Gundam SEED: The Keshitai
A Kido Senshi Gundam SEED Fan Fiction by Prayer Reverie
Contact: prayerreverie(at)yahoo(dot)com
Summary: The heroes of the war set off to stop a vicious group from starting another! The fate of the Earth and the Colonies rests on their shoulders. KL, DM, AC, Y … uh …
This will be AU, thanks to Destiny (holy crap to Destiny Phase 6!), however try to think of this story as a side-story, or a filler story much as Battlefield of Pacifists and Ground Zero was for Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED in any way (although some days I wish), but any Original Characters and Original Mobile Suits are mine.
Rating: PG-13. I don't plan on mincing words and there will probably be some descriptive scenes, but nothing outside of the rating boundaries. You have been warned.
transmobilesuit: thanks for the information
King Arthur6687: Poor Kira, always taking on the impossible (he's not Mu!)
Chibi Fyrefly: I didn't even think about both of the women pilots being taken out of the action, I'm sorry, don't worry; I'm not a sexist man.
Angel of Dreams: I'm fairly good with action scenes, at least so far.
Prince Takeru: thanks for the e-mail, I replied back. A good heart can do more than evil men know.
cherri-chan: I may be able to write action, but I lack a little in the romance department. Any pointers from any readers I'll gladly take. I always seek to improve anything about myself. Thanks for the romanji.
RVD: Good question indeed, what IS Kira going to do? But would you let one of your friends fight by himself/herself against stacked odds.
ZetaGundam: Where have you been! Yes, I got into the WoW Beta (now over btw). About 20 of the core of the Fratres in Arma (my guild/outfit for various games) was in it. We all died to the Burning Legion at the end. I have some screenshots, e-mail me if interested. Naming conventions, well the Chon-Ji Tul is the screen-name of a guy I know, and the Aprilius Null is based off the PLANT naming conventions (each month and a number, null zero). I'm good at the battle scenes, but imo lacking a bit in the romance department.
And thanks to all for the Romanji!
Chapter 8: Decisions
CE 59, October 3rd
"Big brother, why are you leaving?" a little girl asked.
"Because I can't stay here any longer." The big brother replied, sad that he had to leave.
"Mommy and daddy aren't mad, are they?" she asked.
He laughed, she was so innocent and naïve, as most kids her age were. Then he sighed and dropped to his knees to hug her.
"I'm going to miss you. Don't do anything bad, okay?" he said, still hugging her.
"Okay." She replied, trying to hold her tears in.
"I'll come back in ten years."
"You promise?"
"With all of my heart."
-
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?" an older man yelled.
"We've checked every where sir, and he's nowhere." A man replied, frightened by the anger.
"Check again!" he stormed off, looking for his daughter.
An hour later, some of the men came back with a note to show to the father. He read it very carefully before tearing it into pieces.
"I have no son." He said, shaking with rage.
-
CE 69, July 17th
Where are you, big brother? You promised in ten years you'd come back to see me.
The girl, now ten years older, was going to apply at the Heliopolis Industrial College next year. Everyday she looked out her window, looking for a familiar face, her big brother.
Her father had gone on a rampage, destroying everything to do with the boy, pictures, documents, report cards, anything and everything. She had managed to whisk a picture of him to safety in her room before her father had finished.
Her mother died while flying from Earth back to Heliopolis, the shuttle she was on was attacked by extremists, demanding more freedoms and rights for the PLANTs. The young girl had cried, now she had lost her brother and mother.
The days went on, and soon it was CE 70. Her college days would soon be starting, thanks to her good grades and her father's influence. Her older brother had still not returned by the time September rolled around.
The girl stood outside the front doors to the Heliopolis College, staring at the last remaining picture of her brother. Sighing sadly, she tore it up and went inside to get on with her life. Maybe she'll meet someone there, who knows?
-
CE 71, May 5th
"Excuse me, I'm looking for…" the man started to ask.
"Oh my god! You're back!" she interrupted, overjoyed at his return.
"Yes, I'm back, and I'm looking for my sister." He managed to say.
"I'm afraid she's not here."
"Well if she's not here, and Heliopolis isn't there, then where is she?"
"In the Earth Alliance forces." Came the reply.
Oh great, Flay, why did you do that?
-
CE 72, January 2nd
Flay, even to this day, I still can't believe you signed up in the Earth Alliance. Otto's thoughts were cut short as the Death Gundam fired his Mega Beam Cannon. Kira had dodged to the right, using the Eternal Gundam's speed to his advantage.
Otto's GuAIZ was a custom job, outfitted with extra vernier thrusters for added thrust. He barely escaped the deadly blast, pulling sharply upwards. His vidcomm activated, showing a picture of Ron's head.
"P, the three other Gundams have launched along with the rest of your squad. Best speed projects the Gundams being at your position in two minutes with the GuAIZ in five minutes."
"Roger that. Kira, did you catch that? We're retreating now." Otto replied, ordering Kira to pull back.
"Right, you retreat and I'll hold them off." Kira replied.
"Stop being a stubborn asshole Yamato, you're worse than Yzak! Disengage NOW!" Otto ordered, his temper flaring almost out of control.
"You have no authority over me, you may do as you please, but I'm acting ALONE!" Kira retorted.
That got Otto fuming mad.
"Kira Yamato, so long as you use PLANT property, you are to follow their codes of conduct, which include following orders from a superior officer. Now fall back to the Chon-Ji Tul." Ron said, apparently he had been listening.
"Sue me." Kira said harshly, cutting the link and ending the argument.
What the hell has gotten into him? From the reports Zala and Jule submitted, Kira shouldn't be like this! Maybe Lacus has some hold over him still. Otto pondered.
Ron had the same thought. He asked Lacus to intervene as the leader of the Clyne Faction and as a close friend of Kira's. She agreed immediately, donning a headset and sitting in front of a comm terminal.
"Kira, why are you doing this? It makes no sense!" she started.
"I'm doing it to protect you Lacus, you and the others." Kira replied, his voice now in a normal tone.
"But you don't have to do it alone! You're not alone anymore Kira, remember?" Lacus pleaded.
Images of him and Lacus cuddling together various times, their passionate kisses sprang up in his mind. More images of his friends, Athrun, Cagalli, Milly, Sai, everyone followed. They are why I fight, I fight to protect THEM!
"I know I'm not alone, and I'm grateful for it, grateful for knowing you, but right now this isn't the best time to be discussing this!" the Conquest Gundam had reached melee range and started swinging his shotels.
"Please, come back to me Kira." Lacus pleaded again, not knowing what else to say.
Kira loosed a battle cry, startling Lacus, who believed it was directed at her. A quick look at the radar and viewscreen dispelled that belief; Kira had blocked both shotels with his own sabers.
The War and Death Gundams moved in to flank Kira and trap him in a pincer move to end the resistance quickly. Otto screamed his own battle cry, charging the Death Gundam at full speed. Untensu rotated and prepared his Mega Beam Cannon, an upwards slice from Otto's beam claw shield took care of that threat, splitting the cannon into three pieces.
The younger Syuu narrowed his eyes as he ejected the useless remains and activated his own triple-beam claw. Otto barely blocked the powerful attack, and he knew that neither Kira nor he would be able to fight like this for much longer. Fortunately, the other Gundams were en route, with less than a minute to go before they caught up.
But a lot can happen in sixty seconds. The left arm of Otto's GuAIZ was suddenly several inches further away than it should have been. Sparks jumped from each severed end, and the War Gundam and his 10-meter Katana was there.
"Kono!" Otto yelled, bringing his right arm, which held the beam rifle, into play.
Untensu sliced that arm off with his triple-beam claw, and Otto knew his was a lot of trouble now. As a last ditch effort, Otto fired his extensional arrestors, hoping to do some damage to either of the enemy Gundams. The Death Gundam barely moved, allowing the weapon to pass by with an inch to spare, and then sliced the cord connecting the weapon to the Mobile Suit. Mordecai in the War Gundam took a more direct approach, slicing the incoming weapon down the center, sending the two halves flying harmlessly into space.
Otto was now out of weapons, options and almost out of limbs and life. Kira couldn't help at all; he was being pressed by the Conquest Gundam and the giant Apocalypse Gundam.
"Say goodbye, little fly." Untensu said, raising his beam claw.
Just as he was about to bring it down on the defenseless GuAIZ Otto was piloting, a crimson red and blue beam shot through space, forcing Untensu to halt his swing, lest he loose the arm and weapon. Looking up, he saw the Aequitas Gundam swooping in, beam staff ignited and ready.
"Mordecai, take care of that one while I finish off our little friend here." Untensu ordered.
Mordecai didn't respond with words, instead the natural pilot moved into an attack position and heft his katana in a threatening manner. Athrun sighed heavily, and started on the offensive, hoping to distract the War Gundam long enough for the rest of the Gundams to help out Otto and Kira.
Athrun swung and slashed at his opponent, pressing his opponent and hoping to find an opening to deal a crippling blow. But Mordecai parried and blocked better and faster than Athrun would have believed, which put both pilots into a stalemate. Finally, the War Gundam took advantage of a quick lapse in attacks and managed to slice the beam staff in half.
"Ha! Now what will you do without a beam weapon?" Mordecai taunted.
The beam staff deactivated when the sword had sliced the handle in half. It was a clean cut, slicing it directly into equal halves. Athrun frowned for a second, and then smiled as he threw one of the handles away. Mordecai narrowed in eyes in expectation, but gasped in surprise as his enemy activated the other handle with no problems.
"You were saying?"
They started another match, both of them using a two-handed fighting technique with their swords. The technique may lower their speed, but it greatly increases the power behind each blow, and if one blow connected, it would do massive damage. It was finding a weak spot that both pilots had trouble with.
Kira was faring worse than Athrun was, the Apocalypse Gundam may have been the largest Mobile Suit in existence, but it was fast and powerful, and in the hands of the calmed Hiroto Syuu, more than a match for the angry and rage-filled Kira Yamato.
Ranged beam weapons were of no use against the Apocalypse's I-Field, and the Eternal's head gatter cannons didn't have enough penetration power to even scratch the Trans-Phase Armor. Lacking options, Kira was wielding his dual beam sabers against his enemy.
Hiroto had ordered Gideon in the Conquest Gundam to back away and allow the older Syuu to battle his most hated enemy. The devastating atomic bazookas were 'sheathed' in the sense that they were not active on the Gundam. Kira knew better that his enemy would waste a powerful attack on a single mobile suit.
That information didn't stop his ass from being handed to him. Hiroto blocked every attack from Kira and always reversed their rolls, sending the young Coordinator on the defensive against Hiroto's own devastating attacks.
Their duel came to an end when Hiroto back-kicked the Eternal in the torso, stopping the charging Kira in his tracks. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse in concentration, he brought one of his beam sabers down to slice half of the Eternal's head off, taking with it most of the head camers.
Now half-blind, Kira had no chance to block the slices that left his beam sabers useless with their tips cut off. Finally, Hiroto brought a saber to a halt mere inches from Kira's cockpit.
"And now you die." Hiroto said calmly to Kira, preparing for the final blow.
"Wait Lord Syuu." Mordecai cut in, transmitting on the Horsemen's channel only.
Untensu sighed in frustration, believing that Mordecai would never forget the past properly. Hiroto paused for a second, allowing Mordecai to charge forward.
"Perhaps it would be more beneficial to take Yamato as our hostage, that way we can lure his friends in with less trouble."
"That's the best idea I've heard you come up with in several months, young Mordecai." Hiroto praised.
Gideon and Untensu were shocked! Hiroto was actually going to go along with Mordecai's ill-conceived plan. Hiroto switched his comm unit back to a general frequency.
"Shut down your phase shift, sheath your saber, and open your cockpit and surrender. If you don't comply within 30 seconds, we will be forced to extract you, and I can't guarantee your safety with the second option." Hiroto broadcasted.
"You'll kill me either way!" Kira yelled back.
Hiroto swung his saber, letting the tip plunge into the Eternal's armor, and dragged it down, creating a big scar on the Gundam. He brought it back to its previous position.
"Well, you can die a painful death as all of the liquid in your body boils off while not being able to breathe right now or you can take your chances inside our brig. It's your choice." Hiroto replied, still calm.
"If I surrender myself, do you promise to leave the Chon-Ji Tul and the people inside alone? Do you promise that no harm will befall them from your hands?" Kira demanded.
Lacus and Athrun were shocked. What the hell was he trying to do?
"Kira no! Don't do it, please!" Lacus said her voice full of emotion.
"Yamato! You have no authority to make deals with the Blue Cosmos!" Ron cut in.
Kira didn't bother to reply to Ron, he kept his attention on Hiroto. "Well, do we have a deal?" he pressed.
Hiroto was laughing, of all the things he had thought of, Kira making a deal to try and save his friends wasn't one of them. "I accept, Kira Yamato."
The phase-shift on the Eternal shut down as the saber was placed on its re-charge rack. Kira opened the cockpit and floated towards the Apocalypse Gundam. Hiroto extended the left hand to grab Kira while the Conquest Gundam moved in to take the Eternal Gundam.
A blast from Athrun's Scylla Mk. II chest cannon stopped the Blue Cosmos mobile suit as the remaining PLANT suits finally made it to the battlefield. The Apocalypse Gundam started to pull back and was flanked by the War, Conquest and Death Gundams.
"Damn it!" Yzak swore, mad that he was unable to do anything to change the outcome of the battle.
Dearka and Athrun moved to retrieve Kira's abandoned Eternal Gundam and the group of Gundams and GuAIZ, including Otto's trashed unit, set a course for home.
-
There were armed guards waiting in the hangar bay, waiting for the arrival of their new prisoner. The Apocalypse Gundam set down and shut down, following the Death Gundam, and followed by the Conquest Gundam and last, the War Gundam.
The guards bound Kira and had him surrounded, their rifles aimed at him. Hiroto was waiting by Kira, his helmet removed. Untensu joined his brother and removed his helmet. Kira stared at the two, finally realizing why Untensu had sounded familiar, he was Hiroto's brother.
"You … you're his brother!" Kira said.
Hiroto chuckled as Untensu stepped forward and punched Kira in the face.
"Of course, a Coordinator wouldn't know what it's like to have family that actually look related, would he?" his voice was full of anger.
Kira growled in anger as he attempted to charge at Untensu. A sharp jab to the ribs from one of the guard's rifle stopped him and sent him into a kneeling stance. By now, the other two Gundam pilots had joined the Syuu brothers.
"What's going on?" Gideon asked.
"It's just a little discipline for our prisoner." Untensu replied, itching to start pounding on Kira.
Kira looked up to see the new arrivals. Hiroto and Untensu he already knew, Gideon looked to be Muslim in origin, Kali had arrived to the hangar bay to see the pilot who had damaged her Famine Gundam, she was remarkably pale compared to the dark-skinned Gideon and the Asian Untensu and Hiroto. Finally, the pilot of the War Gundam stepped forward, Mordecai. The name was Hebrew in origin, but the pilot was distinctly Caucasian in origin. Something in Kira's mind clicked together, putting another piece of a puzzle he didn't know he was working on in place.
"Kuzzey?"
-
"Where's Kira? Why couldn't you stop him! Kira!" Lacus was hysterical, ineffectively beating on Athrun's chest, taking out her anger.
"Lacus, I'm sorry." He apologized softly.
"Why did he leave? Why did he leave me? Why!" she demanded, crying loudly.
She clutched Athrun's flight suit and cried on his chest for a long time.
-
Athrun, Dearka, Yzak, Cagalli, Shiho, Otto and Ron gathered again in the briefing room adjacent to the bridge. Ron sighed heavily before starting the discussion.
"It's obvious now that we're short one pilot." No one replied.
"We do have some good news; the SF-99-X03 Angel Gundam is being repaired, and will be operational in about 6 hours." Again, no one spoke.
Ron relented and sat down. Looking around the table, he saw mostly depressed and downcast faces.
"How's Lacus doing?" he asked quietly. That got a response.
"She cried herself to sleep. She doesn't understand why Kira surrendered, and neither do we." Athrun replied, looking at Ron.
"I don't think any of us can possibly understand what Kira hoped to gain by surrendering." Otto put in.
"Is anyone watching over her? In this situation, I don't believe it's wise to leave her unattended." Ron asked.
"Yeah, Milly's with Lacus." Dearka replied.
"I suggest that you all take a break while I contact Aprilius City to inform them of these new events. Once I receive my orders, we will reconvene and find the best possible way of finishing this. Until then." Ron stood up and left, Otto following close behind.
Yzak and Dearka were loitering around the bridge, waiting to hear the results as soon as they came in. Shiho wandered off somewhere in the ship while Cagalli and Athrun went to check in on Milly and Lacus.
The couple neared the room that was assigned to Lacus and Kira just as Miriallia quietly stepped out and closed the door.
"How is she?" Athrun asked, keeping his voice low.
Milly motioned for them to follow her, and she led them down the hall, several meters away, just in case their voices carried.
"She's sleeping again; she woke up screaming Kira's name. I know Coordinators don't get much in the way of sicknesses, but I think Lacus is running a fever." Milly said.
"She just came out of surgery, and now she's stressing out over Kira, so I think it's highly possible she may have caught something. Even Coordinators have their limits." Athrun replied.
"I don't think she'll be well rested when she wakes up again, especially if she wakes up like the last time. Maybe some pills would help …" Cagalli suggested.
The three thought about for less than three seconds when Lacus groggily walked out of her room. Cagalli turned around when Milly had sharply inhaled. Athrun relaxed a bit and walked over to Lacus.
She didn't react much when he stopped a foot short from her. Athrun got a close-up look of her face. Lacus' eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying, her hair was a tangled mess from not brushing it after waking up, and there were lines on her face and arms from the pillows and blanket on the bed.
"How are you feeling Lacus?" Athrun asked politely.
Lacus turned to face him and raised her head so their eyes met. How do you think I'm doing? She thought silently, betraying none of her roiling emotions through her eyes. The man I love decided to go on a suicide mission and surrender to try to protect me. Lacus cocked her head to the right to peer past Athrun, perhaps checking just to see if Kira had returned yet. She was disappointed when only Cagalli and Miriallia were standing at the end of the corridor.
The pink-haired Coordinator cocked her head the other way, stared at Athrun for another moment in silence, and finally turned on her heel and walked towards the lift. The doors opened with a silent swoosh, admitting Lacus in. And then the doors closed, leaving a confused Athrun, Cagalli and Milly standing there.
-
Shouts of anger and frustration could be heard from Ron's office. Yzak was leaning against a wall, with his arms crossed, waiting for the PLANT council to authorize a plan. Dearka was slowly twirling in space, bored out of his mind.
Damn, I should have gone with Athrun to see Lacus and Miriallia. He thought.
"Incoming transmission!" the comm officer yelled.
Otto was there in an instant, donning a head set and standing in front of Ron's chair, fulfilling his duties as the second-in-command and mobile suit pilot. The screen came to life, showing a close-up of Hiroto Syuu.
"Good day gentlemen and ladies. You must all be aware by now that we have captured the experiment known as Kira Yamato. As a gesture of good faith, I will extend your deadline back up to 12 hours. You have 12 hours to deliver Kira's companions and friends. I have with me a list of all known associates: Athrun Zala, Lacus Clyne, Cagalli Yula Athha, Miriallia Haw, Sai Argyle, Dearka Elsman, Yzak Jule, and Shiho Hahnenfuss."
"Do you really think we'll bow to your demands Syuu?" Otto demanded, shaking in anger.
"Not really, but do remember that I have the power to wipe out all the PLANTs from existence whenever I choose. And just to keep you entertained …" the camera zoomed out, revealing the room to be an interrogation room.
Kira was strapped to a chair, bloodied and bruised. There were three men and a woman standing over him, each taking their turns. One of them turned to face the camera, and judging by his looks, he was related to Hiroto.
"If you don't turn the aforementioned people in, then you'll only make it harder on yourselves. And him." To emphasize his point, he slugged Kira across the jaw.
"You'll have to forgive my brother; he does get a little carried away at times. But his point stands, you have twelve hours."
The line remained open, and the enemy pilots untied Kira, stood him up as well as they could, and took turns viciously beating him across the room. It went on that way for over 20 minutes, until Hiroto turned to the camera and spoke one last time.
"Twelve hours, or all of PLANTs will die."
Finally, the line was broken and the images of Kira being beaten on disappeared. Otto turned to face Yzak and Dearka, and finally noticed that they had arrivals during the Keshitai's transmission.
Lacus was still staring at the spot where the video feed had been, and behind her was Athrun, Cagalli, Miriallia and Shiho, all speechless at the display of senseless violence. Ron exited his briefing room and pulled the group into the briefing room again.
"I've got more bad news; the High Council is refusing to have anything to do with the Keshitai. They don't seem to understand that in less than twelve hours there will be a nuclear warhead on its way to kill them all."
Yzak shook his head in a mixture of anger and disgust.
"However, they haven't ordered us NOT to do anything about the present situation, so we have window of opportunity, however small it may be, and we have to seize it now."
"What are we going to do? Suit up and destroy their ship?" Cagalli demanded.
"Not exactly, our four remaining GuAIZ pilots will escort an assault shuttle that will contain an elite boarding team. We're going to get Kira back and hopefully sabotage the ship to force their suits to launch early. We'll launch our Gundams when they launch theirs and intercept the Apocalypse Gundam before it gets within firing range of the PLANTs."
"And who will this 'elite' team consist of?" Yzak asked.
"Any volunteers, but Otto will be leading the group in. We'll be starting the operation in 40 minutes." Ron got up and left.
"So who's in?" Otto asked as the doors closed.
"I'm in." Athrun said confidently.
"Me too, he's my brother." Cagalli agreed.
"We never leave a man behind." Yzak said.
"Well there was that one time with me, but never again." Dearka was in.
"You've sold me." Shiho nodded.
"Kira's always protected us, from the collapse of Heliopolis up until now, and I think we all owe him one." Milly explained. Dearka looked at her in surprise, but nothing he could say would change her mind.
"Kira may have given up on himself, but I haven't. I'm in." Lacus added. That got looks from everyone, but she was just as determined as the rest.
"Then it's on."
A/N: Wow, that ended up being a little longer than I expected. World of WarCraft retail release date: November 23rd. Current day: November 22nd. Status of : down for maintenance. Of course, if you're reading this, then I'm probably online with my outfit, and is back as well. Please, Read and Review, and don't be afraid to e-mail me if you have any questions.
For Gundam specs, check out these two