Respect between Enemies – The BetanWerecat

Gundam Seed: "Descending Sword" and after. OCs with appearances by canon characters. The actions of Kira, Athrun, and the others have far reaching effects. Ah, interpersonal relationships! What joys they are. Rated T for language and off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)

Well, this is it. From now on, each chapter will have to be written before I can post it. So there will be more time between updates. However, I will take this story out to its end. And no, I don't know how many more chapters that will take. I do have an outline written for what ground has to be covered though so I'm not winging it in the dark!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.


It was o-dark who knew what. The lights in the infirmary were set to dim now and everyone was supposed to be asleep. The doctor had come round five hours ago, Mu, Zala, and Yamato had dropped by over three hours ago and the ward nurse had been by maybe fifteen minutes ago. She hadn't been out the door three minutes before Kayla had gotten out of bed.

A short exploratory trip had netted her slippers and a surprisingly warm robe. Now she was sitting in the nurse's chair, swiped from behind the desk, carefully bundled up beside Adrian's bed while he slept peacefully. She'd gone around to the right side of the bed so she could touch him. Her right shoulder was no longer dislocated but moving it still hurt like hell and the arm was still broken and that hurt too. So if she wanted to reach out and hold his hand, she had to use her left and take his uninjured right.

Gods and Spirits, what was she going to do? It had looked so simple back there at the Project. She loved the man. She was expecting his children. They'd just get married and settle down.

Yeah, where? They hadn't figured that one out yet. But she knew he wouldn't move to Earth. It had no place for him. Blue Cosmos aside, and they were going to remain a serious threat to any Coordinator living planet-side for some time yet, he really didn't want to go there. His heart was with the Plants and his intent was to keep them safe.

In this dim light and quiet night between battles Kayla let herself admit what some part of her had already known. If she wanted to stay with Adrian Ito, she was going to be the one doing the moving. She would be immigrating to the Plants. And she was going to have to deal with his staying in ZAFT after the war too. Because losing his family had set a steely determination in him that it would never happen again. And the only way he could be sure of that was to make the military, and the defense of the Plants, a career.

And that was one hell of a choice for a decorated Alliance war hero to be making. Oh, she wasn't one of the big name heroes but she did have some fame and there were a couple of very respectable decorations in boxes back at her parent's ranch. So what would that make her if she elected to marry a ZAFT Elite and move to the Plants and raise Coordinator kids?

She knew what Blue Cosmos would say but she didn't give one rat's ass for their opinion. No group that would betray its own soldiers like they had at JOSH-A had any right to say anything about any decision she might make! But the opinions of her family and her neighbors, the people she'd enlisted to defend in the first place, those opinions did matter. And she honestly didn't have any idea where those judgments would fall. Damn it! Why couldn't this have stayed simple?

"Are you all right? You aren't supposed to be up."

She looked up, startled. How had Yamato come up on her without her hearing him? She wasn't easy to sneak up on!

"I'm fine." She said shortly, not inviting conversation.

He either ignored the hint or missed it altogether because he pulled the visitor's stool over and sat down. His nearly silent movements at least explained how he'd slipped up on her. Then she found herself looking into a face both friendly and concerned.

"I don't think 'fine' is an honest answer. Not with that look on your face, or with you sitting all hunched up like that. Please, I'll help if I can."

Kayla could feel a rather bitter smile twist her lips. "Depends. You got any experience in choosing between two no-win positions set up by this war?"

It was his turn for a remarkably acidic smile. "Yes. I even think I know what your problem may be. I think you may have a situation somewhat like my sister and Athrun's. Only I wonder if you two aren't further along in your commitment to each other."

"That obvious eh?" She sighed. "Yeah, there's commitment all right. But there's no good way to make it work."

"No, there isn't. Someone is going to be mad no matter what you decide. And no matter the choice, the other option will always sit in the back of your mind and leave you with questions for the rest of your life. All you can do is go with the one you discover you have to. It's the only way to live with the other one; ultimately knowing the one you picked was the only one you could live with."

There was a wealth of pain behind those quiet words. Pain and self doubt, questions asked in the dark, she could hear them in his voice. Kira Yamato had made a choice at least as hard for him as the one she was facing. It had just about killed him; and resolving it was the source of his strength now.

"You willing to tell me something about yours?" She asked, needing to know how comparable the situations were.

He studied her for a moment, then nodded. "I was a student at the technical college at Heliopolis when ZAFT came for the Earth Forces prototype mobile suits being built there. The strike destroyed the colony, gained them four of the five suits and left me and my friends on board the Archangel. All that stood between my friends lives and Rau Le Creuset's attacks was the Strike and Mu La Flaga's Moebius Zero. I was the only one aboard who could pilot the Strike. I'd been forced to modify the suit's OS to one that made the machine effective in the very first battle on the colony. Now no one else could make heads or tails of it. You see, I'm a Coordinator."

Kayla stared at the uniform he wore. He was a what? All right, yeah, he knew all about this kind of choice.

"That, . . . . . . . that must have been ugly beyond belief getting caught in that corner." She whispered.

"It was." He agreed. "And to make it worse, I was fighting Athrun most of the time. He was part of the Le Creuset Team and had the Aegis. We'd been friends since we were little kids. He didn't, wouldn't, understand that I felt an obligation to protect my Natural friends. It, well, it went to the point where we each killed a good friend of the others and then tried to kill each other. That was the worst thing in my life so far, knowing I really did try with all my skill to kill Athrun that time, and that he was using all he had to try to kill me. We managed to wreck the mobile suits and hurt each other pretty badly but at least we didn't kill each other."

"Holy . . . .!"

Kira smiled a bit wanly, "It was bad but it's led to something very good. If it hadn't gone this way, I doubt we'd be working together now. And it's only because we are, all of us from ZAFT, Aube, and the Alliance, that we've been able to save the Plants from those nukes. It's the only way we'll be able to stop Chairman Zala from turning Genesis on the Earth too. The price of peace has been high and will go higher. The war isn't over yet. We haven't won. But I think we will. And it will be worth what its cost me."

"Huh, and I thought I had a problem."

"You do. It's just a different one from mine. But for you and Ito, it's just as serious. And however the two of you decide, the consequences will last a lifetime, same as mine will."

"How the hell do you deal with this?"

"You don't try to do it by yourself." Yamato stood up. "I have my sister, Athrun, my friends and Lacus Clyne. I couldn't face this alone. Don't you try it either. Some loads are just more than one can carry by themselves."

"Thanks."

He smiled, the bright warmth back again. "You're welcome."

Kayla watched him go. Don't stand alone. That made a lot of sense. And, really, if this pairing they had was going to work, she wouldn't be. There would always be Adrian to stand beside. But Kira implied the network of support would need to be bigger than that. So who else would stand with them?

"You know, Grayhawk, for someone his age, Yamato is remarkably smart."

She looked over sharply to see Lance Thoms watching her. "Where do you stand on this, Captain?"

The older ZAFT officer grinned. "I think the two of you make a very handsome couple. And I suspect the kids will be something very special."

Owl had called him 'Longsight' and told her to rescue him. Now she was very glad she'd listened to the Spirit. Because here was one of those support friends Kira was talking about.

Make the only choice you can live with. Then you can live with knowing you honestly couldn't have walked the other path. Yeah, Kira Yamato was one real smart guy. One real smart and painfully experienced guy. She found herself praying that the price she and Adrian would have to pay wouldn't be as high as his had been.


He wasn't supposed to be out of bed and he knew it. But fact was, he could get up with minimal pain and the infirmary was boring. Kayla was still asleep so he couldn't talk to her, his Captain was likewise snoozing, and poor Yuri, well, only a monster would wake Yuri early. Since someone had pulled the last drip out of his arm just before the lights had come up to 'morning' level, he hadn't had any real restraints holding him into the bed other than the supports for his broken bones. They were sturdy enough to move easily in the nearly zero gravity of the ship.

So here he was, in a crew lounge he'd found a few doors down the main corridor. The colors were different but the ambiance was the same as any similar crew lounge he'd ever been in before. At least the Alliance provided their people with good viewscreens. He was watching the various mobile suits moving around the three ships.

"You'll give the doctor a heart attack if he finds you in here instead of your bed you know."

Adrian turned to look and saw Lt. Commander La Flaga standing in the doorway. Well, slouched against the wall by the doorway was more accurate. He just shook his head.

"How do you do that?"

"'Scuse me? Do what?"

"Slump against a wall like that and manage to look neatly dressed at the same time. I tried that trick and I'd be a rumpled mess."

"Ah! Many years of practice." The older pilot replied cheerfully. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"I'm bored with staying in bed." Adrian admitted. "And I thought I'd try to see if I could figure out what was going on."

"You'll never see what matters on that viewscreen." La Flaga told him honestly. "You'd have to see the screens on the bridge to really put the situation together."

"Uhm, not a high probability of doing that. Quite aside from the natural reluctance I'd expect to letting a ZAFT officer you don't really know onto your bridge, I suspect the medic would catch me if I tried to slip up there in these pajamas."

The other just nodded in agreement. Then he kicked off and drifted over to catch a chair close by. You couldn't really sit in one in zero g but you could float close enough to give the illusion of sitting and that was what La Flaga did. So the EA officer wanted to chat did he? Or was this a subtle means of interrogation? Adrian told his brain to watch his mouth and settled back to see just who could get the most information out of who.

"Lets try a straight up trade." La Flaga said. "You tell me what the last thing you remember is and I'll at least partly fill you in on what you've missed lately."

He could feel his eyebrows rising. "What kind of trade is that?"

"Look, by the shape your suits were in, especially Kayla's GINN, you guys were awfully close to that blast from Genesis. I want some data on it. You may have it. That's the trade."

He sighed. "There isn't much I can tell you. We got the warning to get out all right but the three of us were helpless to do anything about it. It was Kayla who insisted we grab each other and then caught us up and carried us out of the line of fire. None of us had the mobility left to escape on our own. Yuri was badly injured and powered down already. You know the shape of both GuAIZ suits. We didn't have squat for power either."

"What do you remember of the hit that fried her GINN?"

"Light, the most intense light I've ever experienced. I swear, I thought it was shining through the metal of the mobile suit itself. And I was almost on top of Junius Seven when the nuke hit. The light from Genesis was stronger than that was. But it wasn't shining directly into my eyes like the nuclear blast did, so I wasn't actually blinded for days this time."

He considered what had happened and tried to sort it into some kind of chronology. "I've no idea how long that light really lasted. It felt like forever. But at the end, there was a redder light and a few of my screens sparked and died. I'm pretty sure that was the strike that burned the GINN so badly. It wasn't all that much to me, the other suit took so much of it, I wasn't really hurt. I remember trying to raise someone, anyone on my comm and getting only silence back. The next thing I knew after that, I was in your hanger deck."

The Alliance pilot tossed his head back and considered the information thoughtfully for several minutes. Adrian went back to watching what little there was to see on the viewscreen. Eventually, La Flaga dragged his attention back to himself with one huge sigh.

"Damn. I was hoping for more. Your machines were all so damaged there was almost nothing to get from them either."

"Sorry. This time, I'd tell you if I could but I honestly don't remember any more than that."

"No, Doc McIntyre told me I probably wouldn't get a lot. He didn't think any of you was in any condition to note much and were probably so close to getting killed by it that what sensory data you could take in would be pretty much memories of being overloaded and that's just what you've given me. Sometimes, I wish you Coordinators weren't so smart."

"Beg your pardon?"

"Oh, Doc McIntyre, he's the head doc from the Eternal and one of yours. You saw him yesterday. Tall, copper hair, pretty good sense of humor."

Ah, yes, he remembered the man. "So does that mean I don't get any data in return?"

"No, there aren't any big secrets at the moment so I'll tell you about it."

Adrian listened carefully; a few things becoming plain almost at once. The first battle was probably going to be considered a ZAFT victory. But ZAFT hadn't really won it. Kira and Athrun had won what mattered in that fight by saving the Plants. And they intended to do it again if they had to.

The sheer power of Freedom and Justice was outright scary. He didn't mind admitting to himself at least that he was damn glad he wasn't going to have to face them in combat. The flat truth was trying to face either in a GuAIZ with those two flying them was the next best thing to suicide. The three Alliance suits had been overpowering. These two were so far beyond that it was ridiculous.

There was going to be a second battle and it would happen soon now. The Earth Alliance ships had retreated no further than they absolutely had to before they began to consolidate and regroup. Worse, there were going to be reinforcements coming from Ptolemaist Crater before long. They would bring a new round of nukes, he knew it and from theway he talked around it, so did La Flaga.

It was strangely heartening to realize the Natural pilot was completely revolted by the thought too. Kayla wasn't unique; there were more Naturals who believed using nukes on his people like this was wrong. If there were enough like them, perhaps a real peace could be built after this war.

First though, everyone had to survive this one. The nukes were bad enough. But with Freedom and Justice flying, they could be countered. Genesis was a whole other problem. Chairman Zala was no longer sane. He would use that thing on the planet below them. And when he did, he would condemn the Coordinators to extinction with the people he murdered in his blindness. Because Grandfather was right, there wasn't enough of the right kind of genetic diversity in their current population to allow them to survive. He shivered.

"You cold?"

"Petrified actually." Adrian replied quietly. "Grandfather once said Patrick Zala died with his wife on Junius Seven; that the man animating the body now was only a ghost. If so, he's a very, very vengeful ghost. I've never met him but I have been present when he's addressed my unit a few times. And I did notice a distinct difference between the aura of the man before and after Bloody Valentine. He was human before that, rather less after."

The blond just nodded. "Yeah, I got that impression. He can't have been what he is now forever, not and have had his son turn out like Athrun has. There has to have been a caring human being there once or the kid wouldn't be so torn up about him."

Ito looked over at the Alliance officer and smiled wryly. "Just how old are you that you keep calling Kira and Athrun kids?"

"Eh? I'm twenty eight. That's more than old enough to be calling sixteen year olds kids. And you?"

"I suppose I qualify as a kid then too. I'm seventeen."

"Huh, I'd have said nineteen or twenty. So you and Kayla are the same age. That could be a good thing."

"I've been told I look older than I am most of my life. Grandfather insists that sometime soon my apparent age and my real age will match and from then on I'll start looking younger than I am. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that."

"Don't knock it. Maturity is supposed to bring respect but I've found you can get that with competence. And wrinkles just don't appeal to the eye somehow."

Adrian snickered. He couldn't help it. The lofty distain in La Flaga's voice was just so funny. It earned him a disgusted look. And that was funny too.

It was at that point that he realized that, if he let him, the Hawk of Endymion could become a real friend. The thought startled him out of his laughter. They weren't really so different after all, these Naturals. They might not have some of the abilities he had but they were just as human as he was. He was planning to marry one after all.

Another thought crossed his mind. You couldn't really call any offshoot a new species until it could no longer breed back with the parent stock. That was another rule of biology. Just like the one that said a species was something that could reproduce itself without aid. Coordinators failed the test on both counts. He found himself staring at La Flaga. That made them, in some kind of grand scheme of things, cousins of a sort.

"Why the hell are we trying to kill each other?"

Mu La Flaga's eye brows rose nearly to his hairline on that one. "Because we're human, Ito. And for some humans, what is different, not of their tribe, is dangerous and must be destroyed so their tribe can flourish. You get someone who thinks like that with serious leadership skills and you have wars."

"You know, that stinks as a reason."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make it any less valid. All you have to do is listen to the propaganda from either side to hear it."

"Being valid doesn't make it smell better!"

"What brought this on?"

Amber gold eyes met vivid blue with utter honesty. "I just realized I like you. The thought of meeting you on the battlefield suddenly makes me sick."

There was a very deep regret in the blue eyes. "This is why you should never get to know an enemy as a person during a war. You have no idea kid, just how glad I am that you won't be able to be part of this next fight. And this one should settle the war too. So I shouldn't ever have to chance meeting you out there. Kayla would never forgive me if I killed you. Unfortunately, you aren't the kind to back down or surrender just because I was the guy in the other mobile suit. Chances are if we met, one wouldn't go home."

A memory of nuclear hell-light danced across his eyes again. La Flaga was right. He could not back down or surrender. Not when he was standing between the Plants and the chance of that happening again. He knew how good he was and he knew the other man's reputation. La Flaga was right about that too. One would not go home. Odd that, he'd never expected to be grateful for a broken arm. Was that cowardice?


Lance woke to a lot of hissing whispers. The Archangel's doctor, the nurse from the Eternal, and a couple of medical aides were all clumped at the foot of Adrian's bed. His empty bed, Thoms suddenly noted, realizing what the fuss was all about.

The nurse was shaking her head. "No doctor. He is already healthy enough that no Natural could have slipped up on him and pulled him out of here without a struggle. That would have alerted us."

"Are you absolutely sure? I hate to think it could have happened but the truth is, not everyone aboard is as generous as Captain Ramius."

"I'm sure. Besides, why would they? He hasn't done anything to the Archangel. Why not try for either of the others if they were after a Coordinator to kill?"

"Beg your pardon Miss, but you're missing the obvious here." One of the aides said quietly. "The other two aren't involved with a great looking Natural girl."

Ah, yes, jealousy. One of the great reasons for murder and even some historic wars. In this case, there was the added race factor too. Lance eyed his Second's empty bed unhappily. The chances of any Natural taking Ito by himself were slim to none but if there had been two or more, the odds tipped the other way.

"No!" La Flaga's voice carried clearly. "You'll have half the ship out looking for you thinking you're dead or something! You're going back to sick bay now, hear me?"

The answer wasn't audible enough to distinguish the words but the tone came clearly enough. Someone was being mulish. Someone was not fond of being stuck in sick bay. And it took no guess work to figure out who.

"Yes I can too make you!"

Oh brother! Adrian was really being childish now! And La Flaga didn't sound all that mature at the moment either. Couple of kids arguing over something from the toy box was what they sounded like. Lance Thoms found a truly silly grin on his face as he mentally pictured that argument.

Seconds later, Ito came sailing in the ward door, gently rotating end over end, his good arm flailing uselessly. La Flaga had tossed him perfectly; he was unable to reach any surface that he could use to brake his momentum against. Both aides immediately kicked over to him. He was captured by the medical personnel before he could touch any surface that might have let him shoot himself back out of the Infirmary.

With the Hawk in the ward door and both aides holding him gently but firmly, Adrian was smart enough not to fight the inevitable. The look he gave La Flaga was evil but the man just grinned at him. Interesting. So they'd had a talk had they? And the upshot of it was the beginning of friendship? Because that was what he was seeing.

Lance gnawed his lip. This could be very good or very bad. Only the course of the war would decide that one.

Thoms ignored the doctor and the nurse, both of whom were reading the defenseless Ito the riot act. He hoped they both understood they were wasting their time. He wasn't going to be tied down in bed much longer, not unless they put actual restraints on him. They'd done too good a job of stabilizing his broken bones. He didn't hurt enough to be tied to a bed.

The Captain flipped his good hand and caught the Hawk's eye. He gave another wave and La Flaga nodded, making his way around the roadblock at Adrian's bed to take the free stool beside Thom's. The blond looked over at the uproar and grinned again.

"Is that kid always that stubborn?"

"It depends on the topic. He can be very reasonable most of the time. However, when you hit one of his personal triggers, it takes three men and a boy and a mobile suit to move him."

"He doesn't do 'injured warrior' real well, does he?"

"He's terrible at that one."

La Flaga abruptly turned serious eyes on him. "Kayla Grayhawk is a friend. I trained her to fly a Zero. I'd hate to see her get hurt. I know the kid thinks he's serious but he's inside that infatuation. No one sees clearly from the inside of one of those. So I'll ask you; is he?"

Lance took a deep breath. "Let me tell you what the expert told me. Adrian is the grandson of one of the top geneticist in the Plants. I got this from old Roland himself. Listen very carefully; I'm not going to talk very loudly. There's a lot of this Adrian doesn't need to know and his hearing is excellent."

He started at the beginning, with the concept behind the Ito Plan. Parts of that generated flashes of genuine anger in the Hawk's clear eyes. No shock there. Parts of it were worth getting upset over if you were a Natural.

The story of the boy's decision to capture instead of kill got La Flaga's undivided attention. So did his own observations on how the two of them had struck him as a pair right from the opening of Ito's GINN aboard the Ballard. The man was just as interested in every other detail he could dredge up on the development of the relationship. But it was the story of the pheromones and the bond they created that shook him.

"You're saying they didn't have any choice?"

"Not if I understood Dr. Ito correctly. Once those little chemical things took hold, they altered the brain chemistry for both of them to the point where they are now incapable of seeing any other partner. This is apparently something that can happen in a much less intense form to Naturals too. He did say it isn't this intense for most Coordinators either. Adrian and Kayla are unusually susceptible."

"That's kinda scary stuff."

"Oh, yeah. Especially since as far as our human noses are concerned, the damn stuff is odorless. They sneak up on us and we can't smell them coming."

"And the result is the two of them have been trying real hard for kids for a couple of months?"

"That's right."

"Have they succeeded?"

"Not that I know about. But then, I wouldn't necessarily be told right away." Lance pointed out drily. "After all, that would end his obligation to the Project and I seriously doubt he has any interest in leaving her bed, or she in leaving his."

"Ah, yeah." La Flaga agreed just as drily.

"This isn't the reason I wanted to talk to you by the way."

"Oh, likely not." The Hawk agreed amiably. "What did you want?"

"There will be another battle and likely soon. From what I saw, there was a very formidable Earth Alliance fleet there and I doubt the Genesis got them all. Then too, they can be reinforced from the Moon. I would like to know what you people intend to do with us during that battle."

Mu La Flaga gave him a very long and silent study with a neutral face that gave nothing away. "You will sleep through it."

"I beg your pardon? We'll what?"

"You'll sleep through it. As soon as the Alliance fleet starts its move, the four of you will be given sleeping drugs and put into medical emergency escape pods. If the worst happens, you will have some chance of survival. There's nothing you can do awake other than lay here while the battle goes on all around you. I've been helpless in sick bay during a battle once. I'm the one who advised putting all of you out. Believe me, it's kinder than letting you stay awake no matter what you think."

"Unacceptable! Come up with another plan." Lance Thoms was suddenly so mad he could barely see straight. What kind of coward did the Hawk of Endymion think he was?

"Sorry, not gonna do that." La Flaga replied flatly.

"Why you . . . . ."

"Captain! If you will give me a moment please? You can fight with the Lt. Commander after I've finished."

Lance looked over to see the Coordinator doctor from the Eternal. Eyes flashing at La Flaga, he laid back obediently. He would take this up again just as soon as the doctor was done.

"Don't go anywhere La Flaga! We aren't done talking."

"Nope. I'll stay right here."

The man was competent and quick. He checked all the injuries and both breaks, remarking that they were healing well. He finished with an injection into a vein in the back of his hand.

"Captain, you will be fine now."

"Thank you Doctor."

"How long will it hold?" La Flaga asked.

"At least ten hours. The fight should be over by then. You should get to your mobile suit, Hawk. I'll stay long enough to make sure they are all safely stowed in their capsules and then I'll shoot back to Eternal. We should be moving very soon now. The reinforcements from Ptolemaist Base are getting very close."

"What!" Lance suddenly realized what was happening. "What have you done to me?"

The doctor looked down at him sadly. "Hopefully, prevented stress overload from killing any of you, especially Yuri Lubbek. Now go to sleep Captain. There is nothing you can do in this battle."

He stared up horrified at the betrayal. He looked at La Flaga who simply smiled a bit grimly. His vision was beginning to tunnel on him, the edges vanishing in a whirl of brilliant sparkles. The last thing Lance Thoms saw was the Hawk of Endymion throwing him a casual salute before he turned away. It was a memory he would treasure the rest of his life.