Fog of War

by I Kazuki

A Natural, surrounded by Coordinators he calls family and friends. How far is he willing to go? The struggle of four ZAFT youths, entangled in the broiling conflict over the very right to live. Chaps 45 up.

1. The Passion of Youth

Author's Notes: I've never written stuff for Kido Senshi Gundam or any of its many series, but I got inspiration for this SEED fanfic some time ago. It's, like many things I work on, a work in progress. It begins roughly a few days after the destruction of Heliopolis Colony, Feburary, C.E. 71. The characters it focuses on are four young men and women, all of them original characters I gladly offer up for immolation at the hands of the tradition of Gundam sidestories.

Hope this follows in that tradition. Thanks for reading. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is the property of SUNRISE / BANDAI Visual and its creators (Tomino Yoshiyuki, Hajime Yare, et al) and all characters, situations, and otherwise fictional places/circumstances are their property therein. This is written for non-profit and enjoyment purposes only, and no infringement is intended.

Phase 1: The Passion of Youth

It was a sunny day at Aprilius One, in the PLANT colonies, a fairly cloudless afternoon that forced many residents who would be out for long periods to don wide-brimmed hats or sunglasses. These citizens of PLANT—coordinators all, by and large—went about their daily business at that particular space colony, one tasked with research and scientific advances for the whole of the independent nation. It was as if, for a brief moment, that the war was far away, or didn't exist at all. The Naturals weren't trying to destroy them, and they weren't trying to bring the fight back to the Earth's Atlantic Federation or Eurasia.

This would, no doubt, have been an apt description of the scene at the Government Center Terminus at Aprilius 1, save for two key facts: Aprilius was a space station, and thus had no 'sunny days', a contrivance of the artificial weather and solar reflectors, and the war was still very much a daily presence, even out here, at Lagrange Point 5. However, neither of these facts made any particular impression upon Saito Nagisa, of eighteen, who rode on a turbo-elevator car down to the Government Terminus, his clear dark blue eyes overlooking the gigantic lake surrounding the center, pylon-like construction that held the hourglass form of the PLANT colony together.

A recent graduate from the Heliopolis Science College at Morgenrater Electronics' civilian engineering lab, Saito was still somewhat incensed over the entire debacle concerning the station's recent destruction. The only mitigating circumstance, as he saw it, was that there were very few civilian casualties, if any. Being a neutral citizen of Orb at the time, Nagisa, a well-groomed, intellectual, and normally sedate engineering major, traveled to PLANT to get a glimpse of what someone had once said to him was 'Coordinator life'. He'd known plenty of coordinators, over the course of his life. In fact, many of his friends—also neutral citizens in the conflict—were Coordinators. Saito, coming from a learned background, with every social and intellectual amenity, simply couldn't comprehend why some people hated the coordinators so much. Conversely, Saito Nagisa was a little baffled at how some Coordinators disliked Naturals so passionately.

Probably cause and effect, he contemplated wearily as he stepped off of the metal platform from inside the transparent, steelglas lift tube and proceeded into the Terminus to present his immigration papers. In point of fact, it was the very presence of his many long-time acquaintances who were Coordinators, that he was here. Despite this, he felt he would meet some resistance in transit to his destination. All of it, for a very simple, fundamental reason.

Because Saito Nagisa, born and raised on the Heliopolis station, was a Natural.

"Good afternoon, your papers, please?" A comely-looking bureaucrat in the immigration section sat a processing terminal, offering Nagisa a nonchalant, but very professional smile. She didn't seem to be all that much older than himself, which didn't surprise Nagisa in the very least; PLANT was purportedly suffering from a population crisis, one that challenged its viability as a nation, which also meant that a disproportionate percentile of its youth was joining the workforce early. In fact, though he didn't know it, majority had recently been lowered to age sixteen, as opposed to Orb's eighteen and the Atlantic Federation's twenty-one.

"'Afternoon," Nagisa said noncommittally, producing his hardcopy transit papers. The young lady took them, looking down at them curiously.

"Name?" she asked, just for verification purposes.

"Saito, Nagisa."

She continued looking down. "Date of Birth?"

"Eleven-seventeen-fifty-two." He said lightly. For some reason, he felt his anxiety levels rising, and he resisted the almost-subconscious urge to break into a cold sweat.

"Place of Birth?"

"Orb Nation, Heliopolis Station."

"I'm so sorry." The lady said, glancing up at him, brushing away a strand of loose hair.

Nagisa frowned minutely. "Oh, don't worry. Almost everyone I know made it out without a scratch. We'll get along."

"I suppose. That's quite brave, Mr. Saito." She said, and reviewed his papers quickly. "Purpose of visit?"

"I'm visiting friends, Mr. Lyles Doyle, and Mimura Kunio, here at Aprilius." He said with somewhat renewed confidence. He only hoped Kunio and Lyles were on time to pick him up down at ground level; Nagisa was worn out from the flight here. It was hard enough for civilians to move about from place to place during this conflict, much more so after losing house and home. In fact, he didn't have any possessions with him besides his daypack, which he'd had with him during the attack. He'd gotten out on an escape pod with some others, and waited fifteen hours—and through another battle---before getting extracted by Orb rescue personnel. He'd put in a timely call to Mimura, a Coordinator friend of his who was his best pal during his years at the college—who incidentally, graduated that same year, advanced as he was—and was living at home with his family in Aprilius. His parents arranged for Nagisa to stay there for a while until he could either find some way to get down to Orb Homeland or find housing in PLANT—a harrowing prospect considering the circumstances.

"Expected duration of visit, Mr. Saito?"

He swallowed. "To be honest, I've got no clue. I'm staying with the Mimura family until I can either get myself down to Earth—unlikely—or find some residence here."

"Well, that complicates things…" She said under her breath, tapping her computer console sporadically. "I have to ask some more questions, then."

"Go ahead. I don't mind." Nagisa fully intended to cooperate. So long as it doesn't get me in the hot-seat, he thought ruefully.

"You're aware, of course," The civil servant began, "that normally our immigration laws are somewhat strict, and now with things as they are, they're even tighter, correct?"

Nagisa could only nod at that. It didn't merit any other response.

"Furthermore, I'm sorry to ask this, Mr. Saito," she said with a touch of humanity as opposed to professional efficiency, genuine regret on her dark, Hispanic-looking features, "But you are a Coordinator, correct?"

So he'd been right all along. It really did come down to where one 'stood' on the issue, so to speak. The invisible lines of racial separation, Coordinator, Natural, were already drawn in the genetic sand. Saito didn't see things in those terms, but he was once again made keenly aware that others weren't quite eye-to-eye with his open-handed, open-minded worldview.

His throat constricted noticeably, but thankfully, it wasn't enough to alter his voice. "No, actually. I'm a Natural."

The young woman's refined eyebrows arched up with surprise, which she did make a vain attempt at hiding. Idly, Nagisa wondered just what the procedures were for someone in his position knocking on the PLANT door. He'd get through, no doubts there—the PLANT colonies were very friendly with Orb civilians, as a matter of humanitarian aid, especially considering the tragic loss of Heliopolis, and their own, infinitely worse experience with Junius 7, the 'Valentine of Blood'—but it didn't mean he would get through unopposed.

Nagisa made a calculated, slight frown. "I trust that won't be a problem, will it? I'm a visiting Orb citizen, and harbor no ill will towards Coordinators. My PLANT citizen acquaintances will vouch for that."

The civil servant—Fernanda Almeida, he noted, by reading the little nametag she wore—was evidently, puzzled. She probably didn't have the authority to stop him on the account of something so legally-sensitive, but Nagisa couldn't help wondering if she would try anyways. Privately, he doubted that PLANT had immigration laws specific to Naturals; it didn't seem like it would be a major issue, after all, they came here to escape Naturals, it would only be absurd irony that Naturals would want to immigrate.

"You may not," she said cautiously, "But that isn't my decision or judgment to make."

"I didn't think so." Nagisa said coolly. He was growing slightly irritated, and he could tell that the others behind him, all of whom were thankfully out of earshot, were probably more irritated at the hold up. "In any case, my transit papers were pre-approved before I got here, I made sure of that. Can I go now?"

"Oh…" Almeida glanced down at the approval signatures on his visa for travel into the PLANT colonies—valid for only a month, an understandably short period of time—and suppressed a shrug. "Apparently, yes…of course. I'm sorry. Have a nice stay, Mr. Saito Nagisa, and welcome to PLANT."

Mimura tapped his foot in annoyance. After all his yammering about not being late to pick him up, Nagisa was sure taking his damned time in meeting up with his old schoolmate. Though, he didn't have anywhere else to be, and Kunio hadn't seen his best friend since Graduation. He was mostly just annoyed that he couldn't slap Saito hard on the back quite as soon as he would have wished.

He called ahead to know if the civilian shuttle that was ferrying him and several other Orb citizens to Aprilius 1 had safely made it through from L2, near the Earth Federation's moon-base. Indeed, the shuttle safely slid past, a civilian ship, under the auspices of neutral Orb, wasn't to be bothered by the likes of the Naturals' military. To be honest though, he knew the shuttle was also running late. But not late enough to explain why Nagisa wasn't here yet.

"We're going to miss supper," Kunio muttered lamely, looking down the terminus towards the transit office. Next to him was Lyles Doyle, the dirty-blond, charitable playboy that lived not far from him on Heliopolis, before the war started, eleven months ago. "You know, Lyles, I think he just likes the attention."

"Hah?" Lyles said, around a sneaked-in stick of crackers. Apparently he was hungry already. "You mean Old Man Saito?"

Kunio was forced to reflect his amusement rather visibly at that remark. 'Old Man Saito' was the none-too-flattering nickname Nagisa picked up at Heliopolis, because of his young age of enrollment at the Science College. No one called him that to his face though. The irony was that Kunio was only slightly older, leaving Lyles with the mantle as their senior by three years. That didn't stop the older college student from taking a liking to his younger classmates. In fact, he was very much impressed with both.

"Yeah…" Mimura Kunio trailed off, as he squinted slightly towards the transit offices' double doors. Their glass surfaces slid aside, admitting a tall figure, dressed with a dark blue overcoat, khakis, and turtleneck to walk easily in their direction, sporting a meager duffle over one shoulder, dull-black hair in a neatly-parted mane. "Hey, look, there he is! Nagisa! Nagisa!"

The tall youth waved, and stepped up his pace, nearly bowling into a couple of government officials in his haste to meet up with his estranged comrades. "Kunio, Lyles! Osashiburi!"

"Good to see you made it back in one piece, Nagi." Doyle said with a suave nod and a grin. His fair face was an odd contrast to the darker, more streamlined features of both Nagisa and Kunio, both of whom were of Japanese descent, while their friend was of a handsome, Irish-Germanic descent. He spoke Japanese almost fluently though, having grown up in Tokyo before immigrating to Orb, then PLANT. The opposite was true for Kunio and Nagisa, both of whom were fluent English speakers, the lingua franca of Orb and PLANT.

"Thanks, Lyles." Nagisa nodded amiably, smiling for what felt like the first time since he'd gotten on the escape pod at Heliopolis. He hefted his pathetically light daypack. "So, where to?"

"My place," Kunio said, pointing to his groundcar, a sleek, anodized blue late model sedan. It might have been his, or might have belonged to his parents, Nagisa couldn't tell, and Kunio didn't give any explanations

"Alright." Nagisa nodded again, and slapped Doyle on the shoulder, grinning wide. "Really has been a while, hasn't it, Lyles? You doing alright these days?"

Doyle shrugged, opening the rear passenger-side door of the sedan and piling in. "Not bad, I mean, considering the war and all. It's not really a big deal here at PLANT homeland. Not like we do the fighting, so…"

"The war…" Nagisa muttered distantly. Whether he liked it or not, things like war had a nasty habit of becoming pervasive elements in one's existence. No, not just 'one's existence', he noted glumly, everyone's existence. Also, whether he liked it or not, it had taken his home.

The real truth was, that while he'd have liked to be here for purely pleasure-related reasons, he'd traveled to PLANT out of sheer circumstance. The idea that he was here to take a look at how it was on 'their' side of the fence was just a conversational contrivance, and both of his friends knew it. Neither felt like pointing out that their longtime collegiate conspirator had earned the dubiously distinctive title of 'war refugee'. For how long he'd be able to lie to himself, Nagisa knew, was a question he didn't feel like answering yet.

Doyle was getting bored just sitting in the car, and uncomfortable with the sudden and profound silence. Outside, the Aprilius Lake gleamed in the artificial glow of Aprilius 1's ersatz sun. Hoping to change the mood, he leaned forward between the seats. "Hora, Kunio, put on some music, will ya? We're gonna die in here like this."

"Sorry," Mimura apologized sheepishly, and he though he caught Nagisa forming a small smile of amusement. He pushed a button on the steering wheel, turning on the broadband radio. A popular song was playing when they tuned in, with a cool beat, and a pretty-sounding female singer. "Oh…this song again."

Nagisa cocked his head to the side, as the road rolled on ahead of them. He listened for a moment, before realization sunk in. "This is that Rakusu Klein girl, right? Or am I just being dumb? I hear she's pretty famous here."

"You bet," Doyle said from behind, speaking in their peculiar group dialect of English and Japanese, "She's one of those…what do you call them…idols?"

"Something like that," Kunio said with a snort. Then he smiled fully. "Actually, she isn't that bad. She can sing well, at least. She's too sugary in my opinion though. She's on the Peace and Memorial Committees."

Nagisa thought hard for a moment as they went on an off-ramp into a residential district. Saito never visited PLANT before, so he'd never been to either of his friends' PLANT-side houses, though he met both of their families on Heliopolis several times over the years. As he was thinking, he blurted out. "She's getting married, isn't she, Siegel Klein's daughter? Some sort of hubbub about her and some military brat?"

"Oh, that." Kunio laughed laconically, putting the car into a sharper turn than Nagisa imagined the local traffic cops would have liked. "Asuran Zara, Supreme Commander Patrick Zara's son. I don't know if he's a brat or not, but some of Rakusu's fans got kinda miffed about that."

Nagisa grinned, looking over his shoulder at Doyle pointedly. "I'd imagine."

Doyle just turned his nose up, and looked away, mock-hurt. "Just like her for the music. Pink hair is a little too much, even by my standards. I wonder if it's natural, though, if you know what I mean."

Nagisa and Kunio both laughed at that, as the car pulled into the driveway of the Mimura residence. Like many families these days, the Mimura were a military family, with Kunio's older brother and father serving for Z.A.F.T. and the paternal side going back as far as the twentieth century's Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Because of this, there was some pressure on Kunio to join the military, but he so far steadfastly refused, alleging that his skills are better used as a civil engineer, much like his friends.

The Mimura house was pretty large, like most of the houses in this upscale, affluent district. It was a very peaceful-looking stretch of scenery, not very far from the central colony spire. A few aberrant clouds rolled about noiselessly, painting a picturesque afternoon for the trio as they got out of Mimura's four-door and their unlikely guest threw his light pack over a shoulder, walking abreast to his friends. They were all smiles, despite the previous tense air, ready to get in a lot of catching-up work. A little more than a year went by since graduation—just before the Bloody Valentine Incident—and they'd been almost completely out of contact for the duration, as both Mimura and Doyle left for PLANT.

They were lucky, as they came in through the large, oak-like front door, to discover the man of the house was in. Nagisa craned his head about as he passed through the door, which Kunio unlocked and stepped through first. The only conclusion that Nagisa could make was that Kunio's house was beautiful. It was no estate, he knew, but it could have fooled him, had he only seen the entryway.

"Boys, there you are. We were beginning to worry." A strong, but somehow warm voice said from an unexpected angle. When they turned their heads, they were greeted by the form of Mimura Hyosuke, still dressed in the dark amethyst of ZAFT's Naval Command. Nagisa had no clue about how to read the yellow and red rank insignia, but he was willing to bet that Kunio's father rated higher than a captain, at the least. He couldn't remember off the top of his head what the head of the household was before the war.

"Sorry Dad," Kunio said with a grunt. "Nagisa ran into some snags, but he's here now, not-so-express delivery, but fragile contents in one piece." Kunio smiled convincingly, and patted an unsuspecting Nagisa on the back, forcing him to step forward.

Standing in front of a man so resplendent in his dress uniform, the eighteen-year old ex-college student didn't know whether to bow by Japanese custom or to execute a parade-ground salute. Fortunately, for instances such as this, instinct sufficed, so he did the former and lowered himself slightly. " Konnichi wa, Mimura-san. Osashiburi desu ne."

The middle-aged man smiled fondly. He was the primary reason why Nagisa was allowed an immediate visa; Mimura pulled as many strings as he could for the friend of the family, to ensure that the youth would have somewhere to come home to in the face of such a dramatic turn of events, instead of waiting for passage to earth in an Earth Alliance refugee camp. This was a fact that Nagisa was well aware of, and thankful to no end.

"Ah, Saito-kun!" he said, taking a few steps towards the boys, wiping his hands on a towel—probably washing up for dinner—and returned the bow with a nod. "It has been a while. Not since before Christmas last year. I'm glad you've managed to make it here safely. As you can see, you're not that late, I myself just got in moments ago."

Nagisa nodded as if to say, 'is that so', and offered another bow. "Thank you, sir. It's a relief to be among friends again. And congratulations, however late they may be." He added enigmatically, porting that small smile of his that seemed to be a Saito Nagisa trademark as Kunio offered to take his daypack.

"Oh? Thank you, but…" The older Mimura was visibly amused. "What for?"

Still smiling tightly, he gestured lightly towards Hyosuke's uniform. "I don't know how ZAFT does its ratings insignia, but it seems there are more of them on you than there were before. Simple math instead of an educated guess, I'm afraid."

Kunio cupped Nagisa's shoulder hard and gripped it. "Dad got promoted a few months ago. He's now a Colonel. We can't put one past you, can we, Nagisa?" His old college friend's eyes were bright with pride and satisfaction.

"No, we can't," Mr. Mimura laughed heartily, walking towards an arched doorway that led to the dining room, where Kunio's mother had already placed the serving dishes. He continued to look entertained by Nagisa's commentary. "Always interesting, talking with you, Saito-kun. Lyles may have been the one to teach him his fondness of young women, but I think you were his professor in the art of being a smart-aleck."

"Anata!" Kunio's mother protested, overhearing the somewhat rude compliment. Apparently she didn't share the Colonel's direct manner and sense of humor. Both Lyles and Nagisa were already used to the older man's sly sleights and charming sense of comedic irony. Surprisingly, though the man was military, through and through, he was a literature major in college, probably how he picked up his way of being kind yet managing to make light of everyone in a way that wasn't quite offensive. It was one of the many reasons that the three young men looked up to Mr. Mimura.

"Don't worry, Satomi. He knows I'm joking." The colonel, who wasn't at all taller than Nagisa, inclined his head sagely in the boy's direction.

Nagisa laughed nervously, not really wanting to be a point of contention, however trivial, so soon into his stay. "Of course. I don't mind—Kunio and Lyles make me the butt of their jokes ninety-percent of the time anyways, when I'm not doing the same to them. What goes around, comes around, they say."

"That's the spirit." Hyosuke grinned broadly, and took a seat at the table.

The Mimura adults waited for the young men to toss their belongings and wash up before beginning their meal, and the group ate quietly, reserving the end of dinner for their conversations and catching up. Particularly, Mr. Mimura displayed a rather natural interest in what Nagisa planned to do, now that he was stranded in PLANT for what looked to be the duration of the war.

"Not that we're planning to push you out," Mr. Mimura assured after the meal, resting comfortably in a high-backed chair. "You've always been like family—your mother Natsuki was like a sister to us, and I knew your father for ten years before you were born—you're welcome to stay as long as you like. Though I am curious, as to what you're going to do with yourself."

Nagisa was thoughtful for a moment, as Lyles, Kunio, and Mr. and Mrs. Mimura observed him intently, waiting for a response. Sipping a chilled drink like the others, he considered his options briefly, and vocally. "I don't think Morgenrater is employing around here—I was going to work with them before Heliopolis—with them having been discovered to have worked with the Earth Alliance and all that…I could check out what PLANT needs in the way of civil engineers. I'm pretty sure that keeping a space-station running takes a lot of those."

"Wisely put." Kunio's father said. There was something about Mimura Hyosuke that Nagisa found so appealing, and he suspected it was because of the very fatherly nature that he exuded, even to Lyles and himself, who weren't of kin. For all that though, an outsider would have thought that the three were brothers—if they ignored how incongruous Lyles was in comparison—and that Mr. Mimura was the stern but well-loved patriarch.

Nagisa had few memories of his father, who died when he was much younger. His mother, Saito Natsuki, passed away only recently of inoperable cancer, and was something of a relative to the Mimuras, a distant cousin of Satomi, who until two years before, was an Orb citizen.

"I suppose I could look at Kunio's job research. We're in the same field, after all." Nagisa said contemplatively, throwing his best friend a glance. The other nodded curtly, an unspoken promise to share any fruitful leads. So strong was their friendship, that it didn't occur to them to compete for job slots. Lyles, the oldest, already found work as a low-level tech with the station's subcontractors.

"I can't help but wonder," Mr. Mimura murmured softly, now dressed in casual attire instead of his dress uniform, "if you're really not going to enlist, Kunio."

Kunio was well aware that no father willing acted as a recruiting officer in a time of war—but there were other circumstances at work. He could feel the tradition of service embodied by his father's prominent rank. He felt partially guilty for not having signed enlistment papers yet, but to be brutally honest, he didn't want much part in the war. Oh, he knew of course, the atrocities that the Earth Alliance committed in the name of a 'Blue and Pure Earth'—the multisyllable moniker for hatred espoused by Blue Cosmos—but he couldn't quite bring himself from the sorrow of that event to the idea that killing the people that caused it was justified. Two plus two just didn't equal murder, by his reasoning.

"I can't really understand it Dad," Kunio said apologetically, "I mean, it has nothing to do with family. It's just that even though so many people on Earth are saying 'Coordinators are bad because they're better' while some of us are saying 'Naturals are worse because they're worse'."

"That makes so much sense it's scary," Nagisa said derisively. "You know it's serious when the extremists start crawling out of the woodwork. I can kind of see their point though: paranoia is the common denominator. I got a taste of that today."

"Eh?" Doyle looked up from his hands, fixing Nagisa with a stare. "What happened? Was it why you got held up?"

"I can guess." Mr. Mimura sighed heavily. "Someone asked if you were a coordinator or not—what they thought would have been routine question and answer." He looked over at Nagisa.

Nagisa was left open-mouthed for a moment, before nodding dumbly. "Yeah. Something like that. It was when I mentioned that here was the only place I really could go."

To be honest, Nagisa was surprised that the conversation had so easily drifted towards this subject matter: the subject. It was the very topic that some thought the war was all about. Maybe people hadn't put the war out of their minds, least of course would be Colonel Mimura. He had to deal with the war every day. He would be leaving next week for the front again, after finishing some reports to the High Council.

"I have to apologize," The older man said quietly. "That sort of thing happens. I can't blame them. All they get to hear are the bad things about Naturals, never the good things. It's only irony that they couldn't tell our kind from theirs apart without a DNA test. Don't be offended though, Nagisa. They may not know it, but not every Natural is a Blue Cosmos fanatic."

"And not every Coordinator is a ZAFT-Zealot," Nagisa smiled wearily. "No offense to the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty forces, of course. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to know good people—I don't really care what they are."

"If only seasoned politicians and military commanders felt as you do, Saito-kun." Mimura grimaced. "And none taken. So, Kunio, you were saying?"

"I just didn't want to get caught up in it, you know?" The youngest Mimura looked to his father carefully, attempting to stand on as much middle ground as possible. He knew that certainly, his father wasn't going to get mad over the issue. Annoyed, maybe a little irked, yes, but never mad about enlistment. "And war hurts people who have nothing to do with it. Look at Nagisa—he's living proof. It wasn't just Earth forces that got Heliopolis destroyed, Dad."

The Colonel seemed to consider this. Normally, Nagisa imagined, such a snub might have been the reason for an argument, but he knew the Mimura family better than that. Not only did Kunio mean well and was respectful, but Mr. Mimura was very understanding and moderate.

"True." Nodding to no one in particular, he folded his hands. "I'm not at liberty to say much about that incident, but Admiral La Cruise fouled that up. But, blame can be tossed about as much as we like, the results still stand, and they always stand to prove that war is destructive, sometimes indiscriminately."

"Forgive me in advance, because I like playing devil's advocate," Nagisa said calmly, after a brief silence. "But what about defending a place you love, or the place you belong in? I certainly know people who would have fought to defend Heliopolis—and Mimura-san, or should I say, Mimura-taisa, does so daily. Maybe the reasons people fight are just as important and relevant as the reasons people don't fight."

Colonel Mimura could have laughed, if the subject weren't so grave an issue, at how precise he found the young ex-engineering student to be. "He sounds like a young cadet already. Maybe even an old hand."

Kunio gave Nagisa an 'et tu?' sort of half-betrayed look, but it lacked serious substance or feeling. He was just being cross for the sake of conversation, and they knew it. "Don't encourage him, Dad. Next thing you know, you'll see the first ever Natural in a ZAFT uniform."

"That would be amusing." Kunio's father said without a hint of sarcasm. He grinned towards Saito. "Though I doubt your friend is that eager to make me laugh as to do something like that."

"Though not unrealistic," Nagisa commented dryly. "After Heliopolis, I find myself feeling less neutral and willing to sit back for the ride."

The colonel raised an eyebrow curiously, probably making note to pursue that line of conversation some other time to unearth exactly what 'leanings' it was the young Natural had. In his own mind, Mimura Hyosuke saw Saito as something of a welcome oddity; a non-coordinator who could care less about the major reasons for the war, could care less for the war, and was more than willing to fraternize with what his Earth acquaintances would call the 'enemy'. Something about that struck Colonel Mimura as unusually brave.

"Now," Mrs. Mimura interrupted at that juncture, "haven't we had enough talk about war? How has the first year out of college treated you, Nagisa-kun?" Mimura Satomi asked pleasantly, drawing a look of feigned annoyance from her husband.

Nagisa busily jumped into a description of what he'd been doing since graduation—basically since when his social group fell out from around him and scattered to the wind—and how he'd been lobbying Morgenrater for a job in their civil engineering department. They'd wanted to push him into their weapons design department, which worked directly for Orb as a military subcontractor. Little did he know though that Morgenrater was actually building mobile suits for the Earth Alliance, something that made even the tactful Nagisa a little bit disturbed. The only thing he saw as good about the war was that one side had a clear technological advantage. In his opinion it had been better someone win than it go on forever.

"Back to war again." Satomi said with obvious disappointment. It wasn't directed towards Nagisa though, he knew that much. Rather, it was simple frustration of a family member caught in a web of violence that surrounded an entire people. That's how wars were, when you got even close to one; it surrounds you until there is nothing else. "Why don't we all get some rest? It will be getting late soon."

"Alright Mom. Doyle, you good for helping me get Nagi settled tonight?" Kunio rose to his feet and patted Lyles on the shoulder expectantly.

Lyles Doyle looked down dejectedly for a brief moment. "And I was hoping for that lonely monorail ride uptown. Shucks."

Kunio grinned. "Good. You know where the vidphone is. We'll be waiting upstairs."

"Mm hmm. On that note, by the way, Nagisa, I feel bad for you, having to leave old Helio." Doyle said morosely, folding his arms as if it was all a damned shame.

Nagisa sighed. "I thought we're over the pity-party?"

"No, no," Doyle shook his head. "You see, you're going to hate PLANT."
"Why's he going to hate PLANT now?" Colonel Mimura sounded curious and suspicious at the same time. He had a bad feeling about something.

"The Orb schools had cuter school outfits, hands-down, especially in Helio." Lyles said with a wide smirk, making his way to the videophone post haste before he could be met by Satomi's withering stare—and a rather accurate imitation from her son. The Colonel chuckled slowly, his 'bad feeling' more than confirmed. He knew better than to voice his private agreement with the boy in front of the wife, though. Those girls are prettier in the Heliopolis municipal uniforms…

Nagisa smiled, feeling once and for all that he was back someplace he could call home. He had a gut feeling that he wouldn't take too much time in getting used to his surroundings at all.

That night, Saito Nagisa slept fitfully. His mind kept wandering to the destruction of Heliopolis, his lack of blood relations, and how turbulent things had become around him. There was one comforting thought, however, which kept him asleep: he was among friends now, and for now, he was safe from that chaos. He was among people as good as family to him, who had been for years. With his mind counting himself lucky for once, Nagisa drifted off to the realm of dreams sometime deep in the night.

When he awoke in the guest room with Doyle, he noted that though the hour was early—the light coming through the window seemed yellowish still—he felt rested enough to not dawdle in bed and rise for the day. When he did, Doyle stirred once or twice before finally coming back to consciousness as well. His 'older brother' shot him a surprised look. When the pair had roomed together at the college one year, it was always Doyle waking early and Nagisa sleeping in to fiendishly late hours.

"Someone's changed." Doyle muttered, swinging his legs over the bed at the far side of the room, running a hand through his tousled hair.

Nagisa chuckled, shaking his head. "Can't act like a fool all my life. Besides, I have work to do today anyways."

"Eh? Really? And you just got here, too." Doyle stood, stretched, and went for his day clothes, hastily changing out of the cotton shorts and 'ZAFT ROTC' Tee that probably was twenty years old and belonged to Hyosuke, judging from how the 'A' was faded out of existence, along with half of the 'R'.

"Yeah." He nodded, changing as well, into something presentable as a well-to-do foreign national, but completely generic as well. "I have to settle my finances and talk to the immigration office today. I also want to talk to Mimura-san before he goes out."

"You've got issues with the military or something?" Doyle asked suspiciously. "I had one or two things to talk about…you know, they do pay well…but I wasn't serious."

"Actually, I just wanted to ask some questions. Most of them don't have to do with the military, I just figured Mimura-san would know better than Kunio." The younger man explained in blasé manner, slipping his dark green sweater over his head. He'd have to get some clothes at the shopping center too, he couldn't well go around wearing his job interview clothing forever.

"Oh." Doyle seemed to accept this at face value and went on with the daily ritual of waking, getting out of the room to go and refresh himself for the morning.

Nagisa observed himself in the full-length mirror casually, looking at his fair-skinned, dark-haired features, his close-set eyes and narrow chin. Something began to form in his mind, a small idea that initially seemed trivial and inconsequential, but was quickly becoming something he realized may be very important in the coming days and weeks. He needed to start fitting in, becoming one with his surroundings, if he was to continue living a remotely normal existence. That meant living, breathing, speaking, and acting as if he were a member of PLANT, and all that implied.

At his core, Saito Nagisa didn't feel as if he were 'betraying' Orb or his erstwhile countrymen. To say the least, young citizens of Orb hardly felt the burning patriotism of people in PLANT, Earth, and the Moon. That could be said doubly of the young men and women who'd inhabited Heliopolis; the sense of 'nationality' was very weak in a nation which was comprised almost entirely of racial minorities—no one single race was dominant in the demographics. With so inhomogeneous a population, one was hard-pressed to find glue for social cohesion. He imagined things were better off down in the Orb Homeland, near the Asian subcontinent and Australia, but he couldn't be sure—he'd never lived there. Nagisa was a citizen of space, through and through. He'd only been to Earth once, and found he didn't like it all that much. Planetary living, in his opinion, while possessing novelty to him, was quite overrated.

After getting ready for the day, he found Kunio struggling in vain with the automatic coffee machine in the kitchen, looking only slightly more bedraggled than his guests. "Mo, yameru-n-dayo!" he grumbled at the automaton.

"'Morning, Kunio." Nagisa said flatly, pressing two buttons on the machine as he passed. Promptly, the apparatus began spitting scalding-hot coffee into Kunio's mug.

The youngest of the Mimuras stared in bafflement. "How the…"

"I used to own the same model machine. I ended up replacing it." Nagisa explained tiredly, recalling how it had taken three weeks of tinkering to get the machine to work for the first time, and a small war every other morning to keep it running. He eventually bought a filter and thermos, and made his coffee the old-fashioned way. "Trust me, it saves time."

"If you say so…" Kunio smiled weakly and removed his coffee mug in time to greet his father, who emerged from an adjacent hall, already dressed in his ZAFT uniform, rank insignia and all, though the jacket was open, revealing a pastel colored shirt beneath. "Hello boys."

"Good morning," they all echoed, and promptly did the same when Mrs. Mimura appeared as well. They ate food she prepared expertly—surprisingly traditional shiro-miso soup, along with bread and some other items. The food was very good and quite filling, for something so visually light.

Towards the end of the meal, before the Colonel would have to announce his departure for the day, Nagisa decided to speak. He began rather quietly, as was his custom. "Mimura-san, can I ask you a question?"

The patriarch turned in his direction, nodding as he sipped some hot coffee prepared from the same bastard contraption. Nagisa suppressed a grimace. "Of course, Nagisa-kun. What's on your mind?"

Nagisa paused as he considered how to phrase his question, but only briefly. He'd been thinking about it a while. "How is it, being a ZAFT-gunjin?'" he inquired, using the Japanese word 'gunjin'—literally, military person—for soldier.

A sudden silence pervaded the dining room due to the unexpected nature of the question. The acquiescent, introspective teenager never before voiced much interest in matters military. In point of fact, Kunio had asked more questions about military life than Nagisa cared to have thought up as of yet. Even Satomi, Kunio's mother, was more involved than the engineering graduate. It seemed an odd avenue for the quiet young man to approach, but nonetheless, the head of the Mimura family did his best to provide a good answer.

Scratching his stubble, Colonel Mimura made a neutral expression. "I would say it's as good a living as any other. Every line of work has its good points and bad points. No sane person enjoys war, but those in the business of conducting it do so to satisfy their personal needs, such as protecting their families, or being servants for the people. It pays more than adequately for the hours you put in, and trains you very thoroughly for a post-military career too."

Kunio spoke up before Nagisa could raise another question. "Since you left, Nagisa, I considered the military too. They offer a lot of help with post-graduate work, and there's also what Dad just said. There's important work to be done, even if some of us disagree about how to do it. We'd all be in deep trouble without ZAFT, even I'll admit to that."

Nagisa nodded slowly, taking the information in bit by bit. He finished some tea, and sighed.

Mrs. Mimura looked across the table at him with her soft brown eyes, radiating something approaching motherly warmth. "Why you, of all people, Nagisa-kun, are you asking about the military? You're what I'd imagine is the opposite of military, like day and night."

"It's an interesting thing." Hyosuke rumbled. "I'd say that yesterday got him thinking. Why now?"

The surviving Saito rested his chin in his palm lightly, frowning. "I guess it's because I'm upset over Heliopolis—and what happened before too—and I think that people should try and stop what's going on. I don't really know. Maybe there's more merit in soldiering than I previously thought."

The colonel fixed him with a serious stare, one that was no doubt calculating possibilities behind possibilities. There was something about the gaze that Nagisa couldn't put his finger on, as if there lurked a certain amount of danger there, depending on how he answered. "Are you considering becoming a soldier, Nagisa-kun?"

"I…" Nagisa stammered, but was interrupted.

Kunio shook his head. "It's not that surprising, Dad. I was waiting for an opportunity to say this, so I guess this is as good a time as any." All eyes shifted to Kunio, and Nagisa was secretly thankful for the temporary reprieve. Kunio's father eyed his son intently, waiting for whatever it was he had to say. "I am going to join ZAFT."

Startled gasps filled the room, and even Nagisa couldn't help drawing his breath in sharply, as if recovering from a punch to the solar plexus. When he looked around the table, he caught glimpses of varying levels of surprise. Kunio's mother was aghast, her hand near her chest, while the elder Mimura's eyes were wide. Doyle seemed somewhat caught off-guard, but there was a gleam to his eyes that suggested he knew something was up before that moment, possibly for a long time.

"So am I." Doyle echoed, confirming Nagisa's gut feeling about Lyles' reaction. The way he said it was very strong, very determined. "We talked about it for the last few weeks, and this last bit with the Earth making mobile suits is getting on my nerves."

When it rains, it pours…Nagisa thought jadedly, at a loss. He imagined that Mrs. Mimura felt about the same way. He'd not imagined his friends as being ones to join the armed forces, but then again, if he considered them objectively, they shouldn't have been such surprising choices for enlistment. Both were young, able, and intelligent, even by Coordinator standards. Both came from strong families, and exhibited normal amounts of aggression, but also were keenly understanding of politics, and pretty vocal. It seemed now only natural that they wanted to help shape the future they would live in. Nagisa felt somehow ashamed of himself for misjudging his friends. It was stunning to realize that he hadn't seen that in them to begin with.

"Are you sure, Kunio-chan?" Satomi asked, leaning forward a little bit. She was definitely concerned, Nagisa noted, judging by her tone and how she let –chan slip into her phrase.

"I am." Kunio said resolutely, and then turned to Nagisa. "Sorry to keep the wool over your eyes, man. I meant to tell you sometime before I said it to everyone else, but your question kind of made up my mind for me…"

"Damn…" Nagisa mouthed absently, shaking his head. Though…what he said made sense. There was a definite need for people who would serve the people, and serve a greater good as a result. Was that why most people enlisted, risked their lives for others? Nagisa couldn't bring himself to believe that it was just good pay and benefits that lured people into enlisting in the armed forces. He didn't want to believe that; it would mean that people didn't have heart, didn't have beliefs. "That's just…so hard to believe…you know…you guys might get killed."

"Yeah." Doyle said with a sardonic smirk. "But we might get killed anyways. Remember the Valentine of Blood? No one is safe—Coordinator or Natural—until this war is over. Nothing's holy anymore. You said it yourself, Nagi."

"I guess so…" Nagisa trailed off distantly. Instead of reproach for friends that seemed to have betrayed their own teachings, he was filled with concern. He practically grew up around Lyles and Kunio, he didn't want to see them get hurt or killed. Not if he could do something about it, at least. "There's no way you'd reconsider, I know you two too well. I only wish I could help somehow."

"Hmmm…" Mr. Mimura's baritone resonated, as he considered something as of yet unknown. Nagisa caught him closing his eyes and folding his hands, striking a contemplative pose. An infinite amount of time appeared to pass before anyone said anything, until the colonel smiled. "You three make me proud, you know. You all believe in something, which sometimes is the most important thing of all. That makes me very proud, of family and friends."

"Thanks." The trio said in unison, unable to suppress smiles of their own. It felt good to know that someone as accomplished and respected as Mr. Mimura had praised them.

"Kunio I sort of expected, Doyle-kun…that doesn't surprise me." Mimura added thoughtfully, then extending a finger in Nagisa's direction. "But Saito Nagisa-kun, what of you? What are you going to do? It looks almost as if you want to do something, but can't."

In face of such direct questioning, the normally nonchalant and easygoing Saito couldn't lie or retract his leading statements. He swallowed reflexively. "I can't do anything, Mimura-san. At least not for what I believe in."

"And what is it you believe in, young man?" Kunio's father pressured. "I'd like to know." His eyes blazed as he stared directly at the eighteen-year old.

Nagisa met his gaze, feeling inside him a rising tide of determination brought up solely because of the impotence of his own situation. Tossed about by the winds of battle, to drift onto foreign shores, where he was treated like family, to be unable to do what he believed in, or protect his friends. It made him almost sick, to see so many people suffering, dispossessed of more than just house and home. What he lost he could replace; what others had lost could never be returned to their grieving hearts.

"I believe in defending those people I have around me. I believe in peace, even if it means fighting to protect it, even when those people I want to defend are supposedly 'not my own kind'." He almost spat the last four words out onto the table for all to see, specimens of a foreign language of mutual distrust and bigotry. Though he personally had no care for the distinction between Natural and Coordinator, viewing them both as human, the fact that others did, and wanted to kill because of it, made him angry. "I want to defend the people I love, even if some people might think it's wrong to care about them."

He glanced about when he was finished, stunned at the forcefulness of his own words. Had that been hiding in him all along, that vehemence and drive? It made him want to smile despite himself. When he saw the others, he detected pride, surprise, and satisfaction, not the least of which came from the Colonel.

The man said, "A most noble belief, one I wouldn't have thought possible for someone so quiet. Nonetheless, noble. You would defend us, Coordinators, at the cost of being seen as a traitor to your own people?"

Nagisa nodded. "The line between peoples is one the heart should draw, not blood. When I lost my parents, first my father then my mother, you took me in, under your wing. I would be more than just a prodigal son not to want to defend you and the rest of your family and my friends."

"That," Kunio said with a happy, satisfied laugh, "is something I would expect from you, Nagi. I think I gained more than you did, then. Lyles and I gained a brother."

"Hmm.:" Mimura was speculative for yet another moment, during which he closed his eyes. Then, "You know, I was only joking when we spoke of a Natural in a ZAFT uniform, but...I think I can make that happen. Do you want to fight, Nagisa, alongside my son and Lyles? To become a soldier of ZAFT?"

All eyes turned to Nagisa, and he was given pause, but it was so short, no one noticed, as he set his jaw. "Yes, sir. I want to fight and protect my new home and my friends. I don't care who stands in the way, Natural or Coordinator."

"The enemy of peace is your enemy then," Satomi said with a poetic touch, smiling faintly. "That is a difficult role in life, Nagisa-kun."

"I can do a few things that will get you where you need to be. However," The colonel stopped momentarily to gaze at each of the potential recruits. "No one must know that you are a Natural. It would cause too many problems. Only some will know, and they'll be ineffectual."

"How?" Nagisa asked suddenly.

Mimura smiled with unabashed sincerity. "If you really want this, then Satomi and I can adopt you. Your birth certificate will be changed—there'll be no reason for anyone to suspect you weren't born a Coordinator."

"Honey," Satomi whispered, "Are you sure about this?"

The man nodded sternly. "Very. I wanted to adopt Nagisa-kun anyways. He deserves family, and this way, we give him the opportunity he needs. Whether or not he prevails, is in his hands."

"They'll know…" Doyle said with a frown, "If you decide to pilot a mobile suit. I hear that Naturals can't do it yet, or that the OS they've used so far is dumb as hell."

The Colonel looked crossly at Doyle. "You're not supposed to know that."

Lyles shrugged emphatically. "I came across the information in passing. Wasn't snooping, someone's leaking."

"In any case, Lyles has a point." Kunio said sagely from his corner. "You'll need to work hard to find a way to pilot, because that's the most likely assignment you'll get—we don't have much in the way of infantry, I hear. We'll all probably be assigned as mobile suit pilots or something like that."

The colonel confirmed this with a dip of his head. "He's right. I can probably sneak you a copy of a GiNN's OS—can you re-engineer it so you can pilot it?"

"Father, that's—" Kunio was cut short by Hyosuke's deep laugh.

"Treason?" He asked with a smile. "Yes. It is, giving our OS to a Natural…but, he'll be enlisted, and a PLANT citizen. I don't see any treason there."

The fact that it was merely a clever ruse was evident to Kunio, but he trusted his father enough to know that he would find some way to get away with it. A few, long seconds passed.

"It may be possible…" Nagisa said carefully, thinking. He was good at computer science and programming as well as engineering—the two went hand in hand. It would definitely be a challenge, but he had his friends to help as well. He would at least have a month, he figured; time enough for trial and error, if it came to that. "I can try, at the very least."

"It's settled then." Mr. Mimura rose to his feet. "I have to get to the Government Terminus, but I'll arrange for the adoption papers. You two," he pointed to his son and Lyles, "You'll enlist as soon as I get Nagisa-kun's papers straightened out. You watch out for him, and he'll do the same for you. No one else hears of this, understood?"

"Yes, sir." The two replied, almost saluting already.

With that, the patriarch left the house only moments afterward, leaving the trio to prepare themselves for the day ahead, which would be interesting and different for each. The air in the house was a little tense, but Mrs. Mimura assured them that she was very happy that they'd all taken direction in their lives, even if it wasn't the direction she wanted for the three young would-be soldiers.