Gundam SEED Destiny
Kira
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Phase 6: Devastation and Conspiracies

October 5, 73 C.E.

The large, glowing red PLANT that was falling from the skies could be clearly seen by all inhabitants of the Earth in the Eastern Hemisphere. For many of those who could see it for whatever reason that they weren't in the emergency shelters, it was a sight as beautiful as it was terrifying. Everyone knew the deadly significance of what would inevitably happen when it finally landed. For those who could see it and had no other reason not to, they had ceased nearly all activity to watch the falling PLANT.

The official report stated that the thing would likely impact in the Indian Ocean, near Equator. The resulting tidal waves would most assuredly wipe all coastal areas, including nearly all of India, eastern Africa, and Western Australia. After that, a very long nuclear winter would start from all the dust that would be thrown into the air from the impact, choking the planet and all life into slow deaths for the next hundred years at minimum.

But now, the witnesses could see the massive PLANT beginning to break apart into smaller pieces. ZAFT had apparently held true to its word that they were doing everything they could to prevent it from falling. That observation offered little reassurance to the people of the earth. How could ZAFT possibly believe that they could prevent or minimize the damage that would be done in a few short minutes?

However, as the minutes slowed and the PLANT loomed ever closer, growing brighter and brighter from the atmospheric friction, they watched what they'd deemed impossible. The massive falling rock began to slow disintegrate, breaking apart with agonizing slowness. Seeing this slow deterioration of the PLANT was enough to give many people hope that perhaps their former enemies would succeed after all.

Then, without any warning, the largest of the fragments suddenly seemed to shatter. A spectacular explosion of brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows lit up the evening and night skies. From that explosion rained countless smaller fragments, many of which quickly were burnt up in the friction thanks to their smaller sizes. However, just as many fragments continued to fall mostly unopposed towards the planet.

Several dozen of the fragments that finally reached the planet's surface crashed into the Indian Ocean, creating multiple tidal waves that would quickly merge into one monstrous tsunami. This tsunami would strike all coastal areas in the Indian Ocean, washing away all forms of life and civilization that stood in its path and wipe out tens of millions of lives, mostly in India. The fragments that didn't land in the ocean caused significant damage as well, though nowhere near the magnitude as the coastal regions. Central and northern Africa, the Middle East, China, central Asia, and even a few sites in eastern North America and Europe were struck, resulting in several massive craters. Landslides, earthquakes, forest fires, smog, and flash floods were among the many disasters that struck the areas nearest these crash sites.

The resulting death toll would be enormous. Near one billion people died that day and all were killed within a few minutes of one another. It would forever be called the single worst catastrophe in recorded human history; nearly on par with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Djibril Manor, 9:00am

The man known as Lord Djibril could very easily be called many things. Things like visionary, terrorist, politician, murderer, businessman, thief, bureaucrat, strategist, mastermind, and even something as simple as a liar. But never let it be said that he was an idiot; whenever he saw an advantageous opening that he could exploit, he took it after considering the pros and cons of the action.

With the fall of Junius 7 to Earth, he finally had the key that was needed to spark another war. He, unlike his predecessor, would finally eradicate the abominations of space. Using the knowledge gained from the past mistakes and new technologies that had either been developed or stolen, he knew that his destined path would not be stopped.

After all, he was Lord Djibril, leader of Logos and Blue Cosmos alike!

However, Phantom Pain had provided more than just the perfect trump card to ignite the war. As well as the perfect material to steer the world in the direction it was destined to take, he had received an unexpected ace should things go awry…but he strongly doubted they would since his plan was perfect. Yet this new opportunity was something that he just could not bear to pass up for any reason. Just how damaging would it be to those beasts if one of their most celebrated heroes suddenly seemed to have become their enemy?

"And you're certain that you can acquire the 'object' before the Representative can send any of her people?" he demanded in an almost disinterested tone while he idly sipped his wine.

"Once you'd been kind enough to share these…enlightening pictures with us," Alwin Ritter said, an ugly sneer pulling at his lips. "It was relatively easy for my men to calculate its approximate crash site. And thanks to the disaster, that ZAFT warship will forced to bring the little girl home before they can even consider scavenging it themselves. By then, I can guarantee that my men will have collected it and have long since left the area."

Nodding to show his acceptance of the man's claims, Djibril took another sip of his wine while he carefully considered his next statement. "Be sure that your men do not leave any trace that it was even there. That machine could be just the ace that we need to break those accursed space monsters' spirits."

"Of course," Ritter growled slightly, but nodded his head regardless. "Once its system has been flushed, my men will begin the data extraction and appropriate repairs immediately."

"How long do you estimate they'll take?" It was the answer to this question that he was most anxious to hear.

Sighing loudly in resignation, Ritter said, "If the damage is as severe as we predict, at least a month if I push my best engineers to work around the clock."

"Do it," the purple-lipped lord ordered immediately. "I want that machine up and running properly at least by the time of our attack on the beasts' homeland. That is the focus of your activities for the next month. I will deal with the Alliance."

"Of course," Ritter said, a slight note of annoyance in his voice, he hated being ordered around like this. "As you command."

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Aprillis City, 11:00am

Even though he was staring at the monitor before him, watching the many images of devastation that had been wreaked on Earth as a result of the PLANT drop, Supreme ZAFT Chairman Gilbert Durandal's mind was a literal battlefield. There were so many things taking place within his psyche that anyone other than the most skilled of commanders in the armed forces would've gotten lost amongst all the chaos.

On one hand, he was already predicting the Earth Alliance's next move, no doubt being guided by Logos. If his suspicion was correct, and Logos was indeed leading the Atlantic Federation by its nose hairs, then a direct assault on the PLANTs was guaranteed. Though that attack was just the second step of his plan to recreate human society and order, he was already putting into motion the general 'theme' that he'd envisioned the PLANTs' role to be in the coming war. They would not purposelessly entice the wrath of the people, fighting only when necessary thus to allow the Earth-bound peoples' grief and impulsive anger to wane. All the good deeds that they would do in the midst of the war, including sending immediate supplies and aid to the impact areas of the Junius 7 fall, would help to lessen any opposition to ZAFT (maybe even winning him the most vital asset of all) when he was able to finally take action against Logos and the Orb Union.

But in order for his ultimate plan to succeed, he needed qualified and able people to play the roles necessary to achieve that ultimate plan. And already he had begun to pull in those who he knew could and would play a significant role, the prime candidate for the battlefields being Athrun Zala. The boy was restless in peace, unable to properly handle the many ghosts of his past, and feeling the need to take action so he could feel that familiar sensation of being needed. On that front, things had been progressing very smoothly.

While being able to fight and win battles with a minimal loss of life on either side was indeed important, Durandal also needed someone to help him watch over things back in the PLANTs. He needed someone with the popularity and a clearly known desire for the general good and safety of the public. The perfect candidate for that job was undoubtedly Lacus Clyne. But he knew without even having to meet her that she would not agree with his views, nor would she desire to entice the people to go to war. However, there were always ways around that. His false-Lacus was nearly ready for her first debut, and his assassination squad was prepared to strike at anytime.

The only thing that Durandal might've been concerned about would've been the appearance of the Archangel, the Eternal, and the Freedom Gundam, all of which had gone missing after the war. The Archangel alone had become a symbol of immortality and resistance to the Earth and PLANTs alike, always fighting against the forces that the crew deemed were unjust and had ill-intentions. The sheer fighting power and impeccable ability to survive situations and battles that many others would've perished in were second to none in the previous war, and quite likely to hold true in the coming one if it got involved.

Durandal knew that his forces needed to either capture the ships before they could get properly equipped for the war or to destroy them failing that. But despite his best spies and undercover operatives' best efforts, the locations of the fabled ships had thus far eluded him. But since the Freedom had been supposedly destroyed in the final battle, along with the Providence and Justice Gundams, he had not wasted his resources searching for its remains.

As this thought registered in his consciousness, Durandal resisted the urge to snort derisively. The irony of the situation was staggering to him. The one key element that he had refrained from searching for, believing that it was no longer an obstacle, was the first one reappear after two years, stronger than ever before. And then, as quickly as it had shown itself, it had supposedly vanished, once again assumed destroyed.

Now that he was aware of it, Durandal was once again attempting to piece together what its pilot's, this Akira Iyadomi, intentions were. He was under no illusions that the Freedom had been truly destroyed, no he was beginning to suspect that anyone who was under the Gundam's protection would, however temporarily, acquire its uncanny survivability. That was why he believed the Gundam and pilot would both come back, once they'd recovered from the fall, probably even more skilled than they were before.

Durandal's men had already informed him that they had found a record and history of an Akira Iyadomi. He was a renowned mobile suit pilot in the service of ZAFT during the early stages of the war, killed in action during the occupation of Carpentaria due to friendly fire. Clearly this new mystery pilot of the 'Neo Freedom' was not Akira Iyadomi, who had been buried with the rest of his fallen soldiers on that bloody day. For whatever reason, 'Akira Iyadomi' was an alias for this pilot. That could mean any number of things.

Regardless of what this pilot's true name was, he was a maverick to Durandal's plans. He needed to know whether the pilot would be a help or hindrance. But it was still much too early to know intentions of the pilot. Yet there was one thing clear at the moment: the pilot had an incredibly courageous and selfless heart to put himself into such danger for the safety of the people of Earth. There was no denying that.

Before focusing his mind back on the present, Durandal made a mental note to have his forces search for the crash site of the Neo Freedom immediately after his addressing the Earth with ZAFT's desire to aid the survivors and cleanup crews.

If at all possible, he wanted that pilot on his side!

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

October 6, 73 C.E.
Minerva, 10:10am

It was a nerve-racking experience for them. They wanted to rush home as quickly as possible to determine whether or not they had a home to return to or not. They each had duties and responsibilities to attend to that forced them to return to Orb, namely Cagalli being the Chief Representative with Athrun and Tolle being her aides and bodyguards. With the disaster, all of them were worried for their home since the Minerva had been unable to establish communications with the island nation.

But to return to Orb now meant abandoning the one clue they had to finding Kira!

For all its technological advances, impressive weaponry, and the versatility of its design, neither the Minerva nor any of its mobile suits were designed, built, or intended for use underwater. And while the Minerva could float on the ocean's surface and had been able to locate the Neo Freedom's approximate location by using sonar and the still very extreme heat that the suit was giving off, they could do little more than drop a radar marker on the site for any rescue craft to use to track.

Cagalli was a literal wreck. On one hand she was agonizing over the state of her nation, hoping against hope that it was left unharmed from the disaster. Normally this concern alone would've been enough to keep her preoccupied for the better part of the journey towards the island nation. But she was also hopelessly entangled in a never-ending line of questions that had no answers, all relating to the Freedom's sudden reappearance and disappearance, the pilot's identity, chances of survival, and the ever-remote possibility that if it really wasn't her brother flying it, if he knew where Kira was. But another unexpected fight with Shinn out on the observatory deck (without Tolle to play defense) proved to be Cagalli's breaking point.

She had quickly retreated to her quarters so she could give into her despair in privacy. Even with Athrun and Tolle's extensive attempts to help her out of it, nothing seemed to work. It got to the point that Tolle 'accidentally' slipped Cagalli a dose of powerful sleeping drugs into a glass of water to help her rest. And even now, almost a full day later, she was still sleeping off the effects of a drug meant for Coordinators.

"How was I supposed to know that you guys needed an extra-strong kick in the ass to hit the hay when you're feeling all down like that?" Tolle had asked in his defense when Athrun had almost literally wrung his neck when he'd found out.

"We're on a Coordinators' warship," Athrun had stated in extreme annoyance and frustration. "That alone should've told you something about that stuff's potency!"

The two veteran pilots, while concerned for their home, had chosen to relieve their stress by painstakingly analyzing the Neo Freedom's fighting style and capabilities. So together they sat in front of the console in their shared quarters, Cagalli still sleeping heavily on her bed off to side.

From what they could see, most of its original weapons were still installed, but its earlier limitations had either been reduced or eliminated altogether. Tolle had been the one to spot new maneuvering thrusters installed in the wings, which explained many of its seemingly impossible dodges and bursts of speed. Many of the new weapons added, though radical in concept, were shockingly efficient when they'd been employed. Athrun and Tolle's personal favorites were the hidden wing-mounted beam rifles and the detachable beam claws on the right arm, respectively. The mechanic who'd rebuilt the Freedom clearly had significant amount of experience in a mobile suit's cockpit and weapons' systems.

"This is Akira Iyadomi of the Neo Freedom," a deep, clearly fake voice said over the speakers.

"I don't care what that guy says," Tolle said quietly after listening to that phrase again. "Only Kira could've flown the Freedom like that."

"While that may be true," Athrun agreed with a small smile. "You are forgetting something rather important."

"And what's that?" Tolle asked, watching Athrun as he rewound the clip of the battle recorded by his ZAKU.

"Just watch," Athrun replied mysteriously. Stopping the clip after a few seconds, he played the part of the Neo Freedom recollecting its discarded shield-rifle after disabling the three stolen Gundams. Now that Tolle was actively paying more attention to the clip, he saw something he'd missed earlier. The Neo Freedom had momentarily turned back towards the disabled Gundams, its reacquired shield-rifle rising ever-so-slightly towards them. But then the Gundam turned and flew off.

"I see," Tolle said slowly. "He intended to destroy those Gundams…but he decided not to."

"He spared them because they were no longer a dangerous threat to anyone," Athrun said quietly. "…That certainly sounds like Kira, doesn't it?"

Chuckling to himself, Tolle sneered slightly as he said, "Now I'm convinced: Akira Iyadomi is our Kira Yamato. Only he would've spared those three's lives like that." Looking over at Athrun, Tolle asked, "What do you think the chances of him surviving the crash are? I don't know what he did, but if that had been me out there, I'd have bailed out of the cockpit a few seconds before it struck the ocean. That should've broken up the water enough that he could survive impact and the swim to the surface, right?"

"That is one possibility," Athrun agreed easily. "And the fact that he'd be wearing a flight suit would supply him with plenty of air until he reached the surface, regardless of whether he ejected before or after hitting the surface…However, I honestly do not know what the odds could've been for him to survived reentry traveling at those speeds."

Nodding slightly, Tolle idly glanced at his watch. Was it really already ten-thirty? Sighing, Tolle stood and stretched, cracking numerous joints in process. "Well, I'm off to the hangar to work on the Fortitude again. I'd ask you watch over Cagalli, but I don't think that I have to."

"I wouldn't have to if you didn't give her those sleeping pills in the first place!" Athrun snapped, once again annoyed at the reminder of what her 'bodyguard' had done to his employer.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Alex," Tolle sneered with an overly-cheerful grin on his face as he rapidly exited the room.

Sadly for Athrun, he too was growing somewhat weary of reviewing this short battle as well. But unlike Tolle, he didn't have anything that could keep his mind occupied. There was nothing to stop him of thinking thoughts that he really didn't want to think about anymore. Thoughts that quickly led to him remembering the terrorists' last words and what significance those words held, for himself especially.

Quickly growing restless, he got up and went for a walk around the ship, looking for something that would keep him occupied. He'd barely gone fifty meters when the sound of gunfire drew his attention.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Marshall Islands, 12:00pm

Looking around in sad resignation, the young lady surveyed the damage done to the small orphanage she helped run with Reverend Malchio and her dear Kira's mother Caridad Yamato. The cottage had been completely destroyed when a tsunami, much smaller than what had hit the Indian Ocean, had struck the small island chain. All that remained of the cottage that she had home for the better part of two years was a mass of crushed and waterlogged timber with a few scattered toys of the children. Everything else was completely gone.

As Caridad and Malchio began picking through the debris with the children, Lacus Clyne strode over towards the convulsing shoreline. The sky was completely overcast with dust and smoke from all over the planet, lightning was dancing between the heavy clouds, promising that a fierce storm would arrive within a few short hours. With no home to take shelter in, Lacus and the others would need to flee their small island sanctuary and quickly.

Wriggling unhappily in her arms, the youngest of the children at the orphanage let out a quiet cry. Lacus just gently patted the blonde infant in her arms with the loving care of a young mother, cooing quietly to soothe the child's discomfort.

Glancing back out at the horizon, Lacus quietly whispered to the young infant she held, "There's a storm coming, young one…And I fear this one will be even worse than the last one had been."

In response to her statement, as though sensing the genuine concern and fear in Lacus, the young child began to cry and quietly wail. The infant's tiny hands grabbed a hold of her long pink hair tightly, as though trying to tell her not to let it go.

Cooing quietly to the small infant, Lacus felt her own fear and sadness quickly grow. In the short time that she'd had this infant, she had grown very passionately attached to it. She poured her heart into this child as a way of buffering the pain of losing the one she had quickly come to love so dearly. Thus she didn't want to leave it for any reason, but a battlefield in the last place for a baby to be. And a battlefield in most assuredly where she'd end up being in a few short months.

Of that, she was certain.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

October 8, 73 C.E.
Onogoro Island, Orb 12:30pm

Orb was still standing and relatively unharmed. That was perhaps the best news they'd heard since they first boarded the Minerva. However, things were clearly far from well if the way that Prime Minister Unato Ema Seiran and the entire cabinet greeted was any indication.

Standing back near the extended catwalk they'd used to exit the ship, Tolle and Athrun both watched in silence as Cagalli, the administrative cabinet members, and the commanding officers of the Minerva greeted one another.

It should be noted that neither Athrun nor Tolle were known for holding grudges. In fact, the last grudge that they'd held had been against Kira and the Atlantic Federation respectively. Athrun, maddened by Nicol's death at Kira's hands, had fought more savagely against his past best friend than he ever had before, nearly killing both Kira and Tolle in the same battle.

And once Tolle had sufficiently recovered from his near-death experience, he had attempted to contact the Archangel at JOSH-A, only to learn that it was being attacked by ZAFT. Believing that the Archangel and his friends had been killed, Tolle had done some serious soul-searching before he'd decided to attempt to return to the Earth Alliance. Only just before he could leave, he learned that the Alliance was going to attack his homeland for no other reason than to seize control of the Mass Driver and Morgenroete. Enraged at the Alliance's actions, he found more than motivation to climb into the cockpit of that Astray and fight back as best he could. Upon discovering the Archangel's presence in Orb, he'd quickly done everything in his power to protect and back-up the ship as it was forced to flee into space with the Kusanagi. Through the subsequent battles, both boys had fought ferociously and courageously, ultimately leading the truce between ZAFT and the Alliance, achieving their goals for peace.

With such staggering achievements under their belts when it came to them holding grudges, it should've been enough to warn anyone with intelligence to not get on their bad sides. However, it seemed that there was one man who had just rubbed both of them the wrong way from the first moment they'd met him. And now, as they watched the greetings unfold, both were forced to look to the side so as to not see the repulsive sight of Orb's Intern Representative and aspiring military commander Yuna Roma Seiran run up and embraced Cagalli as soon as she stepped off the catwalk.

The first time they'd met, Athrun had only learned a few minutes beforehand that Cagalli had been engaged to him from before he'd even met her. It had been a very awkward moment for Athrun, though he hid it extremely well behind a mask of military-ingrained calm. However, he would later admit that he should've expected her to have been engaged to someone of high-ranking status since birth. After all, was he not Athrun Zala, son of the former ZAFT National Defense Committee Chairman, who had been engaged to Lacus Clyne, daughter of the former ZAFT Supreme Council Chairman? Why shouldn't have Cagalli have been in a similar situation as he had been in? But the young man had an ego and a preconceived worldview of his worth, making him nearly as insufferable as those Blue Cosmos radicals who were always screaming about 'evils' of the space monsters over their heads.

Tolle's first acquaintance was arguably as bad as Athrun's had been. When Tolle had first received Erica Simmons' request to become the pilot of their experimental mobile suit models, at the time it was the Murasame, he had been instructed to meet up with her in the Morgenroete facility on Level Four. That level was for Orb's top-secret engineering and development of their new technologies, namely mobile suits and their weaponry/equipment. It was generally restricted to high-level government and military officials and employees. However, Tolle was still a new recruit in the Orb military at the time, so it could be excused for what Yuna's reaction had been when he bumped into Tolle on that restricted floor. After reaming into the young ace pilot, without giving him the chance to defend himself or state his purpose for being there, Yuna had security arrest Tolle and throw him in the brig. It wasn't until a few hours later that Erica had finally learned what happened to him and came to his rescue. Though Tolle had been willing to forgive to Yuna, the fact that the Seiran heir hadn't even bothered to apologize when they officially met had really pissed him off. Tolle had been carrying a growing grudge against the man ever since. When Cagalli had requested his services as her escort mobile suit pilot, even though he would've been willing to accept it anyway, the fact that it annoyed Yuna that she wouldn't prefer one of the pilots he'd selected had given Tolle immense satisfaction.

Listening to the man using his overly silky politician tongue at a level that was almost on par with his father was as nerve-grating to the pair of veteran pilots as it been being trapped on the Minerva with Shinn.

Leaning over and whispering a soft voice he knew Athrun could easily hear, Tolle said, "I wonder if he can breathe properly when his head is that far up his ass. What do you think, Alex?"

Athrun just gave a soundless snort as he spared the 'younger' ace a glance, his lips twitching slightly from their desire to smile at the comment.

"That must be why his voice sounds so weird when he's near Cagalli," Tolle continued, utterly ignoring chatting politicians now. "After spending so much time making love to himself, the fact that he has to show a sliver of interest in anything else must make him feel like a fish out of water…not to insult the fish, of course."

By now, Athrun was forced to hide his face behind his hand in an effort to keep from breaking out in silly grin at Tolle's remarks. Insulting the offensive Seiran heir whenever he was in sight (and not always discreetly either) had become one of Tolle's more favorite pastimes since enlisting in the Orb military. Only the fact that Cagalli held a higher government position than Yuna had prevented Tolle from losing his job or being too severely punished.

It was at this time that the politicians, with Yuna seeming to be hanging off of Cagalli's arm, began steering the returned Chief Representative towards the numerous vehicles that had arrived. Cagalli was in the midst of requesting a special diver team to head out in search of the crashed Neo Freedom, but Yuna interrupted when he glanced back towards the two bodyguards.

"Oh and thank you for your steadfast and loyal service to Miss Cagalli, Alex, Lieutenant Koenig," Yuna said, a note of hidden hostility in his voice. Forcefully nodding in submissiveness to Yuna's technical superiority over them, Tolle and Athrun refrained from saying anything other than the bare minimum necessary. "You can submit your reports later, but right now, get some rest. It's possible that we may ask that serve as an envoy between us and the PLANTs in the future, Alex."

Gladys and Arthur both glanced towards the two veterans in time to see Tolle throw a dark glare at Yuna's swaggering backside.

"One of these days someone's going to knock some reality that pompous ass' brain and I hope that I'm there to watch," Tolle said, not bothering to keep his voice as quiet as it had been earlier, earning some questioning glances from the two ZAFT officers.

Athrun merely ignored the comment in favor of catching cab to take him home. Spotting some arriving technicians, Tolle happily bounded towards them, orders spewing from his mouth for them to pick up his Fortitude Gundam and begin immediate repairs.

As he approached them, he spotted an all-too-familiar female mechanic. Upon spotting her, Tolle stumbled to a halt and threw a perfect salute to her. "Lieutenant Koenig reporting from duty, Miss Simmons!"

"Is that really necessary, Tolle?" Erica asked as she came to halt in front of him. "I'm not even a military official."

"Just giving you the proper respect," Tolle answered with a small grin as he lowered his salute. "I've never been more happy to see you, Miss Simmons. The Fortitude—"

"—was badly damaged in a surprise battle that you just had to get involved in," Erica interrupted, a knowing gleam in her eyes. "Yes, I know quite well what happened at Armory One. And while I'm interested in reviewing the data you'd collected, I must say that I'm not happy with you at the moment. That's four new experimental mobile suit models you've flown, and four experimental models that you've brought back trashed." Shaking her head woefully, she muttered out, "Sometimes I wonder why I chose you as the pilot of these new machines."

"Because I usually kick more ass than get my own ass kicked?" Tolle asked with a crooked smile on his face.

"Hardly," Erica countered. The truth was that she rather enjoyed his rebellious nature. It was something of a breath of fresh air when compared to the usual military mindset. That was one of the main reasons she'd kept him around for so long. "I just hope you brought the Fortitude back in better shape than the Kajiki."

"Of course I did!" Tolle snapped smartly. One of the reasons that he'd—accidentally!!—crashed the Kajiki (despite the numerous engineering errors) was because he'd disliked the suit's design. "I love the Fortitude! There's no way I'd trash it purposely!"

The bickering pair quickly made their way towards the crane that would be used to hoist the damaged Gundam out of the Minerva's catapult launcher.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

October 9, 73 C.E.
An unknown location, 12:12pm

He had no idea how long he'd swam in that convulsing, extremely cold ocean. All he knew for certain was that he'd spent more time being dunked under extremely high waves than he actually did swimming in any real direction. Finally, after a truly remarkable effort on his part and the blessings of unspeakably good fortunes, he spotted land on the horizon. By that point, he'd all but exhausted himself, so he merely allowed the tide to drag him in towards shore. Once on land and out of the tide's reach, he'd allowed himself to collapse and fall unconscious.

But now, as his consciousness slowly began to stir, he began to grow aware of something. His head was throbbing. It was a feeling remarkably similar to someone smashing a sledgehammer onto his cranium with every beat of his heart. An aching, all-consuming pain that felt as though his head would explode at any given moment should the wielder of that sledgehammer hit the properly spot. Everything else with his body felt overly exhausted and worn out, giving off a numbing and awkward sensation that was positively blissful compared to the torture his head was enduring.

Then he heard singing from somewhere. "Shizukana kono yoru ni anata wo matteru no," It was faint, but lovely. "ano toki wasureta hohoemi wo tori ni kite."

The words were soft, muffled even. It was as though they were being sung in another room and he could faintly hear them through the walls. But the words…they conveyed a level of emotion and sincerity that left him awed beyond understanding. And the more he concentrated on listening to that soothing voice, the less his throbbing head ached.

"Are kara sukoshi dake jikan ga sugite," He couldn't see anything, his body was completely exhausted and numb. Yet this sweet music was playing within his mind, comforting him in ways he never would've imagined possible before. "omoide ga yasashiku natte ne."

Where was this heavenly music coming from? Only an absolute goddess could sing such a beautiful song so perfectly. He dearly wished he could learn the name of this goddess, so he could properly worship her when he regained himself. As much as he desired to listen to the song and voice for eternity, his body decided now was a good time to inform him of other matters.

The song continued to play within his mind while his brain began a series of checks throughout his body. He was completely exhausted and numbed from the cold, convulsing surface he'd been forced to endure for who knows how long before he finally reached shore. Yet the sound that his ears were picking up was not the steady crash of water upon water, nor did he feel the sensation of drifting aimlessly.

"Ima toukutemo, kitto aerune, shizuka na yoru ni," as the heavenly voice came to the end of its song, his mind had finally reoriented itself enough to give him proper control of his body. Eyes opening slowly, Akira quickly realized that he was not floating in the ocean or lying on a beach like he thought he should've been.

He was lying in a stiff hospital bed with an IV in his left arm. But what quickly overrode that observation was the fact that he was strapped tightly to the bed, his limbs having minimal movement allowed. What was going on?!

(Author's Note) For the record, that song that Akira heard singing was the Japanese version of the first verse and last line of Lacus' Quiet Night from canon. God, I love the original! Truly beautiful song when sung in Japanese.

As for the chapter itself, I know it was choppy in places, namely the beginning, but I beg you not to stop reading due to that. There was so much happening at one time during that time in canon, and with my own additions, I was having a tough time deciding what to use from canon, what to change, and what to add in. I hope the final product doesn't seem as crappy to you as it does to me.

Before I go, here's a bit of advertising from me. For those you who are interested, I recently came across an extremely interesting crossover story that has a truly bizarre fusion of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Gundam genre. The first story (completed) is called A.V.A.T.A.R.: The Last of the Black Core and the sequel (still only a prologue currently) is AVATAR: Hunt for the Courier; written by Dearing. For those of you who desire a completely new (but strangely plausible) twist of the Avatar series, this is a definite must-read for you! I'd personally rate the first story as a 4/5, very well done.

First verse of the Quiet Night:
Shizukana kono yoru ni anata wo matteru no—In this quiet night, I'm here waiting for you
ano toki wasureta hohoemi wo tori ni kite—Forgetting the past, your precious smile has faded away
Are kara sukoshi dake jikan ga sugite—Since then now that a little time has passed
omoide ga yasashiku natte ne—Past memories have over time become more precious

Final Line of Quiet Night:
Ima toukutemo, kitto aerune, shizuka na yoru ni—Even though we're far apart now, we will surely meet again, in a silent night

Kajiki—marlin, spearfish, swordfish, sailfish