Chapter 7: Dreams of Curse, the Nightmare Reborn
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.
She was wearing a curve-hugging strapless red dress which matched her fancily styled hair, leaving her shoulders and neck bare, along with her arms. Everyone seemed to stare at her for a moment, causing the girl to raise a closed fist to her chest nervously.
Kira got over his initial shock as Mu appeared behind him and gave the boy a push towards her. Moving to her side, he gently pulled her hand down and faced her. "You look absolutely beautiful Flay." He complimented.
Flay blushed a little in response as he led her away from the door and towards the drink section. "You really like it?" she asked nervously.
He was a little perplexed, Flay had never been nervous about her appearance before. "Of course I do." He smiled and admired the view once again. The gown hid all but the tips of her toes and left a very small train behind.
The music started playing a soft and slow beat, perfect for dancing to. Several members from each crew moved onto the dance flow, and Kira and Flay joined them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he mirrored the move on her waist.
"That's a nice suit you're wearing." Flay said softly.
"Thanks, I borrowed it from Mu." Kira paused to think for a second. "You know, I don't recall that dress being in our closet at anytime."
Flay smiled. "It's Lacus'."
Kira finally understood Flay's apparent demeanor change yesterday. "So that's where you were yesterday."
"I am allowed to keep some secrets from my boyfriend."
Kira smiled and pulled her in close. "Anything for you."
Flay lowered her head onto Kira's chest as they continued to dance, oblivious to everyone around them. They were happy.
The music changed after a few minutes from soft slow dance music to a faster paced rhythm, prompting Kira to send Flay into an unexpected swirl, causing her to gasp in surprise. The other dancing couples quickly adapted and began to dance to the new beat as well.
"Kira!" Flay exclaimed, not prepared for his sudden energetic swirling.
Instead of replying, he spun her again and then led her through some other moves which continued to astound the girl.
Mu and Murrue were leading several of the senior crewmembers through some moves as Flay and Kira danced in their own world, free from distraction. Out of the corner of his eyes, Kira saw Athrun and Cagalli dancing as well, while Miriallia and Dearka stood on opposite sides of the hall.
An idea entered Flay's mind, but she held it in check until this dance was over. This was the most social Kira had been since the Mendel Colony incident, and she didn't plan to ruin it anytime soon. But when it came to helping friends in need, Kira was usually the first to step up to the plate, and Flay was certain that this time would be no different.
When the song soon ended, Flay whispered in Kira's ear the plan she had suddenly thought up of, and an almost devilish smile greeted her in return. Looking around, they spotted Dearka talking with Lacus and Athrun now, but they noticed the tanned Coordinator kept stealing glances at various parts of the room.
Across the room still, Miriallia was talking with Sai, in a simple formal shirt and slacks. Apparently noticing Kira approaching, Sai excused himself and left the room, muttering something about fresh air. Smiling politely, Kira offered his hand to Mir. "May I have this dance?"
She offered a smile in return and took his hand and they walked onto the dance floor. "I haven't seen you much lately, how have you been?" he asked.
"I've been better, but things are definitely improving." She told him honestly, if a little sadly.
"I've been worried about you."
Mir giggled lightly. "You've been worried about me? We've all been worried about you, since this whole thing started."
Kira was a little embarrassed. "Thanks … I think." His eyes jumped around the room for a second, and then locked with Mir's again.
"What?" she asked plainly confused at her friend.
Kira spun Miriallia and an overhand twirl and for a second there were far too many hands touching hers. Coming out of the twirl, she faced Dearka as her dancing partner instead of Kira. Dearka had the same confused look, and beside them were Kira and Flay dancing together again as if nothing had happened.
"I think we've been had." Dearka stated.
They danced in silence for a moment before Miriallia spoke up nervously. "I've been thinking about what you said to me back in the mess hall … and thank you."
He was glad that she had thought about it afterwards, he was so sure that she had been mad at him since then. "The offer is still open."
The song ended, and Mir stood on her tiptoes to kiss Dearka lightly on the cheek before replying. "I know."
Dearka felt his mind turn to mush as Mir joined Lacus in some refreshments. Athrun tapped the dazed Coordinator on the shoulder to gain his attention. "Are you going to stand there for the rest of the night?"
His eyes remained glazed over for a second and then Dearka came back to reality with a large grin on his face. Looking at Athrun, he sighed happily. "Let's go grab a drink."
It wasn't quite the answer that Athrun expected, but then looking at Cagalli, he figured that the first signs of love could really mess a person up, and Dearka was no exception. He nodded at Dearka and they walked over to the drink table and were in the process of filling their glasses when Mu spoke up over the microphone.
"On behalf of all three ships, their captains and crew, I'd like to thank you all for attending this little celebration." Applause from everyone rang out.
"Now I realize this is a little late, but we'd also like to celebrate all of the birthdays we missed all through the year so far. Being at the end of August already, I think we've missed most of the crew."
Kisaka stepped up and Mu handed the mic over. "We'll start from January and continue from there. Dalida, 25. Lacus, 16. Miriallia, 16. Dearka, 17. Flay, 15. Kira and Cagalli, both 16. Arnold, 25. Andrew, 30."
Mu took the mic back. "We're sorry to have missed any celebrations, and happy birthday to you all. You'd better not miss mine." Laughter echoed as Mu smiled and then started another song.
"I'll be right back Kira." Flay said.
"Where are you going?" he asked densely.
She smiled. "Go dance with Lacus, I won't be long."
Kissing him lightly on the lips, she left through the same doors that Sai had used earlier, leaving Kira smiling as he walked over to Lacus, now alone after Cagalli went to talk with Kisaka.
"Hey Lacus." Kira greeted.
"Hi Kira. How are you?" she asked.
"I'm doing better thanks, how about you?"
For one second, Lacus' mask faltered. Then her smile came back twice as strong. "I'm well, thank you for asking."
Seconds of uncomfortable silence settled in. "You look nice tonight." He said, complimenting her dress.
"Thank you. The dress I lent Flay suits her quite well, and you both look quite happy."
"Shall we dance?"
The corridors of the Archangel were dimly lit at this time of night, despite the festivities mere meters away. The lack of light not bothering her at all, Flay walked down the hallway, humming a soft tune as her mind wandered to thoughts about Kira.
"Well isn't this an odd sight." A voice said.
Startled, Flay looked around, but saw no one. "Flay Alster alone in a dark hallway, and Kira nowhere to be found." The voice continued.
Flay looked at the several darkened doorways and intersections. Finally, the owner stepped into the light. She rolled her eyes in disbelief as Sai came swaggering into the light.
"What do you want Sai?" she asked tiredly, noting the flask in his hand.
"That's not a very nice attitude to someone whom you were engaged too." Sai took another swing of the flask's contents. "Arranged marriage or not, I still cared for you as much as I could."
"Look Sai, we could have never been anything more than friends, so stop bringing it up." Flay said, trying to be patient with the none-too sober Sai Argyle.
Her words didn't mean a thing to him. "Everything he gives you, I could have given you. Everything he does for you, I could have done for you. That freak has nothing on me!" he threw the open flask at the wall behind her angrily, where it spilled the remaining contents on the wall and floor.
The smell of strong alcohol assaulted Flay's nose. "I love him Sai, and he loves me. Why can't you understand this?"
That was the last straw for Sai. "You tried to use him you stupid bitch! How can that be love?" before Flay knew what was happening, Sai had her pinned against the wall.
"I'm going to make you love me." He growled, his breath smelling strongly of alcohol.
Flay's eyes widened in fear as Sai roughly kissed her, forcing his tongue past her lips and keeping both of her arms pinned with only one of his own. His other hand was everywhere on her body, roaming and groping. Flay squirmed and tried to scream, but Sai kept her silent, keeping his tongue in her mouth.
A strong hand pulled Sai violently off of Flay and the other hand, clenched into a fist, came out of nowhere and hit Sai in the face, sending him into the opposite wall and sending his glasses flying.
"I warned you once in the desert to stay away from her." Kira deadpanned, stepping in front of Flay protectively. "But you seem to have forgotten your lesson. Stay away from her Sai."
Sai stood up slowly, using the wall for support. "She doesn't love you Kira. She told me that when we got to Alaska, when everyone thought you were still dead."
"Those were hard times, for everyone. She was just confused and sad, but that gives you no right to try and force yourself upon her!"
Sai charged forward again and Kira deftly put him in a painful arm lock and pushed him face first against the wall. "I won't warn you again. Stay away from her. If I find out you've touched her again, I'll kill you."
Kira released Sai and took Flay's hand. She was more than a little disturbed at all of this and held onto Kira tightly as he took her back to her room. The door opened and they wordlessly entered. Flay let go of Kira and entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
He heard water running so he sat on her bed. Taking off his jacket and tie, he also loosened his shirt collar and sleeves, and thought he heard crying from behind the bathroom door. Getting up, Kira was about to knock to see if Flay was alright when the door opened, showing Flay with her hair down and her face void of any makeup.
Thinking quickly, Kira enfolded her in a hug and she held on tight. Feeling her grip loosen after a few minutes, he picked her up and gently set her on the bed and covered her up. "Do you want me to get Mir or Lacus?" he asked with concern in his voice.
Flay looked at him with sad eyes. "Stay with me." She whispered.
"Of course."
Kira dodged more beams, dancing around them, trying to find an opening to go on the offensive. With all of the twists and turns he was doing, he passed by a shuttle and caught a glimpse of familiar red hair.
"Kira!" she cried out from the shuttle.
"Flay?" he asked, not sure why she was on a shuttle.
"Not you again?" a third voice interjected, sounding all-too familiar to Kira.
The large Gundam fired more and more beams at Kira, forcing the boy to forget about the shuttle temporarily. Kira armed and launched his missiles, only to watch as they were blown away by the numerous beam-firing bits.
"You're nothing but an irritating pest!" As he spoke, Rau fired his large caliber beam rifle and hit the right forward weapons pod on Kira's METEOR.
Ejecting it right before it exploded, he ignited the anti-warship sized beam saber and swiped at his enemy. Rau easily avoided the large weapon and activated his own saber, imbedded in the shield, and cut the other forward weapons pod in half.
Kira ejected the remains and retreated as the mobile beam weapons began another attack wave. Both pilots exchanged fire, with Kira taking more damage as Rau managed to destroy a small section of the METEOR's powerful engines and blowing off the right beam cannon.
Arming his remaining missiles, Kira fired them and watched helplessly as they were all shot down again. Appearing from nowhere, Rau sliced the right METEOR engine in half, rendering the state-of-the-art support unit useless. Catching sight of the shuttle once again, he saw Flay up against one of the cockpit view ports.
"Flay!" he yelled, separating the Freedom from the remains of the METEOR.
Moving at full speed, he closed the gap as Rau deliberately aimed at the defenseless shuttle. One shot left the beam rifle as Kira desperately closed the range. With milliseconds to spare, Kira blocked the shot and sat back as relief flooded his system. He had done it, he had saved Flay. Still in the window, Flay almost cried in joy as the Freedom floated mere meters away.
Kira's relieved smiled turned to shock as one of the beam bits appeared from above and fired a beam through the shuttle. He watched in horror as the superheated energy ignited the air and flash-fried the crew, Flay included.
"FLAY!" he screamed as the explosion engulfed him. The next thing he knew, he was in a blue-green void filled with yellow stars.
Some of the stars coalesced into Flay, naked. "How come? Flay, why you?"
"Thank you Kira, and I'm sorry."
"It's not fair, I tried my best, I tried ..."
"All of this time, I've been in pain, afraid and I never understood anything. I understand it all now Kira."
"Flay!"
She moved in and hugged him. "You don't have to cry anymore, I'll protect you, let my true feelings protect you."
Flay and the void disappeared and Kira found himself back in his cockpit, out of control. Snapping his eyes open, he regained control of the Freedoms engines and looked up with crystallized eyes at his target: Rau Le Creuset.
And then everything vanished as Kira bolted upright, clutching the covers as he breathed heavily. The dream was so vivid to Kira, and he looked to his left to see Flay sleeping peacefully. Brushing some of her bangs off of her face, Kira smiled and slid out of her bed, clad in his boxers.
He dressed himself in his shirt and slacks, rolling up the sleeves before silently leaving. Making his way to the mess hall, he entered and saw Dearka sitting in the middle, both of his hands around a cup of coffee.
Nodding to Dearka as he looked up, Kira fetched a cup for him and filled it with coffee and then sat down across from Dearka. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
"Not a wink. Same with you?" Dearka replied.
"Pretty much." He took a sip. "So how was the rest of the dance?"
"It went well. Most of the crews are on their own ships now, and they all seemed a lot happier than before. I'd say our captains know how to throw a party."
"You don't seem too happy." Kira noted.
Dearka paused for a moment, looking glum. "I should be, and I want to thank you and Flay for what you both did for me back there. But Miriallia didn't seem too happy either at the end, and I don't know why."
"Well, try talking to her instead of sitting here alone with coffee." Kira suggested, taking another sip.
Dearka laughed. "You and Flay are a lot alike." Finishing his coffee, he stood up. "Thanks man, I needed that. Catch you later."
Kira stared into his own cup as Dearka left, taking sips every few minutes. So entranced in his thoughts, he didn't notice Flay enter the mess hall, clad in a large blue bathrobe, obviously Kira's.
"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, making him jump in surprise.
He shook his head and drank some more coffee. "Want to talk about it?" she asked, holding his left hand in both of hers.
"They're only dreams." He said. "They don't mean anything."
Flay was unsatisfied with her boyfriend's answer. "You've had nightmares every night since we left the Mendel Colony."
Kira didn't know he had been waking her up with his screaming, and he looked at her apologetically. "None of them make any sense. It's just so confusing."
"I've never put too much stock into dreams, good or bad, and you shouldn't either."
"I know, and as real as they seem, I've always woken up to see you, and that brings me peace." Kira finished the rest of his coffee and took Flay back to her room.
A flurry of alarms was activated on Miriallia's computer console. She hurried to pinpoint their sources, and feverishly wished she hadn't. "Captain Ramius? Our long range probes have picked something up."
"What did they find?" Murrue asked, turning to face her sensor officer.
"You'd better see this for yourself."
That got Murrue worried, she had never known Miriallia to look so worried and anxious at the same time. Getting up from her seat, she floated over to Mir's screen and read the information on it. Apprehension filled her face as she spoke. "Get me the Eternal and the Kusanagi."
"What? The Earth Alliance fleets are mobilizing?" Kira repeated aloud.
"One of our long range probes we sent out picked it up. When we got the information, it was already four hours old, by now anything could have happened." Cagalli explained from the other line.
"What do Lacus and Kisaka have to say about this?" Athrun asked, standing right beside Kira.
"They're both talking to Captain Ramius about it. But if the Earth forces have mobilized, then they must be finished with their Earth-side mop-up battles."
"They're going for Boaz, that's the only answer." Athrun stated.
"Boaz?" Cagalli echoed.
"Makes enough sense, after Boaz, both the PLANTs and Jachin Due are vulnerable." Kira agreed.
An announcement from Lacus came over the ship's intercom system. "All ships, prepare to move out, all crews stand by. Repeat, all ships prepare to move out."
"I need to talk to Lacus." Kira said. Cagalli nodded and the viewscreen went dead.
Exiting the lift onto the bridge, Kira spoke up. "Lacus, have they started their attack on Boaz yet?"
"It's gone beyond that now. The Earth forces have sunk to the worst possible low." She replied.
Kira looked at Andy for clarification. "Our sources tell us that Boaz has already fallen. It was destroyed by a nuclear attack."
The engines on all three ships started up, and they set a course for the new battle zone. "You'd better man your suits." Andy said.
As the two pilots left the bridge, Murrue activated a line to the Eternal. "I still can't believe they'd use nuclear weapons again."
"It's not that surprising, look at JOSH-A. Besides, the Earth Alliance has been trying to come up with a way to negate the N-Jammer since they were dropped. It's all because of that bastard, Rau Le Creuset." Mu said, standing beside Murrue in the captain's chair.
"We have to stop them all. We can't let even one blade of light fall upon those who are innocent; otherwise there will be no end to the tears and conflict." Lacus said.
The link terminated as the ships neared their launching point. "I'm worried. We may be too late to stop them." Lacus spoke.
"Kira Yamato! Freedom, let's do it!" the confidence in Kira's voice as he launched gave Lacus some hope.
"Athrun Zala, Justice launching!"
"Mu La Flaga, 105 Dagger, taking off!"
"Dearka Elsman, Buster taking off."
"Flay Alster, Strike, moving out!"
"METEORs, lift off!" Andrew ordered.
The support units designed for the Freedom and the Justice separated from the hull of the Eternal and allowed both mobile suits to dock with them. All of the systems started up and sped their pilots off the area where both ZAFT and the Earth forces were already engaged.
The rest of the attack force followed as best they could, but were losing ground rapidly thanks to the powerful engines mounted on the METEOR systems. Behind them, the three ships followed, escorted by the M1 Corps, led by veteran Barry Ho.
They had joined the fight at last.
A/N: Well, with this update, my internect connection is still offline, but I used other resources to get this update up. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far, and I encourage you all to continue. When I do get my connection up, I'll have to play catch up everywhere .. oi oi.
Now I know, next time I move, I'm going to get my connection up first, and then move. Truly sound advice.
Prayer