Gundam SEED Destiny
Kira
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Phase 22: A Victory for Durandal

January 18, 74 CE
Liberator, Germany
5:55am

She watched the aftermath of the battle with a completely neutral expression. With the Liberator safely hidden behind several hills a few miles away, Luna Ito and her bridge crew silently continued their observation that was being fed to them via Carter in his Devastator who was hidden on the horizon.

Yoshi had failed in his mission to destroy the Neo Freedom, which was somewhat surprising considering the condition that the Gundam was in when he'd engaged it. By all accounts, he should've succeeded. However no one, not even Captain Luna Ito who could almost perfectly forecast the outcome of almost every battle, could've expected Iyadomi to pull that trick out. She had no idea what it was or how it worked, but what was clear was that it had allowed him to completely overwhelm his Gundam's 'offspring' with extreme ease.

But despite Yoshi's failure, Luna couldn't help but be grateful that he had indeed failed. Though her true loyalties lay with Logos and the Earth Alliance, even she had to put her foot down when it came to killing innocents like what Logos had ordered here. To that degree, Luna had to metaphorically take her hat off to Akira Iyadomi for saving Berlin. Truthfully, she had actually ordered Yoshi to go and take out the Destroy Gundam so that it wouldn't annihilate Berlin, but the cold man had clearly ignored those orders in favor of attacking Iyadomi.

And now as she watched the Archangel hastily retreat from the battlefield, she knew that it would be a wise decision to follow. ZAFT knew quite well that the Hands' operated in some kind of moving fortress, so it wouldn't be out of the question to assume that they'd quickly start searching the area in an attempt to locate the Liberator. And with the Neo Freedom's destruction, the Liberator's true purpose was all but over now.

"Contact Carter," she said quietly. "Order him to withdraw and return immediately. Helm, get us out of here, we're departing the vicinity. Head for Yellow Base."

"Yes, madam!" came various acknowledgements from the bridge.

Turning her gaze one last time to the screen before the image faded, she couldn't help but offer a silent prayer for Iyadomi's soul. The chances of him surviving the explosions that tore through the Neo Freedom after that final shot were minimal at best, and that didn't even take into account the impact with the earth shortly afterwards. Normally, such a fall wouldn't have done any true lasting damage to a Gundam of the Freedom's caliber. But with the condition it had been in…the chances of his survival were extremely low.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

6:00am

He held her limp form in his arms, somehow managing to hold back the tears through sheer force of will until now. After carrying her back to his Gundam, he'd flown off with the Impulse several miles away. With his machine now waist deep in the icy water of a nearby lake, he cradled her body to his with a delicacy of holding a frail China doll.

Why did it have to come to this? Why her? WHY HER?!?! Memories rose to his mind unbidden as he gently and carefully angled the Impulse's arm. Memories of unknowingly meeting her in combat back in the Indian Ocean, watching her battle the Neo Freedom back on Junius 7, of her dancing on the cliff with her blue and white dress twirling around her, and of watching over her while she slowly died of withdrawal in the Minerva's infirmary. Why did it have to be her who died? Why? WHY?!!

He knew that she was as much of an innocent in this pointless war as the civilians she'd killed in the past few days. She had been raised, trained, and forced to fight and kill. It was all she knew how to do. And despite being a fiercesome opponent on the battlefield, he had also seen her in her moments of weakness. She had been very much a young child at heart; a sweet little girl who despite her lack of real social skills was very kind and gentle.

She had lived her life in near-constant fear, mostly because of being put into situations where her only choice was to kill or be killed. It was her overwhelming and unconditional fear that pushed her beyond the normal limits of human beings. That made her into the emotional wreck that killed and destroyed all that scared her; like what he'd seen her attempt to do in the Destroy after he'd attacked her, using the Super Scylla to incinerate the nearby landscape of the battlefield as she tried to blow away anything even remotely dangerous to her.

Yes, she was every bit as innocent and naïve as a five-year-old child. So why did it have to be her who had died?! Why couldn't anyone else understand that she didn't want to fight?! That she wasn't the true enemy?! WHY?!

Lifting her up and carrying her slowly and gently as he climbed out of the Impulse's cockpit and walked down the length of its arm, he quietly whispered to her unresponsive form, "It's alright now, Stellar… There's nothing more to fear."

Crouching down on the Impulse's fingers, his body was shaking from the force of the effort it was taking him to keep from completely breaking down. No, not yet. There was still something he needed to do before he finally gave in. "You don't have to suffer anymore. So…"

"N-Nothing…will e-ever scare you…again," he whispered, gently placing her limp form out onto the surface of the icy lake under them. "No one…will ever come to…hurt you again."

"Therefore…don't worry…" he watched miserably through the tears that cascaded down his cheeks, some of them landing her face as she was slowly enveloped by the water's embrace. With his voice cracking and breaking up slightly, he continued to reassure her as she slowly began to sink below the surface.

"S-So p-please…rest here…in peace," he whispered to her as she steadily sank out of his sight into the dark waters below. "Good-bye."Finally unable to hold it back any longer, he yelled out all his agony and pain to the girl in the lake, "STELLAR, I'M SORRY!! I'M SO SORRY!!!"

He didn't know how long he had remained in that position, crouched down on the fingers of his machine as he wept out the loss and pain that he felt. However long it was, his numerous tears had long since formed into a small puddle and frozen in the icy temperatures that surrounded him. A thick layer of snow had settled down upon his shoulders and back, coating him and the Impulse in its cold embrace.

Eventually he'd finally found the strength of will to raise his body, sending the snow falling off him, and lifted his face. His red eyes were bloodshot from his tears and were glaring hatefully in the direction of Berlin in front of him.

He hadn't seen what had become of the Neo Freedom since he'd been solely focused on the Destroy and Stellar, but now he was focused like never before.

That morning, a part of Shinn Asuka died forever.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

January 21, 74 CE
Linz, Austria
2:34pm

Meer ran as fast as her legs could carry her down the side of the main highway. All she had on her person was a simple handbag that had some money she'd earned from the café and some make-up she'd bought last week. The bag was flailing in the wind as she ran, the cold winter wind blowing full on into her face and sending a chill down her spine despite wearing her heavy winter clothes.

It had only been three days since the battle near Berlin took place. In that time, countless rumors had sprung up surrounding it and had happened. And although many of the rumors varied on many subjects, there was one common piece that rung true each and every one of them: the Neo Freedom had finally been destroyed and Akira Iyadomi reportedly killed!

Meer had seen her chance and had taken it with only slight amount of hesitation. As much as she had reluctantly grown to like working at the café, as much as she had become friends with Oria and Xavier, as much as she had slowly begun to feel at home in the small café, she ran.

She was Lacus Clyne! Her place was in the PLANTs, supporting the Chairman as he brought an end to this war, not partaking in idly gossip with the local residents of the city as they dined in the café. Her place was singing in concerts and keeping the morale of the people, Natural and Coordinator alike, as high as possible while in this war, not discussing the actions taken by the warring factions with Xavier and Oria. She was supposed to be surrounded by attendants and bodyguards, not taking orders and delivering meals!

It hadn't taken very long for Meer to realize what they had been trying to make her do. Oria and Xavier, despite having no real political training or even any real interest in the war that was taking, was trying to teach her to step back look at things from a different point of view. And while she normally wouldn't have minded, the fact that they were constantly having her exercise this in direct relation to the Chairman's actions was really starting to make her feel antagonized. The Chairman had done nothing wrong! Most of his actions to this point, especially the ones taken on the more controversial deeds done by the Earth Forces and Akira, were more than perfectly acceptable and reasonable! Why didn't the Falacci and Iyadomi realize this?!

When she'd first heard the rumors that the Neo Freedom had been destroyed, Meer had utterly ignored them. She had seen several of the battles that Iyadomi had taken part in; he was practically invincible on the battlefield! No one, save perhaps her dear Athrun and the original pilot of the Freedom, could possibly hope to defeat Iyadomi. However the rumors had persisted, causing Meer's hopes to rise. But the clincher was when she'd seen an abbreviated version of the Battle of Berlin, the Neo Freedom being blasted by a monstrously large plasma beam. Even Meer, with her nearly nonexistent amount of knowledge pertaining to mobile suits and military technology, had realized that not even Iyadomi could survive such a blast as that!

And now here she was, running north, towards where she'd heard ZAFT forces were located. There had been a rumor of ZAFT starting to head this direction to link up with reinforcements as they attempted to provide disaster relief aid for the cities and towns that had been attacked. All she had to do was find one, reveal her true self to them, and she'd be well on her way back to where she truly belonged!

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Near Magdeburg, Germany
4:42pm

Carter let out a loud battle cry as he rotated his DRAGOON turrets on the Devastator's backpack forward and fired all his beam cannons at the agile little wasp that was buzzing around him. "Why can't you just die already?! FALL!!"

Things weren't looking good, not by a long shot! Somehow, ZAFT had caught wind of the Liberator making its way through Germany's countryside and had immediately sent forces to intercept it. Of course, the fastest and most deadly of those interceptor forces just happened to be the Minerva, who was also the closest due to their proximity to Berlin. Desperate to escape the assault, Captain Ito had quickly sent out Carter and three volunteer pilots to fly their black Rapiers.

It was Carter's job to keep the Minerva's only operational Gundam as far away from the Liberator as possible. And though that was an incredibly easy job to do, staying alive long enough to shoot down the irritatingly persistent pilot was another matter altogether! Carter just couldn't understand it, he was in the better and more powerful machine and yet that puny wasp of a Gundam had already far more damage to him than vice-versa!

As he relentlessly fired barrage after barrage of beam fire after the evasive bug, a small chiming alarm brought his attention to a side-screen on his monitor. The Minerva had just destroyed their three Rapiers and had critically damaged the Liberator's engines! Already?!

"I'm going to kill you!" a bestial voice growled over the radio. "I'm won't let you spread anymore chaos over this world! Now DIE!!"

As the berserk Blast Impulse pilot was saying this, the Gundam grabbed a Defiant beam lance from one of its Kerberos cannons. Weaving between the Devastator's blasts, the Blast Impulse pilot accented his final cry by hurling the Defiant lance straight towards the Devastator's cockpit at super-imposed speeds that even the best of pilots couldn't hope to dodge. The last thing that Carter saw before oblivion claimed him was a blinding flash of pink beam energy as it cut through his cockpit armor and speared him through the gut. The Devastator fell from the skies, dead.

Racing forward, Shinn retrieved him weapon before turning his glazed-over eyes towards the enemy's mothership. That was the ship that Iyadomi's cronies were using as a headquarters. Well not anymore! He'd make sure that they never again were in a position capable of doing that man's bidding. And he would personally make sure that they received as much mercy as they'd shown their victims – none – right here, right now!!

With that cold resolve now fueling his enraged soul, Shinn launched himself into the skies and went racing towards the land battleship. Once he was in a suitable position, he rained his Kerberos plasma cannons and Deluge railguns down upon the ship without mercy. And he didn't stop until every single piece of the warship had been completely and irreparably destroyed. Even when Minerva ceased its own attacking barrage, Shinn continued ruthlessly. He would not allow a single member of Iyadomi's terrorists to escape with their lives!

All the while he was doing, Shinn had only one thought on his mind. That was for you, Stellar. Just a little payback until I find him again…

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

January 22, 74 CE
Minerva, Germany
9:21am

Unlike a fair portion of the Minerva crew, Commander Heine Westenfluss had woken up respectably early. This was mostly due to the fact that he was one of the select few who had both the privilege and the shift rotation capability to have been able to attend the impromptu celebratory party that the crew had thrown for Shinn the previous night after his victory over the remaining Hands of Freedom Gundam and finally bringing the end of Operation Hunter by destroying the terrorists' mobile base.

Needless to say, Shinn's already high status among the crew had climbed several notches higher after this most recent victory.

Despite his respect for Shinn's truthfully very impressive combat abilities and his unwavering focus and faith in his own beliefs, Heine couldn't help but start to actually feel concerned for the boy. He understood that Shinn came from a tragic past that had left profound scars on his soul. Because of these scars, Shinn often had trouble making new friends due to his newly-ingrained instinct of lashing out at things that were unfamiliar to him or he didn't like for whatever reason. Heine respected the boy's privacy in regards to his past and never attempted to push too hard about certain issues if he felt that they didn't pertain to their mission objectives or affected their working relationship.

However, after that battle in Berlin, Heine had noticed a subtle change in the boy's behavior. Well, maybe the word behavior wasn't the proper term to use. It was actually more visible in the way that he carried himself or that strange new gaze that he wore than what he actually said or did. Heine felt as though Shinn were constantly judging him and the people around him, trying to locate something within them. And though he apparently hadn't found what that something was, the FAITH agent had a strong suspicion that it was a disaster in the making. That Shinn had become some kind of time bomb, set to blow when certain conditions were just right.

Sighing unhappily at the morbid turn that his thoughts had taken, Heine gazed out over the landscape from the external observatory deck that he stood upon. Though the Minerva was currently resting in a large, snow covered field somewhere in the German countryside, there was a prominent wind that was pulling at his body. The cold winds playfully tussled his hair and uniform as it also attempted to freeze him to his bone. Being a Coordinator more than allowed him to ignore the discomfortingly freezing temperatures for the moment as he contentedly allowed himself to relax and breathe in the fresh, cold air of mid-morning.

The sun had risen long hours ago and normally the Minerva would've been up and running as soon as the sun peaked out from over the horizon. However, that would've only happened if they had any fresh new orders. With the sudden destruction of the Hands and the Neo Freedom, the Minerva crew was enjoying a rare few hours of peace and relaxation from all the fighting and battles that they'd been involved in over the past four months. And so, with no immediate orders to return to Gibraltar or to link up with any nearby forces, the Minerva was sitting peacefully upon this field as it waited for the ZAFT command to remember its presence.

"You're going to freeze yourself solid if you stay out much longer, Heine," a familiar voice called from behind him in a slightly teasing manner. As he was turning to face his fellow pilot, Lunamaria Hawke leaned slightly forward from her slouched position on the doorframe as she continued, "I don't care if you are a FAITH member, sir, I'll have no choice but to report you to Captain Gladys for disciplinary action. So I strongly recommend you come in, out of the cold before that happens."

Chuckling quietly at the girl's show of bravo, Heine nodded and walked back towards the Minerva's interior. The inside of the warship felt like a furnace to Heine after he'd entered it, especially after the door had slammed shut and cut off the winter breeze that was blowing through. For just a moment, caught between the two extremes of temperature, Heine was almost tempted to journey back outside to escape the engulfing inferno. But that impulse quickly passed as he grew more accustomed the heating.

"What can I do for you on this fine morning, Lieutenant Hawke?" he asked as he noticed her slightly indecisive stare.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you about Shinn," she finally said.

"Is something the matter with him?" Heine asked, cocking his head slightly to the side as he watched the girl shift slightly. Why was she so uncomfortable around him?

"He doesn't think he's done anything wrong," Lunamaria answered after a moment's hesitation. "I understand why he feels that way. He wasn't punished the last few times he did something wrong and now he thinks he's pretty special. Add in the fact that he practically just destroyed the Hands of Freedom all by himself, he seems to want everyone to treat him like he's some kind of royalty now…even if they don't want to."

"What are you getting at?" Heine asked evenly, although he had a sneaking suspicion he now knew.

"What I'm trying to say is that you, Athrun, and Captain Gladys are all FAITH members abroad this ship," Lunamaria stated, for once finding her voice and iron will. "And despite the authority and trust bestowed upon you all by the Chairman himself, along with his trust in you to use that power as you see fit, you let Shinn run around acting like he's the king of the Minerva just because he's a super ace. And, as much as I hate to say this, unlike Athrun, you don't normally shy away from that power you've been given."

"You want me to have a talk with him," Heine surmised. "I guess I can understand your frustrations towards him in these past few weeks. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I had planned on talking to him about this in just a few minutes anyway."

Looking decidedly relieved and slightly embarrassed, Lunamaria couldn't help but glance away as she quietly apologized for her assumptions. As she walked away from her orange-haired commander, Lunamaria couldn't help but wish that the strange feeling of foreboding would leave the pits of her stomach.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

January 23, 74 CE
8:42am

'My name is simply Lacus Clyne,' her voice said, echoing through his mind.

He didn't know much of anything that was happening around him. To him, his was floating in a sea of darkness that was as comforting as it was terrifying. He found that he could form no real coherent thoughts while shrouded in this darkness. There was only a vague sense of impulses, to do something, to feel something. He had as much control over these strange impulses that washed over him as he did breathing: if he really concentrated on them, they would obey his wishes but more often than not, they pulled in whatever direction they wanted to go.

'My name is simply Lacus Clyne,' her voice said again, but the words didn't really click within his consciousness. They were just musical syllables and sounds to him, spoken by a beautiful voice from somewhere close by. Who was she? Why couldn't he seem to remember?

An impulse washed a strange sensation over him, a strange emotion that tugged at his heart and being. What was it? It was comforting but painful at the same time. It filled him with need, and yet it took that need away. What was this strange emotion?

Without him truly realizing it, the darkness around him began to turn gray. The fog that was coating his mind began to slowly clear as he slowly grew more aware of himself. Somehow opening his eyes, or at least his awareness to what was around him, he found himself standing in a slightly darkened mobile suit hangar in front of a machine that was familiar to him. But his attention was immediately drawn to the angel next to him, her soft and gentle features giving off an aura of slight amusement and wistful happiness.

'My name is simply Lacus Clyne,' her voice again echoed through his mind even though her lips did not waver from that soft smile on her face. Once again, her words fell on deaf ears as he stared at her enchanting beauty. He found he could not break his gaze away from that smile on those lips that sorely tempted him to lean into, to kiss and taste. He could feel…something rising up inside him as he stared at her face. It made his chest ache, and yet it soothed that ache. He could feel his heart beat slightly increasing the longer he stared into her shining blue eyes. He had an almost irresistible need to reach out and touch her. But how could he?

So focused on her, he almost failed to notice their mobile suit hangar surroundings had melted away. Against his will, he watched as they now stood within a ruined city, mobile suit wreckage scattered everywhere, as well as the corpses of many, many people. Death and destruction that he'd caused. And despite his best efforts, he couldn't prevent himself from turning away and gazing at the sad scene around them. The scene made him feel indescribably ashamed of himself. A shame that escalated all the more when he'd realized that he was desiring to do something that he wasn't worthy of doing.

This young woman beside him, this beauty, she was…she was… She was an angel, his angel, and was as close to pure and perfect as perfection could come in this world. And he was nothing but a destroyer, a terrorist, and a killer. How could he possibly be privileged enough to be able to do anything other than to simply worship his angel from a distance? She deserved better than him.

Of that, he now had no doubt.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Archangel, Germany
9:13am

"It was completely unbelievable," Cagalli said quietly with a contemplative frown on her face as she sat by Kira's bedside, staring down at her twin's unconscious form. "I could actually feel the heat from inside my Strike Rouge when I was carrying the cockpit back here. How he managed to survive is beyond me, Ultimate Coordinator or not."

The man claiming to be named Neo Roanoke snorted quietly from his position on the bed on the opposite side of the room. "Then you're clearly not giving the boy his due credit, princess. After all, this is Akira Iyadomi we're talking about here. Wasn't his first act of stupidity having something to do with falling through the atmosphere at speeds that would've killed any of us other mere mortals?"

"That's not the point, Commander!" Cagalli loudly snapped, sending an annoyed glare at Neo.

"Captain," the man shot back, just as annoyed but considerably more restrained.

"Calm down, Miss Cagalli," Murdock said quietly, his deep, slightly rough voice having a surprisingly soothing effect on the young leader. "At least we'd managed to get him out of the thing and into sickbay before ZAFT was able to retaliate against us. And I doubt any of our current pilots would've been able to fight off the Impulse if it'd suddenly decided to go hunting for us."

"Then you'd better hope that the kid over there gets better soon," Captain Roanoke said seriously as he glanced over the boy in the bed next to him. "Because when the Impulse does come after you, he'll be coming for blood."

"You speak as though you've met him before," Cagalli observed quietly, mirroring Murdock's thoughts.

"Yup, once," Neo confirmed in a neutral voice. "I've even fought against him, and he just keeps improving in leaps and bounds… I'd hazard a guess that if he continues as such, in about a month or two and with a machine of equal strength, he'd easily give Iyadomi here a run for his money."

Cagalli let out a low growl as she turned her gaze back upon Kira's still-slumbering form. As much as she hated to admit it, that boy – Shinn, wasn't it? – had indeed greatly improved from the last time she'd seen him pilot. And though she had every confidence that her brother could beat anyone who attacked him, the idea of Shinn getting a new machine to accent his abilities made her feel uneasy. Would Kira be able to beat someone who was practically his equal in all the ways that mattered?

After a moment of silence, Cagalli reached over and felt the temperature of the rag that was on Kira's forehead. She frowned as she realized that it had already lost much of coolness to the high fever that was washing through Kira's body. Though she wasn't really surprised by this because the temperatures he'd be exposed to would've killed practically any other that had been in his position. With a small sigh, she quickly plucked the rag away and dipped it into a nearby bucket of ice-cold water before replacing it. Perhaps it was her imagination, but the sudden return of the cold rag seemed to almost bring a smile of appreciation to Kira's face.

"Who is he to you?" the blond Captain suddenly asked, drawing Cagalli's attention immediately.

"What do you mean?" she asked before catching where the man was staring. "You mean Kira?"

"As far as I know," Neo began slowly, as though testing the waters. "That boy quite literally just appeared out nowhere when the Minerva was giving chase to the Girty Lue after the Armory 1 incident. Then he appears and attempts to aid in preventing Junius 7 from falling, disappearing shortly afterwards, only to have the Neo Freedom be reportedly sighted blasting its way out of an Orb Morgenroete facility before it started interfering in multiple countries and battles. Until the Hands of Freedom terrorists appeared, he was something of an anonymous hero. Now many people see him as nothing more than a pirate or terrorist doing what he can to continue this war."

Turning his gaze back to Cagalli, the man's gaze conveyed a level of deadly seriousness that no amount of words could properly translate. "Who is he to you?"

Cagalli was silent for a moment as she contemplated her answer. Finally she quietly said, "He was a very, very dear f-friend who'd lost his way some time ago."

It was a vague answer to be sure. It answered some questions, but it also brought up even more than it answered. But there was one thing that Cagalli wanted to be sure of. Whether this man was Mu la Flaga or not, he was still a member of the Earth Forces. He was still a Captain a part of a combined military who had no doubt been looking for ways to get to Kira and end his interferences in their plans. And Cagalli wanted to protect Kira until she knew whether or not 'Neo Roanoke' could be trusted.

"Mr. Murdock?" Cagalli suddenly said, wanting to break away from the slightly uncomfortable subject. "Have you been able to figure out just what happened to the Neo Freedom before the Destroy blasted it?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Murdock's answer surprised both of his listeners. "The kid wasn't able to lock the CPU down, so all the technical information was quite easy to get a hold of. Someone called 'Professor K' apparently designed the system. This professor guy calls it the Burning Mirage apparently. It creates a vacuum in the atmosphere for unhindered combat. However, I can already say that there are just too many drawbacks and weaknesses caused by it for it to be of much value beyond professional curiosity. The Mirage damaged the Freedom much more thoroughly than anything it took from the Destroy. I'm actually rather surprised that he was willing to continue fighting when the system activated. The kid's really gotten reckless over the past few years."

"Sounds like a last resort, get-your-ass-out-of-there system," the Captain muttered quietly, likely more to himself than the others. "That would explain why he never used it before then."

"I just wish that the Freedom's CPU wasn't the only thing that was salvageable from that wreckage," Murdock mumbled grumpily. "The kid really did a real number on it, that's for sure."

Anything else that they would've spoken of was then interrupted when a voice over the intercom called Cagalli to the bridge, with Murdock quickly following her out of curiosity.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

"—goal to be the liberation of the region from the tyranny of ZAFT," Gilbert Durandal was saying as he addressed the entire world on channels and radio frequencies. "But does this look like liberation: the burning of entire cities, along with their citizens?"

She watched silently as Durandal continued his speech, as scenes of destruction caused by the Destroy and the aftermath that the survivors had to go through. It was quickly made clear as to what Durandal was up to when Cagalli watched a pair of particular scenes that caught her attention immediately. One was of several survivors proclaiming that the Alliance was the true enemy of mankind and screaming out their support of ZAFT. But the other scene…

"—although even the Neo Freedom made a valiant attempt to stop the monster before it could enter the city of Berlin, even if fell to the power of the Alliance's new superweapon." On the screen was an image of the Neo Freedom being blasted into the horizon by the Destroy's Super Scylla, which was quickly replaced by an image of the Impulse dashing and slashing the Destroy's cockpit, followed by the wide-shot view of the Destroy exploding in a large ball of fire, debris, and smoke before collapsing.

So that was Durandal's game? Showing the world that the Neo Freedom—her brother—was inept enough to be beaten by a giant powerhouse while pinning the victory entirely on the Impulse? That thought drew a deep scowl on Cagalli's face as she glared at the television and the slander that Durandal was feeding the world.

But then Durandal added the cherry on top by revealing the identities of at least twenty people who he claimed to be the ones responsible for the war and Blue Cosmos, followed by his announcement of a campaign to bring them to justice.

Cagalli quickly guessed what Durandal was really planning just after seeing those images. By publicly announcing that those people were influencing the leaders of the world and continuously causing new wars, he was practically begging the populace to slaughter them out of some belief that killing them would finally end all wars. And although Cagalli certainly didn't have anything against the idea, she quickly realized that those people were more than what Durandal was making them out to be. In fact, several of those people were prominent business owners and among the primary financers of the Orb nation's industry, as well as many other nations all over the world.

But what got Cagalli really worried as a stray thought that made her pause in contemplation. How did anyone really even know if some of those people weren't actually innocent of the crimes that Durandal was accusing them of?!

Regardless, she came to an immediate conclusion. This was going to be big trouble, for the world and for Orb. And she had strong doubts that the Seirans would be able to properly handle the situation without it degenerating to chaos and violence. Truth be told, she didn't even know what they would do in a situation like this. She needed to get back to Orb!

Immediately!

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

Unknown to the Archangel and its crew, a ZAFT AWACS DINN that was in the vicinity detected it as it took flight mere moments after the broadcast.

Operation Angel Down had begun!

(AUTHOR'S NOTE) Man, oh man. I can't believe I actually did this. To be perfectly honest with all of you, this chapter was supposed to be Chapter 23. But I am having some complications with that chapter and this one was just too easy to change replace it with. That's not to say that the real Chapter 22 isn't coming, it most certainly is, I'm just trying to buy more time for it.

Anyway, there's something that I must admit to. I am very, very, very surprised at the sheer amount of reviews I received after that previous chapter. I know that I said I was expecting 68 reviews after that poll I had, but I still hadn't truly believed that I'd get any more than 25 at most. The fact that 43+ people actually responded was a welcomed surprise.

Regardless of that, how do you all like this one? I'm sure that a great many of you are yelling out 'FINALLY!!' that Kira has returned to the Archangel eh? Yeah, it's true, that's where he is now and right when they need him the most. But how will he fight without the Neo Freedom and from the injuries he gained from the Berlin Battle?

Maileesaeya has recently posted the story Dark Angel of Freedom. Despite how annoyingly similar its opening chapter is this story's, I promise that it will become a very, very different story once it gets going. Unfortunately, I personally have strong doubts that Maileesaeya will be able to update very often, so don't get your hopes up just yet.