty air as she was slowly drifting away. "Don't go. Please."
"I must go," Selena gave him one last comforting smile.
"No," Yzak watched as she disappeared.
Ra's jaw dropped as he saw the bright light. He didn't see a naked, translucent, Selena come around his chair. "Is this what you wanted?" She asked him, staring straight ahead. Her voice held no malice. He glanced over to watch her float only to sit on some of his piloting board. "My death?"
"No," Ra breathed out. "This isn't how any of this was supposed to happen." Ra started to think of different plans. "No matter. They will still fall. Maybe this is actually for the better. You were riddled with problems but maybe this could be our fresh start. I have your DNA. I have my predecessor's. I can clone the two of you. This time, the two of you will love each other as it should be. I will raise our children. The world will fall under our rule. I shall pass the ruling onto the new clones of ourselves. Yes. This will only set us back but I can even get another clone of you to be grown to your age now." Ra's words started to become unhinged. "Yes. That's how it will be. I'm sorry I could not fix you but now you must learn to wait for me because I will not let them win."
Selena looked back to the white light. "I guess that is how it will be." She started to fade.
On the Eternal, Lacus jumped up from her seat, the chess board drifting around, she floated towards the window. Andrew spotted her. He got up to follow her as she could see she was struggling. Muttering things to herself.
Lacus could see herself in the reflection. Andrew floated up to her about to ask her something when the two saw Kira slash into Selena. Lacus could see her reflection's face turn into Selena's. She blinked to see it would change but it didn't. That face mouthed to her 'you won' and winked before it changed back to Lacus.
"Kira, no!" Lacus cried out. It made the soldiers on the bridge flinched. Andrew grabbed her only to see the ZAKU blow up. Kira had flown away when he slashed through. She clutched onto Andrew. Tears started to flow out. Little droplets shining around the bridge, twinkling like little lights. Lacus let out sobs, telling Kira to stop. Andrew was shocked as he couldn't believe what just happened. The floating chess set had the black queen laying down with the white king standing over it.
Kira felt bad but it had to be done. He could not allow her to continue to harm others. "I'm sorry." He muttered. "I didn't want it to be like this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Why did it come to this?" He had tears. His body shaking. He didn't want to fight Selena. He didn't want to kill anyone. He wanted peace. When would it stop? Kira hated that he had to continuously fight. Selena wouldn't listen to him but it was not her fault. It was Ra's. He did this to her. When he spoke about his control over her, it made sense. Kira believed Selena stopped being friends with Lacus for several reasons, maybe even to protect her. However, it was not enough, as Selena kept taking aims at Lacus. He needed to stop her any way he could, and unfortunately this was how he did it. It also didn't help that the soft spink hair and screams from a woman similar to Lacus took a toll on him. His fear of losing Lacus and the actual killing of someone similar made him also stop from fighting.
"Dammit!" Sven watched in disbelief. He hung his head. "I lost." He muttered to himself.
"Where's Yzak?" Dearka's heart had dropped but when he wanted to see how his best friend was doing, Yzak was no longer at the fight, almost like he disappeared. GHOST had used the Mirage Colloid Stealth System, and moved him away from there. Yzak's head had drooped down. When he saw the explosion, he only froze as he could only think about Selena. How she was just there, in the cockpit. He didn't know if her life flashed before her but Yzak reminisced enough for her that it seemed like her life flashed before his.
He remembered the first time he met her at the ballet academy. His favorite color is pink but he never actually knew why until he saw her being introduced. It felt like he finally knew the reason why. His interest continued when he saw her perform. As if she was a ray of light pink herself. He wanted to become her friend. Making things even more intense between him and Gatlin fighting to be her partner. His feelings for her started to develop into admiration and devotion as he continued to get close to her. He should have known she disguised herself as that was not the first time, she had done that. The first was when she was partnered with Darren and switched with Fiona, dressing up as her, performing their duet together for a competition. Yzak only knew because Fiona could would mess up always on one part. During the competition, it was flawless. The two of them in sync with one another.
When he chose to leave the ballet troop to fight for ZAFT, he knew Selena would understand but it still made his heart hurt. When he gave her the nutcracker, he felt like he was leaving that part of him with her.
She surprised him once again by showing up at Armory One. That night in the ZAKU was something out of a fairytale. He thought he was already lucky getting to have her in his life but that moment was a life changing event for him. His love for her solidified. She was the only one he could ever see in his life like that even if he knew all along, she was taken.
This past year, those moments with her felt the same. Luck after luck. He never took those moments for granted. It was another memory to add that he would cherish as he only wanted to create more. However, some of those moments, he wished to never encounter. He never wanted to see her hurt. He never wanted to see her in the past state she had been through. That was because he never wished for her to feel sadness or fear as he knew she had gone through enough of it. Sven's words repeated in his mind.
"She only wanted to live a normal life," Yzak muttered to himself. If he could not have her, he only wanted to her to live with content.
Sven was resting his cheek on his fist, his curls hiding part of his face. He glanced to see Yzak was talking to himself on the screen of the armrest. He perked up, watching in interest. "Huh? What is this?"
On Earth, the news reached Anita, signaling her to begin to attack. A soldier relayed the Orb's troops that they had started attacking. They had the element of surprise. Cagalli's goals was to dismantle the laser beam that could potentially severe destruction.
She wasn't going to stand back with this fight. She wore her military's combat armor. Cagalli entered the compounds after three sets of troops went in. She was part of the team that were getting the stragglers and heading to that part of the center.
As she was headed that way with four soldiers around her, she could see the destruction from the recent fight. The group could hear far off screams, gunfire, and explosions. They moved steadily through while keeping watch all around them.
A soldier of the militant group came running past them, not even caring. They saw the look of fear on his face. The group continued. They saw a few more people run past them.
"What is going on?" One of Orb's soldiers muttered. Another person came running by. The Orb soldier grabbed him. "Hey, you. Can you tell us what is going on? We won't kill you. Just tell us what's happening?"
This man's face was the same as the rest. They feared something. "Sh-sh-she-she's taking revenge on all of us! Get out of here! She'll get you too. Get out of here!" He wiggled enough to get out of his hold to run away.
This confused Cagalli and the group. Who was getting revenge on them? They continued down several hallways but stopped when they heard rhythmic metal click sounds. They positioned themselves ready to attack. That sound was close almost upon them, but stopped. Two of the soldiers came out with their guns aimed only to freeze in fright. Cagalli and the other soldier came around to see what made them freeze.
Two giant, black Haro's the size of yoga balls with spider looking legs coming out of the bottom part of the flap openings. The two top flaps had a rotary machine gun coming out of each side.
"What the-?" One of the soldiers commentated.
"Allies," the Haros spoke out. "Allies!" The rotary machine guns slid back in, along with the legs.
The four of them moved to let the two Haros roll past them. The group looked at one another in disbelief. The group continued on. They reached their destination only to find their soldiers standing around while there were more of those jumbo Haros surrounding the enemies. The enemies were on their knees with their hands in the air. Orb's soldiers were waiting by the door.
"What is going on?" Cagalli asked the leader of her team.
"The whole compound is secured under the royal military," he explained. "I don't know if they actually really needed us. We got here just in time to see these Haros in action."
"Others we've encountered said someone is haunting them," another soldier added.
"Not just someone," another soldier interjected. "The princess."
Cagalli didn't understand. "Wh-what do you mean?"
There was silence amongst them. She looked at them, trying to get an answer.
"The Princess Selena was struck down by the Strike Freedom," the first soldier explained. Cagalli froze. She now understood why all of them felt uneasy. What was going to happen to them since Cagalli was not only an ally of them but that was her brother who killed the princess?
"There you are Cagalli," Anita called out. Cagalli flinched as her name was called. She looked over to see Anita walking towards her. She had gun holsters on each side of her thighs. "The compound is under our possession. Now we just need to wait for the battle to end up there. The computer system is dismantled enough that no one can operate and we have damaged it enough it cannot operate manually either. We're now in the process of cleaning up." Cagalli saw no changes to her demeanor. The rest were too frightened to ask if they knew about the princess. Cagalli nodded instead. She discussed tactics with Anita on how to make more sweeps to make sure the innocent is safe.