Phase Two – Returning to Pain
Kira awoke to pain radiating through his whole body and an odd ringing sensation in his ears. The pain radiated, but none more acute than on his left side. He blearily opened his eyes and immediately, they watered as dust hung heavily in the air. He coughed then hissed in pain as his left side ached in protest from his movements. He tried to roll over to his side and finally noticed a heavy weight that was on him, pressing against his right shoulder. Turning his head slowly, he saw that a slab of what was the wall to a side of the Senate hall had fallen upon him. Luckily though, it was only a corner of it…
Turning his gaze back down, he noticed a pool of dark red seeping past him and realized it was blood. He looked behind him, amiss the screaming pain of his left side and saw that one of his classmates had taken the brunt of the slab and was half flattened by it…already dead.
Kira closed his eyes against the sight and instead focused on moving out from underneath the slab. He wiggled his toes inside of his shoes and was relieved to find that all his nerve endings still responded. Breathing deeply, he wriggled his way out and finally sat up against a chair that had not been blown away.
He breathed deeply, and pressed a hand to his left side. Sharp pain tore through him when he touched his side and he removed his hand to find that it was covered in a thick coating of blood. Wiping his hand on another part of his shirt, which had been slightly torn, he pressed again and bit on his tongue to keep himself from crying out. Glass…and there was the piece… His hands grabbed onto the large piece that had wedged itself in his side and pulled it out slowly. Finally, the pain was too much and he whimpered as the piece came out with a sickly sucking sound.
He threw the glass away before taking a part of his ragged sleeve and ripping it. Folding it into a thick square, he reached inside of his shirt and pressed the makeshift gauze while his other hand quickly tightened a long strip of his former sleeve into a makeshift tourniquet.
Task done, he leaned back against the back of the seat he had been resting on, willing himself not to pass out. It was an explosion…no…more than one explosion as he remembered what had happened. There was an explosion up at the podium…then a few of the press' cameras exploded too…then the speaker systems that took out the walls…
Cagalli!
She was right next to the podium when it exploded! A sudden urgency filled Kira as he scrambled up and stood unsteadily and looked around. There were barely any lights, but from whatever dimness there was, he saw that many of the Senators, press, and his classmates were dead.
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a shift in the rubble and looked left. He saw someone's bloodied hand moving from underneath the rubble. He scrambled as best as he could to where the hand was and gripped it tightly before he started moving the rubble off of the buried person. Taylor's face greeted him and Kira sighed in relief as he saw his friend blink open his eyes and his face scrunch up in pain.
"Taylor?" Kira asked in a loud voice.
"K-Kira…" Taylor mouthed as his eyes found his and recognition lit up in them. Kira knew that Taylor was saying his name, but for some odd reason, he couldn't hear him – and realized then that at that range of blast, his eardrums had been damaged. "Ru…" Taylor's hand gestured feebly to his side and Kira moved the rubble over on his right and found Haruka with her eyes closed, face pale, and not moving.
"Haruka," he prodded her gently before he checked her pulse and found one that was thready, but not weak. She was injured badly, he realized as he removed the rest of the rubble off of his other friend with gentle ease, ignoring the fiery pain in his left side, or the fact that he felt his own blood soak through his make-shift gauze.
As soon as the rubble was off of her, Kira pressed gently with his fingers on her abdomen and found that it was solid. Internal bleeding, he realized. He couldn't move her… During the war, he had learned a few quick first aid techniques that Mu LaFlaga taught him in case he needed it, and now he was grateful that Mu taught him how to check for internal bleeding.
He looked back at Taylor and saw that the boy was mouthing another question to him. "How…is she?" Taylor was attempting to sit up, cradling a wrist that Kira noticed was bent at a horrible angle. Blood ran down a fairly deep cut on his head, but he didn't seem to notice it.
"Bad," Kira replied loudly, trying to hear himself speak, "Internal bleeding…we can't move her."
"Go see if there are any other survivors…I'll keep an eye on her. Get help," Taylor mouthed to him as he shifted over to his side.
Kira looked at Taylor with skeptical eyes before he nodded. "All right." He made a motion to Taylor to tell him to check her pulse every minute before he moved away and his friend nodded in understanding.
Standing up, he hunched slightly from his wound, and made his way through the rubble. He wanted to check on Cagalli badly, seeing that she was very close to the blast, but the moans of other survivors stopped him and he moved rubble off of them or helped them lean against walls to catch their breaths and assess their injuries.
He helped uncover rubble from a reporter's body and she had thanked him before bursting into tears at seeing her colleagues' bodies all over the press area. Finally, Kira approached the podium, or what was left of it.
A crater the size of the podium itself replaced the podium and Kira knew that Senator Ingriss was already dead, vaporized by the bomb placed there. He didn't see any sign of Cagalli, and so approached the area where she was sitting with the other committee members, moving rubble away with his right hand while his left was pressed tightly to his side to staunch the blood flow from his own wounds.
He found Cagalli at least fifteen feet away from where she was sitting, lying face down, small wooden splinters from the podium sticking up from parts of her back. Kira scrambled over and kneeled by her side. Taking her into his arms, he turned her over gently and found that her eyes were closed. A quick pulse check told him that she was still alive, but another glance at her body told him that she might not be for long. A huge splinter of wood was embedded on her side, bigger than the glass he had stuck to his side and he hesitated on pulling it out.
Right now, the splinter was the only thing keeping her from bleeding to death…
"Cagalli," he said her name, shaking her slightly.
Her eyes opened slowly and she blinked before pain contorted her face and she cried out.
"Shh…Cagalli, it's me, Kira," he said as tears of pain started to flow from her eyes and she stared at him for a moment before recognition appeared in them.
She shook her head as one of her hand reached up and touched her ear, indicating she couldn't hear anything. "K-Kira…" she said, biting her lip, "it hurts…" She tried to lift her head up, but Kira stopped her.
"Don't…" he said shaking his head, putting her gently back on the ground to which she hissed as the splinters on her back dug deeper. "You've got a bad wound…don't move, okay?" She blinked once to tell him that she understood and he looked to his left and right, the doors to the hall were completely covered in rubble from the walls collapsing on top of them, so effectively, the survivors were buried alive.
He looked up as the ceiling gave a loud groan and rumble and realized that if any of the survivors didn't get out soon, the whole place might collapse on top of them. That startling realization had also occurred to the survivors and some of them started panicking.
"SHUT UP!" one of the surviving senators suddenly shouted and Kira looked up to see Senator Ivensten supporting one of the other senators from PLANT. A part of him realized that his hearing was returning, if faintly at first, but it was returning. The panicking subsided into whimpers as everyone who wasn't passed out stared at Ivensten who didn't look too good. His face was ashen, but his eyes were blazing with fury.
"We need to work together to find an exit out of here. If you lot keep like this, we'll all be buried alive!" Ivensten said in a hard voice before his gaze turned on Kira. "You, kid, there's a secret exit near you. Find it! The rest of you, for those who can actually stand up, stand up and start helping others."
Ivensten then turned and started talking quietly with the PLANT senator who was dazed and confused. Kira saw that the senator's words seem to have an effect as people who weren't badly affected by the blast, who he had helped before, start to stand up and wander over to those who were still leaning against walls or lying on the ground, unable to move.
"Kira," Cagalli's hand reached up and brushed his fingers, making him look down at her. One of his hands gripped hers tightly and she squeezed his in return. "It's where two panels meet in the wall beside the left speakers."
He realized that she was telling him where the secret exit was and nodded before squeezing her hand again and got up. A sudden wave of dizziness engulfed his senses and he splayed out his hands to keep himself from falling to the ground. He couldn't pass out now…he still had too much to do. As soon as the dizziness passed, he walked slowly towards where the main left speaker box was and saw that the speaker had exploded and took a chunk of the wall along with it. Great, where the hell is the wall? He wondered as he ran his fingers along the edges of the blast.
His question was answer as suddenly, a part of the crater suddenly flew open on hinges and three people stepped through.
"Kira?" Athrun's voice was a blessing to his ears.
To anyone driving the streets towards the Senate hall, one would have thought that a silver-grey car was very impatient, and so it was as it kept jumping the lines and zipping ahead of other cars and trucks in front of it, even on the occasion completely driving in the opposite side of the road. It was dangerous driving by any standard, but for the driver, there was no care in the world.
Athrun didn't even bother to do anything as cars honked their horns at him for his reckless driving, but he had to get to the Senate building. Luckily, it wasn't too far away and he got there in record time. No one was at the security gate, and it didn't matter as fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances swept in. Athrun stopped the car just inside of the security gate and stared in horror at the scene before him. The building itself was already engulfed in massive flames, and rescue crews were scrambling everywhere.
There was a strangled noise that sounded like a cross between a whimper and a choked cry from Miriallia, but Athrun ignored it and instead stepped on the gas pedal. He drove past firefighter crews and other rescue workers who all but ignored him as they scrambled to remove the rubble that had barricaded the various entrances to the building and stop the fires from spreading. From a glance, Athrun knew that the structure couldn't really hold up for long if the fire continued.
"Athrun, what-"
"There's a secret back entrance," he replied in a rough voice, "let's just hope it isn't covered in rubble."
Screeching to a halt among the back of the a few fire trucks, he hopped out and ran towards a section of the building that fire crews were trying to put out a fire that had spread to three floors already.
"Hey! You can't go in there!" a policeman suddenly stepped in front of him and Athrun narrowed his eyes before pushing the officer to the side and barreling past. "Hey kid! Hey! I need back-up, there's a kid trying to get in!"
Athrun ignored the police officer yelling orders and instead ducked underneath a hose pumping out water, before stopping in front of two windows that had been broken and flames were pouring out of it. It wasn't a particular spot, but Athrun remembered Cagalli telling him about this secret passage that led from the Senate hall to out here.
Shielding his mouth and nose with his left hand as he approached the wall in between the windows, his right hand explored a part of the wall and found a crack. Prying it open, he was about to punch in the code when he felt something cold resting on the nape of his neck. A gun…
"Hold it right there kid. Don't move, don't do anything. Let me see you I.D.!" a police officer said behind him and Athrun snorted silently. The officer was a newbie, he was sure of it and turned around and glared up at the officer. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that a fair amount of police and rescue crew had gathered around, all of them glaring at him, Dearka, and Miri.
"There is a secret passage to the main Senate Hall. Will you let me key the code or not?" he asked in a level voice, all the while staring down the officer, even though he was crouched on the ground.
"Who are you!" the officer still didn't seem convinced.
"Athrun Zala, Morganroete," he replied. Even though Morganroete had been shut down after the cease-fire, Orb's technological research department was in all effectiveness, still Morganroete in all but name.
"Let him go, Reysin, he's cleared," a gruff voice said from behind the officer and Athrun looked beyond him to see Ledonil Kisaka, the former bodyguard to Cagalli, towering over them, dressed in a police captain's uniform. He had thought Kisaka would still be in security detail to Cagalli and realized that perhaps as the police captain, Kisaka was still security detail.
"But chief," Reysin started and Kisaka glared at him.
Athrun turned back around and input the code that Cagalli told him. A part of the wall suddenly hissed open and everyone around them gasped in surprise. Wasting no time, Athrun jumped into the dark hole and landed on earthy ground. Kisaka followed behind him and cracked open a glowlight before giving it to Athrun. He heard other people follow behind them as he made his way forward, ducking his head through the narrow short passage that dipped down.
After a few feet, it started to incline upward and Athrun knew that they were close. "Miri, get the others down here and tell them to set up glowlights through the passage," he called back.
"Roger that," Miri's voice echoed back to him and he heard a shuffle of feet before he continued forward.
"How did you know about this?" Dearka suddenly asked as Athrun pushed a long root away from his face.
"Kisaka told me when Cagalli became leader of Orb. Then Cagalli told me about the passcode and where to find it," Athrun replied.
"I see you still remember, that's good," Kisaka replied behind him and Athrun smiled faintly, but then wiped the smile off of his face as he came upon a wooden door that looked decayed.
"Is this it?" he asked, turning slightly so that he could see Kisaka's face in the darkness of the passage.
The dark-skinned man nodded, "Yes. We will need to knock it down from here. It was designed to be opened on the other side. Considering we do not know the damage inflicted in the Senate Hall, the door might be barricaded by debris on the other side."
"All right," Athrun waved his glowlight and Dearka appeared in the radius of the light's shine. He moved slightly back as Kisaka prepared to bash the door open. The taller man charged the door and he noticed that a brief flash of surprise flitted across his face before he went through. Athrun was puzzled at his expression but put it in the back of his mind as he stepped forward and poked his head through the opened door. Dust, smoke, and debris assaulted his eyes, but none of that was as shocking as when he saw Kira, only less than a feet away from him, relief on his face.
"Kira?" he asked stepping in.
"Athrun," Kira said in a slightly louder voice and as Athrun looked his friend, over, he noticed that blood was running down his ears. He had to have been close to the blast then, and that was why he couldn't really hear. He also noticed that Kira was hunched slightly and his left arm was pressed against his side. Holding up his glowlight as he stepped over the rubble he noticed blood was seeping out from underneath his arm and knew that Kira was seriously injured and loosing a lot of blood at that rate if the pressure on his wound did not stop the blood flow.
"Kira, your-"
"It's nothing," Kira suddenly waved him off with a hand, his voice still loud, but it was gradually returning to normal levels. "Cagalli…"
Athrun turned in the direction his best friend was indicating and saw Cagalli's lying on the ground, unmoving. He scrambled to her side and knelt down next to her. Touching her cheek with his hand, he was relieved when she immediately opened her eyes and stared at him. Tears began to form in her hazel eyes, and Athrun noticed an intense pain in them. He looked down her, and when he saw the huge splinter of wood embedded in her, he frowned in anger. What the hell happened in here? It had looked like multiple bombs went off in the room, and judging from the rubble, many of them were located in the speakers that lined the walls, and when they exploded, took chunks out from the walls and buried a lot of the people in their seats.
"Athrun…Athrun," for one who had been so close to a blast, Cagalli's voice wasn't loud, but it was a pained whisper. Athrun looked down at his love and found that she was crying freely.
"Shhh," he comforted her as he laced his fingers around her left hand. "It's okay…we'll get you out of here…" He looked up just as medics and rescue workers emerged from the secret entrance. "I need a stretcher here! Princess Cagalli's still alive!" he called to them and one of the medics shined a flashlight in his face before four of them scrambled to where he was.
"All right, we'll handle it from here," one of the medics shoved him away and Athrun stumbled over a pile of rubble and glared at the medic, but he ignored him and started to prep Cagalli for transport on the stretcher.
"I'll watch over her," Kisaka's deep voice startled him and he turned around to see him nodding and indicating that he should check on Kira who was now sitting on the ground, away from everyone.
"Thanks," Athrun replied before walking over to Kira. Behind him, he heard the sounds of survivors moaning and screaming in pain as medics and rescue workers worked quickly to move them. Already, there were a few medics that had secured some of the injured and were now moving back out of the hall through the passageway. He heard Dearka waiting in the passageway to help the medics carry the injured through before directing them.
Crouching next to his best friend, he watched as Kira lifted his head up and gave him a small smile. "Class project," Kira said and Athrun understood why his best friend was in the Senate hall today.
"Let me see that," he indicated to where Kira was still holding his arm across his left side.
"It's nothing," Kira replied and Athrun ignored him before he gently pried his arm off. His eyes widened as he saw that at least the majority of Kira's shirt was soaked through with blood – not bright red, but dark red, meaning there was a lot of it that the shirt was absorbing.
"What happened?" he asked as his fingers prodded the wounded area and he pressed gently on the wound just as Kira flinched away from his touch.
"Explosions. The first one went off…ah!" Athrun frowned as he touched another tender spot. The wound was very large…how the heck did Kira not faint was a miracle in his opinion.
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" he looked up at his friend, frowning, "how do you feel?" He glanced behind him as the rescue works finally got Cagalli on a stretcher and were preparing to move her.
"She's safe…good," Kira was also looking in that direction.
Athrun noticed that his eyes looked a bit glazed and unfocused… "Kira! Hey Kira!" he shook his best friend's shoulder and Kira blinked before shaking his head slightly, snapping out of his funk. "Don't pass out on me right now, okay?"
"Yeah…sure…" Kira sounded a bit confused and his words were slightly slurred to the point that Athrun knew that if he didn't get help right away, he might die from all the blood loss.
"Come on, Kira, stay with me, okay?" he tapped his shoulder hard to jab him awake again.
Kira nodded slowly before he tried to shift his position. Athrun looked around, trying to hail a medic and waved one over to where he was. "Hey Athrun…" Kira started and Athrun turned to see Kira blinking…much to fast than a reactive blink. "I…feel cold…"
"Shit," Athrun swore as he realized that Kira was going into shock; just then the medic he had hailed down knelt next to him and with a single glance already assessed the situation.
"I need a stretcher here stat!" the medic yelled as Athrun shook Kira's shoulder, trying to keep him awake.
"Stay with me, come on Kira, you've been worst than this! Come on…"
"Hold him!" the medic suddenly said as he took out a fairly large needle that he recognized as an adrenaline stimulant and jabbed it deep into Kira's leg. The reaction was immediate as Kira suddenly gasped and his eyes darted around wildly. It wasn't the safest of all to do especially with a person going into shock, but it was the only way to keep Kira from passing out and possibly dying.
"It's okay, Kira, just-"
Another medic suddenly shoved him away and Athrun glared at the medic before a group surrounded Kira and moments later, he was lifted up on a stretcher and headed towards the passageway. Following them, Athrun gave a measured look to Dearka who nodded and continued to direct medics in and out of the passageway while helping others. As they emerged outside, he noticed a change – the fires that were once blazing between the entrance to the passageway were now contained and there were a lot more ambulances than ever before.
Quickly following the medics carrying Kira, he attempted to get on to the back of the ambulance that Kira was put in, but was stopped by one of the medics.
"Who are you?"
"Family to him," he replied and the medic stared at him for a second before letting him go on. As the double doors shut behind him, Athrun looked down at Kira's prone form, his eyes now closed as the adrenaline was doing its work to keep him from passing out.
God help whoever did this to him and Cagalli…he would kill them if he found them.
Elsewhere in the vast expanse of space, at the abandoned LaGrange Point 4, in the ruins of Colony Mendel, a man with fair brown hair and striking features sat in a swivel chair. The makeshift office he was in wasn't too fancy, but in fact the remains of technician stations and whatnot. But this was home for him and he enjoyed watching old papers and reports float around the room. It gave him a sense of what was to come and what had been the past…
There was a polite knock from the door to the room and he turned as the door hissed opened.
"Sir, Raven reports that the mission was a partial success. He says that the majority of the Senate has been killed, but Princess Cagalli and a few of her supporters escaped injured. Shall I tell him to complete his task?" an officer dressed in the uniform of ZAFT asked, standing at attention.
The man pursed his lips and tilted his head, thinking. After a few seconds, he waved his black-gloved hand. "Yes. Tell Raven that the implications have already fallen on PLANT and so this should just be a clean up job. Forward the money into Amalfi's account and have him receive the message."
"Yes sir. What of the Fleet?" the officer asked.
"Start the attack on Februarius 3. Tell the Fleet they may leave survivors at their own discretion."
"Yes sir. For a pure world," the officer saluted him.
"For a superior world," he replied.