Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - The Power to Protect

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Phase 03 - A Hero Remade

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The moment Kira Yamato removed his helmet on the cockpit hatch of the Freedom Gundam, Valentine’s lips were there to capture his own. Kira blinked in surprise at the rush of sensation; for a moment he was lost, as her lips sensually crawled over his own, absorbing every inch of his skin that they could reach; her hands clenched around him tightly, claiming him for her own.

At last, Kira pulled away, his eyes wide and cheeks red. Valentine smiled at him, her eyes alight.

“You completely destroyed the Blue Cosmos renegades,” she said breathlessly. “Wiped out the whole lot of ‘em. They’ll never bother us again.”

The mechanics cheered, though Kira was not sure what it was they were cheering for; he noticed quite a few of them staring rapaciously at Valentine’s body, in her thin, form-fitting flight suit, and that served to redden his face further.

“You protected us and destroyed dangerous enemies of the PLANTs,” Rau’s voice said from somewhere. Kira looked around, and Rau Le Creuset drifted down from near the Freedom’s head. “You’ll certainly be considered for the Order of the Nebula. You’ve done well, Kira.”

Valentine kissed Kira’s cheek as he looked around the hangar, bewildered. He had seen himself destroy the Three Ships Alliance singlehandedly; he still had his own screams of rage ringing in his ears. He still felt the energy, the power, the vindication he had felt when the Strike’s anti-ship sword plunged into the Justice’s torso, absolving him of his crimes and punishing Athrun’s. Hadn’t he had his revenge? Hadn’t he destroyed the Three Ships Alliance and avenged himself and, more importantly, Fllay? Hadn’t he—

Kira’s heart sank as he realized that he had only destroyed the Blue Cosmos renegades; the Three Ships Alliance still lived.

“Kira,” Valentine said, breaking into his thoughts, “what’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing,” he said quickly, gently untangling himself from Valentine’s grip. “I just need some rest...it was all tiring.”

Before anyone could say anything, Kira pushed off from the Freedom’s cockpit hatch, aiming for the lockers. Back on the Freedom, Valentine crossed her arms, smiling at Kira as he disappeared into the locker room.

“I told you it would work,” she said to Rau.

“Of course,” Rau answered coolly. “The question now, however, is what you’re going to do with him now that you’ve got him at this point.”

“Simple,” Valentine said, uncrossing her arms and cracking her knuckles. “My prey is wounded; the time has come to go for the kill.”

“I sense this will be graphic,” Rau said, crossing his own arms and looking skeptically at Valentine. “You’re not really going to go toy with him even more now, are you?”

“I’ve got him right where I want him,” Valentine said, turning to leave.

“But we don’t want to break him and send him back to Lacus Clyne,” Rau countered. “Watching you tinker with the boy’s brain like blocks is certainly entertaining, but moderation is the key to getting this right. We don’t want him to distrust us. We got lucky and now he’s here; let’s not waste it.”

Valentine turned around, smiling darkly at Rau as she opened the collar of her flight suit.

“Like you said, Commander,” she said, her eyes glittering with devious intent, “he’s only sixteen. Show a little skin and he’s all mine.”

Rau frowned. “I thought you were only going to do that if it was the last remaining option.”

Valentine turned to leave, smiling animally over her shoulder. “But Commander,” she said, her voice thick with sweetness and sadism, “Everyone‘s always wanted a servant to do their bidding at one point or another. I‘m just taking the opportunity to get one.”

Rau watched her with an edge of disconcertion as she left.

Kira had no idea what he was in for.

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It was pitch-black. Kira had strung himself through the shower, changed, and hoped no one would put him on duty. He thrust himself into bed, turning off the lights, staring forward into nothingness.

Nothingness. He didn’t have to close his eyes, but he did anyway; he could see everything again, and feel himself destroying the Three Ships Alliance. He still felt himself fighting Athrun, destroying Mwu and Dearka and Cagalli, vaporizing Murrue and Lacus. He could still hear it and see it and feel it.

But it hadn’t happened.

“You’ll have your justice in due time,” Valentine’s voice said. Kira’s eyes opened in surprise and he sat up, but could see nothing. “You worry too much, Kira. You’ll be fine. Just relax.”

Kira blinked uneasily, trying to figure out what was going on. There was a dark shape moving in the blackness, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Something touched him; he jumped in surprise, before he realized it was Valentine.

“What did you see?” she asked.

Kira tried to speak, but his mouth had gone dry, and no sound came out.

“Did you see Athrun?” Valentine asked. Kira’s lips trembled.

“Y-Yes,” he whispered.

“Did you see the Three Ships Alliance?” Valentine went on.

“Yes,” Kira whispered again.

He blinked in surprise as he felt Valentine’s hand on his cheek. “That’s what I thought,” she said. “You’ve had a long day. Just relax.”

Kira opened his mouth to speak, but his words drowned as Valentine kissed him, and everything began to fade away.

——————————————————————————————————————————

He stood in the office of an important PLANT councilor. He had something in his hand—it was a badge, an emblem, an insignia of some kind. It was shiny, curved, and beautiful.

Kira Yamato looked from the badge in his hand to the man who had given it to him. Gilbert Dullindal offered him a disarming smile.

“But...what’s FAITH?” Kira asked helplessly.

“Fast Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters,” Valentine defined, from her place leaning against Gilbert’s desk, arms crossed.

“ZAFT likes acronyms,” Rau added, from his place at Gilbert’s desk, toying with a crystal chess set. “It means we’re special now.”

Kira looked slowly at Rau. “Special?” he asked.

“You’re above the standard rules and regulations of ZAFT,” Gilbert said; Kira looked in surprise back at him. “FAITH answers only to the Supreme Chairman.”

“But...you’re not the Supreme Chairman,” Kira said blankly.

Gilbert flinched almost imperceptibly—Rau snickered as he pushed a red crystal pawn around the chessboard.

“It means you’re not really supposed to have that shiny badge,” Valentine spoke up. “So be careful with it.”

“We’ll have more authority to do what we need to do now,” Rau added, still smirking, as he took the white set’s bishop in his hands and held it up to the light. “But be careful. Just because you’ve got it doesn’t mean you should flaunt it.”

Valentine arched a suggestive eyebrow at Kira, smiling knowingly; Kira looked at her, his eyes widened, and he looked away, blushing.

"Kira," Rau said, glancing at him as he stopped playing with Gilbert's chess set and stood up. "You and Valentine should get going. You have a shuttle to catch."

Kira blinked in surprise, looking over at Rau, but before he could say anything, Valentine seized him by the arm and half-dragged him out of Gilbert's office. The door shut behind them—Rau chuckled knowingly.

"He follows her like a priest following his goddess," Gilbert observed, crossing his arms and glancing uneasily at the door.

Rau smiled and resumed toying with the red pawn. "He's a good little servant," he said airily. "Valentine has trained him well."

Gilbert cast a sidelong glance at Rau. "Isn't that why you chose her to do this?" he asked.

Rau held up the pawn to the light and smirked at the red light cast through its transparent surface. "What can I say? She's good at what she does."

"What did you send them away for?" Gilbert asked, turning to face Rau.

Rau put the pawn back down on the board. "We still have things to take care of," he said. "But our little...'accident' is right on schedule." He glanced at Gilbert. "At least, our end of our little 'accident' is."

Gilbert's face soured. "The Council will vote me in," he said. "They may be Coordinators, but they're still politicians. They can be bought."

"And they have been," Rau added, airy again, picking up a white knight. "Djibril's bank accounts in Switzerland must be a wonderful thing to have access to."

"Where has he been anyway?" Gilbert asked impatiently. "Hasn't he managed to get a grip over Blue Cosmos yet?"

Rau shrugged. "Azrael's death threw everything into disarray. It's only been about a month." He glanced amusedly at Gilbert. "Besides, you haven't managed to get a grip over the PLANTs yet."

Gilbert's face soured further. "I'm working on it," he said curtly.

"So is Djibril," Rau said, putting the knight back down. "Just be patient. Everything will fall into place soon enough."

Gilbert looked away determinedly. "Of course," he said. "Everything will fall into place, and our world of Newtypes will be realized."

Rau smiled. "Of course."

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Kira glanced uneasily at Valentine. Her face betrayed no emotion. He looked back down.

Down below, in the assembly hall, the representatives of the PLANTs stood with representatives of the Oceania Union and the African Community. They were signing something; it was a treaty. They were pledging to support each other, in war and in peace, with militaries and with money. Kira and Valentine stood on a balcony in the shadows, overlooking the hall, watching impassively.

"The Earth Alliance isn't signing?" Kira asked quietly.

"Talks broke down with them," Valentine answered neutrally, still staring down at the ceremony. "But that's what we want."

Kira looked back at Valentine. "Then if we're trying to..." He paused, stumbling over his words. "If we're trying to restart the war and kill the people who will hurt us—"

"We're not out specifically to kill people," Valentine said, looking at him. Staring at her hardened, focused face, Kira felt weak and chaotic. "People only change when they really screw up," she went on. "At the end of World War II, people tried to unify the world under one ideology. There were two such ideologies, and they spent the better part of the twentieth century fighting. Eventually, one side won. Then came the Reconstruction War. So many people died that the world tried to reunify itself in order to survive, and eventually, you had what we have now." She paused, looking back down at the ceremony. "It took huge wars and millions of deaths for the world to figure out that something had to change. And now, once again, something has to change. We can't have hate-filled Naturals getting left behind by pompous Coordinators. The only way to change the world is to launch a war far more massive than the last." She glanced at Kira. "So..."

Kira looked down dejectedly at the ceremony. "So the PLANTs won't negotiate with the Alliance anymore," he finished quietly.

"The only way to truly change is to suffer so much pain that anything else would be better," Valentine said. Her face darkened. "And we're going to provide a whole lot of pain."

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The home of Gilbert Dullindal was not a palace, but it was not necessarily a shack either. His salary as a councilor was not exorbitant enough to allow for the sprawling residence of the former Chairman Clyne, but it was nevertheless a nice house.

"Don't worry," Rau said, glancing across the backseat of the limousine as it cruised towards Gilbert's home. "We won't keep you here with all the scary Coordinators for long."

Lord Djibril glanced back at Rau distastefully. "Is your little accident on schedule?"

"Of course it is," Rau said, sitting back comfortably. "We've chosen to do it on the Bloody Valentine anniversary."

Djibril looked away pensively. "That's not the accident I was talking about."

Rau smiled. "Oh yes," he said, "that accident. You'll have to be more patient with that one. Flare motors aren't the easiest things to acquire these days." He crossed his arms. "But I have a friend who should be up to the task.

Djibril sat back, crossing his own arms anxiously. "I don't like being here," he said. "I am vying for control of Blue Cosmos, and here I am in the midst of the enemy."

"You'll be okay," Rau said amusedly. "We don't bite."

Djibril snorted disgustedly. "That little slave girl of yours might," he snarled.

"Who, Valentine?" Rau asked with a Cheshire grin. "She'll only bite Kira. You're not overemotional enough for her tastes."

The limo came to a halt in front of Gilbert's home; Rau stepped out and held the door for Djibril. He smirked as Djibril swiftly made his way towards Gilbert's door.

As the limo drove off, Rau strode easily up to the door and smiled at Djibril.

"No need to be so nervous," he said. "You've met Gilbert before."

"I told you, I'm in the midst of the enemy," Djibril hissed.

The door opened; Gilbert stared almost ruefully at Rau and Djibril, and then curtly allowed them in. They were met with the lilting notes of a piano somewhere in the house. Djibril looked around uneasily.

"I don't know why you came here yourself, Djibril," Gilbert said, as he closed and locked the door behind them. He led them through a modest foyer, into an equally modest solarium with a piano in the beams of the sun.

Rau smiled at the thin young boy sitting at the piano. "Hello, Rey," he said quietly.

Rey Za Burrel looked over in surprise at the voice—the piano's song went silent.

"Rau!" he exclaimed. His eyes lit up in delight and he stumbled from the piano to Rau, throwing his arms around Rau's neck.

"Who is this?" Djibril asked brusquely, making himself comfortable in a red armchair. Rey released Rau quickly, startled by the other voice.

"Djibril, this is Rey," Gilbert said. "My adoptive son."

Djibril hesitantly shook Rey's hand as Gilbert seated himself. "And what happened to your wife?" he asked. "What was her name...?" He glanced at Rau.

"Talia," Gilbert supplied. "We...divorced."

"To business," Rau interrupted quickly. "We can discuss Gilbert's tumultuous love life later," he added, with a snide smirk at the offended Councilor. "Djibril," he began, "I am aware of your extreme discomfort in being here, but your presence is necessary. The war has been over for about two months, and the postwar world is beginning to take shape. What I have dragged you two here for is to hammer out the final details of our little plan." He smiled. "Djibril, we'll start with you."

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“Former Councilor Ezaria Jule has been convicted today of war crimes by the PLANT Judicial Committee,” the anchorman said. The screen switched to the angry face of Ezaria Jule, standing handcuffed and humiliated before the imposing panel of the PLANT Judicial Committee. “Her charges include violations of the Corsica Treaty, illegal espionage, inappropriate domestic use of ZAFT military forces...”

Kira looked around and remembered where he was. He was in a plaza deep in the commercial sector of Aprilius 1. He had found a place off to the side and was watching on a giant screen looming overhead as a news anchor detailed the charges the PLANT’s legal chiefs had levied against Ezaria Jule. He had gone out with Valentine at Rau’s instruction, in order to relax—Rau had decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that Kira had been under too much stress and needed time off to clear his mind. And so Kira was standing out in the plaza now, dressed in an intimidating black outfit that he most certainly didn’t like, looking around. Valentine had left him, but as she had told him, “only for a moment,” sealing her promise with a coquettish kiss on his cheek. And so Kira looked back up at the screen, and Ezaria Jule‘s angry face again.

Kira vaguely remembered the name Jule, but he could not remember where he had heard it.

“What are you doing?” a voice asked; Kira turned and almost blushed as he saw Valentine approaching him. She definitely reminded him of Fllay now—she had chosen a slender red Oriental dress that accentuated all her curves and still managed to make her look dignified and elegant. She swayed towards him, standing in front of him, her presence demanding his attention.

“I was just watching the news,” Kira said awkwardly, gesturing at the screen. Valentine followed his gaze and watched for a moment.

“Canaver is cleaning house,” she said, almost analytically, almost for Kira’s sake. “She doesn’t want any of Patrick Zala’s supporters in the Supreme Council.”

“But what if Councilor Jule really did commit those crimes?” Kira asked, feeling almost helpless and futile. “Shouldn’t she punished?”

“So what if she did?” Valentine asked, looking back at Kira; he blinked in surprise. “Either way, she’s no longer a Councilor, she can’t vote down any of Canaver’s peace initiatives with the Naturals. Same effect.”

Kira looked away; Valentine was right. It didn’t really matter why Ezaria was no longer a Councilor. He looked back up at the screen.

“The Chairwoman is executing all of Patrick Zala’s supporters in the Supreme Council,” Kira said softly. “She executed Councilor Leitner last month.”

“Of course she is,” Valentine said. “Canaver doesn’t want anyone to oppose her peace negotiations with the Naturals. It’s just convenient that she can nail them on war crimes charges. That’s why she’s taking out Councilor Jule.”

"The name 'Jule' sounds familiar," he said quietly.

Valentine glanced at the screen and back at Kira. "Ezaria's son Yzak Jule was a ZAFT pilot," she explained. "The pilot of the -X102 Duel."

Kira blinked in surprise. "The...the Duel?" His mind's eye was blinded by vivid images of the Duel, plunging through atmospheric reentry and shooting down that shuttle filled with Heliopolis refugees. He felt the pain again—he heard himself screaming again.

"Yeah, the Duel," Valentine said, frowning as her words fell on deaf ears. "Kira?"

Kira shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut painfully. "He...he shot them down," he murmured.

Valentine immediately swept in to seize Kira by the shoulders, shaking him hard enough to yank him back into reality.

"Kira, what's the matter with you?" she asked quietly, pushing him out of the middle of the square, looking around for a relatively secluded spot. "Are you really going to let what happened in the war control you?"

Kira blinked in surprise as Valentine sequestered him on a park bench far-removed from most of the pedestrian traffic.

"Look," she said firmly, staring sternly into his wide and awkward eyes, "you didn’t want to fight. You got sucked into the war and had to fight to protect your friends anyways. You fought and tried to do something, but you were manipulated and lied to and just suffered more. Now you’re here.” She touched his face gently, pulling his chin up to force him to look her in the eyes. “We need you, Kira. Commander Le Creuset can’t change the world. He needs your power to do it.” She passed her thumb over his lips softly, drawing a sputter of surprise from Kira. “You saw what he showed you. You saw what people do, and what we have to do to stop the cycle and finally build a world where you don’t have to fight. And...” Her features softened for a moment. “I want you to be stronger, Kira.”

“Valentine...” Kira said helplessly.

“I want the world to change, just like Commander Le Creuset does,” she told him. “But I don’t have the power to do it, and the Commander can’t do it. We both need you. Kira, I need you. I don’t want you to leave me.” She touched his cheek again and paused. “You’ll protect me, like you protected Fllay, won’t you?”

Kira blinked. “Of...of course.”

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It was night, not long after midnight. The world had gone dark and the bright lights of the city illuminated December 1. The light, however, did not reach the guest room of Rau Le Creuset’s modest townhouse.

Kira was asleep. Valentine lay in his arms, staring at the ceiling, thinking. She glanced back at Kira, contenting herself to lie back and immerse herself in the steady rhythm of his slow, even breaths. Once again, Kira had proven that he might have been able to use the Freedom well, but he couldn’t use everything well.

That wasn‘t what was so interesting, however. He was the culmination of everything Rau hated, everything that had gone wrong, everything that had created Rau. Kira Yamato was the embodiment of all the sins that had brought Rau Le Creuset to life and given him his cursed body. And yet here Rau was, maneuvering Kira into his plans and under his wing like a pawn on Dullindal’s stupid fancy chess set.

Of course, she reminded herself, Rau was only concerned with the ends, and Kira was just a means to the end. Athrun Zala, after all, had wiped out GENESIS, and the Three Ships Alliance had prevented the Alliance’s nuclear attack on the PLANTs. Somehow, humanity had to be brought back to the point where they would be wielding such weapons again. If they returned to that point, though, then Lacus Clyne and her little band of followers would jump right back in to delay the inevitable and return humanity to that painful of cycle of wars they always fell into.

Unless Lacus Clyne was deprived of her warrior prince. Valentine glanced back at Kira, and smiled. The mighty Freedom, feared by every soldier on a battlefield during the war, was piloted by a shy little boy who blushed unhealthy shades of red the moment she had removed her shirt. So ironic.

It did make sense now, though. During the war, Lacus Clyne had had Kira Yamato, the Ultimate Coordinator, and Athrun Zala, Boy Hero of the PLANTs, to do her bidding, to interfere in battles, to stop humanity from meeting its destiny. Clearly, one of them had to realize the futility of their actions. And of course, Kira didn’t actually realize the futility of his actions, but that made no difference to Valentine. So long as he obeyed and went along with her and Rau’s plans, she didn’t care, and repeatedly dealing with his sexual ineptitude, not mention his ineptitude in many other areas of life, was a fairly small price to pay.

Besides, it was kind of funny, and that didn’t hurt either.

She idly wondered what else Kira’s power could be used for. Rau sought to end the world, but what else could Kira’s power bring about?

The door opened—Valentine flung the covers over herself frantically, covering the essentials, as Rau Le Creuset glided into the room with a sadistic smirk.

“Interrupting something, am I?” he asked with inordinate amusement.

“Shut up,” Valentine snapped, drawing the covers closer around her and glowering back. “What are you doing in here?”

“I hope you’re not making a mess of my guest room,” Rau said airily. “This is why I don’t like having you two over.”

“Oh, go to hell,” Valentine muttered, looking away and trying not to blush indignantly. “What do you want?”

“There’s a bit of trouble on Aprilius 1,” Rau replied, still smiling. Valentine blinked in surprise. “You recall the other day, when the Judicial Committee sentenced Ezaria Jule to death?”

Valentine nodded cautiously. “What about it?” she asked.

Rau’s smile got a little wider. “An old friend of mine has paid a house call.”

Valentine’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You mean he came back?” she exclaimed. She moved to get up, but then stopped and hid back under the covers. “Go away. I’ll be out in a second.”

With a knowing chuckle, Rau strolled out of the room. As Valentine jumped back into her clothes, she cursed under her breath and hoped this wouldn’t screw up their plans.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Rau, sitting on his couch before the muted television, still had his amused smirk on his face as Valentine emerged with Kira’s shirt on and, evidently, nothing else. Rau found it endlessly bizarre and even more entertaining how, on the surface, she and Kira looked like any other pair of overly explorative teenagers in love. He had to hand it to Valentine—she knew what she was doing.

“What are you dragging me out of bed for?” Valentine asked as she stormed towards him. Rau smirked back with sadistic amusement.

“I thought ’buckets of angst’ weren’t your type,” he said. Valentine smacked him in the arm in annoyance, and Rau chuckled dismissively and restored the television’s sound. Valentine plopped down on the couch next to him and stared with what looked to Rau like a pout at the screen.

On the screen, the Duel Gundam leapt into the air, somersaulting over the head of a beleaguered GINN. It landed with a crash, drew a beam saber, and sliced the GINN in two. As the GINN exploded, the Duel stormed forward again. The ZAFT troops struggled to bring it down, but their weapons were useless against the Duel’s Phase Shift.

A GuAIZ swept in, raising its beam rifle to fire at the Duel. The Duel skirted the GuAIZ’s beam shots and speared it on a beam rifle shot to the chest. As the GuAIZ plowed into the ground and exploded, the Duel rocketed up into the air and picked a DINN out of the sky with a railgun shot.

“That’s Yzak Jule?” Valentine asked, crossing her arms and draping one leg over the other. “Since when was he any good?”

“He’s angry and he has purpose,” Rau said, watching with a hint of approval. “That, and ZAFT is weaker than we as ZAFT soldiers would like to admit.”

The Duel landed in the street with a crash and met a charging BuCUE with a beam rifle blast. As the BuCUE crashed into the street and exploded, the Duel dove behind a building to dodge a bazooka shot from another GINN. It leapt up over the building and blew off the GINN’s head with a well-placed beam rifle shot before the GINN could react. The Duel landed again with a missile volley that blew away a CGUE and another GINN.

Rau smiled. “He’s going after Ezaria Jule,” he said. “But are you too late, Yzak?”

A ZuOOT went down to another railgun blast, and the Duel burst through the smoke from its explosion. The Duel stopped in front of a damaged building—the camera zoomed in, and found a figure fleeing from ZAFT soldiers. Rau grinned, and Valentine arched an inquisitive eyebrow, as both realized that the fleeing figure was Ezaria Jule. The Duel reached down towards her—

Rau almost laughed as a gunshot rang out, and Ezaria Jule pitched forward into the Duel’s hand, dead.

The Duel froze, and the ZAFT soldiers began to inch away, as the intimidating Gundam stared down at the corpse in its hand. Rau almost imagined he could hear Yzak’s scream inside the Duel.

The Duel’s eyes flashed, as all the fury of its angry pilot was unleashed, and it tore the ZAFT soldiers apart with a volley of CIWS fire. The Duel leapt into the air and rained missiles down on the ZAFT mobile suits and guns. It landed in an intersection and stormed forwards, towards a formation of GINNs led by a CGUE.

A white bolt of energy split the air in front of Rau, and he glanced over at Valentine.

“Get Kira,” he said quickly.

“What?” Valentine asked in surprise. “Why—”

“Just get him,” Rau said, looking back at the screen.

Valentine sighed and went back into the guest room. Rau sat back, his ubiquitous smile still hanging on his lips.

The Duel swept down into the GINNs’ ranks with its beam saber, plowing through their useless machinegun fire and tearing them apart. They had angered Yzak now—this was not one of his usual tantrums, but real, powerful, unadulterated rage. ZAFT had done something to truly infuriate Yzak Jule...and now they were going to pay.

Yzak emptied his missile launcher into the ZAFT mobile suit ranks, and the flaming mobile suits plowed into the city. The Duel stormed up into the air anyways, lunging towards a squadron of DINNs and ripping them out of the sky with its saber. Yzak was fighting insanely, heedless of whatever damage he caused to the city or the PLANT, concerned only with wiping out any mobile suit that opposed him.

Kira wandered in groggily with Valentine, and she sat him down on the couch next to her.

“Pay close attention,” Rau said with a smile, glancing at Kira as he struggled to wake himself back up. “There’s a cameo coming up that I know you’ll recognize.”

The Duel was attacked by a trio of GuAIZ that charged towards it, beam rifles blazing. Yzak pulled back behind his shield and fired back with his railgun, but the GuAIZ dodged. One of them swept around behind the Duel as the other two distracted it from the front. Yzak deflected more beam rifle shots, and the third GuAIZ dove in from behind, beam claw upraised—

A yellow beam blazed through the air, picking the GuAIZ out of the sky, and as the other two paused in surprise, two flashes of white and translucent pink slashed both GuAIZ in two. The blurry white objects curved back up into the sky, as the Duel landed in the street. Another mobile suit landed as well—the Buster Gundam swung around to take down an advancing squad of GINNs with a missile salvo. A third mobile suit came down on the other side of the Duel—Kira’s eyes widened in disbelief, as he snapped fully awake.

The Justice Gundam raised its beam rifle and fired at an oncoming BuCUE.

“Athrun!” Kira exclaimed, standing up in shock. “That’s...that’s Athrun!”

Valentine cast a knowing glance at Rau and looked up at Kira.

“He’s still alive!” Kira said, taking a step back and collapsing back onto the couch. “He’s...he’s not dead!”

“Of course he’s not dead,” Rau said. “You never killed him at Jachin Due.”

The Duel charged up into the air after a DINN—the Buster caught the Duel before it could attack and took off into the sky, with the Justice right behind it, covering them both with beam fire.

“Athrun is still fighting...” Kira murmured.

“Kira,” Valentine began, standing up next to him.

“Athrun...Athrun is still fighting...” Kira repeated, numb with disbelief.

“Of course he’s still fighting,” Rau said—Kira looked in surprise back at Rau. “He has power, just like you do, and he wants to use it, just like you do. But he will get in our way and use it for the wrong thing.” Rau looked pointedly back at Kira. “Don’t forget what he did to you, Kira. Don’t forget what he did to Fllay.”

Kira slowly looked back at the footage of the Justice Gundam fighting on Aprilius 1. His hands curled slowly into fists.

“Athrun...” he murmured, his voice tremulous as rage began to rise. “I’ll...I’ll...”

Rau watched with a smile.

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

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To be continued...