All the pieces are in place, with the hopes of a new Eden emerging from the depths of their prisons, Kiron Gorrs hopes to make a new history for his people. But the motives of Kiron are starting to become clear, and his intentions are not peaceful.

Kiron’s ambitions have finally been realized, he wants nothing more than total control of the galaxy, dreams that are slowly being realized as his army is built by the Edenites under his boot. At his control is a legion of warriors that have no choice but to do his every bidding.

On Earth, Aelan Marcus has unveiled two incredible weapons of his creation, and given his equally incredible expertise to the people of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. In exchange, Aelan hopes that they will in turn do him a favor; helping him free the his home from the sadistic control from one that Aelan used to call his friend…

As Aelan jumped into Commadore, and the unit pulled his harness tight, he was immediately patched into the command ship’s bridge. The various Marshalls of the Earth Sphere were assembled, and quickly gave a report on the enemy’s status.

"As of right now, we are detecting close to 7,000 Edenite mobile suits, along with about 2000 small infantry, along with other various ground troops. As you had expected, initial scans of the suits confirmed that the hulls are completely made of Durium alloy."

Aelan mentally compared the sizes of both forces, and said softly, "We outnumber them 5 to1, a smaller ratio than I had expected. Kiron had really pushed Eden into working… if he had to push them at all."

As this was going on, Noin seated herself in Cygnus, followed by the majority of the mobile suit forces. ‘The ground troops will disembark if… no, AFTER, the mobile suits gained a foothold, and suits won’t disembark until after…’ Aelan thought as Noin activated her own communication system.

"All right, Sally, begin charging the sonic emitters. Let’s show these Edenites a little human cunning."

"Well, I didn’t expect them to be late." Kiron smirked as the space carriers finally appeared just above Eden’s atmosphere, and slowly began their descent to the planet’s surface.

"Should we engage the Ventrali Cannon?" Julio asked, "We could easily remove many of their units before they even touch the ground. We might even get that Tenant friend of yours."

"I will deal with Aelan on my own! I want him to see the cannon before it’s used on him." Kiron snapped, "As for the rest of them, why waste such a beautiful weapon on them? There just humans."

As Kiron killed the connection, Julio smiled, and said, "We’re just humans? That attitude is going to be your undoing." He looked at the small ribbon that he had attached to the top of the cockpit in his suit, and said, "Don’t worry, little Amore, I’ll be home soon."

At that moment, one of the main vessels dropped slightly, breaking from the descent formation. Julio watched as he detected a sudden surge of power then a sonic burst that ripped through the atmosphere.

"DAMN!" Kiron screamed, then suddenly ducked behind the suit facility, Julio quickly following suit. "Of course! Aelan must have thought of this one. He’s using the sonic frequency used to forge Durium to weaken the armoring of our suits! Behind here, the frequency should be muffled, so we won’t have that problem."

"But our forces don’t have that luxury. This makes things interesting." Julio couldn’t help but grin. "Go figure… they might just pull this one out after all."

As the pair emerged after the sonic wave dispelled, they saw the carriers unloading the first waves of mobile suits. Kiron was definitely irked at this most recent development. "Prepare the Ventrali Cannon! Take out as many of those damn things as possible! All units, prepare to engage the enemy!"

The first thing Aelan locked onto was the giant cannon that had taken up a position just behind the line of units. "That thing is massive!" Aelan exclaimed, as he examined the sensor readings on the cannon’s output. "This is definitely unexpected."

Aelan then patched through to the command vessel, and said, "Have the other suits continue the assault. I’m going to take care of that cannon!"

"Affirmative, Advisor." Was the reply, "Be careful."

Aelan didn’t respond, throwing Commadore into full forward thrust, trying to break through the enemy lines with as little interference as possible. So far, there wasn’t any energy signature to suggest that the cannon was ready to fire. He was hoping that he could take it out before it did so, and ripped a nice swath of damage.

"That’s it, Aelan. Just a little closer." Kiron muttered from his mobile suit well behind the battle lines, "Drop the masking system and fire on my mark."

Meanwhile, Julio scanned the battleground, seeing that the closest unit, and the best chance for intervening was the large black mobile suit about one kilometer away. Julio quickly patched into its communications unit…

Duo pulled his twin scythe out of the thick Durium hull of his opponent, but even after that incredible blow, there was not much damage beyond the armor panels. "Damn!" Duo yelled, "And these are supposed to be EASIER to beat now?"

A pair of laser blasts rocked Deathscythe Hell, and he suddenly felt fortunate that he also had Durium plating, unaffected by the sonic blast. Duo quickly whipped around, firing all his weapons at the new enemy unit. At the same time, a familiar Virgo dropped down behind the first suit, and fired its beam cannon into the open wound that Deathscythe had created.

The enemy suit was then demolished, just as Duo put the finishing touches on the other enemy that had appeared. Duo looked over at the Virgo, and said, "Well… and here I was thinking I was going to have to cover your cute little butt."

"Oh gee, Duo, that was somehow not as complimentary as you must have intended." Hilde replied, and Duo smiled broadly. Suddenly, he heard a transmission from an unknown source.

"Listen, you don’t have much time." A voice demanded, "That large cannon’s energy building is being masked. It’s a trap to lure in the enemy! You have to pull your units out of the firing range."

Duo glanced downward, watching Commadore swooping through, about to pass the battle line in his route to attack the cannon unit. "Oh, hell!" Duo swore, "Thanks, whoever you are." But there was no reply.

"Hilde! Stay frosty! I’ll be right back!" With that, Duo brought Deathscythe on an intercept course with Commadore.

"DUO!" Hilde shouted, "WHAT IN HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!"

Duo didn’t answer her, it was probably best that she didn’t know that he was risking his neck on a tip from a person he didn’t even know. Oh well. All of a sudden, whatever was masking the power buildup dropped away, because all of his sensors suddenly jumped off the scale.

"AELAN! HEADS UP, BUDDY!" Duo shouted, colliding with Commadore, and shoving the large golden gear as far as he could. After that, Duo powered Deathscythe’s thrusters, hoping to clear the blast zone. He was only partially effective.

The massive cannon fired, sending an immense beam of energy ripping through the battlefield, and rifling off into space, unimpeded by anything that was foolish enough to get in its path. One of those foolish things was the almost totally right side of Deathscythe Hell.

Duo could feel the energy from the blast crackle in his ears, then he felt the breeze. Looking to his right, he saw… the sky?

"Oh, hell… That was closer than I would have liked." Duo muttered, then noticed the large suit had also lost all its stability. With only one good thruster, the black mobile suit suddenly dropped like a stone. Duo disengaged the thruster to prevent the possibility of a violent spiral, and just waited as the ground rushed up to meet him.

Despite all the damage, it was obvious that the communications system still worked because he could hear Hilde screaming through it, "DUO! DUO, ANSWER ME! Get out of there!"

"No can do, Hilde girl. I’ve taken too much damage, and my leg seems to be stuck in the debris. Just keep you’re eyes open. That thing might fire again!"

Deathscythe Hell then crashed at top speed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that once settled, gently covered the suit, almost like a burial…

Heero watched as Deathscythe Hell meet the ground at a very unhealthy speed. Quickly slashing through one of the Edenite suits that stood in his way, Heero piloted Wing Zero at full speed, stopping just meters short of where Deathscythe had fallen. He arrived just seconds after Hilde’s Virgo, as the young girl jumped out of her suit, and towards the ruined Deathscythe.

"Duo?" Heero asked into his communications system, "Are you all right?" With the way that the Deathscythe looked, Heero didn’t hold too much hope, but he knew Duo rather well. There was no way that Duo would be dead; Heero just wasn’t that lucky.

"Heero… what the hell… are you doing? There’s a damn war going on…" Duo gasped in pain. At that moment, Commadore quickly joined the group, followed by Cygnus.

"Hilde!" Aelan ordered, "Try and get Duo free! Noin and I will provide some cover for you. Heero, you stand guard, and try and hold the fort against anything that might get through our defense!"

"Agreed." Heero answered, and watched the two golden suits take to flight once again. At the same time, he heard Duo mutter, "What on Eden are you doing? You’ll be… a sitting duck, Heero!"

Heero took a deep breath, then answered, "I’m not about to let you die, Duo. Hilde would never forgive me."

"Yeah…?" Duo retorted, "Yeah, well… Relena would kill me if she heard about this!"

Heero couldn’t help but smirk, "I suggest you worry about surviving this. THEN, you can worry about Relena."

Julio watched the brightly painted mobile suit standing in front of the fallen black suit, serving as a shield against any attack. Somehow, he knew exactly who it was. It was… Heero.

Julio watched in terror as the large Ventrali cannon moved again, locking onto its target. The weapon was most likely being aimed at Aelan’s suit, but it would easily engulf every unit in Aelan’s vicinity, including Heero.

Julio read the output of the cannon start to rise, and for a moment, he was frozen. He remembered the time that he and his… girlfriend(?)… had visited Hell. He also remembered stepping inside his cave to see the pair cuddled up against each other in a way that even made Julio’s hardened heart melt.

Then, the aged scientist looked up at the Amore’s ribbon, the symbol of his hope that would never die. Meanwhile, the cannon reached its full charge, preparing to fire. "My Amore… I wanted to see you… but I can’t let this young man end his life like this… not when he obviously has so much to return to. I know what I must do." Julio tapped out one last message, and sent it to Heero, and then took Amore’s ribbon into his hand, clenching the silk tightly in his grasp.

Julio suddenly ignited his beam sabre, and as the cannon began to generate its massive beam, he sliced through the operational bay of the Ventrali Cannon, and the entire mechanism exploded with a massive blast, engulfing Julio’s suit in the process.

Heero looked over at the gigantic eruption just behind the enemy lines. The huge cannon that had been pointed almost directly at him had suddenly detonated, its threat now abated. Then, the console screen in front of him flashed with a message.

• Tell my Amore "Goodbye", Heero.------- Julio Doran.

For a moment, Heero didn’t move a muscle, he was too overcome with a wave of emotion that he had not encountered often. Never had he felt so… enraged. With a scream of anger, Heero then took off again, bringing Wing Zero just in front of Commadore and Cygnus.

"Advisor, Admiral. Follow me!" Heero said, almost a demand. "I will clear the way for you through the line. It’s time that we ended this!"

Without waiting for a reply, Wing Zero thrust into the fray again, slicing through any enemy who was so careless as to even THINK about stopping him. Heero glance back to see that Commadore and Cygnus had indeed followed his lead. Seconds later, Heero burst through the line, and where one single golden suit, blood red painted on its panels, was waiting no more than three kilometers away.

"I’ll go back to the main battle line to keep our enemies busy. You two… get rid of that monster."

Noin watched as Heero then surged back into the fray, leaving her and Aelan to face off against Kiron. She couldn’t imagine how much Heero wanted to do the deed himself, but he was probably still concerned about Duo.

Looking over at Commadore, which didn’t even seem to acknowledge her existence, Noin launched Cygnus forward, Commadore taking up a position right at her side.

Without warning, another suit appeared on Noin’s sensor array. It dove in front of the pair of suits, barring their path to Kiron. "Hello, Noin." Miliardo’s voice said from the suit, his voice threatening.

Noin could almost see Kiron smiling maniacally at this situation. Noin could almost feel her blood start to boil. "You are one twisted man, asshole." Noin grumbled. At the same time, Miliardo brought his beam sabre up to attack, but Noin made no move to counter. She couldn’t… she wouldn’t harm him…

Commadore prepared to move in her defense, but before Miliardo could even bring the sabre down, he froze. From over the intercom, Noin could hear her love’s voice. "I WILL NOT!" Miliardo screamed defiantly, "YOU CANNOT MAKE ME!"

"Miliardo?" Noin asked hopefully.

"Noin…" The elder Peacecreft gasped, "I can’t… fight Kiron’s control much longer. You have to kill me… NOW!"

Noin balked, and stammered, "I can’t…"

"YOU HAVE TO! If you don’t do it now… I’ll start fighting you again, and I won’t be able to stop! I can’t hold out much longer… Noin. Do it."

"Aelan… you do it… I can’t…"

Miliardo interrupted, "Aelan will need all the power he can get to defeat Kiron! When did you become so weak, Noin?" His voice then dropped into a plea, a plea from a man who couldn’t bear to be used again, "Please, my love…"

Noin dipped her head, slowly gaining courage, "Miliardo… As much as I don’t want to be the one to kill you… I can’t let you be someone’s puppet anymore. FORGIVE ME!"

With that, Noin punched out with Cgynus’s fist, sending the metal hand through where the cockpit to the suit lied. Both mobile suits fell to the ground, Cygnus on one knee above the suit of Miliardo Peacecraft.

Commadore dipped slightly floating a few meters above and behind Cygnus. "Lucrezia…?" Aelan asked concerned.

The tears flowed liberally, a mourning that could not be stopped by even the promise of heaven itself. Between sobs, Noin could only request, "Kill him… Kill that bastard, Aelan."

Commadore then lifted slightly, as if scanning the scene ahead. After a moments hesitation, the large golden mobile suit engaged its powerful thrusters, burning a path through the air, directly heading at the cause of all the recent suffering…

Aelan rushed straight forward, and Kiron made no move to avoid the bum rush of Commadore. Commadore grabbed Kiron’s suit firmly by the neck piece, and lifted it off the ground.

"It’s over, Kiron." Aelan said commandingly in his native tongue, his voice tense with grief and anger.

"Why? Are you not satisfied, Aelan?" Came Kiron’s reply.

"What?" Aelan asked, shock adding itself to all the other rampaging emotions.

"Isn’t this what you wanted?" Kiron stated simply, his voice with a hint of triumph, "Didn’t you want an Eden that didn’t have to hide anymore? Didn’t you want an Eden that didn’t have to destroy countless races for its own safety? I gave you what you wanted! Is it not enough?"

Aelan almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could he have desired to destroy his home? True, he hadn’t wanted to continue the way that things had been, but he never desired for this to happen. "I never wanted this!" Aelan protested.

"Where did you think your actions would lead?" Kiron asked accusingly, "By rescuing those who would destroy us, and by amassing a fleet to challenge me? What did you honestly think would happen? Did you expect that all those that we had destroyed would drop their arms in some mutual forgiveness?"

Aelan stopped. What HAD he expected? "I don’t know…"

"Face it Aelan, you are just as responsible for creating this new Eden as I am! How dare you condemn me for sins that you too have committed?"

Aelan dropped Kiron’s suit, and backed away slowly. As Aelan dropped his head, his suit mimicked its pilot’s movements. He contemplated everything, all that he had done. As much as Aelan hated to admit it, it was something that he knew deep in the core of his soul. No matter what he did, his sins and actions would remain. Even if he won this battle, even if he killed Kiron, he would still have lost. Paradise was no more.

He learned one of the dark secrets of war, there was no winner, only someone who lost less…

Meanwhile, Lucrezia Noin watched in disbelief as Commadore backed away from certain victory, dropping Kiron’s mobile suit to the ground. "Aelan, what the hell are you doing?" She nearly screamed into the intercom. The four active Gundams joined her in watching the scene taking place.

"He has realized what he has done." Trowa said, as if answering Noin, "He can’t kill Kiron because he knows that he is nothing more than a hypocrite."

"How dare you, Barton?!" Noin replied, almost fuming. Trowa’s accusation of Aelan was almost a declaration of treason in her mind.

"Aelan has caused just as much of where we are now as Kiron did." Heero added, "If Aelan had not acted the way he had, no one would be in this position. Just as if I had not done what I had done, none of this would have happened. But unlike me, Aelan doesn’t have any delusions that what he is doing is right. He knows he is merely perpetuating the sins that Kiron has begun."

Kiron slowly stood, watching Aelan’s suit stand motionless. Igniting his beam saber, Kiron prepared for the final strike. "That’s it, Aelan. Just stand right there like a good boy."

Noin watched in horror as Kiron sprung into a sneak attack, "Aelan! LOOK OUT!!!" She screamed.

Aelan brought Commadore’s hand up, and caught the wrist of Kiron’s saber hand, mere inches before it had struck its target. "You’re right. I am just as responsible for what has happened here, and maybe I can’t fix the damage that has been done, but I can remove you before you make Eden everyone else’s hell!"

With that, he brought up his other arm, and launched a psionic beam of energy right into the chest of Kiron’s suit. The force of the blow sent the suit flying out of Aelan’s grasp, collapsing several hundred meters away.

Kiron slowly brought his suit up to a standing position, laughing as he did so, "Is that how you explain it all away? By dumping all the desire for power, the want for blood, the very nature of destruction, all on me? Is that how you make yourself better than I?"

"No. Those things can never be embodied by just one person, Kiron." Aelan retorted, "I am no better than you. I have those same desires, the same nature as you and as everyone in this battle, in this galaxy, even in this universe. However, there is one major difference between you and I."

"And what is that?" Kiron sneered in contempt.

"I strive to be better!" Aelan shouted, then launched himself into the attack once more…

Along the sides, Noin and the Gundam pilots waited, along with the remaining siege force, respecting Aelan’s will to battle Kiron one on one. Noin marveled at the serene paradise that she had been shown by Aelan, and the torn and battered landscape that they now stood.

"It’s incredible that a land that was so perfect, so untainted for millennia, could collapse in just a few short weeks."

Heero disagreed, "I am sure that Aelan would reply that the disease infecting this land existed long before the start of this battle. It merely took this long for the contamination to become visible to the eye."

For the longest time, it seemed like the fight would never end, but eventually, the tide began to turn. Aelan’s superior knowledge in the field of engineering became more and more apparent as Kiron’s gear couldn’t keep up with the power and speed of Commadore.

Kiron took a large leap backward, then said, "I may have lost this battle, but it was not an unanticipated scenario." From above, another fold was appearing, and Kiron took off for it.

In reaction, Noin started to follow, hoping to intercept Kiron in time, but Heero interceeded, "Wait. Aelan has this covered."

Noin looked over to see the Matter Cannon of Commadore move from its normal position behind its shoulder, to right next to the head unit, held much like a bazooka. A blue energy began to spiral into the barrel as the weapon charged.

If time slowed, Noin wouldn’t have noticed, because barely no time at all passed between the firing of the matter cannon and its end result, a deafening collison and Kiron’s suit being blasted into nothing more than a cloud of superheated plasma.

The entire force made a collective sigh of relief. The battle, and all that it had cost, was finally over.

Hours later…

Heero stepped over the rubble of the suit that Julio Doran must have been piloting. Finally, in the cockpit, he saw the almost ashen remains of what had been a most honorable man. As he began to pay his last respects, he noticed a small pink piece of fabric flapping in a gentle breeze.

Picking it out of the remains, Heero discovered Amore’s ribbon. Somehow, it had remained unharmed during the blast, as if Julio had willed that it remain intact. Heero put the article into his pocket, now remembering the only way that he could honor Julio’s memory.

As that happened, Aelan watched from the open doors of Commadore’s cockpit the people of Eden beginning to clear out the battlefield. Those who were now free of Kiron’s control had a lot of rebuilding to do.

From the ground, Noin called out, "You know, one of Earth’s religions talks about a paradise called Eden. It was perfect, yet humanity’s desire to be like God caused its downfall."

Aelan nodded, and replied, "A somewhat accurate analogy, but the peace of Eden was but a mirage. It was only a matter of time before this happened."

There was a pause, then Noin said, "What are you going to do now? Are you going to help Eden rebuild?"

"No. They will have enough trouble without me serving as a reminder as to the people who destroyed this world. Besides," He added with a mischievous grin, "I still have a year and a half in my term."

Noin returned the smile, then said, "Let’s go home, Aelan."

The former Tenant stepped into the cockpit of Commadore, its doors closing as he took his seat. As he prepared to board one of the many carriers waiting to leave, he agreed, "Yes. Let’s go home."

Mexican Highlands, the next day…

Amore turned at the sounds of footsteps coming into the Fold chamber. "Heero." She said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Heero only replied, "You were right."

"Pardon?"

He stopped right in front of her, taking her palm, and placing the faded pink ribbon in her now shaking palm. She looked at the object knowingly, as Heero said, "He wasn’t going to die without saying goodbye to his Amore."

Oddly enough, she didn’t cry. All she did was ask, "What happened? How did he…"

"His actions saved thousands of lives, if not more, on both sides. Without him, I don’t think I would be here to give this to you. He died a true hero, in all possible senses of the word."

Amore smiled sorrowfully, then answered, "Thank you, Heero. I’m sure that my father knew how incredible of a person you are. He wouldn’t have done this for just anybody…"

"That’s where you’re wrong, Amore" Heero concluded simply. "He did this for everybody."
 
 

Finally finished. Before I close the book on this run, I want to thank everyone who had supported me in this project; especially apol_pie, astronomy_girl18, balora_99, shin_okami, and TheThreeRealms of the Non-Yaoi Gundam Wing Fan Club, for being the quote "guinea pigs" of this project. Suffering the trauma of my first drafts, and their suggestions and corrections of my sometimes skewed material. Without them, I don’t think this would have nearly turned out as well as it did.

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