Disclaimer: I don't claim ownership from the entire C.E. universe. I do, however, own the OCs Shamano, Walter, Matthew Ramius, and Selena. While EmperorDraco7 owns Sasuke and Seto Blaze, Rin Canaver, and Miyuki Star, anyway, please enjoy the new chapter.

Gundam Seed Alternate Paths

Chapter 15: The Awakening Sword

Sometime after the Archangel and the HOME left the Debris Belt and parted ways with one another…

A mysterious being was floating within the depths of the debris; he donned a pitch-black hooded-robe that concealed not only his face but his whole body, too, making it hard to see who this mysterious person was at all.

From the looks of it, he seemed to be searching the Debris Belt or, more specifically, the remains of Junius Seven, the PLANT that met its end at the hands of a nuclear missile fired from an Earth Alliance Moebius Mobile Armor almost a year ago. "I know it's here somewhere…" he said to himself, it was clear that he had been searching the ruins for a while yet had failed to acquire what he came for, which angered him.

On the other hand, his thoughts were on the battle that had taken place earlier; he found it rather amusing to see the Space Pirates, having tried to acquire some new technology that could've benefitted them. Only to have it end badly in the process, on the other hand, there was that strange alien ship, and even the fighter, something about them seemed familiar, yet he couldn't put his finger on it.

He immediately shook off those thoughts as it could've just been his imagination and someone, and he didn't know who might be trying to mess with him. Then again, he shouldn't concern himself with such trivial, especially ones that were of no concern to him. "Huh?" he wondered, hearing something from behind and turned to see there was a pod, one that didn't resemble that of ZAFT life pods at all. "And here I thought that there wouldn't be anyone left in this place…."

"Well, you thought wrong…" came a male voice from within the life pod, and it opened to reveal the one that was operating it. "Still, I never expected someone like you in this area and searching for something… Although, I couldn't help but notice that you aren't wearing a spacesuit, or is it covered by your black hooded-robe?"

The man only remained silent at the question, since he was still busy looking for what he came here for in the first place. "Aren't you suffering from lack of oxygen or even the coldness of space?"

The being, just crossed his arms, utterly unfazed by the remark made to him. "Let's just say that I have my ways for how I'm able to breathe in space, and none are for you to know," he replied to the man, although some intrigue formed on his face despite its remaining hidden from plain sight. "I can imagine that you are here for the same reason as me, searching for something of importance."

"Yes, something like that," said the man as he started to suspect that the mysterious being might not be human as not even a Coordinator could survive the vacuum of space without any means of breathing, and then a thought crossed his mind."He might not be human, much like the one piloting the mysterious fighter that I've heard so much about."

The cloaked stranger didn't turn to look at the man, for he had little time, and needed to work fast on what he came here to find. "Look, I don't care what you think, why I'm here is not for you to know either."

Meanwhile, as the Archangel and Shamano's ship, was being escorted to the Eighth Fleet by the Montgomery.

Flay felt somewhat uncomfortable the moment her father, Vice Minister George Allster, was gazing with concern as much as she was happy to see him again after quite some time. Flay still didn't know how to explain her reasons for helping the Archangel crew up until this point. "Flay, please say something dear," he spoke, not angry but worried since it wasn't like her at all.

The red-haired girl was contemplating just how she should break the news to him, especially as it was making Flay rethink her engagement with Sai. As memories of her interactions with Kira, even that kiss with him before Lacus getting taken off, the Archangel flashed before her very eyes.

"Flay…" she heard George calling her name again as it was starting to hurt him that she's not saying a word to him following the moment he found out not only was she and Sai helping the crew. But they and the other teens present in the bridge were defending the Strike's pilot upon finding out the brown-haired young man in question was a Coordinator.

"Dad…,"

Hearing this, Flay finally speaking made the Vice Minister somewhat relieved. "Sweetie, why did you and Sai defend that Coordinator boy?" he asked in hopes that he'd get some answers regarding the situation before the previous attack from the Le Creuset Team. Then there was Mu, Murrue, Matthew, and Natarle that they are even allowing a Coordinator to operate the Strike in the first place. "It was already bad enough that you joined the Archangel crew, but this too…"

Flay looked at her father with a disapproving look on her face; she didn't care for what he was saying about Kira, not after everything he did for her. "Daddy, please stop!"

George hearing his little girl yelling at him and was shocked as he looked at her. "Flay..." He began he still wanted answers to why she was hanging around a Coordinator and why she joined the Archangel.

Flay, on the other hand, wished she knew what to say right now, but Kira and the others were in their rooms and Shamano, well from what she heard from Selena, Natarle wasn't too pleased with what the alien had done.

"I'm just worried about you right now" George started again, thinking back to something that he'd been hoping he would never reflect upon ever again as it hurt him even to this day, and George was sure that his daughter felt the same way though he had no choice. "Already lost your mother all those years ago, I don't like the thought of losing you too… especially to this war."

George looked away the moment he mentioned his late wife, knowing he wouldn't know what he'd do should anything happen to his little girl. "I only wished I could've been there for you more," he continued as he felt terrible for her living by herself at Heliopolis before the Le Creuset Team's attack on the colony, regardless of his position as Vice Minister of the Atlantic Federation. "When I heard what happened at Heliopolis, I felt as if history was starting to repeat itself, and I don't like it."

"It's okay, dad… besides, Kira was the reason I'm even alive," Flay replied sadly, remembering how she and her friends could have all died in the battle that led to the destruction of Heliopolis, and it led to her ending up in the Strike's cockpit with the brown-haired young man.

The Vice-Minister still didn't know what to make of Kira, especially given what he learned and saw that the boy had been able to keep the ship safe from the ZAFT forces up till now. "I understand that, but still the fact Captain Ramius would allow a civilian, let alone a Coordinator to operate the Strike…" he started again, which made the red-haired girl glared at her father.

"It's not like he had a choice, dad!" she said somewhat harshly, reflecting on what she learned and how Kira and even Liam when the crew of the HOME spent time with the Archangel crew and Selena were like despite them being Coordinators. Along with the fact they were not like what she had been led to believe all those years. "In fact, from what I heard… he rewrote the OS during his first battle, and a normal person wouldn't be able to operate it!"

That look made George slightly uneasy; he had been seeing his daughter acting this way and made him even more concerned as her time on the ship, especially with Kira, was starting to have an impact on her. "But still…" he said, the words failing to leave his mouth as he wished she and Sai had been in Orb where it was safe if not in the Atlantic Federation with the rest of her friends.

Flay only continued to listen to her father, and while he was right she would have been safe in Orb, she knew that her friends would still have been in danger, it was something the red-head hated thinking about knowing Misha and Jessica could have died.

It took a while before the red-haired girl decided to say something else. "Listen, dad… I've been thinking…" she started, hoping that her father wasn't going to do anything rash knowing how protective he was towards her following the death of her mother.

"Oh?"

Flay gave a deep sigh as she looked to her father, knowing this needed to say this to him as Flay looked him in the eyes. "It's about the engagement with Sai," She began working the courage to tell him what she wanted.

George looked at his daughter, seeing that this was something important. "Flay, you can tell me you know, so want to tell me?" he asked, looking at her seeing her eyes gaze towards the floor.

Flay could only take a deep breath before she looked up to her father. "I want to call off the engagement with Sai," Flay said as she looked at her father, waiting for the response knowing it wasn't going to be good.

Kira was sitting in his room with the rest of his friends, talking about what happened Kira was still rubbing his head. "I can't believe he knocked me out," Kira said, still shocked he had done that to him.

Everyone else only looked at him as Selena sighed. "Well, what you did was stupid, Kira; I mean, you do know what would have happened once you got back, right?" She asked, looking at her fellow Coordinator with a frown.

Kira's face went red even Shamano said what would happen if he did what he was planning, but it seems that his friend was a step ahead of him. "I know Selena I just couldn't let Lacus stay on the ship and get used like that."

"I know Kira, okay!" Selena yelled, frowning at this. She hated what Natarle said when using Lacus as she did, but now, well, she wasn't sure what to think.

"Besides, you don't have to worry about Lacus… Shamano already returned her to ZAFT," explained Cagalli, although she never expected that Rau to use this as a chance to attack the moment the pinkette was, returned safely. Still, at the very least, they were in the clear now unless something else went wrong along the way. "The sad thing is Captain Ramius, and Ensign Badgirule, from what I hear, are having a word with him as we speak."

"I see."

"Plus had you, actually gone through with it, then it would've to you instead," added Mir as she remembered the moment when Shamano got ready to head out in his fighter with Lacus in tow, grateful that he managed to return despite what transpired earlier. And was surprised that the songstress would stop the enemy by telling them to stand down, on the other hand, like Kira and the others, she too was worried about Shamano right now.

"What do you think they'll do with him?" Tolle asked, looking at the others with a frown on his face as he looked at Kira. "I mean, Kira, if you did it, they could have court marshaled you?"

Kira nodded when Tolle said this, knowing it's why Shamano knocked him out, as Sai interrupted them with his thoughts. "But what can they do? I mean. He didn't sign up and join the EA like we did guys."

The others nodded at this as Kira looked around, knowing where their friend was as he looked at everyone. "Maybe we should head there; you know to see what's going on?"

Selena had a frown on her face. She was worried for her friend right now, knowing that Mu would be on his side, at least well, she hoped. "If we do go, we have to be careful," She said, looking at Kira and the others.

"Besides Flay was with her father right now," Selena added as Kira looked down, wondering how that talk was going, knowing he wasn't too happy learning about himself.

Everyone else nodded at this, knowing where the other officers were right now along with Shamano as they walked to the meeting, getting worried for their friend, while Kira was busy thinking about Flay wondering what she was telling her father.

As they continued to walk, Kira's thought kept turning to Flay, as he should help her in some way, but at least her father was still alive. "I hope Flay's doing okay?"

Speaking of which, Shamano was currently in Murrue's office as the brown-haired female captain wanted an explanation for his actions. Although it was more of a trial of his decision due to Natarle acting as the prosecutor and Mu being the Trimonights defense attorney, so to speak, Matt, on the other hand, was next to his sister not saying a word on the matter. "The defendant in question failed to appreciate the extent which his actions threatened the safety of this ship," Natarle sternly said to Murrue who, apparently was acting as the judge.

"Your honor…" Mu started to protest, having a book in his possession and at the same time, knew that everything turned out well, in the end, given how Lacus managed to stop the Le Creuset Team from attacking. "…Captain, that comment is a huge exaggeration. I ask that it be, stricken from the record!"

"I authorize its deletion."

Mu looked at the book he had with him. "Let's see, right… First off, I believe that taking a civilian as a hostage is a violation of Article 4 of the Corsica Treaty," he started, clear that Shamano wasn't happy with the Hawk's attempt in acting as his defense.

"The actions taken are Exception Section C of the same article," informed Natarle, knowing full well of the article that Mu was reading about looking at both women. "Now it's defined as "Extraordinary Measures Taken During Wartime."

Mu was at a loss of words at this point, though the raven-haired Ensign made a very valid point and started to read through what it stated then had something else to say upon doing so. "Ah, but it must be acknowledged that the Nazca-class and the Laurasia-classes eventually withdrew. Since both our vessel and the Montgomery escaped a difficult situation because of the release of the hostage."

"Though that could've easily been different," Natarle again reminded as she knew that there was a chance the Blitz would've destroyed the Archangel had she not acted when she did.

Shamano, on the other hand, sighed in the chair that he was sitting in knowing this was all pointless, but at least Kira was in this position. "Kira, you owe me one for this."

Mu once again started talking to the three. That's until Natarle decided to speak up again, looking at Shamano with a frown on her face over what he had done. "Not to mention aiding and abetting the escape of a prisoner of war."

Hearing all Shamano could do was roll his eyes at what he heard right now as he looked at Natarle sitting up from the chair he was in as Mu looked at him. "Can I say something?" he asked as Murrue looked at Mu and Matt.

"Sure thing, kid, oh sorry, I mean..." Mu began knowing Shamano was older than everyone in the room. "I look just go for it, okay."

"Thank you, now as for the charges for the aiding and abetting the escape of a prisoner of war that charge is baseless because Ms. Clyne was, slated in the ship manifest as simply a guest. Now you can't just suddenly turn around and say that she's a POW." before his head turned to look directly at Ensign Badgiruel. "If anyone should be on trial here captain, I'd say that it's her," he said, glaring daggers at the ensign.

"And might I ask why that would be?" Natarle demanded standing up off of her seat.

"Although I admit that I don't' know too much about Atlantic Federation military doctrine, I do know that taking hostages is, completely forbidden" Shamano answered almost angrily. When Shamano had found out that she had used a civilian as a hostage, he wasn't at all pleased with the news.

Natarle countered his statement of the crime of hostage-taking by elaborating. "Under normal circumstances, yes, but it is allowed under extraordinary conditions" this caused Shamano's eyes to narrow angrily at her, and he scoffed in contempt.

"It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of evil and hypocrisy that the Atlantic Federation has built up over the years," he spat as he continued to narrow his eyes Natarle, still giving her an angry steel gaze.

Mu only looked at Shamano and then Murrue. "Captain, I'd also like to add that Shamano is not a member of the crew, and he didn't sign up with the others," Mu began as he looked to Shamano once again with a smile on his face. "I mean what, are we going to do lock him up in a cell."

Matt nodded, knowing what Mu was saying as he looked to his sister. "He's right; you know Shamano's been helping us when he could have left already."

Murrue rubbed her head, looking at everyone in the room she knew that Natarle still wasn't happy, but Mu was right, Shamano wasn't even, enlisted. "Damn, this is giving me a headache," She thought, shaking her head.

"Okay, look since you make a good point, but please next time at least come and tell one of us about your plan," Murrue said, looking at Shamano, hoping something like this wouldn't happen again.

"Well, remember the moment we reach Earth I'm leaving, since I don't want any part in this war," he said as the four looked at him, knowing that nothing they said would keep him on the ship. "I know you want me to stay, but like with Kira once we reach Earth, our fight is over."

Murrue looked at Shamano and nodded, knowing it would be wrong to force both he and Kira to stay on the ship to help them win a war, something she knew that Natarle wanted them both staying and helping.

Mu knew this as well and looked over to Murrue and Matt as the captain soon nodded at what he was saying as Shamano left the room, leaving the three officers to talk on more matters with what happened and any battle plans they might need.

"You know, he did make a valid point… especially given what's gonna happen once those kids depart from the ship" Matt informed his sister, having a feeling they might have a harder time against the enemy the moment they no longer had the students from Heliopolis eventually disembarked. "Last I checked, Lieutenant La Flaga mentioned that there was no way he could pilot the Strike plus the alien fighters would be taken away too."

"He's right, Captain," added Natarle as she wanted to address the matter herself and how George had been, firmly against Kira remaining its pilot despite his being one of the reasons why they've even made it this far. "I'm just as curious about what plans you have for it once we arrive at Lunar Headquarters."

"What plans?" asked Murrue, not sure what Matt and Natarle meant, by plans for the Strike given the statement Shamano gave before he left the office earlier. "What are you getting at?"

"Everyone on board the ship knows it; we're only able to make it this far because of the mobile suit's incredible capabilities and because Kira's the one piloting it," answered Natarle. "Not to mention the alien's cooperation and managing to get that spare fighter operational added to our continued survival."

Murrue wasn't sure what to say concerning the raven-haired female Ensign. "Then there's also the only surviving Moebius pilots that were part of the Advanced Fleet to take into account too," said Matt as he decided to speak again. Since the Bernard, the Law and most of the Advanced Fleet's pilots were, decimated during the ensuing battle along with their escort from the Debris Belt and its Moebius units.

"I understand what the two of you are saying" Murrue thought about it for a moment, thinking back to when she first met the students within Heliopolis after Kira managed to defeat a GINN when he took control of the Strike and rewrote the OS. "However, neither one of them is part of the Alliance."

"We know that," Natarle replied, frowning, having hoped that the captain would understand where she and Matt were trying to get at as she looked at Murrue and even Mu. "But their abilities are invaluable to us. We cannot afford to lose…"

She never got a chance to finish as she received a stern look from her superior. "Regardless of what potential they might bring to the military, we cannot force them to volunteer," she said, which made Matt and Mu unsure of what to say on the matter.

Mu nodded as he looked at the two. "And remember we've seen what Shamano can do, and do you really think it's a good idea to hold him captive he could have his ship blast us away," Mu said, looking at the two.

Matt frowned and nodded at Mu, knowing it was best not to force Kira or Shamano to do anything that the two didn't want to do, or it would be the last thing anyone on the ship would do. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Once he left the meeting room, Shamano looked to see his friends who arrived to see what happened as Selena approached him. "So what did they say?" she asked, Selena was still pissed off at what Natarle did with Lacus.

With a sigh, Shamano looked at his friends rubbing the back of his head. "Well, the charges were dropped, mainly since I never enlisted," he said, which caused Selena to smile happy to know he was okay while Shamano soon looked over to Kira. "Sorry, I knocked you out, Kira, but it was best I did it than you."

Kira only looked at Shamano while nodding his head, knowing that if he had gone through with his plan in saving Lacus and returning her to ZAFT. "Yeah, but did you have to knock me out?" he asked with a light frown rubbing his head.

"Well, Kira, it was all I could think at the time, and time was running out, plus I still didn't want you to get into too much trouble," Shamano said, looking at Kira with a slight smile on his face. "So, where's Flay then."

Mir looked around, knowing she must still be talking with her father, and the young brunette wondered how it was going right now for her friend. "Well, she's talking to her dad, I still think he's not too happy with all that happened on the ship and Flay, deciding to enlist."

Once Mirillia told them this, everyone looked at each other getting worried for Flay, while Selena frowned, but deciding to remain silent before speaking up to her friends. "Look I need to get back to work, we still have lots to do," she said, walking away.

The others then looked to see Selena leave, and each one was feeling concerned for their friend as none of them are sure what to do for Selena, and they all looked at each other. "What should we do?" Misha asked, knowing Flay's father didn't like Kira or Selena.

"Well, all we can do is be there for her and Kira," Jessie said, looking to her friend knowing and hoping Flay's talk with her father was helping. Maybe if he knew that a Coordinator saved her, then George wouldn't hate them.

"Yeah, though I still can't believe Vice Minister Allster said what he did prior that battle," Misha told her friend, thinking back to when George first learned Kira was a Coordinator and the Strike's pilot despite being a civilian from Heliopolis. "Sure, he's Flay's dad, and he was relieved that she's safe given how worried he'd been for her but…"

Jessie shook her head, wishing there was more, that she could say right now. "I hear you, besides the whole time Kira's out there he's fighting the best he can," she added, her arms crossed as part of her started feeling that it was kinda too far with the remark made about Kira and from Flay's father.

"Yeah."

"No offense but he needs to understand that things could've been a lot worse if Kira hadn't piloted the Strike, to begin with," Jessie continued as she hoped by the time, they reached the Earth Alliance's lunar headquarters things would be better for Flay and her father. "I mean on, the bridge we all saw firsthand the ferocious battles he's fought in a mobile suit, and we can appreciate how tough it is."

All anyone could do was remain silent, hoping for the best, knowing that at this very moment, Flay was talking to her father and trying to get him to see that Kira was helping them out. "I hope Flay tells her dad that Kira at least saved her life," Misha added, frowning while her friends nodded once again. "We need to hope it goes well."

Later Kira's friends decide to something was still bothering them all about the Blitz, knowing it had a chance to kill them, but it didn't, and they all wondered why this was as they soon spotted Kira and they wanted to ask if he had any idea.

"You know, Kira… have you noticed something odd about the Blitz?" Sai decided to ask his friend, confident the Strike's pilot had seen what happened the moment the Blitz had managed to target the bridge of the Archangel in the previous battle. "The others and I were discussing it in the cafeteria before Shamano took Selena's friend off the Archangel."

The brown-haired young man thought about the black mobile suit in question, the very same one that managed to use its Mirage Colloid System to avoid detection from Artemis long enough to destroy the generators. So the Eurasian Federation couldn't activate the umbrella when the Duel, the Buster, and that one GINN eventually joined the fray. "What about it?" he asked, feeling somewhat confused and looked at his friend.

"It had a chance to finish us off right away," explained Tolle not liking, the fact they were close to being vaporized in that one moment. "Surprisingly, it didn't… something even the rest of us never understood."

"The pilot even went as far as trying to get us to surrender rather than do what most of the ZAFT pilots tried to do" added Mir, still confused by how young the voice sounded and part of her wondered what he, actually looked like outside of the machine he stole. "Not even those space pirates would give us that option, and some of them previously came on the Archangel."

"You had to bring that up…" muttered Kuzzey, cringing at the mention of the space pirates from the Debris Belt as they could've killed everyone on the Archangel, including the refugees in question. Not that anyone blamed their friend for feeling that way since it was an experience even they preferred not to think about it.

"Sorry."

Sai glanced at Mir for all but a few seconds then back towards Kira. "There's a possibility that the Blitz' pilot might be our age given the sound of his voice," he informed, which could; possibly make things a little more difficult for the male Coordinator should they ever end up in another battle. "We don't know for certain, though, or if the other enemy pilots are like that too without any of us realizing that…"

However, this made Kira frown his thoughts turned to Athrun, who just so happened to be a teen fighting for the ZAFT forces and ironically was the one piloting the Aegis itself. "Well, actually…" he said yet stopped himself from finishing since he wasn't exactly sure how the others would feel about hearing the news from him.

For a moment, Kira wondered if he should tell them that the pilot of the Aegis was his friend, but everyone here trusted him so why not, Kira only hoped they understood why he never even told them about Athrun before.

So Kira soon started to tell his friends all about Athrun, how they grew up together, and what happened until meeting each other again in Heliopolis. Everyone listened to this news, shocked to hear this from Kira as they all looked at each other in silence.

"The pilot of the Aegis is a friend of yours?" Sai asked Kira, something even Tolle, Mir, Kuzzey, Jessie, and Misha never realized despite their suspicions regarding the Blitz' pilot recently, and the young Coordinator nodded his head slowly. "I see… and if I'm honest, Kira, I was a little worried."

Kira only looked at Sai when he said this wondering what he meant. "What do you mean, Sai?" Kira asked, looking at his friend, feeling confused.

"When Shamano knocked you out, he mentioned how you were planning to return that girl to ZAFT, and part of me wondered how things would've turned out had you gone through with it."

However, made the brown-haired male Coordinator silent, he never really thought about this as it dawned to him that he would've been the one at Murrue's office if Shamano hadn't intervened. "In fact, had Shamano and his ship not been with us then Flay's father would've died in the battle, and we would never have met Lowe or his friends from the HOME let alone Un No, Gai Murakumo and Elijah Kiel nor would we have known about the Alliance vessel that attacked the Silverwind. And then there's, the space pirates, who probably wouldn't have come after us at the remains of Junius Seven," Sai continued, thinking of how different things could've been had it not been for Shamano being with them.

"Not to mention Jessie and I wouldn't have been on the Archangel, to begin with as Shamano did previously say he was going to leave Heliopolis though the attack on our home delayed that" Misha added while Jessie slowly nodded her head. "Since Selena was friends with Shamano and was secretly helping with the repairs to his ship at Morgenroete, she probably had not been here too if he left when he originally intended too."

"Then there's Flay and Cagalli to take into account," said Mir with a frown on her face, knowing how the two girls seemed to be getting along well with one another following Artemis as they often talked from time to time even when the HOME.

The others all nodded, each worried at what would happen once they reach Earth. "I can't wait till we reach Earth, I want to see my mum again," Misha said with a smile on her face and looked to her friends, knowing they felt the same.

Mir nodded she wanted to see her parents as well, and knew they must be so worried for her right now. "I know how you feel, Misha; I want to see my parents too."

As this was happening, the Vesalius had sent both the Gamow and the Galvani to follow the Archangel and the Montgomery. In a bid to prevent them and the alien vessel from reaching the Atlantic Federation's Lunar Headquarters. With Yzak, Dearka, Walter, and Nicol onboard Zelman's Laurasia-class for extra measure, not to mention insisting on joining the others due to secretly wanting to make sure the pilot paid for what happened back in Heliopolis.

However, they still needed a plan thanks to what happened during the last battle they were in, and with both the Archangel. Now the Montgomery with the aid of this unknown ship complicated matters, more so once the three ships meet up with the rest of the fleet.

Rau knew that he could allow this to happen, he needed to stop this from happening, all Rau could do was think of a plan to take out as many ships as he could to get to the Archangel take it out and capture the Strike and the unknown fighter and ship.

"But the question is what to take out first," he said with a smile looking over the battle plan knowing that the next fight many lives would be lost in the battle, but Rau still had a smile on his face. "Yes, taking out the Montgomery would be the best."

Onboard the Vesalius, Athrun was floating through the halls and thought about what transpired earlier. With the possibility that Athrun may have to face Kira again if the Gamow and the Galvani were unable to accomplish their mission. As he made his way to his quarters, he noticed a familiar pink orb bouncing around."Haro! Haro! Athrun!" it chirped before he caught it with his right hand.

The pilot of the Aegis gave a small sigh. "Lacus…" he muttered, having hoped that Sasuke or even Rin made sure the pinkette wouldn't leave the room as he soon saw her floating up towards him with a smile on her face.

"Haro is overly excited," she said happily to her fiancé upon meeting up with him, receiving her Haro almost immediately afterward. "I guess he's happy to see you after all this time."

"Haro doesn't have any emotional component to him at all, Lacus," he told the songstress though smiled to her nonetheless due to at least having, gotten one mission completed successfully to make up for their slight detour earlier. "You are a guest on board this vessel, but the Vesalius is a warship, please be careful not to wander outside of your room too frequently."

Athrun escorted Lacus to their quarters as if they wanted to have a bit of catching up to do. "I have been told that everywhere I go, it's not much fun," she said, remember hearing that statement when she was on board the Archangel during her brief stay there. "Even Sasuke, Miyuki, and Rin have told me to stay in my room from time to time."

"Can't be helped; can it?"Athrun informed his fiancé, although, at the same time, he was worried for Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol as they had been transferred along with Walter to the Gamow to assist it and the Galvani in stopping the EA vessels and the alien ship from meet with the Eighth Fleet. "That's the situation you're in right now."

Lacus gave a small sigh; then, she turned to glance at Athrun with silence filling their bodies before the songstress gave a bright smile. "Athrun is something wrong?" she asked in hopes that nothing was bothering him.

However, this snapped the blue-haired young man back into reality almost immediately. "Uh, it's just that I was wondering how you were getting along," he answered, which made Lacus somewhat surprised. "I mean, you were taken hostage, and were forced to go through so much."

Although surprised by the comment, she smiled nonetheless and approached the man whom she was engaged to as she smiled Athrun. "Everyone on the Archangel was very kind to me, even Kira and his friends," she spoke, this time Athrun was the one caught by surprise as he never really knew about the "Legged Ship's" name. Other than the moment, Lacus was revealed to be on board the vessel when Nicol had it in a position where it couldn't continue fighting. "I feel bad for Selena, though. I mean, given that Selena had to leave the PLANTs due to the terrible things that happened to her following the loss of her family."

Athrun only looked at Lacus, hoping that they still didn't hurt her, but he wanted information, and maybe Lacus would tell them about the fighter and the other ship. "After all, the commander will question her about it too."

"I do want to know about Kira, and why he turned his back on his people like that," Athrun thought frowning, he still didn't understand Kira. "They're using him why can't he see that."

Lacus, on the other hand, looked at Athrun, seeing that something was wrong with him as she placed her hand on his shoulder before smiling. "Athrun, what's the matter you seem down, you can tell me you know."

Shaking his head, Athrun nodded before looking over to Lacus. "Yeah, sorry I was thinking is all nothing to worry about, okay. But Lacus, there is something I would like to know if you up for it?" Athrun asked the Pink hair songstress.

Once again, Lacus looked at Athrun as she smiled. "Sure thing Athrun what do you want to know?" She asked him without a care in the world right now.

"Look, since you were on the ship we need to know anything you can tell us about the fighter," Athrun began looking at Lacus who was confused. "The pilot and the ship, it could help us, Lacus."

Lacus only looked once more at Athrun, knowing what he wanted to know about Shamano as she remembered what Serena told her. "You mean Shamano?" She asked, looking at Athrun.

The name caught Athrun by surprise, then again, it was his first time hearing this, and yet there might be beneficial in case they cross paths with the Archangel should the Gamow and the Galvani fail in their current mission. "I take it you talked to him while you were on the Alliance's warship."

The pinkette soon shook her head. "Not really, he looked as if he was in a bad mood when I first saw him," she said, wondering what could've happened to make him so grumpy. "Everyone else, including Kira and Selena, was kind to me, though."

"I see…"

Lacus only looked at Athrun seeing something was up, but she still had a smile on her face seeing Selena. "I was happy I spent time with Selena again," Lacus said, smiling while Athrun looked at Lacus.

Athrun once again looked at Lacus, seeing the smile on her face knowing something was still on her mind. "Are they using her too?" Athrun asked, looking at Lacus, who soon looked towards him, shocked by what Athrun was asking her.

"What!" Lacus cried shocked by what Athrun was saying; she saw Selena was happy and not using her just like Athrun said. "No, how could you even, no one is using them, Athrun."

Athrun scoffed at this, not looking at Lacus. "Then why have they betrayed their people then Lacus, they belong at the PLANT's with the rest of our people?" He asked, still frowning at what both Kira and Selena are doing.

Lacus only looked at Athrun with sadness in her eyes and remembered what Selena said. "She told me that the PLANT's don't feel like a home to her, and Kira as Selena told me Kira was born in Orb."

"Kira's nothing but a misguided fool…" he said with a frown, wishing that his best friend understood what had transpired ever since Lacus was previously used as a means by the Archangel's crew to keep the Blitz from finishing them off in that previous battle. "He insists that he's not a soldier, yet he's piloting the Strike!"

Hearing what Athrun said made Lacus frown, she was starting to worry about her fiancé at this point since Kira had been hoping that the two would meet again on better teams when the war ended. "But Athrun…" she tried to speak.

"He's just being used, but he justifies it, something about protecting his friends," he continued, not wanting to think back to the previous encounters with Kira before this moment. "It's because his parents are naturals, that's why…"

He just couldn't finish what he was going to say, and Lacus tried to put her hands on his face in a caring manner though he wasn't really in the mood, it didn't have anything to do with her, but he just couldn't bear the thought of eventually having to kill Kira next time they met. "He told me himself that he would much rather not fight against you," she said, doing her best to cheer him up.

"He's not the only one!" Athrun replied, anger filling his eyes as he then lowered his head. "Why would I want to…?"

It took a while before he eventually regained his composure and then glanced at Lacus. "I ask for your forgiveness if you'll please excuse me," he said to her before left her room. While Lacus continued to look concern for his well being and prayed someday when the war ended, he and Kira could eventually reconcile with one another.

"When I look upon you, there's a different person there," she said sadly. "Lately, I can see bitterness."

Not even looking to his fiancé, he understood what she's saying. "I can't exactly fight a war with a big smile on my face," he spoke before the door slid shut and left the songstress even more saddened than ever at this.

Lacus only looked at Athrun, and she wished she knew what to say to him, but nothing was coming to her mind. "But, Athrun..." Lacus began, but she knew that right now, it was pointless. "I hope Kira is okay right now."

Meanwhile, the Archangel was reaching the rest of the Eighth fleet. Everyone felt a lot more relaxed knowing that they would be safe soon, and for others, they would be able to head home.

None more so than Kira, who was happy he wouldn't pilot the Strike anymore. "Maybe they will find someone else that can help them out." He thought, but he knew that Flay wanted to talk to him soon. "I wonder what she wanted to talk about."

Kira sighed and moved out of the room that he was staying in since Kira wanted to go and see what Flay wanted to talk about with him. He hoped that nothing went wrong when she had spoken to her father, but he needed to find this out from Flay.

"Shamano," Selena said, walking up to her friend, she was worried what might have happened to him; however, she was still thankful that he helped take Lacus home. "I only hope it won't backfire on him or us for that matter."

"Yeah… sadly I'm not going to be on staying with you guys much longer anyway."

Selena nodded, knowing it's going to be the last time she and the others would ever get to see their friend though it's for the best given that none of them were going to be on the Archangel once they met with the Eighth Fleet.

"Still, I'm kinda surprised that you and Cagalli are in a relationship," she said as she was at a loss of words over what she and the others, especially Tolle and Mir, heard from Kira. "You two could've told us that before you know."

"Oh that, well you see the thing about that Selena is simple, after what Mu said we decided to play a trick on him that Cagalli and I are a couple," Shamano said with a grin on his face, while Selena looked at her friend.

Hearing this from Shamano shocked Selena before she started laughing at this, knowing Mu had no idea. "Oh, that's funny. How long are; you two planning to keep this up then?" She asked, smirking, wanting to see the reaction on Mu's face.

"Oh, only until we reach Earth, then we'll tell him we tricked him, but until then, we have to keep up the act," Shamano said with a grin on his face.

Selena smiled at this, and she wanted to see the look on Mu's face. "I need to see what he will say when you tell him it's a trick you two played on him," Selena said, looking at Shamano with a smile. "Anyway, I better get going, so see ya later."

As this was going on, Murrue and the bridge crew were looking out into space since it's clear they'll be linking up with the main fleet shortly with the Montgomery as its escort despite the loss of the Bernard and the Law in the previous battle. "We'll reach the rendezvous point in about 30 minutes," she informed with a smile on her face. "Well, we somehow managed to make it this far."

"Don't slack off on your monitoring!" ordered Natarle, not wanting to take any chances in case something else went wrong along the way as Murrue turned toward the raven-haired female. "Fleets are conspicuous. They'll draw the attention of the enemy!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Matt didn't know what to think right now; he's in two minds, on the one hand, they knew it might be clear sailing once the Eighth Fleet arrived, but on the other hand, there's no telling what could happen. "How do you think we should inform Instructor Imelia?" he asked, referring to the one who trained the G-Pilots meant to operate the mobile suits from Heliopolis. "Well, clearly, she would already know what happened to the five intended pilots at Heliopolis by now."

Murrue frowned at this; she knew that Imelia wasn't going to be pleased. "Look, all we can do it wait. I know she is waiting to meet up with us," Murrue said, looking at the three.

Mu nodded as he looked at Murrue before standing up, ready to leave the room. "No matter what, it's happened, so nothing we can do about it, and then report what we know," Mu replied, looking at both Matt Murrue and Natarle.

Murrue sighed, hating this and knew that at least this would all be over soon. "Okay, what about the kids, how are they?" She asked, looking at the others wanting to know how the kids are right now.

Matt looked at his sister Murrue as he smiled at her. "Well, Mr. Yamato is going to be happy; he no longer has to fight."

"Well, the kid and his friends never wanted a part in this war," Mu began as he looked at the other officers. "I can't say I blame Kira for wanting to leave," Mu said while the others all remained silent at this as Mu soon left the room he wanted to have one last talk with Kira before they reached Earth mainly to thanks him.

"We've gone through a lot, but we're almost there."

Sai and Kuzzey were having a talk with one another in the cafeteria, all alone. The two boys were thinking about what they and the others were going to do once the Archangel and the Montgomery joined with the Eighth Fleet. "Yeah…" began the blonde-haired young man, somewhat worried for Flay given her talk with George not too long ago ever since Lacus had been, returned to ZAFT.

"So, you don't suppose they'll let off anywhere else but on Earth, don't you?" Kuzzey asked his friend, who turned to look at him with a slight surprise. "It's just that… Remember what Lieutenant Ramius told us?"

Their thoughts turned to when Murrue had them and the others under her watch ever since the Strike's first battle inside Heliopolis. "Yeah, so under the circumstances, wouldn't the fleet be considered the appropriate authorities?" Sai asked while thinking about Murrue's words from before.

"Guess you're right," Kuzzey replied with a frown, feeling Sai made a very valid point there though something else was on his mind. "However, what do you think will happen to Kira? Shamano, I know he would take his ship and fighters with him when he leaves, but will Kira be allowed to leave too?"

However, this was something Sai wasn't sure he'd be able to answer as Kuzzey continued. "He did get involved in a whole bunch of stuff plus Vice Minister Allster doesn't, really approve of him operating the Strike" it proved enough to make his friend even more uncertain.

Sai only looked at Kuzzey as he remained silent he was unsure what to say to his friend, as they remained silent until Shamano walked in with Cagalli, Misha, and Jessie. "Yeah, I saw Kira heading towards the room Flay was in still not sure what's going on."

Misha, however, looked over at Jessie with a smile on her face with a feeling, what will happen when Kira arrived at Flay's room, but time will tell. "Well, she might want to let him know everything is okay. I did hear her yelling at her father."

"Good," Cagalli began with a huff she had heard some of the things that Flay's father said about Kira, and she didn't like it at all.

The two girls looked at Cagalli, seeing the scowl she had on her face right now and knew that the blonde was, very pissed at Flay's father. "Well, I'm not sure where he is now, but I'm happy for Flay," Jessie said with a smile on her face.

The others only looked at Jessie and nodded. "Well, she used to think they were the same, but she still has a long way to go," Shamano added as he looked at them. "I mean, hate like that won't go away overnight."

However, this made the others remain silent, thinking about what Flay said to Selena before the Archangel's arrival at Artemis. "The good news is her conversation with Liam, and even Lacus didn't end up being a repeat of when she learned Selena was a Coordinator from the PLANTs," commented Misha with a frown. She was glad things were getting better between the two girls though that might eventually change should something go wrong.

"Maybe it would've been the case with Lacus had Selena, Shamano, and Cagalli not been with us…"

Sai, Shamano, and the girls turned towards Kuzzey, as he commented regarding Lacus. "Why would you say that, Kuzzey?" the young man with the glasses asked of his friend. The others being just as surprised at the possibility of how different it would've been if their three friends in question never came along with them during the events up till now.

"I have to agree with Sai on this Kuzzey," Misha said with a frown looking at Kuzzey, she wasn't happy with what he said about Flay. "She's our friend after all, and you're saying this about her."

Jessie had to agree with Misha on this she had no idea why Kuzzey said this about Flay, or where it was coming from as she looked at her friends. "I agree with Misha; what you said was out of line Kuzzey."

Seeing the tension that's now forming, and he decided to change the topic to something else before a fight broke out. "Anyway, you guys, we'll meet up with the fleet so, which means you'll all be going home."

Sai smiled at this, but he was still worried, knowing ZAFT would send more ships to attacking them. "Yeah, but that last battle you saw what ZAFT tried, right?"

The others all nodded and were all lucky that they made it out of the battle. "Well, that's thanks to Shamano if not for his ship well, I think we would be dead and nothing, but dust right now," Misha said, looking at her friends.

Shamano looked at the others sadly. "Yeah, but the reason they sent so many ships in the first place was thanks to me and my ship," he said, not liking what ZAFT did, and it worried him what they would try next.

Kuzzey and Sai nodded the backup failed, and only one ship left. "Look we can make it I know we can, we all made it this far, didn't we?" he asked, looking to his friends with a confident smile.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me…" began Cagalli, remembering that aside from the Strike, her fighter and the Moebius Zero, the Archangel had a few Moebiuses onboard since the pilots of those MAs barely managed to survive the Le Creuset Team's attack on the Advanced Fleet. "There are some Moebiuses that came on the Archangel earlier if I recall."

The others knew that Cagalli was right, although while it was good to see some additional pilots also to help the ship. That still didn't help that any MS would be able to take them down quickly, especially given that the stolen G-Project Machines would be immune to all projectile weapons used against them thanks to their Phase Shift Armor. "You Know, I'd all but forgotten that," said Jessie as she reflected on the moment where the surviving Moebiuses regrouped. "How many units came onboard anyway?"

"I'm not sure I think either Mu or Murrue would know that," Shamano added, looking at the group, but he had other matters to deal with right now, and he was also concerned as well that something was coming.

"I see…"

"Now that I think of it," Shamano decided to speak up again, having a feeling that he'd tell the others about it, which might be interesting not that it'll matter anyway since none of them would be on the ship much longer once they joined with the Eighth Fleet. "There was something the surviving Moebius pilots from the Advanced Fleet mentioned about two fighters that were to be transferred to the Archangel when it reaches Lunar Headquarters."

"Wait, two fighters?" Sai asked, somewhat curious as he, Kuzzey, and the girls wondered what Shamano meant since they were all well aware of the two fighters that the male Trimonight had. One of which Shamano was able to fix up for Cagalli's use thanks to assistance from Lowe, Liam, and Kisato as well as any of the technicians from the Archangel who were available to help at the time. "What do you mean?"

"Well, from what I heard, these two fighters aren't like any of mine, and they were stated to be compatible with the Strike's Striker Packs. I believe they're called Skygraspers, or at least that's what I think." Shamano explained what he knew; he never really paid attention to most things as he had other matters that needed attending to right now.

The name, however, is a sign that they're using is limited to battles on Earth. Which, means my fighters have the advantage of being used there and in space, though their ability to mount Striker Packs does balance that out."

"Skygraspers, huh?" began Jessie, somewhat surprised along with the others that these newly developed fighters were capable of mounting packs for the Strike onto them as that was something even Shamano's fighters could never do and most likely never get the chance to do. "Guess that makes up for your eventual departure, at least."

All Shamano did was shrug at this. "Maybe, then again. I've never really planned on staying anyway," he replied simply as he then noticed something bothering Sai lately since he should've been more than happy to be able to get a chance in returning to his family shortly. "Hey, Sai… You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sai responded, almost unconvincingly, which made Shamano and the others with him concerned though Jessie and Misha suspected what it was though didn't want to say anything for the time being until they know for sure. "It's just I had something on my mind."

"Oh, about what?"

Sai looked at his friends, knowing this was something his friends wanted to know more about what he was talking about in the first place. "Oh, it's nothing, really you guys," Sai told them and sighed. "It's just the marriage between Flay and I guys, but nothing set yet."

"Wait, you and Flay are engaged?" Misha asked of Sai, who nodded his head silently to confirm that it was true, which caused her to glance at Jessie as they remembered how Flay tried to say nothing was going on between her and Sai. "Guess that explains the letter Flay got, huh."

It was then that Sai thought about the letter that Tolle wanted Kira to ask him about, and then realized he's been referring to the one Flay received. "You know, Tolle mentioned the letter back when he, Kira and Mir arrived in time for class before the attack on Heliopolis," he said, which got the attention of the others. "At the time, I initially didn't know what he meant though now I do."

The others all looked at Sai, knowing many things made sense now to the group. "Yeah, the only problem is Kira likes Flay," Shamano said as Sai looked at their alien friend.

"What!" Sai said shocked by this news, while both Misha and Jessie looked at each other and wondered if Flay knew Kira liked her.

"Look, it's bound to happen this marriage was arranged, right?" he asked Sai wishing Tolle or even Flay was here right now it would make things a lot more straightforward.

Sai nodded, wondering what Shamano was getting at as the others all looked at him. "Yeah, our parents arranged for us to get married. What does this have to do with anything?"

"Things like that never work, not all the time at least most of the time it ends badly, I mean take it from someone that was married once," he said sadly.

Sai only sighed at hearing this as he looked up at Shamano. "Maybe, but..." he began not sure what to say to him. "I can try and work things out with her. I want to try and make this work."

"I know you do, but you also need to let her decide, I mean last I heard she was talking to her father, right?" Shamano asked as he looked towards Misha and Jessie for any answers on where Flay was.

"Sorry, we don't know where she is," Misha began as she looked over to Jessie. "I mean, the last time we did see Flay was when she went to talk to her dad, and that was it sorry."

"Look, Sai, the next time you see her talk to her, okay," Shamano said, placing a hand on his shoulder, and the young man nodded. "If not well, time should tell you that man."

Sai nodded as he looked at Shamano. "I hope so."

Meanwhile, Kira was now in Flay's room with the red-head sitting on her bed, Kira could tell she was upset, but he didn't understand why she was upset in the first place. "Flay, what's the matter?" he asked as he approached Flay.

Flay, on the other hand, looked at Kira and gave him a light smile as she pulled Kira into a hug holding back the tears. "I'm sorry..." She said, which only confused Kira more than he was before.

Kira, however, pulled away from the hug, wanting to know what's wrong, after all, wasn't Flay talking to her father a while ago. "Flay, are you okay?" he asked, getting worried that it was something terrible.

Flay sighed as she looked at Kira, knowing he was going to find out sooner or later, so Flay looked at Kira. "Oh, Kira, it's my dad," She said, frowning before telling Kira what happened when talking to him not that long ago.

"Flay, listen…"

The female Natural soon thought back to the battles she's, seen while they were frightening, nothing could prepare her for what might've happened had Shamano's ship not arrived when the Le Creuset Team almost completely wiped the Advanced Fleet out. "You've fought the best you could; you were out there protecting us," she spoke as her thoughts then turned to how her father wanted Murrue to explain why a Coordinator like Kira was operating the Strike. "I… I want you to know…"

"No Flay, it's alright," he assured, knowing that it wouldn't be much longer anyway since they'll be back to living their everyday lives soon enough yet at the same time wondered what could happen given Flay spent most of her life living in the Atlantic Federation. "Please don't be so hard on yourself."

"I understood everything, you were doing the very best you could, and I'm grateful for it," said Flay as she wasn't sure what else to tell Kira. As part of her wondered if this talk between the two might've been different had the Montgomery, actually been destroyed earlier."If Shamano and Cagalli weren't there to help in that battle, then I actually would've lost my dad, and maybe I would probably..."

"Flay, please stop," Kira said as he placed his hands on her shoulders, and soon the two looked at each other, not saying a word to each other.

The two teens looked at each other right now; they were both alone with each other. Neither was sure what to say as both moved closer to each other, the lips were close to touching when they both hear the alarm. "Oh no,"

At the bridge, the crew picked up something on the screen, which got Pal worried and right when things were looking up for everyone onboard the ship. "Radar wave interference, N-Jammer Levels increasing!" he reported much to the dismay of everyone present.

Murrue, hearing this looked at everyone on the bridge. "All hand, level one battle stations!"

"Two Laurasia-classes identified in 103 orange alpha!" Chandra alerted from the CIC.

"Mobile Suit thermal patterns detected," Tonomura added, knowing that they might be able to handle two Laurasia-classes though he frowned as he found out which enemy Mobile Suits the Archangel and the Montgomery was going to be pitted, against this time. "The Blitz, the Buster, the Duel, and nine GINNs, shit."

Natarle scowled at this, knowing the timing wasn't the best for them, not after getting this close. "Damn them! And moments before our rendezvous with the 8th Fleet!" She cursed.

"Alright then," Murrue nodded and sounded the battle alert, "Attention! All hands at Level One battle stations! Repeat all hands at Level One battle stations! All non-combatants, please remain in your quarters!"

"Well, that's just great," Mu sighed, looking up from the magazine that he was reading, "I'll never finish this thing at this rate…" Back near the cafeteria, everyone heard the battle alert and went back so they could do their jobs, and Shamano could get to the lift to the dock. Around this time, a little girl was running down the hallway the other way, and the students were coming out.

Kira and Flay were leaving the room the moment the announcement was made when the brown-haired young man accidentally bumped into the little girl in question, which caused her to fall flat on her back as a result. "Ow!" she winced the moment she landed on the floor.

"Oh…" Kira didn't realize he knocked someone to the ground without knowing it and looked at the little girl with concern forming. Luckily, she wasn't hurt, but he still felt terrible for not seeing her before. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I'm so sorry, Kira was in a hurry, and he didn't see you" Flay was quick to help the little girl back onto her feet before Kira could attempt to do so, though at the same time she gave the child a reassuring look on her face. "We're entering another battle, but we'll be fine… because Kira will be out there. He's fighting to protect us."

"Really?"

Flay nodded her head. "Yep, he's gonna go out there and beat up all the bad guys for us," she told the little girl, assuring her that everything was going to be alright.

The little girl only looked at Flay and then Kira, until she saw someone else coming up to them. "Kira, we better hurry and..." he began when he noticed the little girl.

"Hey, you're the one that helped me find my mummy," the little girl said with a smile on her face.

When hearing this from the little girl, both Kira and Flay looked at each other, shocked by this news. "Well, you were lost, and I wanted to help you, but don't worry, we'll arrive at Earth, then you'll be safe and sound Elle."

The little girl, now known as Elle nodded, as Shamano looked over to Flay. "You wouldn't mind taking her back to her mother, would you, Flay. Oh, and thanks again," he asked, smiling at the red-headed girl.

Flay looked at Shamano and nodded as she quickly looked over to Kira, now feeling worried as Elle was distracted. "Kira, please be okay out there, okay?"

Kira only looked at Flay, seeing the worried look on her face, and he nodded as he smiled at her. "I will Flay count on it," Kira said as both he and Shamano soon left knowing they had this battle to win.

Elle only looked at Flay and then back to where Kira was running off to and smiled. "Do you like him"? She asked in an innocent voice, while Flay said nothing but smiled. "Well, do you?"

At the hanger, Mu was already in his pilot suit and entered the cockpit of his Moebius Zero. "Damn, why did they pick this moment to attack us?" he asked himself as he knew the surviving Moebius pilots would stand no chance against the G-Project Machines. So their only option was to stay near the Archangel and the Montgomery in case any of the enemy Mobile Suits got near both ships. "Mu La Flaga, launching!"

Once the Moebius Zero was, deployed, Kira floated into the Strike's cockpit, and Mir appeared on the screen to inform him of the enemy's combat strength. "Kira, the ZAFT units are two Laurasia-classes, nine GINNs, the Duel, the Buster, and the Blitz" she spoke with Kira somewhat relieved that he wouldn't be facing Athrun in this battle yet knew the three G-Project Machines by themselves were going to be tough to beat. "Hopefully, the Blitz won't reach the Archangel this time."

"Understood, I'm ready."

"APU activated. We'll attach the Aile Striker Pack. Connected to catapult," the Strike had the Aile Striker Pack mounted onto it, knowing that the pack was Kira's best chance against any of the stolen units and the GINNs due to it enhancing the Strike's mobility and maneuverability in space combat. "Strike standby. System all green, we're ready."

Sai and Mir knew that once Kira finished, Shamano and Cagalli would be the next ones to do so. "All clear for launch. You're ready to head out Strike," she said.

Kira nodded. "Kira Yamato, heading out!" he declared before going out into battle, activating the Strike's Phase Shift Armor.

"Okay, Shamano and Cagalli, you two are next," Mir said, knowing both also knew what they would be facing out there.

"Got it, Mir, I'm ready," Shamano said with a smile towards the brunette girl.

Mir nodded as she looked at her two friends and hoped like with Kira, they would also both be safe out there. "Okay, just don't get killed, okay."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Cagalli said with a grin looking at Mir and seeing the fear on her face.

Once Shamano and Cagalli launched in their respective fighters, the remaining Moebius stood in front of the Archangel and the Montgomery as the ZAFT Mobile Suits approached. "The Eighth Fleet will be meeting up with us in about two minutes," Murrue informed everyone. "Just hang in there."

"Activate Igelstellungs!" Natarle ordered from the CIC, not wanting to take any chances should any of the enemy forces somehow manage to get past their pilots in the middle of battle like the previous battle. "Prepare Anti-Beam Depth Charges! Ready stern missile tubes, then fire!"

The Montgomery was also ready for the impending battle, having hoped they'd avoid any confrontations until they joined with Eighth Fleet though it seems they've got no other choice. "The Moebius team will intercept the GINNs!" Captain Koopman immediately contacted the Archangel as everyone knew the MA pilots would get easily massacred by even one of the stolen Gundams.

Shamano could see that the three enemy Gundams had assumed a tight formation and were back to back. "I don't like this," he frowned, "They're hiding something…" Then he remembered and activated his radio, "Archangel, steer over to the right! Duel, Buster, and Blitz are concealing the Laurasia class so that it can fire its cannons at us!" It was not a moment too soon, a burst of concentrated energy shot from the Gamow's cannons and the three Gundams separated to let it through.

"Evasive maneuvers! Starboard!" Natarle ordered, and Neumann immediately turned the ship right and barely avoided the shot.

"Damn! That was so close!" Yzak swore as he went after the Strike, "How the hell did they see through our formation!"

Mu, on the other hand, was impressed by what happened and what the three pilots did. "Hiding their line of fire with those machines? That's very cute, thanks for the warning Shamano."

"No problem, let's make sure that it's the last time," he said, frowning watching on as looking at the three stolen machines.

Unfortunately, they were not alone as the GINNs from the Galvani, and the Gamow passed the group, making their way solely towards the Archangel and the Montgomery. "All units direct your efforts on the Legged Ship and the Nelson-class!" informed Zelman, as it was clear he didn't want to take any chances and risk the two ships successfully reaching the Eighth Fleet. "If the alien ship tries to assist them this time, we'll make sure it won't interfere."

"Yes, sir!"

Walter, on the other hand, wasn't focused on the mission but rather to settle a score with the fighter that got in his way. "Where is it…" he asked himself silently as he readied his weapons for when he crossed paths with Shamano once more, which made him smile.

"Damn it, I know it's here, especially if the Strike and those Mobile Armors have already been deployed…"

Looking around, Walter saw no sign on the fighter he was after, and this only made the ZAFT pilot feel more anger. He could already see Dearka was dealing with the Moebius Zero; however, he didn't care what happened to Dearka.

Surely enough, Mu's Moebius Zero activated the Gunbarrels and fired them at the three approaching G-Weapons only for them to evade with little to no effort one managed to score a direct hit on the Buster, but the weapon proved utterly ineffective. "Heh, that's pretty useless" Dearka mocked the Hawk before retailing with the Busters high-energy rifle, forcing Mu on the defensive.

Kira, however, seeing Mu, was now most likely in danger fired at the Buster and had to help one of his mentors. "Lieutenant La Flaga!" Kira cried out, but before he could help the Duel prevented Kira from helping Mu out.

Seeing his chance, Yzak contacted Nicol, knowing this was their chance. "I'll lure the mobile suit away! Nicol, the Legged ship's all yours!

"Roger!"

"Strike isn't that what you're, called!" Yzak asked as he flew in and drew the Duel's beam saber, all while firing the "Shiva" Railgun from the Gundam's Assault Shroud Armor; Kira, seeing this, put his beam rifle away and brought the Strike's before the two clashed. "You're good; I'll give you that," the platinum-haired Coordinator said, "But you won't get away this time!"

Kira gritted his teeth together and looked at the Duel, knowing he had to deal with it, and he hoped that the others would be able to deal with the others while he dealt with the Duel.

The Buster formed its Hyper Impulse Sniper Rifle and fired at the Moebius Zero, with Mu barely able to avoid the blast in time, however, a certain GINN managed to use this distraction to try and land a killing blow on the Hawk of Endymion. "Now die!" exclaimed Walter despite his initial orders assist in taking out the three enemy ships.

Mu mentally cursed himself for being distracted by the Buster and attempted to use the Gunbarrels to take Walter's GINN out only to be damaged by the shot from its recoilless rifle. "Argh… Damn…" he cursed as he knew his MA wouldn't survive another hit like that. "Can't do much of anything… not like this…"

Letting out a curse, Mu knew he needed to head back to the Archangel. "Shit Archangel I'm heading back, my Moebius Zero was hit and is damaged, anymore hits then I'm done for," Mu answered with a frown while making sure he wasn't hit again.

Walter, seeing the Moebius Zero retreating, but the crazed ZAFT pilot didn't care, he had taken some damage, but it was nothing he couldn't handle, after all. He had bigger fish to kill. "Now, time to find that fool and kill him."

Dearka approached Walter's damaged GINN, not too pleased that once again, he was going against orders given to him. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked as he wanted an explanation for why Walter was not assisting their allies in taking out the Archangel, the Montgomery, or capturing the alien ship that had been aiding the Archangel since their battle before Artemis.

"You should be grateful that I helped take care of that annoying mobile armor," Walter replied as he didn't care how angry he was at the GINN pilot for being so challenging… almost to the point where it was starting to become worse than the two times Athrun disobeyed direct orders beforehand. "Why don't you make yourself useful and help take out the Legged Ship now that you don't have anything else to do."

Dearka only frowned hearing this from Walter, and was thinking and hoping that the pilot of the fighter would kill him this time around, but knew it was unlikely to happen. "He is starting to lose it, and also starting to piss me off."

"Well, did you hear what I said, Elsman!" Walter cried out in rage since he still had one target in mind. "Now, where is that coward hiding?"

Noticing that the others were busy, Nicol activated the Blitz Gundam's Mirage Colloid and flew towards the Archangel after evading the shots from its Valiants. "I've lost the Blitz!" Tonomura said, "It must've activated Mirage Colloid!"

"Deploy Anti-beam Depth-charges! Get the anti-air shrapnel warheads!" Murrue ordered, hoping that this would work knowing what would happen if the Blitz got closer to the ship, especially as this time, it wouldn't give them the option to surrender.

"Shit, fire Anti-beam Depth-charges!" Natarle relayed the order that Murrue gave as she was not going to allow the Blitz to catch them by surprise again. "Stern missile tubes switch over to anti-air shrapnel warheads!"

The Archangel quickly fired, knowing that they needed to find where the Blitz's location was because if they didn't, it would mean their deaths and Murrue grew worried, once the weapons fired the Blitz showed up, but only briefly.

"Calculate the Blitz's position from the shot's angle," instructed Natarle as the ship waited for the right opportunity to fire at the Blitz again despite its Mirage Colloid being active… and after a few seconds, that time had come. "Anti-air warheads, fire!"

Nicol grunted, knowing he had to switch off the Mirage Colloid from the Blitz, or it would mean certain death. "Damn..." he said to himself as he needed to plan carefully to get closer towards the legged ship.

After turning off the Mirage Colloid and reactivating the PS Armor to protect himself in time, Nicol was starting to become impressed with the female captain for managing such a move against him. "That's right, this machine once belonged to you so of course, you would know its weaknesses," he said with a confident expression on his face, knowing they've learned from when he previously had them at gunpoint before the revelation of Lacus, having been on board their ship.

Just when he was about to reactivate the Mirage Colloid, he got hit by a missile that came out of nowhere, which made him glad the Blitz's PS Armor managed to protect the black Gundam from taking damage. "Oh no, you don't!" yelled Cagalli as she continued to fire at the green-haired young man.

"Cagalli, what are you doing?!"

"I'm keeping the Blitz from doing what it did last time!" Cagalli informed Selena while evading beam fire from the Blitz, knowing while she wasn't that experienced since this was her second major battle, she couldn't let the Archangel get destroyed now that it's closer to meeting with the Eighth Fleet. "You guys just focus on taking out those two Laurasia-classes!"

Selena and the others nodded, hoping that Cagalli would be okay, but she needed to trust her friends as they still had other matters that needed to be dealt with right now.

Nicol, however, was shocked and pulled away from the Archangel looking at the fighter. "Damn almost forgot that another one showed up, makes me wonder how many more they have in hiding."

Cagalli, on the other hand, was breathing deeply, keeping an eye on the Blitz knowing and seeing what it could do. "Okay, don't take your eyes off that thing for even a second." She told herself.

No matter, what happened Cagalli knew that she still had a mission that needed doing, and that was keeping the Archangel safe and from harm. The young women only hoped that she would be able to keep the friends she made safe.

As this was going on, the Moebiuses were doing all they could to survive against the GINNS to avenge their fallen comrades from the previous battle. "It seems the Naturals are somehow starting to get better," commented one of the GINN pilots as it was clear the MA pilots had improved their skills, not that it would matter anyhow. "Unfortunately, even that's not going to enough to save them."

"Disengage Igelstellung auto-tracking!" reported Natarle as they prepared themselves for any GINNs that managed to get past the defenses and make their way towards the Archangel… all while Mir was worried about the blonde-haired female due to her battle against the teenager operating the black Gundam. "Put up a barrage!"

The Archangel fired a hellfire of bullets at the GINNs, causing two of them to stop in their tracks, knowing they're going to need to step up their game to complete the mission assigned from Rau le Creuset himself.

Dearka grunted, seeing that Nicol was busy dealing with the new fighter, and the surviving Moebiuses were proving to be holding their own against the GINNs, which didn't help that a few of their remaining forces also had their hands full against the Archangel. "Damn, I guess it's up to me then," he said, heading towards the legged ship seeing that everyone else is currently, occupied leaving it to him.

Tonomura and Chandra were not too happy when they picked up something heading their way. "The Buster is approaching!" the latter informed Murrue and the rest of the crew just when they thought things were going well for them once.

"Where's Lieutenant La Flaga?"

"Zero's returning," Mir answered Murrue's question from the CIC, worried cause now the Buster was approaching the Archangel while the other pilots were preoccupied with the rest of the enemy, which could mean even bigger trouble for them. "Its frame's been damaged."

"The Montgomery will intercept the Laurasia-classes," Captain Koopman quickly contacted the Archangel. Knowing that there was a chance the battle might go south sooner or later, so they needed to get the ZAFT vessels off their backs long enough for the Eighth Fleet to arrive. "Archangel, stay on the Buster and the Blitz."

Dearka could see that Nicol was busy dealing with the second fighter, and from the looks of things, no one noticed him, but this was more so with the person Nicol was dealing with right now. "Good, I better help Nicol so he can deal with the legged ship."

Cagalli barely had time to react as she performed a barrel-roll to keep from being shot down by an enemy firing at her that came from out of nowhere. "What the hell!" she exclaimed upon seeing the Buster had arrived at the battlefield when last she checked Mu was supposed to be fighting against it.

Nicol was surprised to see Dearka, but at the same time, he was glad to see his friend and fellow redcoat assisting him as he needed the help. "Dearka!" he called out, showing some relief given how the fighter he was fighting against had been giving him some trouble.

"Nicol, you take out the Legged Ship," suggested Dearka, wishing that Walter would go through with his task instead of being so insubordinate all because of one loss against the alien back at Heliopolis… so Dearka had no choice but to fill in for that bastard as a result now that the Moebius Zero had been, taken out of action. "I'll deal with this guy."

Cagalli frowned as she knew that she would now have to deal with both the Buster and the Blitz. "Damn it, I need help here!" she cried, trying to keep the two G-weapons off her she knew what they're planning.

"Hold on, Cagalli I'm coming to help!" Shamano cried as he headed towards Cagalli's location, but before he could reach her, he found trouble of his own.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" screamed Walter in a fit of rage, as soon as he detected Shamano's fighter… he became more determined than ever to finally put an end to it permanently for the humiliations it gave in their last battles. "I DON'T CARE COMMANDER LE CREUSET SAID; I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!"

"Just when I thought I was done fighting this guy…"

Walter soon charged at the fighter, still with the mad look in his eye. "This time, you'll die!" he screamed, and he looked to see both Dearka and Nicol dealing with the other one.

"Damn it all to hell, this guy is starting to piss me off now," Shamano cursed at the luck and knew he needed to deal with this guy before he could go help Cagalli.

"That's it die you and all your friends can die!" Walter screamed and began laughing; he could see that the pilot was trying to get away and help his friend. "Oh, you want to help him, do you? Sorry, but you're staying here with me!"

Shamano scowled, knowing there was nothing he could do, and he hoped that someone else could help Cagalli right now. "Kira, can you hear me Cagalli's in trouble, and I can get to her!"

Hearing the transmission, Kira nodded, but he was still dealing with the Duel. "Yeah, but I'm having trouble with the Duel right now too."

Yzak yelled, still armed with the beam saber as he fired several missiles from the 220mm 5-barrel Missile Pod mounted on the Assault Shroud's left shoulder, which caused Kira to back away for a moment as a few missiles exploded, temporarily blinding him. "Damn it…" he cursed, knowing the Duel's Assault Shroud Armor was allowing the platinum-haired teen to pin him to a corner.

As soon as the Duel attempted to cut the Strike in two, Kira managed to save himself by parrying the fatal slash with his beam saber. "Not bad, but it's going to take more than just a lucky move like that to beat me," said Yzak, actually somewhat impressed even though the two pilots facing off against each were on opposite sides and he's going to complete his mission one way or another.

"At this point, the Eighth Fleet might not be able to make it here in time to aid us," Koopman informed Murrue with a frown on his face as he knew it could mean one of their ships probably wouldn't survive this fight even if the fleet itself arrived. "It's going to be tough, but we'll take our chances."

Meanwhile, a GINN evaded the attacks from a Moebius and managed to destroy it with a single shot from the recoilless rifle it had in its possession. "How did these Naturals start getting better after that one battle?" the GINN pilot asked himself with a scowl on his face.

"I have no idea, but they're still Naturals piloting puny Mobile Armors!"

As the fight progressed, the Galvani and the Gamow fired at the Montgomery as it did all it could to survive against both Laurasia-class vessels. "Random evasive maneuvers!" ordered Koopman as the Nelson-class got ready to retaliate. "Aim the beam turrets! Fire!"

"Fools, what are they trying to accomplish?" the captain of the Galvani asked the crew of his vessel, knowing it was two against one, and all the Montgomery's doing was delaying its inevitable destruction with its "suicidal" action. "If it thinks it can keep us from the Legged Ship or that alien ship, then they have another thing coming."

With that said, the two Laurasia-classes attacked the Montgomery once more, with one shot managing to graze the EA vessel's side. "Number six-sensor array was hit!" reported one of the bridge crew members, causing Koopman to become worried.

"It's not going to survive another hit like that" Murrue frowned as the Montgomery was being ganged up on by the enemy vessels and getting hit by enemy fire, deep down she knew what needed to be done to save Koopman and his crew. "Prepare to fire the Lohengrins; the Archangel will provide cover fire for the Montgomery!"

The Buster and Blitz, however, looked at the fighter that Cagalli was in and was having trouble dealing with the two mobile weapons. "Damn it; I can't get a shot on the two with them both tagging on me."

Cagalli bit her lower lip as she was being backed into a corner by the Buster and the Blitz at the same time despite her best efforts in fending them off. "You're getting on my nerves," said Dearka, knowing the fighter's projectile weapons won't do anything to him or even to Nicol.

The Buster fired its missiles at Cagalli's fighter as soon as its evaded beam fire from the Blitz, resulting in her taking a direct hit to the right side when she least expected it. "I'm going down!" she screamed upon one of the missiles managing to strike her.

Kira suddenly noticed Cagalli had taken some damage much like Mu did before her, unlike with the Moebius Zero, the Buster looked ready to deliver the killing blow. "Oh no, Cagalli!" he cried out as he needed to help her fast, but the Duel wasn't going to allow him the opportunity to do so.

"No, you don't!"

Kira soon began to panic, seeing the danger Cagalli was in, and he knew if he didn't do something right now, Cagalli was going to die. "No, get out of my way!" Kira cried out in fear.

"What should I do? What can I do?" Kira asked before he remembered what Flay had told the little girl.

"We're entering another battle, but we'll be fine... because Kira will be out there. He's fighting to protect us." He remembered what Flay told the little girl whom he accidentally bumped into earlier and how everything was going to be okay. Ironically it was almost like when Flay asked him to keep the Montgomery safe in the previous battle due to her father having been onboard it at the time.

"Really?"

Flay nodded her head. "Yep, he's gonna go out there and beat up all the bad guys for us," she told the little girl, assuring her that everything was going to be okay.

He then thought about his conversations with Cagalli, someone whose life was in danger right now with nobody else capable of assisting her in this desperate need. Much like the Montgomery had been nearly destroyed when he fought the Aegis beforehand.

Suddenly in the back of Kira's mind, a falling amethyst jewel-like seed soon dropped from the above, bouncing once before exploding in a shower of light just above the eyes. Eventually, his eyes slowly began to open, revealing that the pupils had suddenly shrunken, and the iris had grown significantly.

Yzak saw his opportunity and was about ready to deal the killing blow onto the Strike. "DIE!" he yelled, however as if in slow-motion, the Strike evaded the slash much to the platinum-haired redcoat's shock as he could've sworn that the pilot was distracted. "What?"

Without saying anything, Kira appeared from behind the Duel, and he silently stabbed the beam saber into the Duel's torso Yzak growled, wondering what's going on as the Strike soon jetted off in the direction of the Archangel with the Duel in hot pursuit. "Take this!" he yelled, firing the "Shiva" the beam rifle, the grenade launcher, and the 220mm 5-barrel Missile Pod all at once, but he was shocked to see none of the shots were even hitting the enemy Gundam. "He dodged it!"

Kira quickly headed to Cagalli, kicking the Buster away from Cagalli and blocking anything else from hitting her. "Kira...?" Cagalli asked, shocked by what she just witnessed with her own two eyes. "How the hell did he just do that?"

"Are you okay, Cagalli?" Kira hailed the fighter that Cagalli was piloting now that he managed to stop the Buster from destroying it.

"Yeah, I'm fine… though I can't say the same for my fighter…"

"Then hurry up and get back to the Archangel while you still can!" suggested Kira, seeing the Duel and the Buster were coming after him again… with the Archangel using its valiants in a bid to get some distance between them. But the Blitz was now left unchallenged as it was now nearing the ship. "I'll deal with the enemy!"

With the way her fighter got damaged by the Buster, she knew better than to argue. "Fine then… just don't get yourself killed, okay?" she said as she retreated to the Archangel.

"The Blitz has reappeared!" Pal exclaimed, shocking the others. "It's right next to the hull!" Suddenly, the bridge shook as the Blitz began to shoot at the hull at point-blank range.

"The cooling systems can't seem to keep up!" Chandra reported, "Armor temperatures are continuing to rise!"

"Where's The Strike and Shamano, there all we have left!" Murrue said as Mir nodded fear on her face as she felt the Archangel get hit once more.

"Kira, Shamano! Come back!" Miriallia said, "The Blitz is too close to the hull! We can't shoot at it without risking damaging the ship!" Both Kira and Shamano zoomed the camera in on the Archangel and saw to Kira's horror that she was right.

"No!"

"Stop that right now!" Kira shouted angrily, and Nicol barely had time to dodge as the Aile Strike swung its beam saber at him. Just as the Blitz flew off, however, the Strike caught up and kneed it in the face, knocking it back and shaking its cockpit quite a bit.

"Now I've got you!" Yzak declared triumphantly, but Kira turned around and drew an Armor Schneider knife before plunging it into the damaged part of the Duel's torso. The result was a small explosion in the Duel's cockpit right in front of Yzak; with some of the flying shrapnel cracking his helmet's visor and cutting deep into his face. The cockpit had been damaged so that there was a hole in it; the vacuum of space would have surely killed him.

"Yzak! Yzak! Are you all right? Yzak, say something!" Nicol called out and quickly retrieved the damaged unit; unfortunately, he didn't get any response, which worried him even more than ever as he didn't think the Strike would be capable of doing that to Yzak. "Dearka, Walter!"

Both ZAFT pilots in question stopped what they were doing. "What's the matter, Nicol?" The Buster's pilot asked of the green-haired young man upon realizing that something happened, yet Walter scoffed at this and continued to attack Shamano's fighter.

"It's Yzak!" informed Nicol, still frowning as his machine held the Duel.

"It burns…" was all that the injured pilot could say, clutching his hands over his cracked visor, "It burns…it burns!"

"Yeah, whatever, screw Yzak!" Walter yelled, not caring what happened to Yzak, something both Nicol and Dearka didn't like hearing.

"Aim the Lohengrins!" ordered Natarle ordered the crew, locking on to one of the two Laurasia-classes that approached them. "Fire!"

The Assault Cannons fired their devastating blast at the Galvani, with the ZAFT crew having no time to react as their vessel was not a high-ship like the Vesalius. The only thing they could do was watch as the attack hit its mark, causing the entire Laurasia-class to be consumed in a ball of fire.

Everyone onboard the Gamow couldn't believe their eyes as the Galvani met its end. "Damn that Legged Ship" cursed Zelman, knowing their commander would not be pleased when he found out what became of his former command ship.

The explosion hadn't gone unnoticed to the pilots still in the battle. "Shit, the Galvani!" growled Walter upon seeing one of their ships being destroyed right before his very eyes and at the hands of the Archangel no less.

Nicol couldn't find anything else as he soon saw something on his sensors as if they didn't have enough bad news already. "Dearka, Walter, we have to pull back! The enemy fleet is coming!" he informed the Buster and the surviving GINNs.

"Dammit," Dearka swore at their misfortune, and the ZAFT pilots immediately flew off back towards the Gamow. Meanwhile, Kira had returned to normal, and Kira was quickly catching his breath when he heard Pal announce some good news.

"The 8th Fleet is here!" he said, and Kira breathed a sigh of relief, even Cagalli and Shamano smiled a bit when they saw the blinking lights in the distance.

"Well, that's good then," Cagalli said with a sigh, as the three-headed back to the Archangel and the surviving Moebiuses went back to the Montgomery. With the crew from Captain Koopman's vessel relieved to have accomplished their intended mission despite the Le Creuset Team trying to take them out completely.

Shamano nodded, looking at ZAFT leaving, and he too noticed what happened to Kira, something he wanted to ask when he got the chance. "For now, let's head back the 8th Fleet is waiting for us," Shamano began. "Well, you guys, I hope this won't turn on like with Garcia."

Meanwhile, on the Menelaos, a young man around the age of twenty-one was sitting on his bed. Duane Halberton had told him that the Archangel and the Montgomery had arrived.

His name was John Lee Roger, an Ensign with the Earth Alliance. I guess I better meet up with Commander Halberton," John said as he took out his combat knife and pistol, ready to meet the crew of the Archangel with Duane Halberton.

A/N Okay, this took a while with real life getting in the way and my health as well, which makes updating my stories take a lot longer than I would like them too.

Yes an OC this guy belongs to Mandalore the Freedom who wanted me to add his OC which I was happy to do, anyway as you all saw Kira and Flay were about to kiss each other but not yet lol, they still have a while to go before they become a couple.

Anyway, I do hope that you all enjoyed the chapter, and the battle that happened as Kira entered SEED mode and the fight Kira had with Yzak was to everyone liking because I am worried I didn't do it justice my end.

As you can see, no Flay is not going crazy, which won't happen. I mean, her father is still alive after all, and with him hating who is using the Strike well yeah, she is growing.

Also, sorry if Cagalli lost this fight, I mean, she was tagged team, and she is still learning she will get better with the fighter, which I know would need a name for them. I think that's about it be sure to leave me a review, and have a good day everyone.