Trials And Lies

Chapter 4

AN: This is the first Gundam Seed Fanfic by me and I deliberately wrote a Yzak & Shiho fanfic cause it is not so active... I also love this couple... And I don't own Gundam SEED or any of its counterparts... Too bad for me...

As per my previous attempt at this story, I will use the same format...
Italics represents a radio transmission from outside of the character's immediate location, as well as names of ships/mobile suits/vehicles.
Bold represents the time jumps or current location (but I plan to reduce the focus on this, I'm sure it disrupts reading flow, doggamnit!)...

*Noticed that there were ALOT of gaps for important information...Will clear it up in the next few or maybe this chapter (if I'm lucky)!... Sooo APOLOGIES! Sorry for dragging you guys through nothing but combat!

The drama starts here!

Cosmic Era 75

"G-goddamnit...I can't feel my legs," Yzak quietly whispered.

It was bad, his face was turning blue and his eyes were getting more and more distant. There was no way Reiatsuma could stall the medical treatment any further, Yzak is at the tip of the blade. He quickly reached into his first aid pack, his head turning here and there trying to find the missing Shiho within the darkness of the sewers. The bullet is deep inside Yzak's leg and he needed an extra hand to stop the bleeding before Yzak is totally lost.

"Goddamnit...Hang on, Yzak-... Shiho?"

There was no time to look for her...for now.

With more cursing and stumbling into hanging sewage pipes, Shiho Hahnenfuss decided to give up as she felt her head starting to get heavy and the world spinning slowly. She took off her helmet gently with one hand and placed it by her side, before ripping off her sleeve with a knife and wrapping it around her wound. Sighing quietly between her labored breathing, Shiho pulled her legs close to her chest to keep the warmth to herself as the sun slowly set above ground.

It was a slippery slope for her. Right after falling through the sewer entrance, Shiho tumbled down another steep drop. Despite repeated calls from her comrades, she refused to answer. Maybe it was because she was ashamed she let her guard down in the school, causing trouble to her comrades and especially her Commander just to get her away from the firefight...or maybe it was the fact that the one calling was her sworn enemy-slash-ally.

"Yzak..." she whispered with a forlorn voice as images of his pained face flashed in her mind. There was no excuse for her under-performance this time. Her heart twisted, cursing herself as she clenched her fist in regret, the blood on her arm glistening under an unsteady light that was present within the sewer.

Wait...a light?

"Where the hell did you come from?" Shiho quickly got on her feet before she questioned the man standing in front of her. She was in no mood to entertain Reiatsuma. Even though she felt relieved to see a comrade she also felt her fearful instincts turn on. This organism in her view stood as a traitor. A beast who would trade blood with selfish reasons at his own whim. Without so much of a response, he took a step closer to look at her injured arm. She backed up with a hostile look on her face.

Yzak was also not with him, even though he was supposed to. Which meant...to Shiho's mind meant two things. Reiatsuma either left him behind. Or killed the Commander himself, both of which left no room for any positive interpretations. She quickly reached for her handgun on her thigh's holster, her heart drummed in her chest as she struck.

"Back off, Hayabusa. Where is the Commander?" Shiho hissed with her handgun trained on Reiatsuma's chest, who in response turned away his torchlight from directly shining at Shiho with his eyes defiantly meeting hers.

"Calm down, Shiho-!"

"Don't call me that!" she cried out as she felt her head slowly start to spin from the loss of blood, her hands shivering from holding the gun too tightly. Reiatsuma narrowed his eyes as he watched Shiho breathing heavily, her judgement impaired by her injuries as her pupils dilated in response to her bleeding. Reiatsuma quickly rushed her, narrowly missing a shot from the brunette as he pushed her roughly against a wall while at the same time setting her down.

"Shiho," his voice seeped out, "Stop being stupid and emotional. Now stay still so I can try to stop the bleeding."

Shiho wanted to protest but her body refused to listen, it felt like lead. She gritted her teeth, quietly observing as Reiatsuma began on her wound treatment. She had no more energy to fight for now, despite the most dangerous man being right in front of her. Maybe she's going to die in a few minutes, or be cut into pieces and buried in an unmarked grave, she horrifically thought. But...the said person pulled her up, gently carrying her as if he was carrying his bride. Reiatsuma was remarkably gentle, not applying any pressure and just letting her lie in his arms as he backtracked where he came from.

"Hayabusa...where is...Yzak?" she asked weakly after what seemed like a long silence, her head unconsciously laying against his chest as they arrived quite a ways from the ladder they previously used to escape from the enemy. Reiatsuma remained quiet as he kept on going down the sewer...before...

"What the hell took...you guys so long?"

The Athena quietly floated within the coasts of Carpentaria among the barely battered EAF fleet as the sun drowned in the horizon, its rays of light glimmering in the darkness of the clouds faded and the pale moon peeked from the beyond. Dearka Elsman tapped his foot as he watched the battle plans in the bridge of the mechanical behemoth, his thoughts devoted greatly towards his stranded comrades for the past couple of hours.

"Welcome back, Destiny. Any change in that area?" Ryuzaki asked the flying Mobile Suit as it landed on the forward part of the warship.

"None yet, Captain. Enemy is still holding that area...and in numbers. No aerial assets though," Shinn replied over the radio as Dearka watched the radar for any changes.

"We're wasting time here, Captain. We need to move in and get them out," Dearka requested out of desperation. Considering the injuries Yzak had sustained, it was no surprise. Those injuries cannot be totally recovered unless he returns to a proper hospital with proper equipment. The Captain frowned at Dearka's haste, but understood perfectly how he felt.

"There's no way we can get into the area blind without risking more lives, Dearka. We will go in as soon as we get confirmation of their location," he replied with a troubled face while Dearka kept on his worrisome look, "We don't know where the enemy is or what they are capable of just yet. For all we know, they could even be holding civilian prisoners. Any wrong move might spell out a bloodier outcome."

"What about the enemy's radio tracking in that area? Are they still online?" the tanned blonde shot another question, only to get a nod as a reply. Surely, if the enemy's radio signal tracker had been destroyed, they would already be hailing the three missing soldier's on an open channel.

"As much as I hate to say this, their survival depends on whether the enemy knows they are there or not."

Dearka hated how he had to be in this 'stay put and just watch' situation. He wanted to do something. Without regard for orders, he quickly but quietly slipped out of the bridge and headed for the hangar towards a vacant drop-ship. There's no way he's sitting in the corner sucking his thumb while his close friends were in danger. He'd rather die.

"It's alright, Shiho. Here, hold my hand. We'll get through this together..." Shiho watched as the hand was extended to her, gripping it tightly with all the confidence in the world as she felt comfort radiating deep within her heart.

"Brother...are...you leaving again tomorrow for the war?"

"I'm sorry I can't stay for your birthday, Shiho. But don't worry, alright? I'll bring back a gift for you this time. I promise," the voice was soothing to her ears, such care and warmth. She smiled as she watched the person slowly distort before her, as if he was turning into a monster.

"B-brother? No..."

"Shiho?"

"S-stay away!"

"Shiho! Wake up!" the voice startled her as she finally woke up from a suffocating dream, cold sweat tickling the bare skin of her neck as she slowly sat up, "Are you okay? You were crying in your sleep..."

"Yzak..." she whispered out for the second time that day as she looked into his worried eyes, holding her ever so gently as she tried to stabilize herself. After a few seconds though, she finally realized what she had blurted out, "Uh-I mean! Commander! I'm okay, Commander! I'm...okay."

Yzak Joule just stared at her with a look of relief as her face turned scarlet. Despite his treatment of her, Yzak really does find her cute at times, though sometimes menacing. He quietly sat beside her as the moonlight lit their faces, the serene sight of the ocean a welcome to their sore eyes.

"Where are we, Commander?"

"The sewers led to the coast. Hayabusa carried you here," he said as his calm face slowly changed into a slight frown that didn't go unnoticed to his female counterpart, "He saved us both, but...we're not out of it yet though. He went to get supplies from the town...or that's what he said he's doing."

A moment of silence passed through as the two of them sat by the beach, the sounds of the waves splashing against the sand making for a good distraction to both their weary minds. Shiho all the while sat there quietly, her face still flushed as she tried to think of a topic to talk about. The silence was really awkward.

"C-Comman-"

"Just call me Yzak. I'm getting tired of everyone calling me that," he said with a soft voice as he stared down at the white sand by his feet. It was a cold night, the chill of the Australian coastal winds biting at his fingers as it blew through his hair gently.

"Y-Yz-...Yza-," Shiho tried hard to formulate the words in her mouth, but found a lump in her throat as she fixed her two eyes on her dirty boots. Yzak chuckled as he glanced her way, causing her to hide her eyes behind her bangs as she turned her gaze away. Yzak wasn't exactly a professional in handling this kind of alone-with-a-girl situations, and he had no plans to start on it soon.

"Takes a little getting used to, huh?" he smiled as he watched the sea, his mind full of things that weren't supposed to be worried about at a time like this. He winced as he felt his leg produce its periodical warnings of pain to signal its need for proper medical attention. Yzak sighed and was about to lay down to get some shut eye, before he heard the girl next to him started shivering in the oceanic breeze.

"Sorry, Shiho. It might be a cold night but we can't risk an open fire. The enemy might see us," Yzak said with his normal neutral face as he adjusted the heavy bandage around his injured leg. Every movement sent a sharp needle into his leg, it was that painful for him.

"I-...I'm sorry, Commande-!"

"It's Yzak..."

"Y-...Yzak..." she managed to say out as she clenched her fist in embarrassment. Yzak got puzzled. She was never this timid, especially around comrades. Why start now? He raised a brow as he turned to look at her.

"Shiho?..."

"Hm?" Yzak's eyes tried to seek emotions in her face, but it always held that stoic look as if things needed to be hidden. He didn't like that, being the selfish jerk that he always was, and proceeded to break down the shell as if he had a right to. He gave himself comfort by explaining to himself it was all for the mission.

"You...had a brother?"

"What?"

"You kept crying out 'brother' in your sleep just now. I thought it might be something you'd wanna talk about," Yzak explained as he turned his head towards Shiho, who held a forlorn look on her face as if she was elsewhere, "L-listen if you don't wanna talk about-!"

"He was a ZAFT soldier before the first war came."

"I-...I see. He must've been a terrific soldier if he was your brother. What happened?"

Shiho shook her head in response, signalling that she had no idea what, "I suddenly lost contact with him. He was the only family I had left so...when I joined up looking for him, he was just marked as Missing in Action. I tried my hardest to investigate further. With his unit, superiors...even the Medical Corp. But all I got were the same old sympathetic faces that told me to give up."

"...Shiho," Yzak whispered to himself as he watched Shiho grip tightly at her injured arm, trying to add her physical pain so she'd forget her emotional ones. Yzak never knew she had issues in her life. She always seemed...up to it. Always ready. Never hesitant.

"I was adopted by his family you see...and nothing spelled love and care like they did," he could see her shoulders shivering as she tried hard to hold back her tears, "Soon...he joined ZAFT, because he had no way of sustaining us after our parents' death. ZAFT was the only way he could take care of me while I grew up...or at least, through my academic years."

"..." Yzak was speechless. Always being in a safe and secure bubble never had let him meet such people who lost their loved ones. He never had to deal with people who had such a scar running deep inside their hearts like a painful thorn. Military losses were one thing...but this was familial. Sure, Yzak never really known his father...but that wasn't the same thing. The cold night wind blew through Yzak's hair as he pondered on his life, the splashing of the ocean waves his only company in his thoughts.

"Even after all these years...I still-... I should've died long ago... It-...Konrad would still be alive if I didn't exist."

Yzak gently placed a hand on her shoulder to snap her out of her depression. Shiho looked up at his sapphire orbs, her eyes brimmed with tears. He couldn't bear listen to her be this way. Not from Shiho. He didn't know what took over him, but THE Yzak Joule he gently pulled Shiho into a warm and gentle embrace. As she felt his warmth radiating from his body, Shiho shivered more as the memories of her brother kept returning.

Shiho began to give small sobs as Yzak held her tighter, "Don't say that, Shiho. Your brother gave everything he had to see you grow up, he loved you very much. No one can take that away from the both of you."

"I-...loved him very much...I...still do," she whispered against his shoulder, her tears by now trickling down her smooth cheeks as she stared out to sea. The silence engulfed them as they held onto each other, the heat from them both eliminating any signs of cold and discomfort that was present a few minutes ago.

And before the both of them knew it, they were staring deep into each others' eyes. It was like a dream, watching as Yzak brushed away her tears and assuring her that everything was okay. He quietly stared into Shiho's eyes as she stared back quietly in between sniffles. Yzak uncomfortably realized what had just transpired, and his face fired up in a rage of embarrassment. He unconsciously leaned in closer, before-!

"Commande-..."

Shiho was the first one to respond as she yelped and turned away quickly, while Yzak on the other hand froze in place, his face turning a brighter shade of red as he turned slowly towards Reiatsuma. He immediately frowned and gave a look that said he'll kill if what happened were to leak around ZAFT. All his years of image building would be crushed in an instant. Instead, Reiatsuma continued on as if he didn't see anything.

Clearing his throat, Reiatsuma reported in, "Nothing useful in the way of transportation that I can see from here, Commander. But..."

Reiatsuma went on passing the both of them canned food that he managed to salvage from the nearby abandoned town. Reiatsuma glanced from the side as he noticed Shiho's face flushed to the extreme, wrapping a blanket around her that Reiatsuma brought as she tried to hide her embarrassment. She could feel her heart still beating like a riot deep inside her chest. Yzak quietly looked on as he looked at the canned food, tossing it aside.

"...I've found a hardwired satellite radio that can get us into contact with the Athena most likelywithout being detected. I'll need to go check it out."

"W-wait. I'll go too-"

"You'll only slow me down, Commander," he said as he rushed off, disappearing into the thick vegetation before Yzak could protest further.

"That moron..." Yzak said to himself as he watched the soldier disappear, "Just because he's a covert operator he thinks he can do everything alone."

"Covert operator?"

"Huh...You didn't hear it from me but, he's a black ops for Lacus," he declared as he sat down, a few feet away from Shiho to avoid another embarrassing occurrence. Just remembering about it made his face flush again, and this annoyed the Commander to no end.

"But...he killed all those in the Rou-"

"We did establish the fact that we didn't forgive him...but he did what he had to do. To us, he blew them up. To the public...the Rousseau malfunctioned. But more importantly...to the Radicals...he was a hero."

"...I...can't accept that, Yzak..." she said to herself as she laid down with the blanket around her like a cloak. Yzak just watched her as he took a sip of water from the bag of scavenged supplies. He could literally feel the ominous aura emanating from Shiho as soon as the conversation on Reiatsuma started. Sure he saved their lives. But that just meant he had more than a hundred more lives to repay...or maybe even thousands or millions more.

"Can't say I don't agree to that..."

Dearka worked quietly as he folded a map on the pilot seat within the drop-ship of the Athena. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't alone. Sara, the new rookie transferred to Joule Team at the same time Reiatsuma did, provided a stimulant for Dearka's annoyance radar while she was with him. He rubbed his forehead in annoyance as the girl beside him kept talking. She just won't shut up!

"...and you know the time he vaulted over the bench and protected the Commander and the Lieutenant! Ohhh that was coo-!"

"Sara! I know! I saw it too! Now please can it!" he raised his voice as he frowned, causing the younger one to jump in surprise. He quickly apologised as he unbuttoned the top of his pilot suit, "Our comrades are in danger, Sara. I just don't find it the time to be talking about that like nothing happened."

"...I'm sorry, Major. I was just trying to lighten up the mood," Sara responded as her eyes went downcast. Despite being the newest member of Yzak's squad, Dearka really felt she wanted to fit in with the squad. He had never met someone as enthusiastic, albeit dumb to danger, as her in his career as a ZAFT soldier.

"I'm sorry for raising my voice too. But I guess you're right, it would be pointless moping about like this," he decided as he turned to look down the runway of the Athena.

"Major...can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"Was it true that you were dumped only after five minutes the last time?" she asked with a neutral face. Dearka frowned at the speed of light as he stared questioningly at Sara.

"W-well that is a very depressing topic, Sara. That's not even true!" he tried to defend himself as he ruffled his hair, "Ho-how can a good-looking man like me be dumped that quickly! No wait! It was I who dumped her... Ahaha..."

"R-really? I heard from-!"

"...Bzz-is Hayabusa-bzz-ZAFT Forces-bzz-hardwired secure channel... Allied-bzz-this frequency-bzz-respond...Bzz-have two-bzz-heavily wounded-bzz-need extraction-bzz...Coordinates-bzz-as follows-bzz..."

"That's our ticket!" Dearka said as Sara started the engines of the shuttle, causing heads to turn inside the hangar of the Athena, "Make it quick, Sara. Or the Captain will chew your ass."

Sara, with her usual youthfulness, smirked at the sarcasm and quickly fired the thrusters despite protests from the hangar control and the bridge, before Captain Ryuzaki belayed any orders for restriction. Dearka quietly smiled in pleasant surprise, not knowing the Captain was able to show such loose play of the military rule book, which Dearka himself would respect.

"This is the Athena. Major Elsman, I've punched in the coordinates to your shuttle. Shinn, Lunamaria. Escort them and get them home. Good luck."

"This is Lieutenant Hayabusa, ZAFT Forces, hailing over a hardwired secure channel. Allied forces this freq-!"

"You know, I've never really enjoyed aerial combat...being down on the ground, makes me a lot more excited," said a sultry voice amusingly from one of the windows of the room. Hayabusa instinctively trained his handgun at the black combat clad figure sitting casually by the window ledge, pulling off her face mask to reveal a pale face lit by the luminescence of the moon.

"Commander Valkyrie..." Reiatsuma mouthed as he shoved his gun gently back into its holster. Said person quietly got off the ledge and walked up to him, noticing his green combat suit instead of his original black.

"Wow, Rei. They turned you into a green?"

"What do you want, Karmen?"

"Just a message...from Miss High-and-Mighty," she said jokingly as her pony-tailed silk black hair swung with her walking motion, "Visotoniki is on the move, Rei. Your squad, Voskhod-3 is on standby."

"Speaking in third person again? Message acknowledged," he nodded before slipping a small disk into the woman's hand, looking at her for a few seconds before the radio rolled in a transmission.

"Hayabusa, this is Minerva-Class Battleship, Athena. Responding to your hail on channel 231. We will be sending a drop-ship to you for pickup. Mark your location with strobe light, I repeat, mark your location with strobe light. Estimated arrival is three minutes."

"Rei? Something to report?"

"The disk stays with you. And...Konrad's sister is on the Athena."

"His sister?... Did you-"

"No... Round up Voskhod-3 to the mother-ship, Commander Valkyrie. PLANTs is a death trap for us now."

"As you wish, Comm-...I mean, 'Lieutenant'," and with mischievous smirk, the female soldier slipped on her face mask before slipping out the window into the night. Reiatsuma quietly moved to the old radio and spoke into the mic after a pause.

"This is Hayabusa. Acknowledged, Athena. We'll be waiting."

"Yzak!"

Before Yzak could turn around to respond to the call, Dearka quickly wrapped his arms around the platinum blonde's neck, causing him to wince in pain due to the sudden movement. He quickly shoved the man away as a counter and even though this guy was still as annoying, Yzak felt extremely happy to be able to see his best friend again.

"Goddamnit, Dearka! Can't you see I'm an injured man?" he exclaimed as he used the crutches to get to his office. A few days had already passed since the crazy separation from the team, and psychologically both Yzak and Shiho proved to have wonderfully recovered. Physically though, they need more time. Especially Yzak.

"I really can't believe you guys got out of there. Especially you! You should see the look on your face when you took that bullet," Dearka chuckled as he sat down in Yzak's office, as per usual putting his legs on the desk as if he owned the place. Yzak could understand, he was extremely relieved and happy to see Yzak too.

"No thanks to you!"

"Hey, come on...I piloted that drop-ship to get to you guys, you know? Almost defying a ship-master's orders."

"Hah! I could do that blindfolded."

"Hahah! I really doubt that. But.." Dearka paused as he looked at the ceiling, "I gotta hand it to you, only a day stranded...I was expecting at least a few days. Even using an interweb connection to slip under radio tracking. Is that guy even a human?"

"Who knows. It doesn't change much, Dearka. Even though he did save our lives, there's no way I'd forgive the massacre."

"True. Where's Shiho by the way? Ever since she came back, she's been avoiding you hasn't sh-! Wait...Wait! Yzak! You didn't-!"

"What the hell are you thinking!?"

AN: A million thanks to all the readers who have been...you know...reading the fanfic hahah! And special thanks again to Voltage Axe, h0neyxx and Rouge-Impulstice1 for the wonderful support y'all gave me! Really REALLY appreciate it! I think I missed out a few points to cover the gaps in the fanfic (eg. Mobile Suit?). If anyone sees it, can you guys point it out for me over on a PM? Thanks!

Also, if anyone reads this part, as a joke, Rei was able to slip under radio tracking because he found free wifi... xD

By the way...this chapter title, I'm not afraid to say, is from a song in My Little Pony :D That show rocks!

...that was a joke...