Chapter 18: Home is only where the Heart is.

Baron Kevin Onishi stepped out of the hidden tunnel into his old home with a feeling of nostalgia. It had been nearly four years since he'd set foot in the mansion, and it seemed as if he were stepping into another time. The oak furnishings, the high-ceilinged rooms, everything seemed just as it had the day he left for his final semester in Copernicus, before it all began.

Snake walked carefully into the foyer the tunnel connected to, the grand room which also had the massive front door, feeling as if a loud step would bring everything crashing down on him. Silent as a tomb, and he was the only living soul within.

"Well, I'm home," he said to the ghosts of the past that haunted this place. "It took me awhile, but I'm home." Something that could not be said of his parents, who would never return to this house again; Kevin felt anew their loss. Then, shaking it off, he began to prowl the silent building, checking every room.

He eventually found himself back in the entrance foyer, having satisfied himself nothing had changed, and that he was alone. But that suddenly changed, as the hidden tunnel door swung open again, admitting his old friend Kira.

"Kira," Kevin said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Kira, dressed in civilian clothing, noted that the Snake was again wearing his usual black civilian getup; apparently, he'd worn the noble outfit on the day of their arrival simply to make a point, and refused to wear it again. "Cagalli said you were here, and told me how to get here. I... wanted to talk to you. About..." he indicated the mansion around them. "About all this. You never told me who you really are."

Kevin nodded slowly. "I figured we'd be having this conversation sooner or later." He turned to a bookcase set against the wall. "Come with me."

Bemused, his fellow Coordinator followed him to the bookcase, which they stepped right through, finding themselves in another oak-paneled chamber, apparently some kind of anteroom. "Hologram?" he asked, glancing back at the seemingly solid wall they'd come through.

"That's right. Just enough to keep the casual eye from noticing this place." Snake walked over to a heavy oak double-door at the other end of the room; it had a palm-print scanner beside it, along with a microphone and what appeared to be a retinal scanner. Without hesitation, he placed his right hand on one scanner, presented his eye to the other, and spoke directly to the microphone. "Una salus victus nullam sperare salutem."

"Confirmed," a disembodied voice said. "The one hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety. Welcome, Baron."

The oak doors opened, and Kira followed his friend into the inner room. Inside, he gasped; it was like stepping into the past. Aside from a computer on a massive oak desk and the locking mechanisms, there was not one item of modern technology in the room, not even any way of announcing visitors.

Kevin apparently deduced his thoughts. "No, there's no form of communications in here, Kira. No visitors to announce. You see, that door will only admit two people, and I never saw the need to announce Cagalli." He nodded at the huge room. "My parents and I had an understanding: only I, and those I specifically designated, could enter my study. Even they stayed out. So this... was my refuge."

Kira could see that. Like the rest of the manor, it was furnished all in dark oak, with a four-meter-high ceiling, the huge desk, numerous armchairs, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookcases, and several weapons racks and cases. The most modern items he could see were a couple of rifles on the walls and a large case full of handguns.

"Go ahead, take a look around, then pick a chair," Snake said, striding to a sword that hung over his desk. It was a long, elegant rapier, which he carefully lifted and drew from the scabbard. "Ah, my old blade. I won many a match with you, didn't I?" He sheathed it and carefully clipped it to his belt. "The blade I wore earlier was good, but a mere copy. This is an antique, more than three centuries old. I used it in live-blade matches."

"You really grew up here?" Kira sounded almost reverent. "And did you read all these books?"

"Every single one." He smiled, settling into a chair. "I'm afraid you won't find Homer and his ilk there; I acknowledge the Iliad and the Odysseyare indeed classics, but the style bores me out of my mind." Kevin motioned for Kira to sit. "So. I believe you had some questions for me."

Kira nodded, lowering himself into another obviously antique chair. "Yeah. I mean, all the time I've known you, you never mentioned that you were born to... this. What was it like, growing up this way?"

"I'll tell you. It's time you knew the whole truth, tovarisch." Kevin looked toward the ceiling. "But it's a long tale, and I'm not sure where to begin."

"Well, I've always wondered why you were so obsessive about keeping your zoanthrope powers a secret," Kira said. "Why is that?"

"Ah, of course." Snake smiled. "Then we truly start at the beginning. It's simple enough, really. You know about Busuzima and his kind, and how we zoanthropes were persecuted and hunted."

"Busuzima?"

He frowned. "You've never heard of the ZLF?"

Kira shrugged, bemused. "Should I have?"

"I suppose not; it's just... the time of Tylon and the ZLF is the zoanthrope Dark Ages, the time that's become almost a racial memory." Kevin leaned back in his chair. "Alright, let's start at the very beginning. Throughout human history, there have always been a few zoanthropes in each generation. Never very many, but it's believed that wolfish members started the werewolf myths, and the bats among us were thought vampires. But eventually, the Tylon Corporation discovered our potential. I'm not sure, nobody's sure, really, when this was; the Reconstruction War destroyed a lot of records. But a century or two ago, Tylon realized that the potential lay within all of us, even you, Kira. With a little gene therapy, any human could 'unleash the beast within', could become a zoanthrope. Unfortunately, they didn't stop there. I won't go into the experiments they performed, other than a clone they created of Long the Tiger, but it was quite horrific. Finally, a few zoanthropes, acting independently, put a stop to Tylon. Bakuryu the Mole, Yugo Ohgami the Wolf, Alice the Rabbit, Alan Gado the Lion, and others, they destroyed Tylon. But..."

"But?" Kira prompted.

Snake sighed. "They drew attention to their existence, and people, rational people familiar with the scientific method, feared and envied us, and began to discriminate against and persecute us. Distinctions of color were forgotten as humanity united against zoanthropes. In the midst of all this, the Zoanthrope Liberation Front was formed, apparently a beacon of hope to our kind, a group that would fight for our rights. Instead, they turned out to be as bad as Tylon, and in fact had former members of that corporation among them. One of them was Doctor Busuzima, who turned Doctor Steven Goldberg, a fellow zoanthrope researcher, into the unstable insect zoanthrope Stun, who needed a specially synthesized hormone to survive." He shuddered. "It was up to the zoanthropes who defeated Tylon, with a couple of additions, to stop the ZLF, and stop it they did. Alan Gado, with the aid of Yugo Ohgami's new organization, managed to largely end the witch hunts. But to this day, zoanthropes fear to reveal themselves, with the memory of Tylon and the ZLF always in mind."

Kira nodded in understanding; he'd heard some of this history before, but it seemed only the zoanthropes themselves still recalled much about the period. "So how does that lead to you?"

Kevin smiled. "Well, that takes us to C.E. 54, the year before the Torino Protocol banned genetic engineering. May 18, in fact, the day I was born. And, yes, the day Cagalli was born. Interesting coincidence, eh?"

Kira blinked. "I was born that day, too."

"Strange." Snake shrugged it off. "Like I said, coincidence. Anyway, it seems that the genetic engineering that made me a Coordinator also triggered my latent zoanthrope genes, since to my knowledge I have no zoanthrope ancestors." He raised an eyebrow. "And that brings us back to the original question: who am I. Well, as you now know, I grew up as the son of Baron John Tyler Onishi (our names, by the way, come from a paternal grandmother from North America), and a good friend of Cagalli. I was literally closer to her than to my parents. At six, of course, I was sent to Copernicus for schooling, which is how I met you and Athrun. I visited Earth frequently, spending more time with Cagalli than my family, and eventually I grew to hate my high-born status. That led to the construction of this room, where I could get away from all that."

"And you were a fencer?"

"Right." Kevin smiled wistfully. "You know, that was the only career I ever truly loved. I am a very skilled soldier, but fencing was what I enjoyed. And so I did... until three years ago. I was sent to the PLANTs ahead of my parents, for one last diplomatic mission, and then they died; three days later, I was kidnapped by ZAFT and put into the ABADON Program."

Kira cocked his head. "ABADDON? That's what gave you your augmentation, right? Commander La Flaga told me about it."

"Right. La Flaga doesn't know the whole story, though, and if you don't mind, I'll skip that part; the memories are still too fresh, too horrifying." Snake shuddered. "As I was saying, six months after I was kidnapped, I made my escape, destroying everything in the process. Just how I survived a fusion bomb, I may never know. The important thing is, I had no idea who I was; it took me years to recover everything, and I'm still not sure I have." He shrugged. "Beyond that, you know what I was up to, until the day I arrived on Heliopolis, and from there on you saw it first hand. It is also the reason why The Red Queen is hunting me"

"Yeah." Kira hesitated, wondering he would even survive bringing up a certain subject. "One thing, though, Kevin. You and Cagalli...?"

Kevin grimaced. "Ah. Those rumors. Kira, Cagalli and I grew up together, to be sure. We're closer than siblings, yes. But those dratted rumors... It's not the first time. Back when I still lived here, it was commonly thought in the Orb aristocracy that I'd be Cagalli's consort, once we were old enough. That... that blatant assumption was something we both resented, but it was there anyway. It's probably another reason Lord Uzumi hates my guts." He slowly shook his head. "No, Kira, those rumors are groundless. She's just a close friend, that's all."

The other pilot looked at him for a moment, then shook his own head. "No, that's not all, is it, Kevin?"

Snake froze, surprised, then slowly nodded. "Okay, Kira. You deserve the truth, after all the lies." He took a deep breath. "Yes, Kira. I love her. Very much. But... she deserves better than me."

Somehow, Kira wasn't surprised by the admission. But that last... "What do you mean?"

"People who get close to me get hurt, Kira!" Kevin was suddenly up and pacing in agitation. "And one day, even I'll die. One day, the Grim Reaper will catch up with me, somebody'll get lucky, and I'll die. And stay dead. I will nothave her go through that!" He breathed deeply. "I am what I am, Kira. I am, by training, an assassin, and I am very, very good at it. The only trade for me is war, and one thing I am not is a hero. If anything, I'm a monster, and Cagalli deserves far better than that." He turned to face the wall.

A monster? No way- But before Kira could protest, Kevin went on.

"And besides, Lord Uzumi would never allow it."

"He wouldn't?" Kira wasn't exactly sure how Athha could stop his daughter, if she so decided.

"Just who do you think had me killed, two years ago?" Kevin asked softly. "Who do you think hired that sniper? It wasn't ZAFT, and it wasn't Blue Cosmos."

His friend was literally shocked speechless. The idea that Lord Uzumi Nara Athha, Orb's Chief Representative, would actually go so far as to hire an assassin, especially to kill his daughter's closest friend...!

"I don't know why he did it," Snake went on. "I imagine part of it was the fact that he never liked having me anywhere near Cagalli, but that seems a bit extreme to me. I'm just lucky I don't seem to stay dead."

Kira shook himself. "Are you sure about this?"

Kevin nodded. "Oh, yeah. Remember that disc Andy Waltfeld gave me? That had the location of my target, CARDINAL, but it also contained the true identity of the person who wanted me dead in Orb. Now, I knew Andy very well; he wouldn't have given me that data if he wasn't absolutely certain it was accurate." He resumed pacing. "Now you know why I don't want my survival to be widely known yet. I intend to deliver that news personally."

"Have you told Cagalli?"

He laughed humorlessly. "Of course not. How do you think she'd react, learning that her father had me killed? Kira, the mixed loyalties could destroy her, and I won't be responsible for that." With a sigh, he shrugged. "Who knows, maybe I'll even reach an... accommodation... with Lord Uzumi. Maybe." His expression turned grim. "One thing's for bloody sure: he'll never get another chance at it. I know what's going on, who's the real threat. I'll be watching for any backstabbing. Believe it."

Meeting that frozen-jade gaze, Kira most assuredly did believe it. He'd seen Kevin Walker in many a battle now, in the air and on the ground, and only once had he seen him so much as touched, when an RPG hit him in the chest. "If you do meet Chief Representative Athha, what'll you do?"

"Talk," Kevin said coldly. "Usually, I can scare people into leaving me alone. If not..." He noted Kira's mildly horrified expression, and his eyes warmed slightly. "Oh, don't worry, Kira. I wouldn't harm Athha himself; he's harmless, physically. Anybody he decides to send after me, though..." He shrugged. "But I don't honestly think that's very likely; the sheer shock of seeing me alive, and the knowledge that I simply came back from the dead, should be enough to make him realize hunting me is suicidal, and futile."

His expression smoothed abruptly as the door behind them opened, admitting Cagalli. "Hey, Kevin, Kira," she said, walking in. "I thought I'd find you here."

Kevin smiled, no trace of his anger remaining. "Hi, tovarisch. I was just explaining my somewhat... colorful history to Kira."

Kira noted he made no mention of what they'd just been speaking of, and that his friend seemed far more cheerful when Cagalli was around. "Isn't it a little unusual for you to be visiting a place like this?" he wondered aloud.

She snorted. "Hardly. I used to be in here all the time, when Kevin still lived here in Orb." She glanced nostalgically around the elegant room. "It's been a few years, though."

"Too many, tovarisch," Kevin said. "It's been far too long since I could relax here with a friend, or relax at all, for that matter."

Cagalli nodded with a smile. "Oh, by the way," she said, with a slight frown. "My father wants to speak with 'Ensign Tremaine'. He's at the Morgenroete facility now."

Snake went slightly cold, though he allowed no trace of it to show. "I see," he said finally. "Give me a minute; I'll be there shortly." He was already donning his sunglasses.

Uzumi Nara Athha waited patiently in a secure office in the Morgenroete factory; he was quite curious about this 'Tremaine', the one who had apparently been responsible for protecting his daughter on an island in the Indian Ocean.

The door finally slid open, and a young man in black, with a black flight jacket, sheathed Bowie knife, holstered revolver, and sunglasses stepped in. As usual, it was his wicked facial scar that drew first attention. "You wanted to see me, Lord Uzumi?" he said, with a North American accent.

Athha nodded. "You are Ensign Victor Tremaine?" As the young man nodded silently, he noted that the pilot apparently disdained uniforms. "I understand you are responsible for rescuing my daughter in the Indian Ocean." Another silent nod. "I thank you for that, and your actions just before entering our territory. I'm told you were nearly killed in the attempt."

"Nearly." It took all his skill to hold the accent, especially after returning to Orb. "I have had worse, Lord Uzumi. Much worse. Such is the soldier's life."

"Yes, I would imagine." Athha nodded at 'Tremaine'. "I would like to reward you for your help."

To his surprise, the ensign laughed, a low chuckle that seemed composed of amusement and a sense of irony. "I don't need your money, Lord Uzumi," he said, one hand reaching for his sunglasses. "And I think you'll want to reconsider that offer... once you know who I really am." He removed the sunglasses.

Athha frowned, wondering where he had seen that face before, and then he recalled a young heir to a barony, a fencer whose face matched this one in all detail but the scar. The realization was enough to rattle even him. "But you... you're dead. You've been dead for two years."

The Baron shook his head in mixed amusement and anger. "No, Lord Uzumi. I'm anything but dead. Your hired assassin wasn't quite good enough."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't try to deny it, My Lord. I have all the evidence I need to be convinced it was you who hired him." He smiled coldly. "That idiot was, certainly, the best assassin money could buy. The only problem is, there's one assassin money can't buy: me." He shook his head again. "Though I must say, it took a lot of gall for you to arrange my death in front of your own daughter."

"It wasn't supposed to happen that way," Athha said, abandoning the pretense. "I had no idea she would be present."

"But she was." Kevin took a step forward. "How did you intend to explain it to her, Lord Uzumi? Would you have left her thinking that I was still missing, out in the PLANTs?" His jade eyes froze, and Athha was frightened despite himself, caught in that icy regard. "Why did you do it, My Lord? What the devil did I ever do that would warrant killing me? I've never threatened Orb in any way. I'll freely grant I could care less about the government, but this is my homeland. Why on earth did you have me assassinated?"

"Because of what you are," Athha answered, taking a step back. "I know what ZAFT made you, and that put my daughter in danger. What would you have me do, Baron?"

"Put Cagalli in danger?" Kevin was incredulous. "You bloody well know I'd never hurt her!"

"I knew you wouldn't have three years ago," the Chief Representative corrected. "However much I may have disapproved of my daughter's relationship with you. After your experiences at the hands of ZAFT, however, I could no longer be certain." His face hardened. "I knew for a fact that you killed for ZAFT; I knew of your assassinations."

"I was a brainwashed puppet, Lord Uzumi," Snake countered, "and in case you didn't hear, when I regained my senses I blew the project to kingdom come and tried to take myself with it!" He slowly shook his head. "All that time, thinking ZAFT had killed me for being a failed experiment. But it was really you, killing me because I was a successfulexperiment..." His claws shot out, fifteen centimeters of gleaming death. "You should know, My Lord, that there was no 'relationship' between us. We were, and are, close friends. But that is as far as it goes."

Athha, startled by the sudden appearance of metal claws, edged backwards, reaching slowly for an alarm. "So they did more to you that I thought," he said as a distraction. "You truly are a monster, aren't you?"

Kevin wasn't fooled; his hand strayed near the holstered revolver. "Don't even think it, Lord Uzumi," he said softly. "You would be dead long before you could hurt me. That's a warning, not a threat." His claws retracted. "Relax, Lord Uzumi, please. I have no intention of hurting you. And surely I've proven by now that I won't harm Cagalli. I protected her from that pilot in the Indian Ocean, and a few times before that, in the desert."

The Chief Representative considered that for a time, then finally nodded. "Perhaps I was wrong about you, Baron," he said at last. "We may never like each other, but you have proven you mean my daughter no harm. And as she seems to have become somewhat like you even without you influencing her, I suppose you can no longer be considered a bad influence." Athha held out a hand to the younger man. "I might not be entirely pleased with it, but I would not interfere if you became involved with her."

Kevin looked at him a moment, then shook the hand. But he also shook his head. "No, Lord Uzumi. I don't think anything is going to happen between us. That would put her in danger, and I won't do that."

Athha looked curious, but held his peace on the matter. "So, Baron," he said instead. "Will you be leaving with the Archangel when its repairs are complete? Or will you be remaining in Orb, perhaps reviving your fencing career?"

"I'll stay with the ship." Snake smiled coldly. "My mission in life, Lord Uzumi, consists of two objectives: the eradication of Blue Cosmos, and the destruction of ZAFT. Right now, since they seem to be the ones most actively trying to kill me, ZAFT is the primary target. The best way to destroy it and protect my friends at the same time is to stay with the Archangel." He turned to leave, then looked back over his shoulder. "And by the way, Lord Uzumi, as to the matter of rewards... Morgenroete has given me all I could want: the perfect weapon to effect my mission."

A day following Snake's somewhat uneasy truce with Uzumi Nara Athha, Kira sat in the Strike's cockpit, typing code at his usual lightning speed.

"Wow, I can't believe how fast you're typing." He looked up, and Cagalli, standing on a walkway above him, recognized him. "Oh; I was wondering who was in the Strike, but I guess I should have known it'd be you, Kira."

Kira smiled. "Yeah; they said it would be wise not to wear a military uniform while working here." He cocked his head, smiled becoming slightly teasing. "Listen; isn't it unusual for a real princess to hang out in a place like this?"

"Excuse me," she retorted, right eye half-closing. "And don't call me a princess, or even think of me as one, okay? You don't know how much I hate being called a princess."

Actually, he had some idea of it; he'd heard his good friend Kevin rant on the subject often enough now to know that some high-born people weren't exactly happy with their status and perks. "But now, everything makes sense," he said. "That's why you were at the Morgenroete facility on Heliopolis."

Cagalli nodded. "Now you know." She thought back. "I'd heard rumors that Morgenroete was helping the Earth Forces manufacture mobile suits. I approached my father about it, but he kept changing the subject; that's when I knew I had to see for myself."

"And then you found out..."

Cagalli took one look at the battle raging below around the pair of mobile suits and sank to the floor. "I knew it," she moaned. "The Earth Forces' prototype mobile weapons. Father, I knew you betrayed us all!"

Kira resumed checking the Strike's systems, but continued speaking. "But your father- uh, Chief Representative Athha really didn't know anything about it, did he?"

"That's what a lot of people on the inside say, but my father has never actually denied knowing about it." She sighed. "I used to believe my father..."

"Cagalli, I..."

He broke off, as two mechanics walked past, muttering about the Strike. "It's been pushed to its limits, like the machine is crying for help," one finished.

Cagalli watched them go, then looked back at Kira. "Did you hear what those guys said?"

He climbed out of the cockpit. "Maybe so," Kira said quietly. "There were a lot of people I wasn't able to protect."

A little later, they stood in a small lounge overlooking the factory. "So that's why you joined the resistance?" Kira asked, handing Cagalli a coffee cup. "You ran away because you were fed up?"

"My father used to tell me I had no idea what went on in the world; so, I went to see for myself," she explained.

He picked up another cup for himself. "What, is that it?"

Cagalli gazed into her coffee. "In the desert, everyone I met fought desperately. I mean, their land is just a pile of sand, but they still fought tooth and nail for it." She remembered her fallen friend Ahmed, whom Kevin had avenged within minutes of his death. "Then I look at Orb." She walked over to the window. "See? With all this power and the things that we can do, we still want to be pals with both ZAFT and the Earth Forces." Cagalli turned suddenly. "Doesn't that seem sleazy? Is that the right thing to do?"

Kira walked over. "Would you rather fight, Cagalli?"

She was surprised by the question for a moment. "All I want is to bring the war to an end."

"We all do," he agreed. "But it's- Just fighting won't end the war; I kinda doubt it. Too easy."

Cagalli became thoughtful at that, but then Kevin stepped in from wherever he'd been hiding himself, once more appearing where no one expected him. "That's where you're wrong, Kira," he said softly. "I don't like it any more than you do, but unless the other side genuinely wants peace, which is rather unlikely given who's leading their military, a decisive victory is the only way to end it." He was already carrying a coffee mug, filled with a concoction he'd picked up from his mentor, Andy Waltfeld; he sipped it as he thought. "Before you tell me violence never settles anything, I suggest you look at history. The Romans used it to 'settle' things with Carthage, and rather well, too. More recently, look at the Second World War. It took two atomic bombs dropped on cities to force the Japanese to surrender."

Kira glanced at him sidelong. "I'm not doubting your knowledge of history, Kevin," he began, "but how much of that choice of examples comes from the fact that you're a soldier? I mean, without war, you guys wouldn't have any purpose."

Kevin was expecting the question. "Kira, you're a soldier now, too, remember? How do you feel about war?"

"I hate it."

He nodded. "Right. The rest of us do, too; you think professional soldiers like me likebleeding and dying on the battlefield? With a certain number of exceptions, civilized armies don't like war, either; the soldiers simply realize that it's a job that needs doing. You remember those refugees we protected all the way to Earth orbit, before they were killed. Could you have not fought to keep them safe?"

Kira shook his head reluctantly. "No, I couldn't have. I see your point, Kevin. But..."

Kevin put a hand on his shoulder. "I know, Kira; you don't have the temperament for this kind of work. Believe me, I'd rather you not have to fight, either. But..." He closed his eyes. "Better there be an army made up of people like you than me. I have a moral code, and I'm no sociopath, but my standards are rather different from those of normal people. My solutions are a little too... direct, sometimes."

Cagalli looked at him, concerned. "Kevin... are you in one of those moods again?"

"Something like that." Snake turned away, briefly extending his claws. "I still wonder, sometimes, if I should be the one to die. I've got these abilities, and these enhancements, that make me more dangerous than anyone else. I have the power..."

"To make a difference," Kira broke in. "You and Commander La Flaga both said that to me. Now think about it yourself, Kevin. You're a super-soldier, right? You've got more fighting ability than anybody else. You've got the power to make a difference, Kevin. You can change this war, on your own. With your powers and your father's mobile suit..."

"You told me you believe in Fate," Cagalli said, seeing where Kira was going. "You've come back from the dead more than once. Maybe you've got some kind of part to play in this war. Maybe there's something only you can do. Maybe you can end the war."

Kevin stared at them as if they'd gone mad, then burst out laughing. "Me? Make a difference? End the war? You've gotta be kidding! Look, you two. First of all, I'm a super-soldier, not an omnipotent soldier. I don't have super powers. Oh, sure, back in the 20th AD, my kind might be seen as supermen, and Destroyers would wipe the floor with armies of that era, but in this day and age, with just one of me? Ha! Maybe if Aelan helped but thats a long shot as she wants me dead."

"That's the point, Kevin," Cagalli said. "You've already changed the war, by making sure you are the only one of your kind left. Things would have been a lot worse if that project had been completed."

"Maybe so," he conceded. "But I think you've both gone off the deep end." Kevin changed the subject. "By the way, I hear the Captain is allowing us volunteers to see our parents today; at least, those of us who have parents. That kinda leaves out Flay and I, but that doesn't really bother me anymore. I was never very close to them, and it has been years. I've had far worse things to worry about."

He was quite puzzled when Kira looked uncomfortable at the prospect of seeing his parents.

While Kuzzey, Mir, Tolle, and Sai visited their parents, Flay wandered the Archangel's corridors alone, feeling listless and depressed; her mother had died when she was little, and her father only weeks before, at the hands of the Vesalius. She had no family to visit.

Flay finally came to the quarters she shared with Kira and entered, intending to rest. But a voice spoke from the computer alcove. "Hey there," Kira said, glancing up from his work.

"Kira? What are you...?"

"Oh, sorry," he said, turning back to the computer. "I'll be done in a little bit. Do you mind waiting a minute? Or I could meet you in the cafeteria when I'm done."

She frowned. "Why didn't you go?"

"What...?" he said absently.

"Don't you have family here as well? Why aren't you going to see them?"

Kira was quiet for long moments after that, before finally speaking in a subdued voice. "This is taking longer than I thought it would," he said, still typing, "but it has to be done before the Archangel leaves."

"Liar!" Flay stomped over to him and slammed her hand down on the desk. "You're lying!"

He looked up at her, surprised and confused. "What?"

"What is it? You feel bad for me?" she shouted angrily. "Because no one's come to see me? You pity me."

Kira blinked in confusion. "No, I-"

"So now you're feeling sorry for me. Is that it?"

He stood. "No, Flay," he protested. "That's not it."

Flay snorted in disgust. "Oh, I just wish you'd stop it; you're putting on this big sympathy act for me, but I really couldn't care less!" Her expression turned mocking. "You're the one who's really suffering, aren't you? You're the one people should be feeling sorry for." Her tone joined her face. "Poor little Kira. Kira's all alone. You feel terrible because you're fighting; and when you can't protect people, you feel even worse. So then, you start crying."

She started crying herself, and put her head against Kira's chest, sobbing and beating her fists against him. "So how," Flay sobbed, "so how... how can you feel any sympathy for someone like me?"

Kira just stood there for several moments, confused and, now, a little angry. "Flay..." He swallowed. "Stop it," he said, feeling very tired. "Let's put an end to it; this was a mistake."

At first Flay didn't realize what he was saying. "What...? What did you say?" She pushed away as the import of the words registered. "What? What does that mean?"

She pushed him away and ran out of the room, sobbing; as she did, Kevin once again materialized where no one was expecting him. He stepped into Kira's quarters and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, tovarisch," he said softly. "But it was for the best."

"What do you mean?" Kira demanded.

Snake sighed. "Kira, I really don't want to have to tell you this, but if you insist..." He leaned against the wall. "Kira, she was using you. All this time, ever since her father died, Flay's been using you to avenge him... and she doesn't particularly care if you get killed in the process."

Kira shook his head, disbelieving what he was hearing. It was a mistake, yeah, but this...? No, no it couldn't be.

Kevin seemed to pick up on his thoughts. "I'm sorry, Kira. But it is." And he left, as soundlessly as he had appeared.

It was not entirely by accident, though it seemed so to Flay, that she and Kevin ran into one another in another of the labyrinthine corridors; he'd been seeking her out, though the confrontation did not go entirely as he expected.

Flay saw him, and perhaps recognized him as a possible replacement for Kira as a weapon of vengeance. "Kevin!" she called, running to him.

Only to be shoved roughly away, landing hard on the deck. Stunned, she barely noticed the gun that had fallen near her, instead seeing only the bore of the ancient Colt Single Action Army, pointing directly at her forehead. She froze, uncomprehending of this bizarre development.

"Don't even think it, Flay," Kevin said, eyes frozen jade and hand very steady. "I know exactly what you were doing to Kira, how you were using him as a tool. By rights I should kill you now, for using him that way. He was quite smitten, I know, and you used that, manipulating him at every turn; but I suppose you finally slipped and showed what you really thought."

"What are you talking about?" Flay, terrified, voiced the denial while glancing surreptitiously at the autopistol lying within easy reach.

"You know bloody well what I'm talking about, Flay. And if you try the same thing on me, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger." He thumbed back the hammer with a casual movement. "You were good, Flay, there's no doubt of that; you fooled just about everyone else, though I suspect Captain Ramius and Commander La Flaga had an inkling. But you couldn't fool me, mon ami. I'm a very good actor myself; I know my kind." Snake's eyes twitched toward the fallen gun. "Don't bother," he said softly. "In another life I was a fencer; today I'm a gunfighter, and you should know there's no chance you'd reach it before I fired."

"Wh-what are you going to do?" Flay stammered. Just then Kevin's Gun was shot out of his hand as it swirled on the ground down the corridor. Kevin looked over to see Jason with a smoking gun in his hand. "Jason?" Flay said confused.

"What?" Kevin asked himself as he turned to Jason and then asked. "Are you looking for a death wish?" Kevin asked him as Jason never moved the Gun from Kevin.

"You are just as much of what Aelan Described you as." Jason told him as Kevin looked at him. "You kill the ones who can't even protect themselves." Jason told him as Kevin was in shock at what he just said. "Pointing a gun at a person who witnessed her own father die right infront of her." Jason said walking over to Flay. "Flay get up and come over here." He told her as she did. "You know Kevin, I am surprised with myself I haven't tried to assassinate you, you did Kill the woman I loved after all." Jason said in a serious tone as he looked into Kevin's Jade Eyes.

"Who are you talking about?" Kevin asked him.

"Does the name Tanya Coleson ring a bell, aka Harpy?" Jason asked him as Kevin went into shock. "Thats right, that woman was the one I was to marry This year, but you seen to that it never came true." Jason said with his anger rising. "But the past is the past, so" Jason said holstering his gun. "I am not going to kill an ally, but never threaten someone who can't defend themselves against someone like you." Jason said as he took Flay from the encounter with Kevin.

Kevin snatched up the pistol, slid it back into the shoulder holster, and slipped away, vanishing as quietly as he had appeared. Unknown to Kevin however, Garret was with Jason before the show and heard the whole deal, he walked with Jason and Flay.

Later, the incident was quite far from Kevin's mind besides the revelation of Harpy being one of his comrades fiance; he was in a control room overlooking a test chamber, working quietly in a corner while Asagi tested an Astray and Kira worked on the software.

The reason for his rapid typing was not immediately apparent, and Cagalli, coming up behind him, wondered what he was looking at so intently; the monitor he was staring at appeared to be blank. "Uh, Kevin," she said, her tone suggesting she thought he wasn't quite sane, "what are you doing?"

"Take a look," Snake said absently, fingers flying. Then he muttered something under his breath as a translucent shape appeared on the monitor: the Stormhawk, barely visible. "That's not quite right."

"?" Cagalli watched in confusion as the ghostly image faded again, before appearing fully for an instant and going completely dark. "I get it," she said finally, as a light went on in her head. "Mirage Colloid?"

He nodded. "Right. I got tired of the Blitz popping in and out, so I asked Erica if maybe we could turn the tables." Kevin tapped another series of keys, and the mobile suit materialized again, PSA down. "Dad's design was near-perfect to begin with," he went on. "But in the last few years, since Stormhawk was actually constructed, there have been a number of interesting technological innovations. Dad apparently anticipated this, so there's a certain amount of room for extras in this beast; you and Erica had the idea of adding phase-shift armor, and now it's got Mirage Colloid, too. Fortunately the Archangel has the complete specs for all five G-weapons, so Morgenroete was able to manufacture a single copy."

She raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought you said you didn't inherit any of your father's design skills."

"Like I also said, I've studied making better bombs; and in this case, I didn't have anything to do with the design work. I just floated the idea, and Morgenroete did the rest." Snake frowned, still tapping keys. "The only problem is, the software's so complicated only a Coordinator could manage it by the time we leave Orb, so here I am. But the bloody system still isn't working quite right... there!" He pressed a single key, and the mobile suit vanished; he pressed it again, and it shimmered into view. "I think that's got it. Now lets see how Aelan can handle such an opponent."

Closer to the observation window, Kira was just finishing his explanation of the OS alterations he'd made. "...and I redesigned the whole system to make it more compatible with the reflexes of the average Natural."

Simmons looked pleased. "I just can't believe how quickly you did all that. You're pretty good, aren't you?"

La Flaga, also wearing a mechanic's uniform, turned to her. "Would I be able to get the same performance if I tried it?"

She nodded. "Yes, that is correct, Commander. Would you like to give it a try?"

He started to reply, but Kira sighed, and he closed his mouth, looking at the Coordinator in concern; he'd noticed something seemed to be bothering him.

Simmons, oblivious, keyed the intercom. "Asagi, you can finish up now."

"Okay!"

The various occupants of the chamber filed out through the huge metal doors, and Kira turned to Simmons. "Well, I'm gonna make my way back to the Strike now."

She nodded. "Okay; I'll see you later." The engineers and test pilots turned one way, while Kira went the other.

La Flaga caught up with him in a couple steps. "Hey, Kira!"

He paused; he'd hoped to avoid this conversation, and he was still in shock from Kevin's revelations to him earlier. "What is it, sir?"

"You've got this look on your face that says something's bothering you."

Kira continued walking, the commander just behind him. "I don't have any look," he said evasively.

"Oh, yes you do." La Flaga frowned, concerned. "AndI hear you turned down the chance to meet with your parents; why's that?" For long moments, there was no reply. "Kira," he prompted.

"If I did meet them, all they would see is a soldier," Kira finally replied, nearing the Strike.

"Hey, kid!" Murdoch hailed him. "I went ahead and boosted the thrusters' output by eighteen percent. Could you check the momentum control parameters for me?"

"Sure." Kira climbed the Strike and dropped into the cockpit, where he immediately began booting up the computers.

La Flaga stood next to the hatch, looking down at him. "You may be a soldier, but you're still the same Kira. I'm sure your parents were hoping they'd get a chance to see you."

There was another long silence. "Day in and day out," he said at last. "This is all I do. I fight battles in mobile suits, and then help out with their development and maintenance. Why? Because I can."

The Hawk of Endymion had never heard the younger pilot talk like that. "Kira..."

His fingers flew over the keyboard. "As soon as we leave Orb, I'll be going into battle against ZAFT again." Images from the last battle, the one where his friend Kevin had died again, went through his mind.

"Well, yeah, but that's-"

Murdoch interrupted again. "About Agni's shielding, I think we've tracked down the scan ring in the magnetic bottle. I want to run a shakedown; it'll be about thirty minutes, so have the Strike ready."

"Right." Once again, Kira's voice was calm, not reflecting his emotions; it was nearly a minute before he spoke again. "I'm afraid that if I met them now, I'd end up asking them why."

La Flaga frowned, confused. "'Why' what?"

Kira's fingers paused over the keyboard. "Why on earth did they make me a Coordinator?"

The older pilot had no answer for that; neither did Snake, standing unobtrusively next to the Strike, hidden in shadow. So, Kira, the shadowy figure thought. We have much the same question, you and I. My parents, too, were Naturals, and they were of Orb. So why did they make my brother and I Coordinators, why were we separated at birth, and why did Father build the most powerful mobile suit in existence in a nation he had to know would be neutral in the coming war?

At that moment Birdy, the mechanical bird that Athrun had given Kira when they parted on the Moon, three years earlier, took wing, flying up toward the surface. "Birdy?" Kira climbed out of the Strike after it. "Birdy!"

Kevin quietly tailed Kira as he exited the Morgenroete building, in search of the wayward robot; he, too, was curious about its unusual behavior.

"Where could it be?" Kira was muttering, nearing the fence that enclosed the facility. Then he looked straight through it, and saw the figure that held Birdy, who also neared the fence.

Snake froze in surprise, watching the two figures walk towards each other. Athrun? He thought, stunned. What the devil are you doing in Orb? And that disguise...

In a jeep with Simmons a little distance away, Cagalli glanced their way, blinked, and turned to Erica. "Stop!"

The pair stopped at the fence, simply looking at each other. Then Athrun raised his hand, bringing Birdy close to the barrier. "Is this... yours?" he said, voice betraying no sign of recognition.

"Thank you, yes," Kira replied, holding out his hand for the robot to jump into.

They continued to watch each other for several more moments, until an impatient voice called from a car behind Athrun. "Hey! C'mon!"

Unnoticed behind his sunglasses, Kevin kicked his bionic eye up to magnification and studied the three teenagers in the vehicle. Now he saw why Athrun had been so cautious. Let's see... Dearka Elsman, that looks like Yzak Joule, Aelan! and... Great Scott, Nicol Amalfi? He joined ZAFT? He thought getting more out of site, If Aelan detects me, she will not wait till the battle they will most likely wait for Kevin thought staying out of site.

He had no doubt of the identity of the green-haired young man with the backwards hat; as Nicol was a sometime-concert pianist and Kevin Walker had once been a fencer, they'd moved in the same circles in the PLANTs and met several times.

Great, another enemy I know personally. This war just keeps getting better and better. Well, at least Athrun's efforts at not recognizing us indicate he still has some concern for us. Nice of him. That Athrun had recognized him, despite the scar and sunglasses, Snake did not doubt.

As his old friend turned to leave, Kira called after him. "An old friend gave it to me." Athrun paused, and he went on, eyes sad. "It's a very valuable gift... from a valuable friend."

Athrun looked back a moment longer. "I see." He resumed walked away.

"Kira!" Cagalli shouted, running as fast as she could to reach the fence. She, too, recognized Athrun, from the island; but she still did not know that Kira and Kevin both knew him very well.

Athrun looked back one more time, at Cagalli, and then he was gone... even as Kevin walked in the opposite direction, eyes strange behind the shades.

A/N: Jason and Kevin have a confrontation, and the revelation that Jason was to be wed to a Destroyer has just made a small rivalry, but Jason is a more honorable person than many people would say. And here you go this is #3 of the chapters I said I post today.