Hello everyone, R-0 here and welcoming you back to the next chapter of my Fanfiction. Once again, I apologize for the delayed release, but work has been incredibly taxing and I'm also going about getting a driving license. Real hectic time in my life. Before we begin, there are a couple of things that I wish to address:
1) Let me reiterate that I won't be recommencing the R&A section until Chapter 16 AND I'll only be addressing reviews from Chapter 15.
2) I also feel the need to reiterate that I already have planned out this fanfic from start to finish right down to the minor details. While I appreciate people leaving suggestions, I wish to be blunt and say that it is a fruitless endeavour as they merely fall on deaf ears. I will not be taking any suggestions, neither for this nor the Destiny continuation. I may be sounding harsh, but I do need to be firm on this matter. Please reserve suggestions for another writer willing to listen as I simply cannot afford to take on suggestions without readjusting other parts of my fanfic to accommodate those ideas. Again, these suggestions are appreciated, but they are ultimately fruitless due to me fundamentally being unable to use them.
3) Regarding this chapter, let me reaffirm that it will be significantly shorter than the other ones. Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, this is mainly down to me omitting Rau's monologue which goes on for the first half of the episode. Why did I do this? This is mainly because what he gives exposition for is covered in canon later on anyway, so it seems repetitive and time wasting to include it now. Do not worry, next chapter will be back to normal length and the one I have been looking forward to writing.
4) In the previous chapter, I said that an Akame Ga Kill fanfiction was a very possible concept. I can confidently say that there is most definitely one in the works. Expect it soon, if you're a fan of that series. If not… Well… I guess don't read it…
Alright, now that those have been addressed, let's get to this chapter which is basically just a glorified intermission for Chapter 15!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Gundam SEED or its respective materials.
Chapter 14: Protection
The familiar sight of the Archangel can be seen within a vast sandy expanse, the sand underneath the ship a blue shade due to the effects of the night-time which currently engulf the area. As expected, the ship managed to descend safely to the land below due to the efforts of the late 08th fleet and its commander; Admiral Halberton.
Also, luckily, the familiar sight of the GAT-X105 Strike resting in one of the ship's many Mobile Suit berths can be seen. Both it and its pilot were equally successful in descending to the Earth alongside its Mothership. The Mobile Suit did not suffer severe damage during its descent and is still in a fighting mood, fully capable of sortie.
It's pilot, however…
"Kira!" Miriallia exclaimed with worry at the sight of restless Kira, tossing and turning in his bed, the boy clearly distraught and unsettled, sweat soaking his garments. As he almost falls out, both she and Flay quickly move to ease him back into the bed, an IV hooked up to him to monitor his worrisome condition.
"Are you alright?" Flay enquires with a concerned tone, the events that transpired in the Locker Room doing nothing to sway her motivation. "He's soaked with his own sweat." Flay remarks as she slides the bed cover back over the restless youth. "What should we do?"
"His fever won't go down." Miriallia adds with similar amounts of concern. "What should we do?"
As they despair over his current condition, the boy continues to drift in and out of consciousness, the events of the previous sortie weighing heavily on his mind, guilt and sadness welling in his heart.
Meanwhile... Captain's quarters…
"This is Alaska." Mu La Flaga informs his Captain while pointing to the afore-mentioned country (Highlighted in blue) on a map display located on a nearby wall, both he and Murrue holding mugs of coffee to help calm the nerves after the rather stressful string of events. He then moves to point to a highlighted red segment in Africa "This is our present location." He continues with a exasperated tone. "We couldn't have picked a worse place, knee deep in ZAFT-Controlled territory."
"We couldn't help it." Murrue counters with an equally frustrated tone. "We couldn't afford to get separated from the Strike."
At her remark, both individuals begin to recall the rather intense events of the last few minutes during their descent to Earth…
Previously… In Earth's Atmosphere…
After witnessing the rather upsetting sight of the shuttle being obliterated and the Strike being knocked further down into the atmosphere, a distressed Kira wakes from his stupor to the sound of a worried Miriallia calling his name. As the Strike continues to fall further into the atmosphere, Kira starts to re-orientate himself, taking note of his own sweat and the intense heat building up in his cockpit. Finally finding the resolve to continue, he grabs back hold of the Strike's controls and swings the Mobile Suit around. He ignites the boosters and starts to fly the Mobile Suit towards the position of the descending Archangel.
Soon enough, he gets back in range of the Archangel (Even as his Mobile Suit's shield continues to melt), much to the relief of the bridge crew.
"Kira!" Tolle exclaims with relief.
"Kira!" Sai also calls with similar relief.
"Does he plan to descend on his own?" Natarle wonders out loud with some concern.
"Entry angle for the Strike differs from that of the ship's!" Romero calls out, alerting the captain to the situation. "At this rate, it'll land in a completely different location!"
"What?" Murrue realizes with horror.
"Kira!" Miriallia calls over the communicator. "Can you get back here? Can you get back to the ship?!"
"It's impossible!" Natarle informs her, confusing the youth. "At this point the Strike's thrust isn't strong enough.
"Get the ship closer to it!" Murrue commands, seemingly in countenance, giving the XO pause for concern. "The Archangel's thruster should still be good enough to do it!"
"But if we do that, the ship will miss its descent point!" Arnold counters, swinging in his chair to address his superior.
"There's no point in getting there if we lose sight of the Strike, is there?!" Murrue fires back, seemingly annoyed at the disagreeable nature of her crew. "So hurry!"
At her command, the ship ignites its manoeuvring thrusters and the ship edges towards the direction of the Strike. Soon enough, the ship manoeuvres directly underneath it, something which its exhausted, sweating pilot notices. Seeing his opportunity, the youth ignites his Strike's boosters and flies downwards towards the ship. At the last moment, he ceases his acceleration and the Strike falls onto the upper hull of the Strike, the Mobile Suit taking a knee, seemingly just as exhausted as its pilot.
"The Strike has landed on the ship!"
"Alright!"
Unfortunately, the time for relief was not prudent as the youth fell into exhaustion, the sounds of the bridge crew calling out his name with concern being the only and last thing he hears before unconsciousness overtakes him.
Present time…
"In any case," Murrue mutters, seemingly wishing to forget the rather intense incident as she plays with the locks in her brown hair. "Our ship's objectives and destinations haven't changed."
"Is everything alright?" Mu enquires with a concerned tone.
"Yes." Murrue assures him.
"With Miss Commander as well?" He asks knowingly, knocking the woman out of her stupor as she recalls the moment when Natarle had taken it upon herself to authorize an action without consulting her, sparking animosity between the two. She pushes the memory to one side and smiles slightly.
"Everything's all right." She assures him again.
"That's good." Murrue answers with a smile of his own before taking a swill of his coffee. "Let's see now…" He mutters before standing up and placing the mug on Murrue's desk. "I'm going to go ask on the kid's condition and then I'm gonna go get some sleep." He informs her before walking towards the entrance, the door sliding open for him. "You need to get some sleep as well. A Captain mustn't be too worn out or exhausted like that. It won't do you any good."
And with that, the Mobile Armour pilot departs the room, leaving the Captain to her thoughts.
Elsewhere…
As Flay continues to nurse the delirious Kira, constantly wiping the endless stream of sweat from his forehead, the remainder of his friends are gathered around the Ship's Doctor, curious about his condition.
"Doctor." Sai addresses him with concern. "Will Kira be alright?"
"Well-" His answer is cut off as the door behind them slides open and the sight of the familiar blond graces its arches.
"Cagalli!" Kuzzey addresses her. "I thought you were needed in the hangar for maintenance."
"They told me to take some time off earlier, for some reason." Cagalli answers off-handedly, placing her gloved hands behind her head. "Thought I'd check on Kira and see if he's feeling any better."
As she says this, she moves her left hand down to her rear and slips what appears to be a communications device in one of the back pockets.
"I guess they figured that you were worried about Kira, eh?" Tolle asks with a semi-teasing tone, causing her to give him a sharp look, causing him to raise his hands defensively and annoying the nearby red-head.
"It's just so unfortunate that you had to be given time off by your work-mates to come see him." Flay addresses the blond in a condescending tone. "I guess he's just not that important to you." Flay remarks with a deliberate off-handedness. "For some of us, though, we can sacrifice all of our time to stay by his side." Her intentional condescension greatly aggravates the
"Forgive me, princess." Cagalli fires back with a similar level of condescension, clearly annoyed at the red-head's sudden hostility. "Some of us, though, have to do work that is, you know, actually useful for the ship and crew, unlike some people."
The tension between the two is thick and Kira's rabble of friends clearly don't like the direction their conversation is coming.
"Er, Doctor!" Sai addresses the man, clearly trying to divert away from the tension and back to the matter at hand. "What were you saying about Kira?"
"The fever isn't infectious and his internal organs are all in good condition." The Doctor assures his worried friends. "Right now, there isn't much else to do other than give him lots of liquids and try to lower his body temperature."
"However…" Kuzzey trails worringly.
"Well, this is my first time treating a Coordinator." He admits. "I can't say that I can diagnose his symptoms with confidence." He continues. "I do know, though, that their physical abilities far surpass ours so I wouldn't worry too much."
"But still!" Sai counters.
"Oh relax!" Cagalli scolds him. "In ORB, Coordinators are so naturally healthy that they rarely get treated for anything. Heck, to make it fair, their medical costs are higher than that of Natural's so we all pay the same, in the grand scheme of things." She explains knowingly, surprising a few at her knowledge of ORB Medicine.
"You know a bit." Tolle remarks.
"My Dad makes me read a lot of books." Cagalli responds swiftly.
"As she says, he may look the same on the outside, but inside his body is completely different." The Doctor explains. "He has a body with more strength capacity, more knowledge capacity and so on, so forth."
"And they've got a better immune system." Cagalli adds.
"Right, so he has a much higher tolerance to diseases and such." He then chuckles a little. "Of course a shot to the head will kill him and he will develop a bad cold now and then, but far less than any of us." He raises his finger, as if recalling something else. "Did you hear how high the temperatures in his cockpit actually reached?"
"No." Sai responds stiffly.
"I'll put it to you like this: None of us would have survived that." He admits. "With him, a fever like this is no danger to him."
"It's for reasons like this that parents wanted their children to be Coordinators…" Cagalli trails, clenching her fist. "So they could just have better lives."
None of the entourage respond to her muttering, her words weighing on their minds with various levels. They all, however, do agree with her words.
"La Flaga, coming in!" Mu announces himself from outside the door before it slides open to reveal his form. He walks in and takes in the sight of the party gathering around the doctor. "Is something wrong."
"Oh, nothing at all." The Doctor assures him. "I was just…"
"He's made completely differently…" Sai mutters to himself.
Meanwhile… Earth's Atmosphere… Nazca-Class Vesalius…
Currently, the familiar sight of the blue-haired Athrun Zala could be seen in the viewing platform overlooking the Mobile Suit hangar. He has a contemplative expression on his face as he gazes at the assembled Mobile Suits, deep in thought. So deep in thought, he does not hear the sound of the nearby door sliding open.
"Huh, so here you are." The familiar of voice of Nicol calls out, alerting the youth to his presence. He breaks out his reverie to regard the green-haired boy hovering in the doorway, a friendly smile on his face. "I'm told that Yzak, Miguel and Dearka landed on Earth safely." He informs Athrun. "Just got the message a second ago." He continues as he floats over to Athrun.
"I see." Athrun responds with a relieved tone at his comrades surviving their ordeal.
"It's not been determined when they'll be returning, though." Nicol adds. "I understand that they'll be remaining at Gibraltar Base for a while." Athrun doesn't respond and instead returns to gazing out at the hangar, confusing his comrade.
"What about Yzak's injury?" Athrun asks.
"Oh." Nicol remarks with an understanding tone. "I'm not sure yet, but I wouldn't worry. Last time, he still battled at that level, you know? Miguel's GINN somehow survived the re-entry as well, so he'll still be able to fight." He assures him, making Athrun realize Nicol's attempts at making him feel better.
"Yeah, you're right." Athrun responds with a smile.
"But will things be okay?"
"What do you mean?" Athrun asks with a confused tone.
"In the end, we failed in our mission to capture or destroy that final machine; the Strike as well as its Mothership." At his remark, Athrun remains silent. "The commander's been ordered back because of this, right?" Nicol asks knowingly, making Athrun smile a little.
"Commander Le Creuset wasn't able to sink that ship either." Athrun counters. "The committee will look at it from that perspective." He mutters before recalling the possible fate of his childhood friend, a pensive expression clear on his face which Nicol notices.
"Athrun?"
"Oh, nothing." He assures him. "In any case, there isn't any need to worry. "Besides, I understand that the return involves some upcoming plan."
"Is that so?" Nicol mutters with some relief. "You're right, I'll go check on the Blitz." He says with finality before drifting back over to the room's entrance, the door sliding open once he gets close enough. Before the door closes, however, he turns to see his comrade possess that same worrisome expression from before, the youth left unsettled by the sight as the door closes in his face.
The following morning… The Archangel…
As the Archangel is nestled firmly within the depths of the vast, sandy desert, a coat of beige could be seen for miles, the infamous pilot of the Strike finally starts to stir. Vision still blurry, he slowly opens his eyes, a familiar green object comes into focus. Once his eyes properly adjust themselves, the youth is able to tell that it's his familiar robotic companion: Birdy.
"Birdy, Birdy" The machine calls out in its automated voice, flapping its metallic wings.
"Birdy?" Kira mutters, still only stirring from his slumber. Suddenly, his bedside curtains slide open to reveal a familiar red-head standing there, smiling down at him.
"You're awake." Flay remarks with a relieved tone.
"Flay…" Kira mutters. He tries to get up too quickly and he feels a sharp pain from his bodies exhaustion.
"You mustn't get up so suddenly." Flay scolds him, pushing the youth back down.
"Where am I?" He enquires.
"The ship's medical room." She responds. "I hear that you were unconscious when you landed on the ship so I guess you don't remember."
"Then we've landed." He surmises with a relieved tone.
"On earth, in a desert." She clarifies. "We landed last night."
"Oh, that's good." Kira mutters. "Luckily, she doesn't seem too upset about what happened in the Locker Room. Maybe Cagalli was just overthinking things…?"
Later that night… Archangel Hangar…
The day had gone by relatively uneventful up to this point. At the relieving news that Kira had awakened, everyone went back to their daily business while Flay continues to nurse him. Since all the tension has calmed down, Mu has finally gotten a chance to properly appraise the FX-550 Skygraspers they were given by the 08th Fleet.
"I looked through the manual last night." Mu informs Murdoch as they inspect the vehicle. "The craft looks like it'll be a blast." He remarks with some enthusiasm. "Sure, it's good to know that the Striker Packs can be attached to it, but doesn't that make me a courier service?" He gripes, causing Murdoch to let out a hearty chuckle.
"With your abilities, Lieutenant…" He clicks his tongue, seemingly to correct himself. "Sorry: Lieutenant Commander, you'll be able to deliver it anywhere and everywhere, right?"
"I'm grateful to Admiral Halberton for arranging this promotion, but little good it does in this situation."
"Like that GINN, right?" Murdoch remarks, pointing to the unused Mobile Suit with a smirk.
"I'm happy about the raise, but how can I spend it in this situation?" He continues to gripe.
"All those youngsters have also been appointed to field operations." Murdoch continues while testing the tensile strength of one of the Skygrasper's mooring lines. "The kid's an ensign, right? I guess that he is a pilot…" He trails. "I know that blondie was officially made a mechanic as well, right?"
"Yeah." Mu confirms. "The rest of them were made crewmen, second class. Oh boy…" His last statement elicits yet another chuckle from the Chief Mechanic.
"They'll develop into great soldiers before you know it." He assures him. "By the way, how's the kid doing with that fever of his?"
"I hear his fever went down this morning." Mu informs him, clambering into the Skygrasper's cockpit to inspect its insides. "I don't know what's more impressive: The Mobile Suit or that kid's body." He then turns to address the Chief Mechanic properly. "That reminds me; why does he call that thing a Gundam?"
"Oh, it appears on the activation screen." Murdoch explains. "General Unilateral Neuro-Link… And so on." He trails. "Take the first letter of each word and that's what you get, though the Military refers to it as 'G'."
Meanwhile… Mess Hall…
"Huh, Kira's up and walking already?" Miriallia asks with a confused tone, joining the table of Sai, Miriallia, Tolle, Kuzzey and Cagalli.
"Yeah, just moments ago." He confirms.
"They say he seems to be alright, so he's back in his room." Sai adds. "Flay's gone to deliver his meal."
"Man, I'm surprised that the Doctor just let him go like that." Cagalli remarks. "I half expected him to try and cut him open with how he was going about how great Kira's body is." She mutters, eliciting a snicker from Tolle.
"You make him sound like Frankenstein or something!"
Their reverie is broken as the Mess Hall doors slide open, revealing Flay stood there with two trays in her hand. She catches the attention of the assembled party who all regard her.
"Flay?" Miriallia addresses the Redhead.
"On a shift change?" Flay responds.
"How's Kira?"
"He seems to truly be alright now." She assures them. "He's even eating correctly now. It's as if last night never happened, but the Doctor has advised that he stay in bed all day." She concludes as they all watch her. She stops walking and a dark expression crosses her features. "His body is really made differently." She mutters, earning slight gasps from the group as a look of annoyance crosses Cagalli's features.
"It's not like he can help it, though." She counters. "He never asked for it."
"But I'm so glad he's feeling so much better!" Miriallia exclaims with relief, clearly trying to divert the conversation.
"You must be tired, Flay." Sai addresses his fiancé with a concerned tone. "You were by his side all night, so you'd better get some rest."
"I'm just fine." She responds rather abruptly. "I already ate with Kira."
"Doing a lot of that." Cagalli remarks. "A lot of eating with another guy, Miss 'Already engaged', aren't you?"
"We have to make sure that Kira gets better." She responds in an almost cold tone as she pours out a glass of water for the youth. "I'm still worried, so I'm going back to his room."
"Flay." Sai addresses her again, rising from his seat to intercept her before she leaves the room, grabbing her shoulder. "You know-"
"What?" She responds in an aggressive tone, clearly annoyed by his concern and shrugs off his hand. The gesture confuses and shocks the bespectacled individual.
"Well, nothing really." He assures her with a conflicted tone. "It's just…"
"Sai." She begins with a firm tone. "Our arrangement was decided by my father." She frowns a little. "But now he's no longer around." She states, eliciting gasps from the assembled party save for Cagalli who remains deathly silent, seemingly focused on her food. After an extended silence, she turns to look at him with a smile. "It was just a verbal agreement and our situation has changed since then, so I don't see why we should have to be tied down by it anymore." She concludes before turning away, walking out of the mess hall and down the hallway. After a few seconds, clearly still reeling from the shock, Sai runs out of the Mess Hall and calls after, his arm stretched out fruitlessly.
After what feels like hours, the silence is broken by the sound of Cagalli rising from her position.
"Cagalli?" Miriallia asks.
"I'm not hungry anymore." She responds simply before moving off of the bench and walking out of the Mess Hall, passing the still distraught Sai.
"Not yet… I need to see what she does next…"
Elsewhere, the redhead continued to walk on towards the Quarters of Kira. As she takes step after step, she considers the reasons for her action just then. She knew that Sai would be an interference in her entrapment of Kira, but she couldn't help but feel bad. He was a kind and caring fiancé who didn't do her any wrong.
"It's necessary." She thinks to herself, justifying her rather cruel actions as the death of her father plays out in her head as well as the knowledge of Kira's Coordinator background. "Kira… You're to fight and fight and fight until you die…"
"… It's the only way I'll forgive you…"
Meanwhile… On-board the nearby the ZAFT Land Battleship Lesseps…
A ZAFT Officer sits in his quarters and currently drinking a cup of coffee. His posture is relaxed and uncaring, indicative of his demeanor nature. An older man with short-swept back hair and prominent side-burns, he wears the Earth variant of the ZAFT Uniform, boasting shorter sleeves and a less prominent skirt. An interesting detail to note is the yellow permutation of his uniform, a unique colour and indicative of his rank. His relaxed demeanour is broken as his door's communicator blares into life.
"Commander!" A voice calls over it.
"Enter." He commands. An individual with short and red hair steps through, boasting a ZAFT Green uniform (Also the earth version). He quickly salutes before handing a Datapad to his superior. He regards the datapad curiously before analysing its contents. In realization, he smiles greatly at its details.
"Well, this is a face I didn't expect to see." He remarks before placing the Datapad back down. "The Ship Le Creuset couldn't catch, eh?" He mutters before rising from his seat and placing both hands on his hips. "This might be fun for a change. Don't you agree, DaCosta?"
A Day Later… Night-Time… Archangel…
Surprisingly, the next day passes uneventfully. No surprise attacks from ZAFT, no disagreements or squabbles amongst the crew. Due to Flay's efforts, Kira's strength quickly returned and he was even able to take a nice shower to himself and even walk around the ship once or twice The only real significant detail is one of the Maintenance Officers finding something within the Cockpit of the Strike…
Currently, however, Kira is once again resting in his quarters with his robotic companion. For the events that have unfolded recently, he's in fairly high spirits.
A familiar beeping from his door alerts the youth (Currently holding Birdy) to the presence outside of his door.
"Come in." He calls out. The door slides open to reveal the familiar sight of Flay Allster standing there, clearly grasping something in her hand.
"A member of the ground crew asked me to give this to you." She explains, entering the youth's quarters. "He said that it must be yours, since it was in the Strike's cockpit." She reveals the infamous paper flower that Kira received from the now-deceased Elle.
A mortified expression crosses Kira's face as the cold memories of the little girl… the flower… the battle… the atmosphere… the explosion… his inability to save them. In that solitary moment he recognises the flower, all of those memories come rushing back to him. As do the feelings. Guilt is beginning to well in his heart again as well as frustration at being unable to save them and inadequacy for the same reason. Flay, meanwhile, stands there holding the flower, seemingly oblivious to the emotional playing within Kira.
"Kira?" She calls out his name with a confused tone.
To reassure the female, he quickly dives off his bed with a reassuring smile and moves to grab the flower, his hands trembling and shaking.
"Thank you…" He says weakly. Kira quickly grabs the flower off of her and turns away, holding the flower close to his chest while gazing down at it.
"Kira, what's wrong?" She asks with a concerned tone while moving closer to him. Flay places her hands on his left shoulder in a comforting way. Kira can no longer hold the torrent of negative emotions as he starts to sob profusely, tears easily flowing from his eyes.
"That girl…" Kira mutters out loud with a weak, distraught tone. "I couldn't save her!" He cries before collapsing to the floor, his sobs turning into full-blown cries.
"Kira?" She exclaims again before moving in front of and kneeling down to Kira.
"I…" He manages to say coherently through his sob. Flay stares down at him before a knowing smirk crosses her features.
"Kira-" She begins to say. Unfortunately, the door slides open and she looks up to see… "Cagalli? What are you doing here?"
"I've been looking for you all day." She responds. "Sai needs to speak to you. Your fiancé needs to speak to you… Now."
"I can't just leave Kira alone when he's like this." She counters, rising from her position while Kira continues to break down on the floor. "That's cruel, Cagalli."
"Funny, that…" Cagalli remarks. "You're willing to do more for him than for the guy who worshipped the ground you walk and who you used as a crying post countless times. He's breaking down now, Flay, and he needs you. To me, that's crueller that you're here for another man instead of him."
"But Kira-"
"If Kira needs a shoulder to cry on, I'll do it." She counters. "I'm his friend as well. It doesn't have to be you. You're not special." She strikes back swiftly. "Right now, the boy you renounced as your fiancé is breaking down because you gave him no reason to do such a thing." At that declaration, Kira momentarily snaps out of sobbing to mutter a few words.
"You renounced… Sai…?" Kira mutters with a confused tone. "Why…?"
"It's complicated, Kira." Flay assures him with a caring tone, grasping his shaking shoulders. "I do care for you, though. I really do."
"Kira, I'm sorry." Cagalli apologizes to the distraught youth, giving him a comforting look, who goes back to his crying. "But, right now, she doesn't have the right to comfort you after leaving her ex-fiance in such a mess. Once she's fixed that, feel free to cuddle like bears, for all I care." She declares with finality before giving a steely gaze at the redhead. "Now are you gonna go willingly or am I gonna have to drag you?"
Aside from Kira's sobs, the room is deathly silent as both girls gaze hard at each other. Eventually, Flay starts to walk away from the sobbing Kira and past Cagalli, shooting her an annoyed, almost vindictive look.
"Alright." She says stiffly.
Flay quickly exits the room with Cagalli in tow. As the brunette continues to break down on the floor, the door behind the duo slides shut and they both start to walk down the hallway. It's not for long, just thirty-or-so seconds before Flay stops in her tracks, alerting the blond.
"What is it?" She asks with an irritated tone.
"Sai isn't really looking for me, is he?" She asks, not turning around. "At least, not to the extent you're making it out to be." Cagalli doesn't answer for a few seconds, instead electing to continue staring at the red-head's back.
"You're right." She fires back. "He's messed up, but he hasn't sent me to bring you back or anything."
"Care to explain why then?"
"Because I know you, Flay." Cagalli fires back heatedly. "I know what you're really like. I've seen it in your eyes. You may have everyone else fooled, but I know better." She continues with an almost hateful tone. "I don't know what your scheme is, but I do know one thing."
"And what's that?"
"You want to use Kira." She declares. "You want to twist him and turn him into your puppet." Cagalli elaborates. "I won't allow it. He's one of the few friends I have and I will protect him with all I have. He doesn't deserve what you have in store for him and I won't let you twist him into some monster that you see him as."
"You can't keep me away." She responds. "I already have a place in his heart."
"And you can have it." Cagalli admits. "If Kira wants to trust you and put his faith in you, he can. Any time, however, you try and steer him wrong, I'll be there to stop you. Kira saved my life… This is me returning the favour by saving him from you."
At her passionate speech, the silence lingers for a ridiculous period of time. Eventually, Cagalli gets her response as Flay turns around slightly and looks at the blond. It's not the face she shows everyone else, it's the one with hollow eyes and a cruel, almost vindictive smirk.
"Well then…" She says in a cold, confident voice. "Good luck."
And, with that, she turns to walk away.
After the fierce exchange, Cagalli watches the redhead disappear round a corner before turning to go back to Kira's quarters. She can still here Kira's intense sobbing from within it.
She gazes at the door, but Cagalli does nothing. She doesn't know why, but she feels like she also doesn't have the right… Especially after her rather emotional moment. A part of her feels responsible that he's still breaking down. She could have ignored it, let Flay do what she wanted and make Kira better again, make him feel… good. She didn't. Out of some selfish urge, she stopped her and left the position free to herself. To Cagalli, doing anything now would make her a hypocrite. Even hugging him would put her in his heart in such a way that believes she doesn't deserve. She could never be such a person by result of something like this. Instead, all she does is slide up against the door and sits down, listening to the muffed sobs of the boy.
"I'm sorry, Kira… But I'm just as guilty as she is… Hopefully, you can work yourself out as we all need you…"
Elsewhere…
Unaware to the crew of the ship, a group of cloaked individuals watched the ship from afar.
"So that's the new Earth Forces' ship…" A large individual with tanned skin and long, dark hair remarks. "The Archangel."
"Well, we got you here now. Prove to us that this ship can help end our suffering." a bearded man nearby responds.
"You will soon." He assures him. "But-"
Their conversation is cut short as a beeping from one of their jeeps can be heard, indicating the Communicator is active.
"What's the matter?" A small youth with swept-back brown hair enquires.
"The Tiger has left the Lesseps." The voice responds over the communicator. "He's heading towards that ship with five BuCUE's!"
"Looks like we'll get to see if this ship is capable of liberating us, right, friend?" The bearded man asks rhetorically, folding his arm. The black-haired individual can only gaze at the white battleship with a fierce expression.
"Lady Cagalli… I pray that you show yourself… We got your message… Prove it wasn't a lie…"
Anyway, that's it for this chapter. Not really that surprising that I stopped Flay having her way with Kira. After all, if that did happen, Cagalli wouldn't be doing her job very well, would she? She's laid the gauntlet down and it is officially on. No more bullshit and fake smiles, they both know each other's intentions and true selves. Oh, boy, am I gonna enjoy writing their interactions from now on. And poor Kira trapped in the middle between a girl who wants to protect him from corruption and a girl who wants to do nothing BUT corrupt him.
If the quality of this chapter was bad, I do apologize. I didn't particularly enjoy writing this chapter that much aside from the scene at the end with Cagalli laying down the gauntlet. If it's shitty, please do not be afraid to tell me.
So here we are. The next chapter that I have been actually looking forward to writing a whole lot. When do I think I'll get to writing it? I'm not really sure as work's a little tough at the moment. I'll try and get it out before Christmas, though. Look forward to it!
R-0 Out!