Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam

Joe Daigoji is property of mechapunk87

Gundam Seed Purpose Renew

Chapter 9: Songstress of the enemy

My mother died many years ago. I still feel sad sometimes, but her death was peaceful, she died. But many people were killed when Junius Seven was nuked, and many more people died since then. War causes such sadness, when I look at the faces of people I once knew, they seem like totally different people. There was something different about his eyes though, his eyes that seemed so rage filled, but not because of what he had lost. But because of what he could lose.

Gekido climbed out of the Purpose, pulling off his helmet as he did. He looked towards the escape pod he had recovered, where Murdoch, Kira and the Heliopolis children, and the senior officers stood.

'Didn't think this was something that required everyone's attention,' he thought, kicking off of the Gundam and floating to the scene.

He landed loudly beside Kira, looking up at the pod, meeting Bentos's eyes. The bulky man had a smile on his face as Julia and Wade landed beside him.

"Four way split?" he asked.

"Not a chance," Gekido said, causing Bentos's smile to drop, replaced by a frustrated frown.

"Okay I'm opening it up," Murdoch said.

He pushed a button on his console, opening the door. The armed guards braced themselves, which Gekido felt unnecessary. It was a single seat pod meant for VIP's, the likelihood of someone in there being armed was low. But he still bared his teeth as something horrifying floated out of the pod.

"Haro, Haro!"

The crew of the Archangel blinked in confusion, as a pink robot floated out of the pod. It was smaller than a basket ball, possessing only two flapping ear like protrusions, folded into its body. As it repeated its own name, its pink eyes flashed, drawing even more attention to the cute face lines on its body. Kira looked to his side, and stepped back slightly. Gekido's body was shaking, his eyes were as wide as saucers, and he was looking right at the Haro. A sweat drop ran down the back of Kira's head as he sighed.

"Thank you I appreciate your assistance!"

All eyes looked to the pod and the figure that floated out of it. Her fluttering dress was white and purple, a design from the Plants. A set of crescent moon hair pins rested on her fringe, though they still drew less attention than her bright pink hair. Her cerulean eyes framed her innocent expression as she floated out of the pod, further than she meant to. Gekido noticed Kira looking at her, obviously smitten. As he took her hand, Gekido looked past the two of them, to Harper and the other Sensou mercenaries.

"Thank you," the girl said to Kira.

"Uh, no problem," he said, Gekido rolled his eyes, narrowing them as he looked at his staring colleagues.

The girl lowered her sight, looking at the patch on Kira's jacket.

"Oh my," she said, putting a hand to her cheek. "It's pretty clear this isn't a ZAFT ship is it!"

"Pardon me?" Murrue asked, as Natarle slapped her forehead.

"Um, welcome," Kira said.

His eyes that day, there was a sadness in them, and a rage like his name. That rage was at home as well, in every hour glass of the Plants, there was someone with angry eyes. Someone desperate to fight, to destroy their enemies. I wish they didn't have those eyes.

Plants-ZAFT test sight

Miguel's eyes were determined, something he hadn't had felt since joining the academy. A picture of his brother was in the corner of his main screen, a good position to be seen and not be a distraction. Alarms and pointers on his screens blared one after another. ZAFT was one of the pioneers in mobile suit technology, but it was still an evolving branch of warfare. Likewise the EA hadn't even scratched the surface of mobile armour technology when ZAFT introduced their own mobile weapons. Or at least Miguel heard that from the scientists.

'Well they're missing lab coats,' Miguel thought.

They were all military, some wore the light green suits of the engineers, others the purple and black uniforms of officers. Their latest project, which Miguel was all too happy to test out, was an enhanced propulsion system. Usually the job was given to mercenaries, with the promise of a reward for their high risk. Miguel wanted a reward, upgrades to his machine. He suspected that the Le Creuscet team would become as devastating on the battlefield as the Black Storm unit, thanks to the new machines.

As he flew his proto-Ginn across the test site, Miguel remembered the hearing. It had been his first time seeing the grand council of the Plants, or at least the first time since the most recent graduation at the academy. The only one he didn't see in a different light was Patrick Zala, Athrun's father. There weren't a lot of physical similarities between them, they had a similar quiet and reserved temperament. But that was the surface, Miguel couldn't help but feel cold the first time he met Zala, and that same coldness was present at their second meeting.

"Councillors, I feel that production of these machines will give OMNI a significant advantage in the war, they have a better protection system, more power output and they have miniaturised beam weaponry capable of far greater accuracy and destruction than the average Ginn rifle," he remembered explaining.

It felt more dangerous being a key witness at an inquiry than it did being a test pilot. Miguel chuckled to himself as he did a 180 turn, much faster than he did in even his customised Ginn. He imagined what the two rocket boosters on the Proto-Ginn's legs would do if put on an actual Ginn. The legs had been made a little thicker as a result, but the output of the boosters overcame the added weight. Miguel felt the g-forces push him into his seat, his target retina shaking as he aimed at his test targets. Decoy target balloons, good for target practice, but not an affective test for a beam rifle. Though Miguel would have used the term beam cannon, the massive weapon only added more weight to the Ginn's arm, it wasn't like the stolen prototypes. Athrun spoke well at the hearing, bringing up the specs of each of the new machines. The only ones he could speak little of were the Massacre and that white machine. Miguel added the information that the white one had been taken by a Sensou mercenary.

"We should put together a force to hunt down Sensou," Ezalia, Yzak's mother was clearly anti mercenary.

"Sensou is a recognised private military company, whom have contributed materials and the lives of their own people into our own military research," Yuri, Nichol's father was also one of the voices of reason.

Lives, that's what ultimately became the point of the hearing. The amount of lives lost at Junius Seven, and on the battlefield. As Miguel fired the oversized gun, he thought of the fire in Zala's eyes as he spoke of that disaster. He spoke of the tragedy, the exact tally of the dead and the position and rights of the coordinators. There was radical passion in his voice, and it frightened Miguel, even more than the prototype beam 'rifle' blowing up did. When the Proto-Ginn crashed into the ground, Miguel climbed out of the cockpit, removing his helmet as the fire crews attended to the machine.

"Well guys, the rockets worked out great, can't say the same for those beam cannons!" he put extra emphasis on the cannons as he walked past the scientists.

"Separate batteries perhaps, and mount them near the shoulders," he heard one of them say.

"Maybe a Cgue would be a better suit for them!"

He rested his helmet between his hand and hip, walking back to the pilot's centre. It was on his way that his phone began to beep. Sliding the screen out, Miguel put on a more serious face as a crew from the Vesalius's CIC relayed info to him.

"Acknowledged, Le Creuscet team is to deploy earlier than scheduled," he repeated. "I am to report to armoury one beforehand for briefing."

That last part took him by surprise. The knowledge he was going to armoury one, one of ZAFT's most important military testing sites. It produced quite a few experimental weaponry, and apparently most of the data on the Heliopolis prototypes had been sent there. As he left and got on the shuttle for the colony, he thought again of the hearing. What had started as an inquiry into the destruction of Heliopolis and Le Creuscet's decision to steal the prototypes, seemed to uncomfortably shift into a conversation about the means to end the war. From Zala's side came complete retaliation, whilst Chairman Clyne spoke of concession. Miguel didn't know about concessions, but he didn't like the sort of things Zala was saying.

'He didn't outright say superiority, but clearly he thinks that coordinators are better off than others think,' Miguel thought, shaking his head at the idea of it.

Again he looked at his brother's picture.

"We're not as strong as you say," he muttered.

"We can still become strong," a voice said next to him.

Miguel was so distracted he didn't take the time to look at the man he was sitting next to. He was bald and in a commander's uniform, though he was someone Miguel recognised from academy. The man was in his early twenties, a couple of generations before Miguel's class. But good enough to set the example on close quarters mobile suit combat.

"Commander Daigoji," Miguel bowed his head in respect.

"You're not an academy pup anymore Aiman, between a fellow ace it's Joe, unless you join my crew that is," the man stated.

"Heading to armoury one?" Miguel asked.

"Techs over there want me to work with Sensou mercs for a mutually beneficial science project, Sensou has its own mobile suits now. The armoury one guys think that the dogs might have found the key to a more responsive mobile suit frame, one better for melee combat," Joe explained.

"Redeployment for me, but I'm surprised the others aren't with me," Miguel sighed.

"You still with the Le Creuscet team?" Joe asked.

"Hoping to steal me away?"

"We're no Black Storm but we do all right," Joe huffed, and Miguel could tell something was still on the man's mind.

"Is everything all right Joe?" the inquiry made him perk up a bit.

"Rau, a good pilot and commander but," he paused as if searching for words.

After a few seconds though the man instead decided to go with bluntness instead.

"He's bad news, this isn't the first time he's had an inquest against him," Joe said.

"What was the first one about?" Miguel asked.

"It started back in the academy," Joe crossed his arms, his voice speaking as if it wasn't a fond time for him. "He didn't always wear that mask, in the academy it was a pair of sunglasses. Popular gossip was what he looked like underneath them, some people said he looked cool, others said it wasn't regulation. When asked about it he said that he had a form of radiation damage in his eyes, that too much exposure to light could make him go blind."

"Which isn't exactly uncommon when living in space," Miguel said.

"Right, uncommon to start wearing an opera mask though," Joe commented dryly. "Anyway, back in those days we had a better relationship with the EA. Military experts were sent in as advisors, a couple of mercenaries from the outer colonies were hired too. I remembered this red haired guy, a few years older than us, a real bad ass. Anyway, Rau proved to possess excellent tactical acumen and spatial awareness during a drill. This EA instructor of ours was expecting us to perform horribly, but Rau led the teams to complete success. The instructor still was enough of an asshole to berate us though!"

Miguel snorted, but Joe didn't share his sense of humour, his eyes still serious.

"Rau called him out, asked him what level of opponent we would be facing with our limited equipment? Asked him if we were, what everyone silently thought we were, a token military to prove how weak the Plants are to Earth?"

"Go commander," Miguel praised his team leader, finding a new respect for his grit.

Again Joe didn't seem to share his praise of the man. Though he did admit to Miguel that, at the time he was one of the people who silently cheered.

"The instructor called him up, got him to give his name and serial number, then he yells at him, 'are those sunglasses, they aren't regulation!' Rau's calm and says they are, tries to tell him about his medical reason. Then, the instructor slaps him, and knocks the sunglasses off. I never heard a place go so quiet before. We all rallied behind our fellow cadet though, yelled out that the instructor was abusing his power, and had no grounds to discipline Rau. The other instructors agreed and got him to pick Rau's glasses up. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when he gave them to Rau, there was a sudden bout of fear in his eyes," Joe explained.

"The commander can be pretty intimidating," Miguel added.

"I'm not talking intimidating, I'm talking fear, real fear, but I didn't think much of it, even when the man's body was found a few days ago," Joe said.

"Was that when Rau telepathically commanded him to drop dead?" Miguel asked.

"No, he'd been stabbed in the neck, repeatedly, a rumour said that his eyes had been cut as well. I didn't believe it, still didn't when Rau himself was investigated."

"What happened?"

"The inquest into the murder turned into a show about the man's character. He'd been involved with smuggling operations and criminal syndicates, the kind of syndicates that would have executed in that fashion. Rau was a suspect, but he had an alibi, his doctor, Gilbert something was treating him the night it happened. The doctor also confirmed Rau wore the glasses for protection against further damage to his cosmic radiation damaged eyes," Joe explained.

"So it was all clear cut?" Miguel asked.

"Rau got away with that, then he gets away with an attack that I don't doubt claimed some civilian casualties. An operation the committee wouldn't have approved of, or at least would have debated in a manner that would have made it too late for a team to take action, again serious accusations that he is able to weasel out of," Joe had his hand on his chin as he spoke.

The shuttle stopped and the bell rang, signalling the arrival. As the other passengers got their things, Joe stood up and looked at Miguel.

"I don't know what happened both times, I'm just saying, be careful with that man," he took his duffel off of the compartment and disappeared in the sea of passengers.

He'd left Miguel with a lot to think about.

One side is suspicious of the other. Daddy told me that there is ill intent in the Plants as well as the Earth Alliance. He was trying to protect me, but a sad part of him knew that there...there was a chance I would have to play a greater role than he intended. But on that ship, the Archangel, I saw ill intent only from one person, one person of three motivated by money, but driven by ill intent. He was not one of them.

Gekido floated in front of the Purpose, using a binder to graft new parts onto his suit. He was fitting a few extra layers of armour onto the Gundam's chest, no longer exposing its most vital area. At the same time, he was looking over new materials he could use for weaponry and replenishing his ammo. He noticed behind him Julia, crossing her arms as she floated around the Kutai. A few seconds later Bentos and Wade arrived, the latter sucking the stray on a drink's canister.

"YO GEKI!" he yelled, flying at the man.

He was met with a foot to the gut. As Wade recoiled, Bentos and Julia floated to Gekido's side.

"Making good use of spare parts from Sean I see," Julia said.

"He won't need them," Gekido huffed.

"So," Bentos said, changing mags. "That girl, quite a find huh?"

Gekido stopped his work, looking back at Bentos.

"Kid, with Sean unfortunately gone, we're going to need another wing man. Which means a four way split for, well, the next contract we'll take," Bentos explained.

"Good to see you're working all the angles Bentos," Gekido said.

"Like you didn't know when you picked up her pod," Bentos chuckled.

"The Kutai has the best propulsion system, years ahead of what mobile armours have now. We grab her, load her on board, take the Purpose with us and get out of here," Julia explained.

"And where exactly would we be going to?" Gekido asked.

"Where else buddy, take her back to the Plants, get the reward, and probably a kiss from the princess," Wade put his arm over Gekido's shoulder, receiving a head butt for the space invasion.

Wade floated past Bentos and Julia, clutching his nose as the conversation continued.

"Wade thinks we should go to the Plants, but they won't pay as much as EA would for her," Julia said.

"You mean Blue Cosmos," Gekido corrected her.

"Think what you will, the point is, if the EA has her, not only will we receive more money. But we'll be on the way to ending the war too," Julia explained.

"Okay that part I'm not so sure, I don't think I have enough money yet to retire," Bentos laughed, despite Julia's serious expression.

"So it doesn't matter what my take on it is, we can't do anything if we don't agree on what should be done," Gekido said.

Wade nodded his head grinning, whilst Bentos smirked at Julia.

"End the war, really woman," he muttered.

Gekido turned back to his machine. The conversation between the mercenaries would soon become a conversation shared by the EA officers. But Mu, Natarle and Murrue first had to discover who the pink haired girl was. Sitting in an unoccupied room, several crew members with their ear to the door, the girl sat and expressed gratitude for their rescue. Then she introduced herself.

"My name is Lacus Clyne everyone," the little ball in her hands flapped it's wings.

"Haro Lacus, Haro!"

"And this is my friend Haro."

"Haro, thank you, Haro, Haro!"

Natarle and Murrue looked at the little toy dumbfounded. The acting captain sighed as Mu put a hand to his face.

"Boy, oh boy," he said.

Sai, Kuzzey, Tolle, Chandra and Jackie stood outside the door, their ears pressed to it.

"What are they saying?"

"I can't hear, keep it down Tolle," Kuzzey said.

"Would the two of you please be quiet," Sai said.

From a distance Kira watched them. The door suddenly slid open, revealing an angry Natarle.

"You haven't finished, there's more loading to do yet," she said. "Return to your work stations now!"

The four nodded their heads as they ran off. Lacus looked past Natarle, seeing Kira and waving at him. He stood agape for a moment, before turning and making his way past Gekido. The grey haired youth huffed at the awed look on his face. A few seconds later Natarle closed the door. Gekido however still leant against the wall, closed his eyes and focused utterly on the other side of the door.

"Clyne did you say?" he heard Mu ask. "You have the same surname as the current ZAFT supreme council chairman, Siegel Clyne."

Clearly Murrue and Natarle hadn't made the connection, as he heard them gasp.

"Oh yes, Siegel Clyne happens to be my father, you don't know him do you?" Lacus asked.

Mu's and Gekido's expressions were identical, as were their thoughts.

'Is this girl for real?'

"What is someone like you doing way out here?" Murrue asked.

"Junius Seven, our ship came out here for a preliminary assessment, before the memorial service. Upon our arrival, we encountered another ship that like yours belonged to the Earth forces. They said they wanted to board for an inspection, so I accepted, but when they found out the reason for our ship's presence in the area, some of the Earth forces officers became upset. This led to a small quarrel, which escalated into a major incident involving the entire ship. Before I knew what was happening, some of the crew pushed me into the life pod, so that I might escape," Lacus explained.

"That's just terrible," the acting captain had sympathy in her voice.

"And then what happened to your vessel?" Mu asked.

"I don't know, I sincerely hope that the people from the Earth forces have calmed down, and settled the matter diplomatically," Lacus said.

Gekido huffed, knowing there was no doubt an awkward air in that room. He floated down the corridor, passing Yamato as he did.

"That girl, she doesn't deserve to be a pawn," he said.

"People rarely get what they deserve old man," Gekido muttered.

He put on his flight suit and joined the loading efforts. The Purpose flew out of the Archangel, alongside the Kutai. Julia raised her eyebrows in suspicion as Gekido opened a private channel between them.

"There should be an Earth forces ship in the area, if we climb the debris we might just reach them. Right now the Archangel isn't moving, we can claim to be looking for more salvage," Gekido explained.

"I knew I could count on you Gekido, you'd do anything for money wouldn't you?" Harper asked, smirking smugly.

"Look who's talking!" he retorted.

Harper allowed Gekido to link with her fighter. Kira watched the pair leave, curious for a moment, then he assisted the Mistrals in bringing more ice in.

So much ill intent, but for reasons you can understand. I think we all want an end to war, to the suffering it brings us. But in a sad way, it brought some of us together to. It brought us together.

The lights in Miguel's machine lit up one by one. Displays reflected off of his helmet, showing specs of both the Ginn he was piloting and the new thrusters attached to it. They were shoulder mounted, though Miguel assumed new models in the future would be put in a safer place. Miguel took a deep breath as he moved the Ginn to the catapult, taking the new shield with him. It was bigger than his old one, but carried with it additional weapons. For the test though Miguel would use the recoilless rifle.

"Miguel Aiman, launching," he declared, before his machine was launched.

Quickly he manipulated the 155200 kilogram rocket thrusters. The inner boosters rotated as the 'wings' stretched over Miguel's shoulders. Suddenly, he felt more G's than he ever had in his life, debris whooshed past him as the Ginn rocketed forward. Miguel felt the machine itself shake from the speeds, unable to really handle them. He pulled off a 180 turn, reducing his speed and levelling the suit. Then he caught sight of them, green armoured Cgues. Miguel darted upwards, trying to level his rifle. His targeting retina scanned the machines as they flew after him. With the new thrusters, he was able to manoeuvre himself, keeping his aim level.

"Impressive," Dagger Thanos said, watching the test.

He had his arms crossed and was looking at the readouts of the power output the Ginn had, and the new rocket thrusters. A video feed showed Miguel's orange Ginn, stood alongside the Massacre. The Massacre's chest had been torn open, underneath the armour and guns, it looked very similar to the Purpose. Carefully, technicians looked at the generator.

"He's certainly pushing the machine's better than the other test pilots can," one of the men watching said.

"Why isn't he a red coat?" another asked.

Dagger watched the Ginn push one Cgue after another out of the test. The point of the exercise was to get a lock on them, and though Miguel came close to getting locked onto himself, he'd beaten the others to it. If he had been using a better rifle, he could have guaranteed kill shots.

"Better rifle," the commander whispered to one of the mechanics.

He then focused on written messages sent from the team analysing the Massacre. It had an incredible power output, but was using a synthetic version of the Arc generator, and a flawed creation at that. But the power source was integrated into the machine, one couldn't remove it.

"Can we create a synthetic version of our own?" Dagger asked.

"Well, from the data we have I'd say yes, we might even improve on it."

"Get to work immediately, and begin improvements to Aiman's Ginn," Thanos said.

"Yes sir!"

Miguel threw his Ginn forward, smiling ecstatically. The speed and power of these upgrades were everything he needed, to fight the white machine as a superior foe. He drew his sword, slicing the test targets apart, then he drew his rifle and shot several of them apart. A time appeared in front of him, he'd just broken the speed record set by previous models, though his accuracy was over the average.

"I'll just have to push myself harder," he said.

His sensor alarms blared, mobile workers mounted on debris began firing at him. They were using test rounds, but Miguel was going to react as if they would kill him instantly. He tilted his controls left and right, dodging the rounds fired at him. With a yell he brought the Ginn's legs up, altered the position of his thrusters, facing them forward. He built up speed, and then dashed, upwards so high that the mobile worker operators were left in shock. Crossing out of the test zone, Miguel breathed deeply, the smile still on his face.

"The Strike and its dog, next time, I'll dominate them both," he raised his hand, picturing the white Gundam.

He squeezed his hand into a fist, crushing the image of his enemy.

Julia kept her eyes on the Purpose. Even with the patches to its damaged areas, it still looked like a mess. She formed a comm. link with Gekido, his neutral face appearing on screen.

"The Archangel won't be able to detect the ship, and that ship won't be able to detect the Archangel either, we'll have to be their guides, but there is no guarantee the Archangel crew will wait for us," she explained to him.

"They'll wait, I took one of their anti-ship swords with me," Gekido flashed a feral grin.

Julia zoomed in on the Purpose, noticing the sword wrapped to Gekido's shield. She slowed the Kutai down, keeping it level with the Purpose as they caught sight of a Drake class ship's starboard side.

"That must be the ship that had been pursuing the Silver Wind," Julia said.

"Yeah, so, you really think just handing Clyne over is going to end this war?" Gekido asked.

"It will be a start, Siegel Clyne will give into any demand the federation has in order to keep his daughter safe. There's nothing a parent wouldn't do to save their child," she explained.

She remembered her own children, children whom she had lost to the war. Children whom had starved and frozen to death because of ZAFT's N-Jammers. She had become a mercenary to save them, but they still died. It was a slow death, in which she had told them she would save them. Gekido tilted his head, seeing the small tears in her eyes.

"Harper, if Clyne ends up with them, there's a good chance Blue Cosmos will get their hands on her," he said.

"If they do, it'll guarantee that they use her to make the Plants stop their fighting," Julia said.

"Or they'll just kill her, or they'll have abused her so much that the Plants will just fight harder than they did before. And it isn't just Clyne either, on the Plants or the Archangel, ZAFT won't necessarily stop just because Clyne is telling them to, and when it comes to the Archangel there's Kira and Kuzunagi's kids," Gekido explained.

"Yamato and his children are just a sea of refugees, refugees that ship will assist the Archangel in escorting to safety. We do this and not only do we had more forces to keep the Archangel and the refugees safe, but you'll make a fortune off of Lacus. As for that boy Kira, I don't know what they'll do to him and I don't care...this is my decision!"

Gekido nodded his head in understanding. Then suddenly, the Purpose swung around, delivering a vicious kick to the Kutai. The force of the kick sent the mobile armour flying. Julia looked up through the cockpit, seeing the Kutai head towards a meteor. She pushed the armour forward, only for the Purpose to appear in front of her. The last thing she saw, was the Purpose's fist.

"They shot up a memorial vessel, what the hell do you think they'd do with Lacus?" he asked, giving the remains of the Kutai a small kick.

He drew the Strike's anti-ship sword, igniting the blade as he looked towards the Drake class ship. They must have seen the ruckus, because they had suddenly started firing their main guns. Gekido swerved left and right, gritting his teeth together in frustration. He felt the bullets hit his shield and scrape his armour.

"Damn it, come on, come one, COME ON!" he yelled.

The Drake class ship fired one of its main cannons, consuming the Purpose's right arm.

"DAMN IT!" he yelled, his suit again taking multiple shots to the head and the chest.

The Purpose sunk downwards, and the captain of the Drake class ship stood up.

"Damned scavengers, or mercenaries, or whatever they were, keep pushing through the debris, find that pod," he commanded.

"Sir, we have something," one of the radar operators looked at her screen.

It had just been there for a moment. The communications officer gripped his headset, listening to the static. Then he heard something, a sound that burst his ears, a great roar.

The Purpose suddenly flew upwards, over the Drake class ship. Gekido was roaring like an animal, his eyes feral slits as he brought the smoking Purpose's arm downwards. The Strike's antiship sword crashed through the Drake class ship's bridge. Gekido ignited the energy blade, then ripped the sword through the side of the ship, exposing anyone not already dead to the vacuum. He retrieved his metal wire, retrieved what was left of the Kutai, tied the sword and rockets together, and made his way back to the Archangel. On his way, he made sure to grab a piece of ice too.

"Gekido, where have you been? And where the hell is Harper?" Murdoch asked.

"Dead," he said.

The engineering crew looked up at him in shock. He pulled off his helmet as Bentos approached.

"More mercenaries, good thing the captain was thinking about leaving, there was just the small matter of the antiship sword you took," Bentos grinned.

"Good thing it was the Purpose's arm and not the sword, you would have owed us otherwise," Murdoch matched the mercenary's humour.

Just like that Harper was forgotten, another casualty of the mercenary life. When Gekido got into the elevator, he rested his head against the wall. The shadow of his fringe covered his face as he looked up.

"Idiot," he whispered.

"Idiot," slowly, his right hand trembled.

"Idiot," slowly, it tightened into a fist.

"Idiot," he raised it.

"IDIOT!" he screamed.

"IDIOT!" his fist flew into the wall.

"IDIOT!" he banged it again and again.

Even though his gloves were protecting them, I think his hands hurt. Because when you're not used to kindness, and you don't want to be cruel to others, you can only really be cruel to yourself. He hated sadness, everyone hates sadness, so he did what others did. He turned to anger for a friend.

"IDIOT!" furiously he breathed, stepped out of the elevator as it opened.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, making his way to the crew cafeteria. Kira was just arriving also.

"Gekido," he said.

"Harper was going to double cross us, I killed her," Kira's eyes widened at what Gekido had said.

"Is said it and I meant it!"

As shocked as he was, his attention was drawn to the people in the cafeteria. Kuzzey, Miriallia and Flay were standing there, a food tray on the table beside the two girls.

"What's going on?" Kira asked.

"Before Kai went off on his break, he asked Flay to take that girl's meal to her, but Flay refuses, and that's all she and Mir have been arguing about," Kuzzey explained.

"There's no way I'm gonna go anywhere near a coordinator, I'm too afraid," Flay said, putting her hands behind her hips in cowardice.

Gekido's respect for Mir increased, as the girl gave Flay a sharp look, tilting her head to Kira. Suddenly Flay realised what she had done and looked at Kira, apologetically as she elaborated her reasons.

Oh you're different Kira, I know that much. But that girl is associated with ZAFT, coordinators aren't smart, but they're gifted with other things, like better reflexes. What would happen if I was attacked right?" she looked to Kira, who lowered his head in conflict.

"Flay Alster," Mir scolded.

"They aren't supermen you know, they actually need to have the muscle mass, pretty sure if you two were to have a bitch fight you'd come out on top, on account of you being the bigger one," Gekido explained.

"I um," Kuzzey tried to keep himself from laughing.

Mir straight up nodded in agreement.

"Listen I can't see her suddenly pouncing on you for no reason."

"Unless you give her one," Gekido added to Kuzzey's reasoning.

"Neither of you know that, you can't tell what a coordinator is capable of just by looking at them, " Flay said.

"Idiot," Gekido muttered.

"My, what are you all talking about?"

"Haro!"

Gekido eyes narrowed as he looked at the pink and blue Haros floating at the door. He wasn't even seeing Lacus, or sharing in the shocked reactions of the Heliopolis crowd.

"Oh I didn't mean to cause a stir, you see Mr Pink and Mr Blue were lonely. I'm really sorry but I did ask if I could go, I even yelled out 'can I leave this room?'"

Sweat drops ran down the back of the Heliopolis teens heads. Mr Pink and the newly named Mr Blue floated around Gekido, avoiding his swats. He began to chase them as Lacus walked around the cafeteria.

"And I don't mean to sound embarrassing, but I'm also really hungry," Lacus said as Gekido darted past her, trying to grab Pink with blue in his other hand.

"Why wouldn't they lock her room?" Kuzzey asked.

"This is nuts, who would let someone from ZAFT wander on their own?" Flay asked, utter flabbergasted.

Gekido stood slightly away from the group, his head low and expression moody. Mr Pink was bouncing on his head, but his focus was still on the conversation in front of him.

"Let me assure you," Lacus began approaching Flay. "I am not associated with ZAFT, ZAFT is the name of the forces. You see it actually stands for Zodiac Alliance of Freedom..."

"That makes no difference, you're still one of those coordinators," Flay snapped.

'Be careful where you're going with this Alster,' Gekido thought, his fist trembling.

Lacus simply looked at Flay, with a puzzled expression on her face.

"There is a significant difference, it's true that I am not a natural like you, but I am not part of the forces, believe me," she said as she looked over Flay's appearance. "I notice you are not part of the forces either, so if you think about it you and I are the same," Lacus reached out to shake Flay's hand. "Please allow me to introduce myself I am..."

"NO!" Flay shook her head at Lacus, "Just keep your distance!"

The others widened their eyes in shock and so did Lacus. Meanwhile Gekido's legs actually started shaking as he began to growl in anger. However this was unnoticed by Flay as she continued on.

"You must be nuts, why should I shake hands with somebody like you?" Flay asked the girl and Kira's eyes started to well up as he was slowly crushed by the words that came out of Flay's mouth. "I don't want any of you coordinators acting friendly with me!"

Gekido's fists were shaking as he snarled.

"Idiot," he whispered.

"Idiot!" he took a step forward.

"IDIOT!" he yelled.

He was looking at Flay, the very glare he gave her forcing her towards the table.

"Are you a member of blue cosmos? No, maybe you're just a bigot like you're father," he said.

"What do you know about my..." Flay stopped as Gekido stepped towards her.

"You see you would have to be a bigot if you reacted to her like that, like she was some kind of plague or scumbag. What the hell is your problem with coordinators, cause there's more than one on this ship, and I'm not talking about the four you know of."

"I'm not blue cosmos, but the stance those people take...I don't think they're entirely wrong. Having your genes altered when you're not sick or anything, is..."

"Against what nature intended yeah, no, that's bull shit, your reaction just now proved its bull shit," Gekido shrugged. "Clyne is second gen, Kira is first gen, either way the decision to be a coordinator was never there's. Yet you are blaming them as if it is their fault, as if it is a life choice that offends you."

"No I never meant Kira I..."

"When it is in fact their existence that offends you and don't pretend otherwise. This isn't a choice to be a catholic or a communist, or a choice to be pro abortion or not. The world is filled with things that have happened, that from a certain point of view nature probably never intended. Cities built in space, the atmosphere polluted, natural resources used up willy nilly, hell agree with blue cosmos on these things but fucking coordinators.

The only reason you weren't friendly with Lacus is because you know she's a coordinator, admit it, if you never found out who she was, you probably would have gotten along quite well. I mean if Mir can look past the fact that you're a complete and utter bitch then Lacus can too. Hell, you've proven yourself a bigoted bitch, and she'd still like to be your friend, though I can't imagine why. I mean so far you've proven yourself to judge people only by what they are, never who they are. People like that, well they're responsible for what we've just been flying through. It would be harsh to say you're exactly like them, but you're not far off!"

Gekido left Flay to think, his words piercing her. The logic and sense behind them, as well as his ferocity had put the beginning of tears in her eyes. Unbeknownst to the group, Canard had been standing at the doorway. Some of the things Gekido had said made him think as well. Gekido walked past him, Lacus and the Haros following him.

"For what it's worth Flay, I don't think you're a bigoted bitch," Kira said, and Flay smiled.

Gekido looked over his shoulder, rolling his eyes at Lacus's jolly expression.

"If you're going to follow me could you at least switch off those stupid machines?" he asked.

"What's your name?" Lacus asked softly.

"Gekido Jaeger, and don't start getting friendly with me because if there's one thing I despise more than bigots. It's Naïve air headed optimists who continually vomit sunshine, now go back to your room."

Gekido's spiteful words seemed to have had no affect as Lacus walked on "I would have much rather preferred to speak with everyone back there, Mr Kuzunagi is a kind gentleman but I would have preferred to speak with someone my own age," she said smiling.

"Well guess what I don't want to have a nice conversation period!" Gekido said.

'When will this girl take a hint?' he wondered.

"That girl was rather mean to me, but she didn't deserve to be spoke to like that," Lacus said.

Gekido stopped, leaning against the wall and looking up.

"Maybe not, but she isn't a fighter so, I can't hit her," he muttered.

Lacus looked at Gekido, seeing the rare calm expression across his face. She described it as calm, but there was some contained frustration in his eyes.

"She's just ignorant, and I don't know what to do with that. I can't kill her, I can't hit her, and I can't hope that she'll change on her own. I have to do something, tell her a cold hard truth. If I don't, she'll just keep thinking the way she does, the same thing applies to everyone else too. People have to change! Otherwise, Ryder, and Harper, their deaths mean nothing!"

I think I saw what very few people saw. He wanted to be better, he wanted people to be better. So he did what he could, using the only means he knew. His fists and weapons, to fight those who words would not reach, and words for those whom still could be reached. There was anger when he looked at Flay, but there was hope too, he may not have felt it. But I did, because there came a time after, that he gave me hope too. It was just the start of the hope he would bring everyone else.

My name is Lacus Clyne, and this is my story, a story of a tragic war.

Flay looked at herself in the mirror, not to see what she looked like, but to actually look at herself. The door opened behind her, and she saw Kira.

"I hope I'm not intruding, but Kai told me you hadn't eaten anything," he held up a food tray.

The red haired girl smiled as she welcomed Kira in.

A story of a great love.

"I can't babysit you," Gekido said to Lacus, turning away from her and going down the corridor.

The story about a boy searching for answers, whilst answering questions, that others didn't even know were on their minds.

Gekido floated in the hanger, looking at the Purpose and the remains of the Kutai. He'd figure something out about the arm later. But with the parts he had, and having claimed ownership of the Kutai, he began thinking of a blue print for the Purpose. He typed it out on his pad, putting it under the title 'Full Burnern.'

A story of a boy who achieved a miracle. His purpose renewed!

Next Chapter 10: The fading light

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, old fans of Purpose will probably notice the changed scene with Flay and Gekido. Sorry to those who enjoyed it, but the previous version, to me at least seemed more like character bashing. I wanted Gekido to bring forth a logical argument and not just be yelling and preaching to her.

Next time, the character perspective will be Flay in what is the most pivotal moment of her development.