2023-10-04: A Secret Memorial
- Log: 2023-10-04: A Secret Memorial
- Cast: Leina Ashta, Emilia Eschonbach, Mineva Lao Zabi (NPCed by Leina Ashta)
- Where: Seattle, Brittania
- OOC - IC Date: October 4th, 0097
- Summary: In an attempt to give her closure, Mineva and Leina smuggle Emilia out to the place where her father died for a private memorial on the anniversary of his death. The best of intentions lead to anger. arguments and fear- and it's perhaps only Leina's intervention that stops a much bigger rift forming between the Zabi cousins. CW: References to brainwashing.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
October 4th.
A certain day, at a certain time. It took quite a bit to arrange this, but Emilia Eschonbach was being smuggled to Seattle. Several favors had been exchanged. A cover story settled upon which would make Joseph Eschonbach none the wiser. And even if he decided to throw his weight around for something innocuous, he would learn decisively, that he was punching far above his weight class.
Footsteps crunch along the ground of a city abandoned, and never rebuilt. It was the Britannian way, certainly. A handheld device taking in coordinates as it led straight to a crumbled stadium, that was now far more ruined just shy of three decades later.
There was a mobile suit crouched nearby, a Beguir of Cathedra make, but colored differently, concealing itself between several groups of ruined buildings. The lone figure had emerged from it and was walking step by step in that direction. Once inside, she considered the ground where the White Base had once landed inside, both to recover and conceal their position, and later to ambush.
Part of her wondered if there was anything left of the Gaw to salvage, after so long, after so many scavengers and enthusiasts had taken to the site - where the Spacenoid tyrant that challenged Britannian supremacy had fallen.
It was there that she unfurled a backpack, and began setting out a simple device. Legs folded out like tables, to reveal a portable transmitter, as a screen slowly rose up. The figure began tapping on the keys, adjusting for the frequency and...
"So this is the site." Came the voice of the Zeon Princess on Magallanica, as Leina replied Earthside, "Given that his coffin on Side 3 is empty, this feels the most fitting place for a memorial." She was wearing a pilot suit, in white, accented with pink...
... and she was carrying a bouquet of flowers...
"Thank you for doing this. Even with the connections I've made, there's no number of favors I could call in to right now to set foot in Britannian territory."
"Come on Audrey, you don't have to thank me for doing this. She's family to you - your cousin."
"I most certainly do. Right now is a time when you ought to be focusing on yourself - and - "
"And? Nothing. Who else do you have Earthside that you can trust - and - has nearly succeeded in killing Char Aznable enough times to meet your cousin's approval?"
"Leina-!" Mineva called out, momentarily scandalized, before it became subdued, "I truly wish you wouldn't joke like that about your time as Puru One."
"Sorry just-" Leina started, stopped, then tried again in explanation, "-done enough crying about it, might as well laugh about it some." taking a deep breath, she then asked in a flagrant change of subject, "Are you going to talk about her 'extracurricular activities.'" It took a moment, but eventually Mineva decided, "Not today. She should be allowed to her anger without being confronted about it where its led her."
The other girl rubbed her face, "God." Leina grimaced, "I just hope that Zero and MAFTY remain in the dark."
"You and me both." Mineva said, subdued, troubled, before she tried to change the subject, "How do I look by the way? I never get to know what my presentation is like from afar in this place."
Leina gave her the critical eye, tapping her chin and- "Hmm. I think that dress was a good call." And indeed Mineva was wearing a more formal dark grey dress that somehow met the mark of not making her look ten years older while still looking appropriate for a memorial, "Makes it feel less like you're pulling rank. Maybe move out of the throne room though." Mineva corrected her, "The communications center." Leina re-corrected, "Don't give me that, it's a goddamn throne room. Anyone with eyes can see it."
Mineva made eye contact as she said, "If you think it would be best - I will move out of the communications center." The corner of Leina's mouth twitched, "I think it'd be best if you came out of the throne room so your cousin didn't get the wrong idea about your intentions, yes, Oh Supreme Leader of Neo-Zeon." Mineva's eyes narrowed, "The garden it is, Miss Ashta."
Leina just said airily, "A shame I won't get to watch you cutely flounce from room to room, all in an adorable huff because someone called you on your bullshit." Mineva replied back evenly, "You won't with that attitude, I'm turning off the room to room follow cam."
"Mean."
Again Leina looked at the bouquet of violet memorial flowers, and not for the first, and not for the last time... she contemplated how surreal it was that she was here to mourn a Zabi warmonger. But at the same time...
... everyone has family that is more complicated than just 'complicated' don't they?
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
It had been a surprise when Emilia had gotten the message, a note passed to her by a regular with her tip. She knew Kwani was one of Zinnerman's people- one of Mineva's people- now, but this was the first communication she had received from her cousin since her speech.
And as much as part of her was tempted to rip it up then and there, she didn't. She was glad she didn't, this time.
She hadn't flown in directly- she had to be careful entering Britannia properly for so many reasons. But the Black Knights had some resources and allies in a particular part of the country- and those Paradigm funbucks could still be used by an enterprising smuggler.
The car that got her to the meeting point was an offroad vehicle, hardly appropriate for a funeral. But it didn't need to be.
It stopped a small distance from the location, and Emilia stepped out. She was not in a pilot suit, but in a simple black knee length dress. Her lavender hair was loose, falling down the full length of her back. She had chosen sensible shoes for the terrain, at least, even if they didn't suit the look. In her hands was a bouquet of white lilies.
The vehicle made itself scarce shortly soon after- Vultures don't stick around when a cop MS was present unless there's more than one and they were fighting.
Earthnoid junkers were a different breed, apparently.
Emilia looked up at the only other mourner physically present. She wasn't sure how she felt right now. She had never been to Seattle- and a last minute problem stopped her being here when the Black Knights came to assassinate Federation officials.
She walked slowly, cautiously toward Leina. Her eyes flick to the screen on the table, where Mineva was.
She remained silent, looking around the space. She wasn't sure what she expected, what she thought she would find, eighteen years after the war. It just looked like Britannia.
But there was still more of it than her home.
"...Is th-th-this... where he. W-was killed?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
When Emilia arrives, Leina doesn't say anything at first, perhaps there's a thin hint of a smile. But she doesn't wave certainly. There's no small talk.
After all, this is the memorial Emilia's father. What she does do, is hand her the bouquet of violet flowers.
The backdrop of the screen with Mineva are now the gardens at Cardeas Vist's mansion, but a small patch she's claimed for herself.
"It is." She says, with a sense of gravity about her. It's not quite solemnity perhaps, but she is certainly taking the moment seriously.
"This was a stadium in Seattle before the Principality of Zeon invaded, with your father, Garma in the lead - the Britannian response was to bomb their own city to repel the occupation force. Scorched earth tactics writ large. It didn't work. The Principality's forces pulled through, and began their campaign towards New Yark. Soon enough the Britannian elite were grudgingly forced to accept that they were in control of most of their territory from here to New Yark."
She explains to Emilia, before gesturing behind her, "When the White Base descended to Earth, they found themselves trapped behind Zeon lines. Your father tried to capture them again and again, but they managed to consistently thwart him. Perhaps... we now know why."
She doesn't explain that, immediately at least. "Eventually they found themselves here in Seattle, and hid themselves in this stadium."
Given the angle, it's Leina that gestures outwards, "They had oriented themselves this way." She explains, before Mineva takes over.
"Char Aznable learned this through an earlier engagement within the city, and used the reconnaisance he gained to mislead your father - he indicated the White Base was in another area of the city. When he took his forces to destroy the White Base, he was facing the wrong direction."
Leina closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them, and looks towards Mineva, as if to ask 'are you sure?'
Mineva just nods, and Leina takes out her phone, tapping a few buttons and...
... a message from the past begins to play.
The voice of Garma Zabi - desperate in the moment, "Change course one hundred and eighty degrees! We're not finished yet! I'll ram the Gaw right into them if I have to!"
And that of a younger Char Aznable in reply, over the crackle of radio static, "Hey Garma, do you read me? Blame this on the misfortune of your birth."
But he isn't finished yet. "You were indeed a very good friend to me. Don't take it personally. You can thank your father for this!" Laughter. Laughter. All he does is laugh.
And a flabbergasted Garma eventually replies, with growing heat, "Char... you... you double crossed me!? Char!"
More explosions sound, as Garma Zabi calls out. "I am the son of the Zabi family! You haven't defeated me! I will go down in Glory! GLORY TO THE PRINCIPALITY OF ZEON!" The message ends, Leina is... gauging her reaction just in case, she has tissues at the ready.
Mineva finishes the explanation, "His final act was to attempt a Kamikaze attack on the White Base, facing down their guns. Their crew had no idea what Char had done. Indeed at the time, Char Aznable didn't realize his own sister was on the White Base. Garma's Gaw carrier... broke apart before he could reach his intended target."
Leina doesn't voice how that makes her feel, this isn't her day.
Mineva quietly adds, "His death broke our grandfather, Sovereign Degwin Zabi, who had no further stomach for war afterwards. Our... Uncle. Garma's Older Brother, Gihren, used his death as a propaganda setpiece to galvanize the military."
Mineva's gaze is distant for a many long moments, and then she closes her eyes, "I understand that this may all be very upsetting to you - but you deserve to know the truth. To judge it yourself. It isn't fair that you never got to meet your own father." And for however much she might abjure the ideals of Zeon, Mineva is telling the absolute truth, "I wish - we could have known him together."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
When Leina hands her the second bouquet, Emilia shuffles the one in her arms to take it. Violets and lilies. When Mineva starts speaking, Emmy's eyes lock on the screen. Her expression is serious, severe. That undercurrent of anger is there too.
She knew some of this. She had been studying the Britannian Campaign with Professor Martel, and some of this came up in the rare game of Ambition. "Britannia... w-was losing. I-i-it was only a m-matter of time b-before Pendragon fell. Or. It sh-should have been." Even if other fronts were more fraught, the Britannian continent was falling.
And then Mineva brings up the White Base, and Emilia breathes in sharply. The Federation's 'heroes'. She looks around the ruins of the stadium. The direction Leina points- through the massive hole in the remains. "Th-that's how he was b-b-betrayed." There's an ice to her voice-
And then her eyes open wide. It was not the first time she had heard her father's voice- but those were speeches and public appearances. Not... desperate, like this. Not in the heat of battle.
"H-h-h-how did you-"
Char's voice cuts in. And then the laughter. Anger and sorrow rise. He laughed. Char called Garma a friend and then laughed as he died.
Tears well up in Emilia's eyes, as she hears her father's desperate final decree.
Glory. That's what he sought in death? Glory?
"...W-w-was... was th-that... e-everything he s-said?" Emmy's voice is choked. Did he think of her mother it all, in those last moments? He had to have. He must have, surely.
"I-I heard his sp-sp-speech." Emilia says, quietly. In that dark room in the museum, it had shaken her.
But even as tears roll down Emilia's cheeks, that anger in her isn't abating. It's getting louder. Worse.
It isn't fair, Mineva says. It isn't fair that she never got to meet her father.
But Mineva's wish rings... somewhat hollow. "...th-that's... wh-what you wanted to. S-say to me?" Even with the sobs in her voice, there's an edge to what Emilia says.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
'It should have been.'
It's clear perhaps in subtle signs that such a statement causes Leina to flinch subtly. Because while neither her nor Mineva could know the future - she knows what Gihren Zabi intended for the people of Earth and the people of Space.
"Quite possibly. Perhaps it would have by this day already, but your father chose to pursue the White Base, for a promised promotion for it's capture."
Mineva is neutral perhaps on which decision is best, it is not her implication that he chose wrong.
Leina listens to what she says, about how he was betrayed, and quietly she indicates, "Yes."
Right now, it is merely a message upon her phone, but-
"It's a long story. But, on a mission to Seattle, the presence of... my boyfriend's mobile suit, it activated a long hidden message. Agents of the Vist Foundation had apparently found the Gaw's black box..."
Leina's eyes wander outwards, towards that spot in the sky where the Gaw fell. She knows, because it wasn't just audio when she watched it.
"... they put it together, as a lesson, about how it all went wrong - the Universal Century."
And as Emilia asks a question, Leina's lets out a soft sigh, and...
"That's all he said, I'm sorry. I know you were hoping for something else, something more. But to face down death that way?" Leina relays the idea quietly, "Those were the ideals of the soldiers within the Principality of Zeon."
Leina does see Emilia cry, and discreetly she reaches for some tissues, but she doesn't force them on her. Nor does she try to hug her or anything of the like...
... as she can certainly feel that anger.
In that moment, Mineva gives a Emilia a longer look, as if facing down her anger, and her sorrow, listening to her sobs, "What would you like me to say? That I wish for a future where the Principality of Zeon was victorious?"
Mineva asks softly, but with a certain resolute quality in her voice, "Because you will never hear those words pass through my lips."
She says matter of factly, bluntly, and does not sugar coat that idea, "Our Grandfather, Degwin, was a demagogue that had his best friend killed to empower himself. Our Uncle Gihren was a monster, who wanted to kill all Earthnoids - save fifty million that he deemed 'genetically superior' - and most Spacenoids as well."
As she relays this message to her in no uncertain terms, before her voice softens, "But that doesn't mean that I wanted my family to die. That I wanted your father to die. That I wanted you to live in this horrible position because he was betrayed, because the war was lost."
Her green eyes fall upon Emilia, as she tells her, "Do you think I don't hate it every time I learn more of what the man who raised me was responsible for? ...I certainly do."
Every single lesson he taught her of Zabi hatred, twisted and distorted and colored - causing Mineva to hate her own heritage, but even if she's taken up the cause of trying to dismantle the harm her family did, to spread a message of good will that seems counter to what she said...
... she does mean what she said here, "I came here to mourn with you, the life you might have had. The life we might have had, together."
Perhaps it is only a fantasy, that the two could have had that life without the world being demonstrably worse - without Char Aznable being a part of it...
... perhaps, but Mineva will mourn that idea anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia falls quiet once more. For a promotion...? Why? He was one of the Royal Family, wasn't he?
Emilia stares at Leina. "The V-V-Vist Foundation..." The people mentioned in Mineva's speech as hiding the charter. She was rather kept out of the loop. "What d-do you mean by a l-lesson?"
The confirmation that that was all stings. That wasn't the image she had in her head of him. The Garma Zabi that lived in her mind was the kind, smart man her mother had told her what little she could.
But it's what Mineva says that causes her to stare back at the screen. There's the crumpling of plastic as Emilia's hand balls into a fist around the bouquet. "...so th-th-that's supposed to make it. M-m-make it okay that Char k-killed his friend?!" Her voice turns into a shout, before Emilia winces in pain, and raises a hand to her jaw, clumsily trying to shuffle the flowers. The bruising has mostly faded- but when attention is drawn to it, it's easy to notice the makeup hiding something.
"S-S-Someone... Someone who knew him once told me th-that Dad was... the only h-hope of the war e-ending peacefully." The words Killy told her, the first time they met. Words Emilia clung to desperately, for the first person to tell her anything about who Garma was.
Everything Mineva said lined up with what she saw in that museum. That Ghiren was a monster, that Degwin was accused of killing the man Zeon was named after. "Dad w-wasn't..." Her voice is quiet, as she tries to muster a denial. Dad wasn't like the rest of them, right?
Emmy looks away from the screen. "...but he g-g-gets to live." She wants to yell, even though it would hurt. Even though anyone in the area would hear the echoes. "You. G-G-Get to have your 'f-father' back. You get to. B-B-Be the one who m-makes the decision w-without even talking to me. I o-only find out what's g-g-going on through the n-news!"
Another wince, but her anger is up now. "D-d-don't I get a say. I-in our f-f-family's legacy!? Y-you didn't even c-come here yourself, you s-s-sent your girlfriend!"
She's shaking now, crying again, and the anger and hurt that's always there is louder than ever. "Y-y-you want me. To m-mourn. The life we c-c-could have had." Her voice is getting more unsteady, her stammer becoming more pronounced. "While... while t-t-telling me th-the only a-alternative w-was worse?! Y-y-you don't know th-that!"
She stares daggers at the ground "I sp-sp-spent my whole l-l-l-life with Grand- with Grandfather h-h-h-hating me- p-punishing me- because I was a Z-Zabi, and I d-d-didn't know. B-b-but to you I'm... I'm n-not enough of a. A Zabi. For m-my opinion to m-m-m-matter?"
She finally looks up, and glares balefully at Mineva, her eyes growing red. "S-s-so what am I. S-s-supposed to be then? Am I j-j-just a half-Zeke b-b-bastard to everyone?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's a hard question, that she asks, with a long story surrounding it, and Leina has to think for a moment, before...
"The Vist Foundation was founded by a man who obtained the original Universal Century charter by coincidence after an act of terroristic violence." Leina begins quietly, "With it, he gained the power to influence events, by marrying the organization he founded to the Marcenas family. He made numerous decisions that influenced the Universal Century negatively - but in ways that he thought were the best decisions at the time."
She gives Emilia a rather tired look, like this whole ordeal had affected her, "He was trying to teach my boyfriend, his bastard great-grandson - 'where it all went wrong'. And part of the reason the One Year War began, was his fear of the idea of the 'Newtype' threatening the status quo of what he built."
There's a pause at that, as she recounts her thoughts on that, "The assassination of Zeon Zum Deikun, the coup of Degwin Zabi, the unrest on Side 3 - all of these were likely events that he influenced." She ceases talking about it at that moment, it's already complicated enough without bringing it into it.
And at Emilia's anger, at her fist tightening around the Bouquet, Mineva's voice hardens in reply, "Absolutely not. Nothing about what he did was okay. Do you seriously think for even a moment that I approve of his actions?"
Mineva can't see it, but Leina can, the anger giving way to a wince. And she looks at her piercingly enough that perhaps Emilia can tell that she's noticed the injury.
"In what world would that EVER be true?" Mineva continues after a moment, "One's care for a person isn't always tied to agreeing with them Emilia! It-"
There's... a quiet sigh, as a certain amount of heat goes out of her voice, and Mineva takes a moment, "I- realize - given whom you live with that it might be difficult for you to understand my feelings."
And indeed, Mineva perhaps realized in that moment that Joseph Eschonbach could only potentially offer care to those who gave back absolute obedience, and perhaps not even then. And thus she has realized that Emilia has never learned to love someone who has done things she doesn't approve of.
Emilia though delivers a theory, and Mineva considers it for a time, "It's... possible." She allows, "It's contingent on quite a few factors. Garma was a Captain, he'd have to defy his siblings who were of much higher rank. My father would likely have followed him, but Kycilia and Gihren would have been opposed to peace."
And Emilia's comment that 'Dad wasn't...' Mineva closes her eyes for a moment, then softly, "You might be right that he was the best of them. But you have to consider Emilia. It was a war of aggression that killed billions indiscriminately."
A beat.
"These days if you ask Spacenoids who gassed Colonies, they'll point fingers at the Titans, but do you know who did that first?"
Her eyes open, as she looks upon her, "The Principality of Zeon. Leina? She lived on Side 1." Leina shoots a glance towards the screen, "She was two, when the war began." Mineva continues, "Do you have Spacenoid friends, Emilia? If they were not yet born - then were their parents civilians?"
It is a harsh implication perhaps, but it is a necessary one, "My father was known for being intensely devoted to my mother - yet he still led the battle which reduced Side 5 to a Shoal Zone." Again she pauses to let that settle in, "Even if Garma did not participate in these actions - it was impossible for him not to have known. That is the cause they fought for."
Then she invokes Char, that she gets her father back, she gets to live, and Mineva looks at her for a time. That she made the decision without talking to her and...
... Leina speaks up, "You're right. It's not fair that Casval Rem Deikun is back. That Mineva and Sayla both get back someone they love - when so many died at his hands. It's absolutely not." She then continues, "It's also not fair that throughout all of that I was captured by the Vist Foundation, brainwashed, and sent against the people I love - whom I attacked again and again - and finally captured them for the dumbest reasons and the most twisted logic that they put in my head - all because of some stupid box."
It's not said with any heat, it's said with a sense of... absolute exhaustion, "I tried to kill him you know, several times, because I thought they'd both be better off without him coming back into their lives. I wasn't in my right mind - but my anger at him? That was real."
She lets that sink in with Emilia, before continuing, "Do you know what also wasn't fair? That we were only given about... roughly thirteen minutes to make a decision before the Federation fired a secret superweapon at us, trying to annihilate us all. And because we did such a good job of stopping that from happening? We had to upend our whole lives just to win back the privilege of existing in polite society."
Mineva is quiet throughout this, but she only speaks up now, "You think I wasn't thinking of you? When I went there - I had no idea what the box even contained. And as soon as I found out, as Leina said, the Federation was trying to kill us, all of us. At the time, I had one shot to get a message out - I didn't even understand the communications capabilities of the place I was in, not really. It was all of us, trying our best to make the most out of a bad situation."
From Leina, a quiet sigh, "Of course she cares about you though. God - I knew that so much that even when I was brainwashed like that, all I could think about on our missions was me, hoping beyond hope you wouldn't show up in your Knightmare Frame." A hand rubs at her face, "I was just panicking, thinking of ways to make certain that I could protect you if Char Aznable showed up - by doing my utmost to kill him."
Mineva looks Emilia in the eyes, and then after a time, says more gently, "You're right. It's unfair that you didn't get a say in the matter, and it goes beyond simple time constraints. I know you're in a terrible situation Emilia. When things got more complicated on our end - I was doing my best to keep you from getting involved in matters which could make things so much worse for you. I apologize, as perhaps my attempt to protect you was misguided."
She places a hand over her heart, "But I promise you, I've never once thought you had less of a claim to our family legacy than I. It was more that currently I'm the only one who can safely go public with it, and I had a very small window to do so. If you'd like to talk - to make your opinions clear to me, to make your own decisions on the matter. Then I'd like to hear them."
A beat.
"And I'd like to tell you everything that happened to us - so I can make things more clear to you about why I made the decisions I did in the moment. To have conversations with you about everything that happened, about our family history, and how we can both make decisions going forward - together."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
The history lesson is a lot to take in, as Leina informs her of what happened one hundred years ago, and the reach of their claws throughout time from there. It takes a few seconds to realize why it's relevant- Banagher was the boyfriend, wasn't he?
Mineva's hardened voice only seems to increase Emilia's anger- enough that she doesn't catch Leina noticing the injury- but Mineva stopping herself seems to catch her off guard. A certain wariness creeps into Emilia's posture, but her eyes stay locked on Mineva. Still, Mineva's guess about her cousin might have some truth to it.
Still, what Mineva tells her fills in some gaps. If Garma had received the promotion, maybe he would have had the sway to get the peaceful outcome she was told about. Maybe there wouldn't be a Britannia right now, from the talks. Maybe things would be better.
Or maybe Mineva was right, and it would be worse.
The question scores a hit and gives her pause- as much as she considers herself half-spacenoid, her life has been mostly Earthbound. "...S-s-some. M-m-m-mostly from the. F-fleets. Or Tsu. Ts-Tsu..." Her tongue ties, and she gives up trying to say the Japanese name with too many repeating syllables for her. "The. W-weird PLANT that. Disappeared f-f-for a while."
Still, she can't really meet Mineva's eyes, as she talks about Side 5. Her laser focus on the North Britannia Campaign had meant only her insufficient Britannian education covered that part of the war. That was the cause he fought for...?
But when Leina speaks up- talks about being brainwashed and used as a weapon, Emilia's eyes widen, and colour drains from her face a little. "Wh-what...?"
The more Leina talks, the smaller Emilia seems to get, her body language tightening and closing. It seems almost reflexive. How had she not known about this? The Federation firing a superweapon should have been news, something that should have been known- There's all this she didn't know about.
That hurts in it's own way.
Still, there's a shot of fear comes out when Leina mentions knowing about her. "Y-y-you t-told them...?" And Leina, even brainwashed, wanting to protect her from Char?
The fact that the conversation has shifted again, from anger to earnest outreach, Emilia seems uneasy. Like she's on unsteady ground. "Wh-wh-why didn't... you t-t-tell me...?" Her voice is much quieter now, seemingly cautious to ask a question- a question that is already answered. Mineva wanted to protect her.
It's simultaneously heartening and disappointing. "I'm n-n-n-not... I d-don't need. P-p-protection. I c-c-could have h-helped. I-I-I'm a pilot t-t-too." She takes a deep breath in, all while trying not to take more space. "...E-e-even if Z-Zero didn't h-help, I c-c-c-could have..."
She stops again, as Mineva makes an offer. To keep moving forward together.
Emilia nods slowly. "O-o-okay." She can accept that, right? Maybe Mineva will understand if they talk more. More than that, Emilia doesn't want to risk losing the last family she has by saying no. "B-but... N-n-not today." It's getting harder to talk, even without the factor of her recovering jaw.
She looks down at the flowers in her arms, then around the stadium. There's no remnant of the Gaw, no obvious sign of Garma Zabi.
But there is a spot in the wreckage, where the sun comes through a smaller hole in the ceiling of the stadium. It's a little awkward to get to, but...
"...I'm g-gonna... put th-these down." She starts toward the spot, with an easy agility, making her way through the uneven footing- slow enough that Leina could follow with the device, if she wanted. She kneels down to lay the flowers on the ground. "...I h-h-hope you c-c-can s-s-see these from th-there," she says in a quiet whisper to people who left this world long ago.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Mineva nods thoughtfully as she describes where her friends come from, "What I'm saying Emilia, is that many of your friends would likely be dead, or would have never existed at all, if the Principality of Zeon had won the war. That much is certain. Gihren's plan was one of Newtype Supremacy - at a time when Newtypes had barely started to emerge. He had no means to truly detect them, which means he would have killed arbitrarily, defining what a Newtype was based on his own ideals."
There's a significant pause, then she sadly tells her, "Under his plan, your own father - your mother - and yourself likely would have been killed as a threat to any regime Kycilia or he led. I as well."
Leina can see the fear, can see the tightening of body language, but Leina just... she just looks tired, and sad, seeing her this way. There's something like a sigh, and-
"Did I tell the two people in my life that I would trust completely to protect you?" Mineva answers her, "Absolutely. We had intelligence that suggested you'd be part of an operation where Char Aznable was likely to appear. And you made explicit your desire to fight him."
Mineva opens up her body language in this moment, raising her arms, in a sort of helpless gesture, "I'm not an accomplished pilot, Emilia, the best thing I can do to protect you is to entrust it to someone else." And indeed Leina says quietly, "If it was a choice between him or you - I know which choice she would have made. At the time - she didn't know the state I was in, she was asking me as Leina Ashta, not as Puru One... my... designation during that time, but I took it to heart anyway."
And as Emilia seems disappointed in equal measure to heartened, all Mineva answers with is the simple idea, "Is it not the most natural thing to want to protect your family - whether they desire it or not?" And after a pause, "I wanted to protect you. I'll make no apology for that desire. It has no bearing upon your abilities as a pilot when what I wanted to protect you from are the monstrous abilities of Char Aznable, infused with the power of Oath over Omega. ...He was too much for everyone."
"Still almost got him." Leina said in that worn voice but with a little more enthusiasm, which caused Mineva to shoot her a look, "Braggadocio aside."
And indeed... Emilia tells her, not today. And Mineva nods, she doesn't say how she didn't want this argument in the first place, not today.
As Mineva begins to move, Leina moves the screen around, orienting it to face the flowers. There's weight in this moment, so Leina is silent.
"Rest well, Uncle Garma." Mineva says solemnly, quietly with a bowed head, "I truly wish that I'd had the chance to know you, and it is my hope that you've found peace in what lay beyond. Please leave the rest to Emilia and me."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
<poem>
The thought of a world where her friends never existed is a bleak one. The world Gihren Zabi would have created, of his arbitrary newtypes... Her killed to prevent a threat to her aunt or uncle.
Mineva's certainty that this is the only timeline that they could have been together now is... well, it puts a dampener on mourning some life they could have had.
"...The. M-m-mission here..." She pauses. She'd just been told last minute that she was not needed... but how had Mineva found out? Was there a leak in the Black Knights to the Sleeves?
Not that she had the energy in her to ask right now. Maybe Mineva would explain it later.
Could she let that desire to fight Char lie, now? Or would that need for revenge keep burning? She wasn't sure.
"...J-Just... d-d-don't tell Milly." She says, quietly. It's a request to Mineva and Leina both. "N-Not even to protect me." There's a fear in that simple ask as well.
There's a lot to take in... that Mineva would choose Emmy over Char, and that Leina was prepared to kill him to protect her. A few years ago, she would have run away to hide behind Mineva in a heart beat. Maybe it would be easier if she was still that scared girl, secreted away on a hidden colony.
"I... w-w-want to protect. Y-you too." She manages.
Another day she might have been heartened by Leina's enthusiasm for killing Char. Right now though, she's just been hit with so much that she's just overwhelmed.
"...G-Goodbye, Dad. I h-h-hope... you and Mom are. T-t-together."
I won't let it have been for nothing.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed
Certainly Mineva means well, wishing for the impossible. A world they could have been together without Zeon winning the war. It is a kind sentiment in intention, even if it falls flat against Emilia's own desires for the future.
"Yes." Mineva indicates softly, "The mission here. What happened was..." Leina makes a gesture with a hand, as if to indicate to Mineva she'll explain, "What happened is that I was a brainwashed sleeper agent at the time, and Martha Vist Carbine wanted to incentivize her partner, Ronan Marcenas. At the time he was having second thoughts about his support for her thanks to outside pressure. So she wanted to place him further in her debt and prove the power of the Vist Foundation."
Leina gives Emilia a tired look, "She leaked the information to Zero and MAFTY, while also applying pressure on Ronan through his wealthier constituents for him to do a tour of Seattle, changing the route. I was to show up in a mobile suit - to show her the power of the Vist Foundation to protect their mutual interests. The Britannian Forces were supposed to keep him safe, but for him to feel threatened just enough that he'd see things her way from thenceforth."
As if recalling the incident, "It was all to line up with Banagher unlocking a Coordinate in... that program that revealed the footage of your father and Char Aznable, which it was the true aim of the Vist Foundation to capture Banagher as he would lead them to their goals. But because I knew what was going to happen, I 'leaked' the possibility of the Black Knights being involved to - sell that I was still on their side, by providing useful intelligence. This led to Mineva telling us that you were a Black Knight - and it was possible you might be there for a strike on Britannian territory."
Leina concludes simply, "It was less that your operation got leaked - and more that you got played. But in the end you outplayed Martha - she thought there was no chance Ronan and the Councilors with him were in any true danger with the escort they had."
Indeed, there is a stab of guilt in Leina, that she herself participated in an act which - led to so much destabilization within the Federation, but she didn't have a choice.
And Emilia puts forth a request, and Leina takes a deep breath, "I won't leak your secrets." She says quietly, "Which, I know might be hard to believe after being told I did purposefully leak information but..." But? After a pause, in which she closes her eyes, "... I'm - free - of their influence, even if we're still working at undoing the damage done to my psyche."
Mineva gives Leina a concerned look then, before saying, "I have no intention of telling anyone else. The only reason I did before, is I needed to be assured of your safety in a chaotic operation which..." Mineva sighs, "We had every reason to believe that Char Aznable would show, and I needed to be certain that you'd have more people watching your back than your comrades, for my own peace of mind."
Emilia does express that she wants to protect her, and Mineva perhaps looks briefly surprised, but then she smiles, "Then, I appreciate that. I understand you're upset with me - frustrated - but - we're family Emilia. And - for all the ways we may disagree - that doesn't change my desire for you to be a part of my life for years to come."
In the end, Leina doesn't say anything else on the moment. She can understand mourning someone you've lost - idealizing the time you could have had together but - it's difficult for her to make the leap to it being an absentee parental figure. Her own judgment is that if Garma had truly prioritized Icelina and his family, then none of this would have ever happened. But she won't say that to the grieving girl, who is grasping for connections in a world that hasn't been kind to her.
They'll both stay there with Emilia, for as long as she needs.