Characters: Kira Yamato
Pairings: None
Time frame: post GSD
Liberty
Kira hates the Strike. It is a machine that brought nothing but misfortune. To him it is a symbol of all that has gone wrong in the damned war. He has fought for his life with it, for others' lives in it, he has depended on it, it has protected him and it has served him, but Kira utterly loathes it.
It has power, but not enough.
All blood that has spelled Kira into darkness is on the Strike's hands. He has put it there, true, but that doesn't change the fact that it is there.
It is with the Strike that he has fought Athrun. It is that machine that has killed Athrun's friend.
Were it not for the Strike, then Kira would have never piloted a mobile suit, never been drawn into the war, never would have taken a single life or even pulled a trigger.
Kira has fought Athrun to death with the Strike. He tried to kill his best friend with the Strike.
The Strike is a burden and a curse to Kira. He has fought with it because he has had no choice. It has chained him to war and bloodshed and battle. It has crippled him with duty and responsibility and complexity.
The Freedom is different from the Strike. Not so much as for its power, but for what it means to Kira.
He is not blackmailed into it. From the very beginning it has been his choice to pilot it. And that makes a whole lot of difference.
Make no mistake, he hates Freedom as well, but that is simply because it is a weapon and tool of war.
But moreover, Freedom is something that he needs. He needs it to fight, because Freedom is not weak. It has the power Kira needs to protect and it has always been used for only that.
Freedom is a choice and the lives he has taken with it,have never been taken on purpose. For he has taken lives with it. Many more so than with the Strike.
His time with his first mobile suit is rather short in comparison; never mind what it feels like in Kira's head. The deaths he had caused with the Strike he can probably count and identify, if he had the courage.
Especially with Strike Freedom the body count is too high for that, though.
Kira's aim is perfect, down to an inch with miles between him and his target. Even with manual control. But there are many things that cannot be done with perfect aim. During its first launch, against twentyfive mobile suits and three Nazca-class battle ships, he has killed. Directly and indirectly by destroying the engines and thrusters. How many soldiers were near the parts he blew up? How many more died in Damage Control?
Kira doesn't know.
And then there is the Battle of Messiah. The odds have been terrible and even the Archangel could not deal with a whole fleet on its own, so the work of disabling a majority fell to Kira and Athrun. But the two of them haven't had time and even the Meteor's ammunition wasn't endless.
Taking out the bridge is the fastest way of forcing a ship out of battle. And with the Meteros' beam-sabers cutting the bridge off is easily done in the least destructive way. The ships' main bodies survive, as do most of the bridges. But not all.
That is not even starting on Kira's demolishment of Messiah. How many people havn't made it off the fortress?
Not to forget are all those listed as MIA.
The casualties are incredibly low compared to how they could have been, true, but they are still too high.
Still: Freedoms is his sword and his wings, it is a shield and guardian. They are what make it possible for Kira to fulfill his chosen purpose. By his own will.
For that he is just the smallest bit fond of them. He will of course not deny that is also greatly to a part that they have been given to him by Lacus.
So he doesn't care for them much, but he is fond of them.
Kira prefers not to care for power, but sadly their world is not such and he needs it for protection. If power, then Freedom. That is…has to be enough...