Well I know you've been waiting forever so here the eleventh chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own gundam wing/seed
Admiral sutherland was not in a happy mood. A few minutes ago, he had been sent a message from Michel Verdan stating that his fleet had arrived at the Archangel's location and were readying themselves to subdue Wing Zero
Upon hearing this news Sutherland was initially excited at the prospect of obtaining the enigmatic mobile suit for the benefit of the Earth Alliance and Blue Cosmos. He was so confident that the Earth Alliance would finally have a trump card to potentially turn the tide of the war that he found himself pitchering Zaft being completely and utterly defeated, the Plants being destroyed, and the Coordinator being wiped out and humanity's having its dignity restored.
But that all came crashing down when he received another message claiming that Wing Zero was single handedly decimating the entire fleet.
The Admiral could scarcely bring himself believe it, while Wing Zero had proven itself to be insanely powerful even more so than the G weapons built on Heliopolis the very idea that it was take out an entire fleet (albeit one that was relatively small in size compared to others) by itself was beyond ridiculous.
But the Admiral couldn't deny the mission had been a failure when there was no further contact from the fleet.
"Dammit!" He slammed his fist on the desk. "The fleet's mission was simple. Capture Wing Zero they had five warships and ninety plus mobile armors and they were only against a single mobile suit so how could they have possible failed?"
It momentarily occurred the Admiral that the Archangel may have had something to do with it but the orders he gave were specifically to wait for Zaft forces to attack the ship so the crew nor the Strike would be able to interfere and furthermore to commence the operation away from them so they'd never know what was happening and Michel Verdun was chosen to lead the mission because he was known for following orders to the T.
Since the possibility of the Archangel's interference was out of the question that left the question the question of just how Wing Zero was able to wipe out an entire fleet on its own.
If there was something more to the suit that its pilot hadn't shown up until now than acquiring the machine was all the more vital for the goal of purging Coordinator from the Earth sphere once and for all.
XXXXX
"You think we can finally breathe a sigh of relief now?" Mu La Flaga asked nonchalantly.
"After we find Cagalli." Ramius replied earning immediate protest from Badgiruel.
"Captain we lost her signal during the last skirmish meaning she likely been shot down and considering we're in the middle of the Pacific ocean the odds of us finding her are unlikely."
"Be that as it may by the off chance she's still alive we have to try." Ramias replied.
While she knew very well that this was likely going to end as a wasted effort that would more than likely do nothing more than delay the Archangel from reaching Alaska as soon as possible and get reported to the higher ups by Natarle she saw Cagalli as a valuable ally and didn't want to leave her to die out at sea by the off chance she was alive.
"I can head out as soon as Skygrasper one is refueled." Mu said.
"Good. I'll see if I can inquire for Heero's help in the meantime."
"Will he really go out? I mean he had long fight with the two remaining G weapons along with that new machine we know nothing about."
"There's no guarantee he'll agree to help but its the best option we have at the moment."
"True I guess I'll be the one to bring the request to his attention."
XXXXX
Athrun felt himself coming to as his vision cleared up himself to be sitting inside the cockpit of the Aegis.
Unable to immediately recall what had happened he looked around and saw that pieces of shrapnel were scattered throughout the cockpit as well as embedded in his body.
The Zaft red pilot briefly wondered how he ever ended in such a terrible state until everything that had happened before he lost consciousness came back to him.
"Wing Zero." He muttered to him before he looked above him in time to see the hatch to his cockpit open.
"Athrun are you alrig-What happened to your arms!?" Exclaimed the voice of Nicol after the hatch was opened enough for him to see Athrun's state.
"My front panel exploded and I had to use my arms to keep any shrapnel from getting in my face."
"Yeah the Ageist wasn't in the best condition when I pulled it out of the sea, though neither is the Blitz or all rounder."
"All things considered we should probably just be grateful just to be alive and on that note did Daniel get make it?"
"Yeah out of all of us I think you're actually in the worst condition."
"There wasn't anything I could do to keep myself from being on the receiving end of shrapnel."
"If you say so. Anyway let's get you out of this." Nicol said before carefully undoing Athrun's seatbelts and removing him from the cockpit.
Upon seeing the outside the blunnette was greeted to the sight on a one armed Blitz crouched in the sand next to the All rounder which was missing both legs laid out on its back.
"So where's Daniel at?"
"In a nearby cave getting a fire going, he'll might backup with us after he's done."
"Have guys already set up a distress beacon."
"Right over there in the water."
Athrun looked in the direction Nicol gestured and saw the was indeed a beacon sending out a signal.
"I guess all that's left is to wait for someone to find us."
"Yeah but will anyone be happy to actually see us?"
"It'll likely depend on if the General and his team completed their mission to sink the legged ship or not."
Nicol sighed bitterly. "You're probably right which begs the question what happens if it turns out the General failed?"
"We followed our orders so even if others in Zaft are unhappy to see its us they're coming to pick up and Morrisem did indeed fail his mission they won't be able to accuse or charge us with anything."
"That's relieving to know but the others within Zaft won't think any different of us."
"That can't be helped. All we can do is try anything within our power to prove our loyalty going forward."
"Well regardless of what others might say about the two of you. I'll defend you to the end." came the voice of Daniel's voice.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Athrun inquired.
"Yeah. You both proved your loyalty as far as I'm concerned."
Nicol's eyes widened considerably. "You mean it?!"
"Of course. Even if everyone in Zaft insist on believing you both can't be trusted I'll stand with you.
"Thanks that means a lot."
"I'm glad it he-!" The Daniel stopped short when the sound of a gunshot was heard and the sand next to his was suddenly scattered causing him along with the other Zaft pilot to look in the direction the sound came from and saw a person with blond hair and wearing a military vest pointing a sidearm gun at them.
Acting quickly Daniel pulled out his own sidearm and returned fire before Nicol managed to sit Athrun down in the sand and draw his weapon firing it and managing to graze the person's arm.
Daniel shot off another round and managing to get the enemy soldier in their shoulder causing them to cry out in pain and drop their weapon.
"Surrender now or we'll have no choice but to take your life."
The opposing soldiers made no move to grab their weapon however to also made no gesture of surrender prompting the three Zaft soldier to wonder what they were planning to do.
The answer came when the person turned around to took off into the forest.
"Hey wait!" Nicol called out readying himself to give chase.
"Wait a minute Nicol." Daniel said causing his fellow Zaft pilot to stop in his tracks. "Just grab and get rid of the side arm they dropped and get rid of it. Once that's done they won't won't be a threat and it's not like they'll be able to take any of the mobile suits."
"I see your point."
"Besides we need to focus on getting Athrun's wounds treated. So let's just head back to the campsite."
XXXXX
"So I guess we're simply playing the waiting game now. Though thanks to the storm outside we're probably gonna be stuck here until morning." Nicol mused as he Athrun and Daniel sat around a cave.
It was now nightfall and but some ill stroke of fate a storm started outside making it more or less impossible to traverse the island for the time being or for the beacon to display a proper signal.
Daniel glanced outside before shrugging "It can't be helped. Though it might be best to savor this while we can."
"Why?"
"As soon as we're found it is very possible we'll be reprimanded for our failure to take Wing Zero out of the pitcher and ordered to go after it along with the legged ship and the Strike."
Athrun leaned back against the cave wall. "Well you might be right but the former of that scenario you brought up will likely be directed at me and Nicol more so than you since we're the ones everyone doesn't trust anymore."
"Maybe but in spite of that I'll go through it with you when the time comes."
"Are you sure? Whoever's put in charge of punishing me and Nicol probably isn't going to show us any sympathy or restraint."
"Of course I more or less told you both earlier that I'd be on your side even if no one else would didn't I?"
"Yeah you did but still I have to ask if you're absolutely sure?"
"Without a doubt, as far as I'm concerned I pretty much consider you both my friends."
A smile found its way onto Athrun's face. Honestly it surprised just how grateful he was to have met Daniel.
While Athrun endured the verbal hazing he and Nicol were met with at every turn since the loss in the desert it wasn't easy going through it while being isolated from nearly everyone.
To have someone else actually choose to still consider him and ally at that made everything feel significantly easier.
"Thanks! That means a lot." Nicol stated.
"Same here." Athrun followed up.
The sound a someone falling in the sand could be heard outside of the cave alerting all three Zaft soldiers.
"Is someone out there?" Nicol asked.
Daniel drew his side arm. "It's very possible from the sound of it."
"Do you think it's the enemy soldier from earlier."
"Considering they were the only person we've seen on this island with us combined with the fact that the storm raging outside makes it next to physically impossible to find this island it's more than likely."
"Well we'll have to find out just to be on the safe side."
"Right." Daniel diverted his attention. "Athrun since you're injured it'd be best for you to stay here but have your sidearm ready just in case."
"Understood."
Without any further reply Daniel slowly approached the entrance of the cave followed by Nicol.
Nodding to one another the two Zaft reds point their respective weapons outside ready to shoot any potential threat or hide behind cover if the need ever arrived. After what felt like an eternity waiting for something to happen only for everything to remain relatively quiet (unless one counted the storm)
Nicol sighed in relief "It looks like it was nothing."
"Wait we need to be absolutely sure." with that Daniel began moving outside into the storm.
"Daniel what are doing?"
"Making absolutely sure we're safe." Daniel replied whilst heading further out into the storm until he suddenly heard a groaning and aimed his weapon towards the direction the sound came from and saw a figure lying in the sand.
"I don't think there's anyt…." Nicol stopped in mid sentence when he came up beside Daniel and saw the figure in question before his expression became sterner.
"It must be the enemy soldier from before."
"Yeah but from the looks of it they're not in much of a condition to do much of anything."
Daniel went to inspect the enemy soldier more closely and saw they were female and injured from the two shots they received earlier and bleeding profusely.
Given their current condition combined with the fact they have been wandering around in the heavy storm for the last few hours Daniel found surprising they were still alive. He could guess that Naturals were more resilient than he and most others Coordinators in general were lead to believe.
"I guess we should restrain them."
"It'd be within our best interest all things considered." Daniel said picking up the person bridal style and carrying them back towards the cave.
"Wait a minute is that a girl?" Nicol asked in surprise.
"Yeah."
"Wasn't expecting that."
"Neither was I but the fact still remains they're an enemy soldier."
"You sure? They're not wearing an Earth alliance uniform."
"Yeah but they're still wearing a military vest and they did shoot at us earlier, even if they're not officially with the Earth alliance they can't be considered uninvolved anymore."
Nicol sighed. "Fair enough."
Once the two got back to the cave Athrun immediately questioned the two. "Did you find any-who is that?!".
"The enemy soldier apparently." Came Nicol's reply.
"Her, seriously?"
"As hard to believe as it might be yeah." She's the only one on this island with us and to top it off she has bullet wounds from our shootout with her earlier."
Athrun took a look at the girl in question and saw the wounds in her arm and shoulder.
"Let's get her tied up."
XXXXX
"Ugghhh this is the last thing we need. Just when we're about to try searching the area for this blond princess ama storm like this has to start up. I'm really starting to wish our luck would take a turn for the better already." Mu mused.
"It can't be helped. No one can control what the weather might do." Murrue replied. You should consider getting some rest you might not get the chance tomorrow."
"If you say so but what do you plan to do for the remainder of your shift?"
"See that your skygrasper is repaired and ready to launch at a moment's notice so we can have both you and Heero search the area when the storm lets up."
"Sounds like a plan." With that Mu La Flaga proceeded to leave the bridge of the Archangel.
Once he was gone Ramias sighed. 'Please let this storm end soon. I don't want to leave Cagalli behind but we can't afford to linger here forever.'
XXXXX
Groaning in pain Cagalli felt herself slowly come to. Once her vision started clearing up she glanced around and saw she was in what looked like a cave.
She immediately began wondering how she even got there before he thoughts were interrupted by a voice she wasn't familiar with.
"I see you're finally awake."
Cagalli turned her head to see a man in Zaft uniform with shoulder length blue hair along with two others with green and blonde hair.
Upon registering the fact that all three were Zaft soldiers she tried to get up only to discover that her hands and feet were both bound.
"After the shootout we had earlier you didn't think we'd leave you in a position to try something did you?" The blond individual asked."
Cagalli merely grunted in response. "Tell me were you guys the ones that attacked Heliopolis?"
The blunette raised an eyebrow. "Me and Nicol were. Why?"
"I was there when it happened."
"I see. So can you tell us your name?"
"It's Cagalli. And yours?"
"Athrun, that's Nicol and Daniel."
Cagalli eyed the three Zaft soldiers before her focus shifted more so to the Athrun and Nicol as she remembered everything that happened at Heliopolis and all the people that lost their homes as a result of Zaft's attack.
She then shifted her gaze to Daniel and asked the first question that came to mind. "If you weren't with your fellow pilots when did you join their group."
"Just prior to our previous skirmish."
"I'm guessing you're the pilot of that third mobile suit then."
"Yes."
"Alright since we're asking question you mind telling why your with the Earth Alliance?" Athrun inquired.
"I'm not with the Earth alliance or any faction I just want to bring the meaningless war to an end."
"Well I don't know how fighting us is supposed to accomplish that but thanks to this storm along with the radio waves being jammed we're pretty much going to be spending the night here."
"You only have yourselves to blame for the latter afterall it was the Plants that decided to seed the earth with N jammers."
"We had no choice did you really expect us to do nothing when an agricultural plant full of civilians including my mother were lost their lives in an instant?"
"Many of my friends were lost too."
Athrun responded with silence before Nicol decided to continue the conversation in Athrun's place.
"Ya know none of what happened that day during the attack on Heliopolis was supposed to occur."
"What do you mean?" Cagalli inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"We were just trying to secure our machines along with the Strike. We didn't want to get any civilians caught up in it or for Heliopolis to be destroyed."
"If you never wanted the colony to be destroyed you should never have launched an attacked on it to begin with, especially considering it was part of Orb which is Neutral."
Athrun hazed hardened. "You can try and emphasize Orb's supposed Neutrality all you want but the fact remains they built our machines on the behalf of the enemy that's trying to strip us of our right to live as human beings."
Cagalli wanted to refute that claim but knew she couldn't. During the attack on Heliopolis she confirmed the existence of the prototype weapon built for the Earth alliance's use and her father's betrayal of Orb's ideals.
"I know Orb's not completely innocent. But as long as you guys continue to pilot those mobile suits they'll be used to take more lives of the people living on earth."
"Maybe but after finding out our machines were being made on Heliopolis we couldn't simply overlook that. Besides we're pilots of Zaft it's our duty to fight to protect the Plants."
"That reminds me why did you guys start fighting amongst yourselves in the desert? If you're all on the same side there shouldn't have been any reason for you to fight each other."
Athrun hesitated at first considering whether or not it was alright to tell Cagalli considering she was technically an enemy even if she wasn't with the Earth alliance but realized there wasn't anything vital about what happened and any potential damage from the incident had already been done. "Well it was actually the actions of the Buster that led to the entire ordeal."
"Care to elaborate any further."
"Well back before we or the legged ship came to Earth Wing Zero had managed to destroy the Duel."
"Yeah I saw footage of that fight and the past confrontations you had with Wing Zero bit I still find it hard to believe it's pilot is that skilled."
"So do we but I digress, the Duel and Buster's pilots were actually close friends so when the Duel was destroyed the Buster's pilot wanted revenge."
"And this ties into the infighting how?"
"Well when it was decided what everyone's role was going to be me Nicole and the Buster's pilot were assigned to protect one of the ships whilst the ones piloting the new models were assigned to deal with Wing Zero."
"I see. I'm guessing the Buster's pilot wasn't happy with that."
"No he wasn't and it only got worse when the ones who were supposed to take Wing Zero were failing and he decided he didn't care for obeying orders anymore and fired at Wing Zero without considering the position of any of the pilots fighting it."
Athrun sighed as he recalled how everything went downhill in his mind. "The pilots fighting Wing Zero immediately decided that the Buster's pilot turned traitor and decided he needed to be dealt with."
"Ok that explains the Buster's involvement and how the fight initially happened but that still leaves the question of how you and Nicol got wrapped up in it."
"To put it simply we tried to intervene and defuse the situation but our intention was basically misinterpreted as joining in with the Buster's pilot's supposed betrayal and well you saw the rest."
"Yeah but how did you two even manage to explain away what happened to your superiors?"
"Let's just say the of us are on really thin ice right now."
"Makes sense." Cagallo said before her stomach suddenly growled earning a slight chuckle from Athrun and Nicole.
"I guessing your rations got washed away?"
Cagalli groaned in response. She didn't want to admit but Athrun was right on the mark with his deduction she lost her rations when she came ashore from the skygrasper.
Nicol smirked. "It looks like you're spot on Athrun." he turned to Cagalli. "Since we're pretty much going to be spending the night here we can share our rations with you."
Athrun proceeded to cut the binds off of Cagalli's arms and legs causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture but are you sure you should let a prisoner move around so freely."
"Without a weapon your no real threat to even one of us let alone all of us. So you might as well give up on any thoughts of trying anything or did you survive Heliopolis just to throw your life away here?"
Cagalli grunted in anger bit relented any would be contemplations of taking action against the Zaft pilots nonetheless. She didn't want the Aegis, Blitz, or even the unknown mobile based off their general design to used to kill those who call the Earth their home but she wasn't in any real position to go against the pilots as things currently stood.
XXXXX
The next day Mu La Flaga was swiftly suited up and prepared to launch in sly graspers whilst Heero was readying himself to launch in Wing Zero.
"It looks like that storm cleared up but that leaves the question where are we supposed to begin our search."
"There was an archipelago near where we had fought Zaft forces if there was anywhere for her to have ended up it would have to have been there." Replied Heero.
"Make sense and thanks for agreeing to this search."
"It'll increase our chances of finding her are higher if I help."
"Fair enough. I'll launch first and head to the islands you mentioned."
"Roger that." Heero replied before cutting the link and launching.
Personally he didn't have his hopes up that high as opposed to others on the Archangel. While it was true the Cagalli was alive if she made it to one of the islands assuming she didn't plummet into the sea or the skygrasper she was piloting didn't tearing itself apart after being shot down by the Aegis that was a pretty big if.
Still if she was indeed still amongst the living then the faster she was found the better. Heero didn't plan on staying with the Archangel much longer since once they reached Alaska there was a chance the crew would find out about the fleet he destroyed and that would lead to complications amongst the more obvious ones if the fleet being sent out there at all was anything to go by.
Simply put the attempt to capture Wing Zero had only affirmed that Heero's decision not to truly trust the Earth Alliance was right one, granted it was pretty obvious the Earth Alliance was never a good group to begin with but their latest actions solidified that fact for the Gundam pilot.
It didn't take too much time before the islands were in sight.
Flying along the coast of the islands Heero quickly spotted a small number of Zaft ships approaching the other side.
Since they weren't relevant to his current mission he decided to simply keep his distance and ignore them.
After a short while longer he managed to stumble upon the skygrasper two and weather by some odd coincidence or a trap the Gundam pilot also spotted Cagalli running out of the tree line and towards the Archangel. Heero initially suspected the latter of the possibilities considering Zaft was also present on the island but when none of his secondary cameras spotted anyone else he decided to contact the Archangel whilst keeping his guard up since there was a possibility of Zaft soldiers hiding in the treeline. If that was indeed the case Heero could dispatch of them with his vuclans.
"Archangel I've located Cagalli and the skygrasper 2."
Ramias immediately responded. "Alright we'll head over to your location."
"Roger that but be advised. Zaft forces are on the opposite side of the island. Likely looking for any survivors from their side."
"Understood. We'll pick up Cagalli and Skygrasper 2 and begone before the enemy has any chance at trying to engage us."
"I'll keep watch just in case any Zaft forces try anything for the time being."
XXXXX
Cagalli had to say she was relieved by how fast she was found and amazed since there were a number of small number of islands. The only thing she could assume was that the skygrasper made it easier to find her.
It was the second surprise she had been in for that day along with the one from earlier.
Flash back
"Wait you're really letting me go?" Cagalli inquired in complete confusion.
Athrun scratched the back of his head. "Well since you're not officially one of the Earth Alliance's soldiers you're not our enemy at least not officially."
Cagalli raised an eyebrow. "Are sure you really wanting to be cutting corners?"
"It won't be a problem as long as no one among us confesses to having met you. Unless you'd actually prefer to spend the remainder of this war in a 2 by 2 cell."
"Yeah no, I like having my freedom thank you very much."
"Well then you'd best get going."
Flashback end
As Wing Zero touched down Heero's voice was heard for its outward speaker. "Are any of the Zaft pilots in the immediate vicinity?"
"No I would have saw them." Cagalli replied before spotting Skygrasper one flying over head.
"The Archangel will be here soon."
'Of course you're not going to bother taking me back to it. Well at least I don't have to worry about being left here.'
XXXXX
Celine when in her office looking over the blueprints for a special high performance type mobile suit.
'Zala already had too many weapons on hand has things stand and if he becomes the Plants' chairman things will only become more complicated down the line. Hopefully this machine will help keep the Plants on the path to the future they were built for.'
The Zaft Commander proceeded to look through the files of all the new trainees she was supervising including the songstress who was off the books to maintain secrecy. 'And protect Ms Clyne.'
Celine sighed. "If Zala begins begins leading the Plants leading the Plants down a path of needless genocide. Ms Clyne might be the only person who can lead the people back to the right path."
Another that gained the Commander's attention was the fact that the task of seeing the mobile suit known as Wing Zero dealt with fall right back into Zala's hands, it wasn't simply that it happened it all since the was something of a sensible reason where many members of the council believed the Zala needed to take responsibility for dealing with Wing Zero since it was those under his command who screwed up everything in desert, rather it was the complete lack of protest from Keagan.
Normally council members wouldn't be so quick to forfeit a task like the one of dealing with Wing Zero since actually accomplishing it would greatly improve their public image or in this case when the previous failure wasn't really any fault of theirs but Keagan didn't have anything to say at all when Zala was put back on center stage.
Keagan's secretive nature had always painted him has a bit shady but something about his latest action (or lack thereof) really unnerved her, she wondered if she was just being paranoid or if Keagan was indeed planning something in the future.
If it was the former Commander would be relieved in the case of the latter she could only hope it was something that benefited those living in the Plants.
And that's the end of this ch. Sorry for the short length in spite of the long wait but not much happened during the episode where Cagalli and Athrun met during seed so I didn't have much to work with.
I couldn't really put in any action since any enemies that were out at sea with the Archangel are eliminated courtesy of Heero for the time being and just having someone pop out of nowhere wouldn't make sense
Anyway next ch will have more stuff actually happen