Phase 7: Fading Out
Back from vacation finally but I'm getting ready to go to school so updates may be slow.
Meiko walked calmly down the hall of the Prejudice. She had just been called up for another mission briefing. She wore civilian clothes as she had been asked not to come in uniform. Her long red hair was divided into three sections; half of it had been brought up into two ponytails while the other half hung down. Her clothes were Black and Red. She hoped that whatever this mission was it did not include any killing; she did believe in the ideals of Liene but she didn't believe in his methods. She stepped into the briefing room and saw that a few other officers were with Gilligan and recognized one of them as her mobile suit trainer Mike Shurstre whom she had not seen in three years. She didn't know why she had not been allowed to she him but the real reason was that some of the higher officers had complained that his training was the reason Meiko couldn't face the people she killed.
"Meiko!" Mike said with enthusiasm, "you've grown up so much since the last time I saw you." He reached a hand forward and she took it smiling.
"Enough Mike," Gilligan glared, "if I had my way you wouldn't be here right now but orders are orders." Gilligan signaled Trey who was standing by a projector and some imaged appeared on screen. "This is the nation of ORB." Meiko recognized it and sighed, if they were attacking ORB she wanted nothing to do with it; that particular nation was known for its powerful weapons and strength.
"Your mission will be to pose as a student in this nation," Gillagan began with annoyance in his voice, "in order to determine whether or not the nation is helping Lacus Clyne." Meiko looked at them in shock, they had never sent her on an undercover mission before. She had the skills it took and she had always wanted one but they had told her time and time again that her aggressive fighting skills were necessary on the battlefield.
"You mean," she stared then she remembered the point of the mission, "how am I sup-post to do that?"
"You'll find out," Mike said, "which is why I suggested that they send you." Gilligan glared at Mike again who smiled with satisfaction, the two were constantly in a power struggle every time they saw each other so it was nothing new for anyone else around. "I'm going to escort you into ORB and set you up there."
"Are you ready for this mission, Miss Virea," Gilligan asked standing up straighter, "you can refuse it if you wish to stay on the battlefield." Trey rolled his eyes as he watched his commanding officer try to intimidate Mieko into choosing to stay with his crew, she had a much stronger mind than he realized at this point. Truth be told no one but Trey really knew of her dissatisfaction with the organization, they saw her as their mindless puppet and if they really knew how much she understood they wouldn't be so quick to send her into ORB.
"No," Meiko said with a hint of sass in her voice, she wanted to escape the killing and some time off would give her that chance, "I want to do this." She smiled with a hint of satisfaction and Gilligan's glare.
"You do remember that you are part of this organization," another officer said, "and your actions will be watched."
"Of course," Meiko said grinning again.
"Good," Gilligan said, "because Master Liene himself is expected to be at our secret base near ORB soon. We do not know when but soon enough." Meikos joy suddenly faded, this was meant to be a way to escape the past and how could she do that if Liene was right on her doorstep? Memories of him filled her head as she remembered how controlling and minipulating he could be. She never knew who she was around him, not that she knew who she was now but around him she couldn't understand anything but what he told her.
"You will leave tomorrow with officer Mike Shurstre," Gilligan said, "meeting adjourned." As Meiko exited Trey followed her.
"Wait!" He said.
"What?" Meiko turned around suddenly shocking him with her snappy anger.
"I just want to wish you luck," Trey sighed.
"What is the real reason behind this mission," Meiko spoke allowed, "is it some sort of test of my loyalty?"
"ROW believes that ORB and Cagalli Yula Attha may be behind the rescue of the Eternal in space," Trey responded, "and if that is true then Lacus Clyne will seek shelter in ORB. To discover whether or not that is true you only need to befriend Uzumi Zala and get invited into their home."
"Will I ever escaped that blasted ship," she said with tears entering her eyes, "yes I want peace, as much as anyone else in the world! But I just don't understand what these people have done wrong." With that she stormed away back to her quarters, she wanted to forget Liene was coming for the next few hours.
Through her large screen she saw the whole world in greater perspective than anyone else could. The ROW attacks had been staged perfectly along the European coast line and soon the entire continent of Eurasia would have problems if ZAFT didn't step in like they had promised. She gritted her teeth as she scanned the screen again. This was going to be hard to deal with, even with the number of redemption agents growing daily. She would have to order the elite to double their efforts, but could she when she was already pushing them so hard?
She picked up a picture that sat on her desk and sighed, there was a time when her life seemed to be rebounding back into happiness. She had been deceived into believing a lie back then and she wondered how many others were believing the lie now. Her mind had been weak once but thankfully she had broken out of that and finally discovered everything about ROW. She might have been one of the most dangerous tools if she had remained in ROW as an agent, she wondered if Liene even would have kept her alive.
"Milady," her faithful commander stood there once again.
"What is it now," she said softly breaking out of her reminisce of the past.
"An unforeseen development has just come about," he replied walking closer to the screen, "and I think that it calls for one of our interventions." He laid a piece of paper containing the information in front of her and she looked back at him with shock on her face.
"So that's where..." she started and he cut her off.
"Our spy has confirmed that this information is true," he walked a few paces around the room, "and using advanced surveillance hacking I took that photo, and it's genuine." He looked at his leader and she seemed to be lost in her own mind. She wondered how she could have missed this development, it made no sense.
"All this time, he was investigating ROW without anyone knowing," she sighed, "It shows how I can't predict everything." It disturbed her when she made mistakes as large as this, what if one day she made the mistake that would cost her the world? She had strived for perfection throughout her life and her troops held up her every word as truth. She didn't want to ever be wrong but she was only human and a natural, what she had achieved in her intelligence was impressive to begin with. Her faithful commander walked back toward her desk, he had more to show her than just that, something he knew would cheer her up.
"In other news Milady the new target is being watched carefully," he said laying another stack of papers down in front of her and crossing his arms. "I believe this is the one you've been after." Milady looked at the images in front of her and all doubts left her mind, she had found what she had been looking for these past sixteen years.
"I can't believe it," she said as tears came to her eyes, "we're that much closer."
"Anything else you need," He said.
"No," she responded standing up, "thank you Yzak. Your service to me has been invaluable these past few years."
"What actions will we take Milady," he said bowing slightly.
"We need to change the situation on Mars," she said, "we can't afford to loose one piece in the puzzle if we hope to understand the bigger picture." With that she left Yzak to ponder the meaning of her phrase. He went and turned off the large computer monitor before walking down the hall himself. All the years he had spent here working towards the great goal of peace were finally going to mean something. He had made the mistake of missing the bigger picture before and he was sure that he would never do it again.
His thoughts turned to Kira. He sure looked a lot different than the last time Yzak had seen him at Gibralter, from what he heard Kira had four kids now too. He remembered the last time he had saved Kira's neck from an assassination attempt. Those were the good old days when the actions Redemption took were reckless but necessary. It seemed those days were ready to return now that Kira had gotten himself into a mess on Mars. Yzak chuckled to himself, this job was getting crazier and crazier. What actions would Redemption take regarding Kira and the new target?
Leyas looked around the room and quickly identified it as the medical center on the Eternal. She heard the rhythmic beeping of the heart machine as she realized she was hooked up to a number of things. What was she doing here? Suddenly memories of the battle filled her mind, and the danger they were in. She had been unable to breathe there on the bridge and she was fighting to keep consciousness for the sake of her family. The presence that had entered her mind had caused her to black out suddenly and that must have been how she ended up here.
"Is anyone there," she said hoping someone could come an explain to her what was now happening around her.
"Shhh," she heard a voice she knew well and sat up as Uzumi walked into her line of slight, "It's alright, we made it."
"What?" Leyas asked looking around in a bit of shock.
"Help came," Uzumi said, "some dear friends saved us." Leyas knew he was telling the truth for his eyes were sparkling with happiness, her cousin was so readable it was funny sometimes. Leyas smiled looking toward the machines she was hooked up to.
"Is there something wrong with me?" she asked in a slightly sarcastic tone. She felt totally fine and these machines were beginning to bug her a little.
"Oh yeah," Uzumi said walking to one, "I am sup-post to be keeping an eye on you in case you wake up, we've bee watching you in shifts." He laughed for a second, "guess I kinda forgot why I was here."
"Funny," Leyas said with mocking sarcasm before laughing herself, "how long was I out exactly?"
"About 8 hours, I think," Uzumi replied, "but I wouldn't be the best person to ask, Kiran knows what time it was when you passed out. He's been in and out of here like crazy the past few hours! Your mom had to tell him to stop pestering those who had been placed in this room to watch you." Leyas smiled at the mention of her twin brother, he seemed to think that as her twin it was his job to protect her, it was quite funny sometimes since he was still pretty small. It was quite funny when Yaro and him used to get into fights and he would try to punch Yaro, being younger all Yaro had to do was hold him back until mother showed up. She suddenly remembered Yaro had been in danger when she fell unconscious.
"How is Yaro?" Leyas asked, "all I remember is he was fighting that machine."
"Oh yeah," Uzumi replied thinking, "those ROW agents left in a hurry a bit after you passed out and we had a slight run-in with a PLANT advance fleet before being rescued by..." He saw Leyas's shocked face looking toward the door and he turned to see what she was looking at. Athrun stood there holding back laughter at his nieces shocked face.
"Uncle Athrun?" Leyas said with confusion. He was one of her favorite family members and as a little girl he spoiled her ever time she had gone to ORB, giving her whatever she wanted. Leyas hadn't seen any of the family except Uzumi for almost two years.
"How is little Kira?" Athrun responded using the nickname he had always called her; Leyas did look the most like Kira out of anyone in her family, "you've had your mother so worried for the past few hours that Kayla had to sing her a lullaby to get her to go to sleep."
"Well since an adult is here," Leyas said, "can I get off the machines?"
"I don't see why not," Athrun replied, "the doctor said there was nothing wrong with you. You just went unconscious somehow and he wanted to keep you monitored just in case something happened if you didn't wake up." Leyas needed no more info as she removed the wires from herself. She stood up and stretched her arms, Athrun looked at Uzumi and waved his head for him to leave. Uzumi was instantly obedient and walked out.
"Don't get to ahead of yourself," Athrun said sitting on a chair and motioning for her to sit back down on the examination table.
"What is it?" Leyas said, "I feel perfectly fine."
"It doesn't matter how you feel now," Athrun stated, "I am more interested in what exactly happened on the bridge. It doesn't seem like anyone around here knows. Were you scared or stressed?" Leyas looked down remembering the feeling that entered her mind and fought to enter her thoughts.
"It's nothing like that," she replied, "in fact I'm not even sure what it was and I don't think you'd know either."
"I still want to hear it," Athrun said, "I know if your dad were here he'd want to know as well. You'll learn through life that it never pays to keep important things from people, there is something about your unconsciousness that reminds me of something I heard of once."
"Then," Leyas responded, "I'll tell you." She gulped before starting, she didn't want to sound crazy, "I know this will seem odd but when we were in battle Yaro was fighting a machine called The Pain. Him and the machine's battle got close to the ship and suddenly I felt someone's presence enter my mind; I don't know how to explain it but I felt a lot of pain as my mind seemed to open up and I felt something coming." Athrun listened to every word, "but it hurt so much that I saw a way to escape the pain and I fell unconscious." Everything registered in his mind as he tried to understand what had happened. He remembered that Kiran said that soon after Leyas had gone unconscious Kayla had entered looking strange and Lacus had affirmed his suspicions that Kayla had used the Seed. It shocked him that at her young age she ha used it even though it made sense that all the children had it since Kira and Lacus both possessed it.
"Did you feel any sort of explosions in your head? " Athrun asked wondering if for a slip second Leyas might have grabbed the SEED as well, "anything else out of the ordinary?"
"No," Leyas said with her eyes looking cloudy, "wait." He looked at her intently, "I saw a glow and there was something right before I feel unconscious. An explosion of something and after it had finished I saw images of something. I can't remember what." Athrun was a little distressed by this, in his experience the SEED only caused focus and greater ability to sense what was going on around you. The SEEDs that these two girls possessed made them aware of what was happening in the distance as well as nearby; Kayla had seen the ships coming and Leyas had seen something else. He had heard of reactions where some pilots were able to feel when familiar people are near them, Kira seemed to have those reactions a lot now. Was there something about the pilot of the Pain that was familiar to the girls? Was it just them reacting to pressure and the minds of each other?
"Can you remember anything?" Athrun asked, "anything of what you saw?"
"There was..." Leyas concentrated trying to call back the images, "a man dressed in a yellow uniform and... I saw my dad, standing somewhere strange. I don't know what else was there. I can't understand it." Leyas gripped her head and let out a small cry; Athrun quickly stood up and grabbed her in a hug.
"It's alright," he said, "just relax. You'll be alright."
"I'm sorry," she said, "it's just so hard." Athrun let go of her and looked her in the eye.
"Just forget it all," he said, "your mother has been worried about you, let's go show her your okay." Leyas nodded.
"There are countless number of citizens gathered here today to witness the official statement of Representative Cagalli Yula Attha about the recent events in space," Miriallia Haw reported to channels all over the nation of ORB, "rumors have been circulating that she has been somehow involved in Lacus Clyne's escape from the PLANT's only five days ago. Today she is expected to refute those claims and re-state the mission of ORB as a nation and here is the Representative now." Cagalli walked out from behind the stage and stepped up to the podium, this moment was very important in the life of her nation and though she hated taking this stand, it was all together very important.
"Greetings to all the citizens of ORB and to those who have come from around the world," Cagalli began with a smile, "five days ago the PLANT supreme council voted to arrest their leader and long time ally of ORB Lacus Clyne and failed at the task. I plan on telling you things like they are right away since there is nothing to hide. This nation, the nation of ORB has been neutral to the affairs of other nations for a very long time now and we have succeeded in bringing peace to you our citizens. My father, Uzumi Nara Attha died for his belief in staying out of the conflicts of other nations.
"As many of you are aware we have been accused of intervening in the capture of Lacus Clyne for personal reasons. Yes, it is true that she and I have been very good friends over the years having similar goals in promoting peace we have supported each other but in this time of turmoil we have grown apart. The Lacus Clyne I know would not have approved the Military Intervention Act which has allowed ZAFT forces to intervene in the many civil wars around the world. I say this to you now the nation of ORB has had nothing to do with the intervention of Lacus Clyne's capture nor the rumors that the Minerva has reappeared.
"As to the rumors that my husband, Athrun Zala is away at this time I say to you that he has not been feeling well enough to make a public appearance at this time. I ask you nations of the world to lay off of suspicions that ORB is responsible for the escape of your fugitive. We do not agree with her, we did not rescue her and we are not harboring her.
"As to the matters of my nation, I say that in this time of great unrest we are stronger than ever. We will hold to the mandate laid out by our founders, we will not attack another nation, we will not allow another nation to attack us and we will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations.
"As to the intervention in the PLANT's my personal ship acted in good faith to stop the spread of the terrorist group ROW. This group is clearly against peace and I ask the nations of the world to throw off ROW's ideals for the sake of peace. We should not harbor hard feelings against each other based on whether or not we are different. This anger that is spreading through the world has to stop and though we will not intervene through military force we will continue to send aid to all those countries that have been ravaged by this war.
"I offer my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones and I ask you to hold to the truth and not to let hatred invade your souls. Please enjoy the rest of your days and rest now that you know peace will continue to reign here for the time being." With that Cagalli stepped off the podium shocking the many people there.
Cagalli addressed many issues but she did not address something that had been going through their minds for many days. There was photo evidence that the prince of ORB, Uzumi Zala was in the PLANTs at the time of Lacus Clyne's escape. Cagalli did not insist that he was home, nor did she say anything about him being gone. Many people missed him and wondered why he had not made a public appearance.
Miriallia sighed as she watched the speech come to an end. She knew that what Cagalli had said was true, the nation of ORB had not intervened in the capture of Lacus Clyne but she also knew that Cagalli had. Cagalli acted independently of the nation when she sent the Minerva which was a secret only known by her, its crew members and those who were still attached to the Archangel. Mir wondered if her own ship would be launching soon as well, as the world collided downwards would the angel rise again?
Trey watched as Meiko entered the small shuttle that would take her to earth with a little worry in his eyes. Sure a time away from the battlefield is what Meiko needed but at the same time she would be alone without anyone to lean on, not that she ever leaned on anyone in the first place. She was so guarded, so afraid of friendship and he could never understand why. He saw her as the little sister he never had and he was very protective over the redhead.
He had lost his family in a tragic indecent when he was ten and ever since then he had been scared by war. When he joined ROW it was because he had met Meiko in a small Eurasian military camp where she had been posted along with few other ROW agents to help aid the government against civil war breaking out in certain areas. What shocked him about her was her age, she was 13 at the time a year younger than he and she was fighting in the military. When handed a gun she was deadly and strong yet she somehow lacked the gut to fire it without being threatened if she didn't. Her superiors were always trying to get the better of her compassion but it would never go.
Shortly after he met her he saw her caring for a younger child whose parents had been killed in the fighting and at that moment he realized that she had a caring heart. Ever since joining ROW he often wondered how Meiko had come to the twisted organization. He got the sense that the organization somehow owned her and that they were biding their time with her waiting for something to happen. He never could understand what.
"Too bad our little fighter is going off on a ground mission," Gilligan sighed, "without her we'll be reporting back to base 1 as our fighting strength is considerably weakened."
"She'll be alright," Trey said, "and I have no doubt that her mission will go smoothly."
"She is a treasure of a weapon isn't she," Gilligan smiled cruelly.
"She's a human," Trey grumbled, "not a weapon."
"Only in your eyes," the general replied, "she is a coordinator and therefore good for nothing but fighting. Sometime soon that will all change and the world will know the power of ROW." Trey looked at him confused, did all the main operations somehow rest in the power of that girl? Anger grew within him as he thought of Meiko being used as a weapon. He would do everything in his power to save her even if it meant severing ties with ROW and dealing with what was called the "devil" by all ROW agents, the unpredictable and dangerous Redemption. Maybe this was the only way to save Meiko from herself. He quickly put the thoughts out of his mind telling himself that he could consider it later, dealing with Redemption could not be an easy task. They kept themselves hidden from the world, only intervening occasionally and always at the right time to stop ROW. They were very secretive and their existence was not known by many, if he did ever want to turn to them he was sure they would not trust him.
"It seems we have a huge dilemma on our hands," Athrun told Lacus as the sat alone on the bridge of the Eternal. Lacus sighed, she knew what he was talking about. It seemed she would not be going to earth any time soon, and she wished she could do something more for the planet but there was no way with her current fighting strength.
"I can't go back to ORB with you," Lacus replied, "it would endanger your nation too much if I was discovered there." She looked down, though she really wanted to go to the nation and see Cagalli she knew she could not, there was no way.
"But you can't keep the kids in a mobile suit factory," Athrun reasoned, "they need to continue their studies." He knew that the kids would be fine in space but he knew Kira wouldn't want them around the military for months. Kira had tried to sheild his kids from ever having to fight in war although he had taught Yaro enough about a mobile suit that he could fight in one.
"Are you suggesting that I send them to ORB?" Lacus asked.
"Yes," Athrun said with a sureness in his voice, "I will personally handle their homeschooling as to keep them away from the public eye. You can't keep them locked up here in space, they are just children."
"To think we were fighting on the front lines near that age," Lacus sighed, "I was younger than Yaro when I made my move to steal the Eternal." It seemed so long ago in her mind, the war was much simpler then because there were only two sides. This new war seemed to have endless amounts of factions waring with each other. What was it that drove them all to this madness? Why did they all seek to kill and hate each other? Couldn't people learn to at least tolerate one another. She had believed the world could learn love once but after so many times of setting it right she was growing weary of it constantly turning back to war.
"But we all agreed years ago that we wouldn't let our children loose everything that we did," Athrun replied, "we never wanted them to feel everything we did at our young age."
"I know," She looked out toward space remembering the sadness that filled her heart when she lost her father, now she wondered if her kids would soon feel that pain. Kira had not made any sort of contact with them and she wondered where he was and what he was doing. She loved him so deeply and she knew that she needed him, especially now that everything was crumbling beneath her. She had no choice but to listen to Athrun, he was one of her closest friends over the years.
"What will you do now?" Athrun asked her looking around the broken ship.
"I will repair it," she said, "and I will make it stronger. I am not sure I will ever return to the PLANTs though, I don't know exactly how I will continue."
"Cagalli is launching a plan," Athrun said, "the Minerva is part of it. We are intervening in the nations ravaged by war near ORB. We can no longer turn a blind eye to it all, already ROW controls thee major nations and is getting near to controlling many more. I know it's reckless and that it may cause more harm than good."
"No," Lacus said, "I think it's good, I think the world needs someone to show them the light."
"What about the kids Lacus," he asked her now, he need to know what she was going to do with them, "they simply can not stay here, they are your legacy and they must be safe."
"Then take them Athrun," she said bowing her head in resignation, "keep them safe. Kira would want you to, I know that this is the right thing to do."
"Do you know where Kira is now?" Athrun asked her, he had known nothing about Kira's leaving till after he had gone and Athrun somehow knew it wasn't the right thing to do in this time. Kira should have stayed with his family, maybe then things might have been different. When the freedom entered the battlefield people might have listened.
"No," she replied as tears filled her eyes, "but I know he's alive, for my heart can still feel him somehow."
He saw them. As the giant ZAFT ship exploded suddenly the faces of every life on the ship flashed before his eyes begging for mercy. He moved to try and save them but nothing in his mobile suit responded. He cried out screaming to himself that it wasn't his fault but he couldn't escape it. Something within him had caused this! Sorrow welled up within him but in that moment the ship was gone.
His mobile suit floated around space and yet no one was there. No one. He looked around and in the distance he saw a light, a small but real light. He reached out for it once again trying to get his Gundam to respond to his movements. He heard a voice crying for help. He saw his family and he saw a large weapon pointed at them. He saw it fire and he saw them all die.
Yaro woke up quickly from the dream and looked around the small room he shared with Uzumi. It was just a dream, a dream and nothing more he told himself over and over again.
"Are you alright Yaro," he heard Uzumi's voice and saw that he had woken the younger boy up.
"It's just," Yaro had a bit of trouble continuing but in his experiencing hiding things never helped in getting over pain, "I killed them. Those people in that ship! I don't know what happened I just felt something within me and it just..."
"Yaro," Uzumi said, "did you want to kill them?"
"NO!" Yaro replied abruptly, of course he didn't want to kill them. He hated the idea of war and killing, he hated himself for killing them.
"Then don't think about it," Uzumi said looking down, "it was a tragic accident, and if you let it beat you, you'll never be able to go on living. My father and your father have both killed in their pasts but if they thought about it even now they wouldn't be able to press on for the future. I know it's hard but you can't let your mistake wound your soul or else you will never be able to escape the past, you will become a prisoner of it and you will never know the joy of the future."
"You're right," Yaro said agreeing with his cousin. Though it hurt and though he wished he could take it back he couldn't. "It's just I don't think I'll be able to forget it anytime soon."
"It's what makes human," Uzumi said, "if we loose that ability to feel when a life is taken, then we loose our souls as well." He spoke with such authority and such truth that Yaro was amazed what he said. He knew his cousin had an ability to make it through most any situation but the young boys general wisdom was still shocking even after many years of friendship.
Meiko watched as the clouds around her rolled by the windows of the shuttle she was on. She breathed in as she took in the sight of ORB, she had been there once before but never for as long of a stay as she would get this time. The nation was so peaceful that it seemed to give of that peace to anyone visiting it. She wished she could forget everything at this moment but the memories of her mission were very fresh in her mind.
Would she ever have any freedom? What was this never ending stream of missions doing to her life, it was as if someone was trying to break her very soul. Everything was suffocating and she knew she wouldn't be able to go on like this forever.
Mike Shurstre watched her carefully taking note of her constantly troubled expression. The girl he had trained was still there beneath all the things that ROW had done to make her a solider, she was still just a young girl with the same desires as any teenager. He was glad Liene agreed to take her off the battlefield, for if she remained there Mike feared what would happen to her. Everything depended on Meiko surviving, and if she was pushed to far he feared that he would loose his student and his mission would fail.
YEA! I finally got this chapter finished. I'm sorry for the huge wait. Now things are starting to go into motion. Sorry for all those who want Kira, phase 9 will go more into detail of his situation. Phase 8 may have some of him as well. I may not be able to update this very often because school is starting next week, but I will update whenever I can. Thanks for reading and please REVIEW and tell me what you think about the characters, the plot, the mobile suits and anything else as well.
REVIEW!!!
-WintersChill