Phase 2: Tears of Blood

Mechanics were walking all around the port as they got ready to fix the ship. They were all wearing orange red jackets with black shirts underneath. They were all wearing a pair of green pants and brown boots. The mechanics at Orb worked hard, since they were both Naturals and Coordinators, working with machines was easier for them than any other nation.

Orb was one of the few nations that allowed both types of humans to live together in peace, of course they had problems; but they managed to work through them. Even though calamity has always shaken off due to the fact the Earth Forces and ZAFT both want it to pick a side, this nation has always followed its ideals.

"All right get all the beams fixed, we have to finish this by today." A woman commanded as she turned to face the mechanics, she had a long brown hair that went down to her waist, she was wearing the same uniform as the mechanics; except she had a green hat, she also had brown eyes and looked to be around her early thirties.

"Working hard or hardly working?" she turned around to look at the face of the man that was walking towards her, he had long blonde and curly hair, it wasn't that long since it only reached his neck, but you could notice that it had gotten lower before. He had a pair of blue eyes that showed his kindness, his face was okay except for the scar he had on his left eye; which he had gotten in previous battles. He was wearing a long sleeve white uniform with blue lines on the shoulders, he also had a pair of white pants and brown moccasins; he had a purple shirt under the jacket.

"Both, I have to take my breaks Mu, how are things going back in the city?" she asked as she walked over to him and kissed him. She hadn't gone out of the research center for days; working on the new ship was taking her time away.

"Not much, pretty boring actually the biggest thing I've done in the whole week was go around the island trying to find the remaining of an Astray Mobile Suit." Mu shrugged, he was an adventure man, and not doing anything for long sure bored him a lot. "What about you, how are the arrangements for the Arc Heaven going?" he asked.

"Well, we're really not getting anywhere, I mean it could be ready in a week if we hurry, but I can't really see it perfectly ready." The woman sighed.

"Don't worry Murrue, I'm sure it'll all work out, plus it's not like a war is suddenly gonna start all of a sudden, especially not right now." He grabbed her hand and raised it up revealing the silver colored ring and the medium size jewel it had. "Or at least not for two more weeks, right."

"Yeah, you're right, that's why I'm rushing, I don't want anything stopping of." She said with a charming smile.

"Yeah, hey what do you say if we leave this dump and go to the beach." He said wrapping his arms around her, normally she would've said no since she had to work; but she needed a break.

"Sure." She nodded as the two started walking off.

The Freedom flew past a small shower of asteroids as it looked back for the Destiny and the Impulse. They've been piloting around December City for hours, and they still didn't found the Gundam that was in the picture Ysac gave Kira. "It's supposed to be hiding here."

"I think the chances of it staying in the same spot for a whole night are pretty low." Shinn said through the Destiny's voice communicator as he landed on top of an asteroid. "And even if we do find it, I don't think they'll send a pilot skilled enough, I mean they need to use a Gundam to do this, meaning the pilot's probably not really good." Shinn shrugged.

"Does this mean that we're not skill enough also," Kira had a serious look on his face, sometimes Shinn just got on his nerves, he always tried on being a smartass and always disobeyed orders, and ever since he became a member of FAITH like Kira it's gotten worst.

"That's not what I meant," Shinn frowned as he turned the screen that connected the Destiny to the Freedom off. "Forget him, I'm a member of FAITH, I don't have to take orders that don't come from the council or chairman." Shinn frowned and started flying again. Kira turned the Freedom around so that it could look at the Destiny.

"Shinn, where are you going?" he asked using the normal communicator.

"Just checking some stuff out, give me a break damn it." Shinn whined as he increased the speed and his Gundam started flying off. Kira just stared as he the giant robot flew out of range. As long as he stayed in the range of December City it was all okay.

"Damn it Shinn." Kira leaned his head on the seat of the cockpit as he looked at the big screen in front of him that showed what the Freedom was looking at. "Where is it?" he looked around closely, he knew the Gundam had to be there, it just had to; he could feel something strong approaching. "What is it?" he asked himself as he turned his head and the Freedom's as he turned to the direction of the sensation.

He saw it, a green beam of energy was fired at him. "I knew it." He grunted as he pulled the lever up just in time. The freedom managed to dodge the beam, It took out a white colored laser, it started firing green beams towards the source of the attacking Beam. There it was, the Gundam flew out form the asteroid, it held a black sniper gun out as it kept firing.

Kira was known for his great maneuvering, the Freedom managed to dodge the beams without much effort as it took out its beam saber. "Let's go!" Kira yelled as the Freedom flew forward towards the unknown Gundam. The Gundam took out its own beam saber and blocked Kira's. Both of the pink sabers stayed there trying to beat each other out. "Who is this guy?" Kira asked himself as he dove the Freedom down. Its wings spread out as they sent multiple lasers flying around; the lasers fired beams by themselves as they started to surround the enemy.

The Gundam was barely able to dodge all the beams, since they kept him trapped by staying at closed range it didn't have a lot to do. "I got you now." Kira flew forward as he held his beam saber up and thrust it down towards the Gundam. It fired a green beam and hit the left side of the Freedom's chest, destroying it and causing a small explosion on the cockpit.

The Gundam slammed its body against the Freedom and crashed it with an asteroid nearby. "Try this on for size." Kira pressed a red button that was in the seat. The cannon that was in the middle of the chest fired a blue and red beam; the Gundam was pushed back into space as it tried to protect itself.

"Time to finish you off!" Kira yelled as he activated his Dragoon System. Two beams came out from the Freedom's shoulders, he took two cannons form its waist; add that with the cannon in the middle of its chest and the lasers its wings could send out. Once all of them were fired at the same time the Gundam didn't stand a chance it was hit immediately. I managed to dodge any attack to the cockpit; but that was all that was left.

The Freedom flew forward, holding its Beam Sword up as it stabbed the Gundam on its cockpit, creating a big hole in the middle. "Now, let's see your face," Kira said as he zoomed in on the camera so that it could reach the cockpit of the Gundam. He gasped, it was empty. "There's no pilot, then how is it working?" Kira asked himself as he opened the cockpit door. He untied the safety belt and started floating towards the Gundam's cockpit to check it out.

***

Shinn was flying through another part of the meteor field; he looked around with the camera of the Destiny to see his surroundings. "Come out come out, wherever you are," Shinn said in an angry tone as he landed on one of the asteroids, before he blinked a beam crashed with the asteroid next to him and it exploded. "Damn!" Shinn yelled as he spun the Destiny around so that it could dodge the pieces of space rock. "Where is he?" he looked around.

Floating over the asteroid in front of him was the black Gundam from the picture, it raised its black sniper gun as it fired three shots at Shinn; Shinn flew away from them by spreading the Destiny's wings. "All right you bastard. A pair of binoculars came down from the top of the cockpit and it helped Shinn focus more. "All right, take this," he took out the cannon that the Destiny had on its back as he fired a blue beam with a red center that flew towards the black Gundam.

The Gundam Flew over the wind as it pulled out a green colored beam sword, he thrust it down on the Destiny as it cut its right arm; Shinn gasped as he saw what happened, the Destiny was supposed to be a really advanced and powerful Gundam, and Shinn was supposed to be a skilled pilot, so how could a Gundam that uses such simple maneuvers take out the Destiny's arm.

"So you wanna fight, I don't need that arm." Shinn pressed the red button on the center of the right lever as the Destiny pulled out its giant sword, it wasn't a beam sword; but it had a beam like line going through the middle of the blade. The Destiny's wings spread out as it created a rainbow like beam of energy from both beams. Shinn started flying towards the Black Gundam; the Destiny was going so fast you could see the silhouette of the Destiny as it moved. It slashed down but the Black Gundam blocked the attack with the beam sword.

The Black Gundam grabbed the sniper gun with the left hand and fired a beam that pushed Shinn back, Shinn flew again as he tried to slash it down. "Die damn it!" he yelled and finally managed to slash the left leg of the Black Gundam off. The leg exploded and pushed Shinn back.

Tired, and almost defeated, he felt as if the Gundam wasn't even trying to survive, it was fighting as if it didn't care about getting hit. Shinn remembered all those battles he had in the past, fighting against Kira and his Freedom back at the time, how he defeated the all powerful warrior, feeling of death that but there was still the risk of surviving, the every pilot wanted to avoid. Shinn sighed as he looked at the Gundam; he closed his eyes for a second. "All right Kira, let's see if your training paid off." He chuckled.

The Black Gundam charged again, holding the beam sword on its right arm as it prepared to tackle Shinn. It slashed across, Shinn opened his red eyes. He felt energy building up as his red eyes darkened and turned into a shade of crimson. "Die you bastard!" Shinn screamed as he ducked down and slashed the Black Gundam across the cockpit; this cut the Gundam in half as it exploded. Shinn nodded softly as his eyes went back to normal.

A few months back Kira thought him a way to increase the speed and strength in battle; to calm down, Shinn was known for being a great pilot, but the problem was his temper if he got angry just a little bit he'll blind himself to anything else outside of his own battle. After practicing with Kira endlessly he managed to calm down, and after he helped them stop a few terrorist from attacking the PLANTs a few weeks after that, Lacus gave Shinn the honor of being a member of FAITH once more.

Shinn heard the beeping of his communicator, he pressed the blue button and saw Kira's picture coming on the screen. "Shinn, did you find the Gundam?" Kira asked through the screen, Shinn just gave him a nod and a placid smile. "Was it black and simple like in the picture?"

"Yeah, why all the questions?" Shinn asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"I thought so, I fought one too, listen Shinn I think the two Gundams we fought were only dolls that were controlled by someone else." Kira answered to him, Shinn clenched his fist, he was about to yell at Kira to talk faster, but he just let him go on.

"Wait, are you saying the real one might be…?" Kira didn't let Shinn finish his system as he nodded. "Damn it, Luna, Luna answer!" Shinn yelled as he tried to contact Lunamaria. "We gotta save her Kira, we just have to." He grabbed the levers and the condenser and started flying again.

"Shinn, calm down, you won't…" Shinn cut off the communication. "Damn it Shinn," Kira pushed his head back on the chair as he closed his eyes and sighed, he tried his best to find a shortcut towards Lunamaria.

Shinn just flew desperately, Lunamaria was his old comrade from the days of the academy and his girlfriend, he actually tried to stop Kira from allowing her to participate, but he didn't have the nerve. After the second Bloody Valentine, Shinn tried his best to make up for almost killing her during battle, he got so angry he almost stabbed the cockpit of the Impulse with the Destiny's sword when she tried to stop him.

***

Lunamaria fired a blue and red beam towards the floating silhouette surrounding her. She knew she was being attacked, but the Gundam hadn't shown itself since she found it out. "Analysis," she started pressing the buttons of the keyboard as she tried to scan the Gundam's form. "I can't get a signal, Shinn Kira, answer, I need help!" she yelled; but to no avail.

She saw an orange pod like beam launcher, it fired a green beam that stroke the Impulse on its right leg and destroyed it. "Who are you?" Lunamaria asked as she put the cannons back on the Impulse's shoulder, it was backwards this way and this way it turned into a missile launcher, it fired various missiles that destroyed the asteroids around her. The Gundam flew out and slashed the Impulse's chest, it didn't destroy it but it left a small slash scar.

She finally saw the figure, it was a mobile suit in a mostly black color, it had a blue chest armor that resembled the Impulse's, in fact it resembled the Impulse for the most part, it had a white robotic head and a pair of white legs with two white kneepads. It had a ring like object on its back with four orange pods; one of them was the one that attacked Lunamaria.

"Who are you!" she yelled as she took the cannons back to the Impulse's arm and fired two blue and red beams towards the Gundam. The Gundam dodged it by spinning through the middle gap that the beams left; it took out a giant rifle that started firing beam bullet. The Impulse kept firing its own beams as both attacks countered. It flew up as it sent its four pods towards her. Lunamaria fired more beams, but the pods fired four beams from four different sides that the Impulse couldn't reach; Lunamaria's mobile suit was hit as the right launcher and the head were destroyed.

"A DRAGOON System?" Lunamaria gasped, only skilled pilots were able to have that kind of system, a system that allows the user to have different pods flying around the enemy, and attacking them from different angles, in fact Kira's mobile suits has one and Ray one of Lunamaria's and Shinn's all comrades who died at the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War had another one. "But this one seems stronger than Kira's and Ray's it must be harder to control." She looked at the Gundam. "Can there really be a Natural in there?" even though the Earth Alliance had their own Mobile Suits, only Coordinators were able to pilot a suit with a DRAGOON System, if a Natural tried to the only way to control it was by having more than one pilot.

"Where's Kira Yamato?" Lunamaria saw someone through the screen, the person was wearing a black uniform with two silver lines running across the sides, he had a black helmet with a dark glass that didn't allow anyone to see his face. Lunamaria looked at the person. "I know you're a member of his team, now where is he?"

"Like hell I'll tell you!" she yelled as she took out a giant white metallic stick, it created a green beam spear on the top of the staff. Lunamaria charged at the Gundam. The pilot of the suit nodded softly as he moved to the side, the Gundam took out three beam claws that slashed the Impulse. Lunamaria blocked the attack with the spear the best she could.

"Where is he?" he asked again as he sent two pods flying around, they fired and crashed against back of the Impulse. "If you don't' tell me, I'll have to kill you." He fired more beam bullets. Lunamaria spun around as she fired more beams. The Gundam was faster and dodged the attack. "So be it." The other pods came out as they all formed a square around Lunamaria. "Die." He gave her a thumb down as the beams fired and blew up the Impulse.

The Course Blended flew out form the cloud of smoke; Lunamaria managed to get it out of the fusion in time. "Damn, what kind of Natural is he?" she asked a she looked back. The Gundam was about to fire another beam but he stopped when he saw that one of the pods was destroyed by a beam just like the Impulse's.

"How dare you hurt Luna!" Shinn yelled from behind, his eyes were crimson again. "You'll die now!" he kept firing beams, but the pilot of the other Gundam kept dodging them. He fired more bullets towards the Destiny, Shinn dodged it.

"Shinn no, he's not a normal Natural!" Lunamaria warned, but Shinn just ignored her and kept heading towards the Gundam. Shinn tried to fire another one but the Gundam fired more beams from the three remaining pods. Shinn put the cannon back and took out the sword.

His wings spread again and flew forward towards the Gundam once more, he charged once more, he slashed the Gundam and it spun around the air. It took its claw out and slashed the Destiny's left leg off. Shinn yelled once again as it spun around and tried to take its leg out. The Gundam kneed the Destiny on the gut and pushed it back.

Shinn tried to calm down, but he couldn't the guy was defeating him, he hurt Lunamaria, and he was just attacking them from no reason. Shinn charged again, the pods got behind the Destiny and fired beams to the back. Shinn didn't have time to turn around as the back of the Destiny was hit and it exploded the wings were destroyed and Shinn was pushed forward and crashed his head and hit the glass of the helmet; this made his forehead bleed. The Destiny's armor went from blue to gray as it's gray extremities became a darker gray.

"Luna…." Shinn whispered as he fell unconscious, the Gundam just stared at the Destiny, and the pilot shook his head.

"Shinn!" Lunamaria flew towards her lover's Mobile Suit, she stopped in front of him as tears came out, even though she couldn't see what was inside the cockpit she was still sad about Shinn.

Before the pilot turned around he saw the Strike Freedom pointing its gun at him. "Why do you want me?" Kira asked as he held his gun at the Gundam. The Gundam fired more bullets from its rifle but Kira managed to fly out of range. "I said why are you attacking me?" Kira asked and the guns the Freedom had on its waist fired two yellow beams. The Gundam couldn't dodge it fast enough and the rifle was destroyed.

"I want to prove myself, that I can beat the great Kira Yamato, and show that I'm not a failure!" the pilot yelled, he charged and took out its claws, it tried to slash the Freedom, but Kira took out the beam sword and cut the right arm in a flash of light. "Damn it." The pilot grunted.

"I don't know what your problem is, but attacking people just because you want to fight someone isn't right!" Kira took out the rest of the Freedom's guns and the pods as he fired the various beams that headed for the Gundam. It threw its three pods towards the Freedom, the beams were fired but they were countered by Kira's own beams and were destroyed.

"No way." The Pilot gasped, his Gundam lost most of its energy, and without the DRAGOON System it lost more than half its strength.

"I won't kill you, but you still have to tell me your name, and you have to come with me," Kira said with a serious look as he looked at the Gundam. The other Gundam just stared back as he shook his head.

"My name is Canard Pars, but I won't go with you." He fired two beams from its chest that created a cloud of smoke. Kira shook the smoke off with the swords as he saw what happened, the Gundam was gone.

"Canard Pars?" Kira asked himself as he turned to Shinn and Lunamaria. The Freedom grabbed the Destiny. "Let's go Lunamaria, we have to get back." Kira started floating away while Lunamaria started flying in the Cross Blender.

"Who was that guy?' Lunamaria asked, but Kira didn't give her an answer since he didn't know himself.

"Who knows, but we should just forget about it for now." Kira nodded to her as the three floated back towards the PLANTs. He felt a little overpowered, even though he was the one that won, but for someone to be able to control a DRAGOON System especially a Natural, well he had to keep his eyes opened for this guy Canard. "But, what did he mean but showing that he isn't a failure?"

***

Lacus opened her eyes wide as she saw Arty being shot through the heart. He fell to the ground, and died instantly. Lacus looked at the man that was on the door, he had a long spiky brown hair, a tanned colored skin, he was wearing a yellow uniform that looked like the Green ZAFT uniform, he had a scar on his left eye, and his was holding his left arm up which had a gun in it. He put his fake left arm back on. "Are you okay Lacus?" he asked as he walked over to Arty's corpse. "I could've gotten here earlier, but I didn't want to give my cover away."

"Thanks Mr. Walfelt, I was scared about what could've happened." Lacus sighed; she walked over to the intercom. "Don't worry Allice, I'm okay." She said to the woman that was yelling through the intercom. "I still can't believe what Arty said."

"Well, it wasn't all true, there are some members, in the council that are plotting against you, but at least I Know that that kid Ysac's mom isn't in this." Walfelt shrugged as he walked over to Lacus. "Shouldn't you call Kira back?" he asked.

"Yeah you're right." Lacus answered calmly as she sat down. "I'm sure he'll be back soon, I just hope nothing bad happened." She turned to the screen in her office. "I want you to prepare a news cast, I'm going to have to talk to the PLANTs about the recent problems, don't tell anyone in the council though."

"This might get you into trouble." He said with a nod.

"I know, but I have to do it, I feel that things are about to get messy, which is why, I have to do this." Lacus looked down with a sad look; things were easier when she wasn't chairwoman she could have more fun, and she didn't have so many responsibilities, and even more, she could enjoy her life with Kira more.

Canard was flying across space, he sighed, he was tired after fighting so much; he couldn't really see himself defeating Kira yet anyways, after the roles he heard Kira had in the previous wars, he knew that it was hard for him to win; but still. "I will defeat you Kira Yamato, even if that's the last thing I do." He clenched his fist.

Final Words

Power, destructions. Does power guarantee destruction, or is it just for those who use it to do evil doing, what if you need power to protect someone, do you have to kill to gain it, these are the questions that strike Shinn's mind after he discovers the results, and when Lacus decides to act upon herself, will this bring more trouble to the PLANTs

Next Time: A Falling World