Chapter 6: The Opening Doors sends us into a Spiral of Encounters
"Flay!"
The red-haired Natural turned her head to see who was calling her. It was Athrun Zala, the pilot of the Justice Gundam and longtime friend of her boyfriend, Kira Yamato. She slowed herself to allow the blue-haired Coordinator to catch up.
"How's Kira doing?"
"He's fine; the doctors have cleared him for active duty." She answered.
"Well, you can tell him that the repairs to Freedom are almost complete." Athrun pulled ahead of her and continued towards his destination, where it was.
Flay paid him little heed, she stopped off at the mess hall and grabbed two food trays, one for her and one for Kira. Humming to herself, she set off back to Kira's room, carefully balancing both trays as she went.
And around the corner came Cagalli, moving at such speeds that the blond didn't even register that Flay was there until her shoulder rammed one of the trays, sending the food flying, hitting Flay in the face and chest.
"Sorry!" Cagalli said, and there was no conviction or regret in her voice. She simply continued on, not bothering to see if Flay needed help. Not that Flay would have accepted Cagalli's help either.
"Stupid bitch." She mumbled at Cagalli's rapidly retreating form. Flay took a moment to try to clean up the mess Cagalli had caused. The other food tray was salvageable, so she grabbed it and made her way back to Kira's room again.
The door opened with a swish and Kira looked up to see his girlfriend covered in food from the head down. "What happened to you?" he asked, barely managing to contain his laughter.
"Laugh it up Yamato." She replied angrily, pushing the food tray into his stomach none too gently. "That stupid blond ran into me and then left."
"Cagalli did this?"
"I swear she does this on purpose, she's got something against me, and I'll be damned if it continues!" Flay took off her jacket, only to find her pink undershirt had been stained as well. "We have a meeting in two hours; I can't go looking like this!"
Kira moved behind her and hugged her. "Calm down Flay. You know, if we get married, she'll be your sister-in-law."
That struck home. Flay wasn't too sure on what surprised her more, the casual talk about marriage or the sudden revelation that Cagalli was Kira's sister. She decided to question his relationship with Cagalli first before asking about their own. "She's your sister?"
"Yeah, it kind of slipped my mind, but we found out just after we got back into space." Kira chuckled.
She turned to face him. "That was almost two weeks ago."
He shrugged. "Time flies when you're with the one you love." Flay felt her knees turn to jelly, Kira was being romantic again. "Now, how about we take a shower to clean you up?" he suggested slyly.
Flay smiled seductively and led Kira by his hand into the shower stall and turned on the water.
"The Dominion wasn't severely damaged by the Lohengrins, and I expect another attack from them before the day is out. They want the Archangel destroyed." Kisaka was saying.
The lift doors opened to allow Kira and Flay to enter the bridge, holding hands. "Glad you could join us Ensigns Yamato and Alster." Murrue said dryly.
Kira grinned sheepishly, running his hand through his still damp hair. "Sorry, we lost track of time."
Cagalli noticed Flay glaring at her, so she smiled innocently and turned her attention back to the briefing and Athrun, who was in front of her. "Well, the adjustments to the Eternal are complete, so if they come looking for a fight, they're going to get one." Andy informed them.
"We have another angle to factor in. They have Mu, and he's fighting for them." Kira put in, all business now. "He's the pilot of that Gunbarrel Dagger, and when they attack, you can be sure that he'll be out there."
"I'm sure if he was given the opportunity, he would come back to our ranks, but I'll bet that Azrael doesn't completely trust Mu, so there's probably some sort of remote bomb on his mobile suit." Murrue said.
"That's not the end to our troubles. We've picked up at least three silhouettes of Nazca-class destroyers, heading this way. At their current velocities, they'll also be here before the day is out." Kisaka said.
"My advice to you all is to take it easy for now. Do what you have to do, but don't tire yourself out. Eat lots and rest when you need to." Andy advised them.
"Dismissed!" Murrue ordered.
Kira escorted Flay down to the hangar bay. "I've got some things I still need to do, but I'll see you tonight, okay?" she whispered.
"Sounds good." Kira whispered back, unsure of why they were actually whispering.
Flay positioned herself so that her face was mere inches away from Kira's and spoke again. "I love you, you know that right? No matter what happens, I'll always love you."
Kira wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in even closer. "I know, and I'll love you forever and always."
She kissed him lightly on the lips before slipping out of his arms, leaving Kira feeling quite unsatisfied. Before the cockpit of her M1 closed, Kira saw her mouth the word 'tonight'.
"Say, Commander La Flaga …" Azrael started.
Mu looked up from the controls in the cockpit to see Azrael waiting on the vidscreen. "What is it Director Azrael?" he growled out.
"Well, since you managed to best one of those two machines the last go around, I was hoping that you might actually be able to capture one of them this round."
"Things never go as you plan in a battle, trust me."
"Well, it would be of great assistance to our terrestrial forces, and we might even be able to end the war in a few swift strokes if you do."
"And if we encounter ZAFT forces?"
"Prioritize."
Mu terminated the connection. "Mu La Flaga launching!"
"All hands, level one battle stations! The Dominion has been sighted!"
It was just over an hour since Flay had left to return to the Archangel, and now it seemed as if Kira would be seeing his girlfriend a lot sooner. Like right now. The Archangel had launched first, allowing Dearka and Flay to face off against three Strike Daggers, the 105 Gunbarrel Dagger and the three Gundams.
The Kusanagi was next out of the hangar, adding several more M1s to the mix, evening out the odds considerably. The Eternal was slow to launch, thanks to their untested adjustments.
"We don't have time for this! Open the bay doors, I'll launch from here!" Athrun growled impatiently.
"Bay doors are open, Justice is cleared for launch."
Athrun shot out of Lacus' ship at full speed and joined the fight, using his wild charge to shatter the Gundams formation. Still sore from losing previous times, all three living CPU pilots turned to chase after the crimson Gundam.
Dearka's proximity alarm went off, showing the 105 Dagger closing in, the gunbarrels deploying, just like Mu used to with his Moebius Zero. Mu closed within firing range and suddenly the gunbarrels snapped back onto the rack and the veteran Natural sped past the Buster.
"What the? You're not getting away from me that easily pops!" Dearka yelled.
"Don't call me pops! ZAFT is here!" Mu replied angrily.
For an instant, Dearka was torn. Mu was someone he had learned to trust back in Orb, and they had spotted at least three Nazca-class silhouettes earlier. If ZAFT had launched their mobile suits, then the least Dearka could do was confirm their presence. He turned and gunned his verniers to follow Mu.
The tanned Coordinator caught up to Mu just before they passed the Eternal. Bartfeld opened a channel to Dearka. "Hey, what the hell is going on here?"
"ZAFT is inside the colony!"
Kira joined in. "I'll go back them up, Athrun has the rest of the force to help him. At any rate, it probably won't take long." The Freedom disappeared, following Mu and Dearka. The Eternal launched right after Kira left, joining the battle for the first time since their escape from the PLANTs.
Flay looked at her battle chronometer. They had been fighting for over 30 minutes now, and while all of the Strike Daggers had been destroyed, Athrun was hard pressed to go on the offensive against the Forbidden, Raider and Calamity. And they had lost an M1, with two more retreating due to battle damage.
'Kira, where are you?' Flay wondered. And just when they thought it couldn't get worse …
"Three Nazca-class destroyers have appeared from behind the colony!" Mir reported
A dozen GINNs joined the battle, and three of them fell prey immediately to the Earth Alliance Gundams. Flay couldn't keep track of so many targets at once and Crot took advantage of her confusion. He charged his Zorn cannon and fired.
On her part, Flay managed to block the shot with her shield, but the cannon was too powerful and her shield too weak, and it blew her M1's left arm off. "I'm hit! I'm returning to the Archangel!" she informed them.
"Roger that, I'll cover you." Dearka replied, flying out of the colony at full speed.
The Forbidden tried to finish Raider's job, but Dearka formed his anti-armor shotgun and fired, distracting Shani long enough for Flay to fall back. "Where's the Freedom?"
"I'm … I'm here, with Mu. He's injured." Kira responded a bit shakily.
The Freedom was holding a damaged 105 Dagger, the mass production suit was missing half of the head and the right arm, and the four gunbarrels were in bad shape. Kira set down in the hangar before Flay reached the ship.
The Eternal and Kusanagi moved to hold off the three ZAFT ships as the Archangel continued to deal with the Dominion. Athrun could breath just a tad easier as Dearka moved in to assist him, so the blue-haired Coordinator armed and threw a beam boomerang at Crot, who easily dodged the frontal assault.
As the Raider lined up a shot with his hyper velocity shield cannon, the boomerang arced around and sliced off the lower part of the Raider's left leg. Dearka fired his hyper impulse cannon and destroyed the Sabot energy bazooka the Calamity wielded. In a final move, Athrun sliced the Forbidden's Nidhoggr heavy scythe in two with his beam sabers, forcing all three Gundams into a temporary retreat.
"The Dominion is moving off, good job everyone." Now all they had left to deal with was ZAFT.
"Target the Vesalius, we'll use that as the breaking point." Lacus ordered.
The Kusanagi and the Eternal fired all of their weapons at once, energy cannons and Lohengrins, at the Vesalius, the beams piercing all the way through the ship. Athrun landed on the top of the Archangel with Dearka as they followed the hole that had been created. As they passed the burning destroyer, both Dearka and Athrun saluted their former ship, and noticed the captain, Ades, saluting near the bridge viewports.
Ades always quoted the ancient Roman Gladiators before going into a battle. Those about to die, we salute you. The ship exploded, leaving the ZAFT forces in disarray as the Tri-Ship Alliance made their escape.
The techs finally secured the damaged 105 Dagger and the Freedom, now that they were out of immediate danger. "Kira, don't put any stock into what Rau said back there, he's nothing more than a demented freak." Mu said.
Kira didn't reply, he was staring at his helmet's faceplate. Murdoch poked his head in the cockpit. "Kira, whatcha doing?"
At that point, Kira snapped. "Get away from me! Don't touch me!" he swung his arms and pushed out of the cockpit, narrowly missing Kojiro as he floated.
"Woah kid, slow down a second." Kojiro tried to reason.
"Don't touch me! Just stay the hell away from me!" the commotion Kira was causing attracted everyone's attention.
Mu pulled away from the medics to explain the situation. "Rau opened a door that should never have existed in the first place." He said quietly, Kira didn't need to hear everything twice. "He wasn't born from his mother but rather as an experiment from an artificial womb, and he was by no means the first."
As Mu spoke, Kira struck out at anyone who tried to get close to him, whether they were technicians or other crewmembers. The general populace of the hangar got the point and resumed their work, leaving the boy to drift off to a corner.
Kira was curled up in a ball, hugging his knees to his chest as Flay approached. His head snapped up and his breathing was shallow. "Stay away …" he warned her.
She pulled him into a tender hug as best she could. "It's okay Kira, everything will be fine." She tried to calm him down.
He pulled away from her. "Everything will be fine?" he echoed. "I'm not even human for gods' sake! I was created, an experiment, and a fluke! Look at these hands! Stained with blood from those I've killed and those who've died before me! You'd be better off staying away from me."
"Kira, think of how many more would have died if you hadn't fought. Even I would be dead by now." Flay tried to reason.
"I'm not worth if Flay, I don't know what gave me the idea that I was good enough for you, because I'm not. I was created to fight, to bring endless suffering."
Flay's voice hardened. "Kira Yamato, I will decide who is good enough for me and who isn't. I love you for who you are, not what you are. It's been that way from the beginning and it will continue until the end. I told you earlier today that I will love you no matter what, and that wasn't a lie."
Her words finally managed to penetrate the words Rau had said, he broke down completely, after trying in vain to hold in the tears. Flay pulled him in close again and soothed him for several minutes before leading him to her room.
"Everything will be fine Kira, I promise." She whispered.
"Well, I honestly think morale has hit rock bottom. Of course last time I thought that, someone threw me a shovel and told me to start digging." Mu said.
"A war of attrition is one we will surely loose. Supplies are one thing, but mobile suits and pilots are a completely different matter." Kisaka agreed.
"Well, the suits and pilots are a problem that will be addressed in due time, right now we need to concentrate on morale." Andy prioritized. "Any suggestions?"
They all brainstormed for several minutes, each of them thinking of ideas that would be suitable for all generations of their crews. Perhaps this is why there were people who did nothing but plan any morale-raising events, they were quite difficult to think of.
"A dance." Everyone turned to face Murrue. "What? It'll be perfect. All of the crew will be able to talk in an informal manner. At the very least it'll get most of us in the same room."
No one else had a better idea at the time, so they got to work.
A general announcement had been made on all three ships, which got most of the crews quite excited. Even their own home armies had never done something quite like this before, so it was sure to be fun for all. Volunteers were required to continue to man the ships, and several people aboard each ship selflessly agreed to the job.
A day after the announcement, information holograms were displayed on each ship, detailing the day, time and type of dance it was going too be. Kira and Flay read the hologram and while Flay smiled with joy, Kira couldn't help but becoming a little pale at the thought of a dance.
Social gatherings were never his forte, and of late, he had a hard time being around more than a dozen people in the mess hall, even with Flay there. She had never left his side, or he hadn't left hers, since their escape from Mendel.
But attending the dance would make Flay happy, and it would please the rest of his friends as well. His eyes caught another detail on the hologram. Semi-formal. Kira didn't quite know what that meant, but he was sure it couldn't be that good.
There was a knock on the door and Mu sipped his coffee before answering. "Come in." he scrolled down a few paragraphs as the door slid open.
Kira walked uncertainly into Mu's room. It was a little messy, much as Kira's room was, even with Flay tidying up after the boy. The boy scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Uh … about the dance …"
"Let me guess, you don't have anything semi-formal to wear." Mu anticipated.
It was true, Kira had only a few changes of the Earth Alliance uniform, a pilot's suit and his one set of clothes from Heliopolis. He could have picked something up while in Banadia with Cagalli, or at Orb, before or after Tolle's death, but nothing like this had ever crossed his mind.
"Well Kid, I think I might have just the thing to save you, and it might impress that girl of yours. Speaking of which, you two have been inseparable since we left Mendel, and yet, here you are."
"Flay's off doing … something. She didn't give me a lot of details." Kira answered as Mu rummaged through his uniforms hanging in his closet.
After a moment, the older man pulled out a uniform and presented it to Kira. "It's from my graduation of the flight academy on Earth years ago. It's way too small for me, and I kept it around for sentimental reasons. I want you to have it. Wear it to the dance, you'll look good in it, Flay will love it." Mu explained.
Kira looked at it and Mu doubtfully, but it was his only option. "Thanks."
The night of the dance arrived, and the volunteer helmsman for the Archangel set the ship into a slow spin to simulate some artificial gravity. The shuttles containing the crews from the other two ships had arrived previously, and they were all getting ready. Kira hadn't seen Flay at all today, and when he stood outside her room, she locked the door.
Staring into the mirror, Kira gave himself a quick once-over. Mu's uniform fit him perfectly, broad enough across the shoulders, long enough pant legs and arms, it was as if the uniform was created for Kira and not Mu.
Deviating from the typical and standard Alliance uniform, the dress uniform was more like a business suit, with black pants, silver shirt, black tie with white diagonal stripes and a black coat.
"Well, lets get this over with." He told himself, and left to join the others in a lounge set aside and redecorated for the dance.
More than half of the guests were already in attendance by the time the doors opened to let Kira in. Mu, in a standard Earth Alliance dress uniform, was talking to Andy, who was in a ZAFT Commanders dress uniform, and DaCosta, in his own dress uniform.
Dearka and Athrun, both in their Elite ZAFT dress uniforms, were talking with Cagalli, who was in the green strapless dress that Andy had given her back in the desert. Forgoing her own dress uniform, Murrue was wearing a simple light blue blouse and knee-length grey skirt which suited her quite well. She was talking with Arnold and Kojiro, the helmsman in his own EA dress uniform and the chief mechanic for once neatly groomed and clean-shaven in a tuxedo look-alike.
Lacus looked very elegant in a full-length pink dress with frills running from the skirt portion down and sleeves that poofed out from just below the shoulders and slimed down once they hit mid forearm. Her hair was simply tied back in a classic ponytail, which oddly didn't detract from the regal aura she gave off.
Kisaka was talking with her, in Orb's dress uniform, and with Miriallia, dressed in a dark blue dress ending at her knees and a pair of matching elbow length satin gloves. It reminded the boy of a prom dress. There were many more people that Kira didn't recognize, from the other two ships in their own suits, tuxes or dress uniforms. The only person absent that he noticed right away was Flay.
Every time the door opened, Kira looked to see if it was Flay, and every time it wasn't her, he became a little more uncomfortable. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed and still no sign of her, Kira became more than a little apprehensive. Just where was she?
Once again, the doors opened to admit someone, and time seemed to slow for Kira. His heart beating extremely fast, he fixed his eyes upon the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.
Flay Alster.
First and Foremost: thanks to Hildebrant for helping me. To be able to find time with your busy schedule is no easy feat, and I thank you once again.
Secondly: SEED has finished its CN run, so now there are more of you out there who may actually empathize with certain pairings. Or not. Whatever.
Thirdy: there is no thirdly, but a typical essay usually has three main arguments. Go school.
But there will be a lastly: if this chapter seemed rushed to you, it could be true. I wanted to update once more before I moved. By the way, I'm moving. So the next update you'll get from me will be from a different place.
Until the next chapter.
Prayer