Final chapter to Duo's Child 2 but there's an authors not at the bottom.
I hope all of you have read Duo's Child 1 because there's mention of a name in here from that fic.
Wings of Destruction
Chapter 29
Epilogue
-
Due to the explosions pertaining to the incident of nuclear division four-zero-five, the city of Cloir will be entirely cut off from all residents. At three o' eight, afternoon, Gundam Angel of the rebels of space, wrapped its huge arms around the Synodd Tower of Headquarters and went out with a 'boom'. Officials say this has been the largest explosion ever mentioned in the history of mankind.
The remains of the explosion have caused a nationwide impact upon the lives of many citizens, if they were not already killed in the act. From up close the city of Cloir appears a deserted ghost town that has been rampant within a horror flick of the worst kinds, but from far off in the air to even in space, the dent made to the planet's surface is sufficient in record data.
The depth of ground zero travels to four thousand feet below sea level and everything is covered with thick gray ash. Pieces of fallen debris from the buildings within the city are scattered across the floor of ground zero and the gundam, itself, is nearly impossible to piece back together without searching efficiently for the missing components.
Officials are combing the remains for any body to identify and Winner Official, Christopher Pearson, stated that "we are still on the lookout for anything that could help to explain what has happened." Apparently, Winner Official, Christopher Pearson, has decided to set up a wide search for every missing body and identify it. He told us he was specifically looking for a female with a long braid who goes by the name Uno Maxwell and the alias, Shinimegami. This woman, Uno Maxwell (Shinimegami) is related and the daughter of former Gundam Pilot—from the old OZ wars—Duo Maxwell (alias Shinigami).
-
Chris sat the paper down and sighed. Before him sat his coffee mug, filled with the day's brew of the richest sort, his information sheets regarding the research on the Blyton Project—the poor bastards failed miserably at obtaining the possessions of their company while bankruptcy catapulted them into debt—and the calendar for the month of October.
He raised his head and knitted his brows together as he stared off in space. Four years ago, the month would have been charged with a higher rate of security, considering each time Halloween would come around a certain aspect of the Synodd wars had decided to go down with a literal boom. And at the same time, four years ago would have marked the third birthday of the one main character who had taken the end of the war with open arms.
Literally.
He swiveled around in his chair and propped one leg up on the other as he stared out of the large window that sat behind his desk, displaying the entire city of Winner. He has brought it out so easily, brought it back to life and cleaned it up; he only wondered if the rightful heir would have done the same.
Or would she have left it a dead, ghost town?
Having the ability to deal with the military, Chris left the Preventers Unit in the hands of Vincent, who immediately decided upon gaining a militia to protect the nations and colonies. He knew the ego-statistic freak had a knack for militia units and also knew that, in the olden ways of survival, a military was constantly kept in check to protect everyone—not a few rebels.
Justin was given the rights to the Earth Sphere Unified Nations as the leader of the colonies, nations, and the likes. Chris knew that with Justin and Vincent so close in friendship—they were practically brothers—that having Justin lead the people would be the best approach of life. The man was so far fetched a business ideal along with a people person; he knew what was best for the people and best for the companies. It was as if the old Romefellar Foundation was entirely in his shoes. Though Chris had to admit, Justin struggled to stay sane at all the stress and later adapted a circle of under leaders to each nation; now he was the leader of all nation representatives.
Mandy, though how close she and Vincent always were, was given the opportunity of a life time. Chris knew Justin wouldn't take role as king and he, himself, didn't have the time to speak to everyone about policies pertaining to anything other than the Winner Foundation, so he gave the job to Mandy. Knowing that the leader of the military departments would bring down the idealistic views—granted they were actually Justin's words coming from Mandy's lips—Vincent had broken off his relationship with his one time, sexy comrade, and became well-known allies; of course, plenty of those 'late night meetings' to 'discuss politics' were actually their old selves coming out. Justin didn't have time to discuss the nation, Vincent was there to lead the military and train them, and Chris was only worrying over half the population, Mandy took in the ideas and speeches from the true leader of the people and spoke them as if they were her ideas and her words; no body had ever known the truth that Justin was their real leader.
Chris shut his eyes and smiled. He knew Uno had planned all this out. He knew she wasn't stupid and expected him to run it all on his own; that's why she said she wanted them to back him up. She knew he would hand out the given opportunities to each his—or her—own. She had told him to stay sane and be himself, not try to be someone or something that he wasn't; he realized then that he had truly changed and tried to go back to before, of course, with his gained abilities and maturity.
When he returned home his father, again, fought with him but then wondered who everyone else was; it wasn't as if Chris could leave his comrades out to dry! He assured his father that the three people with him were good friends from the war and that the main threat—he knew Uno would fight his father in every way possible—was not to worry. His father ignored the extra company at the start until he heard about what Chris planned to do with the mansion.
Another mansion other than his own.
The Winner Mansion.
He had made notice about it and Chris explained everything. His father immediately began planning out what Chris would be doing and expected his son to sit and listen, but what happened was just the opposite. Chris shouted at his father to stay out of his business and told him that Uno had left the entire responsibility of mankind in his hands and his hands alone. He said he had divided it up with his comrades and each would take share into their own parts.
He had said things to his father that he later realized had helped begin his new career.
Now all four of them were staying in the Blassimeer Manor, also known as the Winner Mansion, and enjoying their lives. He knew he wasn't a Winner but he felt he shouldn't change the name; after all, if not for Quatre he wouldn't even have what he has now.
It was the least he could do.
He brought Winner Academy back up and running and expressed the nature, beauty, and significance of the city nationwide to help bring the population back. A few faces who have had the ability to meet with him said they have known Winner City from the past and believe he is doing the right thing by carrying on the will of the real leaders. A few of those faces had told him they went to Winner Academy when the city died and remembered the havoc.
Chris found out a few of those faces were once classmates of a certain Uno Maxwell and her best friend Theresa; of course, he left out the part about how Uno had helped to win the war.
After all… why should he put the blame for the death of thousands entirely on her when he and the others had part to it?
One face, in particular, had snagged his attention from the day he bumped into it. Sarah Palabalro, a cute little brunette who said she remembered the day Uno had turned six. There was a slumber party by Duo's favor and Uno had invited the whole class; out of all who attended, Uno only appreciated half the gifts, saying the rest were dolls that she faked a smile for. Chris asked what Sarah had gotten her and he felt he should have already known the answer beforehand: a puzzle box.
He asked her what she thought about everyone, about Duo and Uno, about Ricky and Theresa, and she only beamed out that they were the best people Uno ever had in her entire life. Ricky had always been the sweetest guy, taking her to dances when the school held them, and buying her things. Theresa had been there for Uno like a best friend should, never leaving her side, always being together; it was as if they were sisters, only they never fought. Duo and Heero, she explained, were the most practical jokesters she's ever known. Heero would always back up Duo's jokes or the two of them would battle it out with insults; she stated that over the years she's known Uno from school, she could see more and more of Uno developing into Uno and by the way Chris described what little he knew of her, she said Uno had turned into a mix of Heero with Duo's personality still there.
Sarah never minded talking about Uno or about the way the city was before Synodd came into power, which he was quite thankful for. Out of everyone he's ever known they all said the same thing: it's a dead city and leave it in the past. He almost began to wonder if Uno had started the phrase herself.
The biggest thing he admired about Sarah Palabalro was how she never feared entering the mansion; the first time she stepped inside it with Chris by her side she was compelled to start crying, telling him it was horrible what had happened, but she soon overcame herself and was back to her usual cheery attitude. Chris told her that they had blocked up all the rooms that had been inhabited from the other family who had once made their home here and before doing the same, Justin had one good long look at Uno's room. Sarah understood the emotions and explained she held nothing against the house; it was just a house and it was the memories that she had to lock up—which they also did by having the computer vault up any and every video pertaining to the Winner family.
Sarah was now his fiancée. That week she had spent at the mansion with him and everyone else—they all moved in together—had told him enough to know that she was just perfect. He proposed to her several weeks afterwards and automatically she agreed.
Now all that was left was to forget everything that happened and start anew.
"Well Uno," said Chris as he opened his eyes and gazed out at the city below him. "Your dream has come true. Winner is up and running and the wars are all over."
Granted, Justin had in mind to search the wreckage for the body of the poor girl but when Chris's hired crew went to work they discovered everything but her body. They have found almost a total of eleven hundred civilians, four hundred Synodd soldiers, and a wide amount of deceased animals that happened to get in the way of the explosion.
But they never found Uno Maxwell.
They found the remaining pieces to Angel and Vincent agreed to piece the shreds together with the use of one of his new hangars in one of his new mobile suit factories, hoping to pin point the location of where she could possibly be. They managed to connect just about all shreds of life from the poor machine but they found nothing pertaining to the pilot. They found no blood, no body, and no sign of her existence whatsoever.
It was as if she just stood up and walked away, as if nothing has ever happened. Mandy wondered if she could have survived—knowing her knack for injuring herself and always living—and lost her mind, as in amnesia. Chris had told her that was highly impossible because there would be blood and traces of Uno's blood were never found.
Not even in Angel's cockpit were traces of blood—or any sort of abuse—found.
The door to Chris's office burst open and he swiveled the chair around to see Justin pacing towards him. Chris smiled at first but frowned soon after when he saw the urgency in the man's face; the poor guy's been desperate for answers since the explosion had died down and it was safe enough to return.
The poor guy has lost the only woman he's ever truly cared for.
"I think I solved the case pertaining to Angel," Justin shot out as he threw down a folder on the desk before Chris. Chris lowered his propped up leg back to the ground and stared down at the folder. "The system combined its processes and saved her life."
"I don't understand," said Chris. Justin turned away and pulled up one of the leather chairs seated in front of the desk and stared at his comrade briefly. Since the wars have begun and even after they ended, Chris has become more masculine than the girlish boy that he had first met years ago. The boy's innocent tone and high-pitched voice was replaced by a darker and much deeper tone. His facial expressions of smiles and glee were no more as seriousness and maturity kicked in to take its toll.
"What do you mean they combined? And how can it save her life if we didn't find her body?"
Justin shook his head. "Not like that. Zero, Tallgeese, and Epyon were three of the most powerful mind controlling systems in all of mankind's mobile suit creations." Chris nodded and Justin continued. "Considering Uno had already dealt with Zero when she was much younger—I watched the files from the control room when we first inhabited the mansion—and for that reason Zero and she got along."
"As Heero Yuy and the system before?" Asked Chris; Justin nodded. "Then what about the other two?"
"I think Tallgeese admired her because she had managed to befriend the Zero system and she tapped into the speed given from Tallgeese constantly. Epyon—she allowed the system at the end to direct her towards Synodd's destruction and the wars end."
"So the three systems combined to grant her one last chance to live? Because she had used their abilities and not told them what to do?" Chris frowned in confusion. "It doesn't make sense… where could she be then? They formed the cockpit and there's no trace of a body ever being in there. It's as if she left the machine before the explosion happened—which even then she would be killed from the debris and shrapnel flying around."
"And the intense heart and smoke would have clogged her lungs," Justin added in.
"Exactly! It doesn't make sense."
"It does." Justin pointed at the folder. "I did a backup research to the devises. Apparently the man who made the Epyon, Treize Khushrenada, had developed some sort of mind controlling power that allowed the ability to travel to a different realm."
Chris frown. "Realm?"
"It appears that Epyon controlled the mind and told you the most likely open option left for the pilot's life. It told you the road to take and it held the door open so you could take it. It eliminated all obstacles keeping you from taking any other path, from ignoring it, and practically guided you towards it's chosen one. Kind of like… holding your hand while you walk it."
"But…" Chris peered off to the side. "I don't get it."
"Uno allowed the machine to guide her but she still told it who was boss. I think the Epyon had used its realm traveling abilities to save her, to send her to another place where she could live on."
"Why would it?" Chris faced his comrade and explained his confusion. "If Zero befriended her and Tallgeese admired her… why would Epyon want to keep her alive?"
Justin frowned and sighed. "Uno's innocent," he murmured. Chris felt his heart breaking at the expression Justin held that very moment. "She only fought because it was her life to fight… she was raised to fight the war and was always targeted. I think the system pitied her and felt, at her youth and innocence, she deserved another chance to live… to make a decent life."
"Then where would she be?"
Justin shook his head. "Not here… she wouldn't be able to live here, in our world.
Chris felt his blood run cold and his heart freeze in his chest. "What do you mean, 'in our world'?"
Justin ignored his question and continued staring at the folder placed on the desk between the two of them. His voice was low and agonized as he continued to explain.
"The machine knew that if she continued living in today's time she wouldn't ever change back to the sweet little girl Duo raised so long ago. She would constantly be the bitch we first met her as—Shinimegami. Just like Heero Yuy had always been the perfect machine and never was given the ability to change to become more human. With the world as a constant reminder and the fear of being stalked or attacked—like her past had proved more than once—it would be nearly impossible to change."
"So what are you saying, Justin? What do you mean, 'in our world'?"
"Time travel," Justin raised his gaze to Chris and frowned with a sullen expression. "The three, heavy-duty systems, combined as one, apparently created some sort of vortex at which she traveled through time with."
"You mean she traveled back in time?" Chris shouted. "Uno Maxwell… when she exploded to take down Synodd, vanished into another time?"
"Yeah," agreed Justin with a nod. "A vortex was somehow created and sent her crashing through the line of time."
Chris sighed and sat back in his chair as the heavy pressure of stress finally lifted itself off his chest. "So where do you think she could have gone? Further into the future?"
Justin's brows quirked together and he bit his lower lip in thought. "No… I don't think so. I mean… why would she? So she can later see us when we're old and decrepit or fight the next war that comes along? No… I think she was sent back in time."
"But how far? The first date they kept record of was the old calendars years of twenty-one-eleven," said Chris. "Since then they've changed the years to the Universal Century zero-zero-seventy-nine and so forth."
"Yeah… I think she went beyond the data files."
"Those files were burned down with the early wars of the Zion forces," Chris explained.
"I know!" Justin snapped. He sighed and held his head in his hands. "I'm sorry… I just… I'm worried for her."
"I can see why," Chris sulked. "Uno—like the rest of us—doesn't know anything from the old calendar years."
Justin snorted. "Even if she's the perfect assassin… she still knows jack about the history of mankind." Chris sighed. "But… she has to have gone far into the past in order to be in peace."
"How far?" Chris pondered.
Justin shrugged. "Well… since the turn of the twenty-first century… wars have been coming and going. Since the turn of the twentieth-century, people have been going through hard times."
Chris realized something and smirked. "How do you know about the nineteen hundreds and the second millennia?"
Justin frowned at him. "I've studied… the Government couldn't erase all of the files and when I got bored in the past I hacked into it all and read up on them. I'm having the education systems relearn the truth to humanity and teach the original wars up until now. Granted… it may be more years of school but what can you do when life takes the wrong turns too many times? I want to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Chris nodded. "I meant you knowing about the truth… who's to say Uno never did that?"
Justin shrugged. "We don't know… she probably did. And if she does go back into the past… it would have to be a time where it was clean and sane… without hatred or wars."
Chris snorted. "Good luck finding a time for that."
Justin relaxed back in the chair. "Well… wherever she is… I hope she's finally found peace and happiness."
Chris nodded. "Amen to that. Too bad you and she didn't wind up together."
"Well," Justin sulked, "I'm happy she's found another place to be."
"Why's that?"
"She's been needing a vacation to get away to."
Chris laughed. "Oh yes… a permanent one, I see. Well," he breathed out, "let's hope she's happy."
Justin nodded then smirked and commented sarcastically. "And to whoever finds her… may God have mercy upon them all. Uno may be a sweet human being deep down inside… but there are millions of layers of that bitch from all corners of Hell to cover it for good."
The End
Now how many of you recalled seeing Sarah Palabalro from Duo's Child 1? True, no last name was given (or at least, not what I recalled and didn't find when I went looking), but she went by Sarah... duh. If you all have DC1 then you should remember Uno's 6th birthday party. If you haven't read DC1 then shame on you! You should have to better understand DC2!
Okay now... Duo's Child 2 has ended but now Duo's Child 3 has begun. You don't need to know either one of these fics, DC1 or 2, to understand 3! Three is entirely about Uno trying to get back into the world and LIVE again... much as she had tried in her childhood before Synodd came into power! Go read it, PLEASE! It's called Duo's Child 3: Delusions of Perfection. You MUST read ALL of the authors note at the start of the fic before reading, I can't urge that enough!