Trials And Lies
Chapter 5
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!)...
Cosmic Era 75
The silence of the Freedom's cockpit was thick. It was so thick that you could cut it with a small butter-knife and taste it as it slid past the blade. Kira Yamato sat quietly, slumped against the cushion of the seat as he stared down at the seasoned material of his suit. It was still dirty from all the exposure to gunpowder and fire, not to mention the dried blood that got there long ago too. His eyes downcast and dull as his head and heart were filled with nothing but the emotions of a regretful demon.
Despite all he had tried to do, he couldn't pry open the jaws of death that had claimed the life of one he cared about the most. Lacus Clyne, the woman he had known for only a few years who had made a huge impact on his life, was now nothing but a lifeless corpse, an empty shell to a once glorious existence. He refused to attend her funeral. He refused to have anything to do with it. And its all because because of one thing.
Shame.
The shame that he had to endure, the regret for not being able to do what he was supposed to. What he was expected to. In the end, he was just making empty promises. Promise to keep Lacus safe? Hah! Who was he trying to kid? The love of his life was lying there bleeding her life out and all the world and himself could do was just freaking watch.
...Or...
Was it the pain? The denial? That he didn't want to believe she was dead. It can't be possible right? There's no way. One day he'll just wake up in bed with Lacus as he usually did...and she'll assure him with a warm hug that everything was just a horrible nightmare clawing at his insecurities. But...it can't be a dream. The knives in his chest, that sick feeling of throwing up is just too real.
In the end it was all the same no matter how much he wanted to run. Lacus died because he was a freaking incompetent fool.
"Lacus..." he whispered out her name as he clenched his fists tightly in rage, to the point his knuckles were turning white. There was no turning back now.
"Commander Yamato? We're starting the training session now," Yzak Joule's voice echoed into the speakers of his helmet. Kira quietly shook his head as he placed his hands on the throttle controls of the Freedom.
"Alright, Commander Joule. Who am I up against?" he asked absent-mindedly as the armor of the machine began taking its usual color, the blank screen flickering on showing the launch runway of the Athena. A few minutes passed, and the Freedom was already dancing in the sky of Onogoro Island.
"A grounded standard ZAKU and the Impulse."
"Not enough. The Freedom needs more than that," Kira hissed in annoyance. Everyone knew he wasn't the type to be forthcoming about the practise of power, but the death of his loved one might have loosened some screws within Kira's head...as expected by the platinum blonde.
"Need I remind you, Commander Yamato. You're a high-value official in ZAFT. Any news of you harmed-!"
"Disregard that protocol. I want the whole of Joule Team and the Destiny to participate."
"But-!"
"Now, Commander!"
The flashing of cameras was beginning to annoy her as Cagalli walked away from the podium of the assembly in Orb Union's governmental hall along with Athrun. Well, of course anyone or everyone would blame Orb Union for the death of one of the most famous figureheads of peace, as they were the ones hosting the event on Orb soil. Not to mention they were the ones in charge of security.
For such a foul-up, it was common sense to blame Orb Union and the personnel involved. But were it so easy. As she thought, she was the one everyone pointed their fingers to, more than the country itself. The overwhelming pressure of politics might just break her this time.
"Cagalli...are you alright?" Athrun Zala asked of his companion as they walked into her office, away from the prying eyes and ears of the public. Cagalli quietly frowned at Athrun for asking the obvious as she took a seat at her desk, leaning back against her armchair while the sunbeams shone in through the large window behind her.
"Let me think...I'm constantly being chased by the press for Lacus' death twenty-four-seven, I barely caught any sleep and now my own twin brother is ignoring my calls which worries me alot! So yeah," she complained as she turned to look at Athrun defiantly, "I am oh-so-peachy."
Athrun chuckled as he trailed his finger on one of the books of the office shelves. One might think, despite the current situation, a sarcastic remark as well as a chuckle would never escape these two's lips. But they did.
The young man quietly walked across the room and took a seat opposite of the fiery blonde, looking back at her as he narrowed his eyes catching her pull an exhausted yawn. Were they really ready to be figureheads of the politics world in such a devastating time? Looking at Cagalli, he got his answers. There was no turning back.
"What Lacus was trying to do...is reckless, Cagalli. I don't think-!"
"Don't think that she should've go at it alone? Don't worry about it," the blonde answered as she rubbed one side of her stiff shoulder with a hand, "We have to worry about our own side instead, you know. Kira worries me. Last I heard...him and the Freedom went missing for half a day before showing up as if nothing happened."
"Kira, huh? I can only imagine how he feels at such a loss."
"She had no choice, Athrun," Cagalli said as she looked at him with sad hazel eyes, "I would have done the same thing...if we were in their position."
"Cagalli..."
Athrun's eyes immediately went downcast as he digested what Cagalli had said. So much lies and deceit lived in this world. But not all of them...
...are well and truly evil.
"Wha-!? There's no way I can survive that!" Lunamaria hailed out in open channel as she barely dodged a saber attack, scratching the armor of the Impulse badly, "This is ridiculous! His weapons are set to lethal!"
"Luna! You okay!?" the Destiny flew by for support, barely parrying away the Freedom's attacks.
"Gaius-2, can you get a lock? Gaius-4 and I will funnel him to you," Shiho Hahnenfuss said as she tried hard following the swift movements of the legendary Freedom. Her modified ZAKU wasn't even close to matching the specifications of Kira's mobile suit. Every time she took a shot, the beam was dodged as if it was the slowest thing in the world.
"Lock him on? I can't even see him! Damn it! If ZAKUs could fly, I woulda fried his ass!" Dearka replied as his Mobile Suit kept spinning around trying to find the Freedom.
"My eyes are getting blurry. We can just shoot anywhere and chances will hit him soon," the rookie, Sara, mentioned into radio, earning a few good pieces of mind from Yzak himself directly from aboard the Athena.
"Somebody bring him down now...any longer and we're gonna suffer casualties for real," Yzak's voice trickled into Shiho's ears. She was too damned focused on the Freedom to notice anything else.
After a while of dodging and maneuvering through the formation, the Freedom finally started opening fire again. The training session was turning out to be a real skirmish. A dogfight between the Freedom...and those other guys. A few got clipped in the head of their machine as they went down, landing inelegantly down the tarmac of the docks.
The Impulse and Destiny tried rushing the Freedom head on at the same time with their sabers, but quickly got shot out of commission as the rifle beams went straight onto the machines' heads. Shiho frowned hard. The two supposed Aces are now down for the count. What chances would they have against this one?
"Watch it, Gaius-3. He's coming for us," Reiatsuma's voice snapped Shiho out of her thoughts, "I have a plan. Commander, switch us to a closed channel."
"Do it."
"A plan against Freedom?" Shiho asked as she watched the said Mobile Suit weaving through the clouds in the sky.
"Hey its better than anything, Shiho... What you got for us, Gaius-4?"
"We just need to lure him to a ground battle. We can grab him if he gets close to us, then I can manually splice into the Freedom's electronics."
"You're getting out of the cockpit to do that? Might get squashed, you know," Sara's voice said blatantly through the intercom, coated with surprise.
"If you have other ideas, Gaius-5, I'm all ears."
"No way, Gaius-4. This is just a training session. Don't risk your life for such a thing," Shiho commanded as she dodged a beam fire from the Freedom from afar.
"We don't have a choice in the matter, Shiho. Four ZAKUs against the Freedom? Seriously, don't we ever take it easy?" Shiho gave a small smile as she heard Dearka's complaint, even though he was enthusiastic with the aforementioned stunt. Well, Reiatsuma IS a black ops specialist. Maybe he's seen far more than they ever will. Maybe, this might work.
"Alright then. Commander! Patch us back to open channel..."
"..."
"Please?"
"Do I look like your goddamned maid!?"
"Commander Kira, this is Gaius-4. We're assuming ground melee simulation, how copy?"
"Ground melee? Alright then," came the reply as the Freedom spun for a routine nosedive towards the earth.
"Get in formation peop-! Gaius-5! Sara, look out!" the brunette watched as the Freedom zoomed through a cloud and prepared its beam saber for the rookie's ZAKU. There wasn't enough time for them to get to her, she was broken off too far from the team formation.
Without hesitation, the Freedom quickly sliced off the ZAKU's legs and arms, rendering it harmless and incapacitated before kicking it right at the cockpit, causing it to speed down towards the ocean surface away from the docks.
"Damn it! Get the recovery crew for Gaius-5. Gaius-2 and 4. I want that moron dropped right now!" Yzak's voice boomed into their headsets as the Freedom sped off towards Dearka and Reiatsuma's location.
"Gotcha! Come on, Rei!"
"Alright. Gaius-3, we'll leave Sara to you."
"Got it. Be careful," Shiho warned them before boosting the machine's engines towards the rookie's mobile suit. What a mess. The Impulse and Destiny down. Not to mention most of the Athena's battle group. Shiho was frustrated. Even though this was a training session, it was a dangerous game to play with the energy of Freedom's weapons set to lethal. If anything were to go wrong...
"Ugh! C-Commander! The cockpit's jammed! Wha-! Guhgh!" Sara's voice broke through all channels within the battle space.
"Gaius-5! What's going on!? Crewmen, step on it!"
"W-water! Water's gushing in!"
"Calm down, Sara. You have a helmet on rig-!"
"NO-bzz-HELMET!"
Shiho's heart skipped a beat as she heard Sara's cry. There was no way she'd feel alright. A sick feeling rose in her stomach as she remembered telling Sara it was okay not to wear a helmet...since it was just a training session. How could she have known that things would go this bad?
Gritting her teeth, Shiho quickly throttled her ZAKU towards the ocean.
"There's no time, Commander! I have to get her out now!" the brunette declared, without even a plan in mind but pure instinctual reflex.
"Denied. Your machine is not equipped for underwater maneuver. Stay away from the edge, Lieutenant," came the dry reply from Yzak. Even though he sounded emotionless here, the whole team knew Yzak was nervous just as much as they were.
"We don't have a choice, Commander! I'm going in-!"
"Shiho! Stand down now!"
"Commander, we lost contact with Sara's communicator!"
"Go Lieutenant," Reiatsuma's voice crackled into Shiho's headset, before a green ZAKU appeared in her screen. Just as fast as it appeared, Shiho's screen blurred as Reiatsuma's machine shove hers into the ocean to where Sara was supposed to be with his shield.
"Hayabusa!"
"Rei! What the hell!?" Dearka's voice filled her ear as Shiho's ZAKU splashed into the sea.
Nothing but blue was on her screen...as the weight of the machine pulled itself, and her down with it.
A loud slap sounded throughout the Athena's hangar, causing most of the crew within to turn their heads. Cagalli Yula Athha was pissed off, or was it more of a worried kind of pissed off? Yzak Joule watched quietly as Kira stood there defiantly, his face started reddening with the pain of the attack.
"Ugh...what is it this time?" Yzak frowned, rubbing his temples as he stood quietly aside his Mobile Suit with his usual trio subordinates, while Shiho tended to the injuries of her two close comrades even though her own pilot suit was dripping wet with seawater.
Shiho quietly took out the medical equipment Reiatsuma provided, not trying to get involved with the scuffle half a hangar away. Why should she? Her team and herself were just grunts within the war. This was something the brass should handle. She has had enough headaches to deal with already, like these two numb-nuts.
"I'm just glad Sara got out of there alive. Commander Yamato almost killed us all," she declared as she took out an antiseptic spray.
"Well, he did do crazy crap on Orb soil," Dearka commented as he sat quietly on a stretcher, "Yzak, wouldn't you be mad if I started digging into your fridge and dump rubbish anywhere I want if it were your house?"
"You wouldn't dare. And...that's different. This is politics. Anything our leaders, or Kira Yamato and Cagalli Yula Athha don't like, it will be an international-"
"OW! What the hell!?"
"Stop moving, Dearka! This isn't as easy as it looks!" Shiho shot an annoyed glare at Dearka as she tried wrapping a bandage around his arm.
"Shiho are you sure you're qualified for this?"
"O-Of course I am! Hayabusa taught me all this," she replied Dearka's blatant question as her face turned slightly red, ashamed of her beginner medical skill. She's usually a horse-back rider back home, and studied sophisticated engineering books. Medical skills were not her forte. But she expected points for the effort at least!
Yzak shook his head as he turned his gaze away from his subordinates, watching from afar as Athrun gripped Kira's arm tightly and demanding him to stop acting like a reckless war maniac.
"Commander Yamato looks like he's hiding something," the female brunette quietly said to herself as she continued on to tend to Reiatsuma's injury next, a broken arm due to a fall from the looks of it, but nonetheless whispered to him for advice, "This...I wrap it with a splint right?"
"Yeah...just not too tightly."
"Alright..."
"Of course he is hiding something. Any one would feel devastated after the death of a loved one," Yzak said as he helped Dearka up, "His way of dealing with it is hiding his emotions. That's what I'd do if it happened to me."
Shiho paused for a while as she listened to what Yzak said. She pondered back to what she told Yzak back on Carpentaria, about her brother. Indeed it really was a deep pain that never really recovered for her. Losing a loved one was something one would never be prepared to go through even if they say they are 'ready' for it. Speaking of which, as she kept on thinking, Shiho's mind slowly leaned towards the experiences she had with Yzak for the past few weeks.
She quietly bit her lip as she bandaged Reiatsuma's arm tighter than was suggested, causing Reiatsuma to pull a pained look that escaped Shiho's clouded mind. Yep...she was deep in thought alright. Once done, Shiho took a towel to dry her hair as she watched Athrun confronting Kira. Kira just refuses to talk, but Athrun...being him, wants answers. He's going about it the wrong way though, Shiho observed.
"A-Admiral! You have to release the Commander at once!" the Athena's Captain, Ryuzaki demanded as Shiho watched him approach the two friends. Athrun Zala gripped Kira's arm, which could be seen as an act of aggression by an Orb officer towards a ZAFT personnel of equal echelon in their respective factions.
They really didn't need this. EAF already was causing some problems after the ceremony assassination. An international incident between Orb and ZAFT would just put more strain on the world balance. Everything was tearing apart and Yzak and the rest was starting to think whether it really was a good idea for the friends to be separated by their respective factions.
Kira and Lacus to the PLANTs while Cagalli and Athrun to the Orb Union. In some ways, that would just bring trouble if done incorrectly. Shiho was disturbed deep inside. She was afraid this might lead up to another war, causing the chat with Ryuzaki back on the Voltaire's brig about how the higher-ups of ZAFT's military were committing a very significant conspiracy.
"Let me go, Athrun," Kira's voice for the first time, left his lips since he got off the disabled Freedom.
"No, Kira. You have to stop th-!"
Kira finally turned. But he gave Athrun the most coldest glare he could muster through dead eyes that were once full of the fire of life, which even shook Shiho from that distance. Before the disagreement could go on further, Reiatsuma quietly stood up from his seat.
"Commander?" the green-coat calmly said as he blinked.
"What, Hayabusa?...you caused enough trouble, sit down," Yzak ordered but the words just fell on deaf ears. Shiho noticed Yzak sigh in defeat as Reiatsuma limbered up. What was he planning to do anyway?
In a split second, Reiatsuma quickly sprinted towards the two friends and delivers a killer kick to Athrun's chest that sent him sliding across the floor on his back. Before the pilot of the Justice could recover, Kira's commando pressed a heavy knee with his weight onto the side of Athrun's neck causing him to futilely struggle as his windpipe closed under the crushing force.
"H-hey! Athrun!" the Orb Representative quickly ran over to the scuffle but was stopped before she could make it by Ryuzaki's arm. Cagalli threw a death glare his way, but received a frown of dismay in return.
"I wouldn't interrupt them if I were you, Representative Athha," the Captain suggested, "Commander Yamato is within his rights to take defensive action. You'll just make things more complicated."
"Isn't it a tad bit too excessive, Commander?" Shiho questioned him with a worried look on her face.
"Admiral Athrun Zala of the Orb Union, Commander Kira Yamato is under ZAFT Protection Code Niner-Two-Three. Orders, Commander Yamato?" Reiatsuma demanded as he calmly kept digging his knee into Athrun's neck. The poor guy was turning purple by now, choking painfully. Shiho wrapped her wet towel around her neck, her eyes transfixed at the green-coat pilot.
"That's enough, Commander Hayabusa. He got the message," Kira said with a shaky voice, quietly placing a hand on his chest and gripping his suit tightly before making way to the ship's living quarters. Reiatsuma quietly lifted himself off Athrun, who coughed as he breathed in deep. Shiho just watched quietly as Reiatsuma walked back towards the living quarters, rubbing the back of his neck as he left. As soon as the scuffle was done, Cagalli went over to Athrun while the rest cleaned up the mess. Athena's hangar must be some stage or something. Something always happens here.
Dearka was the first to break out of their shock and surprise. The lowest ranked pilot just did in one of the most highly regarded war heroes of all time, and he didn't even flinch.
"Wait...Code Niner-Two-Three? Isn't that..." the tanned blonde pondered to himself.
"That's right, Dearka. No one can touch that guy."
"What does that mean, Commander?" Shiho asked as she turned to Yzak, who offered her a look of caution.
"Touching or threatening him would be the last thing you'll ever live to do."
"Oi oi...isn't that too much?" Dearka inner workings were disturbed as he realised the gravity of the situation.
"Orders came down from ZAFT and PLANTs themselves. Seems like Hayabusa's black operations team is watching him 24/7."
Shiho does the math in her head. Why would ZAFT go to such extent to protect Kira? He was no longer an asset considering Lacus died. Shiho's lightbulb went off as she had that eureka moment...in a bad sense.
"Wait...are they...really...?" the female brunette frowned hard, her heart suddenly thumping fast. Dearka was the next one to realise what was going on.
"This is bad, Yzak... You don't think..."
"I don't know the details...but what I came up with is that...ZAFT plans to keep Commander Yamato and the Freedom for themselves. If this continues, the third war would be really short."
The sunset was unsettling for the first time in Kira's life. It brought him more sadness and sorrow than it ever did in the past. Thoughts were running through his head as he kept on troubling himself with images of Lacus. There was no way he would recover in such a short time, but Cagalli and Athrun were expecting the impossible. He thought he got past such pain and suffering like what happened to Flay Allster years ago, but this proved to be much more painful.
He didn't have the courage to take his own life. But at the same time, he felt he had nothing else to live for. Kira quietly looked down at the ocean waters, beating against the hull of the Minerva-Class Battleship. His eyes were baggy from the lack of sleep, and his hair lacked the usual shine he had. Everything was downhill.
"Haro! Haro!"
"L-Lacus!?"
"Haro! Lacus! Haro!"
Kira turned around swiftly with a huge hopeful smile, excited to see his loved one that he had missed so much these past week. But instead of meeting those lovely cerulean orbs, he met cold silver eyes instead. Kira's smile immediately turned into a frown, turning back to looking out at the sky as he felt his stomach take a tumble.
"What are you doing with Lacus' Haro, Lieutenant?" Kira questioned the soldier as Reiatsuma leaned against the side railings too.
"I have something to give to you, Commander," came the reply as Reiatsuma caught Haro from flying towards the ocean like an idiot, "Apparently...she meant to give you this...along with all that she wanted to accomplish."
"What is it?" the young man sounded like he demanded an answer, rather than asking a question.
Reiatsuma quietly held on tight to the pink Haro, roughly pulling it apart as it broke open. Kira felt something snap inside him as he glanced at the soldier breaking the pink cute ball into two, but let it slide anyway since he had no more energy to throw a tantrum anymore.
After much dismantling, a disk dropped out to which Kira quietly picked up. Reiatsuma calmly took out a data reader from his back pocket, passing it onto Kira. The young Coordinator's hands shivered as he placed the disk in. Something told him what he was gonna see was big and troubling. But at the same time important.
"Don't worry, Commander. My team will always be on your side."
"The Visotoniki? Did...did Lacus tell you guys to-" before Kira could finish his question, Reiatsuma was already gone from the top deck. He was alone again with the calming breeze of the evening sea. Quietly going through the data-pad in his hand, Kira's eyes held that emotion of shock and surprise, not to mention disgust as well.
The Clyne faction. The First and Second Bloody Valentine War. The Visotoniki were behind it all. And...Clyne Faction's prints were all over them. Out of all that, Kira was able to scan out the important parts, wording it out to himself as his face frowned more with each passing minute.
"Clyne Faction's Scientific Wing...creation of biologically augmented supersoldiers through nano-machine technology...and chemical intervention of toddler-aged Coordinators along with deep indoctrination. Codenamed Project VISOTONIKI," Kira was getting more and more disgusted as he read through the extremely painful procedures of the augmentations. But what he read in the next part was what alerted him the most.
"Visotoniki instigated war between Earth Alliance and ZAFT?... Focus on Bloody Valentine Wars allowed elimination of...ZAFT investigators into Clyne Faction activities, as well as...further financing towards engineering more advanced modes of weaponry and control."
The young man gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly in rage as he read on. So that was what it was. The terrorist attack on the United Nations on the Moon was carried out by the Visotoniki. No wonder Siegel Clyne was the only survivor in that incident! A whole assembly of peace-conference officials both from PLANTs and Earth Alliance were held and Siegel Clyne was the only survivor!? Of course it pushed the EAF to believe ZAFT orchestrated the attack!
Kira remembered the news.
11th February of Cosmic Era, Year 70. Declaration of war by the EAF against the PLANTs which plunged the whole human race into war.
He was extremely dumbfounded. Millions of lives lost. Just to protect an ethically questionable experimentation to make children into unstoppable soldiers, to create weapons. It was all too much for him to take. Without Lacus here...he was lost. But...Lacus had to deal with all these when she took over. He could only imagine the pain she was in to clean out and stop the experimentations-!
...Suddenly...realisation finally hit him. Lacus was also trying hard to expose Visotoniki and the Clyne Faction. Which means...
Lacus' death too...was orchestrated...
Gaius 1: Cmdr. Yzak Joule
Gaius 2: Maj. Dearka Elsman
Gaius 3: 1Lt. Shiho Hahnenfuss
Gaius 4: 2Lt. Reiatsuma Hayabusa
Gaius 5: 2Lt. Sara Rieger
That's all then!
Anyways! Apologies for the late update! I suffered a major writer's block on this one because I uploaded the past few chapters too fast LOL! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter, even though its draggy and all...I hope its not though :S
Special thanks to Voltage-Axe and Rouge-Impulstice1 again for being such great and awesome supporters! And to all the readers! Thank you for reading :D I hope I'm making this story worth your time! But if not, I am sorry and please provide suggestions to make it better.