Prologue – In the Heavens, a Blaze

"So this is how it ends..." Zero thought.

It was finally over. Neo Arcadia, the bastion of tyranny he had been awakened in order to oppose, reduced to a smoking crater. Copy X, first beaten, then reduced to irrelevance, and then finally destroyed. The Dark Elf, returned to her original form as the Mother Elf and released. Elpizo, freed from his madness and the burden of leadership. Omega, a murderous relic of a bygone age and a twisted remnant of his past, beaten, hopefully to fade into a distant memory. Weil, the tyrant, the monster in human form, crumbling to pieces before him, beaten, broken.

The final confrontation had taxed his strength and Ragnarok's structural integrity, stretching them to their limits. As Weil's hateful presence faded, the ancient structure was wracked with explosions and started falling apart in orbit.

Zero knew that, despite his habit of coming back time and again, it would be difficult even for him to pull it off again in such circumstances.

"Forgive me, Ciel..." he thought with a pang of grief, mentally scolding himself for having charged in with only two sub-tanks, which were now thoroughly drained. "Iris… it looks like I'll see you again soon."

With a sigh, he looked down on the Earth. His previous experiences in outer space had not usually been pleasant at all, but there was something beautiful in the blue marble below, even after the centuries of abuse it had taken. Ever the fighter, he still struggled to find some sort of escape path, but with debris falling everywhere and the floor under his feet, his chances looked rather grim.

"I wish I could have seen… what you will make of this world Ciel."

And with a final conflagration, as the last few portions of Ragnarok still holding together crumbled, he plunged towards the Earth for what seemed like an eternity.

With a flash of white and a rustling of wings, another object intercepted his path.

"Not this time." a voice intervened.

The owner of the voice, a tall figure clad from head to toe in white, made its way into the scene. Its hands covered by gloves, swatted loose pieces of falling debris aside as it fixated its gaze upon its destination. its features completely hidden under a strange hood that seemed to swallow all light underneath it. Its body was enveloped in a nimbus of white light and a pair of white, feathered wings protruded from its back, somehow seemingly able to fly even in such a vacuum.

With unnaturally firm hands, the stranger gripped Zero's body and set about guiding it down, shielding him with its own body so as to take the brunt of the heat of re-entry. The nimbus of white light enveloping its body pushed against the atmosphere's resistance, providing a measure of protection, and eventually like a comet, the two streaked down together.

With an abrupt flap of its large wings, the figure halted their trajectory at a spot high enough to be beyond the sight of any accidental interlopers.

"Blacked out..." the figure realized, seemingly muttering to itself as it took a look at Zero. "Probably for the best."

The figure sighed and looked at its unwitting passenger, raising a quivering fist.

"Idiot..." the figure then scolded, knowing very well the unconscious Zero could not hear it. "Rushing in there by yourself with two sub-tanks and a pair of balls bigger than your head… making HER cry yet again."

Adjusting its grip, the figure raised its gloved right hand and clawed its fingers, conjuring more of the same strange white light and pouring it into Zero's body. Much of the injuries from the battle and the subsequent plunge seemingly evaporated, though the damage to Zero's armor remained. The helmet, damaged to the point of being nearly useless, fell off his head and plummeted to the ground, too broken to hold on, and fell somewhere out of sight.

"I'm not a Cyber Elf, but… you're not getting off the hook that easily… brave fool." the stranger said before darting off with a sudden burst of speed, carrying the unconscious Zero like a sack of potatoes. "Come on. She is waiting for you."

On the way to its destination, the stranger caught a glimpse of an unmistakable figure, petite, elegant, clad in a pink coat and with big blue eyes framed by a soft face, crowned by long golden hair. Turning away from her tearful expression and suppressing a shudder, it flew on.

Evading the sight of any Resistance patrols, as well as security systems that had been mostly designed with synthetic intruders and large war machines in mind, the winged figure reached one of the Resistance base's metallic blast doors.

The stranger put Zero down, setting him with his back against the door frame as if merely taking a nap, then sighed, taking a long look at him.

"Thank you for doing what I could not." the figure said, rather solemnly, staring at the unconscious legend slowly beginning to stir. "I know the future of this world is safe in your hands. The rest, I leave to you."

With that, the figure turned. It raised its gloved right hand and conjured a sphere of white light, which burst with a flash much like a flare. Knowing it would get the intended attention, it quickly took off before anyone else arrived.

Startled by the flash of light, clearly visible despite the distance, Ciel momentarily forgot her tears and ran towards its point of origin, not knowing what to expect. The thought of an attack at such a time seemed ludicrous, but after the hardship and sorrow she had endured, not to mention the latest bout of absolute horror at the possible loss of someone she had grown to care for so deeply, she wondered how long it might take for her to learn to be truly at ease.

She saw the gathered Resistance fighters in their typical green uniforms. She saw little Alouette, seemingly excited about something. Then she saw the source of the commotion and that was all she could see in front of her. She gasped and, with a sudden burst of speed that surprised everyone around her, threw her arms around the dazed hero's neck, finally jolting him awake.

"Uh..." he managed to say, exhausted and rather groggy. "What did I miss?"

"Welcome home..." she replied, not letting go.

It was finally over. It was finally beginning.

Chapter 1 – Clear Sky

The awakening of Ragnarok and the obliteration of Neo Arcadia had left the Resistance shocked, but its members had been quick to mobilize, thanks in no small part to Ciel's decisive leadership and Zero's presence on the front lines. The evacuation, however, had not been as thorough as they had hoped, in large part due to stubborn holdouts and Weil's selfish obsession with keeping the remnants of humanity confined to his domain. The evacuation had been a difficult affair, pitting Resistance soldiers and civilians against loyalists and most of all the Pantheon troops, but it had managed to save a considerable number of lives.

Three days after final battle against Weil and Zero's seemingly miraculous return, with the heat of battle gone and the first tentative signs of something resembling true peace settled in, the realization of everything that had happened – and the crushing exhaustion – finally sank in, leaving the survivors in a temporary state of lethargy. Neo Arcadia, the self-proclaimed last bastion of humanity, was gone, reduced to a smoldering crater. Between the dictatorship headed by Copy X and then by Weil and the final destruction, the true extent of the combined loss of life, both organic and synthetic, might never be known.

In the Resistance base's briefing room, Ciel convened with her closest friends and advisors. Zero had respectfully bowed out of it, not seeing himself as a leader in any capacity.

"Well..." she said as she sat at the head of the table at the insistence of others. "We won, but it doesn't exactly feel like a victory, does it?"

"As much as we hated Neo Arcadia's way of doing things..." Chief Engineer Cerveau conceded, scratching his bearded chin. "This was not how we would have hoped things to end."

"Indeed..." a young female officer said, clad in the standard green uniform and hiding her short brown hair under a green beret, eyeing the other attendants with sharp green eyes. A blue name plate on her lapel identified her as Captain Aurelia.

"So..." the ever faithful Captain Colbor intervened, clad in an identical uniform and with his ever present white goggles with translucent blue lenses resting on his forehead while his beret was lying on the meeting table. "Where do we go from here?"

"It would seem that the Resistance has served its purpose." another female officer with a name plate identifying her as Astra said, absently running a gloved hand over the long red braid tied around her neck. It was clear from the dark circles around her brown eyes and the slightly disheveled state of her uniform that she had not been getting much sleep.

"So… what do you propose?" the gruff looking Milan asked, also in uniform and with goggles identical to Colbor's, but keeping his on for some reason despite being indoors.

"It's time for a new beginning." Ciel concluded. "And we already know where to enact it. Area Zero is already thriving, slowly but surely. From there, we can build our own future free from the shadow of tyranny."

"I thought you'd say that much." Cerveau said with a smile. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we were getting tired of relocating every few months, always worried about the next attack. Things may not have ended as we'd hoped, but now at least we have a future to think about."

"We should consider more goodwill efforts like the ones Ciel organized in the past." Aurelia chimed in. "Finding other communities of survivors out there, convincing them to join us or at least building good relations with them. We need to know just how many people are still alive out there and how we can start putting the world back together."

"Agreed." Ciel said with a nod. "But before we do anything else, I think we owe ourselves a brief moment of rest and remembrance… to put the ghosts of our recent past to rest and give everyone here some closure."

"We will take care of organizing the preparations." Cerveau said. "Can I ask you to deliver some sort of speech though? Everyone here looks up to you. We would never have reached this point without your leadership."

"You give me far too much credit." Ciel said, lowering her gaze. "But I will do what I can. Do we have any other topics to discuss for now?"

"Just one." Aurelia intervened. "What are we to do if we run into… them?"

Ciel frowned.

"In the event that they do show up, let's keep the standing orders. Do not provoke them, but ask them to come speak to me."

She then looked around once more and in the absence of another intervention stood up.

"Meeting adjourned then. Thank you all for coming."

As she stepped outside, she was slightly surprised to find Zero leaning against the wall next to the door, as if waiting for her, wearing his black body glove with the armor components completely stripped out.

"So what now?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"Now..." she replied pensively. "We help people put their lives back together. Of course we may end up just disbanding the Resistance a bit further down the line."

She then stared at him intently for a moment, before hesitantly voicing a concern that had been lurking in her mind.

"And what are you going to do, Zero?"

"I… have absolutely no idea." he conceded with a pensive frown.

Truth be told, despite a good portion of his memories resurfacing during the course of the new conflict, there was still much he could not recall. Finding himself truly idle for the first time since his awakening, he couldn't help feeling somewhat lost.

"I will say this much though." he added, suddenly straightening up and looking straight into her eyes. "I have no idea how long this peace of yours will last, but as long as I'm around, anyone who tries to make a mess of things will have a very bad time. I owe that much to the people who helped me get where I am now, even if their names and faces are still a blur."

A strange feeling took hold of Ciel as she heard those words, much like butterflies in her stomach.

"D-Does that mean… you'll be staying with us?" she hesitantly asked.

"It's not like I have anywhere else to go." he said with a shrug. "The thought of rusting away somewhere after surviving all this just doesn't appeal to me. Besides… you could say I'm somewhat excited to see where things are headed."

Having overheard their conversation, Alouette rushed in, seemingly out of nowhere, for once not carrying her stuffed doll. Before either Ciel or Zero could say anything, she latched onto him with a beaming smile, staring at him with her big blue eyes.

A few days passed, without any further incidents, and while it was too soon for the weary survivors to allow themselves to fully relax, it was plain to all that the general mood in the Area Zero settlement was changing. Allowing the others a share of respite, Zero took it upon himself to patrol the outskirts of the settlement, swapping his usual red battle suit for a green Resistance uniform. He had been rather surprised to see just how much abuse it had taken, and couldn't help silently lamenting the loss of the helmet, but a small part of him hoped that he would not need either of them, at least for a while.

Zero let his mind wander as his booted feet strode across the earth and grass. There was a time when, still suffering from near total memory loss, he'd feared that the rest of the world would be just more rock, metal and buried ruins. While he was still far from recalling everything about his past, a feeling in his gut told him that it had been fraught with strife and peril.

"So..." he thought. "What am I going to do with myself now?"

Though memories of his past with X were still considerably fragmented, he could recall some details. A partnership, a friendship, a sense of kinship. Many battles fought together. Much hardship endured. In the middle of all that, a hint of sorrow.

"Without X around, I'll have to find the answers on my own." he mused.

With a sigh, he continued on his patrol until he saw a large red form approaching along the dirt road leading to the settlement, kicking up a considerable amount of dust. His combative instincts surfaced briefly as he approached to investigate, but as he spotted the large towering form of an old refurbished truck, he realized he had no reason to worry.

The large vehicle, carrying a dozen or so people in the back, came to a screeching halt and the driver lowered the glass window, revealing a pair of blue eyes belonging to a woman with ruffled red hair reaching just a slightly above the shoulder, wearing a familiar sleeveless yellow vest from what he could tell.

"Hey there soldier." she teased. "I didn't know you looked that good in uniform."

"To be fair, neither did I." he replied with a shrug. "What have you been up to Neige?"

"Just spreading the word, as a reporter should." she said with pride. "The other Resistance outposts may have already heard the news, but there are still isolated settlements here and there. Cerveau and the others asked me to let everyone know and get as many people as possible here for the ceremony."

"I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't know how to stay idle then." Zero remarked. "I imagine you'll have your work cut out for you in these changing times."

"Definitely." Neige said with a grin. "The first order of business is to get things rolling again. A journalist needs a way to communicate."

"A bit difficult the way things are now." Zero said. "Unless you're planning to change your methods."

"Traditional press is off the table, at least for now." Neige said with a nod. "I doubt many outposts would have as much as a TV, let alone a working one. So for now, I'm going back a few more centuries."

"That makes sense. A radio transmitter would reach far and receivers would be much easier to assemble."

"Exactly!" Neige said with a beaming smile, relishing the challenge. "Well then, I have to get these folks settled in. I hope you'll give me an interview once I get things running."

And with that, she started the engine again and continued on her way. As he watched her go, despite his pensive state, Zero couldn't help but smile. One thing he definitely remembered despite the long sleep and the gaps in his memory was how resilient the human spirit could be.

The next day, as every vehicle capable of moving over land or air converged on the crater that used to be Neo Arcadia, carrying people from every settlement and Resistance outpost in range, a nervous Ciel fidgeted with her fingers as she cast one last glance at the notes she had prepared, which were set on a plain metal table with a rock holding in place just in case there was a sudden gust of wind. Instead of her usual pink sleeveless vest, she was instead wearing an old labcoat a couple of sizes too big, with the sleeves folded to keep them from getting in the way.

Noticing how nervous she looked, Zero, standing next to her in a repaired suit of armor with a replacement helmet, patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"Not very keen on a public speech?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, slightly flustered as the crowd began to gather.

"You managed to rally others to your side, put the entire Resistance together, stand up to a tyrant and solve an energy crisis." Zero pointed out. "The worst is over. Just remember, deep breaths."

She tried to follow his advice, but there was something about his touch on her shoulder that made her more nervous, for a different reason.

"So… I have to ask." Zero added. "What's with the labcoat anyway?"

"My mother's." Ciel said with a sad smile. "I don't know where she is or what happened to her, but I hope to see her again someday."

"Come to think of it, you never said much about your family." Zero realized.

"Could they have still been in the city when..." he thought, with a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach.

"A story for another time." she said with a sigh.

As she straightened herself and cleared her throat, Zero caught a glimpse of another side of her. In private, she had often shown her sensitivity and kindness. However, with everyone's eyes on her, he also saw her quiet determination and strength, not so different from those of an old friend.

She took hold of the microphone set on the table and tapped it lightly with her finger to test the calibrations. Satisfied, she grabbed her notes and began. By this point, what seemed like a few hundred people at a cursory glance had already assembled.

"Thank you all for coming." she started. "We have just survived a tremendous ordeal and overcome another challenge on the way to rebuilding our world. For too long we lived in a constant struggle against the ambitions of mad tyrants bent on denying our right to exist. Now that their ambitions have been crushed, we are embarking on yet another challenge."

She then swept her right arm, motioning at the crater in the background.

"Neo Arcadia started out with noble intentions, but in the end became an example of what happens when we let fear and hubris rule our lives. For too long did those living inside remain silent to the atrocities being committed in their name as long as they kept their comfortable lifestyle. I would know, as I once called this place home as well."

She then lowered her head.

"Many terrible acts have taken place here and across the surrounding lands. We cannot turn back the clock and undo what has already been done. We can, however, learn from it. We can do better. We can be better. We must, if we are to have a future. Starting now."

Watching from the front row, Cerveau winced, knowing the guilt Ciel still struggled with for her role in the tragedy. While unable to find the right words at such a time, the Chief Engineer hoped that she would one day manage to overcome that part of the past as well.

"Organic. Synthetic." she added. "It is irrelevant. Despite everything that happened here, when the end seemed at hand, both joined forces to save as many lives as we could. While I have no right to lead, or to ask this of you, I implore all of you to keep that spirit alive. Hold it close to your hearts, for we need unity now just as we did back then. Together, we will heal the wounds of this world and build a new tomorrow."

Ciel was not prepared for what happened next. Seeing her breathless embarrassment, Zero and Cerveau took the lead, applauding with conviction, followed by the rest of the Resistance and the civilians who had taken shelter with them. Soon, she found even her thoughts drowned in loud cheering.

"Be proud." Zero thought with a smile. "People like me exist so people like you can do their work. They may remember me as a destroyer, but when all's said and done they'll remember you as something else entirely."

Out of sight, three armored figures watched.

"And so it begins anew..." Harpuia mused, glad in his green and white suit with a winged helmet.

"I guess that settles it then..." Fefnir added, his red outfit glistening in the sun.

"And with that out of the way…" Leviathan added. "I think it's time for us to make our exit."

"This world no longer has any need of us." Harpuia said, somewhat downcast.

"You know Ciel would probably ask us to stay if she knew how to find us." Fefnir said.

"But we cannot." Leviathan said, shaking her head. "Not after all we were complicit in. No matter how badly I want to get down there... we have no place here."

"So what now?" Fefnir asked.

Elsewhere…

"You can't be serious."

"You know me well enough to be certain that I do not make jokes. You are still needed."

"Am I? Look around you. Look at what happened to the world. First because I was powerless to stop it and then because people didn't want to move forward after I'd held their hand for so long. No. Let me be forgotten. They will be better for it."

"And what about your old friend? After all you have faced together over the centuries, you would simply leave without even giving him a proper farewell? Let him clean up after you on his own?"

"..."

"I did not know you to be such a coward… Master."

"Damnit Phantom..."

"Now that is more like the legend I-"

"Stop it. I hate being called that."

"And so are you just going to let yourself sputter and fade?"

"You do have a point. But I'm still not taking your energy."

"Then I suggest you pull yourself together. You know you have the means to do so. But do you have the will?"

"I definitely don't recall you being this argumentative."

"For better or for worse, I was based on your design."