Author's Note: I originally planned all this content to be in the last chapter, but it was getting long and I didn't want the second chapter in my story to be almost three times the length of the first. The chapters will probably get longer in a few more chapters, but not right now.
Thank you again to all those who review! And to the first person to do so, thank you. Regarding your comment, I can promise you this will not be like any other Gundam Seed rewrite. Mark my words. As for a list with all the new characters . . . I'll think on that. But before I do that, let's see how many of these new characters actually survive, shall we?
"My fellow humans, I'm now revealing a secret I have kept from all. I did not come into the world through natural birth. My genes were artificially operated on during the early embryonic stage. I will now send the information on this specific technology on the worldwide network. Thanks to these enhancements, I have a body capable of greater strengths and a brain capable of more knowledge than a human being born naturally. The scientist who created me told me that mankind has much untapped potential and that if we could unleash the maximum possibilities, it can open the door to an infinite number of paths to our future. As I now look upon the Earth from orbit, I'm reminded of this. I am a bridge connecting Earth and the great unknown of outer space that we do not yet understand. I also stand between the present world and the future. I am the regulator, one who shall lead the way. The coordinator.
Excerpt from George Glenn's speech, CE 15
Phase 3: Sins of Desperation
-Heliopolis: Highway
The whole colony shook from the explosion. There wasn't a single person who did not feel it and many lost their footing. Ankles were sprained, a few bones were broken, and many, glass plates, cups, and other fragile household objects were shattered on their respective floors.
Everyone in the convoy was caught in near pandemonium. Murrue did what she could to regain order in the convoy, but had little success. They needed to know what caused the massive tremor and their next move. Until then, Murrue ordered every trailer to be stopped. Many workers were mingling in the middle of the road, some trying to futilely call their friends or loved ones, none of the calls going through.
One worker rushed up to Murrue. "Lieutenant!" he panted, "We've lost all contact with the harbor!" Before he had the opportunity to go on, a loud rumble shook the ground again. Everyone looked up to see two ZAFT GINNs heading right for them. They all leapt for safety as the towering mobile suits began to open fire on the convoy, disintegrating vehicles and damaging the surrounding buildings. Murrue threw herself facedown until the explosions subsided. She looked up and the GINNs were gone, but they'd be back once they started a second attack run.
"Those were ZAFT." Murrue muttered before she stood and sprinted back to her own vehicle. Brian, her personal assistant, was still sitting in the passenger seat. He seemed shocked by the surprise attack, but he was already on the radio telling the drivers to get moving towards the spaceport again.
Murrue gunned the truck's engine and headed back to the factory, she reached for her two way radio and was in contact with the factory in seconds. "Prep the X303 and X105 for immediate combat!" Her attention was caught by many small shapes descending from the sky back towards the convoy.
Ground troops?
Murrue swore and continued talking into the radio, "Give every person protecting the Strike and Aegis a weapon! We have boots on the ground." Next to her, Brian was spreading the word.
Yzak, Dearka, Nicol and the other soldiers quickly headed for the three trailers carrying the Earth Forces new weapons that were parked directly ahead of them. The ZAFT marksmen picked off the soldiers guarding the suits. Yzak leapt onto the rear trailer "Destroy any and all equipment we can't take!"
Morgenroete Research Center
Kira and his friends' peace were shattered without warning or preamble. A thunderous roar swept through the building, followed by tremendous and violent shaking. Everyone nearly lost their footing and struggled to keep from tumbling over, books flew from their shelves and Tolle fell, sprawling on the floor.
"What was that?" Sai shouted, grasping onto a table, "A meteoroid collision?" Such accidents were known to occur, but everyone had the sense that this was no accident. Mir pulled Tolle back to his feet and together they all made a dash out of the lab and into the hallway.
Heading for the emergency stairs, they pulled the door open, finding several workers running down the stairwell.
"What's happening?" Sai yelled.
One of the workers stopped and looked over his shoulder. "We're under attack by the ZAFT!" He shouted back, "Some of their mobile suits are now inside the colony!"
Kira felt a leaden weight in his chest. Coordinators were attacking. His people were attacking his home, but before he could give it more thought the worker motioned to follow him before heading down the stairs and out of sight. Kira was set to follow when the stranger abruptly turned the opposite direction and ran down the hall.
"Wait a minute, hey!" Kira shouted, tearing himself away from his personal issues and spun around and took off after him.
"Kira!" Mir screamed.
I'll be right back!" He called over his shoulder. He tailed the stranger, finally catching up to him near the factory area. He grabbed hold of his arm and tugged back. Another blast shook the building, blowing the strangers hat off, revealing delicate and feminine features.
"Hey, you….you're a girl?!" He gawked.
The woman glared at Kira. "Yeah, what'd you think I was? Let's hear it!" She tried to break out of his grip.
"I-I just thought-"
"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded, "Just leave me alone and go back!"
"Are you insane?" He countered, finding his proverbial footing again. "It's too dangerous to just run around."
"I mean it." She growled, "There's something I need to check on my own." She had now wretched her arm free. "Now go back to the others."
"I can't do that now. Look!" Kira pointed. The corridor behind them had collapsed, cutting off the return path. He thought quickly. "I know, just follow me." He grabbed the woman's arm again and took off running, pulling her along.
"Let go!" She yelled, attempting to yank her arm furiously out of his grasp, "Idiot."
"Idiot?" He repeated, tugging her even harder so she'd keep up. When he looked back, he was surprised to see that her eyes were now tearing up. He loosened his grip and stopped.
"There's something I have to see." She insisted, and then hung her head down. "I was afraid that this would happen."
Kira frowned at her last comment. How did she know that the ZAFT forces would attack? But there wasn't any time to worry about that right at the moment. The entire building was falling apart around them.
"Look, we have to find shelters. There should be some near the factory." He gently interlaced their fingers and hurried towards safety.
Heliopolis Airspace
"Pathetic." Rau declared, blowing up the sixteenth Mistral that tried to fight him off.
"Pathetic." He repeated. The battle had started with almost twenty of the mobile armors attempting to box him in; yet, as he meticulously picked off more and more of his foes, their formations and battle plans became more desperate. The remaining three were all flying in a straight line towards him, firing with their cannons underneath their mobile armors' frames.
Rau danced his CGUE easily through their fire and picked off two of them with two quick 76mm rifle shots. The last one tried to scurry away but Rau raced up next to the mobile armor, so close he imagined he could see the terrified face in the cockpit, and fired his rifle at point blank range.
The orange enemy disintegrated.
Rau paused and took a moment to survey the battlefield. So much for the Orb Defense Force, he had tougher challenges against Earth Alliance tanks. Of course…none of the enemies were even close to the Hawk.
Movement in the port caught the masked man's attention; he spun to face the freighter that had docked with the colony only hours before. It started launching mobile armors.
Rau Le Creuset eyed the enemies curiously, "Maybe you will be a tougher challenge." He raced his CGUE forward and tried to keep from smirking, "But I doubt it."
Ian blinked and winced, his head felt like it was full of needles. What happened? He blinked slowly and looked around, he was in the cockpit of his Mistral, but all the glass was cracked and his electronics were dead. What the hell happened?
He had just launched . . .
He winced again and grabbed his head, it was haze but the memory returned. The hanger bay exploded and the blast knocked his Mistral around like a toy. As a result, his mobile armor had smashed against the colony and he had been thrown forward and back, slamming his head against the controls repeatedly.
It was probably why his head, despite the helmet, felt like it was going to split in half.
His Mistral was free floating now, spinning slowly away from the colony. He looked around, where was everyone from the Orb Defense Force? What had happened to his fellow pilots? His Mistral spun up and the bottom of the Dauntless came into view, rocketing out from the port, Moebius mobile armors launching from the cargo bay. Moebius types were more advanced versions of Mistral, which wasn't saying much for an age that was rapidly turning away from mobile armors. In the next instant, Ian's Mistral's view screen spun past the ship and he was facing out to open space again.
Not good.
He would keep floating away from the colony and while ZAFT was attacking it was doubtful anyone had the time to look for survivors, especially if that explosion had taken out the Orb command center.
Ian reached under his controls and pulled out a mass of wires and cords, he had watched a lot of videos on hotwiring via the net and had read the entire operation manual for the Mistral's electronics systems cover-to-cover.
Three times.
He could figure this out and repair the machine. How hard could it be?
Heliopolis: Morgenroete Factory
Inside the colony all hell was breaking loose. The Earth Alliance forces deployed trucks loaded with surface-to-air missiles and mobile artillery, but they were greatly outmatched by the two GINNs, and were destroyed with ease. All the trailers loaded with undefended equipment were blown to smithereens.
Meanwhile, the firefight between the Alliance troops and ZAFT soldiers within the G-Weapon factory continued fiercely. Bullets and smoke filled the air.
"Lt. Ramius!" cried a soldier before a swarm of bullets cut him down.
"Hamana, Brian! Hurry and get them out of here!" Murrue shouted, chestnut hair flying, she ducked down behind a few steel canisters to reload her assault rifle. She hadn't noticed that one of the ZAFT soldiers had slipped behind her and now was aiming his weapon.
"Look out, behind you!" Brian yelled.
She reacted without hesitation, spinning around and firing, sending a bullet right into the gunman's heart. She looked over her shoulder to her rescuer, "Brian, get the trailer for the Aegis started. I will get the Strike." He nodded and sprinted towards the trailer.
Another explosion rocked the factory as Murrue made her way through the bullets and flame towards the Strike's trailer. A ZAFT red saw her moving towards the target and, realizing her intentions, he burst out of hiding and starting spraying bullets in her direction. They both moved parallel towards the target, Murrue running full tilt towards the trailer and the ZAFT soldier aiming his rifle while he ran, despite this, he was able to keep up with her speed at the cost of blinding himself to his surroundings.
Petty Officer Hamana spotted the ZAFT red and stood, aiming at the target with his rifle, he fired in rapid succession. The bullets hit their mark and the soldier fell.
"Rusty!" Another ZAFT soldier cried and leapt out of cover, spraying bullets at the soldier who'd killed his teammate. Hamana was mowed down in a spray of blood.
"Hamana, no!" Murrue screamed, turning back, she aimed her sidearm. The ZAFT soldier fired first, striking her in her left shoulder. She cried out in pain and dropped to the floor.
The enemy had emptied his ammo clip and tossed the rifle away, drawing a combat knife. He raised the blade high, but quickly dodged the bullets that struck the floor near his feet.
"You okay?" The owner of the voice grasped Murrue by her wrist and pulled to her feet.
"Brian…" Murrue winced in pain, "What are you…? The Aegis!"
"C'mon." Brian said. Together they made their way to the Strike's trailer; Brian opened the passenger door and helped Murrue inside, "They taught us to leave no one behind, remember?" He smiled and suddenly grasped, he mouth flew open in pain and he staggered a few steps forward.
"BRIAN!"
Brian fell to one knee and glanced over his shoulder. The last ZAFT soldier had thrown his knife and it had embedded itself in his right shoulder. Now the enemy was picking up a fallen rifle and was pointing it at the two Earth Alliance soldiers.
"GO!" Brian wheezed and he slammed the trailer door, just as the bullets found him.
Murrue dragged herself over to the driver's seat, ignoring the sounds of bullets striking the door where Brian was last standing, and started the vehicle. Gunning the motor, the trailer flew out of the factory, tearing through the broken doors of the building.
The factory was swathed in flames and Athrun fought back angry tears as he dragged Rusty's body to the Aegis. He had to escape, but he would be damned if he just left his best friend here. Rusty was always so good natured and thoughtful. He likened himself to a great thinker but he always did it with a smile and wink, like one should never take life seriously.
Athrun gingerly placed his friend in the cockpit of the G-weapon and boarded the machine himself, just as the factory exploded around him. He was momentarily distracted by two figures suddenly bursting out into the hanger on the upper-walkway, but Athrun ignored them. He should pursue the enemy, but he had to get Rusty back to the ship first.
He opened a channel to Miguel as the Aegis stood and flew out of the collapsing factory. "Miguel…" He started, "Rusty failed…"
Kira and the girl finally made it to the passageway that lead to a hanger inside the factory. Ahead of them was a narrow catwalk stretched above the floor. He could see where the emergency shelter was far outside the hanger. He held the girl close and ran across. Explosions made the catwalk tremble, but it held. They were almost to the other side when Kira saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks.
A mobile suit stood, bathed in flames, its impressive and regal appearance was highlighted by the red glow of the fire. The mobile suit peered down at them like a god, before turning and tearing through the hanger. It was the final nail in the coffin of the factory—the walls around them started to crumble.
The awe of the mobile suit had made Kira temporarily drop the woman's arm. He had never actually seen a mobile suit up close except in pictures. Being right next to one was terrifying, and yet, somehow electrifying. But those thoughts could wait as the sudden danger of being buried alive in the hanger took precedence. Kira looked for the stranger, but she was staring at where the suit had flown away, distraught written all over her face.
"The Earth Alliance's mobile suits are here!" She was trembling and she grasped the railing until her knuckles had turned white. "Father, why did you betray us?" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Her cry echoed loudly.
"C'MON!" Kira yelled, he grabbed her and this time there was little resistance. The both sprinted out of the hanger bay, just reaching the other end as the cat-walk and descended the stairs as the hanger collapsed behind them.
The dust cloud that was kicked up by the falling building engulfed the pair. To Kira it felt like someone was slowly strangling him and he was sent into a coughing fit as he and the woman stumbled through the embers and black soot until they both emerged from the cloud; wheezing, covered in ash and dust, but alive.
Kira slumped down against a nearby truck's tire He was still struggling to breath, the cloud of dust no longer thick, but it coated the air with a grey haze. The woman slumped down next to him; her bright blonde hair had changed to a dirty, brownish color. He idly wondered what his own hair looked like as another wave of coughing took him.
The girl seemed to be doing far better, but she seemed lost in thought.
"Kira." He said between coughs.
"W-" The woman stopped and made a disgusting hacking noise and spat. She leaned back against the truck's tire again. "What?"
"My name," more coughing, "My name is Kira. What's yours?"
The dust covered girl let out a cough. "What kind of idiot introduces himself in THIS situation?"
Kira had no response. It just felt like the right thing to do. A kind of introduction was necessary after two complete strangers had escaped from a collapsing building.
"Cagalli." The woman spoke, not unkindly, "My name is Cagalli."
Kira held out a hand, "Nice to meet you Cagalli."
She shook her head, Kira could see a slight smile underneath the dust and grim, which made him smile too. She took his hand, "Same." She coughed, "I don't suppose you've got any water?"
Kira then noticed a slight rumbling from what they were leaning against, it made him break out into a full grin, "No, but I think I have something almost as good." He slapped the trucks wheel both he and Cagalli were leaning against, "This truck is running."
A few minutes later, the duo had climbed into the same vehicle Murrue and Brian had driven to the factory, now Kira and Cagalli headed down the main highway towards the shelters in the next block. Unfortunately they couldn't find a place to take refuge, either the shelters were destroyed, blocked, or full to capacity.
As they got closer to the highway and the spaceport, the smoke seemed to be getting closer and the number of people on the streets grew. Men, women, and children walked along the road. What they carried was different, but all had the same desperate look in their eyes. Kira slowed down the truck to a crawl, looking around at the residents of Heliopolis. It was horrible, all these people had nothing to do with the war, so why did this happen? They should have been able to continue with their peaceful lives—he should have been able to continue. Tolle and Mir would argue over trivial things, Kuzzey would pretend not to care about academics but would study harder than everyone, and Sai would laugh and give that contented, understanding smile. That was how life should be—it should have always stayed that way. How would they go back to that and could they?
I don't want to lose my closest friends again!
"Kira look." At the sound of Cagalli's voice, Kira broke out of his thoughts and looked up to see a large military trailer blocking the stretch of road ahead. The civilians walking on the highway were being stopped by about a dozen or so military officers. Kira could see the soldiers holding guns and, saw with a jolt, that they were wearing Earth Forces uniform.
What are they doing in the colony?
The civilians being stopped were arguing with the military officers. Tensions were understandably high and the officers looked like they were getting ready to point their weapons into the crowd of frightened, tired civilians.
Kira saw someone standing with the soldiers that looked familiar. He was wearing a suit, not a uniform, and his square glasses and slumped posture had to only be one man: Doctor Kato. But what was he doing with the Earth Forces? Kira took a deep breath and stopped the car. "Wait here," He said, trying to sound confident. "I will see what's going on."
Cagalli raised an eyebrow, "You?"
"What?" Kira asked indignantly, she sounded like he had just told her he was going to jump off a bridge.
Cagalli shook her head and clambered over to the driver's seat. "Whatever. Just be careful and don't get mauled by the crowd. I will be ready to reverse the hell out of here when we can't get around them."
Kira nodded and closed the door, making his way through the growing mob.
"NO ONE PAST THIS POINT!" One of the soldiers was shouting, "CIVILIANS GO BACK UP THE ROAD AND TAKE A DETOUR! WE SENT SOLDIERS UP THAT WAY TO DIRECT YOU TO BLOCK G!"
Some civilians were turning around, but several were arguing with the soldiers. One even tried to climb up the trailer, only to get knocked down to the ground by the butt of one of the soldier's weapons. He hit the ground hand, several people cried out in anger. Kira winced as the man was pulled to his feet by a few others. His nose looked broken and was spraying blood.
Kira moved around several more civilians who decided that overcoming the road block was not worth it and were turning around. He called up to one of the soldiers, "I am a friend of Doctor Kato! Please let me up!"
"WHAT?" The soldier glared at Kira, "GO AROUND!"
Kira ignored the soldier and moved to the far side of the road where he saw the figure of Kato before. He heard a female voice and the unmistakable deep intones of Doctor Kato.
"…hurt?" Kato was saying and the woman's voice responded, "The bullet passed right through, thanks for worrying. I cannot believe I lost control of the vehicle. Thank god you were close by."
Think nothing of it Lieutenant Ramius." Kato stood up; he was standing on the top of the trailer's driving compartment and looking down at someone who was obscured by the trailer. "I am happy to do something useful, the most I was able to do since leaving the Dauntless was worry.
"Doctor!" Kira called up, moving closer.
"The Strike goes before the evacuees!" Kato said to the nearest soldiers. "The other four have been seized by ZAFT. This one must get to the Archangel!"
"Doctor Kato!" Kira yelled again, waving his arms. Kato turned towards the civilians. "Move these people back!" Kato finally took notice of Kira, he blinked in surprise. "Kira?"
"Is whatever in this trailer more important than these people Doctor?!" Kira had not meant to make it sound so accusatory.
Kato considered Kira thoughtfully, but he turned away, "Get out of here!"
Kira, dismayed by the Doctor's response, could only gape in shock, "What?!"
Kato started ordering the soldiers again, "Move these people back, we have to get it to the Archangel on the double!" Kato turned back around and his eyes fell back on Kira. For the first time since Kira had known him, he looked angry, "What are you still doing? Get to the nearest shelter! NOW!"
As if to punctuate his words, the forest next to the bridge burst into flame after a few rounds from a 76mm Heavy Machine Gun struck the trees. A rumbling filled the air as Miguel and Matthew's GINN's landed next to the trailer and, unbeknownst to Kira, the final G-Weapon.
They were standing in the direction the civilians were trying to head; however, no longer, screaming in a panic the remaining civilians on the highway backtracked and ran—fleeing from the massive machines.
Kira did not move. Once again he was in struck by the size and pure tangible power that emanated from the mobile suits—both fear and awe.
The GINNs slowly approached the trailer.
Miguel was furious. The mission had started well enough, the bombs went off, the soldiers attacked the trailers, and he and Matthew wreaked havoc on what could laughably be called ground defenses. Everything was going by the numbers, but he noticed that Olar's team was late—very late. The battle progressed and they still heard nothing from Olar, Tomas, or Mine.
When Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol seized their G-Weapons and headed for the exit, Miguel ordered Grace to investigate the other team's whereabouts. A few minutes later, she reported that the whole team was KIA. It appeared that they encountered other Mobile Suits that ZAFT did not plan for and they'd gotten themselves killed trying to fight them off. They seemed to have taken all their enemies down with them, as Grace reported no other contacts after she headed back to her post.
Miguel barely had enough time to wrap his head around the fact that some of their subordinates and closest friends were dead, when Athrun reported that he and Rusty "failed." Miguel had always liked Rusty, even if he was a red coat. Miguel felt another wave of astonishment, anger, and even guilt wash over him. It was his plan to divide the team up; all these deaths were his responsibility.
Miguel shook his head and berated himself. At a time like this, what am I doing getting distracted?
Now it was his duty to make sure that Rusty's target did not make it off the colony. They would either capture the Earth mobile suit or barring that, destroy the machine.
"Matthew, there are several more ground vehicles on the way. Get ready to move. We will wipe them out and seize the enemy machine."
Matthew tone was cool and focused, he too was angry over all the friends he'd lost today, "Roger, lets kick some ass."
The enemy vehicles spun around the bend. They were little more than armored jeeps with surface-to-air rocket launchers placed on top, easy pickings for the GINNs. Ducking and jumping through the rockets the jeeps fired at them, the GINNs annihilated the vehicles with grim efficiency.
Rounds and rockets caused massive explosions all around Kira. Unable to see straight, Kira leapt off the bridge and rolled down a sloping hill. Screams and horrified cries filled the air as the remaining civilians in the area were caught in the cross fire. Several were hit by shrapnel; more were sudden deaths, a stray missile, a causal foot of a mobile suit crushing a parent and child. Horrendous destruction was everywhere and Kira heard it all as he lay on the ground.
"Cagalli…" Kira muttered, slowly standing, he had to find her and make sure she was alright. No sooner had the young man stood when a foot of a mobile suit came crashing down several yards away, the weight knocked Kira off his feet. Landing on his back, Kira stared up at grey and green mobile suit as it aimed its rifle at some unseen enemy and proceeded to fire rapidly.
The ground shook as the shell casings tumbled to the ground, the size and weight were enough to crush anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in their path and right now, that was Kira. Responding by pure instinct, Kira crawled to his feet and sprinted further into the destroyed forest, away from the bridge and up a steep incline that led to a high dirt road. He passed by something that resembled a body but was charred to a crisp, but his frantic terrified brain barely processed this terrible scene. It could only think about one thing: Survive. Survive! SURIVIVE! SURVIVE!
Either by luck, speed, or skill, Kira managed to get out from underneath the standing GINN and away from the falling shells. He only stopped because the incline was mostly tiny, loose rocks and the loud sound of the GINNs' rifles firing shook the ground, making the terrain difficult to climb. Kira had a frantic moment of feeling his feet suddenly give way, before he fell, barely managing to catch himself with his hands before his face planted in the uneven ground.
"Shit…shit…shit…" Kira muttered and rolled over. The GINNs were further away; one was now standing in front of the trailer, shielding it from the remaining attacking armored jeeps.
Kira glanced up and saw that the road above him had many civilians heading away from the battlefield; some had stopped and stared with shock at the mobile suits. A few more were even taking pictures, but Kira looked past all of them and his eyes met a girl in a pink dress. She was following an older man in a blue suit who looked decidedly unhappy and annoyed with the situation.
"Flay…Allstar?" Kira mouthed and the red headed girl cocked her head thoughtfully at him. Recognition crossed her face and her mouth formed an 'Oh!' Disregarding her own safety, Flay turned away from following her father and stood at the brink of the hill, and then slowly, she started sliding down it.
"You!" Flay called, red hair streaming behind her, "You're one of Sai's friends, right?"
Kira looked at the girl he had been crushing on for years. What was she saying? Didn't she know that this was unsafe? "F-flay…"
"Flay, get back here NOW! FLAY!" Her father stood at the top of the hill, getting jostled by people who wanted nothing more than to get to a safe shelter.
"Where is he?" Flay was calling down to Kira as she slowly moved down the hill, taking care not to slip, "Where is Sai?"
A stray shot struck the road above her and the hill top exploded.
Flay was thrown forward, rolling down the hill, her pink dress charred and burned. She stopped a few yards in front of Kira.
"FLAY!" Kira forced himself to stand, he still felt disoriented and his heart was racing so fast he thought it might burst. He took a few shaky steps up the hill and, regaining his coordination, moved towards Flay.
"Flay!" He grabbed her arms, gently shaking her. Seeing her open her eyes slowly and look around in confusion, filled Kira was relief.
"Dad?"
The single worded question made Kira's blood run cold. Hadn't he seen her father on top of the hill? The icy feeling was spreading to his heart. Flay's father was . . .
"D-dad…" Flay pushed herself away from Kira and stood on trembling legs, almost falling down the steep incline, but she got her balance and stumbled forward. "Daddy?" She headed back up to the crater where her father stood before.
Kira stood too, eyes wide. He was frozen and there didn't seem to be any sound except for Flay's slowly accelerating breaths. All the sounds of far off cries and the echoes of battle were gone, all that existed was Flay's pain.
What should he say? What could he say? All he could do was just stand there and watch.
"DADDY! DAD!"Flay had finally broken, falling to her knees near the edge of the crater and screaming her misery up into the sky. Her calls for her father became broken by sobs and choking tears.
A voice from Kira's past spoke unbidden, it was someone who he had not thought of in a while, "The PLANTs and Earth will see eye to eye…"
Kira moved forward, sullen and ashen faced, until he stood a few feet behind the weeping girl. "Flay, if you don't get out of here you will die too."
Flay didn't respond, she was hunched over, face obscured by her red hair.
"The PLANTs and Earth will see eye to eye…"
"Flay!" Kira fell to his knees behind her and grabbed her arms, "RUN! Get out of here!" What was he doing? They barely knew each other. They only spoke a few times in class. Kira had never spoken to her so harshly, let along touch her.
"No!" Flay turned her tear streaked face back to the crater. "NO!" She fell back forward on her knees
"FLAY!" Kira forced her back up, attempting to pull her on her feet.
"NOOO!" Flay shrieked, her hysteria growing, as she squirmed and spun her body in an attempt to escape. "NO!"
"The PLANTS and Earth will see eye to eye…"
"Snap out of it!" Kira tried shaking her again, but one of Flay's hands struck his face and pushed it away at an odd angle. The frozen feeling inside of Kira was melting away, he was getting mad now. A stray thought popped into his head, reminding him what people in movies did in this situation.
"Enough!' Kira let go one of her arms and proceeded to slap Flay in the face. Repeated. He immediately felt worse, but Flay had stopped screaming and instead seemed to be more aware. "You're stronger than THIS! You are not a child!"
Flay blinked, shock and misery written all over her beautiful face. She stammered out an incoherent response.
"Run to the nearest shelter! You can run, right?!"
Flay paused and slowly nodded.
"I will be right behind you! MOVE!"
He dragged the girl back to her feet; she was almost entirely dead weight. She still seemed to be in pure shock, would she be able to escape? "GO! NOW!"
Flay stood, her face pale and empty. It didn't look like Flay could even see the world around her. "Run!" Kira urged, backing away down the hill.
Flay took a few steps, stopped, almost fell, but kept moving. Slowly at first, but with every passing step she seemed to gain courage, strength, and speed.
"Run! Run Flay Allster!" Kira shouted, his voice getting hoarse, and Flay did exactly that. She kept running and running until she was back on top of the hill and disappeared out of sight.
Kira smiled, his eyes filling with tears. "Yeah…keep going Flay." He didn't sob, but the tears kept coming and blinded him. His home was attacked. He had almost gotten killed by a collapsing building, he had dodged massive bullet shell-casings, and now had watched all those people disappearing in an instant. It had all happened so easily. Human life shouldn't be extinguished like that. And Flay, he had to hurt her, too push her to ignore the pain of losing her father and survive. It hurt. It hurt to cause others harm.
However . . .
Kira turned towards the rampaging GINNs. He was overlooking them on the burning hill and down below, Kira's eyes focused on something in the trailer. It was a grey mobile suit and judging from the head, it was the same type as the one from the collapsing building.
Did ZAFT come to steal these weapons? If so, how dare they do this! Life would never go back to how it was, never! Rage unlike anything Kira had ever felt before starting to pump through Kira's veins. If he could stop them from causing more damage. . .
Kira stared at his hands, dirty and black, he could do it. He was a coordinator.
"The PLANTs and Earth will see eye to eye…there will be no war."
Kira glared at the GINNs in pure rage.
Athrun, you were wrong.
Author's Note:
You will notice that Athrun and Kira did not run into each other in the hanger. Meaning that neither knows about each other's whereabouts or affiliations…for now…
I hope I am keeping things interesting for you readers! I always found the Heliopolis arc to be a little slow; I'm hoping to remedy that.
As always, PLEASE REVIEW! It helps! Seriously! I cannot stress that enough!