Gundam Wing & Gundam Seed Destiny:

Free Us From War

Chapter 1: Archangel

Two years had passed in the Cosmic Era and the tense peace that had been established through the Three Ships Alliance's efforts has crumbled. Chaos has erupted and the rift between Naturals and Co-ordinators has grown, potentially beyond repair as the rift is helped along by Blue Cosmos' creator: Logos. The battle lines have been drawn and Athrun Zala has once again rejoined Yzak Joule and Dearka Elsman as a soldier of ZAFT. Unlike his old allies however, he is stationed with the Co-ordinator's answer to the Archangel: the Minerva, and is a member of ZAFT's elite unit known simply as FAITH. As the situation between ZAFT and the Earth Forces reached dire levels, the Archangel returned to the battlefield as an enemy of both sides. With most of its old crew, Andrew Waltfeld as it's executive officer, Lacus Clyne as its mobile suit operator, and Cagalli Yula Athha; who was rescued from an arranged marriage but forced to leave Orb to become allies of the Earth Forces, the Freedom, the Strike Rouge and the Archangel have put themselves in a difficult place… especially with an impostor Lacus rallying support for the ZAFT troops, and the actions of a few radical Co-ordinators that nearly destroyed the Earth becoming a rallying cry for the Earth Forces. The situation continued to deteriorate even as the Archangel regained one of its invaluable allies: Miriallia Haw, returning to the bridge as the Archangel's MS operator. Free from the duties of MS operator, Lacus and Andrew have returned to the Plants to find out firsthand what the situation is like up in space, and ZAFT has sent out crews to hunt for her in order to rid themselves of the threat to their impostor Lacus if the real Lacus should reveal herself. In a questionable move by the Plants, an attack was launched with the intention of bringing down the Archangel and the Freedom. Kira's ideals against killing in battle costs him against the Impulse Gundam and the Minerva's ace pilot Shinn Asuka with its ability to change parts in mid-battle, leading to the destruction of the Archangel's primary mobile suit. Kira survives thanks to a last minute shutdown of the Freedom's nuclear reactor, but the Archangel is forced into hiding while sporting severe damage to its hull and few mobile suits to defend it, forcing it to try and limp back to Orb after Durandal exposed Logos to the world…

Kira sighed sadly as he stared out into the murky depths of the ocean, despite his injuries, as a flash of silver swam by: a fish's scales reflecting the light from inside the Archangel. For some reason, it reminded him of his fight with the Wing Zero and wondered about how things were going in their home universe.

"What's wrong?" Murrue asked as she appeared by his side, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Oh… Ms. Murrue…" He said uncertainly before looking back out the window. "I was just thinking about those guys from that other universe."

She smiled and nodded. "For some odd reason, I have found myself thinking about them quite often lately."

"Since the Freedom was destroyed?"

She sighed and nodded in reluctance. "If they were here, we would still be able to fight…"

Kira smiled weakly. "I know… I wonder how they're enjoying their peace… I think seeing our war gave them a new appreciation for the peace in their home universe."

"I wouldn't doubt it, Kira. They probably think we're still working on keeping our peace in tact too."

"They'd probably be furious if they learned about what has happened."

Murrue couldn't help but chuckle as she folded her arms beneath her breasts. "I wouldn't be surprised. They'd probably go rogue and deal with both sides themselves for being so foolish as to start a new war with the reminders of the old one still fresh in our minds."

Kira allowed himself to chuckle weakly in amusement at the thought. "Especially Heero… It took me a while after the chaos of the war settled down, but I've finally come to respect and understand him. I wouldn't mind meeting him again, if only to apologise for my behaviour back then. I was young and stupid…"

"I can't help but agree with you on that." Murrue said wryly.

"Hey!" Kira said looking at her with an expression of feigned hurt. The captain and pilot burst out in laughter, but it was quickly silenced as they stared out at the dark waters of the ocean and were reminded of why they were there.

"I want them to return to help us, but at the same time, I want them to stay in their own universe and enjoy the peace they fought so hard to obtain." Murrue admitted sadly, and was surprised when Kira nodded in agreement.

"With them here, I was able to focus on what I had to do… but without them, it was harder to concentrate on my duty when I had to protect the Archangel and try to stop the fighting. It's harder to disable suits rather than simply destroying them. It takes a lot more concentration than I used to need."

She patted his shoulder. "You were doing great… you just weren't expecting that pilot to fight the way he did. That mobile suit of his was quite unusual…" She sighed and shook her head. "I've got to get back to the bridge. We're still a long way from Orb and this ship is still badly damaged. I need to organize the repair crews to make sure they're working on the more important issues rather than whatever projects they want to work on."

Kira nodded sadly in understanding, still unable to get his apparent failure to protect the ship out of his mind.

Murrue frowned in concern as she noticed this. "Stop beating yourself up about something that was beyond your control… there are still things we can do about this war even without the Freedom."

Kira smiled slightly. "Thank you, Captain. I needed that."

"You're welcome, Kira. And what did I say about calling me Captain when we aren't on duty?" She asked with a slightly annoyed frown.

He chuckled. "Sorry about that Ms. Murrue."

"That's better." She said as she gave him one final pat on the shoulder before leaving him to stare out the window for a few moments before he decided to go and visit the Archangel's only prisoner: Neo Roanoke of the Earth Forces, who was a suspiciously perfect match for one of their fallen comrades…

Athrun sat in his room aboard the Minerva, unable to come to grips with the loss of his best friend, and perhaps all of those aboard the Archangel despite nobody being able to confirm the destruction of the legendary ship. However, he was also forced to admit that part of the reason for his self-confinement was that he didn't want to run into Shinn in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in the Minerva's hangar.

He stared at his FAITH pin blankly as he considered everything that had happened up to this point, something he had been doing a great deal since the Freedom's destruction. He was also desperately trying to ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that was trying to tell him that something was wrong with the entire situation they were facing. He was drawn out of his thoughts when a beeping noise caught his attention, indicating that somebody had come to see him. He ignored it, hoping the person would go away, even though he had a feeling it would get him into trouble if it was Talia Gladys, the captain of the Minerva and fellow member of FAITH.

"Athrun…? It's me, Lunamaria. Are you in there?" She asked with a mixed tone of wariness and concern. Her tone made Athrun feel a pang of guilt and realize that he couldn't ignore the young pilot.

He sighed as he re-pinned the FAITH insignia to his uniform and went to answer the door. Despite his doubts, he was still a soldier of ZAFT and he couldn't show any more signs of weakness to his comrades, especially the ones who looked up to him… if they still did, at least.

"What is it?" He asked as he tried to keep his tone light but was obviously failing from the look on the younger pilot's face.

"I wanted to see if you were doing all right… I know you were really close to the people on that ship."

"I'm fine… I just need some time to myself." Athrun said as he looked away from the sad expression on Lunamaria's face.

"I understand… but if ever there's a time you need to talk to somebody, just know that I'll listen." She said and walked away without waiting for a response.

Athrun stared at her back in surprise for a few moments before going back in his room. He shook his head as he locked the door and went over to his terminal. As much as it pained him to do so, he brought up the footage of the Freedom's destruction, playing it repeatedly and at different speeds as he looked for some sign that could put his fears at rest, and to prove that Kira was alive.

Lacus and Andrew were watching a screen aboard the Eternal that was giving them feed from one of their allies who had planted themselves close to the Supreme Council.

"Humph… do they really think the kid and that crew are so easy to kill?" Andrew scoffed as their ally reported on the destruction of the Archangel and the death of the Freedom's pilot.

"I agree Mr. Waltfeld. However, I wish we had some way to get in contact with them so that we could confirm that they are all right." Lacus said in concern as she looked down at the Eternal's captain.

"It may be time to head out soon. How are they coming?" Andrew asked a mechanic who had just entered.

The mechanic balked in surprise but quickly recovered and looked at a computer pad he had in his hand.

"We're almost done, sir… but may I ask why they're being built? The one potential candidate's status is currently unknown and the other candidate is currently an enemy." He said uncertainly.

Andrew growled in annoyance and opted not to answer the dumb mechanic, leaving it to Lacus to answer.

"Because we have to believe that the one candidate is alive… and I know the other candidate will see the right path and rejoin our cause. He is merely confused right now, and has been confused since the beginning. We simply need to give him his space in order to realize what is really happening beneath the surface. Hopefully the unwarranted attack on the Archangel and the Freedom will help him begin to see what's really going on."

The mechanic nodded in understanding. "We'll have them finished in no time."

Andrew and Lacus nodded as they returned their attentions to the information their ally was giving them.

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Andrew asked.

Lacus nodded. "Yes, we are… they will need strength in order to help them show people the truth. I just hope we aren't too late." She said with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Don't worry… we'll be there in time." He said with a reassuring smile.

She smiled down at him and nodded in agreement as the Eternal floated inconspicuously disguised as an asteroid that had a mobile suit factory also contained within…

Author's Note: Happy Halloween readers! As a treat for you, here's the very first chapter of the final Gundam story! As you can tell if you've been reading from the first part, this is a reversal of the first chapter of Winged Destiny. Instead of starting in the A.C. universe, we're starting in the C.E. universe. This is the shortest story of the trilogy because there aren't many big battles before this point that the Wing Pilots could be introduced into without causing some massive differences to the original story.

To those of you who have watched Gundam Seed Destiny, you know what they're currently in the process of building. If you haven't, then you'll find out when it comes up.

If you have stumbled on this story and are new to it, please read these two stories first:
Winged Destiny - fanfiction . net /s/5564161/1/Winged_Destiny
No Escape From War - fanfiction . net /s/6646996/1/Is_There_No_Escape_From_War