Kira is Kage

Lacus is Hikari

Except when they're together.

What do you do when you wrote a story, and in the overall process, you ended up with something (that you thought) better but completely different than what you have promised?

NOTE:

"Doryaaaaaaaaaa!": normal talking

"Charge!": special case

'Darn!': thoughts

GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!

Please… read and review

Ready your coffee or anything that can keep you from sleeping. There's no action here. Just info. A crapload amount of info.

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Flashback earlier to yesterday…

"No?" Toudou blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Two reasons. One… Are you sure you guys should be doing what you just offered me so freely?"

"Do you even understand what we just did?"

"I understand… you just offered to teach me one of Orb's most closely guarded secrets. Secret techniques that all Samurais, of every upbringing, Ronin or not, would kill and be killed to keep it a secret. Should you really be teaching such a thing to an Alliance Captain?"

"Bushido is more than just some physical techniques to make you a superhuman, Kira. Rather than the physical aspect of the Bushido, the mental discipline to maintain one's soul is more important." Toudou went straight to the point. "Kira, what you showed us yesterday, all Samurai had struggled to face that creature. There haven't been many who had truly succeeded to calm it down. And those who had fallen completely under its sway are beyond count. You know of what I speak?"

And Kira remembered the black all consuming rage, the fury that blinded him to everything else. He first felt it with Kuzzey, then again during the Junius foray, this time more strongly. And again in a fight against Marco. Kira suddenly realized as things going, he became increasingly susceptible to fall into such state and yet, at times, Kira felt that he always draws upon its power… and he liked it. Like an addiction. "…what is that thing?"

"A curse." Toudou answered simply. "By the hands of Izanagi and Izanami we, the Samurais, were born and cursed. That curse is what's responsible for the Sengoku period and the Meiji Restoration Samurai World War." Toudou recounted. "The first war nearly wiped out our people, the second is very nearly destroyed the world as we know it. After that last close call, all Samurais that lived today have had enough with war and violence. We're still warriors, but we lived in service of one concept: Peace, and we will defend it, to our very last breath. No matter what becomes of us, ronins or otherwise, this is a duty that all Samurais must uphold to the very end, and we are ready to fight for it if we must."

"Civis Pacem Parabellum." Kira muttered. (Latin: If you want peace, ready for war!)

Toudou nodded in agreement. "We kept the Art of Bushido a secret to the rest world because the world as it is isn't ready. The Bloody Valentine has been going for over 72 years, and if any of the sides, Alliance or Zaft, get their hands on the art of Super Soldiers… we fear, we KNOW for sure they will recklessly use it. The world had suffered two world wars already. We are in a progression of a third one, and if another Super Human war were to break out right now in the middle of all this… then I fear we shall see the end of all humanity in less than a year."

All who heard this sweated at the notion.

Toudou continued to make his point. "Kira, I've asked around from your men. They say they've witnessed these episodes of your fit of fury several times already. I was more amazed that there are some of them who saw you in such state and lived to tell the tale. That's either an astounding luck… or a good sign that even when you're unconscious, subconsciously you keep trying to take control of this curse and your own self, or a combination of both. But… without proper understanding, you're fighting a losing battle. Eventually, you will be overwhelmed, your luck will run out, and your soul will be lost."

"Question."

"Yes?"

"If I learn this Bushido from you… a ronin… what… becomes of you?"

A simple question and yet one that Toudou was unable to reply despite knowing the answer whilst the other four shiseiken merely gave out a mournful look, particularly Chiba.

Kira also knew the answer. "You'll commit seppuku, won't you? You're already a Ronin. If you teach an outsider like me the secret ways of the Bushido, that's another capital offense. I don't know what sin you've committed in the past that dishonored you enough that you'd take the path of a Rounin, but if you compound your past sin with a new one of this scale, you forfeit your life."

"Kira, I told you that we Samurais serve a higher cause of peace. Right now, that's what I'm doing, for I see you as a seed. A dark seed of destruction that, if I turn a blind eye to, will grow and spread chaos and oblivion to everything it touches." Toudou stated with utter surety. "If I can prevent that from happening by breaking a rule, I will gladly forfeit my life."

Kira frowned in thought. "You didn't turn a blind eye. You told me enough of this curse. And for that, I thank you. But I had to respectfully decline your offer." Kira shook his head. "I'm thankful that you offered to teach me the way of the warrior… but I refuse if that's gonna cost me the life of one of my best warriors."

"Young man, I'm afraid you had it mistaken." Toudou stern glare suddenly tinted with a murderous aura. "This is not an offer. This is a demand. If you will not take this cup, then you are a threat to peace. A threat that must be dealt with, one way-" Toudou grabbed the Zangetsu on his back. "-or another."

Kira finally understand that Toudou won't take no for an answer. Kira thought about it slowly. "…give me some time to think about it."

Toudou sternly glared at Kira's deviant gaze, but he finally relaxed his grip. "You have until sundown, tomorrow."

Flashback ends.

Chapter 41:

What History Knows

Morning…

The next day…

In Angel's bath…

"And… that's the problem." Kira sighed as he rested his back against the wall of the Angel's bath while he was being dipped all the way to his chest in the tonic bathwater. But that's not all. He was being wrapped head to toe with ointment dipped bandages that stink like a skunk's ass, turned into pin-head as Lacus planted dozens of 6 foot long acupuncture needles allover his head, and as the finale, said needles were stabbed through the thick soft shell of a green Haro which completely cocooned and pinned Kira's head at the core of the Haro. That being said… Kira couldn't even move his head. "Isn't this a bit… too much?" Kira finally complained.

"Says the idiot who reopened all his wounds within minutes after he promised to take it easy." Lacus, wearing only a towel, spat remorselessly. "I had no choice. At this rate, the way you tear yourself open each and every time, I had to put you in intensive care. You have to STAY here, inside this bath for the WHOLE day! I'll deliver your lunch and dinner. That acupuncture on your heads stimulates regenerative process. The ointment is the highly concentrated version of the tonic inside the bathwater. I've also enclosed you inside Asta, pumped it full of highly dense oxygen. Basically, you're inside a room with a very dense oxygen concentration. This stimulates bone growth. (AN: this is the same principle with the Hyperbaric Chamber), making your body heal faster: in weeks instead of months. Also, I've increased the concentration of the tonic in the waters to stimulate tissue reconstruction and regeneration."

"Do you even listen to everything I say?"

"Yes, I heard you. Chiba-san had also told me about it." Lacus also mourned in sorrow. "She wept when she did."

"But this is… serious…" Sai howled from another room outside the bath. Unlike Kira, Lacus allowed Sai to get up from his bed and walk around, provided he did not strain himself. Right now, Sai is preparing a list of items Lacus told him to collect for today's class. He overheard everything Kira told Lacus. "If Kira followed Toudou's request and learnt Bushido from him, Toudou will be forced to commit seppuku afterwards… and if he didn't, Toudou will kill him anyway. I don't understand. Why is it so important that Kira had to learn Bushido anyway?"

Lacus also frowned in deep thought. "I'm not exactly sure about it either. He said Kira's abnormal rage is a curse… well, having been on the receiving end of that 'curse' once, I kinda understand how anyone would be terrified." Lacus looked at Kira. "Just a single person, falling under that curse, and you nearly wiped out an entire expedition full of cream of a crop Exorcists… and you even turned Waltfeldt-san into Swiss cheese. A power of that kind because of a curse. Imagine what happened if two people under that curse are fighting one another. Heck, imagine a whole army of them!" Lacus, and by extension, Kira and Sai, began to see a glimpse of the reason why Samurais are so feared across the world.

Sai also remembered the first time Kira went into rampage. He just couldn't see anything human in that beast. "Kira… when that happened… how does it feel? Do you know what you were doing?"

Kira closed his eyes, frowning. "Yeah. I do. But only after. Never during." Kira sighed. "Whenever… that happened to me… I do remember that…before everything went black… I was always consumed by a singular thought. A single purpose nailed in my head, figuratively speaking… and they stay there. Trapped in that one moment… I couldn't think anything else; I couldn't remember anything else, I couldn't feel anything else… my body moved but my mind just… don't. It's like my limbs were nailed to chains and then played around violently like a marionette." Kira spat at that last part. "I hate it. I hate that feeling."

'Chains… nails…' Lacus remembered the shape Ankoku Shiki took. Now she began to understand that form.

"So you have absolutely no control when you're like that?" Sai gulped. "Maybe… you should take his offer?"

"And have Toudou-san kill himself in the end?" Lacus growled.

"N… No! That's not what I meant!" Sai flabbergasted. "What I mean is… we need to think of a way that allows Toudou-dono to teach Kira his Bushido that satisfies his honor without having him committed in seppuku."

"This is the part where you come in, Lacus." Kira muttered.

"Ara?" Lacus turned to the green sphere that shows Kira's silhouette.

"You've talked with Chiba… did she tell you anything about Toudou?"

Lacus blinked. "Oh… so you knew… that I might talk to Chiba-san?"

"Yes, well, I'm counting on Chiba-san's friendship with you will make her tongue a little bit loose."

"Kira Yamato, are you trying to do the same thing to Toudou-san what you did to me?"

"You have a problem with that?"

She got her confidence back thanks to Kira's stunt… so she really isn't in a position to complain. "Well, hate to say it, but Chiba's discipline and loyalty to Toudou won over her friendship with me. She didn't say much. She only denotes her surprise that Toudou would take a student again after so long."

"Again? Toudou-san had a student before?" Kira's eyes twitched upon hearing that term.

"As a sword instructor, nothing more. It really wasn't that surprising. I mean, you do remember Gino called him Shishou, right?" Lacus had overheard everything that went on between Gino and Toudou.

"I see." Sai frowned, trying to remember other things. And then he recalled. "Wait… Gino also said something about… one Kururugi Suzaku."

"Kururugi Suzaku?" Lacus rubbed her chin. "I swore I had heard that name before… ah, yeah! I remember!" When she remembered. she clapped her hands in excitement. "I remember! Kururugi Suzaku is a Knight!"

"A knight?" Kira and Sai echoed.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Lacus giddily remarked. "He's a royal guard to a friend of mine. Euphemia Vi Britannia."

"A royal guard?" Sai blinked in confusion. "Are you sure you did not confuse that person with someone else?"

"Eh?" Lacus blinked.

"Lacus, we may not know anything about one Kururugi Suzaku but…" Kira frowned. "If it's a Kururugi… then yeah, we Orb Citizens know a thing or two." Kira sighed as he rubbed his forehead to remember some facts. "Kururugi clan is one of the prominent houses of the Orb. They came from a long line of military officials. The thing is, their policies aren't very popular publicly. They're quite pro militaristic, pushing for a more aggressive and more authoritarian Orb, since, as you well know, the current Orb is quite passive. We don't strike out aggressively, just wait and see kind of policy. The Kururugi clan believed that we could, and we should take a more active role in the comings and goings of the international community. Unfortunately for them, they're often get ruled out by the majority vote who prefer the Attha's neutrality policy."

Lacus blinked. This is the first she heard of Orb's political climate. She nodded in understanding as Sai continued and took over explaining from there. "This maybe some… 10, 9 years ago. They were working on this… project. We don't know what it was in detail, but it was barely legal. And eventually, they get found out, the whole family was disgraced. Last we heard, Kururugi Genbu, the head of the family committed seppuku due to this dishonor. And that was the last we heard of the Kururugis."

"Hoo…" Lacus nodded in understanding of the situation. "Bu~ut… what so weird if there's a single survivor of that family? Plus, that Kururugi Suzaku was quite the nice fellow. I've met with him several times."

"We were a bit confused when you said a Kururugi became a Knight because… the Kururugi was one of the foremost of vassals of one of Orb's Main Family, the Sahakus. And as you might already know, the Sahaku are the supporters of the Golden Muramasa Chapter. A chapter known for its purist mania of Japs' only. That being said, when I say the Kururugi came from a long line of well respected Japanese military officials, care to guess which Samurai chapter they're enlisted on?" Kira pointed out.

"So for a Kururugi to be a Knight… that'll be like… umm…" Sai tried to find a proper analog.

"That'll be like a girl like you enlisted for convent to be a nun." Kira snorted.

Lacus twitched. "And what so bad about me joining a convent and becoming a nun?"

"Well… you'll turn the entire priesthood to heretics in a day with that crazy bitchy attitude of y-GAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!"

Lacus, with a smile and a bunch of furious veins popping' all over her pretty angry head, planted 3 more needles right on Kira's butt and knocked him out cold right then and there.

Sai paled when he heard that ungodly howl of pure pain and suffering coming from Kira. '…what just happened?' Suddenly the sliding door opened and a satisfied and smiling Lacus walked out. Alas, she was still clad in a frightening murderous aura. Thus the reason why a frightened Sai instinctively jumped back by at least 20 feet away.

Lacus took a deep breath and turned to Sai. "Here, take this." Lacus tossed something to Sai just before she entered the changing room to put on her armor. "Drink at least one every day, and immediately come to me for regular checkup every week." That something was a case filled with capsules.

"What is this?"

"It's called immunosuppressant." Lacus explained slowly as she completed putting her armor back. "Human body actively rejected anything that wasn't originally part of your body. In this case, Kira's kidney inside you is still considered alien object, and your immune system will treat it as if it's an infection. Immunosuppressant, as the name suggest, suppress your body's immune system from rejecting the new organ."

"I see."

"You must routinely take one capsule, every day at a regular basis… At least until your body accept the new organ and your immune system stop attacking it." Lacus put her mask on to complete her suit. "(Kofffshhh…) Until then, please, (koff) unlike some other patient I can mention, (koff) you do as I say, and report back to me, first sign of any discomfort. (koff) Capish?"

"Crystal clear, ma'am."

"Good. (koff)" Hikari came out of the changing room, carrying a trolley… filled with books as thick as bricks, piled scrolls, each the size of a man's head, and a life sized model of a human, half of it was skinned to show its organs.

Sai's eyes widened. "Are those…?"

"My old books and stuffs. (koff) Lily has been keeping it stored inside her for five years, same as my old tools. (koff)" Hikari dragged the magically floating trolley. "Let's go. (koff) the class is about to start. (koff)"

"Okay." Sai answered, but he seems still a bit… disheartened.

"Something wrong, Sai-san?"

"I'm one armed. Can I really do this-"

"Sai-san! Don't get me started again!" Lacus snapped, causing Sai to wince a bit. "A patient can't wait for its doctor to heal! If you only got an arm, then you use that one arm to heal your patient if you had to!"

Sai's disheartened look turned into a nervous smile of admiration of Lacus' determination. "You're the man, doc."

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Hikari repurposed an extra mess hall at the portside of the Archangel – the starboard side was blasted to bits – as classroom. Roughly 20 surgeons, including Koast, are gathered there.

When they entered the room, they were welcomed… with the most peculiar setting:

In each table, there's a pot filled with flower, and another empty vase next to it. Simply put, those 20 doctors almost mistook their supposedly medical class to that of a flower arranging class if they didn't see Hikari standing at the front next to a model of human organs and Sai standing next to her.

"Well, what are you waiting for? (koff) Do come in! (koff)" Hikari quirkily welcomed them with her curved eyes visible behind her visor. She also had a pot full of flowers right next to her and an empty vase.

They all come in, and the class begins in the earnest.

"Alright. (koff) It's been a while since I do this, let's see if I can still do this. (koff) Teaching people how to cut and then close the cut. (koff)" Hikari started. "Customarily, I'll have you started on cutting apart animals like fish and pluck out their organs one by one. But due to a little this and that which involve one stingy cook and more importantly, 3000 mouths to feed, that option isn't exactly feasibly. So… for now, you guys will have to make do with this." Hikari tapped the human model. "Now, any question before we continue?"

One raised hand, and the question was: "Doctor, what's with the flower?"

"Ah, yes. Simply put, this will be your homework and your very first exam as well."

"Eh?" The surgeon jaw dropped.

"Observe." Hikari demonstrated this by using a solid scalpel. For a moment, she held the scalpel on the flower's branch as if picking the spot on where to cut. She concentrated a bit and then simply cut the flower, and then put it on the empty vase. And that's it.

The surgeons looked at the cut flower for some time… and couldn't figure the logic out of it. "Ehh… what exactly are we supposed to do?"

Hikari seem to have expected this. "Simply put, I'm asking you to make the same cut as mine on your flower."

Even Sai and Koast were a bit confused. One of the surgeon eyed at the flower that Hikari cut carefully, and then he took a flower from his own pot, and then, for a moment, he tried to figure where exactly Hikari cut her flower, and then he simply copied and cut the flower at the exact same spot as Hikari did. But when he showed his work to the doctor, Hikari take one look and shook her head. "No. it's not the same." The surgeon blinked in confusion, as do everyone. For most people, these two flowers are identical. Hikari chuckled kindly. "Here's a hint. Imagine you're using that scalpel not to cut a flower. Imagine you're cutting a human being." Hikari added. "That is what I will teach you. I will teach you to rip apart a living human being. I will teach you to pluck out their still pulsing organs one by one. I will teach you to literally deconstruct a human being limb by limb. Not to kill them, but to save them. And finally, once you tear them to pieces, this is the most important part: I will teach you how to put them back together." Hikari demonstrated this in the most surprising way: she put back the flower that she had cut back to the plant's stump, and then, before their very eyes, the cut stumps reconnected each other as if it had never been cut before.

Needless to say, the surgeons gaped in surprise and admiration. The surgeon from earlier tried to put back his flower to his stump, and as expected, the flower did not reconnect and simply fell off.

Hikari chuckled giddily. "That will be your homework… and your exam as well."

"Why exam?" Sai raised his hand.

"Well… it was my exam before I move on from written theories to actual practical study." Hikari smiled. "I studied for 3 years. And… not to brag, you guys know I'm pretty good right?"

Everyone nodded without protest.

"As good as I am… it took me a full two years to pass that exam." The doctors were somewhat jawhung. "Don't be so discouraged. Those two years allowed me to get a solid understanding of human body. Maybe the time will give you the same thing."

In the end, the whole team got hours worth of Lacus' in depth detailed lecture on human organs: from frontal cranium lobe down the spinal cord, the lungs, the heart, digestion organs all the way to human scrotum. And yet, part of them still wondering about this little homework Hikari gave them.

Finally, the class was ended just two hours before lunch, and everybody leave after being told to come back after lunch for the second class session, and each one gets a gift from Hikari: one vase containing a flower cut personally by Hikari as a sample and a pot filled with plenty of flowers for them to try on.

Lacus might just as well hand them a body and a separate life organ, and she just asked them to put them back together.

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Hours later, at the afternoon Kira had woke up, and he's still stuck on all that needles plucked into his head. He specifically remembered Lacus told him to stay put the whole day. But… with an imminent death threat at T-Minus God Knows how much after that impromptu knockout… he's DEFINITELY NOT in the mood of staying put. He needs to think, and he can't do that with all these needles stabbed on his head. "Girls…"

"Uh-uh!" Asta, the haro that enclosed him, murmured. "Lacus' orders. You're staying here, Mister!"

"Really!?"

"Yeah, really." Asta replied.

"…" Kira think. Calmly. He carefully touched all the acupuncture needles. They were all firmly stuck on his head. Asta made sure they were… unmovable. Kira peeked around for more help. He saw Torii perched just on top. Kira gave a few familiar eye sign. And then, without warning, he took a dip until even his head are all the way into the water.

Asta, not wanting to tear Kira's head apart with the needles, followed suit and lowered the needles into the water as well. And then, Kira stayed there, underwater, holding his breath.

First 1 minute, Asta wasn't worried. 2 minutes, still not worried. 3 minutes… 4 minutes… 5 minutes… 7 minutes… 10 minutes… and unless Asta was mistaken, she can start to feel Kira's heartbeat slowing down due to the lack of oxygen. NOW she's getting worried. "Kira-kun… I know Advanced can hold their breath underwater for some time… but you're pushing it."

15 minutes… and his heart beat once every 2 seconds. He's getting into a cardiac arrest. By the devil, this kid really likes to play the dangerous game. Lacus will have her neck if anything happened to Kira.

20 minutes… and Asta panicked. She finally disperses but not before she pulled out all the acupuncture needles off Kira's head. She reverted back into her small green haro ball form. "Kira! Haro! Kira! Haro!"

Just then, Kira burst out of the water and yelled: "Torii, NOW!"

Torii bolted from where he was perched and his claws opened up and grabbed the green Haro securely by its claws and carried her away. "I won't accept this! Haro! I won't accept this! Haro!" The green haro chirped in protest but Torii flew off with her anyway.

Kira crawled out of the bath, out of the room, into the changing room. He looked at his clothes. Some spare cobbled up shinobi patched up clothes Prayer managed to put together yesterday after the last one was torn apart - again. Judging by some of the grey part of the makeshift suit… it seems they're short on black. Still… he managed to keep the mask area black.

Putting the patched up suit, Kage get up on deck to get some much needed fresh air. He had a bit difficulty doing it though, as he had to limp his way on a cane, dragging his crippled leg, Kage rubbed his ass. '…that bitch… I almost can't feel my butt…'

"Kage?"

Kage saw George… and Artes taking a stroll towards him. "Should you really be up and about?"

"No."

"Dr. Hikari will be pissed."

"Let her do her worst." Kage groaned as he rested against the railings.

"Careful what you wish for." George chortled before he joined Kage, standing on the railings. "You know, she's only worried about you… as a girlfriend should."

"Yeah… and she had an odd way of doing it like… trying to kill me every time she sees me." Kage groaned, while George… well, he simply laughed.

As he did though, Kage can feel someone is staring at him. "I can practically hear you wanting to ask me a few questions, Sergeant Artes. Say it."

"It's just… well… about… what happened yesterday… Dr. Hikari ordered me to-"

"Burn the ship. I know." Kage nodded. "She told me. Thank you for that, by the way. You managed to prevent a deadly outbreak."

"Yes, well… still… there's something I've been wondering… about the good doctor."

"What?"

"Well… I asked the crew… and I heard that… she's an Advanced?" Artes blurted. "And she's your girlfriend?"

George narrowed his eyes and quickly interrupts. "Artes! Mind your manners!"

"But sir!"

"Alright, I've heard enough." Kage glared darkly at the sergeant. "You wanna go there? Seriously? You wanna go there!?" Kage have had enough of this Sergeant second guessing him even after everything that has been said and done.

And for a second there, Artes was completely unnerved by Kage's murderous glare. But he managed a nod.

"Fine." Kage spat. "13 years ago, before all this, I had a different job entirely. I lived for 6 years in a Zaft noble household."

"Eh? You… lived in Zaft…!? For 6 years?"

"Yes. And Hikari… well, she's my… partner. She was the… health consultant for one lord Goud Veia."

"EERGHH!?" Artes' jaw couldn't get any lower. "Then… she was with the enemy?"

"Yes. An enemy that, as you had undoubtedly knew, I had killed…" And without missing a beat, Kage added. "…Using bits of information I acquired from her, after we started dating."

Artes wasn't sure if he can be more confused and shocked than he already had. "What… are you… saying!?"

Kage sighed. "The two of us were spies you blithering idiot. We're both undercover agents for Orb, infiltrated Zaft years ago and send years worth of information back to Orb. That's what we do. We infiltrate, we spied, we lied."

Kage calmly spun the tale that had been rehearsed by Toudou and Chiba to the shocked Artes. "There's not a single organization on earth that we do NOT penetrate. We hide in plain sight, and we're divided into different cells. And each cell doesn't know one another. So even if we're captured or caught, even death won't be enough to force us to speak, because we simply… don't know. Even I don't know… if there are some of us hiding around here…? Perhaps… someone close to you or even your most trusted subordinates… I wouldn't know." Kage grinned sadistically under his mask seeing Artes's shocked face slowly twisted into horror. "Also… neither of us would know how much information has been sent back. For example… I wouldn't know what becomes of your two children way back home. Edward… and Thompson was it?"

"!?" Blood rushed out of Artes face as his stomach began to churn uncomfortably and his heart skipped a beat. Within moments, his face was flooded with sweat.

"Or… your wife… who's expecting a child in that hospital after 6 months pregnancy… where was it? Oh yeah, the Parkenstreet hospital in the States, right?"

Artes' hung jaw was opened wide in utter sheer horror as cold sweat poured endlessly across his skin. Impossible… impossible… who is this… men!? No… what he said… you can only know that if he gets personal information from the inside. Is it true what he said? Even the closest around him are spies!? He couldn't imagine how this man would know him so far as to know about his family, even the hospital his wife was on! Artes suddenly realized that unlike the infinitely more patient and forgiving Harlbarton, this captain is not one to be trifled with. Too little too late, Artes greatly regretted the day he looked down upon this one captain without thinking.

Kage's purple eyes gleamed sadistically beneath the bangs of his brown hair, knowing full well that Artes is currently regretting his earlier disparaging remark the first time they argued. "Sure… I'm 'just' a captain of the 7th division. But do you really… want me to continue? Are you sure you want me. To. Go. There?"

Artes's face is as pale as ghost, trembling head to toe. He looked like he's ready to cue over any moment now. He finally settled to avert his gaze to the ground, completely scared shitless. The other troopers also swallowed a gulp in utter terror.

George took pity on Artes and patted his stiff shoulders to comfort the utterly terrified sergeant. "Artes, why don't you go grab yourself a drink? I'll be staying with Kage for a while."

Artes, still trembling and as horrified as he can be, scurried away from Kage, intent to make it as far away as possible from him. The poor man was so terrified, he jerked violently when he accidentally bumped to some of his own confused men. He ran and looked all around him with widened maddened eyes as if seeing cloaked dagger everywhere. The other troopers, while not exactly victim, make it a point to stay the hell away from the dark captain as far away as possible.

The two looked at the harrying panicking Sergeant until he disappeared from sight. "Oh, Kage… that was… a bit… too much I suppose?"

"There are two things you can do for him. One, you gave him a leave for home first chance he get to check up on his family, he really needed it. Second…" Kage whispered. "You can give him his personal correspondence back." Kage secretly handed George his true source of Artes' personal information: A bunch of letters he pick-pocketed from Artes' pocket, back when he first threatened the sergeant at blade's edge.

George blinked and took the letters. "How did you… when did you…?"

"You're talking to an ex professional pickpocket." Kage chuckled. "And old habits die hard."

"Naughty, naughty." The elder Allister shook his head in disapproval. "Artes may not be much for manners… but he is my head of security for 10 years."

Kage nodded. "I understand. It's just… asking me to collect manpower from civilian refugees is bad enough… his anti Advanced behavior is really getting on my nerves."

"Kage, you have to understand. Many things had been happening throughout the war. There was just… too much bad blood going on between the two factions. Even if we try to mend the wounds, scars still remain in everyone's hearts."

"Sai said the same thing." Kage crossed his arms, taking a deep breath of the sea breeze. "You know the funny part? When I lived in Zaft, their history books keep trying to convince their children that the naturals are the bad guys."

"Well…" George chuckled bitterly as he clenched his fingers together as he rested his arms against the railings. "Putting aside whoever wrote our history books, I could say the same to Natural's version of history. See Kage… when both sides knew they were wrong, both would try to lay most of the blame on the other."

"That's why we can't trust history. Written histories are made by men, no matter how objective they try to claim themselves to be… you can only be as objective as the ruling powers ordered you to be. If you wrote something that besmirched your own government, even if it's the truth… it's the dungeons… or at the worst, the guillotine for you."

"Or the firing squad." George agreed with a nod. The two looked at each other and chuckled as they found a common ground. "Still… now I'm kinda interested in how the Advanced actually picture us."

"Not in a very nice way I assure you. After I left Zaft I went straight to Orb. Never really get much of the Natural's side of things. Never really cared either. I thought I know all I needed to know." Kage frowned. "And perhaps… that's what ran across the minds of every Knight that fought the Alliance. They thought they were right. They thought they knew what's right."

"Tell you what?" George smirked. "How about if we compare things out? I'll tell you how history looked like from our point of view, you tell me how history looked like from your point of view, the Advanced's side of things."

Kage nodded off. "Fine. That's sounds like an idea to kill some time before Hikari finds me and put me in the cooler or something."

And the two began comparing histories. Exchanging stories of how things going on between the two factions. (AN: Basically, Kira and George are exchanging stories that I've written at the end of some of the chapters. Kira explained the Empire Divided, George explained the Alliance story.) George found himself surprised. As he had stated to himself earlier, he always knew that there's something more beneath the mild and calm demeanor of one Kira Yamato. Originally, after what he saw up to this point, he had only seen the unholy union of rage and blood thirst incarnate with a bright mind of a genius psychopath.

But now, debating with Kira, talking with him in civil manner… suddenly he realized the Genius part can be separated from the murderous part. Damn the military knowledge, Kira's academic mind wouldn't be out of place in a university, teaching philosophy and even human logic! Many times Kira pointed out, using his logic and many other empirical proofs that also fit George's logic, the many inconsistencies between the two versions of history. While the lack of actual facts barred them from making decisive conclusions, they managed to get many things cleared. The two however did got into slight friendly debate over one point of history: who started the atrocity that brought down the Crimson Emperor court the first time and thus started the holocaust. But… the point of interest, at least for George, was:

"Well… the advanced high Councilors DID try to replace the Naturals Councilors with one more subservient. That'll be like turning all naturals into puppets to the Advanced Council's whim! That's outright slavery and about as wrong as it gets!" Kira argued against the Advanced.

"Indeed. BUT, the Natural Councilors DID develop several policies that more or less led up to the same results for the advanced in the long run. Not sure of the details of what those policies contain, but nevertheless it will be extremely taxing for the Advanced on the whole." George argued back. "Kage-kun, we can't be sure as to who made the decision that eventually led up to the atrocity at that point in history. Besides, Calron Azrael did go really insane eventually. That point, both of our historians agreed, no?"

"Yeah… I agree with that too." Kage understood that this debate would go on forever if they persist. So they decided to skip this part for now, and move on to the next part of the history that followed. The collapse… and the cold war. "Now… here's the blank spot. The Aftermath of the Collapse: the 2-300 years of the Cold War period."

"Indeed. Both sides really kept to themselves during this period." George nodded. "So… should I go first?"

"Have it your way." Kage nodded and listened.

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Collapsed Earth Aftermath: Cold War

The Alliance:

After the collapse, the damage inflicted upon the Alliance due to this catastrophe compounded the already chaotic nature of the infighting that had happened earlier. The damage was colossal and long lasting, both to humanity and its civilization as a whole. During that time, the Natural's technological strength took a giant leap backwards by at least a hundred years. Many technological advances that had been made during the Holocaust era and back were lost either because the blueprint and the facility needed on its construction were swallowed by the unnatural disaster, or they were simply no one alive that possess the knowhow and skills needed for its construction. Alas, no one realized just how grave the damage was in the initial periods of the fallout as everyone played the blaming game of who wronged them the most. The Naturals, at first, easily lay the blame to the Advanced. But then again, by that time, there were no Advanced left on the mainland. All had gone into mass exodus to the newly risen Plant Continent and founded the Empire of Zaft, away from the Natural's main land or, so they wished, obliterated by the catastrophe they brought upon the world.

With no Advanced to vent their rage on, the Naturals redirected their anger to other parties: Logos and remnants of the Order of Blue Cosmos… and the military in general. Not only the Order, the Captains and their divisions were hunted down by brigands and angry villagers. However, on the latter matter, some of the Alliance captains (quite a few of them were secretly Ex Order member themselves) used skillful oratory techniques and redirect the blame to other Order Members and Logos. This managed to bring some semblance of order to the rioting masses, at least for a while. The masses demanded justice be brought upon those who are guilty. And the Alliance Captains, in order to maintain order, must follow that demand. Members of the Order of Blue Cosmos were hunted down and brought before a makeshift court for crimes against humanity and then summarily executed. With experience from the Holocaust, the Regular army had become expert hunter killers. However, the manhunt was less than successful. The Order was once part of the regular army, and they know all the tricks in the book when it comes to search and destroy operation. While many of their members were put to the firing line, many more survived by mingling back into the populace, hiding in plain sight. Regardless, the Order as whole had effectively ceased to exist altogether. Meanwhile, the Captains began to realize the severity of the damage the Collapse had inflicted, with many infrastructure that once supported the army were lost. They can't use what resources they had left to maintain order and bring war criminals to justice at the same time. The struggle for revenge turned to struggle for survival.

With dwindling resources, every natural nation in the world fell into the brink of complete anarchy. The giant worldwide nation was reduced into nothing short of disparate city states, fighting one another in chaotic skirmishes to defend and secure more resources for themselves. There's no order or any semblance of governance, it was all every men for themselves. Worse, the many issues that once beset the world when Captains fell into infighting with one another reemerges. Nations that was once united against common foe split apart, where warlords fought one another, vying for control of the land for each of their own purposes. With worldwide chaos as a certain alternative, some of the more farsighted of the warlords made a choice: they decided to build their own nation, straight up from scratch. Alas, such thought also crossed the minds of other captains in other parts of the world. The unified world spanning Great Empire that had stood for thousands of years finally collapse and split into many isolated countries. For some time, everyone looked to themselves and communications between nations were cut off. The original members of the Alliance establish their homebase in Alaska. Scraping together what little resources they had, the Captains redirected their effort to finding the members of Logos. But not for the obvious reasons. In a sickest joke imaginable, the people largely responsible for the state of the world as it was at the time were their only chance from a complete collapse of the natural civilization. Even with this much devastation, they still possess the enormous asset needed to rebuild.

Fortunately, they don't have much to do in practice. The Logos practically surrendered themselves. Making a desperate gambit for survival, the Logos pooled together the little scraps of resources they had left and began rebuilding the collapsed civilization. After all, Apocalypse is bad for business. However, the army had also became wary of Businessmen taking controls of the military as the Logos once did, and the Alliance Captains kept the Logos under a short leash. All effort that was once purposed for combat was redirected for reconstruction and salvaging. Soldiers became builders and workers, veterans became teachers or scientists. As for the matter of lost technology, Captains were tasked to lead expedition on finding and salvaging whatever technology they can find. While these searches yielded some results such as the Arsenal Gears and the Lohengrin cannons, it was not one that can really contribute much to the restoration of humanity as a whole. Alas, the fact remained: the power of the old government had been catastrophically reduced. Long time ago the Logos and the Regular Army could easily and firmly in control of every nation in the world, now they could barely hold on to a small fraction of that sphere of influence. The Allied Captains of the original Regular army can only manage to control the entire North America. A large swath of land, but it was but crumbs to a larger whole they once held.

Even with aid from the Logos, the scarcity of resources remained an issue. The army was thus sent in expeditions into every corner of the world to gather resources. Sometimes willingly given, sometimes even forcibly taken. It was during this period that the current territorial condition of the world was brought to light. Barring the smaller city states and countries owned by lesser and insignificant warlords, there are 5 factions firmly in control of the world at large, including the Alliance's Nation (Steel). The entire South American region had declared independence and form a government of their own (Wood) with their capital in Brazil. The strongest faction (Fire) was based at Beijing, China who controlled most of the Asia from the borders of the Great Wall all the way down to Malaysia. Another faction made their capital in Melbourne, Australia, controlling much of the entire Southeast Asia (Water). Finally, the last Faction was based in New Delhi, India, controlling almost all of Africa and a part of Europe (Earth).

These four other independent and strong nations had reached their own equilibrium, and unlike before, they have no intention of joining back together into a single unified Empire as it was before. On the other hand, the Alliance Captains were also not in the mood for more infighting. And so, they let these independent nations as it is and instead formed diplomatic relations to trade resources and goods with them. The Captains were no merchants, and so the Logos were entrusted with the trade and economical matters while the Captains continued their expedition. It finally hit into a bump when they struck northern Europe territory under the control of the Kingdom of Scandinavian Principality, the Mongolian plains, the entire swath of Russia, and Japan. As it turns out, all these areas are firmly under the rule and control of the Samurais, much to everyone's shock. The Samurais, in a stark contrast with the devastated state of the Alliance, had remained strong; they even built their own nation amidst all the devastation. It was obvious then that the world was looking at a new emergent super power nation in the making, Orb. Contrary to what everyone would suspect, the Samurais didn't even think of taking power and absolute control of the devastated world. Instead, they offered help and some token resources to anyone for the asking. Note the word: Anyone.

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At this, George stopped to catch his breath. Kage nodded in understanding and gave the old man a chance to rest. "Okay. I get the gist of it. Now, my turn."

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Collapsed Earth Aftermath: Cold War

Zaft Empire:

Following the Collapse, the Advanced Population, or what's left of them, retreated in a mass exodus into the newly formed Plant Continents. The populace of the Advanced landed on the First Plant Continent, one that was created by George of Glenn personally. Before long however, there were simply too many Advanced and there were little to go around. Soon, an order came from the newly elected Crimson Emperor to launch an exploratory expedition to find out what happened to the 11 newly risen continents. Alas, these 11 new continents, unlike the very first of the Plant Continent, were highly unstable with unnatural weather occurrences. Even more bizarre was that the climate of one continent and another can be as different as night and day. They can have a blizzard hail in one continent and then a blazing hot sunny day in another. Volcanoes eruption coupled with occasional flash flood. A heavy rain coupled with violent tectonic earthquake. This differing multitude of climates in-between islands also created what is widely recognized as the most dangerous ocean the world has ever known. Sea travel was extremely dangerous in Empire waters. Of the many Advanced explorers that sailed out from the main island to these new continents, only as little as 40% of their ranks that managed to make it to land. And even when they get there, there's no guarantee to a prosperous bountiful ecosystem. Some continent are stony mountainous region, others a wild and lush tropical jungle, some are glacial world battered by eternal winter, or even a scorching dry dessert. However, with each successful landing, the violent and inhospitable ocean virtually sealed their way back. Explorers had no choice but to become colonist, imprisoned in the new lands they discovered, and these colonists have all but lost contact with the main land.

A full century passed, and during that long period of time, all continents lived in complete isolation. However, with an Advanced stronger than normal physique, everyone accepted their condition with stoicism and pride of Oni descendants. Slowly, bit by bit, with painstaking gain, the Colonists began to adapt to the climate of their respective continents, and even thrive. Over time, the weather also stabilized into certain climates for each continent. Regardless, it was a long process and bitter work, but eventually, as the tide of catastrophic weather began to subside, the Main Land once again attempted to reestablish contact with their missing colony. This time, they succeeded. They also found, to their surprise, that some of the continents not only had differences in weather and ecosystem, but also in resources. Some continents were perfect for animal breeding and became hunting grounds or farms; some continents are very rich in minerals and filled with mine refineries. This in turns also leads to a differing and very specialized way of life. The Advanced that lived in rocky mountainous region filled with minerals developed into hardy and tough miners. Those who lived in prairies became laid back and resourceful farmers. Those who lived in jungle became fierce and ferocious hunters. Their skills, their proclivity, even their Bloodline Limit had became so specialized and highly differentiated, adapted by a fierce natural selection and survival for the fittest. Thus how those who remained is the best at what they do. However, herein lays another problem.

These colonists had become so different with one another. Not just physically, but culturally as well. For the newly reconstructed government, and with the matter of weather began to subside, the advanced had just began the long process of rebuilding and recovering; the last thing they need is another civil war because of differing culture. Fortunately, it was a problem that was quickly solved before it grew more critical. A new power began to rise amidst the Advanced Population. Said power was religion brought by the Church of Fire. The local mass, tired and dispirited with all the horror and devastation that occurred turned for spiritual comfort to ease their bodily suffering. The higher ups saw in the religion a way to prevent mass panic and bring order to the chaos, and thus gave the new rising Church of Fire their full support. The many colonists with differing culture and makeup were united together under a single unifying concept: religion. Small wonder then, that by the time some semblance of civilization of Advanced was formed as a solid Empire of Zaft, most of them, if not all of them, are centered on the Church of Fire, with the Grand Pope, the most powerful man of the church, is practically the second most politically powerful man on the Empire, narrowly beneath the newly elected Crimson Emperor.

In the mean time, eventually all 12 continents were tamed and inhabited. Resources and spoils from other continents flow to the capital and supported the reconstruction process, and, the resources from other continents also supported each other. Farm continents shipped food to colonies in other continents, mining continents shipped ore and other resources badly needed by other parts of the Empire. However, they still need more. They are growing, and their miners, farmers and breeders just couldn't produce enough resources to keep up with all their needs. So they do what every nation do: they buy it from other nations. They started with the closest in Japan. They were expecting small city states in shambles which they can easily trade and bartered goods with… what they get, was sturdy citadels one only found in super power nations, completely untouched by the Collapse. Here is a nation that they can't shove and push so easily. All things considered though, they traded with the Samurais anyway. However, it wasn't long until they found out, to their horror, the Samurais had ALSO traded with the Naturals, who survived and began recovering as well.

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At this point, Kage also stopped to take a breath. "Now."

George also nodded. "Now… here is where things get interestingly tricky. But…wanna have a drink first?" George motioned one of his guards to bring a flask of water and two glasses.

Kage nodded solemnly. The two had been talking non-stop for hours and their throat is about as dry as it gets.

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Meanwhile, not far from there, sulking while glaring angrily at the two conversing people was Fllay. There she was, on her way to see her father again to pout about how that Hikari-Lacus girl was hogging all the attention, even from her own fiancée, and guess what? She found him, having a chat with Kage, the person she hated and feared the most.

There aren't many people who dared or even think of insulting her, recognizing her to be the daughter of an important bigshot of the Alliance. But Kage had done so, and he had done so publicly on more than a single occasion. The last one was done right in front of her own dad. And to her eternal wonder, her father did not reprimand him. Why, judging by what she sees right now, with George chatting happily with Kage, her father seems to be on Kage's side! There goes her hope of asking her father to teach Kage a lesson.

It was in that moment that Sai passed her by, carrying two sets of flowers in his hands. His mind is still aghast at this weird assignment Lacus had given him. He did make a few tries, but something in him told him that's not it. Sai was so drowned in thought, he didn't notice his girlfriend is peeping at the corner right in front of him. Noticing his boyfriend, Fllay quickly yanked Sai out of his daze. "Wha…" Sai turned and saw a pouting Fllay. "Sai! Do something!"

"Do something?" Sai didn't even understand the problem. Then he saw Kage and George chatting together happily. He squinted his ears, trying to catch up some of the contents… it's not the kind of conversation where the elderly giving advices to the younger. No. These are conversations of two intellectual titans arguing with one another in a friendly debate on equal grounds. The kind of conversation that someone on Sai's level… much less Fllay, just couldn't interrupt, even if they wanted to. "What… what would you want me to do? I can't interrupt them." Sai had no choice but to be blunt.

"Why!?" Fllay barked.

"Well… I just don't know how. I mean… look at your dad, he looked like he's having the time of his life."

"With that freak!?"

"Oh, Fllay." Sai shook his head. "Why can't you stop seeing Kage from his freaky side? See past through that faceless mask and you'll find a different person altogether. Look at your father! He likes him! Maybe you should too!"

But Fllay's face grew redder in anger. Even his fiancée sided with Kage!? "How can you side with him!? He fired you from his elite guard and you don't feel anything!?"

"He fired me… And I deserved it. I messed up and I nearly caused the death of your father. One way to look at it, I'm lucky I got away with my life after that big of a mess up." Unlike before, Sai can now lightheartedly laugh it out as a joke. "The other way looking at it, Kage had just set me up to be taken up by the best medical teacher I've seen all my life! If I had to feel anything, that would be gratitude, I suppose?"

Medical teacher… that Lacus-Hikari girl!? First Kage took his father from her, and now that pink haired armored freak girlfriend of his seduced her fiancée as well!? "So… that's how it is?"

"Hm?"

Fllay trembled with rage. "If you really… want to worship that black masked Freak that much…"

Sai blinked as he became fully aware of Fllay's condition for the first time. She looked… really upset, with beads of tear began to form at the corner of her eyes.

"THEN JUST GO AHEAD AND FOLLOW HIM TO HELL OR WHATEVER! LEAVE ME IN THE GUTTER FOR ALL YOU CARE!" She exploded, shocking Sai. Her shout can even be heard all the way to Kage and George, who stopped their conversation for a moment.

"Fllay…! Calm down! I don't-"

"SHUT UP!" Fllay shrieked. "I HATE HIM! IF YOU CHOOSE HIM OVER ME, THEN FINE! I HATE YOU TOO!" And after that last hysterical shriek, Fllay immediately ran pass Sai. She accidentally knocked Sai on his wounded arm.

"ARGH!" The bespectacled boy was quickly overwhelmed by the stinging pain, causing him to drop both the pot and the vase, shattering it and scattering the flower inside them all over the floor. Fllay, sobbing and crying angrily, stormed away from the downed Sai, not caring that his fiancée is in pain. "Fllay!" Sai yelled to ears that won't listen anymore. Fllay's running figure quickly disappeared from Sai's sight. "Urgh…" he wanted to chase after her, but he looked down and saw the mess in front of him. The flowers are all jumbled up, and he can't tell which is which anymore. "Oh no…"

"What happened?" Sai bent his head up and saw Kage and George, looking down at him with concern. "You're alright?"

"Kage! Allister-san!" Sai break into a nervous forced smile. "I'm fine… it's just… my arm is hurting…" But then, he dropped the façade and asked. "Did you two… hear everything?"

"She's a screamer. We can practically hear her shrieking from where we were standing a little while ago." Kage looked at Sai's arm and firmly glared at where Fllay stormed off. But then he looked down and saw Sai was having difficulty trying to collect the flowers back. Kira shook his head and knelt down, helping him picking up his flowers. "She really hates me that much eh?"

"It's not that." Sai chuckled. "She's just lonely. That's all. She felt you and Hikari are hogging all the attention."

"You can blame me for that one." George rubbed his head in a slight unease. "After my wife died, I made sure her every needs are catered. I had butlers on standby 24/7. I guess you could say I spoiled her a little too much. But… these days… sometimes I just don't know what to do with her." George looked somewhat remorseful. "I gave everything… and that's it. I just gave her things. Never give her something that really mattered… time."

Kage nodded in understanding. "Go."

George looked at Kage and Sai.

"Go to her. She hadn't seen you for some time, who knows if you'll get many chances in the future to spend time with her." Kage smiled.

"Okay." George smiled. But then, he looked at the flowers in their hands. "I'll do just that… AFTER you sate my curiosity a bit… what's with the flowers, Sai-kun?"

"Yeah." Kage snarled, as he was wondering about that too. "I thought Hikari taught you about medical studies. She taught flower arrangements on the side?"

"In a manner." Sai chortled. "Basically, she gave us all a single sample and told us to cut the flower the same way she cut her flower." Sai showed a bunch of flowers with roots, the original uncut flowers from the pot.

"So… these are the flowers that you tried to cut…" Kage lifted a bunch of flowers with severed stumps in one hand. "…the same way she cut this one?" Kage lifted a single flower. "The hell's the connection with medical studies?"

"Yes, well… wait until I tell you what she did with her… cut… flower…" Sai's comment trailed to a stop. His eyes widened as he looked at the way Kage holding his flowers. "Kage…"

"Yes?"

Sai blinked in disbelief. "How did you know which of the flowers was cut by Hikari?" A little while ago, all the flowers were a jumbled mess on the floor, and Kage wouldn't be able to notice which of the flower on which vase from where he was standing earlier. And yet, Sai looked at that one flower in one of Kage's hand, and it was unmistakably Hikari's flower. And Kage was able to differentiate it amidst all that flowers!?

Kage blinked in confusion. "You mean this is not the flower that Hikari cut? I wouldn't know. I saw all the flowers and this one is the only one different from the rest."

"Different? Different how?" Sai pressed on. His eyes bulging in curiosity.

"Yeah… well… the smell… among other things." Kage flabbergasted. First he shoved the one cut by Sai. Sai took a whiff. It's still had its scent. Then, Kage shoved the one flower cut by Lacus. Sai took a sniff of it… and then he finally noticed. Lacus' flower smelled more strongly, more fresh than his. He wouldn't be able to notice it until now because a while ago, he was in a room heavily laden with the scent of flowers, masking this one.

"But that's not all." Kage further added. "The flower you cut had its color waned slightly. And their crowns show visible degradation. See? Notice some of the petals began to lower by a few millimeters as if on the verge of falling off? Hikari's on the other hand… it's still… strong. As if it was plucked out fresh out of the garden."

Sai heard enough and took the flower from Kage's hand. He also took the flower that he cut. And then, with some difficulty holding the two flowers side by side with just one hand, he strained his eyes, observing the two cut flowers by the stem sternly. The one cut by Lacus is still vibrant. It's still alive, not a single bit of its cell was damaged. His cut on the other hand, is destroying the flower. Killing it, so to speak. "H… How in God's name she make such a magnificent cut like this?" Sai's mind raced. Suddenly, the image of what Lacus did to her flower replayed in his mind.

She cut the flower with her scalpel. But… is that all she did? No. There's something else. There's something… translucent, something liquid covering that scalpel. It was not water for sure. It was something mighty familiar. Something he had seen before. 'But where have I seen…' As Sai think harder, his gaze fell on Kage… his mouth… and then it hit him. Back when the would be Shadowguards were first introduced to Chakra, that very same translucent liquid-like matter flowed out of Kira's mouth the first time he succeeded in generating Chakra.

"CHAKRA!" In his joy, Sai shouted all the sudden, scaring the begeesus out of the two caught off guard audience. Kage and George jumped a step back away from the excited Sai. "THAT'S IT! THAT'S HOW SHE DID IT! A cut that doesn't kill the flower! She used Chakra!" For a moment, to Kage and George's confused eyes, Sai looked like a bit delirious. And before Kage and George can say anything, Sai stormed away like a demented man on a mission. Midway, the bespectacled boy turned around and looked back at the confused Kage and George. "Thank you." And then he bolted.

Kage and George looked at the disappearing back of Sai Argyle. Kage wasn't exactly sure what happened either. "…how did I help him make a breakthrough?"

"I don't know. (koff) Maybe it has something to do with why are you here instead of in your rehabilitation. (koff)" Kage's heart nearly jumped out of his chest when Hikari suddenly just materialized right behind him. She was carrying a plate filled with burger steak, coleslaw, and some peas. She was bringing Kira's lunch, just like she said she would.

"Hikari!?" Kage gawked.

"You DO remember that I SPECIFICALLY told you to endure A DAY LONG therapy!?" Hikari's voice boomed, making her figure larger than normal.

"Aahh… Dr. Hikari, no need to be so angry. Kage was with me all day, we were… discussing history-"

"Yes, I know! (koff) I heard you guys talking in my ears throughout my class. (koff)" Hikari grumbled. Their conversation was so… engaging… so enticingly complex that Lacus was greatly tempted to stop her lecture and join in. The distraction was incredible. "I've mapped everything. (koff) Nothing is going on in this ship without me hearing about it. (koff)"

"That's some sensor." George nodded in awe.

"Yeah… it has its uses. (koff)" Hikari suddenly darted and planted an acupuncture needle on a specific spot on Kage's neck, stopping him cold before he could make his escape. "…such as detecting an escaping patient. (koff)"

Completely stiff, Kage can only watch helplessly as Hikari grabbed him at the back of his collar and dragged him away to God knows where. "I'll see you later, Mr. George. (koff) And, uh, speaking for Kage, I think he's right. (koff) You should see your daughter whenever you can. (koff)"

"Yeah… I'll do… that…" George watched dumbly as he saw the stunned Kage's horrified widened eyes as Hikari dragged him away, mopping the deck with his ass. All he can do was to give the poor boy a weak nervous thumb's up.

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Lacus dragged Kira all the way up to the Angel's bath and tossed him back into the water. Six Haros (Lily, Levi, Megi, Barba, Ghienny, and Adra) turned into their human forms and quickly restrained him and kept him dipped while Lacus also began to take off her armors and entered the water herself, skinny dip.

The first thing that welcomed her was a very, very flustered and not to mention mortified Asta the green Haro. "Lacus! I'm so sorry! He dipped himself, he get into cardiac arrest and… and…"

"I see now that I kept underestimating your professional escaping skills." Lacus sighed.

"Getting out of jam…" Kira groaned under the restraints of all six Haros. "That's… one of the first things I learned… when I'm a pickpocket."

"Yes. Breaking rules seems to be your second nature." Lacus glared angrily at the restrained Kira. She grabbed Kira's face, and then without further ado, Lacus jammed his mouth with hers.

And moments later, Kira found himself back inside that world… the Astral plane. He's a pure blue transparent being inside a white empty plain world…

"Okay… I'm in Astral plain again and…"

"Kira!" He heard Lacus familiar cheerful voice. "Right here!"

Kira turned around. At first he didn't see anything. But Lacus' voice unmistakably came from there. Kira nodded and just went through there. 'So this is what it's like when she traveled into the insides of my head…'

"You got that right." Lacus's voice answered back.

"Whoa! You can read my mind?" Kira gaped.

"Astral Plain is a world of thought. Anything you think of became actions and words here. So be mindful what you say, you can't lie here."

"Okay…" Kira floated forward and forward… slowly, he began to see his destination. And already he's starting to dislike what he sees. The white world slowly turned… pink.

"Well… I've looked into the insides of your head… even though it was completely twisted…"

Lord help him… and the worst Kira imagined was a giant candy house…

"Welcome to the insides of my head."

"Why doesn't it surprise me?"

What he get… was a candy wonderland.

Pink sky with clouds made of cotton candy, streets were made black chocolate asphalt. Trees made of Oreo cookies with leaf of cones, complete with ice creams, and its fruits are gobstoppers. Rivers of whipped cream, cocoa, condensed milk, and caramel with lollipops jumping out of it. Rocks made of giant chocolate chip cookies, bushes of muffins, flowers of cream pies, grasses of rolling biscuits filled with chocolate and vanilla fillings. At the distance, mountains of caramel pudding, giant fudge Everest with sugar snow, and giant sundae ice cream with multitudes of sauces rolling down its swirls, a field of mountainous region of banana split.

And that's not all. They got cities in there too! Houses with walls composed of bricks of chocolate dipped biscuits, cemented with sugaring, decorated with candies. Pillars of popsicles supported roof made of chocolate tiles, with cookies etched to the surface. Donuts on the base, and some at the top spires…

In short… to Kira… this… is what Hell looked like. "I'm not… going in there."

"Yes you are." And now Lacus appeared in person. Well, in person per se. Her persona in this world is exactly like Kira remembered it. All pink and transparent and naked. "Grow a pair will you?" She chortled giddily.

"Give me one good reason."

"If you wanna survive Toudou's onslaught at the end of this day… you need to see what I'm about to show you."

Kira frowned and he was instantly convinced to follow Lacus inside her head. The smell of sweets everywhere… sweets, sweets, sweets, and more sweets, everywhere he looked. God… he can't believe he prefer the zombie demon world of Junius over this…

And Lacus brought him to the crown jewel of this… terrifying, terrifying candy world… the largest structure in this world… a gigantic multi spire castle of candy.

The whole thing is, in essence, a very tall massive multi towered, multi colored wedding cake. Except the cake had windows and openings encircled by donuts with plenty of frostings and other sprinkled stuff. Some had waffle walls, some had layered caked with overflowing vanilla fillings, and others looked like roll cakes, with ice cream chimney, others looked like it was bricked with gobstoppers with caramel pudding rooftop… and many other variations of sweets. The conical spire roofs were also as varied as the others. Some had conjoined banana split pointing up, others softcone ice cream with sprinkles of lollipop or/and chocolate chip cookies. There are hanging gardens filled with trees of lollipop and gushing chocolate fountain and waterfall. Pillars are spiraling popsicles, with cookies on the surface and lollipops sticking out of the swirl all the way to the top of the ceilings, which was made of pastry biscuit tiles with gobstoppers as sugaring.

And this is Kira's idea of a house of horror.

A giant grand gate of candy sprinkled chocolate opened up. Inside… well, what can be said? Even the furniture are candy! The floors are marble chocolate tiles; there are Cotton Candy sofas, biscuit tables with lollipop legs, cakes here and there, pastry carpet…

Thankfully, Lacus led him away from all that into the corner. The direction where she was going… it became steadily changing in atmosphere. At first was like a candy made fantasy fairy tale world. But then, it's now slowly transitioning into what looked like… a hospital wing. Though they're still candy made, the color white and the symbol red crosses, both are signs of hospitals, are becoming more and more prevalent. Eventually, they stopped in front of a particular door. And this door… was an anomaly. While other parts of this world were made of candy… this one… is the only thing around NOT made of candy. It was a black solid steel door, bolted, chained, completely covered and sealed with talismans and other enchantments. Kira can actually see dark aura seeping out of the seams of the said door. "What… is that?"

"Kira… what you must understand is this. What you see here… must stay here. You will not speak of this to anyone. I've taken an oath to never speak of it. Can you do that?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah. I can do that."

Lacus rubbed the black door. "If you Astral dived into the mind of every Samurai and Shinobi in this world… this door… you will always find this door, in every form, in every shape."

Kira approached the door and gently rubbed it. He jerked when his mind was assaulted with an intensely familiar, intensely dark sensation. "Oh my God… Lacus… you had it too!? That curse!?"

Lacus nodded. "I used to. Shinobis… Samurais… every person who learned the way will inevitably, at some point of the training, contract that curse, some way, somehow. It was already part of the training itself. Izanami made sure of it. The thing is… Kira, we are not at liberty to discuss it… because of this door."

"What is this door?"

"The Conditioning." Lacus finally explained. "Have you ever wondered how the Samurais and the Shinobis managed to keep their mouth shut for hundreds of years? The numbers of spies who had infiltrated Orb trying to sniff out the secret recipe to create super warriors? This is the answer: a combination of subliminal messaging hypnotherapy and mental blocking. We call it simply as the Conditioning."

"Hypnotherapy?"

"It was integrated into the process of Bushido tech training itself. As you learn the way of Bushido or the way of Shinobi, the mental conditioning formed itself within your sub-consciousness." Lacus continued on to explain how it worked as she rubbed the black steel door. "The Conditioning, at a very subconscious level, prevented you from even saying anything related in any way to Bushido techniques… or doing anything that anyone can use to figure out the way to master the Bushido way. It prevented us to move in certain ways, it barred us from performing certain actions, it blocked us to let out certain phrases, you try as hard as you can and the word just won't come out of your mouth, and you became uncomfortable when you remain in a certain pose for even less than a second… things like that. Basically, it makes it impossible for a Samurai to accidentally reveal anything at all about the Bushido."

Kira began to understand a few points, showing extreme displeasure at what he heard so far. "Are we talking about… some form of Brain Washing?"

"Kira… having you Astral Dived into my mind… me… showing you all this in the Astral Plain… this is exactly why the Conditioning was designed by Izanagi to counter Izanami's Curse… perfected by the Emperor." Lacus explained. "It was designed specifically to prevent someone or something with the ability to literally dive into someone's head to easily carve the information out."

Kira frowned in deep thought. "But… but… I've seen a Samurai in combat before. I've seen Lowe and even Lord Ray Yuki, including that Black Knight… they used Bushido Technique with impunity right in front of my eyes. The Black Knight even told me about Zantetsuken so easily!"

The moment the word 'Zantetsuken' escaped Kira's lips, the steel door shook. Kira looked at the steel door in surprise. Lacus took the cue and continued explaining. "There are certain circumstances. The Conditioning was also designed in such a way… the Samurais, under the correct circumstances, can break that conditioning. Certain circumstances in this case, just like what we saw in Junius, when a Samurai faced another Samurai that has fallen to… certain circumstances."

"Certain circumstances being?" At this, Lacus became visibly strained, her astral body flickered and the black door rumbled yet again. She couldn't answer. That answer is part of the information blocked by the conditioning. Of course. It won't be easy to break the Conditioning. Lacus was able to tell him just one circumstance on how the conditioning can be broken simply because Kira had seen one of those circumstances unraveling. "…Okay… I'm starting to understand the nature of this… Conditioning… but… what about you? How did YOU manage it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your knowledge, your skills gained from studying with the Medic Nins. Those too are part of the knowledge and skills locked away by the Conditioning right? How did you break it?"

"A little honesty." Lacus chuckled. "I didn't break anything. I told my sensei from day one of what I'm going to do with all my knowledge and skills once I've mastered them. I told him, if they're going to teach me this anyway, I will spread this teaching. I will teach them to every doctor I see. Trying to convince the Orb government took forever! Forever I tell you! Not to mention the inquisition, the hearing, the harsh questioning… sheesh! But eventually they allowed a leeway. My Conditioning was set up in such a way, the only thing blocked was the medical knowledge and understanding about certain aspect of Samurai's super soldier physique and health parameter, and other related information." Lacus winked cutely. "But of course, as I've undoubtedly showed you, there are certain limits that I can cross."

"…such as telling me about the Conditioning itself." Kira nodded. But then, there's another person that really piqued his attention. "What about Mwu-san? As I've said before, Mwu-san taught me everything I know about Chakra and Shinobi. Won't he fall under the same Conditioning?"

"Shinobis and Samurais had different Conditioning." Lacus rubbed her chin. "I can't go into details, but I can tell you that Shinobi's conditioning are more flexible than Samurais'. Mwu-san came in the same time I finally finished my study. That's roughly 7 years ago. So… I had no idea how they condition him. But if I have to make a guess… Mwu-san trained in the shinobi AFTER he became a Captain was he not? My guess is, they were already aware of his status and so they take care on what they taught him."

"But if that's true, how did Mwu get his hands on a top secret Prototype of a Time-Space jutsu!?"

"He WHAT!?" Lacus gaped.

"The Hiraishin no Jutsu!" Kira reiterated. "He blatantly told me that the said jutsu is under development! I'd imagine something like that is DEFINITELY Conditioning material!"

"Hiraishin no jutsu!?" And now, Lacus blinked in confusion. "Kira… I've never heard anything of that. My guess is, it was probably began development at least right after I left. Plus, I never concentrated on anything else other than medical jutsus. SO I wouldn't know. But…" Lacus frowned. "What you just said is an extreme information breach of unprecedented scale. If there's anything I had to be wondering is how Mwu-san managed to get away with all that for this long. Maybe he got some help from inside… I don't know."

"Help from the inside…" And then it hit him. "Wait… you went to the same Shinobi class with Mwu-san? I mean… even though you didn't share a class with him, even though he came in just as you left, basically: you went to the same place right?"

"Kind of." Lacus nodded, and then she quickly glared at Kira. "Wait, you're not suspecting me are you?"

"Of course not!" Kira's eyes glowed somewhat excitedly. Suddenly a question burgeoned out of his head. It's kinda of a longshot but… "But… you wouldn't happen to know anything about… the Original One… would you?"

Lacus' smile breaks even wider. "Actually… I DO." Lacus waved his hand, and a bunch of chocolate marbles burst out and formed a black mosaic of a shinobi, with black clothing and a mask. Lacus' imagery of Kage. The Original one. "Kage wasn't a very talented person. I graduated earlier than Kage because I was simply ahead of the class. But… Kage was my partner during those early years. Unlike you…" Lacus smiled confidently at a surprised Kira. "…I have no need to become someone I'm not. Hikari really IS… my Callsign… as a Jounin of Orb." Lacus plucked something from the white marshmallow wall and pulled out… a metallic headband. The exact same one worn by Mwu before he gave it to Kira. Proof of Jounin class shinobi.

Kira's eyes widened.

Lacus smiled confidently. "That's also another way of saying I outranked you, Mr. Genin, sir!"

"Of course you are." Kira solemnly nodded, admitting inferiority. "I already knew that from day one since you showed me your medical skills. You ought to be at least that level to be able to do what you did."

"Oho." Lacus giggled. "Growing some level of respect there for me, aren't you, Mr. Yamato?"

"Hey, I ALWAYS had respect for you and your skills in saving lives." Kira tilted his head and let out a light smile. "Always have, ever since the day you saved my life in Junius."

Lacus' giggle stopped, replaced with a healthy dose of blush on her cheeks. "You're saying that just to please me aren't you?"

"This is a world of thought, you said." Kira merely shrugged calmly. "In here, thoughts became actions and words. In here, you can't lie, you said."

Lacus' blush covered her entire face, turning her head completely red in comparison to the rest of her pink body. 'W… Well… I did say that."

"Yeah well… but that only apply as far as your skills concerned." Kira turned around. "Your taste and screwed up bubble headed personality though, that is something else entirely. Leaves very little to be desired."

"Kira-kun."

"Hm?" Kira turned around… and was immediately bombarded with a salvo of softcone ice cream missiles, leaving him buried in a pile of cream and jelly, with only his cream covered head visible. Of course, this is just happening inside their heads, so Kira isn't exactly freaking out. "Like I said. This personality of yours is… just… you know… giving sweet tooth a bad name."

And Lacus slammed Kira's astral body's head with a hammer of cupcake.

"Why tell me this? How is this relevant with what Toudou was offering?" Kira easily walked out of the rubble, dusting away the creams from his astral body like cleaning up some dirt.

"Dunno." Lacus raised her shoulders, giving a very puzzled look to Kira. "I'm not sure how your mind works. But I've come to learn that you can always draw conclusions from a series of seemingly random input. I just added something for you. This conditioning thing… I feel like it's the only relevant information I can give you." Lacus pointed her finger at Kira. Indeed, based on what Lacus had seen, forget bloodline limit, forget his intelligent healing system. Of greater interest is that Kira possesses this aptitude to discern HUGE amount of information from simple glances of seemingly random and seemingly irrelevant data. Even information gleaned from scraps and bits others wouldn't glance were of great value when they are properly processed, and Kira possess this interesting talent. Lacus had decided to bet on that aptitude. "Don't be mistaken. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because Chiba-san kept crying the whole time. She really doesn't want Toudou-san to commit Seppuku. You don't want that to happen to, right!?"

Kira nodded firmly. "Of course not." Kira looked at the black aura seeping out of the door. Now he remembered. That same black clad creature also exist in his corner of mind. "Yeah… that's… quite helpful… but I think… now I need to go back… to my own place to crash. There's… some things I have to put in order too…"

Lacus blinked. "This helps? This really helps?" She couldn't believe it. Kira can really get something from that? Even Lacus wasn't sure if she had given anything to Kira that is useful. Wow…

"In a manner. Thanks." Kira nodded. Then he turned around… and he's back to the real world… with Lacus' lips is still locked with his. "MMMPFFHHH!?"

Lacus quickly parted away from Kira, a strand of saliva still connected in-between their two wet lips. Kira flabbergasted. "OI! Your drool is acid, remember?"

"Daijobu… as long as I'm aware of it, I can control that one."

As Kira come to his senses, he suddenly became more aware of his condition. He's now completely submerged all the way down to his neck… and Lacus' haros had done their work when Kira was unconscious. Not just his head, they've planted huge acupuncture needles allover his body. They were all chained and locked in place, completely pinning him down the bath. Asta once again took her job, creating a hyperbaric chamber with her body. But this time, she determined to not let Kira escape again, and so fortified herself with a little aid from Barba. The green and yellow Haro combine together to make a lighter green color, but thicker in substance. If the previous shell was a membrane, this one can be likened to a brick wall.

"8 Point Trigram Acupuncture body lock. You won't be able to move a finger. The more you try, the tighter the lock. And by tomorrow you'll be sore all morning." Lacus smiled innocently as she stood right in front of Kira inside the chamber.

"Bitch!" Kira growled.

Lacus merely replied with her trademark childish smile. "This seems to be the only way you'll stay put. Ghienny! Increase the dosage on the tonic by… 60%."

"Lacus, w-w-we're running s-s-short on i-i-ingredients." The Nun-Lacus-doppelganger replied in her usual stuttering tone. "The main ingredient, K-k-k-kira-san's blood is easy… but… we're short on other ingredients f-f-from our end."

"I see." Lacus placed a finger over her lips. "Well… I guess we'll have to improvise." Lacus turned to Ghienny again. "Condense all the water in this bath unto Kira. That will increase the density of the existing tonic."

Ghienny nodded and waved her arms. All the water in the bath suddenly began to merge and condense around Kira. By the time she was done, the bath water took an odd shaped circular form… like a mochi. The water also became thick and gelatinous, like slime, sticking on Kira allover his body, weighing him down. But somehow… even with all that, Lacus had a feeling Kira can still escape that. "…and Levi? Freeze the water."

"WHAT?" Kira gaped.

Levi obeyed and touched the slimy water. Moments later, Kira was completely sealed in a block of ice. This time… he really can't move. But still… Lacus had been told by a certain blonde haired shinobi that overkill is often overrated. So… "And Asta? Sedate him. Ghienny; made sure he's fed intravenously."

"Oi! Wait a minute! That's way too overkiiieellllzz… zzz… zzz… zzz…" The anesthetic hit Kira like a champ, and within moments he went into la-la land.

Lacus merely chuckled and tapped Kira's hair. "If only you've been a good boy and listened to me, none of this would've been necessary." She turned to her shikigamis. "Keep him here till I woke him up. Feed him intravenously."

"Yes'm!"

And then, Lacus walked out of the angel's bath, put on her armor, took the Silver haro Krona. She tossed it into the air and Krona transformed into a copy of her, with long braided hair, while other parts were cut short. Unlike other Haro doppelgangers, Krona bore more resemblance to Lamia with her short hair, bar the long braid. The resemblance became more prevalent in that Krona is clad in silver armor. She looked like medieval crusader knight, with a pair of scimitar at her hilt. A large round buckler was hung on her back, silver waist armor extended down her long white skirt that reached down to the ankle of her greaved feet. The only difference with lacus was that she had silver eyes instead of blue. Lacus whispered a few choice incantations into Krona's ears. Krona nodded as her silver eyes let out an inhuman glow.

Lacus opened the door, and lo and behold, Toudou was there. "Toudou-san."

"You know why I'm here… and I'd rather hoped that Kira had passed on an answer for me through you." Toudou was clad in his entire battle gear, his Zangetsu firmly in hand. He looked like he was ready for a fight for his life.

"If he did, and you don't like his answer, what are you going to do? Kill him where he stands?" Lacus turned to Krona. "Krona… no… This is your hour… Iron Clock Kronos."

The incantations of release that Lacus whispered into her ears earlier went active, and Krona immediately reverted back to her original greater daemon form. Part of her features became crustacean – but they're all made of metal and machines. She pulled out her scimitar, opened up its handle, and the blade also opened up, revealing it to be really a pair of giant scissors. Upon her transformation, the scissors were enlarged, and it was merged into the underside of her arm, becoming part mechanical, part crustacean pincers attached just below her now crustacean-alike hands. Her silver armor became segmented steel carapace with reflective spiky surface. The long waist armor turned into 12 mechanical crustacean scythe-like legs, encircling her now feetless lower area. Like all Greater Daemons, Krona's face was also warped into a faceless knight mask, albeit with some crustacean qualities. But the most interesting, and the most important part of the transformation, was the massive buckler that Krona originally carried. In Kronos form, the buckler split apart into various gears and mechanism. It finally stopped expanding and then reassembled together to form an enormous watch. The watch has three sub-watches inside it. The main watch has the normal 12 points, but instead of number, they have watches in each point of the clock. The three clock pointers, hours, minutes, and seconds were also laden with clocks and watches. Meanwhile, the first subwatch has four points, the second subwatch has two, and the third and last subwatch has three. Closer observation also shows the 12 legs of the Greater daemon also had Roman numeral of I to XII plated on said legs, and they too had watches planted on various parts: joints, knees, etc.

Kronos seem to be more mechanical than her sisters. Also, unlike Levi and Megi who are creatures of larger than life proportion, Kronos is quite small: only a little over a head taller than her mistress. However, Lacus knew better than to underestimate her smallest Daemon. Her powers are, by far, the most unique and dangerous. "STOP. THE. CLOCK." Lacus ordered.

Kronos stretched both of her arms, a circular zone emerge and encircle a small radius with Kronos, and by extension, Lacus, as the center. The World Clock at Kronos' back stops ticking, as do every clock in every part of her body. And then everything: the birds in the sky, the wave motion of the ocean, Tolle plucking a single grain of rice from today's meal, Murdock yelling to his team, the puff of smoke coming out of the Archangel's chimney, even the wind. Everything stopped dead on their tracks. Everything except those who are within the circular Stasis Time-zone created by Kronos.

"T-minus, 60 seconds." Kronos began her countdown, and a single silver strand of light extends out from her, reaching to the edges of the circular perimeter, followed by another and another as time pass, slowly filling up the circle.

Lacus began her time constrained conversation with Toudou. "Now. We both know one of the ways to break the Samurai Conditioning is when no one can listen to our conversation regarding the subject of you-know-what. Time stops except within this timezone. No one will hear us."

Toudou's brow was raised in bewilderment. "I see. I suppose I should thank you for going through such trouble… but… for what purpose, exactly?"

"I told Kira and Sai the mask that Kururugi Suzaku wore. His fake persona that I've seen several times already." Lacus spoke openly now. From one conditioned Orb Warrior to another, but Toudou's brows wrinkled at the mention of the name of his fallen student. "I understand. You trained him. You watched him fell to the depths that no Samurai should ever fell. I'm here to tell you… Kira is NOT and NEVER will be… a second Suzaku."

"You don't know that."

"T-minus, 45 seconds."

"I do know, actually. My Sister… My friends… the closest thing that nearly killed us in Junius were not the undead. It was Kira on one of his most violent mood swings to date." Lacus remembered the black knight. Contrary to what little she let out, she knew all too well what it was. "Having on the receiving end of such power, the fact that I'm standing here, alive and breathing, should be more than enough proof."

"Proof of what?"

"That your fear is unfounded." Lacus replied directly. "You're underestimating the strength of Kira's willpower. You underestimate him greatly. Look, I'm not interested in what happened with you and your previous student. But you have to let go the illusion that you can control everything."

"Illusion?"

"Yes. That's what my sensei taught me. Just because I'm such a good doctor, the first thing I have to learn is that just because I can heal patients from their various ailments doesn't mean I can control the life and death of my patient. If it's their time to die, it's their time."

"You talk as if I'm trying to turn Kira into some kind of puppet."

T-Minus 30 seconds At this point, the circular zone is half full.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Yes." Lacus crossed her arms. "You threatened Kira, forcing him to trade his sanity with your life. You're trying to control him into doing something you want. Is that not the actions of a puppeteer?"

"For the greater good! The need of one is severely outweighed by the needs of many! You should understand this!"

"I thought I did." Lacus replied calmly. "That's why I went to Junius. For the sake of many, I thought it was okay if I sacrifice just myself. But I was wrong. Kira showed me how wrong I was. Dying isn't taking responsibility. Living is. That was the philosophy of the very same man who nearly killed me in his fit of rage because of that curse."

"What's your point?" Toudou narrowed his brows. The circle of Time Zone is almost full. Time is running out.

"Kira is not one to let himself be led astray so easily by a… mere curse." Lacus smiled confidently. "And if you think threatening him with his life will get him to do what you want, think again."

T-Minus 15 Seconds

"Because if I know Kira as well as I thought he'll find a way. Both to his problems and yours with… or without your help."

"You're willing to bet the fate of the world on that?" Toudou asked one last time.

"Yes." Lacus answered singsongly with absolute certainty… and faith in Kira.

T-Minus 10 seconds

Toudou and Lacus stood face to face, while Kira, barely 15 feet away from them, was completely sedated silly, unaware that whatever comes out of this little discussion will determine whether he'll see tomorrow or not.

"You're playing a very dangerous game."

T-Minus 5 seconds

"I highly doubt it. Believe me, if Kira believe for even a second that he will become this danger you so feared… we won't be having this discussion."

"And why is that?"

4…

"Because unlike me, Kira was more than ready to take his own life when push became pull." Lacus smiled as she was reminded on how Kira reacted when he thought he was infected by the Genma the first time. There's neither fear nor doubt in his eyes. He will fight and struggle to the very end, but he was ready to die whenever he had to.

3…

"Believe me. Of all the Samurais in the world with the potential for destruction, Kira is the least of your worries…"

2…

"Provided he did not have any reason to be your enemy."

1…

Toudou looked at Lacus' gentle looking eyes and innocent smile. Unlike the bubbly headed way she carry herself, her words are firm and full of confidence.

TIME OUT.

The circle was finally filled to the brim as the last strand filled the last empty gap. The full circle glowed brightly and the light engulfed both Lacus and Toudou.

Moments later, time began to move again. Tolle choked on the rice he just put in his mouth, Murdock's yell was cut short when a burst of steam shot out from his back from the seams of the roaring engine, earning more yelling.

Toudou harrumphed and turned around. "Tell Captain Kage, I will wait for him at his office."

"I'll be sure to pass it along."

000000000000

Much later, in the evening…

Kira opened his eyes as he was being lifted out of the waters by the Haro Daemons, with Lacus staring at him. Kira blinked in confusion at first as to why she cut the therapy short. Lacus noticed the dumb look on Kira's eyes. "…I hope you haven't forgotten that you promised to give an answer to Toudou?"

"Oh… right." And focus returned to his eyes. "So… I can go?"

"You will promptly come back at 12 O'clock midnight, sharp to continue your therapy." Lacus glared to make her point. "Or so help me, there will be the devil to pay."

Wearing a normal civil yukata, Kira wondered if it's best that he should bring Shiki along. But Lacus, in all her incomprehensible wisdom, said he will not need it. And given the fact that there's no way Kira can fight with all 12 Greater Daemon in disguise that Lacus charged to guard it, he had no choice but to go to the meeting place unarmed.

When Kira finally arrived, the sliding door opened before he touched it, and inside, Toudou had stated himself in the guest seat, waiting for Kira to sit on his chair. Unknown to Kira, unlike his fully armed and ready to kill state earlier, Toudou dressed casually this time with a very frugal yukata. And there's not one bit of sense of urgency or even a bloodlust that he showed earlier. Toudou had his eyes closed, deep in meditation, yet he knows that Kira has arrived.

Kira nodded and walked in and sit on the captain's chair. The remaining Shiseiken nodded and then left, with Senba closed the door shut.

Once the door was closed, Toudou opened his eyes and looked straight at Kira's eyes. He need not say anything, his eyes was enough to repeat the question, asking the answer in silence.

"I may not look like it… but I've been doing a lot of thinking ever since yesterday." Kira started. "In all honesty, until Hikari put me in a lockdown, I still don't have the answer. Lacus told me about the Conditioning. She didn't explain much… she couldn't explain much… But she gave me enough to understand the situation." Kira quickly added. "And… now… I think… yeah… I have an answer."

Toudou reaffirm his gaze, waiting for the answer.

"Now this may sound unfair… but my answer, is another question." Kira reiterated. "Lacus told me that they modified their conditioning when she showed a little honesty, by telling them that she will spread her teachings to her fellow doctors. We've seen her do that. And she stands by it. Now…" Kira sighed. "I'll never tell her this, but… I think I will take a leaf out of her book, and showed some honesty." Kira looked at Toudou again. "If you teach me Bushido, I will gladly accept it. However, I will, whether you like it or not, spread that teaching. I will teach it to my friends, I will probably teach parts of it to my men. Why? Because in the end I came to realize I can't help not to do so."

Toudou remained in silence.

"I started on the path of carnage, because I wanted to protect my friends. But… then, I came to learn yesterday… there are about 100,000 things that can kill me. I'm just one guy with a super powerful katana and a few tricks up my sleeve. I might die today, I might die tomorrow. I don't fear for my life, I fear for the lives of my friends. My comrades. I won't always be around to protect them. So if there's anything I can do to create a lasting protection… that will be to make sure that they can also protect themselves without my help. And that means teaching them everything I know and I will know." Kira finally concluded with his answer. "So my answer, which is a question, if I accept your offer to train me… will you risk letting me teach them to others as well?"

Toudou didn't answer. He looked at Kira, looked at his purple dark tinted eyes. He entered a short though, sighed and then he stood up, preparing to leave.

"So… the answer is no." Kira's answer was twofold.

Upon hearing that, Toudou stopped for a moment in front of the sliding door. "I understand. I understand your answer completely."

"I'm sorry."

"No. It is I who should be sorry." Toudou bowed before he left the room.

Outside, the Shiseiken looked at Toudou walking out of the room with a very distraught expression.

Senba looked through the small opening of the sliding door that Kira is still alive. A tinge of relief nudged on his mind seeing his young friend still draws breath when he had obviously given a disappointing answer, but now, Senba was a bit confused. "My Lord… he… still refused?"

"No. It's not him. He had time to think and prepare, and he is ready." Toudou closed his eyes. "It is I who is not."

000000000000

The next day, after spending (nearly) his entire day on the said therapy yesterday, Lacus finally allowed Kira some leeway and let him walk about. Now that he's no longer pressured by Toudou regarding the Bushido, Kage found himself more relaxed than yesterday. As he walked out the Angel's bath, Kage thought on where he should spend his time. Call it a longshot hunch, Kage decided to go to that same spot where he had that lengthy conversation with George. To his pleasant surprise, it seems George thought the same.

To his horror, so did Hikari.

"Kage! You're here!" And there they sat on a chair with a small foldable table, having a morning snack. George excitedly waved him to come and join them. Kage reluctantly joined the table. "Ms. Hikari had just finished catching up with what we discussed yesterday. She volunteered to fill in the gap of the Cold War based from orb's perspective."

"Don't you have class today?" Kage frowned at Hikari.

"I have. (koff) But they'll be fine. (koff) I just gave them a surprise test. (koff)"

0000000000000

At Hikari's class room, all surgeons tried to rack their brains out trying to answer 10,000 medical questions that Lacus gave them, which includes some of the most sadistically hard questions any sadist of a teacher had ever given to their newbie students.

0000000000000

"On day two?"

"Why not?"

Kage sighed. "Fine. Shoot."

"Just listen and learn. (koff)"

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Collapsed Earth Aftermath: Cold War

United Emirates of Orb

During the aftermath of the Collapse, unlike the other two factions who struggled to rebuild their ruined civilization, Orb was the exact opposite. They flourished like never before. The Samurais super human physique allows them to survive the worst that the angry planet can throw at them, and even thrived amidst the chaos. Seeing the destruction and racial animosity wrought by the two factions, Orb rejected the reign of both nation and unanimously decidedly to built their own. The Samurais gathered their ranks including whatever resources they can spare and returned, after years of world traveling, to their home country, Japan, and they established their new nation there. First, like any newborn nation, they looked to their own. Infrastructures were rebuilt, borders are manned and guarded, lands were tilled and sowed. Soon, new towns sprang out here and there, a sign that their population are growing. With Japan being such a small island, the Orb Government quickly foresee if they don't expand, they will soon have mass shortage of resources and land on their hands.

And so, unlike the aggressive expansion of the other factions, Orb decided to send out emissaries to old friends… and former enemies. The Republic of Russia agreed to trade resources in return for military protection. The Mongolian Kingdom originally rejected their trade offer outright due to past enmity and rivalry. It took a lot of convincing and bargaining, but finally, both nations decided to bury the hatchet and signed a peace treaty. Orb sent many of its excess populace to colonize these new lands, in exchange, they will also provide military force to protect the borders of these two allied nations. Resources were traded, and Orb, as well as their allied nations, began to flourish when the world at large is in ruins. When Orb turned to their oldest and staunchest ally: the Kingdom of Scandinavian Principality, they were shocked to find the great changes that the wrathful Mother Nature had brought there. Due to massive tectonic earthquake caused by the Collapse, the entire region of the Scandinavian kingdom was completely sealed off. Gigantic fissures and sky scrapping cliffs that was once swimmable lake or passable prairie blocked all entry and exits to the said kingdom. This news troubles the Orb government greatly, fearing what would become of their Scandinavian allies without access to the outside world.

Their fear was well founded. In Scandinavia, famine and drought began to ravage the Kingdom. Orb, unwilling to let their oldest ally to suffer a slow death, redirect all effort into penetrating these natural barriers. It took them 80 years and 4 failed expeditions before the fifth expedition, with some inside help from the Scandinavians themselves, to finally penetrate the natural barrier and create a passable road to the said Kingdom. For this, and their past friendship, the Scandinavian King proposed that Scandinavia became part of Orb's nation as a state. The two signed a bilateral relation agreement that became the foundation of what would later become the United Emirates of Orb. Slowly, Russia followed into the agreement, followed swiftly by the Mongolia. Eventually, all four nations united together under the banner of Orb, covering a massive area, stretching out from Norway, Belgia, German, Moscow and the entire breadth of Russia, Mongolia, and its capital in Japan.

Orb prospered like nothing else. When there are famines and pestilence everywhere, Orb enjoyed a life of peace and plenty. After the union of the four nations, most of Orb's domestic needs are pretty much fulfilled and Orb had little need for expansion. Immigrants from all across nations soon caught wind of the Orb's prosperity and they flocked in droves, entering the fledgling superpower nation. Orb opened their gates wide, welcoming all who are willing to live there. From these immigrants, Orb gathered plenty of information regarding what becomes of the world as a whole. Based on what they hear, they came to a grim conclusion that this time of peace was but a deep calm before the storm. Orb began making preparations. Military Infrastructures were rebuilt, Samurai armies were multiplied and assembled, naval docks were constructed in various strategic points as battleship after battleship was churned out of the naval yard. Orb also began to clandestinely sent squads of Shinobi cells in various disguises to every corner of the world. They continually do this for the next 20 years, during which, Shinobis practically infiltrated the various factions across the globe by hiding in plain sight. At the end, they all formed a massive and intricate worldwide information network: nothing happened in this world that Orb wasn't aware of.

Eventually the time comes. The Alliance, desperate for more resources came knocking on Orb's door. Zaft, also in need of resources, appeared before Orb in desperation. Orb consistently took no side and share resources with the two factions out of pity. But it was only a matter of time when the two factions finally realized that Orb had also made dealings with their arch enemy.

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Lacus stopped her story to catch her breath. But she smirked at Kira, asking: "What do you think? (Koff) Not bad eh? (koff)"

"Well… most of them are general history. Every Orb citizen would know that… except…" Kage frowned. "Except the Scandinavia part. I wasn't particularly aware they had such a disaster…"

"Hey, I was born in Scandinavia. (koff) I think I would know the history of my own country! (Koff)" the Scandinavian Shinobi cheerfully stated.

"Indeed." George happily took note of Hikari's side of story. "Now… we reach the point where the history truly intersects."

"Before that point of history, both Alliance and Zaft weren't aware of one another's condition. The sudden realization that their mortal sworn enemies still exist is… well…"

"I'll go first." George started. "And then perhaps you two can go on filling the blanks along the way."

"Good idea." The younger two echoed.

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Cold War Ending: 200 years road to war.

As the Alliance found Orb, they've also found the remainder of the Advanced Population that escaped the Holocaust… and what becomes of the Advanced who went into exodus into the Zaft continent. As it turns out, Zaft were pretty much in the same boat with the Alliance. They too were rebuilding, and they are in serious need of resources. And Orb gave out resources to both sides without taking any side, remaining neutral no matter the circumstances. When that particular expedition returned and reported their findings, it was like adding oil into fire. Refugees flowed out in droves to bask in Orb's prosperity. The same thing happened to Zaft likewise.

The Alliance Government is slowly losing grip in various parts of their nation. Resources are useless without the manpower needed to run the economy. Drastic measures were taken. Gathering all their military strength they have, strengthened by the extra resources they gained from Orb, the Alliance invaded their closest neighbor, the South America Faction, putting the entire region under siege. While there was some resistance, the Northern America Alliance military strength and sheer industrial capability was overwhelming in comparison to the agricultural centered Southern America. Within months, the South American government finally surrendered and was annexed to the Alliance. Quickly putting their newly acquired resources and manpower to good, if forcible, use, the Alliance strength was more than doubled that it can rival, and even surpass that of the Chinese faction. Anticipating this, the Chinese and the India also entered into an alliance.

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At this point, Kage's frown became too apparently dark that they're pretty much distractive.

"Something wrong, Kage?" George noticed the gloom visage of the masked boy.

"So… let me get this straight: the North America Alliance invaded South America for their resources… and when they get that, they also coerced its people into forced labor anyway?"

"Yes." George didn't try to defend the Alliance this time as he clenched his fingers together. "Even now, after hundreds of years after the cold war, there are still pockets of resistance in Southern America."

"Of course there will be." Kage spat bitterly. "In what world forced subservience is something desired? No one wants to be a slave to another." Kira's purple eyes seem darkened greatly as he stared unblinkingly at the tea before him. "If that's how they play their game; how are the Alliance be any different with Zaft?"

George blinked in surprise. It looks like that story had pressed the wrong button as Kage is in a foul mood now. "Zaft? Condoning slavery?" George looked at Hikari, but Lacus merely gave a meaningful, knowing sorrowful look.

"Well… (koff) the truth is…"

"The truth is…" Kira suddenly cuts in much to Lacus' surprise. He decided to continue the story anyway.

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After realizing that the Alliance is recovering, Zaft decided to accelerate their recovery as well, knowing in the future a war with the Alliance is inevitable. However, though more than a hundred years had passed, the damage caused by the Holocaust is still keenly felt: Advanced population had been greatly reduced. While population problem is a normal situation faced by any nation, it became problematic for Zaft in particular because the Advanced greatly rely on their bloodline limit to survive, and some particularly essential bloodline limit were on the verge of going extinct altogether. And now, with the war on the Horizon, Zaft needed to prepare. They need to assemble their armies, they need to prepare their infrastructures, they need to marshal their fleet, and more importantly, they need to keep their edge; their bloodline limit; sharp. Given the grim circumstances, they need to take drastic measures. Using the Codex written by George of Glenn as a guide, the Advanced Race of Zaft began dividing their own race into castes. Bloodline Limits that are considered powerful, rare and essential for the survival of the Advanced Race was given priority. A controlled population birth program policy was created and passed on. Basically, the bloodline limit of a person will determine what that person will become: warrior, farmer, politician, scholar, etc.

Marriage between castes was strictly forbidden under the pain of death, fearing the mingling of bloodline will thin the potency of the original strain. Some families even went so far as to perform inbreeding in order to preserve the 'purity' of their bloodline limit. However, perhaps driven by desperation or such times did bring out the worst out of what's already there in the first place, instead of banning them, the Advanced society in general actually encourage it by giving these select few Advanced with essential bloodline limits with a lot of privilege. Essentially, the new aristocracy is the blood that flows in one's veins. As for those whose blood were considered unworthy or unusable, whether it's too weak or just too unstable to contribute something more, these people were cast aside, forced into servitude for the privileged few. Worsening the matter, the one ruling the Zaft Empire at the time was Emperor George the 3rd, probably the most hated Emperor to ever sit on the Blood Throne. While he shared the same name, George the 3rd was everything George of Glenn was not. He was impetuous, foolish, cruel and extremely arrogant, prone to ordering excessive taxes and summarily executing any ministers that displeased him even by the slightest. George the 3rd was also known for his twisted love for beauty. Anything he considered ugly or unsightly was thrown away. He even emptied the Imperial coffer to build his Imperial Retreat house, whose insides were made completely out of gold. He often burned down an entire town just to erect statues of himself made of precious metal whose function was to exaggerate and aggrandize his practically inexistent greatness.

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At this point, Kira stopped. Apparently he was too angry to continue, judging by the veins popping at the surface of his balled fist.

George blinked his eyes in bewilderment and horror. "Well… slaved labor? What age are these people are living in? I mean… it can't be that bad?"

"I'm afraid, (Koff) I have to agree with Kage on this one, Mr. George. (koff) It IS that BAD. (koff)" Hikari clasped her fingers together in solemn silence. "Kage merely say in brutal honesty what Advanced historians tried to soften with lies and empty promises to the masses. (koff) Even as we speak, half of our own people still lived in servitude to the other half. (Koff)"

And suddenly epiphany dawned to George as he looked at Kira in a newfound light and understanding of what he went through. "How can they risk such situation when they know they're going to war? How can a country stand with half of its people slaves and the other half lived in luxury over the suffering of the other half?"

"Alas, that wasn't even the biggest mistake the Empire made… (koff) nor were they the last. (koff)" Hikari's turn now.

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With the knowledge that Orb is trading with both the Alliance and Zaft, first glance, Orb was taking advantage of both sides by double dealing under the table. The truth however is far from it: Orb traded with both as a sign that they have no intention to take any side. However, the Alliance was smart enough to realize they were no match against a country defended by Super Soldiers. They look inward and forcibly take in resources they can find to strengthen themselves enough so that they won't have to rely on Orb, and instead they took over the closest neighbor, the South American faction. Once they did, the Alliance had become self sufficient enough that they can safely sever all diplomatic and economic relation with Orb. With Zaft however, they considered Orb's 'betrayal' as an extreme breach of conduct. George the 3rd, upon hearing of Orb's double dealing, ordered an embargo on Orb's trading. Fully half of the Empire's current forces were committed for the effort… and he also executed a certain Hakutenkun who protested such foolhardy endeavor. Fortunately for the Hakutenkun, his bloodline limit rendered him immortal to beheading thus the Emperor had to grumpily change it to life imprisonment. However, the Empire had poked a hornet's nest. They have forgotten the horror of the Samurais. On day three of the blockade, the Samurais sent an emissary to broker a diplomatic solution. The emissary was sent back with extremely negative response.

This continues for roughly a year. Delegations were sent many times with no indications that the Zaft will uplift their blockade. Finally, when the first signs appeared that Orb began to degrade due to this embargo, the final emissary came with a warning: open the blockade or they will bring down Zaft within days. The Emissary was sent back without a head. At that point, Orb was through with diplomacy. Two days afterwards, and the Samurais already sent another emissary, this time it went straight to the Emperor himself. The message were 3 large crests filled with the heads the commanders of the Blockading army and the forefingers of every Knight who are part of the said army, sending the message loud and clear. Enraged, George the 3rd ordered to declare a war on Orb. Upon hearing that decree, the emissary revealed himself to be a shinobi in disguise… and a suicide bomber strapped head to toes with Explosive tags. The explosion brought down half of the Crimson Emperor's castle, nearly killing the Emperor and wipe out almost all of the ministers. Emperor George the 3rd survived the blast, but he lost most of his limbs, and practically only had days left to live. Eventually he did pass away on his bed encircled by fretting surgeons (none of which, as it was rumored, tried 'too hard' to save him). However, his death had another implication: he never named his successor and many of the ministers were killed. With such a massive power vacuum, chaos will ensue as many nobles would try to claim the throne, threatening a bloody civil war across the Nation, which in turn, will also draw enemies to fish in the murky water. Orb had made good of their word: within a space of days, the Empire was on the brink of collapse. Fortunately, George the 3rd had a son. The 12 year old Roshan the First. Albeit his young age, Roshan was wise beyond his years and the son learnt the lesson his father ignore, and left Orb be, concentrating instead on rebuilding what his father had torn down.

Some few years after that incident, a much humbled Zaft sent a delegation to Orb, asking for recompense for the life lost during the Embargo Massacre, and at least, the return of the bodies of the fallen knight who participated in that disastrous blockade. The recompense was given, but as for the second request, Orb replied with a rather brutal stoicism and cruel honor of the Samurais: the bodies had been beheaded and the heads had, quite in fact, been buried in full honors. Just the head, nothing attached. As for the body though… Apparently, when buried in a saltpeter mound, Advanced corpses make good gunpowder. Horrified at the answer, the emissary returned to report this brutal desecration. Fortunately, the Emperor had had enough of Orb for one generation and opted instead to sever all ties to Orb. Orb never bothered with Zaft ever again, or any other nations since. Not long after, Orb came to a decision to close off all political relations with both Zaft and Alliance with a firm warning: Orb will not take any side, they will not attack other nations, they will not intervene with the conflicts of other nations… but above all: they will NOT allow other nations to attack them. The people of both Nations, Alliance and Zaft are free to come to Orb, and the Alliance and Zaft are free to trade with them as well, but Orb will expect a very steep price for any form of resources that was asked from them, a price that goes well beyond the matter of money – sometimes the price was made purposefully too steep to made their aid NOT worth the cost, and predictably they will not give any form of military aid to those who are not part of the United Emirates of Orb. Any immigrants from any faction are welcomed and they are free to stay, but they will obey the rules of Orb. Failure to do so, and they will answer to the cold steel and unforgiving judgment of the Samurais. Propagandist and others who may try to sway Orb to a side are unwelcome and might just as well leave… before they are deported forcibly while under the effects of powerful sedative, or, at worst, sent home in a body bag.

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George paled at that explanation from Lacus. "I have no idea that Orb was that… brutal…"

"Brutal? They did Zaft a favor." Kage spat with a dark happiness gleaming in his eyes. "George the 3rd was as sadistic tyrant as they come. Zaft was better off without him."

"Yeah, (koff) but they butchered half of Zaft standing forces just to get a point across. (koff) That's some 500,000 knights (koff) all put to the chopping block. (koff)" Hikari rubbed the plate where her forehead lay. "That's a bit excessive, don't you think? (koff)"

"AFTER!" Kage quickly retorted. "AFTER Orb warned Zaft at least a DOZEN times. Emissaries after emissaries. All of them asking for peaceful resolution. Zaft delegations insulted them and sent them home under the threat of death at every turn! Hey, by your own words they KILLED the last one! That was as good as a reason as any for Orb to declare an all out War on Zaft!"

"They were all under orders. (koff)" Hikari replied back. "Orders coming from one of the most inept Emperor to ever sit on the Blood throne! (koff) Zaft's economic condition was already well pressed due to George the 3rd's penchant for self aggrandizement, (koff) and then this… incident with Orb occurred. (koff) That was probably the worst crisis Zaft ever suffered ever since their establishment of the 12 continents! (koff) Can you imagine some of the things Emperor Roshan had to do to undo the damage his father had done? (koff)"

"So what? You're saying that Orb is responsible for shaping Zaft into what it is today!?" Kage suddenly rose up in anger. "And you call George the 3rd inept. How did such a person ascend to the throne in the first place? People had been using the Codex as an excuse to forcibly take power, even BEFORE George the 3rd takes the throne! And his son did NOTHING to change ANYTHING at all!"

At this, Hikari also became noticeably emotional as she rose up from her seat. "The Codex is NOT designed by George of Glenn to sanctify the birthright of a man based on their Bloodline Limit! (koff!) He simply divided the Advanced Race based on their physical attributes and how to use that to the benefit of all! (koff) What happened now were the results of the current perversion of said Codex! (koff)"

"And how did the current perversion of the Codex occur in the first place!?" Kage barked back. Their debate became steadily louder and just as their tone grew angrier.

George suddenly realized this argument is aggressively heating up to a very dangerous level. Soon the two might ended up coming to blows with one another! Thus the elderly man takes it upon himself to stop the two hotheaded but brilliant youngsters. "Kage! Hikari! Calm down!" Kage and Hikari stopped shouting at one another and looked at George's wizened figure. The Old man smiled. "Look. Who's right? Who's wrong? People had died to answer this question. What's done is done. As to how the current Zaft condone slavery in the name of the Codex, well, yes. I think we all agree that was wrong, but more importantly, it's happening NOW. We learn history so that we can better understand how to look into the future. So that we can decide, now in the present, on what we had to do in the future."

Kage and Hikari looked at George, both silently agreeing to that point and back away. But then they looked at each other and as soon as they make eye contact, in concert, the two averted their gaze away in annoyance and turn around, showed each other's backs. George's sweatdropped. Did his peace making attempt failed?

George's innate question was answered by a grumble from Kage. "Mr. George… won't you continue?" And Hikari also encourage it with a few subtle but noticeable nods.

Well, maybe it does yield some results…

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Greatly strengthened by their acquisition of the South American faction assets, the West Alliance nevertheless still could not afford to go into a fight with their East Alliance rivals in China, India and Australia. However, rather than seeking new enemies, they know they'll be better off making new friends. And so, the West Alliance humbled themselves and sent delegations to the remaining three factions to form a grand Alliance. The goal was simple. To build up a force strong enough to face the Zaft threat that will surely manifest in the future. However, many factions, especially the India and Australia had admittedly grown tired of enmity with the advanced race. Their close proximity with many nations where Advanced congregates affected their decisions. Orb as was the case of Europe, and Zaft as was the case of the Australian faction. The Chinese faction, the biggest rival to the Alliance is quite wary of their west counterpart, especially considering the way the Alliance annex the South America faction forcibly. What's more, the Chinese had, in fact, been aware that Zaft continued to exist for some time. As such, they've been building up their forces, drawing from their over 1.5 billion plus human population. The Alliance understood of course, that putting aside India and Australian significantly smaller factions, the Chinese possess the greatest potential to rival them. It was but a simple matter to force the first two factions, but doing so will provoke a violent response from the Chinese faction. Formidable their respective military prowess maybe, but if they collide now, whoever the victor will be severely damaged. Both sides knew this, and so they remained at a standoff. The West Alliance simply build up their forces and leave everyone be… at least for now, seemingly keeping to themselves, just as the East alliance did the same. But in truth, the West hardly remained quiet. The Logos of the West Alliance sent their agents disguised as merchants into the East Alliances territories and found what they hoped for: old fellow members of the Logos had also make a living by financially supporting the government of the East Alliance.

The two sides of the Logos both understand what needs to be done and that the grand Alliance is the only way, but at the same time, they also saw a chance to return back to the way it once was, with logos in power. However, with the current command still kept them under a close watch, and so the two sides played a subservient game for now, but both sides of the Logos maintain a close relation and correspondence. For several decades, the standoff continues between East and West. And then… it happened. The London Lohengrin crisis. Ever since the collapse, both sides had believed that neither possesses the knowledge or the technical knowhow on how to create another one of these intercontinental kinetic superguns. And perhaps it was fortunate for the world. A Lohengrin can outrange all conventional firearms, and when the tungsten bullet touches down, depending on its power setting, at its lowest it can wipe out armies, but at its maximum potency, the resulting shockwave can cause devastating earthquake that can obliterate entire cities. Its use is strictly prohibited, extremely limited. 9 for the West, 11 for the East. That is how it always had been. And this is how both sides kept the other one at bay. But now, both sides get a wind that new Lohengrins are being built in a secret facility in London. The existence of even a single new one can change the balance of power between these two factions. Problem is, no one claimed responsibility of who build these new cannons. That being said, both sides of the Alliance made a scramble to find out who made it, and, as expected, if they could, they would try to claim ownership of this Lohengrin construction facility. What both sides found… was something a lot more alarming. They found facilities, they found some of the cannons that had been constructed, they found the BLUEPRINT even… they were all being run… by a Zaft Think-Tank.

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"The London Lohengrin Crisis…" Lacus frowned behind her facemask.

"But it's definitely NOT the work of Zaft." Kage rubbed his head, assessing that piece of history from a strategic point of view. "I mean… if they can get their hands on a Lohengrin cannon blueprint, the last thing they did would be to establish its construction facility off the Zaft Controlled Plant Continent in the Natural controlled Continent. It must be something the Logos cooked up. You know Zaft actually had their own situations to deal with."

George smirked. "Then by all means, you mind taking over?"

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With the situation in Zaft Empire began to remedy, Zaft attempted to recover the artifacts of the Gods, the Regalia. During the battle Daemongate, Zaft only managed to salvage a few Regalia out of all the Regalias they had collected earlier on. However, things are very different now. As different as it is a different world altogether. Originally The Guidebook that George had used to discover of the locations of first few Regalias they found can pinpoint the location of these Regalias with reliable accuracy. However, after the Collapse, some of these Regalias had been literally cracked open from their hidden storages. There are some who were initially hidden are now out in the open, scattered to different locations, some others, to their horror, were smashed apart by the unnatural disaster, destroyed forever. The second search barely yielded less than even a quarter of the first search. In the mean time, Zaft also experienced another difficulty. The Librarian Works, a group of Zaft Think Tank and Archivists entered into a fierce argument with the Church. The Church charged the entire Think Tank with what they call a blasphemous lies. No one were certain as to what exactly the argument was, but at the zenith of this argument, the Librarian Works break away from the Empire and disappeared, taking with them the original scripture of the Codex that was handwritten by George… and a great many other work of literature and other written or unwritten knowledge with them. Between that and the subsequent burning of other literary and scientific works that the Church deemed heretical, it was said that Zaft's culture and art as well as science and literature took a step back by a few decades due to this incident.

In the mean time, the Church took influence in every facets of Zaft Empire's society. That being said, they declared all of Librarian Works excommunicated and are to be hunted down on sight. However, with preparation for war on the horizon, these hunts were initially secondary concern. But then during one of these searches, they also found out about the Lohengrin Crisis rumors in London. And when the news also reached that they were made by a Zaft think tank… naturally suspicion fell on the now rogue Librarian Works.

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Kage stopped there. Frowning as he rubbed his nose in visibly deep thought.

"Ara (koff) You stopped? (koff)"

"Actually… at this point I'm seriously counting on you." Kage looked at Hikari, imagining her surprised face behind that closed off mask.

"Me? (Koff) Why me? (koff)"

George seems to understand the reason. "Oh my, Kage-kun… you too?"

Kage merely nodded with grim look, and Hikari was more confused than ever. "Excuse me boys (koff) mind explaining what's wrong to the girl? (koff)"

"Basically… we don't know what happened from that point." George sighed. "We know nothing beyond the official statement."

"And the official statement being? (koff)"

"It's a fraud." Kage answered. His suspicious tone was quite obvious. "Basically, the whole damn event became nothing but a farce. The Blueprint was a myth. The cannons are just make-believe oversized pipes. It was all a complete lie. The official report only says that the think tank was indeed trying to create some form of super weapon, but they failed and they were all killed."

"Then what…"

"Everything was too… covered out. I mean… West Alliance charged in, East Alliance Charged in, and even Zaft charged in… three large and extremely hostile forces of the time collided… and then blank. There's nothing beyond the extremely short report of: case closed, these are the bad guys, and they're dead, period." George also groaned in frustration. "The only thing significant was after that event, both West and East Alliance joined together, together with the remaining two factions, forming the base of the present day Alliance."

"With the Alliance finally formed, it smells like Logos actions, over and over. But on the other hand, Zaft's investigation of whether or not the Librarian Works really DID betray the Empire by truly constructing new Superguns or not was never followed through either. Zaft merely declared that these rogue scientist were elements of the Librarian Works but… that was never confirmed nor proven. All they came up with was their own official statement-"

"-that the said rogue scientists were killed (koff) pending further investigations. (koff) They simply damned them as members of the rogue Librarian Works… and that's that. (koff) No empirical proof beyond their words. (koff) The Church's words which, as we all know, stood in direct opposition with the Librarian Works, and thus, less than objective. (koff)" Lacus finally caught on. "You're right. (koff) it does sound weird. (koff)"

"So… what's the Orb side of things?"

"Not much. (koff) I'm afraid. (Koff) The events that transpire during the London Lohengrin Crisis are top secret matter which I had no access. (koff) I know no more than you two. (koff)" Hikari chuckled bitterly. "That is… if I'm to reiterate the official statement. (koff) Which I will not. (koff) Instead… (koff) I guess I can open some dark chapters in… (koff) Clyne's family's dirty little secret. (koff)"

Kage and George jawdropped. "Clyne? What does the Clyne family have to do with the London Lohengrin Crisis?"

Hikari laughed bitterly. "Everything. (koff) Like the fact that the Clynes were the ones who started it. (koff)"

Kage and George's attention are instantly hooked.

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Cold War

The London Lohengrin Crisis

At roughly the same time of the London Lohengrin Crisis, Orb had began to retreat back to their borders, and in the process they retracted roughly half of their undercover agents overseas, keeping the most essential shinobis in the most critical of positions. However, this incident in London is too close to their border for Orb to ignore. As such they too sent their agents to observe just how bad the situation really is. Observe… and nothing more. Orb was aware that these events will draw in the attention from both factions, Zaft and Alliance. So the agents were told to keep their distance, away from Zaft and Alliance respective agents. In terms of infiltration and espionage, the Shinobis were second to none. They easily went a few days ahead of the Alliance and Zaft agents, and had already uncovered a great many disturbing things. What they found was actually far worse than reported, or so they thought, the first time. The Lohengrin Project was not trying to produce new Lohengrins. They were trying to create a new type of Supergun that can outclass the Lohengrin. A daunting task for any Think Tank, but judging by some of the artillery weapons that had been produced by this team, the Shinobi had seen enough to be more than worried. This arms development team was in fact the brainchild of one Devlin Clyne. An inept local warlord from the fallen Clyne Household with huge ambition, an unhealthy dose of illusions of grandeur, and a very huge amount of fund that he had offered to finance these scientists provided they can provide him with Superguns that can rival the Lohengrin.

Before the Collapse, the Clyne, together with Zala were known as the proponents for total war. After the Collapse, the Clynes had fallen out of favor from the Crimson Emperor's court. Shunned and dishonored by their peers, the fallen family fell further into disharmony. By the time the Cold War had reached the first half of the Cold War period, the family had effectively split into two extremes of opposing factions: the Pacifistic Siren Clyne faction and the Militaristic as well as radical Banshee Clyne Faction. Devlin Clyne was a warlord of the Banshee faction who sought to return the Clynes to their rightful place in the political arena. Hence, his little project of artilleries, which supposedly will blaze his way back up to the political ladder. Unfortunately, it was a project that was doomed before it even started. While vicious, Davlin was… well, he's definitely no rocket scientist. He was quite in fact very much illiterate. Fortunately for him, he understood his own lack of technological understanding. But even when he employed the right minds, these scientists were continually frustrated by Devlin's penchant to keep asking the impossible for a lesser sum. Worse still, were his temper and his own brutality, often killing hard-to-found talented scientist for failures to meet his untenable demands. The tally got so bad, it made him unwelcome even in his own country. In his wisdom (what little he had - which isn't much really), Devlin decided to set up shop in a place very near to the borders of Orb, in London, thinking no one would even think of looking for him there. He thought wrong.

Fact is both Zaft AND Alliance had become aware of an increasingly suspicious activity in the said territory. Pretty soon, West Alliance, East Alliance and even Zaft is right at his door. The Warlord became impatient, and ordered the scientist to hasten the project. Attempting to run and relocate, they were caught in a stalemate between the Alliance, Zaft and the Devlin's own personal army, and thus they're going nowhere. Orb's Shinobi slinked past in-between the three factions to meet with the scientists and extracted the truth. The Think Tank was actually a coalition; a gathering of the brightest scientist Davlin can buy, bribe, and mostly kidnap, both Advanced and Naturals. They, and their family, were locked up there and being forced to work by the Warlord to produce the Superguns. Fortunately for the World, and rather unfortunately for the Warlord, the scientists had actually failed to deliver. Try as their might, their prototypes kept exploding on them, and while the combined genius of the brightest minds of both Natural and Advanced had produced revolutionary artillery designs that are many times more advanced than the Alliance, none could even come close to demonstrate the same accuracy and city destroying capability of the original Lohengrin, and to Devlin narrow mindedness, near success is as good as a complete utter failure. 6 scientists and their families had been killed for failing the Warlord's standards. Thus the Scientists resorted on a scam of draining the Warlord of his money. They tried to convince the warlord that they are making progress by feeding him scraps of their little success while at the same time they bleed him dry of resources. But when it comes down to it… when the warlord inevitably asked for some concrete results… they simply cannot give what they never made in the first place.

The Shinobis realized that while these scientist are still far off from creating an actual Supergun, the breakthrough they achieved here are revolutionary. If either Zaft or Alliance get their hands of even a percentage of the discoveries that had been made here… they'll be looking at a breakout of a worldwide war… a war that the world, still reeling from the Collapse, will not be ready. By their own strict and necessarily ruthless code, they might just as well kill all the scientists there, abscond all the technology that they can find, and destroy the rest so that Zaft and Alliance can't get their hands on it. But one Shinobi, a shinobi with a particular callsign that will reach legendary proportions, had other ideas. Going against his standing orders, ignoring pain, he trudged behind enemy lines, ignoring weather, he single handedly destroyed various strategic points and critical facilities, crippling Devlin's army beyond recovery. Several times he even mounted a one man assault against entire armies from either side when situation calls for it and won by pure attrition using guerilla warfare. In the process, he cleverly disguised the Scientists, and their families, with stolen armors and clothes, the shinobi managed to safely smuggle the Scientist into Orb's borders, and made it so that these scientists were thought dead in the process. When Devlin found out, he chased the Shinobi in revenge. So consumed he was in chasing this particular shinobi, Devlin unknowingly ventured too deep into Orb's borders. The Samurais instantly respond violently in kind, bringing the Warlord's reign to a swift end. Without Devlin's leadership, the project collapsed on itself, and his personal army were wiped out. By that point, all scraps of information of the project had been destroyed and taken, leaving nothing, not even a single bolt or even a spent casing to be studied.

To save face, Zaft and the Alliance made up stories that this project yielded nothing, and it was nothing more than a sham. However, a few months after that, some of Logos resources leaked that it was in fact an action of a rogue Advanced Warlord. That was the final straw, and the Alliance realized the threat that the Advanced Empire posed. And so the two sides of the Alliances finally put aside their differences and joined together in a grand Alliance. As for Zaft… the Clynes were mortified when they heard rumors of how one of their own was involved… they did everything in their power to keep things secret, by enforcing the official statement the government had made. But the London Lohengrin Crisis became a black mark of shame in the proud history of the Clynes. However, the conflict between Zaft and Alliance had scarred London greatly. In anger, England rescinded their membership with the European-Indian Alliance faction and joined as part of the Scandinavian Principality and effectively joined Orb. And the Scientists? Officially, they're dead. But the Shinobi had pulled some strings. This Think-Tank was then assembled together, reorganized, and together established the foundations of what would later become the Morgenroete Science Foundation. And the Ninja who made all this possible? He disappeared. Rumor has it that he died of his injuries sustained during his one man assault, other say, he peacefully retired. However, for his legendary actions, his callsign would later become the bygone word for a Shinobi's excellence. A title reserved for the greatest of Shinobis.

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When Hikari was done, both Kage and George were left jaw hung. "How's that for a history lesson? (Koff)"

"O…Okay… that's quite… a bit…" George blinked, unsure if he ever heard anything more surprising. All the Clynes he met. They were honorable, kind, and most of all, very, very peaceful. The only warrior he had ever seen was the Bodyguards and Lacus' twin sister. And compare that to some of the most hardcore warriors George had seen, they only fight when they absolutely had to, for defensive purposes. It's like, if the warriors he had seen are swords, then the warriors of the Clyne can be likened to a shield. To think, such peaceful family was also responsible for an event that nearly brought about another war in such fragile times.

Kage also gained a new level of respect for his stolen callsign. He made a mental note: he REALLY needs to get this issue fixed one day and rid himself of this heavy stigma.

"I bet that's a very surprising revelation, right, Mr George? (koff)"

"Well I'm not entirely surprised." Kage rested his head on his arm. "I mean… at least we now know one of your ancestors is a vicious moron, kinda explain where you get your silly side."

One salvo of cream pies later…

"Like I said. Silly." Kage merely rid himself of the cream. Though unlike the Astral Plain, the gooey cream sticks. Kage groaned as he tried in vain to be rid of this sickening white cream off his clothes. "Where did you get all this stuff?"

"hmph! (koff)"

George sweatdropped. It was then the three noticed Tolle and Milly were looking around the place, with Sai following behind them. But something was off. The bespectacled boy was limping, and he was covered in sweat.

"Sai? Tolle! Milly! What are you guys doing there?" Kage frowned seeing Sai's state.

"Kage! Dr. Hikari! Mr. George!" Sai coughed and panted. "I'm sorry. Might have you guys had seen a case filled with medications?"

Hikari winced. "Medications? (koff) Sai! (Koff) You're not talking about your immunosuppressant? (koff) You LOST it!? (koff)" The doctor became visibly distressed.

Sai bent his head down, apologizing for his negligence. "I'm sorry. It looks like I dropped it somewhere around here…"

Kage blinked, remembering what happened yesterday when Sai fell down. It must've fallen somewhere then.

"That's why we've been helping Sai to look for it. He looked deathly pale!" Tolle added.

"We'll look for it. In the mean time, Hikari, could you give Sai some more of his medications?"

Hikari barked angrily. "You think immunosuppressant grow on trees!? (koff)" Everyone's eyes widened in horror. "After that latest incident, I'm running out on ingredients! (koff) I don't have the essential materials to create another batch of that particular medicine anymore! (koff) Those pills I gave you were my last ones! (koff) You HAVE to FIND IT! (koff)"

Upon hearing that, everyone clearly panicked. Tolle and Milly searched every nook and cranny of the deck more thoroughly. George quickly ordered his guards to do the same. Everyone fret and looked around here and fro, only Kage who do nothing but keep his calm and thought hard, recalling the details of what happened yesterday. Specifically the moment when he last saw Sai yesterday… every detail, every smallest event…

And then, with a combination of his attention to detail, memory, and his own logical precognition, he figured it out. "Fllay."

One name and everyone stopped on their tracks and looked at Kage.

Not too long later, Kage, George, Hikari and all the Shadowguards (and one ex-Shadowguard) arrived in front of what everyone knew to be Fllay's room. Based on what Kage was told, it was barricaded from inside. First, George gently knocked. "Fllay? Fllay-dear? Are you there? Daddy's here."

"GO AWAY!" Fllay shrieked.

George winced. "Fllay? Daddy just want to talk with you, dear. Please open the door?"

"I SAID GO AWAY!"

George was momentarily at loss. Kage looked at Sai's worsening condition and growled. "I don't have time for this shit." Kage took it upon himself and banged the door hard. "YOUNG LADY! OPEN UP! You have something that doesn't belong to you! Give it back or I'll make you!"

Fllay gasped when she heard the furious voice of Kage right outside. She looked at the small tin box in her hand. She picked it up yesterday from Sai when she collided with him. She thought if she took it from him, it would at least force him to come and see her. She never expected that even Kage will come! "You again…" Why can't he mind his own business!? "GO AWAY! I don't want to-"

"Sai is dying young lady. Thanks to your bright idea." Kage cut her off mid sentence. As he said earlier, he had no time to listen to her moaning. "I'm gonna count to three. If this door doesn't open by then, I'm gonna tore it down and come in, and believe me, the way I am right now, you won't like it once I'm through with you!"

"Y… Don't you dare! Daddy! Please stop him!" Fllay shrieked again, begging her father.

"Try me. 1!" And Kage started his countdown. At first even George was somewhat fearful of what Kage will do to her daughter, but Kage winked meaningfully at George, allaying his fears. He was just making it up.

"No…" The same cannot be said to the man's daughter inside. Fllay had never been this scared all her life.

"2!" The second to last count was like another hit on her coffin nail. Fllay was completely terrified as her mind went blank. In her horror, she tried to think of a way out. And then she looked at a case filled with Sai's medication, and then to the window outside.

"3!" At that, as promised, the doorknob was sliced to bits, along with her feeble barricade made of a single chair placed right behind the door. With a kick, the shredded door was knocked away, revealing Kage and the others.

What welcomed them was the sight of Fllay, in tears, while holding the case containing the last of Sai's medication hanging out of the window facing the ocean with trembling hands.

Everyone gaped in horror except Kage, who merely narrowed his eyes. "Fllay!" George gasped. "Stop! Don't throw that away! You don't know what you're doing!"

"It's all your fault! Daddy, Sai, everyone just kept going around yapping about Kage this, Hikari that!" Fllay screeched her frustration. "What about me? I'm through being ignored! Is this what it takes for you all to pay attention to me!?"

Kage twitched in utter annoyance. "Stop being such ass, young lady. The only reason everyone ignored you because everything you say is a god damn waste of time. We got bigger problems to deal with than your personal needs!"

Fllay grew angrier, and more terrified as Kage's glare fell her way. Her teeth clattered but she remained adamant as she held the case even further out of the window. "I'M WARNING YOU! TAKE ONE MORE STEP-"

Kage completely ignored her warning and entered into her personal space and steadily approached her, one step at a time.

"Don't come here…"

Kage kept coming…

"Don't come…"

He kept coming…

"DON'T-"

He's already right in front of her nose…

And for a moment, Fllay was completely engulfed by fear and she even forgotten what she wanted to do in the first place. Kage and Fllay stood there for a few seconds, face to face; cold purple eyes meet frightened dark blue ones. And then, a single slight move from Kage's arm and Fllay squealed and flabbergasted at the same time, and her finger slipped. The medication case fell off her hand, straight into the ocean below, to the horror of everyone.

"Torii!"

A green blur fly past the fallen case, and moments later, Torii had the case firmly in his claws. The green bird shikigami flew past the stumped and confused Fllay and flew to an expectant Kage's welcoming arm, dropping the case on his hand midflight. Once the case is in his hand, Kage turned around after giving one last tired look of exasperation at the girl who started this ridiculousness, nearly killing her fiancée to boot. Said fiancée was already on his last legs when Kage get to him and gave him his medicine. Sai gulped it down and already he looked much better. "Thanks."

"Don't lose it again, okay?" Kage tapped Sai's head lightly as a friendly warning.

"I won't." Sai chuckled.

SLAP!

Their lighthearted chat was interrupted when they heard the sound. They turned around and saw the source. Sai's eyes widened while Kage's eyes merely narrowed in his backward glance.

George's hand stretched out, and Fllay's face was turned to the side to the same direction to where George's hand was stretched out, and there's this familiar red mark on her cheek. "Pa…pa?" Fllay touched her hurting cheek in disbelief. Of all the things that she listed could happen to her throughout her life, her father slapping her was the last on the list.

And if that slap was bad enough, her father is now looking at her in a way she had never seen before. With cold frustrated fury shining through the same dark blue eyes that she possess.

"Pa… Papa?"

"You've done enough damage for one day, Fllay." There's no warmth in her father's voice. It was cold and flat. Not unlike Kage's tone. In truth, George was as ashamed as he is angry. Kira and Lacus, Tolle, Milly, and Sai… they were all no older than her own daughter, and yet, Advanced and Naturals, they were far more mature than Fllay by far. "Captain Kage. I'm truly sorry for all the trouble my daughter had caused you. Please allow me to make it up for you."

Kage didn't reply beyond calmly narrowing his eyes.

"Papa! It hurts! I-"

"SILENCE!" George shouted in anger, instantly silencing her spoiled daughter midsentence. "Kage, if you had your way, how would you treat my daughter?"

"Originally? Just leave her be to mingle with the civilians, with Sai to watch her. But after today…" Kage looked at Sai's near death state, a direct result of one of Fllay's actions. He was ready to overlook her earlier whims but now… it's getting worse. "I'm not so sure anymore… I'm thinking house arrest."

"Very well." George nodded. Making a mental note to talk some sense with her spoiled daughter once his own mood is in a better state, George followed Kage's idea. "You two-" George turned around and motioned two of his personal guards. "-keep my daughter in this room. And don't let her come out for whatever reason. Think of her as a prisoner. Understand?" The two guards nodded and followed their orders.

"Papa?" Fllay stared in disbelief at the back of a man she thought she knew as her loving father.

Kage sighed. "I'll make sure Kira brought some food here every day."

"Appreciate it." George left immediately, leaving the still shocked Fllay.

"Papa!?"

And then, one by one, the soldiers and the troopers all left the red haired girl with tired exasperated look, others just opted to just ignore the girl and be about their business. The one last look that Fllay received was from Sai, which was a combination of regret and resignation as Kage helped him up and carry him away. Soon, all that's left was the two guards tasked to keep the red head from causing more trouble, and Fllay was forced to get back inside, and stay inside.

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Soon, George was back to the railings, Kage and Hikari showed up a few minutes later. But unlike the previously enthusiastic atmosphere he emanates, the elder Allister's mood… is a mixture of gloom and regret.

"How are you feeling, Mr. George? (koff)" Hikari started.

"Hikari… Did your father ever slap you?" George gave one sad smile.

"Oh! Several times." Hikari admitted lightly. She playfully pointed her chin as she tried to remember. "The most memorable ones… let's see… Lamia and I get into a big fight, and she tore apart my favorite rabbit doll. In revenge, I dissected her favorite pony organ by organ, and then put the poor creature back together."

Kage and George's eyes widened. Lacus' gleeful tone makes it hard for them to know whether she's joking or testifying. But unwilling to take his chances, Kage suddenly growled. "Just in case, if you so much as to touch one strand of Aile's mane during one of our bouts just to get even, I swear to God I'll dissect you limb by limb and keep you dissected."

"A slap so hard that it tore my lips made sure that incident will never occur again." Lacus smiled gently behind her mask, fondly remembering when she tasted her own blood sipping from her torn lips the first time after her father slapped her. "I was very young then. Young, and extremely talented. My skill may have matured to some extent, but my mentality was that of a child of my age. I didn't even understand the severity of what I just did. My father slap brought me to my senses… though not right away. During the first months after the slapping, all I feel is… pain, anger, and yes, hate. Hate for my father for doing such painful thing to me. Of course in the long run, I came to appreciate what he did. It put me in the right track." Lacus chuckled sweetly. And then she looked at Kira, telling him, it's his turn now to share. "And you (koff)? With the way you behave today, (koff) I'll be surprised if your parents never punished you. (koff)"

"Well, I'm no stranger to pain and punishment. I get them lots. Sometimes with whips, sometimes with rods, sometimes with lashes." And for a second there, Lacus thought that Kira will regale one of his brutal inhumane punishments he had received, but Kira chuckled kindly. "Remember when I told you how Athrun and I stole the Meteor Chariot and used it to run down several houses? Well, after that, we were forced to attend to our new teacher's 6 hour lecture, unable to sit down seeing we got a full hour of 1000 ass spankings of the century, for each half of our poor behind. With a horsewhip." Kira wisely decided there's enough tale of brutality for one day, wincing while smiling as if remembering the searing agony on his poor rear area.

George also chuckled, but the chuckle immediately stopped, followed by a very sad frown. "There's no bad children. Only bad parents. My mistake was that I care too much for her. Too much that I ended up spoiling her. She grew into the way she is today was my mistake."

"Caring for your daughter is not a mistake." Lacus remarked. "Parental Love is never a mistake. However, love doesn't mean to always give her only things that made her happy. Sometimes it also means you have to take something, or give her something she doesn't like: pain, when words can't get through."

"If you don't punish her for what she did today, you're not caring for her. You would've condemned her, teaching her it's okay to do wrong." Kira followed. "One of the ways people can learn is through pain. If you say this is the first time you teach her a lesson through proper application of pain, then I'd say it's better being late than never."

"Hear, hear." Lacus smiled as well. "So don't judge yourself too hard, Mr. George. You're not a bad parent. With this act she will learn, and so will you." Lacus tilted her head.

George mood was visibly improved. "Goodness gracious. To be given advice on parenting by a couple who hasn't even married yet."

Upon hearing that, Kira and Lacus shouted concurrently. "WE'RE NOT A COUPLE! (KOFF)" "I'LL DIE FIRST BEFORE MARRYING HER!"

Upon hearing that simultaneous denial, George couldn't stand it anymore and start chuckling like mad until a single bead of tear trickled at the corner of his squeezed eye. "I'm sorry… pfftt… it's just… (hahaha) you two… are so… PfFftrrt! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" George finally laughed his brains out, to the surprise of his retinue who seemingly never heard the Minister laughed in so carefree of a manner.

Kage and Hikari merely slapped their faces in embarrassment. Well, at least the old man's mood is improving.

Once George finished his bouts of laughing, he rested against the shoulder. "Oh dear me… it's been ages since I laughed like that." He turned and looked at Kage and Hikari. Two incredibly wise children he never thought he can easily connect to. "I'm really glad I met you two. Though I'm also feeling a bit of regret. And to think I'll be having this much fun conversing with you two… all those years we met but we ignored each other." George turned to Kage. "But as you say… better late than never."

Kira breaks a visible kind smile behind his mask, just as Lacus chuckled happily behind hers.

George sighed in relaxation and then turned to Hikari. "Now… where were we before we were interrupted? Ah yes. The aftermath of the London Lohengrin Crisis."

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Cold War, Epilogue

Alliance

After the London Lohengrin crisis fiasco was over and done with, the West and East Alliance became wary of the possibility of another crazy advanced warlord creating another set of weapons of mass destruction. That being said, the two sides finally put aside their differences and old rivalries, forming an Alliance. However, at first, it wasn't that easy. Both had much bad blood between them that friendship can't be formed overnight. While they're no longer enemies, they're not friends either. In the years that followed, the relationship between the two had been mostly limited on the trading of goods. This is where the Logos of both sides finally steps in. It began with a trade agreement for convenience, where the Logos began monopolizing all the trading rights between the two factions, decreasing their prices to the lowest level possible until other large non Logos firms can no longer cope and went bankrupt one by one or acquisitioned by Logos for a price of a bread scrap. Just like how it was during the old days of the Empire, the Logos once again began buying their way back into the top. Things were made worse as subsequent leaders of the Alliance became more compromising of the Logos.

20 years later, Logos is in absolute control of the production, distribution, and sales of, well, everything used by the army: the bullets, the guns, the bandages, even the stitches and their undergarments! Suddenly, the Alliance army found themselves unable to keep on going without Logos' backings. The Logos became in control of the world's (the naturals') economy more firmly than a commander in control of their armies, reaping astronomical profits by creating supply and demand. However, unwilling to repeat the same mistakes that brought the Logos into the spotlight, this time, they pulled back from the political stage. In return, they backed up the already existing governments of five factions, and each government joined together in a united nation Alliance. Perhaps still affected by a slight influence of the past Empire, each respective heads of state saw fit to took up an element from the Elemental Star system for their full titles: the Fire Dragon Emperor in China, The Oceanic Councilor in Australia, Maharajah of Earth in India, the Steel Over-Director of the North America and the Forestry King in Brazil. Together they formed what everyone called the Council of the Omni Five, and they are in control of the Alliance Political side of things, with the Captains and their armies lorded over the military and Logos take charge of the Economic. On the surface, it looked as if the Logos are on equal ground with the Captains but below the Councils, but with capitalism rive in this new form of government, it was obvious of who is in control of whom.

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Lacus and Kira were quite stumped at the way George blatantly told out his story in a cleanly laid out black and white. A Logos member simply saying things out loud of the questionable deeds his own organization had done… well, it was refreshing in a way. "Well, that's about it for the Alliance in the nutshell. Who's next?"

Kage volunteered.

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Zaft

How Logos took control of the Alliance from the shadows, the Church of Fire did the same to Zaft Empire in a more public manner, through sermons and preaching in the open. This time, with the knowledge that the Naturals are still out there and are making ready for war on the horizon, the preaching included not only the worship to the Gods, but also to the hunting and destruction of the unbelievers aka naturals. The Church, with support of the Government and the Military, promoted that to kill infidels (naturals) is not a sin but the will of God. Needless to say, every single person from the lowliest beggar to the highest of nobles followed the religion unswervingly. The preparation for war is now a preparation for a Holy crusade, a holy War. With religion steeped on every facet of the Empire, technological advancements and rational science were completely overwhelmed by superstitious beliefs and religious zealotry. While it was indeed a golden age for the Church, it was a dark time for Zaft's Academic and Scientific Community. Many scientist and free thinkers that the Church deemed as heretics were deemed no different than blood traitors, no different than naturals: they all deserve to burn. Those who survived the prosecution escaped the Empire and joined the only country where they can live in peace, Orb.

So it is that while the rest of the world had advanced beyond theological superstition into scientific understanding of the nature, Zaft still lived in an age of a rather outdated medieval system of knighthood and errantry, ruled by overzealous faith in deities. While others had eschew arrows and spears in favor of flintlock firearms (bar Samurais who maintained the strict use of Katana in conjunction with some measure of firearms support), Zaft Knights remain a steadfast, if not overly stubborn adherence, on the use of conventional weapons such as crossbows, swords, and shields. Then again, their bloodlines limits more than make up for their lack of technological advances. However, there are those among the people of Zaft, the progressive minded and scientific people who decided to lay in wait. Calmly and patiently hoping that, with enough time, common sense will find their way to their narrow minded brethren and some day elevated them all above superstition. This notion has been steadily growing as of late, particularly when the war finally broke out, and it was shown how the Knights of Zaft, with all their boast of superiority, were still using trebuchets and catapults when their adversary can laughably and rather hilariously outrange and outgun their artillery with their cannons. Finally the death toll increase well enough that Zaft began to give support to the science academy to begin developing firearms of their own. This little triumph of science vs. god however, is but the start of a series small skirmish between academics vs. priests. A small internal war of science against religion that has been going on, until today.

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"And here I thought; when they rolled Tristans, Isoldes and even the Tanhausser out on the battlefield; that ridiculous war had ended years ago." Kage glanced at Hikari. "But I seem to have set my hopes too high."

Hikari, a former (and returning) participant of said war for the side of science giggled. "Basically though, I hate to say the church is still winning the war in that regard. (koff) many scientist and academics were banished from Zaft, (koff) creating a massive influx of talented individuals straight into the welcoming arms of the newly established Morgenroete Science and Research Academy. (koff) To tell the history of Orb during the closing period of the Cold War would be to tell you the beginnings of the Academy. (koff). Interested? (koff)"

"Very. Fire away." Kage nodded while making a mental note: 'Athrun, if only you're here, you're going to enjoy this…'

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And while all two factions concentrated on war effort, only in Orb true scientific progress are being made. With their borders protected, Orb government is free to accommodate the scientists that the First Kage had brought. The Morgenroete Science Academy was established nary a few years, and without overzealous inquisitors out to burn you or some overly ambitious warlord threaten to execute one and one's family for delays to an unreasonable requests, these refugee scientists made tremendous progress. At first, Orb gave the Morgenroete no restrictions to what they can research. Medicine, Engineering, Mechanics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Rocketry, even military arms and weaponry; nothing were off limits, the only limit is their imagination and their funding. Then again given the interesting number of zeroes in the accounting book denoting their research budget, the latter issue was out of the window. In return for safety and security, the Scientist allowed all of their findings to be used for the good of Orb. Pretty soon the Morgenroete Academy in Tokyo can no longer house this many engineers and academics. With Orb's blessing, the second Morgenroete Academy was established in Berlin, German. At roughly the same time as the establishment of the German Morgenroete branch, they also began to see a new influx of scientists… natural scientists, specifically Ex-Alliance. It seems some of the more passionate scientists were also getting fed up with the way Logos began to micromanage many of their work for the sake of making more profits. They joined with Morgenroete in hopes of a freer reign over their work, away from the preying eyes of the greedy businessman. Alas, remember that most of the existing scientists in Morgenroete at the time were from Zaft. Some of which still had more than some grudge against the Naturals, specifically those who came from the Alliance and vice versa. So naturally, when these two opposing sides learned they'll be spending some time under the same roof for the unforeseeable future, tensions began to rise.

At first, sensing danger and conflict in the making, the Principle of the Morgenroete voiced concerns and suggested that these two types of scientists to be separated: Ex Alliance in Berlin branch, Ex Zaft in Tokyo Branch. However, the High Councilor Attha, following advice from his Science Minister, decided to against such separatist rationalism and did the exact opposite. Instead of separating them, he blended them in. Some of the Ex Zaft scientists were moved to the Berlin Branch, while some Ex Alliance was stationed in Japan branch. At first, this cause many disgruntlements among the more veteran Ex-Zaft scientists. But the Council's decision is final: anyone who disagrees must respectfully vacate their office. A squad of Samurai was placed inside the facility to enforce that decision. And just in case there are some genius level hotheads that intend to use their intellect the harmful way, weapons research were banned. Only civilian application research is allowed. Some zeroes also disappeared from the Budget to enforce the issue. The risky strategy worked like clockwork. Seeing that they're limited in the way they can mete out their revenge, the scientist throw themselves wholeheartedly into their work, venting their frustration by trying to outdo their competitions. In the past, Advanced beating Naturals in the science department seems a given. But the Naturals had also… advanced themselves, so to speak. The Natural Scientists that are gathered there are compassionate about their work, and this perhaps contribute to the fact that they are some of the smartest human on the planet. So it is to the great surprise of the Advanced, the Natural Scientists were able to go head to head, taking in enough intellectual beating and then return some of their own. Irritation turned into grudging respect. Passion for pure science finally brought these two feuding caste of scientist together, until finally, a triumph: after 2 decades of research, the Morgenroete Science Academy in Japan had begun mass producing an efficient and fully functional design of Steam Engine. The first one ever in a world that is still moved by manpower. A brainchild from the combined effort of Advanced and Natural Scientists.

Alas, while the Morgenroete in Japan tasted revolutionary success, the same cannot be said to the German Counterpart. The root of the problem came from an Advanced Scientist by the name of Caesar Clown engaged in a bitter rivalry with a young Natural Scientist counterpart, Vegapunk. Both were geniuses in a very specific and forbidden weapons branch: WMDs. Even before Orb banned weapons research, WMD research is a big taboo. Vegapunk was able to adapt and redirect his genius to other less destructive weapons, and later turn those same weapons into advances in medical and engineering. Caesar however, could not. A gas logia, Caesar was obsessed in bio weaponry, constantly creating poisonous gas of mass infection. Many times Orb warned him to stop, but he refused. Fed up with his insubordination, Orb decided to send in a squad of Samurais to terminate him. But before they can do so, Caesar blew up one of his deadliest creation, infecting the whole compound, resulting in the whole German Morgenroete academy to be quarantined for nearly a century. By the end of the Cold War period, roughly a year before the Junius incident, German Morgenroete was finally cleansed of all traces of poison and reopened, but even then some scientist still fell sick every now and then. Learning their lesson, the Morgenroete on all branches were banned from all forms of weapons research forever.

But a year later, the Bloody Valentine incident occurred when a pocket leftover of the reemerging Order of Blue Cosmos enacted the dark summoning ritual that brought forth an army Genma right at the heart of Junius' capital, turning the whole continent into an island of the damned. The Cold War was ended, and in its place the Bloody Valentine war had begun. Both sides, Alliance and Zaft had been stockpiling their weapons for 300 years of stalemate, amassing military power, training their human resources, preparing for this one moment, the moment where the powder keg of world war finally exploded in full force. Orb also had to reluctantly rescind their instruction to ban weapons research. Instead of giving permission to the Morgenroete though, they set up a new facility deep within the snow plains of Russia, dedicated to weapons research, the Archangelsk Research division, in preparation in case Orb had to get their hands dirty. Fortunately, by now, both sides knew better than to mess with Orb. But who knows how long the threat of Samurai will stay as an effective deterrent…?

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And that was it. The three knew that was the end of the story of the Cold War era. The rest is, as they say, history. Lacus huffed and puffed catching her breath. "Well… that's all about it in the nutshell. (Koff)"

And the three just sit there, pondering the way the history of each factions played out. Something became clear: they are three factions, two races, one species. They are so different with one another in culture and physiology, yet they've faced the same problems. So different yet so similar.

Makes you question what the hell are they even fighting about?

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That night, everyone get ready to sleep. But the lights on the Bridge Tower has yet to come out…

Kira is still up, finishing up some overdue paperwork.

While Lacus… well… she just finished undressing, getting ready to sleep naked, as usual. "Well, bar that accident with Sai, I'd say today was quite a fun day."

"Uh-huh." Kira nodded while his eyes never left the reports on his table. A good way to avoid the unnecessary 'distraction'. They sleep in one room for security purposes, but their bed was separated by a wall of books… but knowing Lacus' sleeping habit, Kira can bet that she'll ended up somewhere on top of him come tomorrow morning.

"You… You're a bit surprised?"

"Of what?"

"My family." Lacus giggled. "We're not so perfect peace people after all, aren't we?"

"Actually I'm not surprised at all." Kira chuckled. "Nobody is that perfect in this world."

"Tee-hee. I guess so." Lacus rolled on the bed until she lay on her back. Her head tilted up, looking at Kira still working so diligently on his table. 'He looked kinda cute when he's working like this…' Lacus blushed uncontrollably at this juncture. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid… the hell am I thinking!?' She quickly turned around and buried her head down the pillow.

That's when Kira noticed this peculiar behavior. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Just… minding my own business." Lacus groaned. "I'm going to sleep. You, don't sleep too late. Says your doctor."

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Meanwhile, in Fllay's newly appointed 'cell'…

Fllay lay on her bed, her eyes reddened after crying all day after that slapping.

And then the door knocks. "Fllay?"

It was her father! "PAPA!"

"Stay there Fllay. I didn't come here to talk nicely with you. I'm afraid I'm way past that." George's tone is now cold and flat, reining his anger. "Do you know what you've done today?"

"I… I…" Fllay choked. "I'm just sick of being ignored! Ever since you came here, I barely see you! And you never even want to listen! All the horrible things Kage and that Hikari had done to me! I don't like it here! I wanna go home, papa!"

George sighed exasperatedly. "You, you, and you. And it's all about you. It seems the only thing you can think about… is yourself."

"I… That's not true!"

"Is it? Fllay, you nearly KILLED your fiancée because of your selfishness." George's tone cracked in anger. "You nearly KILLED someone. Doesn't that mean anything to you!?"

Fllay couldn't answer. She was utterly confused. "I… What am I supposed to feel!?"

George was horribly shocked at this answer. She didn't understand the severity of what she just did? Lord have mercy on his soul for making a mistake in raising his daughter like this. George closed her eyes. He had to act now before it's far too late. It will be harsh. But it's the right thing. "Very well. You will stay in this room until I say otherwise. You're not going anywhere else until you sort yourself out."

"Papa!?"

"YOU WILL STAY! You will stay until you understand!" George roared. "You're not going anywhere until you understand what a DANGER you are to yourself and everyone around you! I'm also calling off your engagement with Sai. He doesn't deserve YOU."

Danger!? Her? Her own father thinks she's a danger!? "Papa!? No! NO! I don't want to stay here! Papa! PAPA! PAPAA!" Fllay rose up and banged the door again and again. But there was no response. A mourning George had left a while ago, grieving over the great mishap he had made raising his daughter. How could he let this happened?

After screaming until her throat went coarse and her hands hurting and tiring after beating the door for the umpteenth time, Fllay can only fell to her knees while crying incessantly. "Papa… papa…" she sobbed.

But her sadness was quickly replaced with anger. At first the anger was to her father, but eventually, that anger was redirected to someone she deemed largely responsible for her current predicament:

"…Kage…" She gritted her teeth in sheer raging hatred of the masked man.

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The House of Clyne

During the ages of the Holocaust and then during the era of George of Glenn Foundation war of Zaft Empire, many advanced clans with an immensely powerful bloodline limit make their mark in the history. Joule, Zala, Vi-Britannia, Reverie… But none were more feared (and respected, depending who you ask) than the Clynes. Their powerful Sound based Logia allowed them to wield voices for many other inconceivable things other than method of communication. Unlike other Logia, the Clynes cannot shift their body into elements, but that was but a minor setback. With nothing but their voice, a Clyne's whisper of a few chosen words can bring down entire armies on their knees in supplication and worship. A shout can generate a destructive shockwave that can rattle mountains. A screech of high frequency can sever steel. But of greater potency than their destructive capability as a warrior was their unrivalled capability as Sensors. And none best describe this than the legendary heroine of the Zaft Empire, Laweyna Clyne.

When George of Glenn rises as warlord, some would say it would not be possible without Laweyna Clyne at his side. A strong supporter of George and his cause, as well as his first and most trusted lieutenant, an impetuous commander could easily misunderstood George's unflinching trust in the female knight for two reasons: one, Laweyna Clyne was a petite, seemingly frail and more than anything, incredibly beautiful woman that had drawn scores of suitors to her feet. And secondly, for someone hailing from a family whose bloodline limit was sound based, Laweyna was mute. No one has ever heard her utter a word, nor could they. A mishap in her birth resulted in a permanent damage to her throat that rendered her unable to utter a word for the rest of her natural life. And yet, despite the scorning of her superior brothers and sisters, ever the strong willed woman, Laweyna struggled to overcome her own genetic defect. After a long period of hardship, enduring mounting insults and shame, Laweyna began to discover more of her family bloodline limit than any of her predecessors, surpassing them in ways none of her family was able to replicate. Laweyna discovered that she may not be able to manipulate her inexistent voice, but she came to learn that she can manipulate other voices. And while she cannot speak for herself, she can manipulate everything and everyone around her that can produce sound to 'speak' on her behalf.

Marking her as a freak, she was exiled into the wilderness, where Laweyna spend her days in deep meditation while blindfolding herself, gaining deeper insights and revelations about voices and sounds. Voices are a method to communicate thoughts. And thus, by studying the patterns and timbres of a sound, one can gain insights into another's thoughts by the weight of the words of their voice. And that's not all. Taking further into her meditation, she found sound can also manipulate elements. A sound, at the right timbre and tone can channel destructive force that can bring down mountains, or even change the hearts and minds of the listener with subtle verbal suggestions. No one but a Clyne with their superhumanly sensitive hearings can perceive the full spectrum of sound in such a way. The solitude of her exile allowed her to make revolutionary progress as Laweyna intoned all her findings in writings: the pages upon pages made of animal skin that would become the Clyne's Tome of Songs. While she had not realized it, her findings had made her the most powerful Clyne in existence. For a decade she lived as a hermit, as the child she was had blossomed into the most beautiful rose of the wilderness until finally, by fate or chance, she came across the man who would change her life: the Warlord George of Glenn.

At first, like any male, George was enthralled by Laweyna's beauty. But her days in the forest had forged Laweyna into a strong and somewhat cold hearted woman, ignorant of her own splendor, and spiteful of company of fellow human. Spurning his advances, Laweyna initially demanded that the Warlord leave her alone, or else. Reasserting his composure, George apologizes and reintroduces himself as the leader of the resistance against the Natural's Holocaust oppression. He was on his way to the Clyne clan when he had heard rumors that said clan was under attack. While Laweyna had no love of her clan, she will not allow them to be butchered like cattle. Laweyna followed George into rescuing her clan, but by the time they get there, the Clyne Manor was under siege by a vast number of Natural army, outnumbering George's own army by 20 to 1. And while normally anyone would lose their wits and nerve at such odd, Laweyna kept her calm in an almost cold and heartless manner. Without uttering a word, she made her desire to fight known. It was here Laweyna began to show her clan's aptitude as a sensor. She was able to pinpoint the location of every single person in that area: the army placements and the locations of key strategic points. What's more, utilizing her incredibly sharp hearings, Laweyna could literally eavesdrop on clandestine military meetings by the army's officers even when she was miles away, allowing her to know the direction of enemy's movements before they even began taking a step with prophetic accuracy. Thusly, under her directions, George's significantly smaller forces performed surgical strikes in a guerilla warfare that greatly thinned the Order's army. The most terrifying part is, using that self same sound manipulation abilities, Laweyna was also able to reduce the sound of battle clamors to a null. A Knight can even scream at the top of their lungs right next to their victims and no one within hearing distance can hear it.

By the time the Order began to realize something was off, it was too late. Their numbers had been greatly reduced to less than a quarter of their original ranks. In anger, the Order launched a devastating full on assault at the Clyne Manor. They managed to penetrate the gates and began a systematic slaughter of everyone inside. Seething with rage, Laweyna demanded that she be allowed to fight directly. And while George was no stranger to lady knight requesting swords and shields, Laweyna merely asked for a single musical instrument available: a cello. Confusion over this odd request was immediately erased as soon as Laweyna plucked the first string and turned the harmless cello into instrument of mass destruction: letting loose a reverberating tone that leveled the entire invading Natural army in a blink of an eye. Within a space of a few devastating and merciless musical scores, Laweyna manipulated the song of her cello as to avoid her clan and only striking at the Order's troopers in every nook and cranny, wherever they hide, ruthlessly butchering every single one of the assailant down to the last mercy-begging man with pinpoint accuracy.

With the siege was over, Laweyna briefly returned to check on what's left of her family, and while she's at it, perhaps make peace. She was shocked to find the vast differences between herself and that of her family. Her brothers and sisters could barely recognize this beautiful and strong willed woman of immense power with the frail sickly mute girl they used to bully and kicked around. Laweyna once again found herself alienated from her family, yet ironically, for the opposite reason of why she was banished: they were envious of her powers that far outstripped their entire clan combined. Brokenhearted at her family's rejection, Laweyna initially opted to return to her exile, but George pleaded her to stay. Laweyna's capability to sense individuals at great distances with pinpoint accuracy would be invaluable in George's rescue campaign. Seeing she had nowhere else to go, Laweyna obliged and thus she took her place as George's first and foremost lieutenants. And throughout the years, with Laweyna at his side, George's Rescue Campaign had become nothing short of an unopposed success as the two began forging a close friendship that some, dare they say it, border on romantic bonding. But the truth was far from it. While they found some common ground for a close friendship, the two also began to notice the vast differences they have in personality. This was even strongly shown in the way they carry battle.

George was kind, benevolent, passionate and while at the same time a hot blooded and somewhat reckless general, often leading his men at the front, showing desire to always be in the thick of things, breaking jaw and crushing bone shoulder to shoulder with his warriors. Laweyna was the exact opposite: she was cold, calculating, and distant. Any army led by her was known for always keeping calm and waited patiently for the right time to strike. And when they do strike, they were known to be brutal, destructive and without a shred of mercy; leaving behind no survivors. Indeed, unlike George who is more tolerant of the Naturals, Laweyna, embittered by her experiences, possess a rather unflinching militaristic hatred towards the Naturals: A good natural is a dead natural, so she always says (through other people's mouths obviously). This difference is perhaps what finally expunged George desires to make Laweyna her queen. Even so, their friendship, strengthened by the respect for each other's strong code of honor and loyalty, remained unshakable. Throughout the realm of the budding Advanced civilization, George was flaunted as the great savior and hero. While Laweyna was also honored in equal measure, George gained the love and adoration of his people, but the uncaring Laweyna understandably earned only their fear and awe.

To be Continued…

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