Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam
Sorry for the long wait, but we're back with a new chapter, hopefully a quicker update time. Edit credit goes to 00virtuezero, no action, just philosophy this chapter and some revelations.
Gundam Seed Destiny or Liberty
Chapter 38: The Place of Sin
Shani bopped his head along to the beat ringing in his ears. Orga was engrossed in his book and Clotho was playing his game. Sheryl and Noah looked over their shoulders at the three extended pilots, the former with sympathy and the latter with an amused huff.
'Hard to believe those passive looking guys killed so many of my friends in the last war,' he thought.
Then again, he was well aware of the berserker theory. The images flashed in his mind, of the Purpose and the Nenshou Kokoro, then even more so of the Genocide and Thanos's Black Gundam. He shook his head, returning his focus to the flight path ahead. His transport was one of many flying towards what Branden and Kojiro had found.
"Are you sure you want to be present for this?" he asked Sheryl, who ignored him.
She instead looked at the three men behind her. They were hardly boys, even two years ago they couldn't be considered teens. But when she first joined Sensou, she remembered seeing their treatment. It was long and painful, but far more humane that what the Earth Alliance had done to them. Suddenly, the three raised their heads, Shani pulling his earphones out.
"We're here," he muttered.
The olive green haired extended somewhat grit his teeth at that and his uncovered purple eye seemed to dart somewhat as if examining the area.
"Home," Clotho whispered. He seemed somewhat sweaty as the realization truly hit him. So many memories, all of them painful and bloody.
"Hardly home, we were taken to a different place, but this feeling…" Orga seethed. The Calamity's pilot tightened his hands hard and formed them into clenched fists. Some of the veins on his hands began to show as his fists began to tighten further.
The transport landed and the three extended pilots moved ahead of Noah and Sheryl. Kojiro was at the main entrance, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. He nodded to Sheryl as she passed, and it became apparent that there were some difficulties.
"Fucks sake you idiots, could you stop poking them and get them in the bags already?" Branden's voice rung out of the entrance.
"We'll be respectful, but part of this investigation will involve autopsies of the bodies," she heard another voice, most likely a ZAFT lab technician.
"Of fucking course!"
"Haven't these poor kids been through enough?" she recognized Swaile's voice.
"We should be putting them to rest, not using them," Ryotaro spoke up this time.
Then there was a series of yells and crashes, a fight. Noah and Sheryl both increased their pace, finding Branden and the other Sensou technicians grappling with the ZAFT ones.
"ARE WE INTERRUPTING?" Noah yelled.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Sheryl followed.
Branden shoved the technician back, turning to the other Sensou men and women. His brown eyes narrowing hard with a somewhat dark glint in them, he looked hard at his fellow Sensou members.
"If the commander was here he would say get them bagged and out of here, end of story," he said.
"That is not your decision Kamal," Sheryl said to him.
Branden turned and glared at her, punching the wall before he walked away.
"Well, the Alliance crumbles," Noah muttered.
Sheryl looked towards what had caused the fights, the bodies of children. She tightened her hands to try and conceal the rage, eyes shining as she shook her head. Noah looked towards her, then away for a moment before he spoke up.
"Miss Mercis, perhaps you could delegate someone from your section," he suggested.
"Thank you Mr Bagal, but I will carry on, it is my duty after all," Sheryl said.
Vincent stood in between Kira and Athrun, putting his shirt back on and dragging his sleeve over his eyes. It was difficult to expose his scars like that, he could see the tears in Mir's eyes and the barely restrained guilt Cagalli had in her eyes. Both Athrun and Kira seemed at a loss for words, which made Vincent shake his head.
"I assume you left Orb because of the attack on Lacus," Vincent said and Athrun widened his eyes.
"Lacus was attacked?" he asked.
"By coordinators," Kira said.
"Careful Kira, you're racial profiling," Vincent smirked, "And you of all people?"
"They were using ZAFT equipment," Kira said, though he blushed in slight embarrassment.
"So did the people who dropped Junius Seven," Athrun retorted.
"These assassins weren't using suits they could have gotten their hands on in the black market Athrun, they were the latest design, the UMF/SSO-3 Ash," Vincent explained.
"You knew about this and didn't tell me?"
"I'm telling you now, a lot happened during that time Athrun, you're being watched carefully," Vincent said, hoping that Athrun would get the hint.
Luna gasped, did he really know that he was being watched or was it just an assumption? Whatever the case, the Sensou commander sat on a nearby rock. Athrun and Kira did the same, the former not hiding the frustration on his face.
"If she really was attacked as you say, then that's terrible, but saying that you can't trust Durandal or the Plants because of it, aren't you jumping to conclusions too quickly Kira?" he asked.
"I'd say Kira has come to quite a reasonable conclusion," Vincent spoke up. "Considering the model of the mobile suits and the timing…"
"There are other people within the Plants with their own ideas, they could have carried this out themselves without the Chairman knowing," Athrun explained.
"Also a possibility Athrun, but that doesn't discount Kira's view," Vincent said, looking to Kira.
"What about that other Lacus Clyne in the Plants?" Kira asked.
"Did she ever tell you her name Athrun, you did spend a night together," Vincent said.
"WHAT!" Cagalli yelled, Athrun's face red as he waved his hands around.
"No, no, no, that's not how it sounds," he said.
"That is suspicious, he knows the value Lacus Clyne has to the average citizen, but he's turned her into this pop sensation," Vincent said.
"You all weren't exactly in a rush to get back to the Plants, so what was Durandal supposed to do to keep the peace?" Athrun asked.
"Just tell him Kira, don't hold back," Vincent huffed.
"Stop trying to sound like Gekido," Kira retorted.
The young coordinator grit his teeth together and stepped towards Athrun.
"The timing Athrun, that's what has me concerned, the timing," Kira said.
Athrun and Vincent both widened their eyes, the former lowering his head and shaking it for a moment. Vincent however confronted the issue, and for a moment Lunamaria thought he looked in her direction as he spoke.
"There's a possibility that he knew about the civil unrest, about the likelihood of a future war and had this other Lacus prepared prior to this event. Her speeches were all practiced, you can tell from the body language that it's more performance than genuine," Vincent explained.
Cagalli was about to speak up and challenge Vincent's theory until Mir and Kira looked at her. She then remembered his unique talent for photographic reflexes, identifying body language, even applying it to the movements of a mobile suit.
"Exactly she was prepared, Durandal was prepared for this event, so…"
"No Kira, you can't suggest that he knew Junius Seven would happen," Athrun said.
"The GINN's we faced on Junius Seven, the equipment they used and the explosives, that level of tech shouldn't have been available to a bunch of crazy veterans. Someone funded them, then there was the Armoury One raid, someone provided them with the means to carry it out. I myself find Durandal suspicious Athrun, even if a part of me can understand why…
"Why he would try to have Lacus killed!" Cagalli snapped, though Kira remained impassive.
He and Vincent looked at one another. Though Kira wasn't talking, the Sensou commander could feel the judgement in the young man's eyes.
"Peace cannot be achieved through force, it can only be achieved through understanding," Vincent said. "If it's true and Durandal has been manipulating events, then he failed that ideal. It's easy to live up to an ideal, when you've never had to put it to the test. It's easy to do the right thing when you've always been powerful. We have killed for our ideals, we've fought each other over our ideals," Vincent explained, gesturing between himself, Kira and Athrun.
"Sometimes it was because we wanted to protect something, because we wanted to serve a cause. In the last war you tried to live by those ideals of bringing peace without force, you frustrated a lot of pilots when you disabled their machines. Yet, you killed the Providence's pilot…was his life worth your peace or does he still haunt you? You were scarred during the war and though I resent your inaction, I do appreciate that you got tired of fighting and that you had the right to rest and heal as many soldiers who I hope you don't take offence had it a lot harder than you did Kira."
"When True Faith arose and killed people in the thousands, when they used children and taught children to fight with absolute hatred and conviction, I did something evil. I did it because I believed and still do that there was going to be no reasoning with them. That so long as their ideology existed then there could never be peace. But I failed to live up to the ideal I said before; I tried to achieve peace through force. It was wrong," Vincent explained.
"I'm glad you realized that," Kira said.
"Now I'm going to tell you that what you did the other day was wrong, that the very path you're taking is wrong, not just from a practical perspective but from an ideological one too. You failed Kira, failed to live up to the ideology of achieving peace through understanding, because you tried to force your understanding on another. Sitting inside your cockpit, your weapon of mass destruction, you created destruction and demanded that people stop," Vincent grit his teeth together, his eyes narrow with fury.
He shook his head, bringing a hand to his eye and taking a deep breath.
"What you did ended lives Kira, regardless of your intentions, you killed people and if you had succeeded? People would have died, there wasn't going to be a bloodless end to that battle," he said.
"You can't possibly know that," Cagalli said and Kira raised his hand.
"No, I think you're right, I knew deep down even before we decided to go that Cagalli's chances of success were minimal," he said.
"Then why didn't you say anything?" she asked.
"Because I think we all needed to see just how powerless you were Cagalli, and how it's going to take more than pretty words to live by our ideals," Vincent said.
"Tough choices, unity, that's what Durandal is trying to do, I want to believe that ZAFT is in the right again but I do see your point, I'm clinging to something I recognize, something familiar because I need to think that we can get it right this time," Athrun explained.
"I am sick and tired of the killing, I wanted to say that I wouldn't kill others nor would I let others kill," Kira said.
"A little arrogant of you isn't it Kira, to think that you hold all the answers," Vincent said.
Kira widened his eyes for a moment, hearing the words of someone else, Admiral Halberton:
"Don't be so arrogant, it'll take more than one person to stop this war!"
"But if I have the power to do something, then I should do it," Kira said.
"What do you have the power to do Kira? Go from one battlefield to another and wipe out every weapon you find? You'll never get all the weapons Kira, I don't know if you've got the mind for politics either but that's a separate debate. No one has all the power Kira, even Gekido needed others to perform a miracle, and even Lacus has had to especially rely on others. You're no different Kira, neither am I, especially now, I'm in so much pain, without Branden and Kojiro on the field with me I'm pretty sure I would have died by now. There is a way to do this Kira, a way to save Orb and live by your ideals," Vincent explained.
"Yes, just go back to Orb and stop that treaty," Athrun snapped, glaring at Cagalli.
Silver Mask stood on part of the Minerva, his arms crossed and watching ZAFT transports come in. Scientists from across ZAFT were coming to look at the lab. Sheryl Mercis coordinated the Sensou teams. He looked down at the entrance to the lab and tightened his hand into a fist.
"Hypocrisy and arrogance both have been exposed," he mused.
Talia kept her handkerchief over her mouth as she and Arthur walked through the corridors of the lab. Blood soaked corridors with bullets riddled on the floor, and the bodies of scientists and lab rats alike. She gasped in horror upon seeing a pile of small bodies. A scream suddenly made them turn to Sheryl, who had her hand on her mouth and eyes wide in horror. She fell back into the arms of two of her staff.
"My god, what is this place?" Arthur asked.
"Home!"
The Minerva's captain looked towards the new arrivals. Standing together were three individuals with an intimate knowledge of these labs. Shani, Orga and Clotho, the three extended of Sensou and those who had burned Orb before. Clotho and Orga stood with glares fixed across their faces. Shani leant against the wall, seemingly engrossed in his music. But his hand shook in his pocket, squeezing the music player with barely restrained rage. Sheryl shook her head and made her way towards Talia.
"Captain, we have computer experts ready to carry out a recovery of any data on their servers, I will oversee their work," Sheryl said.
"Is this really where you three were…modified?" Arthur asked, stiffening slightly when Clotho glared at him.
"It isn't, ours was a different lab, believe it or not we were actually older than some of these kids," Orga said and Clotho seemed to calm.
"We weren't raised here; we had lives and families before. Those families for lack of a better word 'donated' us to Blue Cosmos," he said.
They looked towards Shani, who remained silent. At that point Orga carried on.
"We were trained at a military camp, basic training along with exercises intended to prepare us for piloting mobile suits and killing coordinators," he stated.
"It wasn't like we were being brain washed but they encouraged any kind of anti-coordinator view. Then they introduced us to drugs, and it went downhill from there," Clotho explained.
"But they never did anything like this to us," Orga said, pointing at one of the bodies with wires in its brain.
"What about that Saint guy, the one in the Mercy Gundam?" Shinn asked, him, Branden, Kojiro and Nia walked into the room.
"First time we actually met him was the attack on Orb," Clotho said.
"Along with that Doctor…"
"No, he was there before," Shani spoke up, interrupting Orga. "Doctor Smith, I remember that he would come in occasionally to read a report."
"Doctor Smith, Vincent told us a little bit about him," Branden said as he, Kojiro and Joe walked into the room.
Joe looked over the bodies of children and frowned in disgust.
Nia gasped in horror, seeing the photos shown to her by Alistair.
"Places like this is where I was born, both the Earth Alliance and Plant governments have carried out such horrors," Alistair said.
"Impossible," Nia snarled.
"Not really, in order to make the Plants work as an independent machine, a lot of upgrades would need to be made. Cogs replaced, bloodlines strengthened, there were labs all over the Plants looking for a way to fix the genetic imperfections that became prevalent in later generations," Dagger explained.
He held a Japanese styled cup and poured wine from a bamboo bottle into it. With the sun setting in front of him, Dagger raised the cup and drank.
"Patrick Zala believed we were the next step of humanity, but even that lunatic understood that if the sterility present in third generation coordinators wasn't cured, then his new world wouldn't even last a hundred years," he stated, turning to Nia to read her reaction.
"But that all ended with Durandal," she said.
"Who do you think was one of the lead scientists, Gilbert Durandal was a prodigy when it came to genetics, and even by coordinator standards he had great intelligence. Enough to be prevalent in the Mendel projects alongside Ulen Hibiki," Dagger explained.
"Of course I was a private idea of Zala's, the idea was to replace Athrun and possibly other key individuals with…clones," Alistair lowered his head as he spoke the words.
But he felt a wave of encouragement when Thanos touched his shoulder, smiling at him.
"Individuals created to be replicas of others, yet maintain individual souls. Much like Rau Le Creuscet and your fellow pilot Rey Za Burrel," he said and Nia widened her eyes.
"Rey is a clone?" she asked.
"Those pills he takes are for treating the genetic damage from the imperfect cloning process. Alistair doesn't suffer from such a thing. But the project grew over time, it underwent reforms under Durandal to a new system, DNA grafting," Thanos removed a photo from his pocket and showed it to Nia.
She looked at a dark haired girl, a thin thing with narrow eyes and pale skin.
"Who is this?"
"That Nia, is Lacus Clyne," Dagger grinned as Nia gasped.
"Meer Campbell, not the brightest in the class, by no means a fool academically speaking but she hardly had the education Lacus Clyne did. She grew up in Japan but was born to a Japanese woman and a Northern Irish man, not actually genetically speaking a coordinator…that is originally," a man explained, walking around a purple Efreet that had numerous knives attached to its shoulder.
He wore a black coat over his green uniform, white gloves and a pair of glasses. His hair was partially shaved at the left side, leaving a curl like coif on his right. He tilted his glasses up, giving a note pad to Dagger.
"Thank you Dengan, please continue," Thanos said.
"Her voice was incredible, her looks not so much, again something of Lacus's that she didn't have," Dengan said.
Nia narrowed her eyes at the man; she couldn't fight the feeling that he was familiar.
"Nia, meet Ojiro Dengan, he was one of the key medical minds in the Side 4 colony before he defected to ZAFT," Thanos said.
"Meer Campbell was a fan of Lacus Clyne, she tried to base her singing career on what the young heiress would sing but of course there was already one Lacus Clyne, people didn't need another. Then there was the cruel and inevitable truth that Meer was no Lacus Clyne in looks or temperament, other than her voice there was nothing particularly special about her," Dengan's tone of voice was cold, to the point it lacked any hints of sympathy.
He sounded more like a professor delivering a lecture. Nia then realized where she knew Dengan from, her academy days. Katsuki Ojiro Dengan was known as 'The Professor' during the previous war days, and was one of a handful of mercenaries recruited into ZAFT to train the new generation of pilots. He had delivered lectures on many of the battles fought by the Storm unit.
"Many businesses were also recovering from the war; no music label was willing to take a chance on someone with no name. Still, Campbell made enough of an impact to draw attention," Dengan reached into his coat pocket and showed Nia a photo.
The photo showed a blonde haired woman with red shades. She was speaking with Meer at a café, Dengan flipped the photo and showed another picture of her and Meer (herself barely concealing her identity with shades) stepping into a car.
"The woman's name is Sarah Miller, she may not wear the uniform but she is a member of ZAFT, specifically the Intelligence Division," Thanos said and Nia smacked her lips, they suddenly felt dry as she began putting things together.
The 'Titan-Breaker' was a modest ship of the Eurasian navy fleet. It wasn't their finest vessel, but it sufficed for the work that Heiwa Jaeger and his brethren were doing. The Director of Anaheim electronics wrote on numerous forms of paper, some of them reading of Eurasian trade policies and budget assignments.
"So Djibril and his cronies manipulated the world and hoped to fire the first shots of this war through their Armory One raid. A raid only made possible because of the leaks, and I'm guessing we at least have an idea of where these leaks came from, nut jobs with an axe to grind about the previous war dropped their loved ones grave yard on Earth and thus caused the demand for war, and just when all seemed lost for the Plants along came Gekido Jaeger, a shining star and Lacus Clyne, made so readily available in that hour of need," Heiwa explained.
He was in a group chat with Jeremiah, Neo , Dumas, General Savage and another man in a helmeted mask.
"We deserve each other," Jeremiah muttered.
"War has always been the equal blame of every side," Dumas said.
"How unexpectedly philosophical of you Dumas, it gets difficult to keep track of exactly who is manipulating who, Durandal thinks he's playing a game of chess, I prefer to think of this as…"
"DUEL MONSTERS!" a voice screamed on Heiwa's side of the line.
The young man slapped his forehead as Tania skipped by him.
"A card game I'd say," he elaborated.
"Should I start putting my trust in the heart of the cards?" Jeremiah asked, smirking whilst Jessica coughed behind him to hide her amusement.
"The laboratory was hit by Sensou, then there's the appearance of the Freedom, a further complication in this war," Neo muttered.
"Tell me Heiwa do you intend to be a conqueror or just another businessman?" Dumas asked.
Outside the office, a grey haired pilot looked up at a trio of machines. Two were modified Windams and the third that stood between them was an Astray type suit with heavily modified long, clawed arms and legs.
"I'm still honestly searching for my purpose," Heiwa said, and even Tania grew silent when she saw the solemn expression on his face.
"But the point is still made, Durandal did a lot more than just plastic surgery on this Campbell woman," Dumas said and Jeremiah shivered.
"To think there were people in the Plants willing to go this far, is there any truth though to the reports on Durandal's motivations, this 'Logos' organization?" he asked.
"Truth, people accept whatever truth they want, but then there comes hard facts. 'Let's get rid of all the guns,' someone says, before realizing they'll never get all of the guns, nations will cling to their weapon, will cling to them because of their right to defence. Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes," Dumas whispered the last word.
Jeremiah widened his eyes slightly, imagining two scenarios. One was a young Sensou commander standing by the bed side of an older man.
"Despite modern medicine and genetic manipulation, cancers still exist. Cancers caused by smoking have created as large a body count as wars, corporations provide warnings but still produce them, and people still smoke them, even though they know it's killing them. Their loved ones can only watch as they die," Dumas continued.
"But end those corporations, dissolve their assets, get rid of them and lock up anyone who smokes and treat them as if they already have a disease," as Dumas spoke the scenario changed in Jeremiah's mind.
He imagined people in frenzy, rioting in factories and attacking anyone richer than them. He imagined people out of work and in hospitals undergoing harsh psychological tests.
"Traffic collisions, cars are lethal weapons in themselves, so stop making them, imprison anyone who speeds, no warnings just straight to lock up," the scenario changed again.
But this time, Jeremiah saw the chess table, Dumas making a move with his bishop against Durandal's king. Durandal had had Dumas's king at a check, until Dumas made his move, reversing the check.
"Our world is so fragile, it is on the brink and there are still people not doing their part. So strip every country bare and install solar power, build an orbital elevator in a third world country whether the people like it or not. And lastly, execute anyone who doesn't recycle," Dumas stated.
Jeremiah saw the checkmate against Durandal and it was in that moment that Dumas was more than an expert in warfare, but human behaviour as well. Unlike Djibril whom owed his position to money and inherited power like Yuna Seiran and even Cagalli Athha, Dumas was the man who had earned his power. More than even Dagger Thanos, Dumas stood as the intellectual equal of Durandal. Though Jeremiah could not reconcile Dumas's political beliefs, he knew he was everything that Djibril was not, reasonable, capable and resolute in his ideals.
"People want to change the world, Lacus Clyne wants a world where everyone holds hands and sings a song to let their feelings out. Gekido Jaeger wanted to fight in order for people to understand their feelings, and Durandal, it seems Durandal wants the world to do whatever he wants it to do. Everyone has their ideal of the world, 'for the preservation of a pure blue world,'" Dumas held up his fist in a mocking performance.
"But then," he began. "The harsh reality of their ideals kicks in."
Branden tightened his fist as he looked upon the images relayed in the reports of the Blue Cosmos scientist.
"Using drugs they enhanced their subjects in order to get them to match Coordinator levels of strength," Talia said.
"You people aren't supermen," Sheryl retorted.
She looked at the images flashing across the computer. She turned the volume up so that the other pilots in the room could understand.
"Extended experiment number 26 is a failure, at least in regards to the physical toll that the violent withdrawal symptoms take on the subjects. Still, we're not in short supply, Djibril wishes to shut down the camps for a lack of progress, Dumas believes they should still be on line, particularly with the cost it took to get a hold of many of the subjects. We have more sources of funds than just Djibril though, we'll be relying on Mr. Oshu for future operations," the audio came from one of the scientists of the lab.
"Oh yes, one of their labs, probably the one you three came from," Arthur said, pointing to the three Extended. "Relied on subjects attained from youth training camps, but there is a long list of rejected subjects. Apparently these camps were filled with donated and found children, or children whom had lost all their next of kin due to 'Coordinator related terrorist attacks' orchestrated by Blue Cosmos through mercenaries," Arthur explained.
Branden widened his eyes, something which didn't go unnoticed by Kojiro.
"Is it just me or does he look like Gekido Jaeger?" Arthur asked, turning the laptop around and showing the profile picture of 'Mr Oshu'.
The hair was styled slightly differently, but there was a similarity in their appearance. Branden's hands shook as he looked at the photo.
"Sakon Date, a mercenary who died during the Alliance attack on Orb," Sheryl said.
"Could he be a relative of Gekido maybe?" Arthur asked.
"Hey, that guy, you're saying, he caused all those attacks?" Branden asked, his voice low, almost like a hiss.
"We know he was a child soldier working for another mercenary company, he caused several incidents, even one on a colony," Talia stated, continuing the video.
"No way," Branden muttered.
"Adult subject's reaction has proven too volatile, one success eighteen years ago, young adult male recovered from Mendel operation. Mr. Oshu was also used," the scientist said.
"That bastard was the one who destroyed what we had built at Mendel?" Sheryl sneered.
"No, he…he wouldn't…"Branden's shoulders shook as he spoke. "That self righteous, pain in the…he wouldn't have had anything to do with those monsters…my family wasn't..." he grit his teeth together before he ran away.
'No,' he thought, 'No, no, no, it isn't true!'
"Boss," one of Sheryl's men walked up to her with his pad, pointing to a name on a list labelled 'Rejected'.
Sensou and ZAFT crew members alike were reading their personal computers the reports on the extended lab. Some even read the names of rejected subjects, people considered from the Blue Cosmos training camps, and then ultimately refused. Meyrin was on her break, skimming through the report until she landed on a particular name on the 'rejected' list. It was a name she couldn't help but whisper.
"Branden Kamal!"
"People's ideals never truly match with their actions," Dagger said.
"Impossible, everything you've said, it's not true," Nia shook her head.
"Everything I've told you about the Plants, about ZAFT and especially about Durandal is true, perhaps the same way that some of the things the chairman said were true. Interesting isn't it?" Dagger asked, smirking slightly as he took a step towards Nia.
"You heard what I said and then called me a liar, now you refuse to believe what I've shared, your mind doesn't want to accept these revelations, but inside you there's a voice saying 'accept it it's the truth'. Soon you'll know, time will help, I'm sorry for your confusion, but this world has never been about truth or lies. In this world, there's only one thing that is worth knowing, cold facts, despite this universal truth, people misguidedly choose to accept the facts that appeal to their way of thinking," Thanos explained.
Nia lowered her head, her hands trembling before she fell to her knees.
Similarly, the listening device that Luna held shook in her hand. She looked at the meeting expecting fists to be thrown, expecting Athrun to be defending the Chairman, even expecting there to be some kind of treason as Talia perhaps expected. Instead she saw an exchange of information, of possibilities, and a cold truth about Lacus Clyne.
"When I get back I'll tell Commander Bagal and Captain Gladys about this, Rey most likely already knows but I'll inform Shinn," Vincent said.
"What about Lunamaria?" Athrun asked.
'What about me?' she wondered.
Did he know? Did he know for an absolute certainty that she was the one watching them?
"'I fight for myself alone,' that was something Gekido once said to me. I see myself in you Kira, both of us fighting for ideals that are borrowed from someone else. I looked up to Gekido, and you were saved by Lacus Clyne," Vincent said.
"But that doesn't mean that those ideals aren't our own, we can share the same dreams," Kira said.
"If you want to go through life without ever hurting anyone then go ahead. But every time you got into that machine, it was never to save anyone; it was to fight for an ideal. I took lives, that was all I was able to achieve, I saved the ideal, and turned it into a fantasy. There must be a reason for us to fight, but never for an ideal Kira, Athrun," he looked to both before turning his back. "Cagalli, give me whatever you have in your wallet."
"Excuse me?"
"Just give me a dollar or whatever the Orb equivalent is," Vincent said.
She grumbled as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a note. Vincent took it and held it up to the sky, looking at the sun through the holographic part of the note.
"For a dollar, we of Sensou will fight to protect Orb when Dagger Thanos launches his assault on it," he said, putting the note in his pocket.
He began walked away, not looking over his shoulder as he spoke.
"Know that if you fight of your own free will, any resulting sins and punishments will be of your own making, bearing the weight of it comes with that decision. But if you fight for ideals then the only thing you will ever be able to save is ideals, and after all is said and done, what are your ideals worth when there's nothing else left?"
It was a question he didn't provide and answer, for Cagalli, for Athrun, for Kira or for Luna.
"I'll make my own way back," he said.
"Vincent," Cagalli called.
He stopped for a moment and looked back.
"Ideals need to be fought for as well," she said.
"Not true, they're something you live by and if the time comes, you die by those ideals, if only for the people of Orb try to do something besides live by your ideals," he explained.
Luna kept the listening device on, looking to Athrun as he walked past Cagalli.
"I understand why you did it," was all he said before he walked away.
Luna lowered the listening equipment, her whole world shattered.
Branden stood outside of the lab, punching the door of a jeep, his world shattered.
Nia sat in her 'cell' the tent that Dagger Thanos had given to her. Yes her world had been shattered, but she felt perhaps maybe this was a good thing. She could focus on building something new then.
Vincent walked into the woods near the ruins. He found what had been left for him, covered by a white sheet. He pulled the cover away to reveal the blue and red Core Flyer.
'Ideals to fight for, that's always been the problem,' he thought.
Next Chapter 39: Gaia vs. Raider
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, yep, Dagger quotes Aizen lol, but I always felt him to have upgraded to a type of Aizen style manipulator in this fic. Vincent too quotes Fate/Stay Night's Archer, as he's somewhat woken up to the cold facts of fighting for ideals.
Next time, original extended vs new model.