Summary: Kira had always wondered what the red-haired girl's connection was with Athrun. He meets Meyrin for the first time after the latter loses unconsciousness. Takes place after the Battle of ORB in Gundam Seed Destiny.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sunrise.
Author's Note: I've always wondered how Kira would react if he met Meyrin for real while she was with the Archangel. Here goes. Not sure if anyone is interested in this type of fic. It starts off with slight Athrun x Meyrin but the main pairing will be Kira x Meyrin so that we can see more of their interaction.
Chapter 1 - The Incident
"We did it, Athrun," said Kira with a small smile, sharply checking over his left and right shoulder for any enemies. He didn't see anything unusual, and his sensors told him that everyone in the area were friendlies. With the ZAFT forces' general retreat, the Strike Freedom was cruising calmly at high altitude heading back to the archangel. Meanwhile, the Infinite Justice was trailing a few hundred metres behind and below.
There was a slight pause until he heard Athrun's reply. "Yeah, that's good," said Athrun with a grimace, but doing his best to cover up his pain. Hopefully Kira wouldn't notice, he thought. He was in no mood for words as he knew that he had aggravated his injuries during his battle with Shinn. He was starting to feel it too, with the pain starting to increase in his lower abdomen. A slight shock came to him when he involuntarily closed his eyes as something wet came into contact. Purple-azure eyes drew a slight gasp as he realized it was blood. He could smell it and couldn't believe his head wound had reopened.
"Are you doing alright?" Kira asked with a held-in concern. He thought he sensed some uncomfortableness in Athrun's reply, but he wasn't sure. The special relationship between the two was unlike any other. Both knew the small habits and behaviour of each other, and right now, the pilot in blue could feel that something was amiss.
"I'm fine, Kira," assured Athrun, the only few words he felt like saying in this situation before before the pain shot up again. That was a close call for him, or else Kira might have noticed if he said anything more. But inside the cockpit of the Infinite Justice, Athrun's body was screaming at him in danger. Stressed, Athrun looked ahead and saw the Archangel. Come on, stay together just a bit more, he said to himself. Each second was a fight for him to stay awake, with his sight blurring in and out as he struggled to keep up the course for the Archangel.
It wasn't long until the Infinite Justice suddenly forwent thruster output, lost balance, and started falling forward. I'm sorry Kira, whispered Athrun as he tried to grasp the Strike Freedom with an outstretched arm, before losing consciousness.
Something wasn't right and Kira could feel it. He just couldn't tell what it was. But his thoughts were confirmed when he sensed that Athrun had disappeared. Taking a look to his right, he saw the accident unfold. Without hesitation, he threw his mobile suit into a dive and accelerated a few g-forces to catch up with the free-falling Infinite Justice. With his quick reflexes and superb mobile suit piloting skills, this all took place within a second as he was able to grab the outstretched arm of the Infinite Justice. Together, the Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice cruised as one albeit at a lower speed towards the Archangel. This was done for two reasons. First, Kira didn't want to aggravate Athrun's injuries even further, and second because having the load of the Infinite Justice severely hampered mobility, speed, and piloting accuracy.
"Captain Murrue! Athrun's hurt, he'll need a medical team at the hangar asap. Requesting permission for emergency landing," Kira radioed while doing his best to keep his composure.
Back onboard the Archangel, the crew all drew a worried gasp at the sudden news. Looking up at the video screen, it was clear that Kira was visibly distressed although he didn't show it in his voice. But none more so than the red-haired girl in a red orb uniform who sat at the chair of the Combat Information Centre, Meyrin Hawke. Athrun! No! She couldn't lose Athrun. Secretly, she cared for him very much and even had a crush on him, though due to her sister, she never had the courage to follow her ambitions. The quiet and shy Meyrin had always been overshadowed by her older and more outgoing sister, Lunamaria Hawke. That wasn't all though. Meyrin was always intrigued by his mature behaviour, his elite piloting skills, ability to think beyond just being a soldier, and more. But more importantly, she had followed him here with the trust that he was choosing the correct path in the war. She still hadn't gotten over how she somehow instantly dropped everything she had, her career, her sister, her family, the Minerva and escaped with Athrun. Athrun couldn't possibly leave her by herself with the Archangel, especially when things still had to be explained! There was something else that got her attention. It was only a quick glimpse and although the pilot's blue helmet covered most of his features, she saw that he had lavender eyes, a rarity even for coordinators, looked mature for his age, lean shoulders, and to top it off, looked just the same age as Athrun, Shinn, and all her other friends. Could it be that the fighters in the Archangel were also the same age as them? She wondered if the pilot was mature like Athrun, aggressive like Shinn, outgoing like her sister, calm and mysterious like Rey, or maybe even something else.
Getting a nod from Murrue, Meyrin quickly tapped on the control panel with coordinator-like speed as she scrambled to get a hold of the Strike Freedom's communication link. It was easy for her to tell who was who. She had seen Athrun launch in the Infinite Justice, which meant the other mobile suit they were tracking, here labelled ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom, with the pilot named Kira Yamato, was the person she had to contact immediately.
"K-Kira Yamato!," she almost yelled, but caught herself such that it was more of a plead with heavy concern. Normally she would have felt embarrassed, but with the situation now, she didn't care how she was seen by others. The unfamiliar name sounded weird coming off her tongue, which contributed to her somewhat awkward but very concerned address of Kira.
Back on the Strike Freedom, Kira jolted back into existence with a cringe as someone with a high-pitched voice shouted into his ear. But he was more surprised though, he was expecting Miriallia or Sai at the controls. Also, he was sure that he knew every member of the crew. Considering his thoughts irrelevant in the current situation, he quickly and calmly replied, hoping to ease the person on the other end. "Yes, it's Kira. Can you please send me the landing data?"
Hearing Kira's voice for the first time up close, Meyrin was surprised at young and friendly voice that was mixed with emotion, in this case the potential loss of a dear friend. It was easy for her to tell. Also, it almost sounded young like Athrun's and Shinn's, except this was a completely different person.
"Yes right away! Proceed on course to hangar two, medics will be arrive shortly, please hurry," she said almost pleadingly as she did some quick taps on the screen once again to send out the data, to the amazement of the crew. Also, it was surprising that she knew some extra functions to use at the control panel, such as the pilot-friendly data. Then again, she was the only combat information centre officer who had formal training. The data contained optimal approach paths that minimized wind resistance, distance, contained weather info, and other details which might be useful to the pilot. Strangely enough, none of the Archangel's past CIC officers had used it before due to the lack of formal training.
Kira was puzzled at the data, but it didn't matter. All he needed to know was the hangar number which indicated which launch gate, left or right, the Archangel would open. Disregarding the pilot-friendly data, he continued on course.