The Fight Against Destiny

"This is the story about a man who fought against his own destiny… and overcame it. Now he will fight the same fight to overcome the destinies of those he loves."

Only a couple of days into their pre-marriage honeymoon at a nondescript beach somewhere on Earth, the happy couple of the revolution who'd led the Spirals to battle against their arch-nemesis, began to feel the tremors of the implications that their victory would entail.

Or, to be more precise, Nia did, Simon was still blissfully unaware of it. She knew that she would have to do it sooner or later, but she couldn't find the heart to tell him the dreadful news.

In the end, she figured that sooner was still better than later. At least then he'd have some time to cope with it before the fateful day.

She looked at him as he lay there beside her in their bed, his eyes fixated on the ceiling, apparently in deep thought. Beholding him like that, so peaceful, she didn't really want to disturb such a fine time of their lives with the kind of news she bore, and her resolve wavered.

But disturb she already had, or at least disrupt, as he noticed her looking at him and turned his head to face her. He immediately noticed the troubled look she bore.

"Is there anything bothering you, Nia?" he asked, concerned.

"Well… yes, there actually is…"

"What is it then?"

She was hesitant, but she knew that dragging it out would only make it worse on him. Taking a deep breath, she began divulging what she knew was to come.

"You have realized that I am an Anti-Spiral myself, right? I am a virtual life form living on those same energies of the universe we destroyed." Simon's eyes began to widen as realization slowly dawned upon him. She continued, not letting his unease waver her.

"It is already quite straining for me… to hold on to life. I only have this little amount of energy left within my own body… once that is depleted I… I will vanish, just like the rest of my kin."

Simon could barely fathom what she'd said. When she looked at him, he resembled a statue more than anything else, completely motionless, his eyes perfectly still, bearing the same look she'd seen in them when they first met. She noticed him being paler than usual and a few drops of sweat streaked across his young features. He hadn't taken it well, not at all.

"A-and how much l-longer do you think y-you have?" he stuttered forth, still staring into oblivion.

"Not much… By our wedding day… the last of it will be… gone," she answered solemnly.

Simon remained immobile for a good while, clenching his fists, trying to comprehend that he was about to lose yet another important person in his life. It's as if everything he'd fought for up till now had been in utter vain.

He didn't want to believe it. It'd hit him hard enough when Kamina died. He'd completely lost touch with reality, no more having the will to live back then. Then suddenly, he'd stumbled upon her. She'd helped him pick up the many shards that were his shattered spirit and mend them back together. She'd been there, believing in him when everybody else had lost hope. Even though she was nothing like his bro, not even close, she'd effectively still managed to fill the void that'd been left following Kamina's death. She'd been his prime source of strength throughout all those years since their meeting. She was what'd driven him to go across universes and dimensions and against all odds fight off endless hordes of relentless enemies. It had been not only to save Spirality, but also her… mainly her. There was no doubt: out there in that maddening place, she'd been what his mind had focused on first, mankind second. Essentially she had been the greatest reason he'd gone out there and managed to pull through.

And now she was simply going to disappear, as if everything he'd fought for up till now had been in utter vain, as if all the blood, sweat and tears that had been shed had been for naught. Just like the others: like Kamina; like Zorthy, Iraak and Kidd; like Jorgem and Balinbow; like Makken and like Kittan she was just going to leave him there, leave him in existence while they all would vanish into the realm of death, leaving him behind… all alone.

No, he was not going to have it! He'd lost enough as it was, he was NOT going to lose her too.

"No," came his determined answer.

"What?" Nia confusedly asked.

"I won't have it. I won't allow you to die, not if I can have any say in it… you will not, and that's final!"

She felt dreadful now; he was clinging to her in the same way he had clung to his bro when she'd first met him. He wasn't willing to understand that their time was about to come to an end. She couldn't let him continue thinking that, lest he'd be just as devastated when it'd finally happen, if not even more.

"Don't you understand? I'm dependent on them for living! Without them, I'll disintegrate!" she tried to make him understand, make him accept their fate, almost pleadingly.

"Dependent?" He paused and seemed to mull over the word for a bit, as if not knowing what it meant. "Dependent, you say? Well then, we'll just have to remove that dependence… make you INDEPENDENT! Yes, that's it!" he exclaimed, his index finger held high in the air. An idea had struck him, he could just as well have screamed Eureka. Nia however, was still in despair about his unwillingness to comprehend.

"I'm happy that you want to try for my sake but… it's just… impossible."

"Well, that hasn't ever stopped before, now has it?" she looked at him with surprise, he was right, he had pulled off the most insane and impossible stunts imaginable. A light of hope suddenly lit up within her as he stood up from the bed and continued with his famous monologue: "Who the hell do you think I am?! I am Simon the Digger! My drill is the one that pierces heavens! And if I so have to drill through God and Death and break the laws of the universe, then that's what I'm going to do! Because nothing can crush this spirit that fights till the end!"

She was still stunned, she couldn't believe that still after such dire news, he'd have the same vigour as when faced with every other obstacle. Nonetheless, it felt reassuring.

"You just wait here, my love," he said with a much gentler tone as he leaned in and kissed her. "I've got a call to make." He then sped out the door, leaving her alone in the dark room.

"He really stops at nothing, eh?" she spoke to herself. "So that's who I'll be marrying." She smiled and felt assured that somehow, in some incredible way, he'd find a way and still, just like every other time, defeat the overwhelmingly impossible odds.

KAMINA CITY

FOUR DAYS LATER

"It should work. I've rigged my equipment just for this procedure," Leeron said as he eyed the determined young man before him. They were in a shiny metallic room whose walls were lined with circuits of all patterns. At the side of the walls, four pods each lay, connected by tubes and pipes and whatnot to some large computer at the far end of the room. Behind Leeron was a control panel, probably having something to do with the machinery around them.

"How big is the chance that it'll work?" Simon asked. This time, he wanted to know, as he didn't feel like he could afford being reckless.

"87%. That's as good as it's going to get."

Simon didn't really like the sound of that. He was very hesitant at trying anything such if the odds were below 90%, he didn't want to risk losing her over some small error.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but what exactly are you talking about?" Nia asked. She'd been standing there listening to the two men for almost half an hour and still had no clue to what they were talking about.

"Your knight in shining armour here plans to rescue you, yet again," Leeron answered.

"How, exactly?"

"The machines and pods you see here in this room are all part of an Information Transmitting Device. In simpler terms, they're used to transmit the consciousness of one body to another, granting prolonged or eternal life to those who go through the procedure. Thus, what we are planning to do is to copy all the information stored within you: knowledge, personality, feelings, thoughts, memories… your consciousness, all that which makes you You, and transmit those to a Spiral body, so that you won't be dependent of Anti-Spiral energy anymore."

Even though it was a bit complicated, she believed herself to understand.

"So I'll become a… full human."

"Yes, that is the plan."

"But would I really be the same?"

"Listen… if you believe in science like I do, then everything you are is nothing more but information stored within your brain… or in your case I don't really know where, but it's still stored within you. If we copy that information, we'll essentially make a copy of your very being… your soul, if you will, and put it somewhere else. Wherever we put that information, will be you. You'll still feel you to be yourself just like you do now."

"Thankfully," he continued, "as you're already half-human, the procedure will be much easier. I've already taken the liberty of making a clone from your DNA, a replica of your current body, only perfectly human, with brains and heart and liver and all that." Simon gave him a slightly suspicious look, which he noticed. "Trust me, you won't notice the difference."

"Are there any potential side-effects then?" Simon asked.

"Well, as this is the first, and probably only, time we do it from Anti-Spiral to Spiral, we don't really know. What we do know for certain, is that you're going to be very confuse," he explained, turning to Nia. "You'll feel like having gone to sleep there and wake up over there," he gestured towards the different pods. "Moreover, your body will be rather weak as it'll be its first time walking and so on, but that usually wears off in a few days.

They remained silent in the room for a bit, trying to stomach all that has been said.

"Sooo… are you ready?" Leeron finally asked.

The couple looked at each other and then nodded. Taking this chance was better than nothing at all, they thought.

"Good. Then please my Lady, make yourself comfortable," Leeron said in the same peculiar manner for which they'd all come to love him as he guided her to the pod and shut the door to it, initiating her hibernation.

"Will she be safe?" Simon worriedly asked.

"She'll be fine, trust me. I know what I'm doing," came Leeron's confident reply.

You better be! If this doesn't work, I swear, I'm going to shoot myself!

Pressing a collection of shiny buttons on his console, a dozen whirring and humming noises went off at once, signifying the start of the procedure.

While taking significantly longer time than usual, Simon still felt like it took less time than he'd expected. After only twenty minutes, it was over and Nia emerged from the same pod that she'd entered.

"Did it work?" they both asked in unison. After a look at his instruments, Leeron turned to them and nodded in confirmation, his face sporting a reassuring smile.

"However, I suggest that you disintegrate now before we wake you up again, so that you won't become shocked when you emerge. Remember, your body and mind are still rather weak," he advised Nia.

The young pair looked at each other.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then…" she said.

"Yeah, guess so…" Simon replied.

Which is when Leeron chose to clear his throat.

"Actually not, Leeron decided to butt in one last time. "The one lying in there is you just as you are now. Right now, there might be two of you but once you wake up, you'll feel like you never left at all. So this is not goodbye."

The two chuckled at the effeminate scientist's attempt at comforting them, but his words did carry a certain reassuring feel. No matter how absurd it may have sounded, it did instil in them a sense of security. Looking back at each other, they closed the distance between themselves, embracing one another in one last passionate kiss before she let go of her hold on life.

The sound of disintegrating physical data could be heard, which is when Leeron decided to look away, instead focusing on the beeps and blinks of his control panel. He was too weak for such scenes.

It was simply too painful to watch. Not only had the man actually come to like the boy, developing quite a bit of unrequited feelings for him, resulting in a tinge of jealousy when he saw them lock together like that, but to see her disintegrate at a moment like that… it was simply too tragic. For Christ's sake, he was giving his last kiss to her as she was dying and vanishing, leaving no trace behind. That alone ought to rend even the hardest of hearts.

When he could no longer discern the sound of death, he pressed a button that opened up the pod containing the "new" Nia. Of course, when she awoke and climbed out of it, she felt quite drowsy and unbalanced. Not to mention that she was stark naked.

"Hm… strange, everything looks different somehow," she mulled to herself. "Simon?" She looked over at her beloved.

"Nia…" he replied softly, holding his arms out in front of him, beckoning for her to come over.

Starting at him, she wobbled and staggered in her weakened body before she reached him and they both locked into an embrace identical to the one before. Only this time, Nia remained.

It was at this moment that Leeron chose to turn back around, enjoying the happy scene of their "reunion".

So, in the end, nothing ever changed anyway. Well, I guess that's the best outcome after all. I'm glad.

Glad that nothing ever changed.

Authors notes: If you people want to know why I wrote this, it's because I found the ending to Gurren-Lagann to be too damn depressing! Sure, they can kill off one of the three main characters, then kill off a bunch of minor character and kill off one of the greatest supporting characters of the show, but to then kill off another main character... NO! That's just too much! It's one thing if you do it like Code Geass or Valkyria Chronicles, that's fine, that's even good, but this is to much! It's like when you're making jam and then pour in a third of a bag of sugar... it's just way too much that it takes away all the original taste and leaves you dissatisfied. That's precisely how I felt when I finished watching this, plus kind of bad for Simon, so I wrote this to still those feelings and you know what? It worked. ^^