As the Other Half Lives - 2

Kira woke to white sheets and bandages and a body that ached from head to toe.  His abused body refused to oblige when he tried to sit up, so he lay there quietly, and pieced together the events that had led him to this situation in his mind.

Athrun.  He'd been fighting against the Aegis, and they'd both been seriously trying to kill each other for once.  Athrun had been angry because Kira had killed his friend, and Kira had been upset because...

"Tolle..."  He closed his eyes against the pinpricks of his tears, but they seeped through his pitiful defences to soak into his pillow. 

Why had Tolle come out in the Skygrasper?  He would have been safe on the Archangel!  Athrun wouldn't have attacked him if he hadn't come between them on the battlefield!  Just like the Blitz had come between them earlier...

It hadn't mattered in the end.  Athrun had locked onto the Strike with Aegis and self-destructed the suit.  He'd see Athrun jet clear of the immediate blast, so he was most likely still alive, at least, but how was it Kira had managed to survive?  He almost wouldn't have believed that he was except that he felt too awful to be dead.  In fact, it might have been preferable.  He was so tired of fighting, especially against Athrun.

He lay there lost in memories and bitter reflections, until a slender ray of sunlight caught his attention as it crept across his chest.   Turning his head towards the origin of the light, he saw several large buildings, with trucks and people bustling between them: a military base of some sort, judging by the types vehicles and equipment.  Was this JOSH-A?  Had the Archangel finally reached its goal?  As he strained to see more detail, the massive doors of one of the buildings slid slowly open, and the Duel walked forwards into the sunlight.

Gasping, Kira launched himself upright, heedless of the searing pain as his body protested against the sudden movement.  The Duel!  He leaned towards the window precariously, hoping that he had been wrong, but he could never have mistaken that mobile suit for another.  That was the Duel, and this was a ZAFT base.

He'd been worried about what the Earth Alliance commanders would want to do with a Coordinator who had piloted their only remaining prototype mobile suit, but now the situation had been reversed.  What would the ZAFT forces want with a Coordinator who had fought against his own kind?

Athrun... Athrun had first wanted Kira to join them; then he'd tried to kill him.  If ZAFT had wanted him dead then they could have just left him to die with the Strike.  In fact, they could have killed him any time they wanted to.  So why was he still alive?

Sinking slowly back onto the bed he stared fruitlessly at the ceiling, his mind running in endless circles.

At one point a nurse came in, and he greeted her half-heartedly.  She stared at him in some surprise before hurrying out again without saying a word.  He drifted in and out of memories, and was thus unsure of how much time passed before the door opened again, this time revealing a ZAFT officer with blond hair, a strange mask covering his face.

"Well, I see you are awake at last, Kira Yamato," the man said in smooth tones.  "I must say, you have had our medical staff in quite an uproar with your recuperative abilities.  It's remarkable that you survived such extensive injuries, even for a Coordinator, or so I'm told."

"I - " Kira started, only to stop in confusion.  "You know my name?"

"Of course," the man smiled.  "Athrun told me who you were as soon as he confirmed your identity at Heliopolis."

"Athrun?"

"Yes," the man nodded gently.  "Such a shame that you and he stood on opposite sides of this struggle.  You would have been a formidable pair, fighting side by side for our cause.  As it is, Athrun will be sorely missed."

"What!"  Kira stared up at the man in shock.  "Athrun?!  But - " he broke off, the tears he thought had dried up welling in his eyes once more.  Had Athrun not escaped that blast?  "Athrun..."  His fists clenched at his sheets as he screwed his eyes shut against the fresh onslaught of tears.  When he opened them again, the man was still smiling faintly.

"It was a great sacrifice that he made, but he achieved his purpose, and our people will honour him for it." 

"His - purpose?" Kira couldn't help but ask, even though he knew the answer.

"To defend his people from the misguided efforts of a Coordinator who fell sway to the lies and deceptions of the Naturals."

Kira stared up at him.  "I - I just wanted to protect my friends!" he gasped out his defense.

"I'm sure you did," the man nodded again, "but your friends are only a small part of the equation.  Why is it that the Earth Alliance would permit a Coordinator to use their precious Strike to defend them?  Because only a Coordinator could pilot it, correct?"

"Yes, but - "

"And by admitting to the fact that only a Coordinator could pilot those mobile suits, they have entangled themselves in a dilemma: they are forced to rely on the aid of one of the very people they are trying to eradicate.  Rather an embarrassing situation for them, don't you think?"

Kira couldn't disagree, gazing helplessly up at the man as he continued to speak in those soft, but firm tones.  Images of Flay condemning all Coordinators out of hand flashed through his mind.

"If you had arrived at the Alaska base with the legged ship, I sincerely doubt you would ever have left the base alive.  Once they had the Strike and its combat data safely in their hands, you and the friends you fought for would have been superfluous.   In fact, I wonder what will become of your friends now?"

Sai, Miriallia, Kuzzey, Flay...  They had only ended up on the Archangel because of Kira.  They had only enlisted because of the situation he had dragged them into.  Would the Earth Alliance command let them return to their families in Orb?  Or would they be forced to remain on the Archangel, in constant danger?  Could they end up dead, like Tolle? 

He struggled to breathe as the thought of more of his friends dying needlessly choked him with guilt.  His fists and eyes were clenched painfully tight with the effort to physically hold back a new surge of tears.

"There is nothing you can do about that right now, however," the man's smooth voice continued relentlessly.  "The Strike is gone, and you are still injured, after all." 

Kira opened bleary eyes as he felt a hand rest lightly on his shoulder.  The masked man smiled gently down at him.

"Rest for now, Kira Yamato.  You are of no use to anyone, weak and wounded as you are."

The hand on his shoulder squeezed momentarily, and he flinched at the pain the action caused.  When he opened his eyes again, the man was gone. 


More than a week passed by until the masked man came to see Kira again.  In that time, he had only seen silent nurses who would not answer his questions and intrusive doctors who seemed to regard him as an object of to be studied rather than as a patient.  He was kept confined to the hospital room, even though his body was mending well.  Guards were stationed outside his door night and day, the window would not open - and from that window he could see the mass movements of the ZAFT forces to and from the base.   There had been an awfully large number of mobile suits move out a several days previously, and Kira had been watching closely from the window as a much smaller number returned to the base when the door opened to reveal the masked officer once again.

"Who are you?" Kira demanded as soon as the man entered the room.  "What do you want with me?"

"I see you've recovered quite well from your ordeal," the man smiled.  "To answer your questions:  I am Commander Rau Le Creuset."

Kira's eyes widened as he recognised the name, and he took an involuntary step backwards placing him up against the wall beside the window.

"As for what I want from you, well," Le Creuset rounded the bed and crossed the distance between them, tilting his head to one side as he looked down at Kira.  "I would like you to understand why it is that ZAFT fights against the Earth Alliance."

"Because of the Bloody Valentine," Kira answered the unspoken question, turning away slightly.

"That was certainly a major trigger in this conflict," the blond nodded.  "Essentially, however, we fight because it is simply a matter of survival.  Most Naturals are afraid of Coordinators, and consequently strike out against the cause of that fear in an attempt to remove it from existence.  Those who do not fear Coordinators instead covet their abilities, falling prey to the bitterness arising from envy.  Either way, can you blame Coordinators for wanting to protect themselves from such mindless hatred?"

"That's - not all Naturals are like that!" Kira protested, thinking of Tolle defending him when he was revealed as a Coordinator to the crew of the Archangel.  Yet memories of Sai's jealousy and Flay's fear also crossed his mind, unbidden.

"Perhaps not," Le Creuset conceded, "however, you might want to take a closer look at those who currently command the Earth Alliance."

"What do you mean?"

The blond stepped up to the window, standing beside Kira, looking down at the base below.

"A few days ago ZAFT began Operation Spit Break, a major assault on the Earth Alliance Joint Supreme Headquarters in Alaska."

Kira inhaled sharply.  "The Archangel - " he blurted out anxiously.  "My friends - "

"Is that the ship's name?" Le Creuset glanced towards him with a small smile.  "How appropriate.  Yes, they were there, acting as part of JOSH-A's defensive forces.  A truly formidable foe."

"Were they - " he couldn't bring himself to finish the question.

"That ship did not fall to ZAFT forces," the commander replied obliquely.  "Although we succeeded in overrunning the base itself, the Archangel was not one of our conquests."

"Then they're all right."  He breathed a sigh of relief that was all too short-lived.

"Do you know what a Cyclops System is?"  

He blinked.  "Cyclops...?"

"It's essentially a large-scale destructive device." Le Creuset turned to face him, and this time his smile was noticeably lacking.  "The Earth Alliance had constructed such a system beneath JOSH-A.  We had no idea.  They waited until the vast majority of our forces had penetrated the base before setting off the system."

Kira stared at him, his mouth open, but his voice had abandoned him.  He knew the answer without having to ask.

"Everything within a ten kilometre radius of the base was destroyed, including their own defense forces."
 
"That - that can't be..."  He clutched at his chest, his heart aching as images of his friends filled his mind.  Sai, Miriallia, Kuzzey...  "Flay..."  He fell to his knees, bowing his head in grief.

After a few moments Le Creuset crouched down beside him laying one hand on Kira's shoulder once again.  "I am sorry," he said in his gentle voice, "but perhaps now you can understand the true nature of those who head the Earth Alliance, and why it is ZAFT will do anything it can to stop them."  His grip tightened for a brief moment, and Kira looked up into that impassive mask with tear-blurred eyes. 

"Athrun truly wanted you to understand."

Kira choked at the mention of Athrun's name, and lost himself once again to his tears.  He paid no heed when the commander departed, leaving him once again by himself in the locked room.  He had failed to protect his friends, and the consequences of that had left him more alone than he had ever felt in his life.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, apologising desperately to them all - but it was too little, too late.


March '06
[MirrorForest][Fanfics][rhionae@hotmail.com]