Here it is finally
Kira frowned as he waited for the Strike to be loaded into the Catapult. Something felt different this time, but he couldn't quite place it. He felt lighter in a way less burdened and more disconcertingly less nervous.
'Am I getting used to fighting already?' He thought quite uncomfortable with the idea.
Matthias quickly sensed his discomfort and opened a comm. Line.
"Hey Kira. You ok?" he said looking slightly concerned even through his helmets visor.
"I'm not sure. I Feel kind of different like I… Like I want to do this I guess." The violet eyed teen replied.
The blondes face immediately split into a huge grin. "Seems you've found something or someone you truly wish to fight for." He said in an assuring tone.
"Why would it happen now then? I've been protecting my friends since Heliopolis." Kira countered despite being confused.
Causing Matthias to shoot him a look that practically screamed 'Oh come on!'
When Kira still didn't get it he decided to give the brunette a big hint. A few presses of the keyboard and Lacus's song quiet night began playing. Kira then finally got what Matthias was getting at and blushed a nice shade of crimson.
"Natarle will have you for improper used of military resources." He warned when he had composed himself enough to speak, just as the 2 machines were loaded into the catapult.
Matthias Laughed loudly before replying. "She would, if the Defender was a military resource." He said with a smile. "Good luck out there." He added cutting the link as the Devastator and Aile packs were lowered onto their respective machines. A quick confirmation from Mir and they lauched.
"Kira Yamato. Strike Gundam. Let's go."
"Matthias Rynar. Defender Gundam. Towards tomorrow."
The two units boosted towards the embattled escort ships, the Defender pausing momentarily to fire with its heavy shoulder armament before continuing. Mu and the Zero following in their wake.
3 Mobius units detonated under the fire of the Aegis as Athrun exercised the massive advantage in skill and performance he had over the Earth Alliance pilots and their machines. The red Gundam moved to engage one of the escort ships only for Athrun to yank back on the control yokes as the console screamed a warning. The blue and red flash of the hyper impulse beam passing rather too close for Athrun's liking but instead obliterated an unsuspecting GINN.
Athrun paused a moment to acknowledge his brush with death and his fallen comrade before diving towards the source of the beam, in the wake of several GINNs and Commander Greenss CGUE.
Lacus winced as the Strike narrowly avoided a blow from one of the many GINNs that buzzed around it on the screen. Kira had shown her how to access the outer cameras from the computer s in their room. She was now using them to watch over said brunette as he fought to protect the ship and his friends. There was a flash of red as the white, blue and red machine sliced a GINN in half. Then switching to its beam rifle and destroying another.
Lacus was sad the people were dying in front of her but she couldn't find it in her self to blame Kira for it. He was doing the right thing protecting his friends and refugees on the Archangel.
There was a hiss as the door opened revealing Riyu. The Hazel eyed girl smiled at her slightly before sitting at the other computer in the room. She cycled trough cameras till it stopped on the Defender as it kicked a GINN into submission.
Lacus winced again and let out a small gasp as the Strike was clipped by a missile.
Riyu noticed the sound, casing an amused smile to edge onto her lips. "Does he mean that much to you already?" She asked bluntly.
Lacus froze blood running to her cheeks. She hadn't thought of it like that.
The more she did think about it the more she thought the older girl was right. She like talking to Kira, she like being around him. Yes, He definitely meant that much to her.
"Well" Pressed the brunette.
The pink haired Diva blushed but managed to nod in reply.
"Good." Riyu said with a smile. Stopping the conversation so they could continue watching over their respective pilots.
Matthias swore as a heated rail gun round smashed into the Defenders face plate for the second time this battle.
"Your slipping monster man, that's twice now." Mocked Solomon backing off.
Matthias snorted in derision. "Monster man? You the biggest monster here you bigoted asshole."
The blue CGUE immediately lashed out with its shield. "I'm not the one who butchered innocent people here." The ginger haired pilot snapped.
"So that's what this is about…" Matthias replied somberly, deftly flicking the Defender out of reach.
"I never meant for that... Bullshit!" The white suite commander cut him off violently opening up with his CGUE's machine gun and rail gun.
"I was there I saw you tear them apart. I don't know how you didn't even touch them but it was you. With out any hesitation."
Matthias responded with his armament and hyper impulse, beam and rail shots lit up the space between the 2 units.
"What makes you think I was in control at the time?" He countered strongly
A beam splashed against the strikes shield as the Aegis closed to saber range.
"Kira this is enough now! Stop letting the Earth Forces use you." Pleaded Athrun lashing out with a wrist saber. Kira calmly took the blow on his shield.
"I've already told you I'm just doing this to protect my friends." He countered. "Especially her." He added absently as the strikes beam saber hissed to life.
"Pardon!" Athrun barely got the word out when his loss of focus allowed Kira to boot him away.
'Has Kira got himself a girlfriend?' Under different circumstances Athrun would probably have laughed and congratulated his friend. As it was I made him realize that there was now no longer any chance of Kira leaving the legged ship.
That didn't stop him trying though.
"Kira please can't you see that their lying to you. You shouldn't be fighting your own kind." He pleaded not realizing it was exactly the wrong thing to say.
The faces of his friends flashed through Kira's mind, Kuzzey, Mir, Tolle, Sai, Flay, Matthias, Riyu and Lacus.
"You don't know what you're talking about Athrun!" The brunette yelled back in anger.
"I have been friends with people on that ship since I came to Heliopolis. If anyone is being deceived here it's you." He snapped, body checking the red machine.
Athrun blinked 'Did Kira really just say that?'
The Aegis only just managed to recover when the Strike smashed in again it's beam saber removing the ZAFT unit's gun arm.
"If that's how it is then next time we meet I will show you no mercy." Said Athrun as he retreated back towards that Vesalius just as the first of the escorts detonated despite Mu's best efforts.
"So what. You're dangerous." Solomon sneered in response. "Your death will make the world a better place." The two units's circled each other as the shockwaves of the first escort's destruction rattled through them.
Riyu's crying face suddenly flashed through Matthias's mind causing him to let out a low chuckle leaning forward as he did so.
"I'm such an idiot." He muttered to himself before straightening.
"Wha?" Solomon wasn't sure what to make of that comment until the blond fixed him with a gaze so intense he swore he could feel it through the screen.
"Nine years, nine long years of having causes to die for and you want to kill me now? When I've finally found something to live for." Said the blond pilot switching the Defender's rifle for a beam saber.
The CGUE drew its heat sword in response and charged. "That doesn't change anything." Ben hissed smashing the red blade against the Defender's shield.
Matthias let out an annoyed snort and the ZAFT white suit suddenly found himself kicked away and nearly impaled by a tossed shield.
He recovered just in time to see Matthias replace the discarded shield with a second saber. "You're right." Concurred Matthias. "It doesn't change anything it changes EVERYTHING!" With the last word the Defender smashed in like an avenging angel sending the CGUE flying once again.
Solomon swore fighting with the controls to be ready for the follow up attack. Except it didn't come the Defender floated above him a short distance away both sabers at the ready.
"You bastard!" Solomon screeched smashing the Defenders left saber flying with his shield and driving his head sword into the opening. The subsequent explosion sent him flying back both machine and sword pitted and burned. "You were saying."
Back on the Archangel Lacus gasped and looked over at Riyu. Who was… smiling?
"You lucky idiot." The brunette muttered hand on her heart.
Solomon barely had to react to the panicked alarm of his console as the black form of the Defender blasted out of the smoke cloud saber forward a pale glow fading about it's chest. Instinct and luck saved him his shield clumsily deflecting the blow leaving the Defender open once again. The heat blade swung up once more only to crash against frozen fire.
"As I was about to say. You loose."
The battered heat blade held for a moment before the triple high intensity wrist beam blades burned away the last of it's anti-beam coating and hissed right through. A quick flick removed most of the CGUE's right arm as well.
Solomon attempted to knock the Defender away with a rail slug only for Matthias to beat him to the punch melting the weapon and most of his CGUE's head with a hyper impulse blast. The green-eyed commander shut his eyes and braced himself for the end his tortured machine rocked from another blow but the end did not come.
"Did you really expect me to kill you?" It was a rhetorical question.
Solomon's eyes shot open in surprise he truly thought that he was dead there.
"Why not? You didn't have any problem with the others." He bit out.
Matthias sighed. "Necessity in war it seems. To be honest I'm sick of it."
With that he pulled away as the detonation of the second escort illuminating both machines.
Kira ground his teeth in frustration as the second escort fell to the GINNs. No matter what he did there were simply too many of the ZAFT mobile suits for him to protect the ships effectively. Especially since Mu's Zero had been damage forcing the Mobile Armour to withdraw.
Kira fired dropping the enemy count by one, holding back his tears all the while. Behind him the 2 destroyers closed unnoticed by the brunette.
They did not however go unnoticed by a certain blond who summed up the situation with a single word.
"Fuck!"
The psychics hands flew over the Defenders console as he check the remaining power and began calibrations.
'Whoever is in charge of that escort, now would be a very good time to leave.' He thought as he brought the Defender into a better firing angle. For the briefest of seconds his eyes flashed brighter.
On board the Montgomery the Captain turned to George Allstar. "I suggest you get to one of the escape pods sir it doesn't look good." He said somberly.
"But... What about my daughter?" The vice foreign minister Complained.
"The way things are going the Archangel should be able to retreat, but if you don't get to the escape pod right now you will not be seeing your daughter ever again." The Captain snapped in a hard tone.
The implications of the captains words caused the politician to pale before taking off faster than a scolded rabbit.
The Captain let out a sigh as he looked out at the battlefield. At least he was able to save one person.
Matthias grit his teeth as the Defender began to shake from the energy build up. Part of him wandered why he had ever equipped the Defender with the Tachyon Bolt Emitter, it was unstable heavy and a massive energy drain. Though the fact that he was now using it and had used it's containments fields to save his life earlier kind of nullified that chain of thought.
The pale glow around the Defenders chest grew in intensity as the charge built. With each second that ticked by the Vesalius and Claymore closed on their victim. Flashes around them indicating the launch of anti-beam depth charges.
The Defenders console beep signaling that the TBE was fully charged. The blond pilot sighed looking at a magnified image of the Claymore. The ships right arm highlighted.
"Sorry about this." He muttered pressing the trigger.
The compressed bolt of mass inverted tachyons burst forward sending the Defender flying from the recoil.
There was barely any time to see the glowing projectile as it flashed across the void and smashed into the arm of the Nazca class destroyer with a force to rival Mojnir itself.
The impact crushed the right arm of the vessel like a tin can before tearing it clean off the ship.
The impact and change of mass forced the ship off it's course sending it into a slow tumble which only narrowly missed the Vesalius.
For once in his life Commander Rau Le Creuset was truly surprised though his mask hid it from those around him. True the power of the Strikes Agni had caught him off guard but he'd taken it in his stride but the firepower the black unit had demonstrated so spectacularly stunned him. It had quite clearly been a warning shot of sorts the pilot could have quite easily Destroyed the Claymore with that shot but chose not to. That worried him somewhat you only fired a warning shot if you had another to back up the warning. Of course the pilot could be bluffing but the white suit Commander wasn't about to chance it.
"Fire main guns and withdraw." he ordered. "Have the Claymore pull back as well."
"Understood Sir."
Kira, Matthias and the Archangels crew could only watch on in horror as the Vesalius's Twin Beam cannons opened up blasting through the Montgomery and utterly destroying the unfortunate ship.
Slowly, in a stately fashion that belied the destruction it had just caused, the Vesalius came about and began to withdraw the damaged Claymore limping along in tow.
In the Defender, Matthias smashed hi hand against the cockpit wall. "You're a fucking disgrace Le Creuset. That ship wasn't even a threat anymore."
The blond pilot muttered darkly when Kira opened a com channel. "Matthias I'm getting a faint distress signal I think someone may have got off the ship in time.
Matthias let out a sigh. 'At least we saved someone. I hope for Flays sake that her father was one of the ones to get out.'
"I can confirm the survivors, I'll be along to help you search." He said when the Defenders console let out a high pitched wine as the main batteries ran out. "Though you may have to carry me back as I've just gone on to the emergency battery." he added as the Defenders armour faded to gray.
Thanks to Matthias the escape shuttle was found pretty quickly and the blond psychic was able to assure as frantic Flay that her father had made it aboard.
Riyu let out a sigh of relief as she shut down her screen. "I'm heading down to the hanger to see Matthias you coming?" She asked heading for the door. "I think Kira would appreciate it." She added when Lacus didn't respond.
"O.k. I'm coming." Lacus replied getting to her feet "I don't want to miss the show." Riyu gave her a confused look at that to which the pinkette grinned.
"Don't disappoint me." Lacus added and Riyu went a deep crimson when she realized just what her idol meant.
With that the two girls headed for the hangar.
The pair reached the hangar just as both mobile suits settled in their cradles. Riyu shooting off towards the Defender before Lacus had even seen it. The pinkette smiled at her friends actions as she headed over to the Strike. Kira was already out when the songstress floated up beside him.
"Are you OK Kira?" She asked handing him a drinks bottle she had picked up on the way over.
The brunette took a long swig before replying. "Thanks. I think I'm ok."
Lacus nodded in response and a awkward silence descended over the two Kira having more of his drink while Lacus looked at the floor.
"You scared me earlier." Said Lacus breaking the silence between them.
"How?"
"I was scared you wouldn't make it back and I'd loose one of the few friends I have on this ship." She continued quietly blushing at her own admission.
Kira didn't know how to respond to that his own cheeks deepening in shade slightly. "I'm sorry." He manged to say only for the awkward silence to descend straight after.
They floated like that for a moment until a low murmuring around the hangar brought their attention to what was going on by the Defender.
Moments Earlier
Matthias had barely cleared the cockpit when Riyu tackled him. Only his enhanced reaction allowing him to get a hand hold so they didn't end up floating around the hangar.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again." Scolded the brunette as she wrapped her arms around him possessively.
Matthias couldn't help but smile wearily as he hugged her back. "I'll try no promises though."
At that Riyu lean back to look at him one eyebrow raised. "Oh really."
The blond pilot shrugged. "No point in making a promise that you can't keep."
Riyu's expression softened into a smile. "You're right" She said moving closer to rest her head on his shoulder.
They remained like that for a moment completely comfortable in each others arms.
"I may not be able to promise that I won't worry you but I can promise you something else." Matthias said as he started stroking her hair.
"No matter what Happens I will always come back to you."
Riyu leant back again cocking her head slightly. "What if coming back is impossible?" She asked quietly.
"It's only impossible if you believe it is." He said with a smirk.
Riyu smiled slightly at his answer. "I'll hold you to that" She whispered leaning forward to claim his lips with hers.
Matthias although not really expecting it immediately kissed back.
Riyu not being one to be submissive deepened the kiss running her tongue over his lips.
That caught the young coordinator by surprise his mouth opening slightly. A fact Riyu immediately capitalized on to start a duel of tongues.
"Wow" Breathed Kira as he and Lacus watched the pair. With just about everyone in the hangar spectating as well.
Lacus nodded. "Beneath it all their jsut as scared as everyone else." She said half to herself as people continued to murmur.
The kissing pair eventually had to part for air, cheeks flushed from the contact. That's when Matthias noticed everyone watching them causing his face to turn an alarming shade of red.
"We have an audience" he managed to mutter. Causing Riyu to whip round out of his embrace though she kept hold of his arm. Her face colouring to match his.
"I think we should join meet our new guests with the Captain." Said Matthias looking down at the Small gathering by the escape shuttle.
Riyu nodded and the pair pushed off towards the meeting. Matthias's gaze flicking between George Alstar and a widely grinning Mu La Flaga.
'This is going to be interesting.'