Trials And Lies
Chapter 7
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.
Bold represents the time jumps or current location.
"Spill it, Lieutenant. I'm sick...and tired of your lies," Kira Yamato struck a hard blow using an empty glass bottle of alcohol that he had just finished, right on Reiatsuma's head causing most of the bottle to transform into small simple shards scattered around the cold floor of the room. Kira was panting as he dropped the other half of the bottle.
If Lacus were to see her loved one now, God swore she would be heartbroken. His usual upright shoulders were slumped, the violet eyes dull and his vision almost always downcast. His hair was also left neglected. Even his facial hair was beginning to slightly show as he took his seat within what seemed to be a makeshift interrogation room within the transport shuttle on the way to PLANTs.
"Reiatsuma showed a pained face as he tried recovering from the blunt force, shaking his head as thick red blood trickled down his face, "I-...I have nothing for you, Commander-!"
The pilot of the Freedom refused to let Reiatsuma finish the sentence, instead rising up and throwing the chair right at his 'subordinate', "Lacus was killed because of you! Because of abominations like you... If you and your kind didn't exist... Lacus...would still be alive."
Kira actually didn't need explanations. He already had everything...all the information from Lacus' Haro. Visotoniki is a blight and the sole cause of his sorrow, and ta of the world. The only reason Kira brought their leader to this poor excuse of an interrogation room was just so he could take out his sadness and rage on the soldier.
"She's not coming back. But I'll honor her by purging your kind from this world, starting with you," Kira's voice was low and threatening as he pulled out a gun from his uniform coat, loading it quickly and aiming it at Reiatsuma's head. He could feel his heartbeat thumping up through his skull as his breath quickened, the lone soldier at the end of the barrel looking down and away from the gun.
As expected...Kira couldn't do it. The gun dropped heavily on the ground. He held so much hate for what happened to Lacus, for those responsible. And the perpetrator was right in front of him. But he was still as weak as the day Lacus got shot. Too weak to even pull a trigger. Kira clenched his fist, throwing aside the gun as he fell to his knees.
"Damn it, Lacus. Why'd you have to do this to me," Kira's voiced bounced off the floor as his eyes began watering again, feeling the emotional exhaustion taking its toll on his body, "Why, Rei? Why would Visotoniki kill Lacus? What has she ever done to you?"
"Commander..." Reiatsuma muttered under his breath as he watched Kira on all four, his forehead to the ground as he began crying rivers.
"There's too much lies...I'm tired of it all," Kira said weakly as he turned, laying on the floor on his back as he stared at the bright lights, not even wincing as the sharp glass of the broken bottle pierced into his coat and skin. Kira was at this point more exhausted than he was confused at what the silver-eyed soldier had to say, slowly falling into a quiet slumber, a temporary reprieve from his sorrowful stage of life.
"After a week of processing and communication, Yzak's team finally got their feet back to PLANTs, albeit a different colony than they were expected to be on. Yzak knew him and his crew were dealing with risky business when Kira was under their protection, but never would they realize it would lead to such a humiliating predicament...just for knowing too much.
"Yzak's eyes twitched as he stood quietly behind a huge cooking pot, an apron tied neatly around and a long line of war refugees before him. Ever since the Requiem attack destroyed several PLANT colonies during the second war, the Coordinators that were displaced had nowhere else to go. And the numbers were too many for even ZAFT to handle.
"You're kidding, right?"
"What? Did this issue hit you square in the face just today, Yzak?" Dearka questioned sarcastically as he continued scooping up soup to the next refugee, "Agh, this job is gonna make my back ache tomorrow."
"Commander Joule! What's the hold up!?" one of the female volunteers, apparently the one in-charge, cried out as she frowned at Yzak's lack of focus. Yzak threw a look of irritation her way. One would think being in a clean and green park full of beautiful flora and fauna would be relaxing and tantalizing. But it wasn't so for Yzak's unit.
"What am I doing here!?" Yzak cried out as he sloppily...slopped...a scoopful of soup into the refugee's bowl, who returned the rude gesture with an intimidating look.
"Hey pal! What the hell is thi-!"
"Get out of my face..." the platinum blonde said threateningly, causing the refugee to quickly move away for fear of his life...or limb. Yzak frowned and looked down at the tag that was sown on the apron he was forced into.
'Winston Division'...even volunteers get sent to the single worst unit.
"I agree with you, Yzak," Yzak's blonde comrade said as he rubbed his shoulder, "What are we, a battlefront unit, doing back here? It's nonsense."
"It's crazy!"
"It's politics..." Shiho came out of nowhere as she wiped her sweating face with a towel, "But I won't speak of it," she said before giving a sardonic smile.
Yzak sighed as he continued mechanically giving out soups to the next oncoming war refugee. There was no end to them. He had been standing there for a good four hours now and his legs are starting to bark at him to rest. A group of soldiers suddenly passed the soup kitchen, quietly snickering among themselves as they watched Yzak's team, a once glorious group, now fallen from grace serving food to the public.
That was it.
"Damn it, I'm not doing this anymore!" Yzak cried out as he dropped the metal ladle into the boiling pot and dumped his apron on the floor.
"Yzak!" Shiho cried out as she went after him, but was stopped by a hold on her wrist. The officer in-charge of the Winston Division, quietly looked at Shiho with an amused look.
"I was sure that would happen," the officer chuckled.
"Commander Alice? What are you talking about?" Shiho asked the blonde officer as she handed out a file to Shiho.
"Yzak's team isn't really supposed to be doing soup kitchen duty, but I was short-handed," Alice said as she gave a smile, pulling at Dearka so he'd notice what was going on, "I was told to pass you this file, by orders of a certain someone. I'll leave you guys to it then."
Officer Alice quickly left Shiho and Dearka to go after their Commander. They were confused, but knew it was all a mistake to have been sent into a war relief company. There was no way ZAFT would do that, won't they? After finding their Commander sitting by a bench a stone's throw away, Shiho quietly sat beside Yzak while Dearka stood at their side.
"What's that about, Shiho?" Dearka started off the conversation.
Shiho quietly opened the file as she read through the orders from Command, "Illegal Drugs distribution within PLANTs? With our security measures is that even possible?"
"Before the war, no. But...maybe since the war has stretched ZAFT thin with war relief and peacekeeping, its easier to do so from Earth?" Yzak questioned his own theory. Of course some people suffer psychologically because of the war. But was demand for it even high enough to risk smuggling drugs into PLANTs?
"Hey, do you think this has any links to-"
"No way, Dearka. So Shiho, what does Command want us to do?" Yzak questioned Shiho, who skimmed through the pages quietly as she usually does.
"Nothing much to go on, Yzak. We need to find their source and arrest or kill them off, but there's only a skeleton of an information."
"Well...there's only one person who we can ask for information about that. Too bad he transferred out," Yzak leaned forward, his hands together as he rested his chin on them, his two subordinates not having a clue as to who Yzak was referring to. People would never figure him for someone who played in the black market, but there he was.
Kira slowly opened his eyes, bright lights attacking him as he frowned hard. And with the aching hangover eating into his brain, he was more than convinced not to get up. But events quickly came back to him, and just as swiftly, he returned to his depressed self...not able to sleep, but also not able to wake up fully. The bed he was on felt comfortable though, and everything was perfect for a good rest, if not for the voice in the room.
"We're after the same guy then, Commander. Prayer Reverie goes by alot of names and appearances. He deals with illegal drugs and weapons distribution between PLANTs and Earth-coordinated Radical forces," Reiatsuma's deep voice rang into Kira's ears as he quietly sat up on the bed. His head hurts so much, it felt as if someone was cracking it open with a can opener. Despite that, Kira still listened in on to what Reiatsuma was saying.
"By weapons, I'm guessing you mean Mobile Suits. Well, it'll be bad news anyway," the other end of the line, Kira recognized the voice which belonged to Yzak, "I've already prepped Gaius squadron. Reports in ZAFT say you and Kira Yamato went KIA in a mid-atmospheric accident. Care to explain?"
"You have to ask my Vice-Commander about that, she does everything that has to do with hacking. We have to hold position here. The enemy will get us on radar if we get any closer, Commander. My team, Voskhod-3, is already in defensive formation."
"Alright then. As long as ZAFT or PLANTs doesn't get in the way, we can do what we want. Voltaire, out."
Kira frowned as he usually does. They were no longer in the shuttle they were on before Kira went to sleep, and they weren't supposed to be here either. But apparently, Kira was brought to the once-Visotoniki's Girty-Lue flagship, the Nocturnal Delta. They were supposed to be in ZAFT Headquarters. Kira knew that ZAFT wanted to keep him for themselves. But he didn't care anymore. There was nothing to fight for anyways.
"Commander Yamato, good morning," Reiatsuma greeted the Ultimate Coordinator. Kira only scowled in return as he stood up. His hatred was still burning inside, and a simple greeting wasn't going to help solve everything. There was no way a simple greeting would bring back Lacus. Thoughts always nagged at him to move on. But...he always shuts it out. There was no way...he could move on.
"What are we doing here, Rei?" Kira asked as he stood up, staggering due to the headache.
"Protecting you..." came the simple reply, but there was a pause, to which Reiatsuma did not continue.
"ZAFT is gonna be looking for me, you know that right?"
"We're already dead to them anyways, Commander. Our shuttle, 'exploded' mid-flight. But...we have more important issues," Reiatsuma quietly tapped his portable device as he talked to it, "Ma'am? He's awake."
Kira was confused. Who was it now? So many people were after him, to the point that it was annoying. If he could, he would have retired from piloting Freedom. But thanks to the war, that was the only thing he was good at. Besides computers at least. Kira placed a hand to his face, rubbing his temples as he tried to make the headache go away.
"What is it now, Rei? I'm so weak and tired. I no longer have any strength to be hateful towards you," Kira leaned forward as he was sitting at the edge of the bed, pulling his hair in frustration, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"..."
"Like I said, you're not human... You won't know how it is to lose someone you love so dearly," the Coordinator's violet eyes were downcast, his eyes began tearing up again, "Everything I had was taken away just to protect you and your friends. Are you happy now?"
Kira's voice was so shaky and depressing that he himself couldn't recognize his voice, even not realizing as the door slowly slid open.
"K-Kira..." a soft voice rang through the air. A voice that was only in Kira's dreams somehow managed to climb out of his nightmare and enter the real world. It can't be true. Kira closed his eyes shut as he tried hard to drown out the voice using his hands on his ears. There was no way Lacus was alive after that.
"Leave me alone!"
"Kira! I'm here," he felt a hand gently grip at his shoulder as he tried to deny the presence of Lacus there. Was it really true? Or was he just going insane? At this point, Kira no longer wanted to believe. He was at the point where he won't ever know the difference between reality and dream. Gritting his teeth, he tried squeezing his eyes shut.
"Commander..."
"Shut up!"
"Kira!" the soft gentle hands were now roughly prying Kira's arms away, before a sharp slap across his cheek woke him up completely. His eyes were wide with shock as he tried to recover from the hit. Violet met cerulean as time slowly ticked by. Lacus Clyne was right there in front of him, kneeling and crying uncontrollably as she watched his sorrowful appearance.
"L-Lacus?" Kira muttered under his breath as his hands trembled with fear as well as happiness.
His heart thumped uncontrollably within his chest as he reached out to touch Lacus' face. As his hand gently rubbed against her porcelain cheek, Kira felt as if a whole planet of lead was lifted from his shoulders, his sad lips slowly curling into a smile. That smooth skin and warmth that was radiating to his hand, what was but a distant memory, was now back.
"I'm here, Kira," the songstress' soothing voice calmed Kira as tears rolled down her smooth face, holding onto his warm hands.
It had been so long since they've been together, that the mere touch of Kira's hand sent shivers down her spine. No words could explain their bliss of having to reunite with each other, especially for Kira's case. He didn't care if she lied about her death or if she left him. He didn't care. Lacus was here for him, and it was all that mattered to Kira.
"Lacus!" he cried out as he pulled Lacus close, embracing her form ever so tightly as if fearing of losing her again.
His tears freely flowed from his closed eyes as he felt the warmth coursing through his body. Even Lacus was at this point shaking uncontrollably with happiness of reunion. Just like how a lonely wife awaits her beloved husband coming back from a long war, this was how they felt.
Never again will Kira let this person go, or leave from his sight. Never again will he face the pain of losing a loved one.
"On the Moon, of all places," Yzak said outloud as his squad and himself walked down the abandoned walkway of the Arzachel Lunar Base ruins which was evidently a very lively political center prior to the First Bloody Valentine War. Shiho quietly looked around with full attention, her previous gunfight engagement taught her well not to let her guard down.
"Well, when you leave an empty ruin like this for a year, it calls bad company," Dearka 's voice came in through Shiho's helmet communication set, "Strange though. It's destroyed, so why is there plenty traces of oxygen?"
"Bad company?" Shiho rhetorically replied as she held her rifle close to her chest, "Are we here just to scout or...?"
"Undercover reports suggest you're in one of the areas that experience high-traffic 'trading' according to manifests found on captured flight recorders," Reiatsuma's aide, Commander Karmen Valkyrie briefed them as they moved deeper into the compound, "Most of it says drugs, weapons and stolen military properties...the three of you are on that kid detail, Lieutenant."
"And what's the deal with these reports, Rei? You and that Yamato kid dying in an atmospheric accident?" the tanned blonde asked. Shiho listened in too. Even she was curious. Superficially, yeah, it was an accident. But one with a good info could totally see the pair were trying to slip away from PLANTs and ZAFT's clutches.
"Oh that... We rigged the shuttle that we were on to explode as it left atmosphere. Chairwoman Clyne told me to do that."
"Uhhh... Why am I not surprised that Lacus' alive?" Dearka whispered out with a blank tone, while Shiho was surprised. Yzak, too, appeared calm and collected. She quietly huffed in frustration, despite agreeing with the "Need-to-Know" protocol that is expected of any military set-up. Shiho suddenly remembered Kira's fit of rage and sadness that he suffered after Lacus' death. Poor thing must have had a rough time taking in the events after all that. Before she could finish her thought though, Shiho bumped straight into Reiatsuma's back.
"We've got contact," Reiatsuma leaned against the side of an open blast door that led to what seemed like a rundown command center while the rest took cover, "Heavily armed tangos, I count five or six of them. Suggestions?"
Yzak Joule focused as he peeked around the doorway, "We will ID the target and run him through the system to see if he's valuable. We need intel and I don't want any one of them dead before I can question them. We're running around on a thread as it is."
"Understood, Commander. Lieutenant, you're up," came Reiatsuma's strong arm, gently pushing Shiho up front.
Shiho quietly moved up, configuring her long-range scope while her helmet visor displayed information, "Tracking. Processing... We have...three High-Value Targets, Commander."
Yzak nods as he reaches behind for a flash-bang grenade, lobbing it into the room and rushing in with Shiho and Reiatsuma. Everyone was expecting a myriad number of automatic fire to tear through the silent surrounding, but puzzlingly, there was no one inside. Shiho kept her rifle up, making sure she didn't make the same mistake before. Her heart thumped against her chest as she felt the initial stages of adrenaline take effect on her body. There was no sign of enemies, but...
"A flash grenade? Really, Rei. You know going dynamic is only good in an open battlefield," a voice said as Reiatsuma frowned, rising from cover as the enemy moved out of the shadow of the adjacent doorway. As he did so, Shiho and Yzak noticed quickly a number of black-clad hostiles entering the area. Shiho trained her gun at the voice, taking a few moments to process things in her head before she realizes something significant beyond the gas-mask.
The voice made Shiho's blood curdle as she felt her chest tighten. A very familiar voice, a voice she thought was lost to the fires of war. She unconsciously tightened her grip on the rifle as she tried to make sense of what was going on. Her rifle began shivering in her vice grip. There was no way the voice was who she thought it was. It can't be...
"..."
Her worst fears were realised as her eyes fixed itselves on the eyes of this new enemy, the barrel of his gun steady and full of murderous intent the moment his gasmask left his face.
"C-Connie?..."
"Shiho!" Reiatsuma took a step forward, blocking her from the enemy's gun as she called out her brother's name.
"Ah? Shiho? I see you're a Red Coat. Mom and Dad would be so proud of you," Shiho's supposed brother said outloud as he dropped the gas-mask, not surprised at all by her appearance. Shiho was able to barely catch Reiatsuma forming a scowl inside his helmet as she stepped forward with Yzak behind her. Reiatsuma obviously didn't want Shiho to find out what happened to her brother. Her blood began boiling as she pushed up the visor of her helmet.
"Mom and Dad? Shiho, he can't possibly-!"
"That I am, Commander Yzak Joule. I am Conrad Hahnenfuss, Shiho's brother," Conrad declared as he leaned back quietly on a table, the light fully accentuating his muscular figure which was much different than the young girl remembered. Shiho's eyes were shaky as she looked at him, alive and well. He looks the same. Chestnut brown hair, emerald green eyes. But there was definitely something off.
"What happened, Connie?" she cried out as she took a step closer. Apparently, her question went unanswered as Conrad turned his gaze to Reiatsuma.
"Commander Hayabusa...I heard disturbing news. Lacus isn't dead," the apparent leader of Visotoniki said dryly as he started twirling his handgun playfully. Shiho was getting impatient as she watched her brother acting cold towards her. After all those years of searching and losing hope, he wasn't even giving her a second glance. Shiho's heart twisted as she shoved past Reiatsuma, her face cringing in anger and desperation the first time since she joined ZAFT.
"Conrad! Answer me!" Shiho called out again as she stared defiantly into Conrad's eyes, expecting an answer.
Instead, a devastating gunshot tore the silence as a bullet wheezed past her head, a deafening crack breaking off Reiatsuma's helmet as it flung across the room. The male soldier behind Shiho was pushed back by the force of the bullet, his heel planted heavily against the ground. That was no normal handgun.
"Shiho!" Yzak cried out as he grabbed Shiho's arm, pulling her behind him and shielding her away from the smoking gun barrel. Her heart, she noticed, spiked through that few short seconds.
"Stay back, Shiho," Conrad's demand sent shivers down her spine, causing her to cower a step back, "As I was saying-!"
Reiatsuma cut off Conrad's rantings, "You know Voskhod-3 was never loyal to Visotoniki, Conrad. Or the Clyne Faction," came the reply as blood started trickling down the side of Reiatsuma's head.
"Apparently so. If you were, Lacus would be six feet under and Kira would be in Orb destroying Onogoro Island... Visotoniki, neutralize them."
"Wait! Connie!" Shiho cried out again as she struggled against Yzak's hold. Her eyes began to tear up as she watched her brother walk away from her while a group of black clad soldiers aimed their guns at them. This was no normal battle anymore. If Shiho and Yzak were to stay here, nothing will be left of them to even hold a burial, and she knew it. Yzak tossed a grenade to Reiatsuma, who quickly unpinned it and threw it straight at the enemy, using the ensuing chaos as a chance to escape a second before bullets started tearing through the smoke.
"Shiho! Let's go!" Yzak pulled Shiho as she tried hard to squirm off of him, wanting to give chase to her brother. But was instead pulled and dragged back to where they were at the walkway between the location of the enemy to the shuttle.
"Let me go, Yzak!" Shiho struggled stubbornly, but before she could go free, a black sleeved heavy fist gave a painful blow to Shiho's mid-section, causing her to pass out from the sudden pain. All she could remember after that were blurry motions of black and white, accompanied by chaotic chatter.
"Rei, Second Unit needs you asap."
"On my way."
Lacus quietly sat as Yzak reported the events that happened in the ruins of Arzachel Lunar Base. Despite her predictions, she never thought Visotoniki was capable of influencing even criminal organizations all over the Solar System. Now they were even out of Clyne Faction's control, let alone hers. She was grateful a fraction of its forces are loyal to her, especially Voskhod-3.
"As far as I'm concerned, Lacus. We need to eliminate Visotoniki or whatever this group is called, before we can really make any progress," Yzak suggested as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"I do agree, Yzak. But...there's virtually no way we can do that, besides hunting each one and killing them all. Their numbers are too widespread and too many," Lacus explained as she took a moment to think.
"I'm afraid I have to be pessimistic. This world is as good as gone as long as there's a rift between Naturals and Coordinators."
"You mean, one species has to be killed off to make way for the other? That doesn't seem to be the case in Orb, Yzak."
Yzak sighed in defeat as he rubbed his temples. Lacus didn't agree with his tone that was akin to Patrick Zala's...but he was right.
"C-Commander! Miss Clyne! You have to come see this!"
"What is it?" Lacus asked questioningly as a jumpy crewman aboard Yzak's ship called to them both. Without wasting any time, both of them quickly made way to the hangar where a beat up shuttle sat quietly while mechanics and pilots crowded around it, the only deterrence being Commander Valkyrie as she stood by the doorway of the shuttle.
"What is this?" Yzak asked as he looked at the crewman.
"Commander Joule. Looks like we hit a jackpot...so to speak," Karmen said with a low tone, her eyes maintaining extreme caution of something within the battered transport shuttle.
Both puzzled, Yzak and Lacus peeked into the ship as a deathly aura choking them the moment they entered. At the end of the cargo bay, lights flickering, was Reiatsuma. His shoulders slumped, quietly sitting with a blood-soaked bandage across one eye, his pilot suit burnt and half of his face scarred by what appeared to be chemical burns.
But what shook them both to their core was how his eyes looked...and the corpse that laid quietly in his arms as he sat against the wall of the shuttle. His glowing silver eyes emanated an ancient monstrosity that humanity has hidden deep within themselves for eons, now unleashed for an enemy that may never be forgiven.
And in his arms...held gently onto the limp body of a child that he had tried to save, brutally abused with visible dried tear streaks across his bloodied face.
I think this chapter fell short of what I expected it to be O_O I did what I could but... GAH! I need to improve damnit!
Just as Yzak has said. The first month after I finished watching GSD, I was pessimistic about the world ever recovering from war. As long as there are Coordinators, Naturals will always find reasons to blame them for their mishaps (eg. Coordinators took my job because of genetic intervention while Naturals have to work ten times harder just to get the same job)... Therefore, taking this into account, I MIGHT be taking this fanfic into a totally different direction from its previous attempt.
Maybe take Gilbert Durandal's Destiny Plan? ROFLCOPTER!~
Anyways! Thanks to all readers and supporters! I really really REALLY appreciate you guys taking your time reading this! Until