Gundam SEED Eternity - Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, or Gundam 00, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else!
The casket splashed down into the water, the bouquet of white lilies laid on its top scattering over the surface of the water.
"We will not forget what you fought for," Murrue said authoritatively, standing before the gathered crew on the deck of the Archangel. "All hands, salute!"
Cagalli's casket sank under the waves as the Archangel's crew stood at attention. On the deck, dutifully saluting with the rest of the crew, Lacus Clyne, whom had brought the Eternal into Earth's atmosphere once she had learned of the attack in order to provide support, glanced over at Kira. His eyes were red, his face pale and haggard. He had changed. And somehow, someway, she sensed anger from him.
Sometime later, the sun slowly slipped below the horizon, Kira sat in the cockpit of the Freedom Gundam. He had been sitting in the cockpit of the machine since Cagalli's body had been laid to rest in Orb's coastal waters, nearly one week earlier.
At the moment, Kira was a broken soul, his grief over Cagalli's death compounded by an overwhelming sense of guilt that he had not been there to protect her, and an even stronger feeling of failure.
Kira sobbed, and clutched his stomach as he began to feel sick. Over the past week he had been watching movies of himself and Cagalli, which had been recorded during the two years of peace.
"You took her from me," he hissed, twisting around and wrapping himself in the blanket which he had retrieved from his quarters before taking refuge within the Freedom Gundam's cockpit. "You took her away from me..."
"Why..." he whispered, sobbing again as more tears slipped around his eyes."Why did she have to die...?"
"Why couldn't I protect her..." he murmured."Why...why couldn't I protect her?!"
Kira clutched himself tightly, quivering.
"Why...why, why, WHY?!"
He threw back his head and shrieked, until he was out of breath.
After a few moments of complete silence, there was a noise that sounded like the hatch opening, and Kira's bloodshot eyes turned towards it, and immediately squinted as light washed over everything. A voice was speaking, but he could hardly hear it, and it was coming from someone he could hardly see. At last, his eyes adjusted, and he looked up at the person who had opened the machine's cockpit hatch.
The first thing he noticed was a white Orb uniform. He looked up at this mysterious soldier's face, knowing that he should have recognized her. Kira looked at the gentle, calm, attractive woman's face. Chocolate brown eyes gazed at him, and her smiling face was framed in attractive chestnut tresses.
Kira looked at Murrue through his bloodshot eyes as she gently lowered herself into the cockpit, landing on his lap. She silently sat there for a few seconds, but then without any warning, he brought his left hand up and slapped her hard across the cheek, before then snarling. "Please, just leave me alone."
Murrue nodded reluctantly, before then climbing out of the cockpit and slowly walking away from the machine, but her eyes widened in horror as the Freedom's Phase Shift armor lit up a few seconds later and Kira's voice boomed through the external speakers as the Freedom raised its beam rifle. "Open the catapult doors or I'll do it myself!"
Murrue watched stunned as the catapult doors slowly opened, and as the Freedom moved towards the catapult she yelled. "Deploy the grabbers!"
The grabbers were a pair of rocket anchors which were designed to capture an unauthorized mobile suit launch. Kira knew they were a recent addition, and he hadn't dealt with them yet. The catapult doors opened, and Kira took off.
A pair of claw-like hands shot out of the Archangel's bow. Kira opened Freedom's wings and turned, opening his rail guns and blasting both grabbers, then turned and boosted away. He was out of sight in less than two seconds, leaving Murrue standing in the hanger bay, staring in stunned silence. Kira was gone, and she didn't know if, or when he would return.
A few hours later, Kira Yamato removed his helmet and opened the cockpit hatch of the Freedom Gundam. He was greeted by nothing more than the dimmed lights of a ship which had been left to operate on nothing more than its computer systems and artificial intelligence, the Rising Angel.
Kira sighed as he climbed out of the cockpit, making his way to his quarters. He thrust himself into bed, turning off the lights, staring forward into nothingness.
Nothingness. He didn't have to close his eyes, but he did anyway; he could see everything again. Cagalli, her lifeless body cradled in his arms, her white Orb uniform stained with bright red blood as her dull, lifeless, unseeing eyes stared at nothing.
Nearly a month had passed since Kira had left the Archangel. In the Archangel's hanger bay, Kira Hibiki looked up at the Destiny Gundam, the cockpit was wide open and the zip line was extended. She quickly looked around and once she was sure that no one was watching, she ran to the Destiny, grabbed the zip line and let it lift her to the cockpit.
Everyone watched in shock as the Destiny Gundam's eyes suddenly flashed with a bright green light. Hibiki raised the beam rifle as her voice boomed through the Destiny's external speakers. "Open the hatch, do it now!" A few seconds later, the catapult hatch opened, and the Destiny Gundam streaked out of the hanger and away from the ship.
On the bridge, Murrue smiled ever so slightly, and as the Destiny Gundam sped away she thought. 'I hope that you are successful in getting Kira to come back to us. Good luck.'
And so, Chapter 5 is complete.
I apologize for how short this chapter is, but I plan to make it up to you, my loyal readers, in the next few chapters.
AS ALWAYS, PLEASE REVIEW AND FEEL FREE TO OFFER ANY IDEAS!