Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED.

A/N: I can't remember the names of the Supreme Council members, so I'm making them up. Excuse them if they relate to Australian politicians a little. Hint, hint, Barnaby Joyce (no he doesn't have underworld connections, and he's actually a member of my favourite coalition, so...)

No character chatter this time, this is a longer chapter. The Characters don't have time to chat. Remember to Read and Review please!

Athrun's Trial: Chapter 3 – Despair

Athrun looked glumly at the walls surrounding him, ZAFT's 24 Hour isolation was a killer, he understood why people had gone crazy while in isolation. He was restless, he wanted to do something, to scream. None of them was an option however, if he screamed, it'd only be proof he was going mad and it'd give Canaver more leverage against him, he couldn't do anything. An isolation cell was small, just enough space for 2 people to sit upright. This is torture, Athrun thought miserably.

Eileen Canaver was furious, Cagali Yula Attha had indisputable proof that she'd kidnapped Athrun Zala, now she was going to be forced to hand him over into Cagali's custody where he'd be treated well. She couldn't have that, Athrun Zala was not allowed to escape this easily after all he and his father did to the PLANTS. She wouldn't permit it. Eileen picked up her phone and dialled a phone number. She thought while it rang, she needed to humiliate Athrun, make him appear completely insane. A method of making sure he didn't leave the prison, or that he was locked up for his trial, either way, as long as he was unable to defend himself. She had no doubt he was as charismatic as his father and would be able to influence people quite easily.

"This is the office of Supreme Councilman Joyce," A voice announced on the other end of the line, "Who is speaking please?"
"This is Chairwoman Canaver," Eileen spoke calmly, "I would like to speak to Supreme Councilman Joyce."
"One moment please Chairwoman," The voice announced.
"This is Joyce," Joyce answered, "What do you need Eileen?"
"You know about the situation relating to Athrun Zala correct?," Eileen queried.
"Sure, I do," Joyce answered, "What of it?"
"Orb has indisputable proof we kidnapped him." Eileen sighed, "I made a deal with Cagali Yula Attha to hand him over to Orb's custody during his trial, but as you can imagine, I'd rather he wasn't at the trial."
"What do you suggest?" Joyce asked.
"I know you have underground connections," Eileen spoke softly, "I want you to use them. Send someone to do something to Athrun Zala while he's still in his isolation cell. Make him look crazy. Cut his wrists if you want. Paint a message on the wall with his blood if you want. Just make him look crazy. Crazy enough to be thrown into a mental hospital or the hospital wing of the prison. Just make sure he won't be appearing at his trial to defend himself."
"But, its his right to defend himself, the constitution states..." Joyce was cut off.
"If I cared about his constitutional rights do you think he'd even be in PLANT now?" Eileen snarled, "Just get it done."
"Ok," Joyce sighed, "I'll make sure it happens."

In Orb, Cagali and Kira were preparing things for their trip to the PLANTS very quickly, Kira finished packing and found Cagali already waiting by the front door tapping her foot on the floor. He couldn't resist an amused chuckle, indisputable proof that Cagali cared for Athrun more than she said. Usually she'd of taken a lot longer to pack a bag.

"Anyone would think you cared a lot more than you show," Kira playfully announced.
"Huh?" Cagali said, her face going red.
"Come on, I won't embarrass you anymore until we see Athrun." Kira laughed, "How are we going? Shuttle or Ship?"
"We're taking the Kusanagi," Cagali sighed, "Its faster, and I want to make a point that this is a matter of national interest."
"By taking the Flagship of the Space fleet to the PLANTS?" Kira asked, "Isn't that a bit, rash?"
"Not at all." Cagali answered.

Kira sighed, when his sister was committed to an idea, her beliefs weren't about to change very quickly. So he followed her into the car which drove them to Kaguya. Upon arrival, Kira found they were surrounded by men who'd fought on the Kusanagi in the war, Kisaka included. Everyone here was a part of the team that had seen the tremendous effect Athrun had made during the war. Kira wondered if Cagali were planning on taking them for more than just the reason that they were Kusanagi made good to her schedule and took off at 10:00am. Another 10 hours or so and they would be in PLANT. One step closer to seeing that Athrun was safe.

7 Hours later, outside the Federal Prison of Aprilius, was a black van loaded with men dressed in black. Breaking into the highest security prison wasn't that easy, you needed to cut power at certain points. Make sure there weren't any guards AND above all else, leave no trace you'd done it. The men counted down the last few seconds until the guard shift was due to change. The second it began, they cut the power to the prison, the team spreadout, making sure everyone was at individual stations. Once everyone was in position to make sure there were no onlookers, the leader climbed into the air vents and slid all the way to Athrun's isolation cell. There, he drew out a screw driver and undid the air vent from the inside where it was screwed in, to stop isolation prisoners escaping from their cells.

When the last screw was out, the man was ready to move, however, he held off, this kid had been part of the military. He wasn't your average kid either, he saw things others didn't. He'd have to wait until the kid turned his back.

Athrun looked at the air vent for a good 10 minutes before he turned his head back to the door. As soon as he looked away, the man pushed the air vent out and dived into the cell. Before Athrun even knew what was going on, there was a hand covering his mouth and an arm wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Sorry kid," The guy said, "I know you probably don't deserve this, but I've never failed a job before, and I won't start now."
Without waiting any longer, he produced a gag from his pocket and forced it into Athrun's mouth. He then drew a knife from a pocket and slashed both of Athrun's wrists open. Athrun's howl of pain could barely be heard thanks to the gag, the man then proceeded to use Athrun's left index finger to write a message in blood. Athrun squirmed and tried to stop him, but he was quickly losing his strength due to blood loss. Athrun fainted moments later. Then the man heard the footsteps of a guard approaching. He hit the door hard with his fist, then dived into the ventilation shaft and screwed the vent back on.

"What the hell?" The guard exclaimed as he opened Athrun's cell door, there was blood everywhere. The floor, the wall. It was downright disgusting. The guard immediately checked for a pulse and was gratified to find that there was one, though it was faint. He then radioed in for a nurse, as well as other guards to cordon off the cell. He wanted to make sure there was evidence if the kid really had done this to himself, they'd need proof. It was possible that isolation just wasn't the right thing for a 17 year old boy. Grown men had gone crazy quicker than this though, maybe the boy was tougher than he assumed.

When the nurse arrived she was horrified, a boy of only 17 had lost this much blood all over being in a prison cell? The Chairwoman ought to be ashamed for making him endure such a difficult type of imprisonment. The nurse quickly arranged blood transfusions and covered the wounds on Athrun's wrists with gauze. She felt sorry for him, she'd heard what he'd done in the great war, he'd done so much for the people of PLANT and all they could show toward him was hate.

When the Kusanagi docked, Kira and Cagali were greeted by Chairwoman Eileen Canaver herself. She politely invited them into a waiting car, with a team of Cagali's body guards trailing close behind in an SUV. The Chairwoman stayed quiet for a while. She then decided to try and push some buttons to earn something in her favour. She knew Kira's past, despite Cagali and Athrun's best efforts to erase it.

"So Mr. Yamato," Eileen asked, "What reason did you fight in the great war?"
"I have the grand privilege of diplomatic immunity Canaver," Kira hissed, "Don't try and fool yourself into thinking anything I say will help you."
"Such a venomous young man," Canaver sighed, "What is so wrong with Athrun Zala being put to trial for crimes that he did commit?"
"He committed those crimes for the good of your people," Kira spoke calmly, "If he hadn't committed them, there would have been untold tragedy, and we'd probably still have a war going on. By preventing many more deaths, he did something much greater for the world than its people can possibly imagine."
"How is Athrun?" Cagali decided to interrupt the poisonous words between her brother and his best friends kidnapper, "He'd better be fine."
Cagali let her threat hang, the rest of the ride to the prison was filled with unnatural silence.

When the car arrived at the prison, Kira and Cagali were quick to exit followed by Canaver. A prison guard quickly ran over and informed the Chairwoman of what had transpired at the prison. She let shock appear on her face, she hadn't imagined Joyce would do exactly what she said. This ought to work out very well.

"It appears young Mr. Zala has attempted to take his own life," Canaver announced sounding shocked, "I can't imagine why he would though."
"What wing of this prison was he in," Kira asked sceptically.
"The High Security Isolation Wing," Canaver answered, "I can't imagine how they let him do this to himself though."
"Isolation? You put someone who has considered killing themselves in isolation?" Kira sounded horrified, "You self righteous bitch!"

Kira and Cagali ran into the prison, following a prison guard who took them immediately to the cell Athrun had been in, they'd asked to inspect it personally. No one had tried to clean up yet, there was still blood everywhere. Cagali was horrified, Kira was sick to his stomach but gave his best effort not to let it be seen. What they read on the wall startled them both, 'Kira, Cagali, I'm sorry, this was just one thing too much for me. Athrun.' Kira decided straight away that it wasn't Athrun's hand writing. He then decided that Cagali didn't need to see any more of this and so they left for the hospital wing.

When they entered the hospital wing, Kira spotted Athrun immediately, he was closest to the nurse's station, apparently they were making sure he didn't make any attempt to kill himself. Kira and Cagali approached the bed together and looked at Athrun. Both of his wrists were heavily bandaged, and his left index finger tip was covered in blood. Kira thought for a moment before the penny dropped. Athrun is right handed, Kira thought. This was a set up.

Athrun woke up several hours later, he saw both Kira and Cagali looking over him and sighed with relief. He then looked further past them and saw a face he wanted to see the least, Chairwoman Canaver.

"Where are we?" Athrun queried drowsily, "What's she doing here?"
"We're in the Federal Prison's Hospital Wing," Kira answered calmly, "Can you tell us what happned?"
"I'd rather not right now Kira," Athrun struggled.
"I want him psychiatrically evaluated," Canaver spoke from the corner, "He's not sane in my opinion."
"You bitch," Kira cried as Athrun sobbed, "he's just woken from a terrifying experience and you have to say that?"
"What?" Canaver yelled back, "Its fair, he cut his wrists, he left a suicide note. I do not believe he is in the right state of mind."
"And who do we have to blame for that?" Cagali snarled, "You've done enough. I've signed the release papers, he's coming to the consulate with us, now. He'll be evaluated by a Psychiatrist from Orb. The report will be sent to you when its done."

With that, Kira and Cagali helped Athrun out of the prison into a waiting car. The car then sped off toward the consulate. There were at least some expert doctors there who could take care of Athrun if they needed it. Cagali simply didn't trust that the prison staff would do enough.

After Athrun had fallen asleep, Kira and Cagali left the room to discuss the events of the day.

"Do you really think he did it?" Cagali asked, "I'm pretty sure he didn't, but I'm not a hundred percent."
"I'm positive he didn't," Kira sighed, "I have proof too."
"What would that be?" Cagali asked excitedly.
"The message was written using his left index finger," Kira spoke quietly, "Athrun is right handed, theres no way he wrote that message."

Cagali covered her mouth in horror, Canaver had tried to make Athrun appear crazy, or maybe even tried to kill him. Why? What did she stand to gain from Athrun being declared insane now anyway. Then it hit Cagali in the head, 'I want him psychiatrically evaluated', Canaver wanted to make sure Athrun couldn't give testimony at his hearing in a few days. Damn that woman to hell.

Remember to review for goodness sakes people. I want your reviews. What else do you think will inspire me to write more?

Also if anyone wants to watch my latest YouTube Gundam SEED video, its located here: .com/watch?v=h-wXix3gaT4

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