Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces

By: Shadow Chaser

An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising

Timeframe:

In the events of Phase Nineteen, Kira appeared at the last moment to kill Sven Anderson along with Athrun who killed Griever, Kira's clone-brother. However, during the clean-up process, it is where things take a nasty twist.

Story:

Previously on Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces…

"Athrun?" Cagalli's light touch on his shoulder seared across his consciousness. Though he couldn't feel it, he knew she was trying to comfort him. "It's…not your fault…"

"Yes it is," he replied softly, closing his eyes, trying to block out the memory.

"You tried your best, that's all, no one blames you in the least," Cagalli said before shifting slightly in her seat, "we don't blame you…" Her hand suddenly moved from his shoulder to his cheek and he felt her cool touch pulling him away from his gaze at the stars. He turned, very reluctantly, and saw the pain in both their eyes that mirrored his own. "Don't pull away, Athrun, don't leave us alone and pull into that shell…please…"

He looked at her, deep into her hazel eyes. "I'll stay…" he whispered, "I won't leave you or anyone else anymore."

"A trick…" he whispered as he kept his eyes closed.

"Not a trick, Kira. I'm right here, your Uncle Patrick," Zala said.

"You died. You died in Genesis. Athrun and Cagalli told me," he said in a slightly quavering voice.

"I didn't…Athrun and Cagalli were wrong. I'm right here, and if you open your eyes, you can see me," Zala replied in the same gentle voice, but Kira could hear a brittleness in them.

Kira finally opened his eyes, staring up at the aged face of the man that was Patrick Zala. He looked exactly like he did all those years ago on CopernicusCity, except with a lot more grey hairs and crystalline eyes. He narrowed his eyes slightly, "You're a clone."

That provoked a reaction from Zala and Kira felt his head snap to one side, his left cheek slamming painfully into the cool metal of the examination table, his right cheek burning where Zala had hit him.

"The real Patrick Zala wouldn't do something like this. Athrun was right, he is dead and the only thing I see is just an imitation. Whatever you do to me, I will not cooperate," he said in a cold voice, glaring at the man.

"Then you never knew of my true intentions, Kira Yamato. And in due time, you will cooperate or you will see your friends and family suffer," Zala replied in an equally cold voice.

Phase Three – Determination

Cagalli sat in the mess hall aboard the Babylon, a cup of coffee in her hands. The coffee had gone cold a long time ago, but she didn't care. Athrun was sleeping off the anesthetics, his incredible healing abilities given to him as a Coordinator speeding up the process. However, it had been three days since they had defeated Sven Anderson and the LF forces were going to split up. Lacus was headed back to PLANT in the Eternal after they had transferred the Justice and Athrun to the Babylon. She was going back to warn Eileen Canaver that Patrick Zala was alive and probably preparing a coup de etat against the current Supreme Council.

She, herself, had to get back to Aube as her country was probably wondering where their leader was by now. She had stayed too long in the war zone and there was the effort of rebuilding relations with OMNI and rebuilding the Senate Hall in Aube to keep the peace going. The Colony Mendel battle was such a small battle in comparison to what had been happening in the world of politics.

The LF had done its first major job with a victory, but now they were off to prevent another one from occurring. This time, she knew that she would be confined to the seat of politics instead of the battlefield, in an effort to prevent the cloned Patrick Zala from taking over and reliving the nightmare at Jakin Due.

But she wanted nothing more than to search for her twin brother. She wanted to know where he was…the link that they shared as all but closed to her at such a far distance. She had faith that Lacus would launch an internal investigation using her own Clyne Faction to search for Kira, and she trusted her friend's wisdom, but she wanted to search for Kira herself.

"Kira will be all right, he's strong," the gentle voice of Kira's mother Kanoko spoke from the door to the empty mess hall and Cagalli looked up as she walked towards her before sitting down next to her.

"I know Mrs. Yamato," even though Kanoko had insisted that she call her Kanoko or Aunt Kanoko, she couldn't bring herself to do so. "It's just that…"

"You're frustrated because the duties you have to Aube take you away, is that it?" Kira's mother finished her thought for her.

"Yeah," Cagalli sighed and sipped some of her cold coffee, grimacing at the horrible taste. "Sometimes, I wish that I wasn't a Princess of Aube," she continued before a bitter laugh escaped her lips, "Mrs. Yamato, why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't Kira and I grow up normally? Why did this happen?"

"I would answer because it is fate, but it wouldn't matter to you Cagalli," Kanoko reached over and placed a comforting hand on hers, giving it a gentle squeeze, "but what I can tell you is that you have to be strong. You and Kira have always been strong no matter what was thrown your way. It's a trait that your mother passed on to you…and I can see much of her in your spirit, Cagalli.

"Kira…" Cagalli saw her hesitate on her son's name and realized that the woman had gone through so much in so long that her problems were childish in comparison with what former Dr. Kanoko Kamiya had gone through to keep their secret with her father Uzumi. "Kira…had been the more dependent and fragile than the two of you, but when you were just newborns, even you were the one to support Kira. Don't falter now for his sake…and for your own…"

"I know…" Cagalli whispered. Kira had always seemed independent, carrying the weight of the world on his gentle shoulders. She had tried to wake him up out of his stupor in the aftermath of the bombing and when Athrun left to join the LF at Panama and even then she had seen how fragile he was. She couldn't afford to falter now…not with everything hanging in balance.

She decided right then and there that she would do everything in her power as the leader of Aube to try to find out the whereabouts of her brother, no matter the cost. She had to get Kira back…for her sake, for Athrun's sake, for Lacus' sake, and for her brother's own sake. Looking up at Kanoko she smiled slightly, "Thank you…"

"You're welcome, Cagalli. Anytime you need advice or just someone to talk to, I will be here for you," Kanoko brushed a few strands of her hair away from her face before sighing, "You look so much like your mother Katherine…" She got up and started to leave before turning around again, "I had originally came here to tell you that we were about to enter Earth's orbit."

"All right," Cagalli nodded, "tell Ledonil I'll be up on the bridge in a few minutes. I just want to check on Athrun once more…" Cagalli replied and Kanoko nodded before leaving, the door hissing closed behind her.

Cagalli stared out into the starry blackness of space, knowing that at the PLANTs her brother was somewhere there. They would get Kira back, alive and safe.

Lacus Clyne sat in the lift that took her directly to the Supreme Council Hall on the PLANT of December City. Next to her on either side were two men dressed in black suits, her bodyguards. Across from her in the lift was Yzak Joule and Dearka Elsman, the latter of the two looking a bit uncomfortable to be back at PLANT whereas Yzak looked completely at ease. Beside them, Andy Bartfield stood, looking wistfully at the aerial scenery that descended at a slow rate as the lift headed downwards from the spaceport. Senator Amalfi also stood, staring out at the window, an expressionless face.

Pinkie sat in her lap, somehow sensing the solemn mood in the lift and only flapped its arm covers, occasionally floating slightly in the air as the near zero-g of the lift took them down. Eileen needed to be warned that Patrick Zala was alive, albeit a cloned form, but nonetheless alive. Then she would have to contact the secret members of the Clyne Faction of the LF – but that was a job Yzak could handle, her most trusted member.

As the lift stopped and the doors opened, Lacus got up and walked through, her bodyguards and the rest of her entourage trailing behind her. Making a beeline towards the Council Hall where she knew that Eileen was probably in a meeting with a few of the committee members so it wasn't barging into a full council meeting. That would be good, as the less people knew the better…there were too many chances that someone on the Council was a spy.

She breezed past the guards, telling them that the rest of her entourage was with her and had high clearances. A few of the guards recognized her and Amalfi and hastily stepped aside. One guard opened the door to the Council Hall and she stepped in, halting the conversation that had been happening between Eileen, Ezalia Joule, and Tad Elsman.

"Lacus, you're-"

She waved a hand, cutting off whatever Eileen was going to say and approached them, tossing Pinkie to one of her bodyguards who was used to catching it on her whim, "Good you're all here." Turning back to the guard that opened the door she smiled at him, "Can you make sure that we are not bothered for a while?"

"Of course Miss Lacus," the guard said before walking out and locking the door with a barely audible click.

She noticed that a few people were looking at her in surprise. She had rarely been forceful in her efforts, and this was probably one of her rare moments. She really never had the disposition to be forceful with her words, even her father noticed that, but her father had told her that when the time came, she could be as stubborn as ever.

"Lacus, what is this about?" Eileen asked as she gestured for the rest of her entourage to sit in the seats that were supposed to be occupied by the rest of the Supreme Council and she noticed with a slight smile that a few of them were hesitating in sitting in the seats, but a couple of others like Yzak just sat down, no questions asked.

"I apologize for disrupting your conversation, Councilors, but I need your resources immediately," she gestured for Eileen, Ezalia, and Tad to sit down, and they did, reluctantly. She saw Tad give a quick look to his son Dearka who was avoiding his gaze.

"What is it? Has Sven Anderson not been defeated?" Eileen looked worried and Ezalia had a pinched look on her face.

"He has," Lacus reassured them, "but he was working for someone else."

"What?" Eileen asked, surprised, but she managed to keep her face from showing the shock.

"He claimed to be working for Patrick Zala."

"WHAT?!" this time there was no keeping shock from either Eileen's face or Tad Elsman's face. Only Ezalia slowly lowered her head down.

"He did it then…" the white-haired councilor said and Lacus stared at her.

"Mother?" even Yzak was shocked.

Ezalia didn't raise her head up and instead shook it, a bitter laugh coming out of her lips. "He really did it, that bastard."

Lacus knew better than to pry…she knew Ezalia would tell them what she was talking about, and so waited patiently for the woman to continue.

"Ezalia, what are you-"

"I assume by now since you've been to Colony Mendel you know of what happened? Of what Sven Anderson was? And of what happened there with Ulen Hibiki's genetic research?" Ezalia asked, still not lifting her head up.

"He was trying to create the ultimate coordinator, but there was no record of success or not," Tad said and inwardly Lacus breathed a quick sigh of relief – no one knew Kira's secret…which she intended to keep it that way.

"But he also dabbled into cloning as a side hobby of sorts," Ezalia continued, "he was funded by Patrick Zala and Anton Ariga LaFlaga. However, it was assumed that Zala was only interested in the ultimate coordinator research and LaFlaga too, until there was once where LaFlaga had demanded that since he was providing the funds to Hibiki that he use his current research and make a clone of him, so he would be able to live forever.

"Hibiki agreed and the clone of LaFlaga was born…and named Rau Le Creuset," Ezalia lifted her head up and Lacus saw that there was no emotion in her eyes.

The rest of the room gasped at the announcement but Lacus tilted her head slightly, "But there was a problem with the cloning process wasn't there?"

"That's why the man was crazy," Yzak whispered.

"No," Ezalia replied, shaking her head, "Rau Le Creuset wasn't insane. He was cold, calculating, but not insane. It was Patrick Zala who made him that way. Zala was the one responsible for the man that fought in the war."

"What?!" Dearka laughed mirthlessly, "Forgive me Councilor, but Commander Le Creuset seemed like he didn't care for Zala's words or for anyone of that matter."

"As both LaFlaga and Zala were funding Hibiki's research, it was natural that Zala found out about the cloning accomplishment and demanded that he too have a clone. But his jealousy of having a clone that was second to what LaFlaga had was unabated and so, he had LaFlaga killed and took in the rapidly aging Le Creuset to mold him to his own. He twisted Le Creuset's mind using the genetics that he had gotten from Hibiki's research. Ultimately, Zala wanted control of everything and that was why he even had Hibiki killed and all notes either destroyed or in his possession," Ezalia's voice had not wavered or changed. "That man was the insane one…"

"How do you know all of this Ezalia?" Eileen looked completely shocked.

Lacus watched as the woman looked at the Supreme Chairwoman with a sad look on her face, "I was the one who killed LaFlaga and conspired with Hibiki's wife to eliminate what was happening in Colony Mendel."

Lacus blinked in surprise. This was something she hadn't expected. Ezalia knew Kira and Cagalli's mother…but did she know about everything else? She could sense that the white-haired woman only knew about Katherine Hibiki and Sven Anderson so which meant that she didn't know about the inside conspiracy between Uzumi Attha, Ledonil Kisaka, and Kanoko Yamato.

"But…how…"

"That was why I had ordered you to infiltrate the Talon and try to eliminate Sven Anderson from within. I knew about the genetic manipulation and almost everything that was going on from within. I knew there were a few things kept from me, but since Zala had eliminated Hibiki and LaFlaga, he used the fact that I knew this to force me to become his voice and to preach his ideals during the war," Ezalia turned to look at Lacus, "I apologize Miss Lacus Clyne for all of the grief I had caused during the war. I really followed your father's ideals for peace, but…"

"No need for an apology Ezalia," Lacus smiled gently, "you had to protect your family."

She briefly looked at Yzak who was lost in deep thought before turning back to Eileen, Ezalia, and Tad who had looked completely bewildered throughout the whole conversation. "However, Ezalia, when you said that Zala ordered a clone produced of him, you knew of it, correct?"

"Yes. And I had thought he had discarded it, destroyed his clone. I had put feelers out to hunt down traces of the clone after Zala died at Jakin Due, but when those came up empty, I had thought the clone was destroyed. I should have known better…" she curled a fist in anger.

"Stop blaming yourself Ezalia," Aaron Yuri Amalfi suddenly spoke up, having been quiet the whole time, "none of us could have known. War makes all of us fools, and so we are here, to make up and pay for the mistakes we've done. You were doing your duty just as I was in trying to create the Freedom and Justice."

"But Aaron…Yuri…your son…"

"Nicol can't be replaced, but he sacrificed his life for us, to keep us alive," Amalfi said in a hardened voice, "this new problem we have is just another road block to peace."

"Senator Amalfi is correct," Lacus smiled at the man before turning to face Eileen, "you'll need to alert ZAFT that there is a traitor in the PLANTs. Don't give out Zala's name, it will cause panic. Ezalia, will you be able to get your Intelligence Division to search for any traces of Zala?"

"Yes. I'll have my top people on it," Ezalia looked confident.

"Tad, since your field is biochemistry, we'll need to check all of the pharmaceuticals for a specific type of drug that is ingested. From what I know of Rau Le Creuset, the aging process has a toll on the physical capabilities and he had to take a certain type of medicine to prevent that. Do you Yzak or Dearka know of what medication he took?"

"No, Miss Lacus," both Dearka and Yzak shook their heads, "he was very secretive with what he did in his office."

"All right…I'll see if Athrun has any information his father left for him about the cloning process," Lacus paused for a second before getting up, the rest of them also rising from their seats. "Eileen, tell the rest of the Council, but if word of this gets out, we could have problems."

"Don't worry Lacus, we'll find Zala and stop him," she replied before Lacus bowed slightly and walked out of the room, Yzak, Dearka, and her bodyguards following her. Amalfi stayed behind to talk some more with the rest of them.

As soon as they were back on the lift, headed towards another part of the PLANT Lacus looked at Yzak and Dearka. "You two know what's at stake here. Though you don't know why Kira was kidnapped, you do know that if Zala has him there will be problems."

"Don't worry Miss Lacus, we'll find him," Dearka smirked, leaning back, "so this is what it feels like to be undercover for the Clyne Faction of the LF."

"Don't get used to it," Yzak poked him in the ribs and Lacus smiled at their antics. She knew that they were trying to cheer her up and she appreciated the effort. As she looked outside at the beautiful scenery of the PLANT she briefly wondered if Kira was somewhere in the PLANTs…and if so, could she sense him?

Kira…be safe…come home to us…to me…

Kira awoke once more to find himself in a darkened room…no it was more like a cell, he observed as he slowly sat up on the barely comfortable bed he was placed on, still feeling lethargic. The attempt he made to speak to Patrick Zala taxed him a lot as the drugs they had pumped into him literally were an effort to shake off. He had wanted to escape then and there, but all of his energy had been to just make himself sit up and face the madman.

A sudden stinging pain made him look at his arm in the dim light that filtered through the cracks on the door and he stared at his right hand and noticed that an IV was attached. He pulled at the IV, hissing a bit in pain as he pulled the needle out and tossed it to the side of his bed. With that out of the way, he leaned back against the wall that his bed was attached to, feeling the coolness of the metal seep into his head, making him a bit more alert.

Looking around, he saw that the room he was placed in had bare walls and the only light that was shining through was that of where the door was. A sudden chill racked his body and he curled up, hugging his legs to his chest, trying to conserve whatever warmth he had as he was still in his shorts and tee-shirt he usually wore underneath his flightsuit. There was no blanket on the bed he was placed on so he hugged himself until he felt the chill go away.

He briefly wondered how long had he been out since his conversation with Zala…whatever they had injected into him was messing with his sense of time. He slowly uncurled himself and slowly got up, grabbing the side of the bed for support as he felt a wave of dizziness pass over him. As soon as the dizziness passed, he took a few tentative steps forward, trying to make sure he had a good footing.

Walking slowly towards one of the walls he touched it, his hands exploring all of the little nooks in the walls, trying to find something that would be a panel of sorts. If the walls were metal, he was either on a ship or in a PLANT and where there were metal walls, on the other side there had to be wiring of sorts. He didn't really know anything about being a prisoner of war, but he did know that human instinct wouldn't want to be cooped up involuntarily – escape was the first thing.

He was half way to the other side when the door opened with a hiss and Kira looked up to see a woman in a lab coat standing as bright light poured in, obscuring most of her features. He raised up an arm to block the harsh light from blinding him before the door hissed close once more, plunging the room into near-darkness once more. Suddenly, dim lights flooded the room, not as bright as it was outside, but bright enough that it didn't hurt his eyes, and he finally saw what the woman looked like.

She had a brown hair that was cut into a bob and she wore rimmed glasses to which her dark eyes were staring at him. She wasn't gorgeous, but she was pretty in Kira's opinion, but her gaze didn't make him feel uncomfortable at all, instead it was filled with sympathy and a hint of regret.

"You really shouldn't do that Kira," the woman said, adjusting her blue-rimmed glasses before she shuffled a few papers in the clipboard she was carrying. Kira was mildly surprised to see actual paper on the clipboard – most people just used datapads or computers for notes.

"A prisoner's first obligation is to escape," he replied turning to face her, letting his hands rest by his side. If she made any move towards him, he would take her down…

"That's only in the movies, Kira," she said, her voice neutral.

"Stop calling me by my name. I don't even know who you are," he replied.

"Ah…so you do still have the sense of what the Japanese customs…well considering that your adopted mother and father were Japanese, it's probably their well-being to teach you the proper and ancient Japanese customs," she tapped the top of her clipboard and suddenly Kira found that her gaze became a bit less friendly.

Gone was the sympathetic look and regret and in place was a cool calculating stare. It unnerved him and he forced himself to stare right back, "Who are you?"

"If you really want to know, I'm Dr. Madison Francis. There, we're properly introduced, Kira."

"Stop calling me Kira," he replied.

"Fine then. Yamato-san," she suddenly spoke in fluent Japanese and Kira blinked, trying hard to follow the words. He had heard his parents speak in Japanese when he was younger, and was able to pick up on some of what they said, but now…he couldn't even follow her.

"You didn't even get that did you?" the doctor smirked at his expression, "should I keep calling you Yamato-san or will you cooperate?"

"I'll never cooperate with you," Kira replied coldly, "I told Zala that I'll never bow down to whatever he has in store for me."

"You know…it would be beneficial if you did. Otherwise we wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures," she made a few marks on the clipboard.

"I don't care if you torture me or not," Kira said, trying to project an air of confidence.

"Who said anything about torture?" she said.

Kira snorted, "Ha! Don't give me that bullshit. You've caught me. I'm a prisoner of whatever psychotic schemes you and Zala have set up. There is torture involved-"

She raised a dismissive hand, "You've been watching too many movies Kira. I'm only here just to see how you're doing and yet you've gone all defensive on me."

"What did you expect? That I be submissive?" Kira snapped back, feeling frustrated.

"At least we wouldn't have to keep you locked up in here," Dr. Madison replied in a sad voice.

"I suppose you wouldn't tell me where here is, would you?" Kira didn't expect a positive answer.

"You're in one of the PLANTs. I can't tell you which one, but you're in the PLANTs," her reply startled him.

"You're lying," he narrowed his eyes, searching her features for any sign of deception even though he didn't know how to find it. Wasn't it customary for the "bad-guy" not to reveal the location or even tell anything to the prisoner, only to gloat?

"Why would I lie? I've got no problem telling you about where you are," she replied in a frank voice.

"Aren't you afraid that I will try to escape?" Kira was starting to get a bit confused. The woman in front of him was a puzzle…

"By all means. If you can, go ahead," she lifted her arm and the door hissed open, "I'm not going to stop you."

"What?!" he was starting to get real confused.

"Escape. Go. What are you waiting for?" she waved her hand at him and Kira blinked before taking a few steps forward, just to see if she would move to stop him. When she didn't he ran towards the open door.

He was half way to the door when out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her move towards him. He ducked underneath her first blow and tried to lash out to disable her in any way, but his arms still felt lethargic from the drugs and completely missed her. Suddenly, pain exploded on his spine and he felt paralyzed, his body suddenly dropping to the ground like a stone. He could only move his head and turned to see her standing over him, her face expressionless.

"What…"

"I apologize Kira, but right now, it's for your own good," she said before she lashed out with her foot and then blackness consumed his vision.

Dr. Madison Francis stared down at the unconscious boy. Why did Patrick order the capture of this boy? He was just a child who knew nothing of warfare. To capture him and then subject him to all the tests…was he truly the ultimate creation of Dr. Ulen Hibiki? She had a hard time putting her finger on that one – even though the tests that were done on him by the preliminary team showed that he was the ultimate coordinator, but still…he was only a child.

She suddenly bent down and wiped a few strands of his brown hair away from his face, marveling at how young he looked. The boy was just merely eighteen…still a child by her standards. She would do her job…but she would watch this boy…

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait. I was inspired to finish this chapter after viewing Ep. 14 of Gundam SEED Destiny. WAHAHAH! Kira rescuing Cagalli from the altar in the Freedom – PRICELESS! Take that Yuuna you bastard!