The loss of Princess Selena was felt by those who knew her on the battlefield. Ra was still fighting against Athrun and Shinn. Kira was drifting in space still trying to compose himself. He didn't want it to come to this. He didn't want to kill her. He didn't want any of this. Yzak was in a similar position, trying to compose himself after the loss of the love of his life. When he felt so close to her, now it felt so far away.
Lacus was still sobbing while clutching Andrew. He could hear her muttering to herself. "She-she's dead. This isn't how I wanted to win." She shook her head back and forth. "This isn't-this isn't." Andrew felt the same but he couldn't worry about those emotions right now. "She said. She said I could get peace. She would-help me. I don't want it anymore if its like this. I don't. I don't want to lose more loved ones." Lacus still sobbing. Her heart broken as it felt that Selena did everything, she could to garner peace for Lacus. Andrew hated this. They were still in the middle of a battle. He didn't want to think how Sven was feeling. As he thought of Sven, he appeared on the screen.
"Supreme Council Chairwoman Clyne," Sven started. He saw they were out of view but knew exactly what was happening. "ZAFT's fight is over. Please take your soldiers off of the battlefield, and stay a few miles back from these coordinates." Andrew kicked the floor to bring himself into view with Lacus still clutching onto him. "I see. Are you willing to comply?"
Andrew looked down to Lacus. The bridge was also wondering what their course of action was to take. "At the moment, it seems like I am in charge," Andrew stated. "I'm not officially ZAFT but I know what you mean to do." Andrew nodded his head. "We will comply."
"Good," Sven nodded. "I'll handle the rest then." The screen switched to who a Lacus on the screen. The bridge was perplexed as they glanced between the two.
"ZAFT, this is Supreme Council Chairwoman Clyne," the Lacus on screen spoke. "This is no longer our fight. We shall retreat to these coordinates and provide backup to the Royal Military of the Kingdom of Scandinavia. Please retreat now!"
"Huh?" Arthur was perplexed. "She wants us to retreat?! But we're so close to ending this battle."
"She's right though," Declan agreed. "This is no longer our battle. This is the Kingdom's. Let them avenge their princess. We will retreat safely behind these coordinates. Call them back." Arthur nodded and relayed the command.
Murrue followed the command. Mu agreed. ZAFT started to pull away, leaving only a few behind. Shiho was still fighting off the enemy while sending her past her.
"Still hanging back here huh," Mikael shot down the enemies around her. "I got it from here. Head back safely. We'll take it from here."
"My Commander is still out there," Shiho countered.
"He came with us, he'll leave with us," Mikael comforted her. "He's in good hands don't worry. We won't let anything happen to him." Shiho saw how confident he was and took his word for it.
As she and several others were retreating, the Ormr and the mobile suits of the Kingdom revealed themselves. It showed that the battlefield was surrounded by the Kingdom.
"What's going on?" Shinn saw the cage like structure.
"Shinn!" Lunamaria called. "We need to retreat!"
"Retreat?" Shinn was confused. "We still have to take down the clone." Since the death of Selena, Ra was not letting up. It was getting harder to keep up against him.
Mu flew in as he saw Kira was still drifting away. "Hey kid, its time to retreat." He grabbed hold of machine, tugging it along. Kira was alright on taking down the enemies but someone of this caliber affected him as if he had taken down someone like Athrun. He didn't want to kill people around him.
Dearka couldn't find Yzak and regretfully retreated. Shiho relayed to Dearka what she was told from Mikael. It made him feel a little better but it still didn't put him at ease.
Yzak had reached a point. He could have been furious like usual as he responded to these types of things. His fury that brought about the scar that ran along his face at one point in time, but it wasn't anger he was feeling this time. He was angry but felt mostly sorrow. He raised his head to show his blue eyes showing he had entered SEED mode.
Sven glanced at his screen. Surprised at had transpired. "How interesting."
Yzak didn't reach SEED mode like the majority did through anger. He reached it due to deep compassion, due to the sadness and grief he felt. GHOST reacted to his SEED mode by getting him closer to the fight. GHOST reappeared as Yzak fought against Ra with Athrun and Shinn. All three were in SEED mode trying to fight against him.
As the enemies were trying to go against the mobile suits fleeing, they were stopped by the Kingdom's royal military mobile suits. Some were confused and frightened as they saw they were inside a cage while others were arrogant.
Sven appeared on all communications in the area except for Ra's. It had the same reviews as he believed, people were shocked at his appearance. "I am Prince Sven of the Kingdom of Scandinavia. I will only ask you once, stand down." No one answered him. "We shall show no mercy." All communications came off except the one on the Eternal. "Space Flamingo, these are Berserkers. These are the warriors of my country. This is how our battles are fought." The screen turned black.
Andrew brought Lacus back to her chair, but she heard Kira had come back into the Eternal, she left to meet with him. Andrew sat back down in his captain's chair. The bridge soldiers relayed information of all the ZAFT vessels had gotten out safely. Only two ZAFT mobile suits were still in the middle of it.
Those in the area could hear the chanting coming from the Kingdom's mobile suits. The mobile suits moved, their arms tapping the against the torso. Even if there was no sound in space, it became eerie to watch. The chanting started to become louder.
"What is going on?" Some of the enemies were confused.
Athrun and Shinn continued to fight but they were stopped by something. Mikael had stopped them. His mobile suit had grabbed onto both machines. "Now, now. You heard my liege. It's time for you to head to the side lines." Shinn and Athrun tried to move their machines but both wouldn't. Mikael had used a mechanism to stop machines with just a touch. He started to fly off towards ZAFT.
That left Yzak fighting Ra but GHOST moved back when one of the other white mobile suits struck a blow against the shiny, red ZAKU.
"No, bring me back," Yzak tried moving the machine. "I can't let him get away with this."
"Not our fight," Haro explained. "Not our fight."
Ra was confused on why he was being attacked. "You should be going after Kira. He killed her. Not me!" The second white GUNDAM was causing damage to the blows. "It was Kira! Dammit. If she wasn't riddled with damn problems she could have killed him." He tried to parry but the blows were heavy hit. His mobile suit was taking on damage. He never dealt with someone wielding this much power. He was used to being the only one with the most power in the area.
The chanting became louder before it all stopped. There was only silence. This made things eerie for the enemies. The royal military soldiers clicked a button where their vials were injected into their bodies. As it was injected into their bodies, lights representing their individual group appeared not only on the mobile suits but also on the pilot's suit.
The Berserker's had red for their color. Both suits had red lines, made to look like a figure of a bear. The next group had blue; their figure was a wolf. The all-female group had a yellowish white, their figure was that of a swan. The soldiers dashed into the area, taking down enemy suits easily.
One of the enemies landed a lucky strike where it took one of the heads off of the mobile suit.
"Hah!" The enemy thought he blinded them.
The royal military soldier still cut down the enemy, even with having the mobile suit's head gone. A small metal head frame raised up from the hole.
"As if cutting off my head would stop me," the royal military soldier laughed. He headed to the next enemy, slicing them out.
ZAFT watched in surprise as they saw the enemy slowly being cut down. They watched the vessels including the other Archangel being surrounded by the Kingdom's mobile suits. Those were for looks as inside those vessels, they couldn't work any vessel to move it, fire off missiles, or to try to escape.
Ra was still trying to fight off the white GUNDAM. He was starting to get into a jam. The mobile suit shot down all of his DRAGOONs. He was not wining this battle. He needed to leave. The mobile suit grabbed onto his, he took this time to eject out.
"We're losing this battle," Ra radioed to his crew. "I'm floating at these coordinates." He looked back to see his machine compromised. The white GUNDAM had brought out a staff with electricity like lightning arcing off of it. It looked like the mobile suit was going to impale it. What he didn't know, was that pilot also left their cockpit.
He looked around him. The battle he thought he was going to win, now seemed like a trap. He saw the cage they were in.
"Ah!" He felt a prick into his skin. He didn't know a syringe of unknown contents had been injected into him from inside of his pilot suit. Ra looked around to see if there was any debris. He repeated to his crew hoping they would come get him. It was a last resort plan he had made but they would still come get him. His commands fell on silence. Fear started creeping in. What if they never come to get him? What if he was floating until he ran out of oxygen? He calmed himself down, but it was still in the back of his mind.
Ra became light headed. He thought he started seeing things. He looked back to see his machine impaled with the electricity arcing out. He also thought he saw an angel with rainbow feathers coming towards him from that area. He kept watching, repeating his coordinates. The angel started coming into view. He saw that the angel had golden armor from the thighs down. The angel had a golden helmet. Golden armor on the arms. A short white dress with a golden belt and golden shoulder armor. The wings on the angel were white on top with rainbow feathers.
Ra did not feel the second prick into his skin with a second syringe of unknown contents injecting into him. He saw the angel was still heading towards him. He finally saw the face. It looked like Selena.
"Ha," Ra couldn't believe it. "Odin already made you a Valkyrie. Hmph. And here I thought you would be waiting in Valhalla for me." He tried to keep awake. Not knowing he was slowly dying. She kept coming closer to him. He tried to put his arms out to stop her. "It's not my time yet." He looked around. "I can come back from this. I still." He let out a breath. He felt his heart slowing down. His body was feeling heavy. The angel cradled him in her arms. He looked up to see her emotionless face. He tried bringing his hand up to her. "My moon, leave me. I-I have to fight." His hand stopped. His last breath escaping his lips.
No vitals. A voice spoke into Selena's golden helmet. She turned herself around, flying back to her vessel. Her machine behind her took care of the ZAKU, blowing it up. The enemies inside of the cage were all taken out. No fatal casualties on their side.
On the Eternal, when Lacus was heading to Kira all she could think about was how Selena always helped Lacus as much as she could. She knew Selena felt bad that she could not save Lacus' father but Selena made sure that Lacus was always welcome to the Kingdom, no matter the circumstance.
Lacus remembered how she was still sad over Meer's death. She vented to Selena on a secret communication line. Lacus could not fault Meer even though Meer was acting like her and had help with the scheme of assassination, even if the last second Meer refused to comply.
"Meer only wanted to do the same things as me," Lacus felt bad about losing her.
"No," Selena shook her head. "She wanted to be you. There is a difference. Lacus there is no one else like you in this era. Many can try to be you, but there is only one you."
"I even read her diary," Lacus hung her head. "Being me helped her achieve her goals." She didn't want to bring her head up as she knew Selena would be giving her a pointed look.
"If you're going to be delusional as her then so be it," Selena was disappointed. Lacus jerked her head up to that line. She looked to Selena who gave her a smirk. "There you are. Lacus Clyne. A woman so pure that her influence was used to sway the people around them. What are you a saint? Have you forgotten what Kingdom you are born in? You're continuing to act like Baldur, with your shining ray of light. Someone is bound to have mistletoe thrown at you. You need to act like Freya."
"A chariot of cats suits you better though," Lacus joked back. Her grief easing due to her friend. She hoped to call her still a friend.
"I prefer a horse with eight legs, a large snake," Selena started to name off. "A chariot pulled by goats, or half of my body dead."
"You're still going to be my enemy though," Lacus almost whispered. She knew they were going to back to the normal Lacus never liked.
"A lake like this needs a white swan and a black swan," Selena explained. "But not everyone remembers that the black swan was originally full of colors."
Lacus kept the tears as she saw the Strike Freedom was in its bay but Kira was not coming out. He was still inside. Not over with what he has done. Athrun was floating over to them when he saw Lacus head into the cockpit when it opened suddenly. The mechanics and soldiers around them moved away when they saw he was still alive.
Athrun came over to see Lacus clutching onto Kira as he apologizing to her profusely. He was not one to leave the battlefield but it had struck home when his intrusive thoughts made him believe it was Lacus since the pink hair got to him. Athrun came into the cockpit, to be there for him as well.
GHOST had gotten Yzak back into the Ormr Drakkar. Mikael showed up on his screen. "You did great out of there. However, when you come out of the cockpit, please be stoic."
Yzak calmed himself down. He was still able to see the battle between the red, shiny ZAKU and the white GUNDAM.
Mikael was moved out of the screen for Sven to appear. "The battle is over. We have won. Your leader is dead." The screen split to show Selena holding Ra, flying with her white booster pack that branched out like wings with each booster a different color. Her pilot suit had gold from her thighs down to her legs. A gold circle around her waist. Gold arms, shoulders, and helmet. Everywhere else was white. Ra was draped in her arms. It looked similar to a Renaissance painting.
Those who thought Selena was dead were shocked once again to see her alive. This was a battle full of surprises. Ra's true intentions. The reappearance of Sven. Selena being brainwashed but was that really the case when she was carrying his dead body?
The three in the Strike Freedom all let out audible gasps. Lacus hugged Kira. Athrun was too shocked to speak a word. Kira felt a bit of relief.
The cockpit opened for Yzak. He removed his helmet, attaching it behind. He watched the four white mobile suits heading back to their spots. He saw their cockpits open simultaneously. Three gold Haro's popped out of one. A white Haro popped out of the last one. Yzak did a double take when he turned back to see the Haro with him was white but had a ride line across the it, similar to his scar.
"Wait," Yzak looked between the two. "Hothead?"
The Haro flapped up to him. "That's me!"
He caught the ball in his arms. Holding it close to him. "Indeed, you are." His heart started to flutter as he was overcome with emotions again. He looked back to see four more Haro's coming out of the last white GUNDAM. These were the size of beach balls, and were also black. Soldiers rushed over to that cockpit. Yzak watched them bring out an unconscious enemy soldier. He was in a silver military outfit. Yzak's heart clenched when he saw an unconscious Selena brought out, only for them to remove her hair, seeing that it was a wig. This was bad for his heart.
Yzak looked over to see Mikael in his military uniform but his arm bandaged up floating over to him. He didn't have any scars. Yzak looked over to see another black Haro coming out of SHADOW. This Haro had gold eyes though. Yzak was confused.
"How did you?" Yzak looked back over to him, visually confused.
"Hm?" Mikael felt as he did nothing wrong.
"You're-" Yzak didn't want to think about it anymore.
"Here she comes," Mikael stood next to him.
The two watched as she flew in with Ra in her arms. The two watched her wings shut off. Her wings started to fold into itself, similar to the honeycomb from the rope like structure. It moved back unto her air pack as if she never had wings at all. The gold on her pilot suit faded back to white.
Outside, the rope like structure was folding back into itself and coming back onto the vessel. The royal soldiers were still outside with ZAFT coming back out to help round up the vessels.
"Where is she going?" Yzak watched as she headed down a hallway.
"To finish her mission to completion," Mikael explained. "She has finished the task her parents had set out for her. Now, she must make sure no one tries to revive it. We'll be headed back soon. Once the enemy's vessels are taken care of, our soldiers come back, we'll be making our descent. She'll be cooped in a special room for the whole time." He could see Yzak was trying to figure out everything. "All in due time. The most important is she is alive." Yzak jerked his head to him with a look. "Back on Earth, it will be explained. Prince Sven could explain but he's angry he lost a bet. We don't want to deal with him as of yet since he'll be whining about it."