And so, with Europa completely and utterly destroyed, the war was finally over. When the New Asian generals realized that Europa was done for, they called for a complete ceasefire to reduce civilian casualties as much as possible.

When the soldiers stormed the Capitol building, they found the council members sitting in their spacious room, not trying to run, not trying to escape. They were swiftly detained, and put in the highest security prison New Asia had to offer. Their trial was quickly given a date, and all but a few were sentenced to death.

Then, came the aftermath of the end of the war. Millions who were displaced by the war need shelter and food. The government of New Asia, along with the help of The Merchant’s Cabinet, sent thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to Europa. Of course, that was no where near enough, but at least it was something.

A month after the war, the four massive gates in New Asia’s walls were fully opened for the first and final time in a century, allowing the city to expand beyond its original boundaries. The doors were then welded in place, so that they would never close again. Along with the opening of the gates, travel in and out of the city was completely opened up too, allowing many Europeans to leave their ruined city, and settle in New Asia in search of a new life.

Much debate was had over what to do with the massive circular wall. Some thought that it should be knocked down, and the materials to be reused in other construction projects. But others thought that it should stay, and be repurposed into whatever people wanted it to be. In the end, much against the authoritarian nature of the government, a public vote was held. The results was a slight victory for the side which wanted the walls to remain.

With the destruction of Europa, its cloning technology were also revealed to the whole world. Despite the implications of what such technologies could do, the government, much to the support of everyone, almost immediately ruled it to be illegal to clone humans. And the skilled genetic engineers from Europa were put on tasks such as lab-grown meats and other things which were less ethically questionable.

Those loyal soldiers who had fought for New Asia in the war had mostly lost their purpose too, and an order was issued which allowed anyone to retire if they so desired. A great majority did, and went to look for employment in the growing city. But many decided to stay, and safeguard the peace which they had fought so hard to create.

Half a year after the end of the war, economic and political turmoil was reaching its peak. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The huge influx of immigrants had caused a huge housing crisis, and also a huge demand for goods and employment. Economic growth was the highest it has ever been, yet unemployment and suicide rates have barely decreased. With the demand for arms and munitions gone, factories closed down and were repurposed. Millions lost their jobs, but almost immediately found jobs again elsewhere.

The slums were knocked down bit by bit, and towering skyscrapers grew out of the ground in their place. The many layers of the factory districts were dismantled too, allowing for a central economic district to be built in their place.

New structures and buildings spurted from the open gates of New Asia. Like floodwater breaking through a dam, the city expanded out of its walls at a breathtaking speed.

Society was going through rapid change too. No longer was there a common enemy, no longer was there a clear distinction of “friendly” or “foe”. Everyone was anyone now, and everyone could be anyone. The immigrants from Europa received lots of discrimination at first, as expected, but were quickly assimilated into New Asian society.

Culture became unimaginably colorful and diverse. Not only did the cultures of New Asia and Europa mix and blend, so did the cultures from countless small towns littered all over the continent. People were very familiar with the hate and suffering of war, so they embraced the unity and happiness of peace. At least, for as long as it lasts.

Alongside the cultural and economic turmoil, politics were in turmoil too. With the war gone, the old government was not needed anymore. A newer, more relaxed, less authoritarian government would be needed to facilitate economic and cultural change. At first, the old government was unwilling to give up their position of power. But after several protests, they decided that maybe it was for the greater good to step down from their positions. And so, almost unbelievably, the government made a decision, not to reinforce their power and popularity, but to benefit the entirety of humanity.

A memorial of the war was also erected on the western side of the wall, a huge stone spike, with a falcon taking flight on its tip, towards the direction where Europa used to be. A war museum was also built in one of the former military bases inside the wall, detailing the war from beginning to end.

Trials had also taken place for many people. Captain Yuki and his sister were given very very light punishment for their mutiny and murder of several guards. But given that they had help defeat Europa, the judge gave them nothing too severe.

Captain Steiner was tried too, but Captain Yuki, One-five, Two-five and Takeshi all testified to defend him. Because of that, Captain Steiner was only given five years in prison. Some may argue that it was too light a punishment, but no one could argue that his actions were crucial in ending the war.

Then, almost in a flash, a year had gone by since the end of the war. The political, social, and economic turmoil had mostly died down, and people began to live stable lives. Quality of life was much improved, and the threat of destruction had become nothing but stories of old. Instead of fighter aircraft flying in and out day and night, it was now trading planes buzzing around the airports.

With the recovery from the war nearing its end, people began to look forwards towards future opportunities. The government began to discuss exploration missions to other continents, and even North America, in the hopes of discovering other surviving cities to establish trade relationships with. Even if there weren’t any other cities out there, they needed more place to set up civilizations anyways, as New Asia was beginning to grow far too large for its own good.

But for now, everything was good, everything was peaceful.

Maybe it’ll be like this for another year, maybe ten, maybe a hundred. Until the next conflict brings humanity back down to its knees, it was pointless to worry about things like that.

Now is a time for peace and love, not a time for pessimism and worry about the future.

*****

“…The two teams of pilots, disregarding their hate for each other, united together to put an end to this war, even if it meant they had to make the ultimate sacrifice. In that white light, their identities were lost forever, but their story will remain for all eternity.”

“That’s pretty cheesy.” Lenn chuckled.

“Well personally I kinda like it.” Kang replied, a wide grin on his face. Ying sat in the wheelchair he was pushing, smiling widely too.

“You know she can walk pretty fine with crutches right?” Lenn asked Kang.

“Yeah but he likes pushing me around.” Ying replied in a whisper.

Kang’s cheeks went a little pink. “I’m just making sure you don’t get tired, okay?”

“Too bad they can’t honor the two who actually gave their lives…” Rei sighed.

“Hey, it was what they wanted.” Lenn patted Rei on the shoulder.

Back when the war had just ended, nobody truly knew what had destroyed the plasma weapon. Soon enough, though, word of the team of Europeans and Lenn's team began to spread. The New Asian government sent people after them in order to get a complete story, both for press and for the history books.

But Lenn and the Europeans refused to have their names put in the history books. They wanted to remain anonymous.

The Europeans especially, wanted their story to be that they all sacrificed themselves, because, according to One-five:

“We are nameless soldiers. I do not think that doing something of my own decision should put my name in the history books. We never did what we did in the hopes of becoming heroes."

And it may have been for the better too, as One-five and Two-five definitely would not have liked to live under constant attention from the public.

“I just want to be like a normal human for once.”

One-five had told Lenn.

Thankfully, the young reporter was understanding enough, and agreed to not put any of their names in the history books. But he asked for a compromise. He thought that such a great story should not be lost to the flow of time. The truth will be hidden away somewhere, in some documents or something, so if anyone really wanted to know, they’d eventually be able to connect the dots and uncover the names of Lenn and his team.

“Those who wish to remain ignorant won’t know you, only those who try to seek the truth will find your real names.”

The reporter said.

Lenn and his team agreed, and so it was written down in history that four anonymous warriors, and four nameless warriors, had come together to end the war. It really was a romantic story, one that the public would love, even though it isn’t quite the truth.

“Come on, let’s go.” Lenn exhaled a long breath. Remembering all those past events had taken him on a brief but quite thrilling emotional rollercoaster. “One-five and Two-five are there waiting for us already.”

“Sure…” Kang agreed.

*****

Some ten minutes later, they joined One-five and Two-five at the top of a little hill, below the wide canopy of a blooming apple tree.

In front of them stood two little gravestones.

They are simple gravestones, just a plain oval shape, with no fancy designs or decorations on them. They have no writing whatsoever on them either, so that no one other than the six people who currently stood there them would know who they honored.

One-five and Two-five came forwards and laid some flowers down in front of the stones.

Then Lenn and his teammates went forwards, Kang helping Ying off of her wheelchair so that she could also put down some flowers.

“We’ve come to see you again…”

“It’s already been a year, huh? Time sure flies.”

“We all want to remember you two forever, though everything will always become a distant memory."

“Are you two having fun? Where ever you may be?”

“Of course they are.”

“Please wait for us up there… some day we’ll come and find you.”

“But right now, we’ve got to move on. There's so much more to life, and it’s all laid out right before our eyes.”

“Thank you.”

“We’ll see you in the next world, One-six, Two-six.”