Phase 2 – A New Start
"Good, you're here," the principal, Murrue Ramius, said when she spotted the two teenagers entering the large room.
The two teenagers approached her and came to a stop.
"Thank you for doing this for me Lacus. We've been very busy lately so it means a lot," Murrue gratefully thanked the pink haired woman.
"Think nothing of it. It was enjoyable," Lacus said before giving a slight bow and turning to leave.
Right as Lacus was about to exit through the door, she came to a stop.
"Is something wrong Miss Clyne?" Murrue asked when she noticed that the young woman was just standing there frozen.
Lacus didn't say anything but she did turn her head to look at the two of them. More particularly, she was looking right at Kira.
A part of her wanted to stay there with them. Yet while looking at Kira, another part of her ached and she felt lonely and scared.
"I-it's nothing. If you need anything Mr. Hibiki, just ask," she said before forcing the door open and she left as quickly as she could to escape the weird feeling that she had been having.
"That was odd," Murrue muttered keeping a close eye on Lacus until the door closed and she disappeared from view. The behavior that she had just witnessed was unlike anything she had ever seen from Lacus before.
Kira wasn't really sure what was going on but knew there were other things that they had to do. "I was supposed to take some tests correct?" he asked getting the principals attention.
"Oh yes. That's correct," Murrue said putting aside Lacus's strange behavior and turned her attention to the new student.
"This academy is used to train and prepare those who will lead this world forward. It's far from your normal high school," Murrue stated as she started walking towards another room and Kira followed after her.
"There are two major courses that students are generally divided between. The first is politics. Miss Clyne is enrolled in this. Her family has a very distinguished line that have helped guide this world since the time of the Bloody Valentine Wars," Murrue started a lengthy explanation as the two got onto an elevator and started to head to lower floors.
"As for you. Your course of study as an engineer will mostly be military training which is the other course," she mentioned as the elevator came to a stop and the two of them stepped out.
"We have plenty of cub courses of course but most of them are categorized between those two courses. Like with engineering. Of course not all of the classes are strictly about them. You will take normal classes as well like history, math, and other normal school classes," she continued as they entered a door where several others were waiting for them.
Inside the room there was a small machine. It was a simulation machine. Kira had experienced those plenty of times growing up.
"First we'll be testing your skills as a mobile suit pilot. Mr. la Flaga will be the one who will guide you through this," she mentioned as a man with short blonde hair stood up and approached the two of them.
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Hibiki. My name is Mu La Flaga," the man said as he shook Kira's hand.
"The test that we'll be doing is simple. You'll be doing a mobile suit training simulation against another of our students. We'll mostly just be measuring your reaction times and skills so don't worry about it too much. We don't expect too much from beginners anyways," he said with a smile.
"Ok," Kira muttered as he dreaded going into that machine.
Kira wasn't a half bad pilot. In fact, you could say that he was actually really good. His guardian had been training him since he was 5 years old. The problem was that he was told not to bring a lot of attention to himself. Doing good would probably do just that.
The door to the room opened again and 2 boys his age came walking into the room.
Kira vaguely remembered them being with Athrun during their argument earlier that day.
"Mr. Joule, Mr. Elsman. Glad you could make it," Mu said as he greeted the two boys.
The silver haired boy just looked at Kira and smirked.
Kira looked at the two and them and noticed that they kept looking at him and smirking. Something about the 2 of them was really pissing him off.
"Hey Dearka, did you do the thing we talked about earlier today?" Yzak asked in a whisper while leaning over towards his friend.
"Yeah. I know a girl in that department and she agreed very easily," Dearka whispered back thinking how fun it was to ask for that favor.
"Great. Let's show this newbie the kind of stuff he's getting himself into. This isn't the kind of place someone like him belongs," Yzak responded since to him only the elite should be let in.
"I bet you $10 that you can beat him in 2 minutes," Dearka offered as he sized up the new kid.
"I bet $20 that I can beat him in the first minute," Yzak responded with a smug smirk knowing that he could easily pull it off.
"Deal!" Dearka agreed and the two of them sealed the deal with a hand shake.
"It's not necessary for you to go full strength Mr. Joule. We're just trying to get accurate readings," Mu said as Yzak was climbing into the machine.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Yzak responded though it was clear that he wasn't going to try.
'Why'd I get stuck with him?' Mu thought since Yzak was the type of person that was difficult for most of the teachers to deal with.
"The specs you will be using are the same on both sides. Victory or not doesn't really matter for today," Mu said as he walked over to a computer that an assistant of his was waiting at.
Kira and Yzak crawled into the machine placed before them.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why aren't we just using the AI as his opponent like we normally do?" his assistant ask as he started booting up the machine.
"Because there's no way that he is a rookie with mobile suits," Mu simply responded with a smirk.
Kira looked over the controls before him. "Pretty basic set up," he mumbled to himself as he opened up the OS and had a look at the exact specs.
"What the heck!" Kira yelled in surprise when he noticed that the OS was anything but basic, it was a complete mess.
'Teacher's wouldn't pull something like this. Has to have been the work of my opponent. I guess I can consider this a blessing though,' he thought as he closed the system and decided to just work with what he had.
'I thought that this test was supposed to be against a computer though. Could that man suspect something?' Kira thought with worry as he cringed at the thought. He was supposed to keep a low profile but it was annoying that other already had suspicions about him.
The screens of the machine lit up to show a wide expanse of plains.
Across from Kira, there was a machine that Kira saw from textbooks. It was a model of mobile suit that was used during the first bloody valentine war.
'ZGMF-1017 GINN. It was the first humanoid mobile suit to be introduced during the Bloody Valentine War. Talk about the bare minimum of mobile suits to use,' he thought with a slight chuckle as he thought back to what armaments the machine had.
The screen quickly signaled the start of the match.
'The specs of the machine are going to be much lower thanks to what those guys did. This is just a test. Why do they want to beat a supposed newbie so bad?' Kira thought as he grasped the controls and watched as the other machine charged at him.
The machine moved quickly towards him with its sword raised.
Kira attempted to move but the machine moved far slower than he expected. It was kind of akin to a video game lagging on you.
Without being able to move, one of the arms to his mobile suit was hacked off by the sword.
'It would've been all too easy for him to finish me with that strike if he had wanted to. He's just toying with me,' he thought calmly as he assessed his option.
'Wait! I have an idea,' Kira thought with a grin as he opened up the OS.
Kira figured that if he wanted to hide his piloting skills that he'd just have to win with his engineering skills.
'Since the OS used was the basic back then, there is plenty of room for improvements. The limited battery power of the GINN due to the inability to use nuclear power at the time needs to be taken into account. I can easily increase the efficiency of the system and the weapons and use that to upgrade the power and speed of the mobile suit,' he thought as he brought up the screen and opened up the OS. He fingers danced across the keyboard before him.
"What the heck?!" Mu's assistant complained as he watched the screen before him.
"What's wrong?" Mu asked as he approached and looked at the screen. His eyes widened as he saw the very system being rewritten before his eyes. "He's rewriting the system even in the heat of battle?" he spoke in a quiet voice.
'He was said to be a prodigy with computers. I guess his recommendation for that course wasn't a fluke,' he thought as he witnessed the specs of the machine raise above what had been considered standard for the tests.
"Let's finish this!" Yzak yelled in delight as he swung his sword for the kill only for him to be dodged by a hair's breadth.
"No matter! While he's off guards…" he said before his screens went blank with the word 'You Lose' sprawled out across the screen.
"What the hell?! What happened?!" he yelled as he banged on the screen.
"Perhaps I overdid it. I wanted a draw," Kira mumbled as he stepped out of the machine. His own reflexes got the best of him after he dodged the attack and he went for the kill right afterwards.
Mu was speechless as he looked at the boy before him. He won the battle simply with his programming skills. He upgraded the OS of the machine almost to perfection. There was nothing about it that wasn't possible with the real thing. But to do that so swiftly in the middle of battle was something else entirely. 'I feel like I heard about something like that somewhere before. But I don't remember where,' he thought while wracking his brain to try and remember.
While his piloting skills were still unknown. The reflexes he showed by the minimum dodge and swift kill made him feel like there was something there.
"That… will be all. Thanks for your time," Mu muttered wearily as he kept his eyes on Kira and tried to get a sense of what was there.
'I feel like… I brought more attention to myself than if I was just to beat him normally. Perhaps I could've just passed that off as an accident easier,' Kira thought looking at the almost piercing eyes of his teacher.
"What the hell was that Yzak?" Dearka asked with confusion at what he just saw. From what he saw, even the teachers were having some trouble comprehending it.
"A Fluke! Nothing more!" Yzak yelled as he stormed past Dearka and left the room.
'The system was changed though. Was he able to fix it that quickly?' Dearka asked as he too looked at Kira.
He stared at Kira for a few moments before he turned and followed his friend. 'The real question is… who won the bet?'
The sun had long since set by the time Kira got out from all the skill tests.
'He's probably not going to be too happy with me,' Kira thought since he felt that some went better than they should have.
The gun test was easy enough to do. He could shoot but hated the weapon. It was easy enough to miss several times and get an ordinary score.
The piloting test was a bigger issue though. He could tell that word had gone around to most of the teachers. He knew that it was bound to reach the students as well.
In fact he had already gotten a message from his guardian to contact him as soon as possible. 'How does he hear these things so quickly?' Kira asked himself bewildered.
To his surprise, just outside the doors sitting on a bench was the same pink haired girl from earlier.
"Were you waiting for me?" Kira asked sneaking up on the young woman.
Lacus jumped at his sudden appearance.
"Don't scare me!" Lacus yelled holding her chest over her heart.
"Sorry about that," Kira said but his laugh easily told her that he would probably do it again if given the chance.
Lacus just glared at Kira before sighing and giving up.
"No I wasn't waiting for you. I was waiting on Athrun. He was supposed to meet me here so we could have dinner together," she responded to his original question once her heart had settled down.
"We were supposed to meet an hour ago though," she said looking at her watch with a look of annoyance.
'I take it that it's been happening a lot lately,' Kira thought while wondering just how Athrun could keep a girl like her waiting like that.
"Well then do you mind if I join you? I just finished up the tests and I wouldn't mind some company since I don't know anyone else here yet," Kira said giving her a smile.
"S-sorry. I was planning to head back to my room right before you showed up," Lacus found excuses flying from her mouth.
"I see," Kira replied feeling a bit disappointed. "I'll walk you back if it is alright," Kira requested feeling the urge to spend more time with her.
Lacus tried to turn him down but ended up nodding her head instead.
The two of them walked towards her room but no words were spoken between them.
"Do I… make you feel uncomfortable?" Kira hesitantly asked breaking the silence that had surrounded them for the past few minutes.
"That's not…" Lacus started to say but was unable to finish.
She wasn't sure what it was. She could tell that Kira was a very kind person. She found him interesting and she did find it enjoyable to talk to him earlier. However something about him terrified her.
"It's fine. We just met and you don't know me very well. It's understandable," Kira said putting on a smile.
He knew she was taken by another but something inside Kira drove him to talk to her. He had no intention of taking her from Athrun though. He just really wanted to just keep talking to her and learn more about her.
Once again silence fell between the two of them. This lasted until they were in front of her dorm.
This place seemed to be much more luxurious than the place Kira was staying at. That was saying a lot since he thought the room he got was nice as well.
'I can easily imagine a bunch of rich people having it built for them,' Kira thought with a chuckle.
"Yes it's a bit much," Lacus said when she noticed him staring at the place, "It was built just last year. I heard it was because some super rich family wanted their child to only live in luxury. Honestly it's a bit TOO much for my tastes," she said feeling this place was unfair to the rest of the students. Her own family made her move in from the regular dorms as well.
"I can tell," was all Kira found he could respond. The place kind of reminded him of someone he used to know.
"Well thank you for walking me here," Lacus said quietly. She felt it really was unnecessary for him to walk her here but she thanked him anyways.
"No problem. I guess I'll see you around," Kira replied giving her a smile before he turned around and started to walk away.
Lacus just stood there and watched him for a few moments. She was conflicted with Kira. She wanted to reach out for him and yet another part of her told her to keep her distance.
Forcing down those emotions, Lacus turned and walked into the building. Yet that same pain she felt before came back. It was like someone was trying to grab her still beating heart out of her chest.
Kira stopped after a few moments. He turned around and just caught a slight glimpse of Lacus before the doors closed.
Kira gave a deep sigh wondering what it was about her that fascinated him so much.
Kira turned back around and started heading to his own dorm.
"Do you even remember what I told you before you left Kira?" the man on the screen before the violet eyed boy berated.
Kira just rolled his eyes at this and gave a simple, "yeah," to the man before him.
"I told you many times. You need to remain low key. That doesn't just include your piloting skills," the man continued to berate with a stern look on his face.
"You tell me every time and yet you continue to fail to tell me why," Kira shot back like it was the most natural thing.
"Cheeky little…" the man growled while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That is not up for discussion right now. I can see that you're still too immature to handle the truth," he growled out as his blue eyes stared into Kira's.
"The truth? You mean like that my parents were the targets instead of just being caught up in a random attack?" Kira questioned and watched with great satisfaction as the man who raised him, being that stoic that he is, became speechless.
"How did you…" the man started but found that he couldn't finish.
"I realized that years ago. Keeping secrets can sometimes have the opposite effect of making others realize things," Kira responded with eyes that gleamed with seriousness.
He'd realized when he was ten. Because his guardian had kept refusing to tell Kira about his family, Kira came to realize that his family was likely the target of the attack. He'd never brought it up before now because he was afraid of bringing it up in person.
"Yet that doesn't explain why it happened. I know that you know it perfectly well," Kira continued as his hands clenched into fists from anger at the truth he had long known about.
"And what will you do with that truth Kira?" he shot back with eyes more serious than Kira had ever seen. Kira's piercing eyes shot back at him as well.
"I see. I've seen eyes like that before Kira. They're the eyes of one smitten with a desire for revenge. I've seen far too many die because of something like that," he said with a sad sigh for the youngster before him.
"So what if I want revenge?! They killed my parents and I want to know why! I want to know why they had to die! I want to know why it was that I lived!" Kira screamed out finally releasing the built up frustration that he had for all these years.
"And what will you do when you find the ones responsible Kira? Will you kill them?" his guardians calmly spoke back despite Kira's anger.
"What if I do?! What concern is it to you?!" Kira angrily struck back.
Despite his anger, Kira calmed down when he saw the look of sadness that the man before him was giving. It was a look that Kira never saw in his life.
"So you kill them. But what of their family? They will instead come to hate you and want you dead as well. It's just an endless cycle that just repeats over and over…" he responded before choking up a little which Kira was even more surprised to see.
Kira felt himself calm down though it didn't do too much to abate the anger he held inside.
"You were entrusted to me by a woman who had but a few moments left to live. I've been raising you so that you won't die. Not so that you will just end up fighting," he said regaining himself a bit.
"Then what do you expect of me? I can't simply let them get away with what they did. I'm sure I wasn't the only one affected by it," Kira said while trying to keep his anger down.
"You weren't," the man replied so sadly and silently that Kira was unable to hear it even with his excellent hearing.
"Please Kira. Just don't do anything rash while you are there. There are other things you may find instead of hatred and vengeance. Until that day comes, I won't tell you anything," he said sternly before the transmission was cut.
Kira seethed for several minutes before he finally cooled down and sat on his bed.
Falling back, Kira stared at the ceiling for a while before deciding to just go to bed since the fatigue from his trip and the entire day caught up with him.
Collapsing back in his seat, he stared at the screen his young ward was on moments ago.
"Who am I kidding? This fight is in his blood. They will always keep hunting and fighting each other until one side is no more," he murmured sadly feeling like he failed Kira.
Kira was very honest and kind, much like his ancestor. He raised him hoping to end the cycle of hatred that enshrouded his family.
Yet in reality Kira seemed to have already fallen victim to it; this endless cycle of hatred.
"I may not be able to keep him from fighting but I do want to make sure that he lives," he whispered to no one while taking a bottle of aspirin out of a drawer.
Replacing the aspirin, he instead pulled out the picture that was dated over 500 years ago. "They are so much alike their predecessors. Perhaps they're even the two of them reborn. I pray that is the case because that may be what it takes to stop this endless cycle of hatred."