Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces
By: Shadow Chaser
An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising
Story:
Phase Twenty-One – Fate
Griever was already sitting with his handcuffed in front of him at the long table in one of the conference rooms aboard the Eternal. They had decided that with the Archangel still in repair, the meeting would be held aboard the Eternal. Lieutenant Ami Dena was unconscious when they opened up the Murasame's cockpit and she was in a holding cell aboard the ship. Haruka Satou had been found aboard the Babylon and was placed in one of that ship's cells, on constant guard.
Everyone who was involved was in the meeting already and they wanted answers from the man who claimed to be the former spy of Patrick Zala. Lacus watched the tension in the room rise, especially judging from Athrun's posture and stiffness as he glared at Griever. She had only arrived minutes before, after making sure Kira was going to be all right.
His injuries had reopened and the doctor said that he had a lot of brain activity going on that was in the danger levels along with a fever, but he would be all right once they put him on anti-biotics and a treatment session. She had wanted to skip the meeting, but too wanted answers from Griever.
"I believe you owe us an explanation, Griever," Captain Ramius suddenly spoke up as all heads turned to stare at the clone that looked exactly like Kira, except with longer hair and a wicked scar running down the left side of his face.
"There are certain triggers that were given to the agents recruited into the Talon. Some of them are remote, some of them are events or words said in a certain order," Griever shrugged, "Obviously with Taylor Ren and Haruka Satou, their triggers were probably activated when you guys broke through their initial programming."
"You mean during the battle over Mendel?" Dearka raised an eyebrow in surprise, "that's bullshit."
"So are you saying everyone in the Talon was inputted with a trigger of sorts?" Yzak spoke up, instantly silencing the room.
Lacus stared at the white-haired man. One of her most loyal followers…and she knew that he had been an undercover spy within the Talon months ago before they bombed the Senate in Orb. Everyone had also come to the same conclusion…if everyone in the Talon had been inputted with a trigger of sorts, then perhaps some of the defectors they had at the end were time bombs, waiting for a certain event or words to activate them and turn them into saboteurs.
Griever snorted quietly, "If you're worried about your own skin, no."
"I'm not worried-"
Yzak was stopped mid rant by Dearka who shook his head to calm his fiery best friend down.
"There were only a few that were brought to Patrick to be inputted with this trigger. Almost all of them you had killed with the exception of Lieutenant Dena, Ren, and Satou," Griever continued.
"And how do we know you're not lying?" Cagalli spoke up.
Lacus studied Griever's expression carefully. In the short time she had known the young man, she knew that he would protect her fiercely, even from himself in an odd sense, but…there was something about his posture…something about him that he was hiding. She had a sense that it was indirectly related to what was going on, but it wasn't about him lying about the agents. She would have to talk to him later, after everyone had gone. It was probably something to do with Kira…
"I've got nothing to lose. If you want, inject me with sodium pentothal, I know the Archangel has to have some since it was a former military ship. I won't even object…" Griever looked at all of them with hard eyes.
"So why tell us now? Why did you wait for so long?" Murrue asked a bit unconvinced.
The clone shrugged, "With you guys running all over the place and both ZAFT and OMNI breathing down our necks, I forgot…"
"What!" at least half of the people in the room shouted, the loudest voice coming from Athrun who had a look of pure fury on his face.
"How the hell do you forget something like that! That's insane!" Yzak's voice broke through the collective mutterings of those in the room.
"Battle stress," Griever shrugged again.
"Ha! Super soldier like you shouldn't even get battle stress…what they couldn't make you perfect enough-"
Lacus knew that Yzak was crossing a fine line and stood up quietly. Anymore and he could compromise what they were trying to do to help Kira. "Yzak," she said in a quiet, but firm voice that instantly shut him up. "That's enough. What we need to find out now is how, if any way, there is to reverse the process." She turned to Griever and stared at him, noting with some concern that he seemed to be in pain, though he kept it very well hidden.
"Nikolai," she said in a gentle and calm voice, "is there any way to help Lieutenant Dena and Haruka Satou?"
Griever was about to answer when the door to the conference room opened and a guard hastily stepped in and saluted.
"Captain," the guard addressed Murrue, "Lieutenant Dena has died. The cause is currently unknown I've been told to inform you."
The room was once again in an uproar and over the din, Lacus barely heard Griever's next words, spoken mostly to himself, "Death is always inevitable with it."
It was much later that Athrun found himself in the same briefing room again with Griever still chained up to the chair. They hadn't put him in a holding cell yet…not with so many questions unanswered, but they had given him some food. Only he, Cagalli, Lacus, and Kira's parents were here in the room now. The rest were investigating the unexplained death of Lieutenant Dena and making repairs to the ships and mobile suits in case they were attacked again.
The doctors were completely baffled and were currently doing an autopsy, but Athrun had a feeling that the answers were right in Griever's head… The odd thing was that Lacus had also sensed it and had called only all of them – all those who knew Kira's secret, in to talk with Griever once more.
"All right, are you holding something back that you don't want us to know about?" he asked, staring at the clone with an icy gaze. Ever since the Ragnarok destroyed the two Earth ships and had forced Kira to fight him off from destroying the last ship in the battle, he had blamed Griever for Kira's re-injury.
"It isn't like you to forget things, is it Nikolai?" Lacus spoke up, her voice neutral.
"No it isn't," Griever stared at a point on the table, his eyes unfocused.
"You said 'death was always with it.' What is that 'it'?" she asked again.
"My…memories are being affected because of that drug that was given to me," the clone started in a halting tone, "after a while…I forget things…"
Athrun narrowed his eyes, "You mean to say, Kira will end up forgetting things too?"
"Soon…if not already…" Griever had a distant look to his eyes again.
"Then what was Haruka's mission aboard the Babylon?" Cagalli asked.
The brown haired man stared up at them, a blank expression on his face, "As was my mission to kill Lacus, her mission was to assassinate you, Princess of Orb."
"And Taylor's mission?" Cagalli didn't seem fazed by his words.
"Destroy the Archangel, if memory serves me correctly," the corner of his lips twitched up in a smirk, "funny isn't it? How we forget the little things in life."
"Then there is no cure for the memory loss?" Kira's mother, quiet all of this time, finally asked in a subdued tone.
There was an immediate change in Griever's expression as he turned to face Kanoko Yamato. It was as if sadness washed over his whole being and he looked older than what he was. Athrun briefly wondered if this was Griever's true form…so rapidly aging that he looked almost…old…
"No…only more of that drug would be able to prevent the memory loss from occurring."
"And you ran out of it," Keiji spoke up.
A sudden thought flashed through Athrun's head and it was as if two and two clicked together. Griever had run out of the drug within him… He remembered that they were talking about the withdrawal effects…and the fact that the clone was already a dead man walking. Was this a part of the dying process? The entropy of the mind into a total systemic failure? The clone had said that his best friend should be within the stages of having memory loss…
"Do you know what happens afterwards?" he asked, feeling his throat completely dry and cracked at the revelation of information.
"The memory loss quickly gives way to failure of the brain along with the major organs. Depending on the person, it could be a short or long process before death takes them," there was almost an unconcerned expression on the clone's face, as if he had accepted his fate and was now just living life by rote.
Athrun had to grab onto Cagalli's shoulders to prevent her from fainting dead away to the ground while out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keiji do the same to his wife. Only Lacus stood firm, but he could see tears falling down her face. They all knew what was going to happen…
Question was, did they have time enough to find a cure and prevent such a fate for their dearest companion?
Kira snapped open his eyes, the last vestiges of his dream fading away to the back of his mind as he saw the familiar ceiling of the Eternal's medical bay. This was his second time in the medical bay…the first time was when he had lost control of himself during the battle between ZAFT and OMNI forces over Mendel – when Flay was taken by the Earth Alliance.
A sigh escaped his lips as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, taking out the IV on his wrist. He knew he had woken up a couple of times before this, but he didn't really remember what it entailed. All he remembered was that his parents, Cagalli, Athrun, and Lacus had sat by him during those times and waited for him to heal. He certainly felt better now and his headache was minimized to a dull pounding. That meant Griever was avoiding him. Good.
He didn't want to see the clone after what he pulled during the battle a few days ago. He remembered Athrun telling him that he was in pretty bad shape after he was dragged out of the Freedom, but the rest of the conversation was a bit fuzzy in detail after that.
Running his hands over his face, he scrubbed it a bit roughly to clear the sleepiness away and raked a hand through his hair. He certainly felt better…and the aches and pains of his wounds were fading. Glancing over to where Tori sat on its makeshift perch above his IV bag, he watched his robotic pet coo softly to itself in its sleep mode. He tentatively swung his legs over to the side of his bed and stood up gingerly.
Testing his weight, he looked around and didn't really feel that dizzy and took a few steps forward. Feeling his balance return after the days in bed and recovering from his injuries, he glanced over at the change of clothing that was left for him on the table in his private room and picked them up. Heading over to the washing station, he quickly took a shower before changing into the regular LF uniform, opting to put on the orange jacket instead of the military one. No need to be confined to a stiff jacket yet…especially since the doctor hadn't technically cleared him from the medical bay.
"Tori!" his bird awakened with a chirp and promptly flew to perch itself on his shoulder. Glancing to his robotic pet a small smile formed on his lips.
"Hi Tori…" he greeted the green-yellow bird.
The door to his room suddenly opened and Kira blinked to see Cagalli standing there.
"Kira!" his twin sister looked surprised to see him up, "shouldn't you be resting?"
His face broke into a smile, "I'm fine…feeling a lot better…"
She immediately went over to him and placed a hand on his forehead, testing for a fever. A frown appeared on her face as she found his temperature to be normal before she stepped back. "Are you sure?" There was something in her posture and demeanor that puzzled him…as if she was worried about something else other than whether or not he had recovered.
"I'm sure…you okay?" he reassured her.
"Y-Yeah," she gave him a small smile and shook her head, "I guess…if you're feeling better…there's food…"
He nodded, "That would be good."
She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room, Tori flying behind them. They headed down the halls to the mess hall aboard the Eternal, which was pretty much empty as he realized that it was late afternoon according to the military clocks. Grabbing some light food, they sat down and started eating. Kira was careful not to eat too quickly or eat anything that might give him a stomach ache later on as he knew his body was still recovering.
"So…" Cagalli asked, "how do you feel?"
"Better…a lot better," he replied, drinking some water.
"Do you feel calm?" she asked and Kira stared at her, a flash of annoyance passing through him until he suppressed it. He knew that getting annoyed would only serve to bring the tendrils back and he didn't want that happening any time soon.
"I'm fine," he replied, trying not to let his annoyance show. Calm? What did she mean by that?
He watched as she dug around the food on her plate, contemplating something before she sighed and stared at him. "Griever wants to train you again."
"No!" he said, partially surprising himself with the vehemence in his voice. "Never again!"
"Whoa, whoa," Cagalli held up her hands, "calm down Kira."
"I am calm," he repeated as he briefly saw the tendrils appear before forcing himself to exhale and calm himself down. The tendrils slowly disappeared from his vision. A part of him was dismayed at how easily he could summon those things with his anger now…
"I'm only relaying what he's saying to you," she started, "I personally don't want you near him…" She glanced down for a second before staring back up at him, "You've changed a lot Kira…changed so much that…I'm afraid for you…afraid of you…"
Kira was struck by the despair in her voice and the unshed tears in her eyes that he reached out and grasped her hands. "I'm…sorry Cagalli…" He didn't know what else to say. Even he was surprised that how quick his anger was to the surface and how he was changing. He hoped that his mother found the cure quickly for him. He didn't want to frighten his sister nor his friends anymore.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kira spoke up again. "Did he say what he wanted?"
"No…" Cagalli shook her head before she tilted her head to the side, "Kira, what do you remember about the battle with OMNI?"
"Just recently?" he blinked, surprise at her sudden question.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"I went to stop Taylor from destroying the Archangel's engines and then took a shuttle over to Eternal before flying out in Freedom and found you guys taking out the Destroy Gundams," he said, "I tried to stop Griever from destroying the three Heracles-class ships, but…I guess I failed, didn't I?"
"The Murasame interfered…" Cagalli supplied for him and Kira nodded, seeing a brief vague image of the Murasame Gundam flash through his head. A part of him wondered why he hadn't included that little detail, but he ignored it.
"Yeah…" he glanced up at his sister, "where can I find Griever?"
"I thought you don't want anything to do with him," Cagalli looked angry.
"I don't," he shook his head, "I just want some answers…"
"We threw him in one of the cells. I still say he should shot into space without a helmet," she groused, folding her hands over her chest.
Kira laughed lightly, glad that Cagalli could always cheer him up. "I think we can do that after we stop Mendel."
"Oh…if you're feeling better, Captain Ramius says there will be a briefing tomorrow morning before we head to Mendel to stop it. I dunno if ZAFT or OMNI received Lacus' warnings or the LF's call for aide to stop the colony from dropping on Earth, but we're going to try to stop it before it can hit the point of no return."
"We called for aide?" he scratched the back of his head.
"You don't remember?" her eyes grew wide.
"I think you might have mentioned it when I first woke up…but it's a bit fuzzy," he sort of remembered something about asking Athrun, Cagalli, and Lacus what was going on when he woke up, but the most distinctive thing he remembered from that was attacking Griever with his powers.
"Well, don't forget about the briefing tomorrow morning if you're up for it. It's at 0800," she clapped him on the shoulder.
Kira got up, "Thanks." He gathered the rest of his finished food on the tray.
"You're leaving?"
"I think I should see Griever before anything else…"
"Then let me come with you," she started to get up but he shook his head.
"It's all right…" he replied, "if we do use our…powers…then I don't want you getting hurt in the process."
"I'll be fine! Let me come with you!"
"Cagalli, no…" his eyes blazed with a brief wash of anger before he suppressed it violently, "please…I'll be fine…"
She didn't look happy but sighed, "Fine. If you're not out in two hours, I'm calling in Athrun and Lacus along with your parents to take you out of there and beat the living crap out of that bastard."
He nodded, "Two hours then."
A few minutes later, he was walking down to the holding cells aboard the Eternal, feeling a bit stronger with the food that he ate. He could still feel some residual dizziness and the occasional twinge of pain, but he was able to ignore them. He knew Cagalli was worried about him and he had felt it himself while he was between his waking states during the time he was brought out of Freedom's cockpit and up until he fully awakened. There were odd black spots in his memory, even in his dreams that had started to fragment and none of it made sense.
He knew that Griever had to have the answers as it seemed that the clone always did. He didn't want to worry his sister too much and therefore didn't tell her the extent of the unusual black spots.
The guard at the main door to the cells nodded as he recognized him before opening it and he stepped through. The metallic door closed behind him with a thunk and he turned slightly to his right where Griever was sitting in one of the six large cells aboard the Eternal.
"So, you've finally woken up," his clone greeted him with his usual smirk.
"No thanks to you," he shot back, rubbing his forehead slightly as the headache was now roaring quite forcefully in his head. Its throbbing pulse made him want to yank his brains and nerve endings out until he didn't feel it anymore, but he suppressed the violent urge. There was no need to get angry…yet… No need to throttle the clone up the wall and teleport him out to space where he could die from decompression.
He turned and walked the few steps separating them between the bars and stared down at the clone who was sitting on the bed, still half dressed in his flightsuit. "You've got answers."
"And I'm presuming you've got questions?" Griever snorted and gave smiled at him, "so ask away, Kira."
"What is happening to me?" he asked in his most neutral voice.
"I told you, it's the drugs given to you," Griever replied, "I am you, you are me."
"I am not you, a killer, murderer, assassin," he said feeling annoyed, "I was never you. If you want ironies, you're me. You're a clone of me!"
"True," Griever's eyes flashed dangerously, "but you did kill and murder didn't you? During the war?"
Kira knew those words were meant to goad him into anger, but he forced himself to be calm and stared at his clone-brother. "I did. And I'm not proud of it. I killed Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak's teammate Nicol during the war. I killed their friend Miguel. I killed a lot of people during the war two years ago and I am not proud of it. But I am proud that I am able to save people's lives right now. Can you say the same for yourself?"
His words clearly had an effect on Griever as he sat back slightly and stared at him. Narrowed purple eyes appraised him and Kira inwardly smirked. Let his clone-brother stew on that…they were completely different people and it would stay that way. He would never stoop to Griever's level…
The clone suddenly stood up and walked to the other side of the cell, staring at the wall, hands clasped behind his back. "You're experiencing withdrawal effects from the drug that Patrick Zala and his cronies injected into you."
"I'm not feeling anything like extreme hunger or thirst," Kira replied.
"It's not that type of withdrawal. It's different," Griever didn't turn around, "You were able to use the tendrils to great effectiveness during your stay at Martius Eight I presume. Well, now that you're back, whenever you see the tendrils those are the withdrawal effects."
Kira was confused. But he didn't feel anything…it felt….normal at times to use the tendrils…but yet other times it hurt his injuries badly.
"You feel it when you come out of using them. Your injuries are worst than what you had before; you don't really remember what happened during those times. Those are the withdrawal effects," he said in a quiet voice before finally turning around and faced him.
"But…that didn't happen all the time," Kira murmured mostly to himself, not noticing the curious expression Griever's face.
"As I said before during our little training session before we were interrupted by OMNI. You will eventually die from using the tendrils," Griever walked over to stand in front of him, the only thing separating them was the bars of his cell.
Kira's head shot up in shock as he stared at the clone. He was joking right? He hadn't believed a word the clone said during the training session, knowing that it was all a ploy to get him angry, to force him to use the tendrils. "You're lying."
"Do I look like I'm lying?" Griever stared at him, his eyes hard as crystals.
"I don't know," Kira countered, getting angry, "you seem to have that habit of lying to everyone to get within their good graces. You did it to deceive Lacus and the others."
"I only stay because Lacus is like a mother to me!" Griever suddenly shouted at him. "She takes care of me! Knows what I am! She was the only one who I saw caring in her eyes! You try finding that when the only thing you've known is killing others and being born as the Ultimate Coordinator's clone! You try finding that when you know you're walking in the great Kira Yamato's shadow! That you can never have what is his! You can never have a life like his because you are going to die in a short while!"
Kira suddenly stumbled back as his vision was assaulted with images of what looked like fragmented pieces of memories, of dark spots…colors…and what seemed to be a jumbled image of a brain that looked like there were holes in it. He shook his head as the images disappeared from his vision and realized that his breathing was labored. Sweat dripped down his face as he glanced up at Griever who was supporting himself against the bars, sweat also dripping down his face.
"Fragments…" Griever breathed heavily, "fragments of memories…that's what's the first to go…" He looked up and Kira met those purple eyes which were exactly like his…
"I'm dying…and I don't have long to live. At most…probably a couple of days left…"
Kira felt himself slowly sliding down to sit on the cold ground of the cell area as he stared at Griever who crumpled to the floor, silent tears running down his face. His head leaned back against the wall he had pushed himself against as he realized what Griever's words meant.
With his memories and black spots in them…he was starting to have fragmented memories too. Which meant…he was also going to die…soon…
Cagalli…
Athrun…
…Lacus…
Author's Notes:
Yay! I finally finished this chapter! Everything was coming together for this! Hee hee! I hope you all like it and the end is in sight! I think there are either about 3-4 chapters left after this before Arbiter Forces ends and then I can get cracking on Destiny Falling! Now…who wants to kill Griever and who wants to hug him? Thank you for all of your comments and reviews about what to do for Destiny Falling. As of now, I am currently planning to write it as a re-write of GSD, except with my own elements of plot thrown in. None of those stupid Messiah superweapons and stupid Destroy Gundam involved. Superweapons are overrated…like the Death Star. That's why it blew up!