It had never been a question of saying no.
.
.
.
"We will be accompanying you Your Excellency, National Defense Committee Chairman Zala." said Coordinator merely glanced at them before replying.
"No need for formalities. You never saw me on this shuttle. Got that, Athrun?" The youngest Zala straightened his face at the words, saluting as due.
"I understand, Father. Long time no see." Surprise had passed as quickly as it came, overridden by formality and then, melancholy. This war had made much more than just take his mother away.
Since he joined the Vesalius there had been but a couple of messages exchanged between them. After the assault on Heliopolis, none.
It was but a small ride form the port the Vesalius had docked, and the exchange Athrun witnessed was quick and to the point. His father had been that way for years, all business-like. But his sternness was something Athrun had always struggled with.
"Needless to say, I agree with your opinion included in the report. The problem is the fact that they've developed such advanced mobile suits."
A pause, and Athrun's attention was back on their conversation.
"We'll ignore the part about the pilot. I went ahead and deleted that section."
"Thank you very much. I was confident that you would make that decision." Was the ever-amenable reply from Le Creuset. A sudden 'thump' resonated in Athrun's ribcage.
"Well yes, just think of the reaction if we told them that the one machine we left behind is piloted by a Coordinator. It would give the moderate faction something unnecessary to argue about." The point made by his father held some truth, albeit Athrun rarely participated in politics or even discussed them.
"The Naturals created a mobile suit that can perform that well even with a Natural piloting it. That's what we're reporting. Got that, Athrun?" His father was finally acknowledging his presence once again, albeit it did not escape him that he only wanted his confirmation as a ZAFT member.
"Yes." It came off calmly, more pliable than he knew beforehand. This was his Excellency, National Defense Committee Chairman Zala, and he only barely avoided the reflex to salute.
Indeed, there had never been a question of saying no.
"We must be more serious about this. So we can bring a quick end to this war." Were his father's final words. At the time, it had made sense; it was but the natural course to take.
The one way to protect Kira.
That is why, a couple of hours later, he was standing in front of the Supreme Council describing the specs and combat capacities deployed by the 'G' weapons they had managed to snag from OMNI and the Earth Alliance. After that, whichever excuse of a hearing or possible consequences to the outcome of their (at the time) unauthorized assault on Heliopolis of Orb, and its eventual destruction seemed irrelevant.
Words exchanged then were merely a performance, a political showdown to satisfy both factions. Be it his father or even Siegel Clyne's, their faces painted it plainly already; peace was no option they could afford any longer.
Ahtrun calmly took back his seat, and from the corner of his eyes watched his commander. Rau Le Creuset held an impassible face; his mask easily hiding whichever emotion could hold his eyes. Inward however, he had a semblance of pride and amusement. Remorse had no room in his mind where other thoughts currently resided.
The role of the unsullied yet brilliant commander had been on point yet again. He excelled at playing it, and it was giving him the boost much needed to remain close to one Patrick Zala.
Stirring people's hearts required talent of course, but it also needed patience, cunning and an unwavering mindset. The bigger picture was many steps ahead; a long road still awaited them all.
His objective was not just about keeping his team after this new legged war ship, heck, it was not even to help Zala or ZAFT take over the Supreme Council. No, his ultimate goal was much more complicated, yet simple at the same time; they just could not phantom what it was. If things kept as is, they would not even guess he had one in the first place.
Some had tried, Siegel Clyne had at some point or another. However, his weak objections against a couple tacky welfare tactics, nobody could really protest given the effectivity his command had demonstrated so far.
The Heliopolis initial (parcial) fiasco, a whole space colony destroyed, had seemed a huge throwback. Repercussions were in order, but how much they would affect his goal was yet to be seen. However, the unexpected confession from Athrun had helped significantly reset course onto one much more agreeable, at least in Rau's opinion.
Of course, he could have removed the mention of one Coordinator pilot from the report himself. If things were simple as that, after Athrun confession, he would never had mentioned it altogether.
Alas, it was so much more useful to plant a seed right there and then. The younger Zala, albeit his calm nature and objective mind, had an honest heart. Too honest for his tastes if Rau had anything to say about it.
If the on-going political show of the Supreme Council was any indication, he had some time to spare on memory lane, and that is exactly where he let his mind wonder.
It was after one of their first sorties, only days after Athrun and the rest of the pristine red jackets just appointed to his team. Even after graduating at the top of their class, even after the Bloody Valentine event, these kids, barely men, still could not kill in cold blood. It somewhat frustrated him but he could not show it outwardly. Yet, Rau had little use for them if they kept that way.
He wanted to see Athrun's cold determined look, the one Fred of the Knife said he could sport. The one, which among other achievements had granted him a spot in his team.
If revenge was not an adequate excuse to let rage take over and the need for payback, then what would? It had been his question to them then.
The answer, he got on their next skirmish with the Earth Alliance. Subtly urging them to get their act together had seemed prophetic when that day, a Mobile Suit of their own suffered a malfunction and was basically a seating duck whilst a cloud of mobile armors tried to finish him off. Instinct took over then, hate had only fueled it.
Afterwards, all the pieces fell into place, the team worked brilliantly. Of course, he had to keep doing some things on a roundabout way, but it helped build the team confidence, and their thrust in his command.
Sometimes he even allowed himself to think of them as more than means to an end. However, the simple reminder that having a whole team of pilots connected to the council members currently driving the PLANTs had a way to place it at the bottom of his list.
He needed them to abide to his ways, as more than met the eye was on the line. Nevertheless, he could wield sometimes, right?
Therefore, given Athrun personality, top graduate and compliant to the military way or not, he would unlikely had made such a confession otherwise. He was indeed earnest like that; others just did not see it.
Yes, he was feeling something akin to pride; perhaps smugness would be a better way to describe it. Coordinators, Naturals, they fought and fought, and the world kept go-round.
.
.
.
"The GAT-X105 pilot will remain under ZAFT's custody, and it is in the PLANTs interest that we get all the intelligence he can provide. As such, he is to be considered a prisoner of war."
Rau heard more than saw Athrun just barely gasp and quickly steal himself at Siegel Clyne's words.
-TBC-
Notes: A bunch of liberties taken, because it has been years since I last watched GSeed but, mainly because there is a lot of material to crosscheck and I am afraid some stuff might have escaped me. However if there is an event or reference that could work better within this AU timeline if kept closer to canon, let me know, thanks! In addition, covid-19 confinement is like a source for introspection, albeit I normally use it whilst writing, this time my goal is to connect mindsets, characters development and explain some actions that happened or could have turned out differently given the circumstances. As such, one or two characters sharing a scene might jump back and forth to events in the GS timeline. That said it may seem things are going a bit slow and over explained at some points; that is the point of the fic itself. Well other than how it will end, obviously.