NOTE: YOU MUST READ BELOW TO UNDERSTAND THIS STORY
I decided to make this fic longer than I originally planned, so read below if you actually want to understand it!
~The first battle (Battle 1) with Bogey 1, where Athrun saved the day with his idea, still occurred how it did.
~However, the timeframe between this battle and the Junius 7 incident will be different in this fic. In this story, there will be one more confrontation with Bogey 1 before the Junius 7 incident.
~They have just finished Battle, and the Minerva is now "relaxing" (so to speak) because they think the battle is over and they have decided to head back to Earth to drop off the princess. (For the sake of this story, because of how far they traveled in Battle 1, it will take them like 4-5 days).
~They think their participation in this incident is postponed, and that a more experienced ship will be taking their place to follow Bogey 1 (which is currently untraceable to them).
~In other words, everything up to Phase 04 happens.
~I cannot stress this enough: Junius 7 leaving its orbit has not happened yet.
~The Minerva will face one more battle before the Junius 7 incident occurs. You will see the plot significance of this soon.
~The shooting scene (from phase 07, where Athrun gives advice to Luna) happens right after Battle 1.
~The deck has some sort of glass shield ceiling function, which works like the skies in the plants.
~And for the sake of me liking Athrun as a character, let's all pretend he did a little bit better than how Sunrise portrayed him when he fought against the mobile suits at Armory One (when Cagalli was knocked out). However, Shinn still had to save him since he was outnumbered.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed or Gundam Seed Destiny. If I did, Meer would have died a very painful death much earlier on.
Oh, same with Flay.
And Yuna.
And gosh this list is going to get really long if I don't stop right now :P
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For those who watch BLEACH: Check out my fic: Hear Me Sing
For those who watch SUPERNATURAL: Check out my fic: FREAKS
Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are the reason this chapter is up so soon!
~kiarakite (She's not half coordinator and she not a natural, but I'm not telling you anymore than that!)
~Guest (what does Mary Sue mean? :S )
~asucagafan
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~Ffionn
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~Orb90 (it'll be explained in this chapter ;P )
~bluebloodblues (will do!)
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'Content'= Thoughts
"Content" = Speech
~ Content ~ = Shooting Machine's voice
WELCOME TO ABSOLUTION
Chapter 2: Preamble
Absolution:
A declaration or assurance of divine forgiveness to penitent believers,
made after confession of sins.
As soon as he became conscious of the fact that he was awake, Shinn wondered if everything last night had been some sort of strange, incredibly messed up dream.
Scratch that: he wondered if everything last night had been some sort of nightmare.
(After all, it had Attha in it.)
'Only one way to find out.'
And with that thought spurring him on, the young pilot pulled himself out of the warmth of his bed and changed. While doing so, he noticed that, as per usual, Rey had left long ago. His roomate had left only a meticulously made bed in his absence.
As Shinn exited his room, and allowed the metal door to seal slide shut behind him, he bumped into the one and only Lunamaria Hawke as she was making her way through the barracks.
She looked at him in surprise for a moment before her eyes took note of the slightly messier-than-usual black hair. Then her expression turned into one of annoyance. When she huffed (like she always did before starting one of her lectures), Shinn mentally sighed.
'Oh great.'
"Shinn! You're just getting up now?!"
His silence was enough of an answer for her. Apparently, she also took it as consent to continue nagging him.
"You should have been up hours ago! Rey was up on time and so was I! Why weren't you!" She shook her head like a chastising parent before continuing her rant. "Oh Shinn, I don't think I have ever met anyone who hates getting up as much as you do."
In his still slightly sleep-riddled mind, he stupidly thought it would be a good idea to correct her.
"I don't hate getting up…I just prefer to do it sometime after 9:00."
Luna was not amused.
She shook her head in disappointment and, to the displeasure of her comrade, continued to nag him about his "bad" sleeping habits.
"You're a soldier Shinn. You're expected to be up, dressed, and fed by 7:00 at the latest!"
He put his hands up in a placating gesture before continuing. "Luna, just, just stop okay…I didn't exactly get the best night of sleep all right?"
Luna was momentarily surprised at his uncharacteristic revelation. Shinn being Shinn, took her stunned shock as an opportunity to breeze right by her.
He would apologize for his attitude with her later. Right now, he needed to get to the training room as soon as possible so that he could see what the high score was.
By the time he made it to the deck (where the training module still remained since someone was either to lazy to move it or wasn't sure if he should) there was already a rather large group gathered there.
If he had been there earlier, he would have had no trouble making it to the machine.
Unfortunately, Luna had been (dare he even think it) right.
He walked up to the small mob wearily. As he struggled to make his way through the sea of green workers, he grew more and more agitated.
'I just want to check one thing, dammit! God, why are so many people even here anyways?'
He was brought out of the beginnings of another angry mental spiel by a familiar voice calling his name.
"Shinn? Shinn! HEY SHINN!"
Looking around to find the voice, he was not entirely surprised to see a short male with his signature bright orange lock of hair (set in a mass of brown) struggling to make his way through the crowd towards where Shinn was currently brooding.
By the time the younger boy reached him, he was slightly out of breath.
"So, was it you?"
At Shinn's confused look Vino sighed. "I guess not...Dangit Shinn, now I owe Yolan twenty bucks!"
"Vino, what are you talking about?"
A voice deeper than Vino's answered.
"A new high score was set at the shooting range. Someone was able to obtain a 98.98%...but they didn't leave their name. It was not me. Zala's stats are good but not that good. He's never broken 97, let alone almost reached 99. I had initially assumed it was you, since you've been practicing so much recently. I guess I was…mistaken."
Rey had the uncanny ability to appear and disappear without Shinn noticing. Sometimes it was irritating, but today it was helpful. He needed a direct answer, and Rey was always good for that. Vino, on the other hand, was still whining about losing some bet with the members of the bridge crew and probably wasn't even conscious of the fact that Shinn had asked him a question.
Ignoring Vino's incessant complaining, Rey continued to speak to Shinn in his distinct calculating voice.
"Do you know who this anonymous shooter might be?"
Maybe, just maybe, there was a part of Shinn that felt like it wasn't his place to share her secret.
Or maybe, there was a part of him that was too angry about the fact that she of all people had bested him, and he couldn't stand the thought of admitting something like that to one of his friends.
Yup, it was most definitely the later.
So, this time Shinn responded to Rey's enquiry without any hesitation.
"Not a damn clue."
At his answer, Rey nodded and made his way to one of the shooting machines. Shinn took Rey's leave as his cue to walk away from Vino, who was still grumbling about some bet.
It didn't matter though, because Shinn had gotten the confirmation he had been searching for.
'It wasn't just a dream…she actually did it.'
The red-eyed pilot was just on his way out to find the blonde haired brat when he saw Luna conversing with Athrun by the entrance to the deck.
Well, to be more specific: Luna was doing the talking while Athrun looked like he would do anything to be anywhere but in front of her. Obviously, whatever she was saying was making him very uncomfortable.
Interested, Shinn surreptitiously walked a bit closer to the two and was able to overhear the last bit of their conversation.
"…so modest about it Athrun, we all know it was you. You are the only one with the skill set to get a score like that."
She looked like she was about to continue prying; however, Athrun was saved from responding to her when the record-holder herself walked past the doorway and called him over.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave Luna."
'No you're not.' Shinn snorted. 'You're just relieved you don't have to continue being interrogated by her.'
Shinn could empathize.
As he saw the ex-Aegis pilot make his way towards the Princess, he couldn't help but pay extra close attention to their interaction.
It was too noisy to hear their hushed tones due to the green coats still prattling on about who could have set the score. Moreover, the duo was secluded enough from the mass of soldiers that if Shinn tried to get any closer, it would be obvious that he was trying to eavesdrop on them.
So, he settled for reading their faces.
Well, because he could only see Athrun's back, he was really only able to read Attha's.
Lucky for him, Attha was an open book.
By the questioning look in her eyes and the way they flitted over to the crowd for a few seconds, Shinn could tell that she was asking her bodyguard what was going on—for the reason behind the ruckus.
By the momentary raising of her eyebrows and widening of her wine-coloured eyes, he could ascertain that Athrun had just told her that everyone on the ship had heard of the anonymous shooter and was now wondering who the pilot was.
When she adopted a guilty expression, Shinn could determine that Athrun was probably explaining to her that his best scores (available to any ZAFT personnel who looked hard enough on the database) had barely crossed 96, let alone reached a 98.
To be honest, that was the reason everyone on this ship was so interested in the mysterious shooter. Athrun Zala, one of the best shots in all of ZAFT, bested around 96.43 back in his prime (according to Rey). And the fact that someone was able to best that…and by so much…it just wasn't heard of.
This was, of course, the reason why Shinn had such a hard time believing that a spoiled, pampered princess could have achieved such a score with, supposedly, her "weak" hand.
By the rise and fall of Athrun's shoulders, Shinn could tell that he had finished whatever reprimand he had given the girl. She nodded to something he said and turned her head to watch his back as he walked away. Athrun had turned towards the barracks, leading Shinn to assume that he was going to hide away from the meddling minds of the others (namely Luna).
After figuring out where the ace pilot was headed, Shinn's gaze returned to the bane of his existence and he was surprised to see her smiling.
'It's that smile again…the one from last night.'
It was a strange smile. He couldn't describe it as genuine or creepy or laughing…it was more…resigned? Tired? Disinterested? Distant?
It was a hard emotion to place.
Anger, however, was not a difficult feeling to identify and it surged through Shinn at the thought of her smiling at all.
'Like she knows she beat me.'
Irritated, he stalked up to the Orb Princess and stopped right in front of her.
She looked up to see his visage and immediately turned her distant smile into a somber expression.
After a moment of silence, where all Shinn did was glare at her, the Princess' serious countenance morphed into a slightly miffed one before she spoke,
"Is there something I can help you with, Shinn?"
"I know it was you."
He was going to be straight to the point; blunt. The less amount of words he had to speak to her, the better.
Surprise flickered in her eyes for the briefest of seconds. If Shinn had blinked right them, he probably would have missed it.
'The hell? Since when can she actually hide her emotions?'
"I'm sorry Shinn, I don't know what you're talking about."
He growled in irritation, and despite his ire, managed to keep his voice low.
"Don't play dumb Attha. I saw you last night."
"Shinn, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." As she parroted her earlier reply, Shinn only became more angered and he glared into her infuriating wine-coloured eyes.
Deciding that he wasn't going to waste his breathe, he grabbed the "weaker" arm she had used last night.
Expecting some sort of scar from the amount of blood that had covered it last night, he was surprised to see that her palm was flawless.
She raised a brow at the dark-haired male and Shinn couldn't help but feel even more irritated. He could tell this was amusing for her. She may not be giving anything away in her face or gestures, but he just knew.
"Is there something on my hand that is of interest to you?"
He belatedly realized that he was still holding onto her hand and staring at it like some sort of idiot. He hastily disentangled his hand from hers and looked away, irritated that his "plan" to make her confess was failing.
He racked his enhanced mind to see if there was some other way to implicate her.
'There must be some—THE GUN! There must be blood on the gun! But…if there was blood, the other soldiers would have easily been able to take the gun to the infirmary and get a DNA—'
Upon considering the options, Shinn almost wanted to hit himself in the head for not noticing the night prior.
Last night, Athrun had grabbed the gun from her. He would have noticed the blood on the gun immediately if there had been some liquid marring the metal.
'That's what she must have been doing when she put the gun the blood from it. And when Athrun took those extra few minutes to put the gun back, it wasn't just because they were talking, he was probably double checking to make sure she had removed all of it.'
Since there wasn't going to be any blood left on the gun, there was no scar on her hand, and he was the only witness (other than Zala, who didn't exactly count) he came to the frustrating conclusion that there was absolutely no way to prove that Cagalli had been the mystery shooter.
Annoyed, he snarled and walked away.
This day was proving to be one of those days where you just wished you could go back to bed and forget the people who you were forced to deal with.
A few hours later, he found himself eating lunch in the cafeteria across from Meyrin and Luna, with Rey and Vino at his sides. Although he was physically there with them; mentally, he was worlds away.
Despite the unexplainable absence of injury on Attha's hand, Shinn trusted what he had seen. There was no way he had been mistaken, absolutely none. She had been the one with the gun.
"Earth to Shinn, are you alright?" Luna asked, while waving her hand in front of his face.
Shinn gave his long time friend a small smirk. "Shinn to earth, fine…just a bit…distracted."
Meyrin giggled at his antics while Luna just shook her head in amused resignation. After his earlier apology and excuse about being in a grumpy mood, Luna had forgiven him for his actions that morning. Next to her, Rey sat stoically while Vino was making a statue of something out of his food and periodically asking his friends for more "material to work with."
Vino was just in the process of asking the newly attentive Shinn for the remnants of his cheese sandwich when the screens of the televisions scattered around the cafeteria, which were previously on a PLANT news channel, suddenly started to flicker and adopted a sheet of black and white dots.
The static noise grew louder, to the point where some of the patrons in the cafeteria had to cover their ears with their hands.
After a few moments of static, Shinn got up and attempted to turn off the screen closest to the five using its off switch. To his surprise, the static remained. He looked around and saw that the others who had attempted to do the same as him with other screens were encountering the same problem.
Deciding that someone on the bridge would figure this technical malfunction out sooner or later, he started to make his way back to his table and hoped that Vino hadn't used the opportunity to snatch what was left of his sandwich.
Speaking of the bridge, as he sat back down at the group's table, he was surprised to see Chen come running up to them. He started taping at Meyrin's shoulder (who had been one of those that had chosen to cover their ears). She removed the hand closest to Chen long enough for older man to yell something into her ear.
Meyrin took on a serious expression, nodded, and ran off in the direction that Chen had just come from. As Shinn followed the movement of Luna's sister, he noticed that Cagalli and Athrun were also in the cafeteria, waiting in the food line to get lunch.
He was just about to make a snarky comment about the princess actually waiting in a line instead of demanding to be waited on; but, was stopped when Luna began to yell something to Chen, who was still standing by their table.
Obviously very worried as to why her younger sister was being sent off, Luna yelled loud enough for Shinn to hear.
"Chen, what's going on?!"
Chen responded in kind, trying to be loud enough in order to inform the three Reds about the situation. "Something is wrong with the computer screens and transmitters! They've all been forced onto one channel, but the channel doesn't belong to EA, Orb, or us! Bart says there's no enemy in the area, so we have no clue as to who's doing this! Captain's hoping Meyrin can use her hacking skills to find out! "
All of a sudden, the loud static stopped. Silence filled the air and the screens remained black. Then, words started to appear, accompanied by a deep and electronically skewed male voice.
""Welcome to Absolution.""
Back in the food line, Cagalli went rigid upon hearing the voice.
Luckily no one noticed.
Well, except for Athrun…
…And the red-eyed boy who was growing more and more suspicious of her as the day went on.
""War is a dangerous time. It is coming upon us once more.""
Worried looks danced on the faces of everyone in the room as they glanced at each other.
""You will have to kill. Some of you already have. Those who do are guaranteed a special place in the flames of hell.""
Worried looks were quickly replaced by confused, scared, and annoyed ones. The same question was playing in everyone's minds: 'Who the hell is this person?'
""I am here to plead for your forgiveness.""
In between the computerized syntax of the screen, there was nothing but silence. This, of course, only served to augment the eerie atmosphere.
""The first step is to accept our sins. Secrets of the past shall be revealed for all. We shall all know of our brethren's misfortunes, deceits, and trials. For only then, can we absolve them and ourselves.""
The screen returned to the previous news channel, and the bubbly voice of the female anchor was all that could be heard in the tense room.
However, any semblance of quiet was broken when Shinn pushed his chair and got up. The loud screeching of the metal was then followed by the rare use of Shinn's calm voice.
"He's insane. Whoever he is, the guy is a fucking lunatic."
Although he hadn't been loud, his words were able to travel to the ears of most of those in the room.
He threw what was left of his lunch in the garbage and was just about to make his way to run some more tests with the Impulse when he was stopped by the loud blaring of the same static that had pervaded the room not even five minutes ago.
To the surprise of all the personnel in the room (Shinn included), the static stopped and was replaced with what appeared to be some sort of video.
The video was clear, despite the dim lighting of the setting. It showed some sort of training room for soldiers. Shinn could ascertain that much from the equipment decorating the brown room. The viewpoint made it seem as if the recording device was filming from where one would find a security camera.
The room itself wasn't large, and there were only two people standing in it:
A man and a child.
The man was an Orb commander. Shinn looked at his apparel and determined that whoever the official was, he must have been pretty high up in the ranks. Well, at least, if all of the ribbons, medals, badges, and patches that Shinn counted on his attire were anything to go by.
Nonetheless, said embellishments on the distinct blue and white military uniform were not the only shining items in the scene.
There was a gun.
The man was pointing a gun at the child.
The child was a girl, probably no more that 7 or 8 judging by her stature and the roundness of her face. Her hair was blonde. Slowly, the camera zoomed in…
'No. Fucking. Way.'
…and it showed wide, wet, wine-coloured eyes.
BTW this is NOT a religious fic. I just needed something to serve as the surface motivation for the persona and something to make him seem extra creepy.
Thank you to all my reviewers! You guys are the reason this chapter is up so soon! Like the title says though, this is kind of the "preamble". The exciting stuff is coming next!
Coming Soon:
~The first "misfortune/deceit/trial" is revealed to the crew of the Minerva.
~The second will also be revealed! (Hint: it's a scene with Patrick Zala and one of our four war veterans – the twist – it's not Athrun!)
With that he gently nudged her back towards the bed. He knew he wanted more. He knew she did too.
This chap's a little longer than the first one, and if you've read my fics before you know that they get longer with each succeeding chapter!
I'll update once I get 10 more reviews!
Also, the summary was changed, so check it out!