Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces

By: Shadow Chaser

An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising

Story:

Phase Eleven – Lies

Athrun leaned against the phone booth for a second before pushing off and heading back to Lacus' office on Aprilius One. Her office also doubled as a spare bedroom of sorts as did all of the Council members' offices. Even though her home was on Aprilius One in a different sector, for the past few days she hadn't returned there.

He had wanted to say more to Cagalli, but couldn't risk it in such an open line. He didn't want his relationship with Cagalli out in the open. He didn't want Cagalli to be more of a target than she was if Patrick Zala found out.

Heading back to Lacus' office, he wanted to check on her before going back to the prison area on Aprilius One. Initially, ZAFT was going to transfer Griever to the penal prison on November Four, but Lacus had insisted that he stay at the prisons on Aprilius One so they can find out more information. Others who had supported Eileen Canaver agreed with her.

As he walked the halls towards her office, he noticed that there were a few ZAFT members who he recognized, more as acquaintances than friends, and they were staring at him curiously. He still felt awkward being back on the PLANTs after two years, especially on Aprilius One. He had deserted ZAFT, joined with the Clyne Faction, opposed his father, and ultimately blew the Justice up to destroy Jakin Due. And now he was back on PLANT, except he was part of the LF. He wondered what others thought of his actions…

Stopping in front of Lacus' office door, he knocked gently, but received no answer. He keyed the door open and stepped in. Lacus wasn't at her desk, but her workstation looked like it was recently abandoned. He stepped further into her office and suddenly stopped as he heard singing.

Peering around a corner, he saw her sitting by the window overlooking the city lights of Aprilius One gleaming in the simulated nighttime sky. Pink-chan was on her lap, its flaps waving in tune with her singing.

The melody was hauntingly sad, yet it spoke of hope and Athrun smiled as he closed his eyes to listen to her sing. She had such a beautiful voice, which was one of the reasons why he was attracted to her. But even now, he knew that her voice was the voice of peace, and Kira's salvation.

After a few minutes, she ended the song and he opened his eyes to see her staring at him, Pink-chan silent and content. "It's my new song that I've been working on. I've named it 'Fields of Hope'."

"It's beautiful," he replied as he walked in and sat down on the couch across from her.

"Thank you," she bowed her head slightly, "Kira helped me with some of the lyrics."

He smiled slightly at the mention of his best friends name before looking at her, "Are you all right?"

"I will be once this is over," she replied as she stared down at Pink-chan, "everyone keeps asking me that and I have to say yes, but you of all people besides Kira, know the truth."

"I'm going back to ask Griever more questions," Athrun changed the subject, picking up on her solemn mood. "Lacus…how…why…" He didn't really know how to phrase his next question, but she understood what he was trying to get at.

"Remember what I told you that night about my father sheltering me and telling me that I must present myself to the public as who I am?"

"Yes," Athrun slowly nodded.

"That's what I guess my seed-mode is," Lacus rubbed an invisible spot of dirt off of Pink-chan, "you told me afterwards that I seem to command Nikolai to release me and somehow turned him from his programming. I command people. If that is the power I possess, then I don't want it. If it will force the will of others, what is there to stop me from controlling everyone?"

"Your own heart and goodness, Lacus," Athrun replied, staring at her.

She smiled sadly, "Thank you Athrun. I needed to hear that from someone other than myself in order to believe it to be so."

"Lacus, you told us not to falter when we are needed. Don't falter now because of this," Athrun reassured her, "we have to stay strong."

"I know," she stared out of the window, "this is our inheritance and our legacy…"


It was at least a half-hour later when Athrun stepped out of Lacus' office and headed towards the prison level, escorted by a few ZAFT personnel. Though he knew that the PLANT Supreme Council had lead of the investigation they had allowed the LF to proceed with their own interrogation since Lacus had told them they were also trying to find Patrick Zala. He felt odd being escorted by ZAFT militia instead of having the freedom to walk in and out like he did two years ago.

He knew all of the conversations he had with Griever were recorded and listened to by the investigators so he had to be careful in what he mentioned, especially about Kira. His escort led him to the entrance of the maximum security cells and he handed over his identification card to be processed through. He carried two with him, one given to him by Lacus to allow him to pass through the Council members level without any question, the other was his LF identification.

"You're cleared through Lieutenant Commander," the ZAFT guard said before opening the door for him and he stepped through. Another guard was waiting for him on the other side and led him to Griever's cell.

"Knock when you need to leave," the guard said leaving him in front of Griever's cell before heading back out the door. The door clicked shut behind the guard and Athrun stared at Griever who was sitting sullenly on his cell's bed, leaning against the wall, knees brought up to his chest.

"Come to visit again?" Griever asked in a quiet voice.

Initially, during his first round of questioning the boy who looked like Kira, Athrun had been suspicious of Griever's docility and lack of hostility. It was as if something had been beaten out of him, leaving him like an empty shell. Though Griever still didn't provide much information, his change in personality had thrown him off.

"You know there'll always been questions until we find Zala," Athrun replied, pulling up the chair the guard had sat in and sat down himself. He took a deep breath before plunging on, "Griever, what is Patrick Zala planning to do? Why create the Talon and then destroy it so easily? I thought he'd be smarter to leave a scapegoat of sorts."

"I don't know his plans," Griever sat back, some of his former arrogance showing through.

"You do, I know," Athrun matched his smirk. If there was one thing he had picked up from watching his father and from ZAFT training school, was that to interrogate someone, one had to play either a good cop or bad cop. Right now, he was playing bad cop, or at least he hope it was bad cop.

"Well, obviously you guys found the Genesis on Junius 7 didn't you?" Griever shrugged, "Zala thought it be a reminder to the PLANTs that the war they fought was because of the Bloody Valentine Incident."

"He did a great job reminding them," Athrun narrowed his eyes, "he pissed the people of PLANTs off."

"Precisely," Griever shot back, which startled Athrun.

"You don't get it do you," Griever shook his head, "Zala wants the people of PLANT pissed. But not at him. You see, his plan is to get the PLANTs riled up before he makes his grand entrance."

"You know we're on his tail and we're finding him," Athrun decided to try a different tactic.

"That's nice," Griever looked bored.

"Why did you turn? You could have easily killed Lacus and escaped. You did once when you attempted Cagalli's assassination," Athrun was getting frustrated and he knew he shouldn't be so quick to his anger early in the questioning. But it seemed like whatever had broken Griever down and given them the opportunity to capture him had lost all of its power.

"I could have, could I," Griever mused before standing up and pacing around his cell, "I could have. Athrun when your father was still alive, did you understand him?"

"Huh!"

"Did you understand him to be a kind man?"

"I should be asking the questions," Athrun narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, you should, but this is actually easier and you might see into the motives whereas these cameras and recording devices won't," Griever glanced up at the cameras on the ceiling and Athrun wondered if the teen who looked like Kira knew what he was doing. "So I ask again, do you understand him to be a kind man?"

Athrun knew that Griever knew Kira's secret and was actually making and effort to tell him what was really going on without the rest of the PLANT Supreme Council or some of Orb's investigators to find out. It was that certain measure that made Athrun start to trust what Griever was saying – but only a very small measure.

"Back when I was young, yes. He doted on me like any other parent would."

"Yes, all parents do some form of that, whether or not they abandoned them or abuse them too. Doting is not necessarily a form of pleasure, it can also be pain. Now, how did you feel when your father intended on destroying the Naturals?"

"Confused at first, then angry at him for being so bigoted."

"How did you feel after you found out Freedom's pilot's reasons for stealing the Gundam and why he had joined with Orb, even after being part of the Earth Alliance."

"It wasn't easy, but he convinced me."

"How about after Lacus decided to create her own faction?"

"Many view her as just a pop idol, but she's also like her father, a negotiator, not a politician. She has a good sense of right and wrong. I guess my father didn't realize that when we were engaged. I trusted her as much as I trusted my father before everything hit the fan.

"Then in that sense, you should understand what separates Lacus from your father. What their goals are and what they will do to accomplish those means. Not many can understand those two the way you understand them," Griever said before sitting back down in his chair.

Athrun processed his words for a minute and it seemed that an important link in the grand puzzle suddenly clicked into place. Lacus used her words to convince people and so did his father. Both appealed to Coordinators to fight and to stand down, but what separated Lacus from his father was that Lacus understood the people, being a pop idol and all. She understood what they needed to lift their spirits up. His father never did. Too inundated with politics and with power, he lost touch with the people, as many politicians did. Griever was correct, Lacus, even though her position was that of a politician, like Cagalli, was a negotiator. She understood people's needs and therefore tried her best to give it to them.

Patrick only thought he understood what people needed, whereas it was his own selfish gains. He thought he understood that by leading the Coordinators to war and using the Bloody Valentine Incident, he would be able to wage a total annihilation against Naturals. But it was Lacus with her words (though indirectly), had reminded that there was once a time where Coordinators' ancestors were Naturals and to destroy the past is to destroy themselves. Lacus and Cagalli showed that Coordinators could live in harmony with Naturals because they were essentially one and the same.

And he knew he had unlocked a part of Patrick Zala's plans. Which meant certain urgency to rescue Kira before any of it could come to fruition. Because if Kira wasn't rescued, then all would be lost.

Athrun stared at Griever who stared back at him. He couldn't say his next question out loud. If he did, then the PLANTs would find Kira first before they did and then Kira's secret would be out in the open.

He's on Martius Eight, Griever voice suddenly spoke into his mind and Athrun blinked. He did a double-take of the brown-haired teen before getting up, feigning a nonchalant look on his face before walking over and knocking on the door. The guard immediately opened the door and Athrun walked out without saying another word.

As soon as he was in the main hall, he made a beeline towards Lacus' office. They knew where Patrick Zala was and Kira was probably with him!


Kira blinked open his eyes, feeling lethargic. He glanced around and found the source of his lethargy to be an IV-needle stuck into him, probably pumping him with a sedative. He also found himself sitting in a chair in an unfamiliar room. The room was padded with grey pads that looked soundproof and there was a glass window that was darkened on his left. Grabbing the needle embedded in his arm, he pulled it out, wincing slightly from the twinge of pain before tossing it to the ground.

He got up on unsteady legs and stood in one place for a few minutes, eyes closed, trying to find his center of gravity and dispel most of the effects of the sedative. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes once more and took a tentative step forward before he began pacing around. A flash of irritation ran through him as he was angry at the actions of Dr. Madison and of himself. What the hell did they want with him? Why was she testing him like this? He was angry that he lashed out with some unknown power. What was that power? Why did it bother him so much?

Kira kept pacing around until he suddenly brought his head up to his right as a door in the padded room, hidden by all of the pads, opened and in stepped the last person he wanted to see.

"What the hell do you want?" he snapped, glaring at Richard who was dressed in a white jumpsuit with pockets.

"Why are you so angry, Kira?" Richard stared at him as if he didn't understand the situation.

"Come to throw more golf balls at me?" Kira muttered as he turned away from the man and stared at a blank spot on the ground.

"Kira," Richard stepped in, "no one here is your enemy. We're only trying to help you."

"Help me? All you've been doing is keeping me here. If you want to help me, then let me go!" he shouted, narrowing his eyes in anger.

"I'm afraid we can't do that Kira. You're valuable to us. And we want to help you develop your powers," Richard shook his head as if speaking to a child to which irritated him further.

"I don't want these damn powers! I want to be a normal person! I'm a normal Coordinator!" he balled his hands into fists, "let me go!" The anger that was in his grew so rapidly that he saw a haze of red in his vision and it left him dizzy. He could feel his heartbeat increase, anger and adrenaline flowing in him…when all of the sudden, everything became clear and he realized he could see the tendrils once more.

Those same tendrils that he was able to touch and move objects with. He knew he had shattered glass and pushed away people with it and he also knew that it was dangerous, but that rational part of him knew that he had to escape and to use any means necessary. He wouldn't be manipulated by Patrick Zala or his minions anymore. He wanted to go back to the Archangel, to see Athrun, to see Cagalli and most of all to see Lacus.

"Kira-" Richard started, but Kira cut him off savagely.

"Shut up!" a seed suddenly exploded in his mind and everything started to slow down. He saw the tendrils around Richard as if they were clear as day. Noting the brightest ones that were connected to his windpipe, Kira grabbed onto them and began to squeeze. The rational part of him cried out that it wasn't right, he was going to kill Richard, but he clamped down on that part ruthlessly.

He barely noticed that Richard's eyes were bugged in an effort to suck more air into his now closed windpipe, nor that the man was starting to turn red from the lack of oxygen. "Stop it," he growled at Richard, pitting him with a glare, "no more of your childish games. I don't want to be part of your sick twisted experiments anymore."

He turned his gaze on the door and pushed against the tendrils surrounding the door. The door creaked and groaned as he pushed outward and finally opened with a thunk of protest. Kira turned back to Richard, noting that the man was now unconscious. He released him and the older man crumpled to the ground in a ragged heap.

Narrowing his eyes, he stepped over Richard's crumpled body and out the door. There were no guards to greet him, but Kira sensed that the cameras in the room that had been focused on him were probably all active, recording him and also summoning the guards. He didn't know where to go, but decided to head to his right. Any direction was better than being in that room.

He wondered why was everything so slow, but then realized that it was him who was moving fast, his seed-mode, he realized. A feral smile appeared on his face as he knew that he had an advantage. Just then a general alarm started to blare along with the general announcement of his escape. Kira quickly ran down the corridors, twisting and turning down halls. He made a left down another hall when he skidded to a stop. The guards down the hall shouted in surprise and started to fire their machine guns.

Kira ran back the way he came from when a flash of pain erupted from his side and he grunted in pain from the bullet wound. Holding a hand to his side, he turned to another corner, hearing the others chase after him, but their footsteps faded away soon enough, him moving faster than the others.

Taking another hallway, he ran across a catwalk and suddenly stopped as he saw that at least two groups of guards were advancing towards him. A clomping of feet behind him told him that guards were behind him, and he was trapped on the catwalk. He glanced down and saw that the tendrils that he was able to touch pulsated red, warning him that he shouldn't jump as they wouldn't be able to catch him, nor would he be able to grab onto them.

Cursing silently, he crouched into a fighting stance. There were too many guards to manipulate the tendrils and he knew he couldn't dodge bullets from that many machine guns, seed-mode or not. His throbbing wound on his side made him a bit dizzy from the blood loss. He couldn't lose now! He was so close to escaping from this hell hole.

"Halt, or we will shoot," the lead guard in front of him said, raising the barrel of his machine gun up.

Frowning, Kira held his hands up and stared at the lead guard. He dared not to move his eyes from the guard's face, but could sense with the tendrils to guide him that someone, was approaching from behind to handcuff him. The weave of the tendrils around him told him that the rest of the guards were still pointing all of their weapons on him, leaving the lone guard to cuff him. A predatory thought flashed through his head and he tensed, ready to act.

In the second he felt the thick cool metal of the handcuffs, he spun around and drew out the person's gun, simultaneously flipping the safety off and holding gun to the person's head. A part of him was mildly surprised that it was a girl, but he shoved that thought away. He had to escape from here and he was going to use any means to do so.

"I will shoot her if you don't let me pass," he growled at the guards who had snapped their rifles towards him.

Kira watched the guards carefully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the guards sighting him for a sniper shot and pulled the gun from the girl's head and swung around to fire at the guard.

The tendrils suddenly warned him of impending danger but it was too late. He felt a surge of electro shock rush through his spine, paralyzing him. Kira's eyes bugged from the intense pain and shock before he collapsed boneless to the ground. The last thing he saw was the girl standing over him, holding a small hand held taser, an unreadable expression on her face. Then all became black.


The moment Keiji saw Kira on the catwalk, he immediately wanted to blow the whole mission and take his son out of there. The only thing that stopped him was the wild uncontrollable look on his son's face. The haunted look of a predator that he saw was most definitely not his son. Even Yzak and Dearka beside him had shocked expressions on their faces, though they were quick to wipe them away.

They had been following Riley into the heart of the base when the alarm of an escaped prisoner sounded and the girl had told him that they should join the search party to make it seem they were part of the facility instead of new people. Keiji agreed and so they joined with a party, Riley acting as their squad commander.

He had to admit that her training under Quinn showed. She knew how to take command and very easily lead her squad mates into danger and out of it. Except for this one.

When Kira had taken Riley hostage, he had frozen to the spot, not believing what his eyes were showing him. The wild look on his son's face had shocked him and it reminded him of one other who had the same exact expression. Griever. If it wasn't for the fact that Griever had a wicked scar down the left side of his face, he would have thought this was the assassin.

Only when Riley used a sleight of hand to get a taser to shock Kira out that he saw his son's eyes return from their seed-mode to normalcy before he passed out cold.

"Good job, Lieutenant Onoko," one of the men stepped forward as Riley stepped back from Kira's body and rubbed her neck a bit painfully.

"You and you!" the man who had Lieutenant Commander pips on his uniform jabbed a finger at Keiji and the guy next to him, "get the prisoner back to his cell. 456-B."

Keiji immediately sprang into action, shouldering his machine gun and gently picked Kira up by one arm while the guy next to him did the same. They both headed towards the way Kira came through on the catwalk moments before. Inwardly, he knew he had to get his son out fast. Whatever Patrick did to him in the past few days had adversely affected him and Keiji didn't want his son to be here any longer. He let the other guy lead a bit, pretending to be shouldering a heavy burden while he memorized the route to Kira's cell and looked for other ways out of the maze-like halls.

"Hold on to the prisoner, I gotta punch in the code," the guy shoved the unconscious Kira towards him and Keiji caught his son in a gentle but tight embrace. He knew security cameras were all around and however much he wanted to take Kira and go right now, he still had another part of the plan to execute. Yzak and Dearka were in charge of finding Patrick Zala and possibly eliminating him, but he had to get to a scientist's terminal and grab all the files Patrick had on his son and the experiments that were conducted on him since he was taken by Quinn. After what he had seen, he had to get that information to his wife who could be the only person who could help Kira now.

The guy tapped a part of the wall and a keypad popped out. He punched the code in carelessly and Keiji instantly committed the keystrokes to his memory. The door hissed open and the guy stared at him.

"Why don't you take him in. I don't feel like carrying him," he shrugged and jerked his head inward.

Keiji picked Kira up and entered in, noticing that the cell they had put his son in was a fairly large room, but very sparse. There was just a military issued bed with a thin blanket and ratty looking pillow. A small table with a single plastic chair was the only other furniture in the room. What looked like shattered remnants of glass still laid on the table. He glanced around, his keen eyes taking in parts of the walls high above where he knew there had to be a one-way mirror of sorts. Keiji quickly put Kira down on the bed, taking care to draw the blanket up.

He dared not linger any longer before anyone suspected and headed out the door. Outside, the guy who had punched in the code gave him an odd stare.

"What's with the tucking in?"

"He's just a kid. You know what they've been doing to him. At least maybe he'll remember that when he wakes up and won't come killing us," Keiji adlibbed.

"Good point," the man scratched his head, "anyways, what's your connection to the Lieutenant?"

"Onoko?" Keiji asked and got a nod in return, "her bodyguard."

"Whoa. Didn't know that Dr. Madison ordered one for her assistant, freaky man, freaky."

"After this?" Keiji jerked his head back towards the closed door, "besides, she's been working pretty close to the kid right?"

"Yeah," the man suddenly picked up his pager and stared at it, "oh shit. Gotta go man. Nice talking with ya." He turned and jogged away, leaving Keiji alone in the hall.

Keiji didn't know what kind of plans Zala had for his son or for the others, but he instinctively knew that it was going to happen soon. He headed back up to where he last saw the others, and knew that he didn't have too much time to get all of the information he needed. First things first, he needed to find out the patrol schedule and the schedules of all the other personnel, especially that of Patrick Zala and Dr. Madison.

And if Dr. Madison mentioned by the man was the Madison Francis he had been thinking of, then they might all be in danger.


Author's Notes:

Once again, apologies for getting this out so late. I won't be able to update for a while because of work and karate at night. I'm also moving into my new apartment for the school year so that's been taking up some time. Thank you to those who've been supporting and reading this fanfic and my others from day one. I owe it to you guys. And this is where the plot starts to thicken. x