(Two chapters released back-to-back. I don't owe anyone a chapter now. I've been writing since noon and only just finished. Yi Zui is sick and still has to look after the baby while writing alone. What a mess.)
Xiao Ran turned to look at the Lightning Ginn, which had yet to be dismantled, and said helplessly, "My Ginn can't sortie under these conditions either. For now, we can only trust Kira."
Everyone on the Archangel knew more or less about the Ginn's condition, so Mu did not object to Xiao Ran's words. After all, they could hardly send one of their own out in a mobile suit riddled with problems just to serve as a target.
Half an hour passed in a hurry. The Archangel's repeated violent tremors and the thunderous sounds coming from outside left Mu, waiting in the hangar, extremely anxious. She had even changed into her flight suit early and climbed into the Skygrasper, waiting only for the maintenance crew to complete the final preparations before launching immediately.
Things always seemed slower the first time around, but thankfully, Mu did not have to endure that torment for long. Soon, amid Sergeant Maddox's shout, the maintenance crew finally tightened the last screw on the Skygrasper. Mu gave everyone a thumbs-up and contacted the bridge.
While making the final parameter adjustments to the Skygrasper's weapons, Mu submitted her sortie request to the bridge. At that very moment, the ZAFT desert battleship stationed in the distance fired two shells from its main guns toward the Archangel. Although the Strike Gundam outside did its best to shoot down one of them in midair, the other exploded less than thirty meters from the Archangel. The ship immediately lurched violently, its entire hull beginning to tilt.
"Abort the sortie, abort!" Maddock, who had been shaken to the floor, raised his head and shouted repeatedly at Mu. "Not under these conditions!"
But the battleship soon regained its balance. The bridge had already lifted the Archangel back into the air, and Mu seized the opportunity to start the Skygrasper's engines and move into the catapult bay. Amid a series of changes in the launch system, she finally shot into the sky.
With the Skygrasper deployed, Xiao Ran felt somewhat redundant staying in the hangar. The Lightning Ginn could not be used, while the other Skygrasper would need at least another fifteen minutes of adjustments and weapon fitting before it could launch. Besides, Xiao Ran had never intended to fight in such a fragile little aircraft. Though it had already surpassed the limits of an ordinary fighter and could be considered an aerial MA, he still did not find it reliable enough.
Whether or not he was afraid of dying, if he had foolishly flown a Skygrasper into battle without knowing what was what, he would never have survived until now. After entering this world, he had proceeded cautiously, planning every step. He had not recklessly altered the plot just because he knew what would happen in order to earn Merit Points and other rewards. He understood deeply that only by staying alive could there be more possibilities, and only by being more careful could he live longer.
With nothing to do in the hangar, Xiao Ran turned and left for the bridge. In the tense bridge, his quiet arrival drew no one's attention. He merely stood at the back, experiencing the battle firsthand. When the enemy battleship launched another volley, Xiao Ran showed none of the anxiety or panic of the others. He watched calmly as Kira displayed his power, shooting down every shell with a single blast. Nor was he awed by Kira's almost miraculous attack like everyone else was, because he had expected it.
He had expected the Strike Gundam's energy shortage, expected Dawn Desert to appear, and expected ZAFT's retreat. Knowing everything that would happen yet watching it again through the eyes of someone living through it gave him a strangely different feeling.
The others only noticed Xiao Ran when Dawn Desert requested negotiations. Mwu discovered him when she turned to leave the bridge and asked in surprise, "When did you get here?"
"After Mu launched," Xiao Ran replied.
Mwu nodded. "We still don't know what kind of people they are. For safety's sake, stay aboard. If anything happens, the Archangel will be in your hands."
Xiao Ran froze after hearing Mwu's words, then felt moved. He was moved by her concern for his safety, by her trust in him, and even more by the fact that she was entrusting the Archangel—the thing she currently regarded as her life—to him. Though Mwu said those words because she had begun to doubt and lose faith in the Earth Force, her feelings toward Xiao Ran were sincere.
"What am I supposed to say to that?" Xiao Ran smiled faintly at Mwu and placed both hands on her shoulders. "Aren't you afraid I'll take the Archangel and leave the Earth Force?"
Mwu smiled as well, her smile so beautiful. "If I die, I won't be able to stop you anyway. By then, you'll be the highest-ranking officer of the Archangel under the Eighth Fleet. The Archangel will be your ship."
Mwu... you fool. Please, don't fall for me! Xiao Ran cried out inwardly. He had fallen for Mwu, and she truly had feelings for him as well. But since he would eventually leave this world, he simply did not dare accept those feelings. Or rather, until he learned a way to take her out of the Mission World, he did not dare accept them.
"The Archangel is everything to you. I won't let anything happen to it, and I definitely won't let anything happen to you." Though Xiao Ran warned himself inwardly, he still could not help saying those words. Afterward, he turned around. "Come on. I'll go with you. The people below should be Dawn Desert, the North African resistance against ZAFT. There shouldn't be any problem."
With that, Xiao Ran entered the elevator first, then turned and made an inviting gesture toward Mwu.
Although Mwu had said those things to Xiao Ran, she had not neglected any necessary preparations. She wore a bulletproof vest beneath her uniform, while a squad of guards stood on both sides of the open door, weapons in their arms and headsets on, tensely watching for any possible accident.
But when Mwu and Xiao Ran stepped out of the Archangel with two guards carrying their weapons on their backs, they witnessed an unbelievable scene. A blond girl slapped Kira hard across the face just as he climbed down from the Strike Gundam. Then she tightly grabbed his collar with both hands and demanded furiously, "Why is it you? Why is it you?! Answer me! Why?!"
What happened between them instantly turned the tense atmosphere between both sides into something utterly baffling. Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the silent Kira and the furious Cagalli. Dawn Desert's original intention of giving the Earth Force a show of strength somehow vanished, and they instead watched the female warrior in their own ranks with great interest, unconsciously wearing expressions full of gossip.
"They know each other? Don't tell me she's one of your students too?" Mwu turned and asked Xiao Ran softly.
Xiao Ran shook his head with a smile. "I wish I had a student like that, but her background is too significant for me to handle. We only met once in Heliopolis. It seems Kira may have had something happen with her back then. Otherwise, he wouldn't have climbed into the Strike Gundam."
Mwu was stunned. "His girlfriend?"
"You're overthinking it. Back then, that girl was trying to run toward the battle for some reason. Kira was worried about her, so he followed her. I don't know what happened afterward." Xiao Ran shook his head. "But from the looks of it, she seems to hold no low status in the resistance. At least now we don't have to worry about them launching a surprise attack."