Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 69
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.
"Shinn, where are you going?" Athrun asked as he followed the hot-headed coordinator through the winding halls of the Excalibur.
"I'm going to give Kira a piece of my mind! The son of a bitch nearly killed me!" Shinn spat. "Aren't you forgetting, Shinn, you can't die you're immortal." Athrun reasoned as they reached one of the Excalibur's inner trams.
"Computer, locate Kira Yamato!" Shinn ordered as he stepped on to the tram.
"Supreme Commander Kira Yamato is currently in the captain's private quarters on the officer's deck." Shinn huffed as he pressed the touch pad that would send the tram to the officer's quarters. Due to the massive size of the Excalibur, a high speed tram system had to be installed on each deck. Five minutes and one stop later, they arrived at the tram station at the officers quarters.
"Alright, where is he!" Shinn fumed as he stormed down the hall to Kira's shared quarters.
"Shinn, aren't you taking things a little too personally?" Athrun said as he followed close behind. Shinn instantly spun around and faced Athrun, his ruby eyes burning with anger.
"He shot down my Eclipse Gundam you moron, why wouldn't I take it personally!" He shouted.
"He only did that because you were about to shoot down a cargo plane that was full of refugees!" Athrun countered, he was starting to lose his temper.
"That plane had nuclear materials on board and you know it." Shinn said as he turned back around and resumed walking to towards his destination.
"Did you even look at the thermal and x-ray scans? The nuclear materials had already been removed and the plane was being used to evacuate wounded civilians." Athrun said as he cut in front of Shinn, blocking his way.
"What's all the yelling?" Came a tired voice, Athrun and Shinn turned to see Athrun's fiancée Meyrin Hawke poking her head out of hers and Athrun's shared room.
Athrun quickly walked over to her and gave her an apologetic hug. "Sorry, Meyrin, did we wake you?" He asked as he loosened his grip.
"No, but damn it Shinn, why are you always so loud?" She said as she looked at him. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder what my sister sees in you."
"I don't have time for this right now. I'm leaving!" Shinn spat as he resumed stomping down the hall. Just as he reached the door to Kira's quarters, both Athrun and Meyrin stopped him.
Athrun stood in front of the door while Meyrin stood behind him. "Shinn, I realize now that you won't listen to reason, but let me talk to Kira for you." He offered. "If you really must gripe to him, wait until the briefing we have later."
Shinn huffed and crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. "Fine, but I'll be right here until you get back." He said.
"Thanks, Shinn. Meyrin, would you please stay with him?" Arthun asked as he pressed the switch that opened the door with a hiss. Athrun walked inside, instantly noticing that the room was dark. "Kira?" Athrun called out, and when he was met with no answer he walked further into the room. Unlike standard crew quarters, the officers state rooms consisted of a small office where the entrance was connected to a bedroom and bathroom. "Kira, are you in here?" Athrun called again, but still no answer. He walked over to the door which led into the bedroom and opened it. The bedroom was also dark. "Kira...?" Athrun whispered, but he stopped in his tracks as he laid eyes on the single large bed.
Kira was laying in the middle of the bed, he was fast asleep and all of his lovers were with him, all of whom were also sound asleep. Kira lay in the middle of the bed with Murrue at his left side, cuddled up close to him. Lacus was opposite of Murrue, on Kira's right. Next to Murrue lay Hope and Mayu, whom were huddled together, sleeping peacefully as they lay on their sides. Athrun also noticed Cagalli asleep and clinging to Mayu, with her arms wrapped around Mayu's waist. Athrun became even more shocked when he thought that he saw a second Cagalli asleep beside Lacus, the only difference was that she looked to be a few years younger.
Kira stirred as he sat up, being extremely careful not to wake any of the women around him. "Athrun...What's wrong?" Kira asked groggily.
"Um...eh...I-uh..." Athrun stammered trying to find words. Just then Lacus yawned and sat up causing the sheets to slip from her chest, exposing her bust for all to see. Athrun couldn't stop his jaw from dropping, but he was able to somewhat compose himself, despite the fact that his former fiancée was now looking at him with that bright smile hers and she was either completely oblivious to the fact that she was exposed to him or she simply didn't care. Athrun's face turned a dark shade of red as he noticed a small barbell piercing in her left nipple.
"Hello, do you need something, Athrun?" She asked.
"Uh...Shinn's...outside. Kira he wanted to talk to you about the last engagement..." Athrun stammered. Kira sighed in annoyance.
"Tell him that he can gripe all he wants at the briefing later today. Now could you tell him to report back to his post before I have him thrown in the brig for insubordination?" Kira said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Uh...sure. I'm...going to go now...Sorry for intruding." Athrun said as he left. Once outside Kira's room, he shut to door and Shinn and Meyrin. Both of them noticed the deep blush on Athrun's face as he shut to door behind him.
"Well?" Shinn asked.
"You're ordered to return to your station and wait until the briefing before you are thrown in the brig." Athrun replied.
"WHAT!" Shinn bellowed in disbelief.
"Lets go, Shinn." Athrun said as he pushed Shinn back towards the tram station. "See you on the bridge, baby." He said to Meyrin before she returned to their room to get ready for her shift.
When Kira Yamato had just started flying the Strike his emotions had been all over the place. That had changed once he descended to the desert, except for when Tolle died. Things had heated him back up during the fights up in space after the Mendel colony, but after that he'd mellowed out again. It had taken the destruction of the Freedom Gundam to really set him off. Of course, reliving both the First and Second Bloody Valentine Wars had gotten a rise out of him, but that had been mostly adrenaline and slight shock, not just anger and it certainly wasn't because of fear. Now, millenia after first piloting the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, Kira was a God, he was immotral and he could do anything he wanted without fear of consequences. Despite these changes, he still acted completely human, he still displayed the full range of emotions, he still ate and slept.
At the moment, Kira felt slight anger mixed with a bit of annoyance, as he sat in the Excalibur's main conference room, at the head of the table with his most trusted pilots and senior officers in the room with him.
"What's your excuse for shooting down my Eclipse Gundam in the last battle, Kira?" Shinn Asuka asked.
"Not this again." Athrun Zala muttered under hs breath.
"I only did that because you were about to shoot down a cargo plane that was full of refugees." Kira answered, at the moment, the amethyst-eyed man had his temper under control, but he wasn't sure how long that would last.
"That plane had nuclear materials on board and we all know it!" Shinn yelled.
"No." Kira replied, as he brought up a holographic image of the shuttle in question. The shuttle resembeled a highly modified Boeing 747-8, a large commercial airliner and civilian transport aircraft from the late 1900s, with the main differences between the original aircraft and the shuttle version, being hybrid jet/rocket engines in place of the standard jet engines, and the addition of a vertical stabilizer on the tips of the wings and tailpanes. The shuttle in question had been painted in white and brown, with a yellow line running diagionally down the rear half of the fuselage, seperating the other two colors. "As you can all plainly see." Kira said, pointing to the Universal Postal Service logo on each of the shuttle's five vertical stabilizers. "The shuttle was owned by the Universal Postal Service, they never transport military cargo of any kind, they don't even transport military personnel." The Universal Postal Service was the primary mail and package delivery service used by civilians both in the PLANTs and on the Earth, the predecessor of which had been known as the United Postal Service; the primary mail and package delivery service used in the United States of America, at least until that country's complete economic collapse in the year 2012.
"Either way." Cagalli Yula Athha finally spoke up. "The fighting is only continuing to escalate."
"We could always perform the ultimate armed intervention." Hope Yamato suggested. "Eradicating humanity and repopulating the Earth by ourselves."
"We've already eradicated humanity twice in the past." Lacus Clyne replied, tears quickly welling up in her eyes. "I don't want to do it again."
"If all of the armed forces on this planet decide to attack us again, I'll do just that." Kira smirked. "Although, given the fractured timelines on and around the Earth, it would probably be much more efficent, not to mention easier, if we just find our own planet and colonize it ourselves."
Everyone in the conference room jumped slightly as Kira's cell phone rang, startling them. He pulled the ringing phone out of his uniform pocket and put it up to his ear.
"Hello?" He asked, there was no response to his greeting at first, but then, finally, a voice came over the line.
"Hey." A male voice said, the person obviously of college age. "Who's this?"
"Kira Yamato." Kira replied, confused.
"Oh, sorry, wrong number." The other man replied, then hung up.
Kira lowered the phone slowly and leaned back in his chair. That was strange. Now completely distracted from the meeting, he looked at his received calls list, but the number was unfamiliar. Before he could think on it further, the phone rang loudly, shocking everyone yet again. This time, Kira looked at the caller identification before answering. It was another unfamiliar number. This time, he held the phone up to his ear, but said nothing. He heard nothing but the general background noise of a phone.
After a few seconds, Kira could hear slow, deliberate knocking. A moment later, he heard a door rip from its hinges and the dying screams of whomever was on the other end.
"WITNESS!" A little girl's voice screamed over the phone line. Kira quickly hung up.