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.)

The story moves on and so do I. I would like to thank everyone who sent such kind notes. You were a real help to me. I can not begin to tell you how much it meant to have your support.

In a way, it is very ironic that this happened at just this point in the story. I ended up pulling a lot of detail out that was interesting in an anthropology way but which wasn't making the story move. I hope what is here still makes sense. It does matter for the future of the characters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.


The one he was watching across the fire was dark by the standards of the Native peoples. His black eyes seemed to glow as well. He made Adrian uneasy. But then, this whole situation made the ZAFT Captain uneasy. He had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten here. Nor did he know how he'd gotten back into his own ZAFT uniform either. The last thing he remembered was falling, Kayla's eyes looking down at him in fear.

Now he was sitting beside a fire in a narrow canyon across from this very strange individual, an individual he was sure he'd met somewhere before although he couldn't for the life of him remember where or when. His host hadn't said a word to him so far. He had offered him water and what looked like it might have been some small animal now very well done and spitted on a stick. Adrian had found himself both thirsty and ravenous, so he'd accepted the offered water and food with polite thanks. The dark man had only smiled and continued to study him in a manner that made the Captain wonder what he'd done to deserve it.

He suddenly heard footsteps coming from his left, the up-canyon side. Adrian watched alertly as a powerfully built man, also unmistakably a Native, stepped softly into the light. He wore nothing but some kind of wide, heavily decorated leather strip that fell to his knees in both front and back and was held up at the waist by a sturdy leather band and equally heavily decorated soft leather footgear. A string of some kind of claws or maybe talons circled his neck, a pair of long, dark feathers with golden tips hung in his hair on either side of his face and a very functional looking spear was in his right hand. All this was disconcerting enough, but like the dark man who had been here from the start, this one's rather startlingly golden eyes also seemed to glow. And like that one, he was dead sure he'd known this man before too.

Something prodded him sharply, a memory that wouldn't quite surface perhaps; whatever the source, it was a clear warning that this individual was a great deal more than he seemed. Adrian shot a quick glance across at the first one, who had been here from the start, and realized that message applied to him too. So he followed the prompt; he stood and saluted first his original, silent companion and then the newcomer.

He got the feeling he had both pleased and somewhat amused them both. The newcomer strode quickly across the pebbled ground to stand at Adrian's right hand. Why did it feel right for him to be there? He could only grit his teeth in frustration when the answer to that question refused to come to mind. Still, when he didn't sit, neither did the Captain. Once more he got an impression of both pleasure and amusement.

The sound of more footsteps interrupted any thoughts he might have wanted to give to the situation however. These came from down-canyon this time. An ancient woman stepped heavily into the light. She was stooped with age but must have been exceptionally tall in her youth. She still had very broad shoulders, ice white hair, and small, warm brown eyes that he was no longer surprised to see glowing. She wore a beautifully decorated dress and a cloak of some kind of animal fur. She leaned on a very sturdy and deeply carved stick.

This time he was fairly sure he'd never met the lady before. Despite her age, Adrian was quite sure she was stronger than the warrior who stood beside him and could give the Dark One on the other side of the fire a run for his money as well. He wondered how he knew that. He promptly bowed to her, the full, formal gesture he would have used to Chairman Eileen Canaver. Again there came the impression of approval and amusement. She walked over to stand on his left hand.

After that, others like them came. A man who wore blue and white banded feathers in his two braids. Another man who had almond shaped eyes and a pair of small, bushy tails of some kind hanging from his braids. A woman with black feathers in her hair and keen black eyes joined the ancient lady in the fur cloak. Another man, this one with slate gray stripes painted over and under his eyes and banded brown feathers in his hair joined the two with the bushy tails and the blue and white feathers. A younger man with a necklace of animal fangs and disconcerting pale blue eyes joined the two ladies. Some of these people he was confident he'd met before, a couple he was equally sure he hadn't. Adrian saluted or bowed to each as they arrived, wondering madly what this was all about.

The last arrival though just about stopped his heart. He heard the whistle of wind through some restricted space approaching long before he could see anything. It came from the north, up-canyon, so he looked that way. When he didn't see anyone approaching, he let his eyes drift skyward.

Something bird shaped was coming. It took him a moment to realize just how big it had to be to be seen that clearly at such distance in the moonlight. As it got closer, he kept revising his size estimates upwards. It was almost directly over them when it suddenly did a wingover and dropped toward the ground. At just above the canyon rim, it righted itself, tossed its wings over its head and literally dropped into the canyon, landing behind the Dark One with a tremendous crash that nearly threw Adrian off his feet.

The Captain stared at it in shock. It was almost as tall as the canyon walls and filled a full half of the space in the canyon floor. It looked like an impossibly huge black eagle with the now familiar glowing eyes, white this time. But whenever it moved at all, streaks of what looked like lightening shot through its feathers and a sound like very distant thunder growled. Unlike any of the others, uncanny as they were, this one just about scared the living shit out of him. They at least gave a semblance of having a relationship to being human. There was no such suggestion with this thing! And some small part of him knew it was enjoying terrifying him too.

The knowledge angered him but that anger brought no extra strength with it, not against this monster. This was a test, he knew that too and it also irritated him. But like the other anger, the irritation did not help him gain any ground against the fear this thing was driving into the core of his being.

The others around him stood like statues, waiting to see what he would do. They offered neither encouragement nor discouragement; they were absolutely neutral at this moment. The impossible eagle-thing just stared down at him, giving him the impression it was considering how he might do for lunch.

There was a time limit on this, he suddenly realized as fear rose towards panic. That eagle would wait only so long before it decided he was snack food. The knowledge just about undid him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do to prevent it from eating him!

The fire popped, catching his panicky attention for a second. As his eyes swept across the bright line of sparks it had emitted, he noticed something new. There was a pile of small animals and a very sturdy looking stick with several branches at one end now sitting on the ground not far from the Dark One.

All right, there was something being provided that he could feed this huge bird besides himself. But to get to those animals and that stick, he was going to have to walk towards that thing. And he couldn't make himself move.

Adrian could feel his heart pounding and hear himself gasping for air as sheer terror made breathing almost impossible. How the hell was he supposed to move TOWARD that monster? He could hardly keep his feet right now as it was he was shaking so hard!

Huge emerald eyes suddenly filled his mind, eyes that recognized him, were overjoyed to see him, and then held nothing but horror as they realized he was falling away from them. Kayla, those were Kayla's eyes! She was pregnant with their children! If he died here, who would take care of her? Who would protect her from the bigots that existed in the Plants and who were just as vicious in their way as any Blue Cosmos fanatic hunting Coordinators? His Grandfather? Bad joke. His mother? Not enough power.

Time stopped as Adrian realized there was no one else. He had no choice; he could not die here. He forced his head up and his hand up to salute the great bird. And, one unsteady step at a time, he slowly marched over to the pile of carcasses and the stick.

He managed to wedge a large rabbit onto the stick. He stood, holding the stick as high over his head as he could, and waited for the bird to decide what it was going to eat. Oddly, as soon as he got the stick up in the air, he steadied. He was still soul-deep frightened, but he was no longer shaking.

Something hit the stick with force enough to knock him over. He stared up to see the great bird tossing the rabbit into the air. It caught it in one swift strike, the beak closing with a crack that nearly deafened him. Then it was looking down at him impatiently.

Adrian scrambled to the pile and grabbed the first carcass that came to hand. He jammed it onto the stick and lifted it as high as he could as he started to get up. He never made it off his knees.

The strike smashed him to the ground this time. He didn't bother to watch the bird eat whatever it was he'd fed it. He rolled back to his knees, caught up a new carcass, and put this one on the stick.

This time he didn't try to stand. He just thrust the stick into the air and held on tightly. Again he was slammed to the canyon floor. And again he rolled up and snatched the next carcass that came to hand to feed to the eagle. In the back of his mind was an awareness of the uncanny watchers, and that they were very pleased with him. Somehow, at that moment, it really didn't matter to him.

He fed the eagle time and time again. Each time he was knocked down, it hurt a bit more to get up. Captain Ito forced himself to ignore it as his chest began to hurt so badly he could hardly breath, as his entire abdomen became a sea of pain that made any movement agony, as both legs and knees came to such levels of pain he could only be sure they were doing what he demanded of them by watching them move. His arms were made of molten lead and his hands were almost unable to grip anything by the time he reached the last of the pile.

But he was no longer afraid of the bird. His body and mind had no room left for fear. What attention he could spare from the pain was completely tied up in making his body go through the moves it had to make to get a carcass on the stick and the stick in the air.

Adrian fumbled the last carcass onto the stick and tried to lift it. This time his body refused to obey him. He collapsed on the canyon floor, sharp stones digging into his back, legs splayed, the stick flopped across his chest making it so hard to breathe that he barely noticed the massive beak reach down and delicately pluck the last treat off of it. There was nothing left in his universe but pain.

At some point, the pain faded into the background of his awareness. Voices spoke and he listened. When what they told him confused him, he asked for explanations. Sometimes he understood the answers, too many times he did not. But he did understand one thing; he was being given access to knowledge very few of his people would ever have. It was a privilege, one he hadn't really earned by any merit but by love and acceptance. This was the wisdom of Kayla's people.

Eventually the voices stopped speaking and he slept. When he woke, Adrian discovered he was still lying on the canyon floor but there were no longer any rocks trying to poke holes through him. He was breathing easily now and his heartbeat felt normal. It was not that nothing hurt, everything still did, but it was something distant now. He knew it would be a fool's move to try to stand so he just lay where he'd awaken to see what would happen.

When nothing did for several minutes, he tried to look around. The canyon was just as it had been before. However, all those who had been there were now gone, including the Dark One and the huge bird. The fire was out as well. Indeed, there was no sign it had ever burned there at all.

He looked the other way and found someone standing there. Adrian would never be able to give any description of that One. Nor could he assign a gender. He used the masculine whenever he later told the story just for convenience and because it fit general convention.

"Soaring Hawk Woman chose well." his visitor informed him. "Now it is time for you to go back to your own place. You are not yet ready to come to the Spirit World to stay. Go now, Eagle's Heart, and take the wisdom of the Spirits who have taught you while you were here with you."

"Who?" Adrian managed to ask.

The other smiled. "Not yet. Someday you will know that answer but not now."

Irritated, Adrian opened his mouth to demand an answer when the universe became an ocean of light. He stared around at it. But there was nothing to see, just light everywhere.

Suddenly some of the light seemed to gather into the rim of a tunnel, the interior dimmer for having given much of itself to the rim. He stared it in curiosity. The tunnel moved toward him. That was interesting! He wondered how it did it.

Then the tunnel was moving over him, taking him into itself. His eyes immediately felt relief, as though the level of the light had somehow been too intense even though he hadn't noticed it before. He glanced behind to see the brilliant circle of the light shrinking rapidly to a tiny dot. He looked ahead to see the tunnel expanding but growing no lighter or darker.

He checked behind himself again. The dot of light was gone now. He looked ahead again and realized that he was seeing areas of lighter and darker spaces. They puzzled him. They were familiar somehow. He knew he should be able to recognize these.

The light and darker patches became more sharply focused. Then they began to acquire new shades. Colors, he realized, these new shades were colors. He wondered vaguely how he knew that.

The color patches stuck together in patterns. Sometimes the patterns moved a bit. Occasionally they changed completely. But they were very well organized.

Adrian became aware that the tunnel had vanished at some point. His sight was now restricted by some physical object. Every so often, it would briefly go completely dark. He noticed that each time it came back, the color patches seemed to have cleaner edges.

One of the color patterns, a dull one, underwent one of the periodic changes. A brighter patch flashed above it, streaked with dark speckled lines. This time, he registered a sound accompanying that change.

He should know that sound. And he should know the other small sounds he was abruptly aware of hearing now. His sight went dark once more, then flipped back to the color patterns. This time, however, it was very different. This time, he recognized what he was seeing!

Yuri, Yuri Lubbek was sitting there! He was reading something. It was the page of a paper book he'd heard turning. And the physical objects limiting his sight were his own eyelids!

Adrian heard a door open nearby. Voril Joule stepped into his limited line of sight, accompanied by a very handsome old woman who strongly reminded him of Kayla. Voril looked worried and the old lady serene.

"Yuri?" Joule asked, anxiety clear in his voice.

"No change yet." Yuri replied wearily. "It's been ten days, Gran Spotted Horse. When will the Captain wake up?"

"What, you deaf youngling? How many times do I have to tell you boys he'll come round when he's good and ready and not before then? You should be happy he's been unconscious all this time. Think of the pain he'd have been in if he'd been awake! As it is, if he woke up right now he'd still be in a world of hurt. It just wouldn't be the agony it would have been a few days ago. Getting shot four times in the chest is no joke boys. That Lugar may be an antique but it still packs a solid punch. You Coordinators heal up real fast but even so, he's still got ribs that aren't solid and that crack in the sternum is very soft yet too. He's got bruises on his lungs and most internal organs that are still clearing. There are bruises in the deep muscle tissues of his body that haven't finished healing either. No, Captain Ito is not in good shape and won't be for at least another week. Let him sleep if he wants to. He still needs it."

"His eyes are partly open again." Voril noted, staring intently into Adrian's eyes.

The Captain wanted to tell him he could hear him, could see him, could see them all in fact and just how happy he was to be doing it. But he couldn't make a sound himself. He tried, repeatedly and with everything he had, but nothing came out. The effort exhausted him very quickly; his vision fell back to colored patches instead of crisp images although he did not immediately lose his hearing.

A set of color patterns that matched the old woman suddenly loomed very large in his limited sight. "Yes, they are, but you see here, they still aren't focused. He's semi-conscious at best. Let's see if we can get the medicines in him while he's still in this state. It'll be so much easier on us all if he can actually drink them this time."

"Right!" Yuri's voice agreed instantly.

He was aware of being moved although he could not have said where or how. Logic told him he was being lifted into a position that would make taking liquids safe although he had no way to be sure. But he could feel a change in pressure on his back and his head that was consistent with that idea.

He felt a touch on his face and somehow responded to it. Then there was liquid pouring gently into his mouth. Until that instant, Adrian hadn't known he was thirsty. But the first touch of fluids triggered a startlingly intense response and he greedily accepted all they would give him. He didn't even realize it didn't taste very good until it stopped coming.

"Get me that second one, will you Fox?"

"Yes Ma'am."

There was another touch on his face and he opened his mouth again. So what if it was bitter? It was liquid and he craved it enough to ignore the taste.

Like the first one, this was tipped into his mouth in carefully controlled sips. He drank eagerly, realizing this one tasted much better than the last one had. There wasn't as much of it though and he was far from satisfied when the cup was taken away.

"I think he'll take more. Give me that broth please."

This had a slightly salty, meat flavor that was very good and reached something inside that really needed it. He drank until he felt like he was going to explode. Only then did he reluctantly refuse more. He still craved the flavors; he just didn't have the space for it.

"Almost two cups, very good." The old woman's voice said with satisfaction. "He's doing better than I thought he was. If he's willing to take in that much, the stomach has pretty much recovered from that beating. If it has, the rest of the internal organs are probably further along than I thought as well. He may come to sooner than I dared hope."

"When is sooner?" Voril's voice demanded anxiously.

"I've no idea." The old woman replied candidly. "But I think the watches should go to two hours now so no one is getting too tired and missing anything. We want to catch him as soon as he regains full consciousness if we can so we can evaluate how he's doing. We don't know how much he's going to even remember. Larry and his goons avoided his face in their beating but they did crack him in the head a few times."

A beating? Someone had beaten him? Pretty damn severely too if he'd been out ten days. He tried to think back, to remember.

He knew he was a Captain in the ZAFT. He knew the ZAFT was the military defense of the Plants. He was a Coordinator. There had been a war with the Naturals of Earth. It was over now. No one had really won, he was sure of that. And he'd come to Earth to find and bring home the girl he loved and wanted to marry, Kayla Grayhawk. She was a Natural and she was pregnant with their children. So far, so good. But he was drawing a blank on the beating business.

Adrian let his eyes close and he stopped listening to whatever was going on around him as he concentrated fiercely on trying to remember. It was important, his relationship with Kayla was tied up in it, he just knew it was! He'd come to Earth, what had happened after he'd come down here?

He fell into the darkness, searching for the answers. He found himself seated by a fire inside what looked to be a tent made of animal skins instead. A meter and a half tall Golden Eagle waited patiently on his right hand. An ancient Bear, bowed by time but probably still over three meters tall waited with equal patience on his left. He was back in his own red uniform again.

"You will remember when it is time for you to do so." The Bear told him kindly. "Until then, you have much to learn and your time here grows short. All too soon now, you will return to the waking world to stay and our time of instruction will be over. Come and pay heed for this time we have. You must be able to guide your children, Eagle's Heart, or they will not be able to become all they should be."

"I must guide?" Adrian asked in confusion. "Aren't you the Spirits of Kayla's people? Wouldn't she be the more appropriate one to be doing this?"

"She is also learning." Golden Eagle told him calmly. "It will require both of you to raise your sons and daughters to the right path. I told you to study the ways of the Spirit. So be still and learn."

"Eagle," the Bear said reprovingly. "He is not of the People. Do not criticize him as though he were one who had refused the Way. He never had the chance to learn it at all!"

"Grandmother of Bears, he is stubborn and argumentative. He will walk away if he is not directed firmly." Golden Eagle told her irritably.

The great Bear looked over at Adrian gently and he stared back in something very like awe. They were real, he decided. He hadn't wanted to believe that, he really hadn't. He grew up with science and the concept that you believed what you could prove. You could never prove the existence of these Spirits using any tool of science. That was why religion was so thoroughly rejected in the Plants. He'd grown up with that hammered into his head: religion was a rigidly structured set of largely arbitrary rules and a facade for social control that was based on wishful thinking about something completely unprovable. And for all he knew, it was.

But the issue of spirituality was something else. Because he knew for himself that science had no answers for some pretty fundamental questions. It could explain how he had come to be but it could offer no reason why. It could do a fine job of defining the beginning and likely ending of the existing universe. It could not tell him where it had come from or where it would go to. It could describe the mind and the formation and structure of personality but it could not explain or define that elusive thing called a 'soul'. Those questions and all others like them were the provenance of spirituality and a place where science, by its very nature, could find no foothold. No wonder his people were so uncomfortable with the whole irrational idea!

"No Eagle, he will not walk away." Grandmother of Bears replied softly. "Not now and never again. He has finally come to understand what he and his people have left out of their lives. Now, he will willingly learn."