Gundam SEED Destiny: Freedom's Flight

Rated M because it's war, and I kill characters.

Summary: Gundam SEED Destiny if Kira and Lacus (and Freedom) had also been at Armory One, and Mayu had survived to join ZAFT with Shinn.

Phase 01: Angry Eyes

When the missiles started firing from the O.M.N.I. Ships, Shinn and his family had already been running. Shinn was carrying some of his stuff in his duffel bag. The rest of their baggage had been sealed in underground bunkers. The ORB government was considerate, at least.

Shinn's eyes were only halfway on the path. The other half was on the blue winged mobile suit.

# # #

Kira was keeping one eye on Forbidden and Raider, and one on Calamity. The heavy artillery on that suit worried him. In striking power, that suit easily overwhelmed Freedom, and that suit was designed with heavy artillery in mind!

Maybe it was coincidence that he noticed the four people running from Calamity. He gritted his teeth and switched Freedom to Hi-Mat mode, sweeping in like a comet, setting Freedom's Lupus on its lower back. He could only grab two. He landed in front of the family and set his heavy shield between them and Calamity. The shield could absorb a lot of damage, but Calamity could probably break it in half with all its weaponry.

# # #

"Please get two people on, I can't hold for long." The voice thundered from the white mobile suit's head-mounted speakers. Shinn's mother instantly pushed Mayu onto Freedom's hand. Shinn's father grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Shinn, take care of your sister! Do you hear me?! Take care of Mayu!" he shouted in Shinn's face.

"But father! You're coming too! You can't stay behind! You can't!" Shinn said, horrified by his father's words.

The shield erupted in shadow as a beam cannon struck it. Freedom rocked a little. "Hurry!" Shinn was thrown on the waiting hand, which closed protectively around Mayu and Shinn. Then Freedom went airborne.

Calamity fired where Freedom had been a half a second ago, destroying the spot where Shinn and Mayu's parents had been a moment ago.

"FATHER!!" Shinn cried. It was all the Attha's fault! How could they let the Earth Alliance attack Orb, and drive people from their homes only to be killed. "DAMN YOU, ATTHAS!" Mayu stared, horrified of Shinn. What had he become?

Mobile Suit GUNDAM SEED: DESTINY

Athrun opened his eyes and looked over at Cagalli. She was asleep on his shoulder. He smiled and looked out the window. And his jaw dropped. That ship. The pink colors. The twin Meteors attached to the bow. It was the Eternal! What was the Eternal doing here?

# # #

Kira checked his watch. He felt the door open and instinctively looked to see Athrun and Cagalli enter the beginning of the long walkway from the civilian harbor to the plant proper. The plant was mainly two large, semi-concave discs held to a center core by a long tube, with a transparesteel (transparent steel) cone connecting on the outside and holding in over a mile of atmosphere.

He stared, surprised. "What are you two doing here?"

"I'm here to see Chairman Durandal! You're such an idiot." Cagalli said.

"What are you doing here?" Athrun asked.

"I'm waiting for Lacus. Lacus is here to talk with Durandal, too." Kira said. As if on cue, Lacus entered the room and saw the three of them waiting for her.

"Oh! Hello Athrun! Cagalli!" she floated over and hugged Cagalli. Cagalli smiled and hugged Lacus back.

"Lacus, why do you want to talk with Durandal?" Cagalli asked when they broke apart. "And where's your Haro?" The door slid open, and Mr. Pink bounced into Lacus's hands.

"I was here to ask him to stop the buildup of ZAFT forces." Lacus said, smiling. Athrun and Cagalli were taken aback.

"Let me guess, you're here to talk to the Chairman about that, too." Kira guessed.

"Well, it's important!" Cagalli retorted. "Why did you bring the Eternal?"

"Well, if the Archangel left the hangar, it might raise suspicions on both sides. I did bring Freedom, though." Kira explained. Lacus smiled and nodded, confirming.

"Oh…that's…good." Cagalli said. She looked to the walkway. "Shall we?"

# # #

Lunamaria Hawke looked around the Factory with a smile. She'd never seen quite so many Ginn Ceremonial types. "I don't really see what the fuss is about."

Mayu Asuka looked up at Lunamaria, smiling. Mayu and Shinn had both graduated, but unlike Shinn, Mayu was only a Green coat. She hadn't even been assigned a mobile suit, yet. She really hoped.

"It can't be helped." Ash said. "It's been a while since we've done anything like this. But all it means is the Minevra's just about ready to go."

"I guess. Hey, Mayu, have they assigned you a Zaku yet?"

Mayu sighed. "No. What's worse, I haven't even gotten a GuAIZ R."

"Don't sweat it, kid."

# # #

The VTOL swerved for a landing. The craft came to a rest and lowered to the ground. The door slid open. The purple uniformed Praetorian Guard walked into position. Gilbert Durandal was already walking out when they got to the craft, and they smoothly turned about face and followed after him. A journalist was already beside Durandal.

"Mr. Chairman, with your recent election, anyone has yet to ask you about your position on the EA debate." (Translation: What do you think of Blue Cosmos.)

"I understand their decisions and beliefs, but Blue Cosmos itself isn't so much an organization so much as an ideology. And obviously, they can act separate of any actual government, so stricter adherence to the Treaty of Junius, while necessary out of simple decency, won't eliminate the threat of those terrorists." Durandal answered smoothly. He caught sight of the blonde boy he'd helped raise since his birth. No, he corrected himself, the young man. The young man who was also a ZAFT Redcoat, and at attention. Durandal gave him a smile and continued on.

"Chairman!" Another Praetorian approached Durandal. "The Princess from Orb and Lacus Clyne, and their bodyguards, have just arrived." Durandal absorbed the news, then smiled.

# # #

Athrun pulled on his sunglasses as they were pulled down the walkway by wall tracks. Kira looked Cagalli up and down. "Do you think you should meet the Chairman dressed like that?" he asked. "I know your father wore something like it, but really, would a dress kill you?"

"What does it matter what I wear?" Cagalli asked.

"Well…politics are about 80 percent looks, 20 percent words." Kira said. Lacus shook her head, trying not to laugh. Athrun winced when Cagalli punched Kira in the face. A kid with green hair caught his eye. He looked. Three kids. They didn't look dangerous, but they were remaining separate from the crowd.

Athrun looked really close at the green haired one. That wasn't Orga. Or Shani, although Athrun had never really gotten a good look at Shani. The standing one, a blonde haired girl, looked straight at Athrun. Athrun's eyes widened. She had Kira's eyes! And she was blonde…was it possible she was related to Kira and Cagalli.

"Kira-" Athrun stared.

"I know." Kira said. I felt her when I entered the room. (remember, Kira has newtype senses.)

"What do you mean you felt her? Are you like Rau was? He could, I don't know, like he could see through the back of his head!"

Kira smiled and looked at Athrun. "Not quite looking through the back of your head, more like having a third eye that can see through everything, and you can just hear where everything is, but you can't really see them or really hear them. You just know."

# # #

Sting didn't bother with window-shopping. He was on a mission, not a shopping trip.

"Hey, Neo did say we could use an explosion to distract the military. Imagine how big a bang these stores could make." Auel said, smiling at the last bit. Sting had read up on his predecessors, Shani Andras, Orga Sabank, and Clotho Buer, and how insane they were, and frankly, Auel was probably Shani's half-cousin in terms of pyrotechnics love. The idiot had wasted a whole battery of a Buster Dagger in under a minute blasting stuff. Although maybe Sting had Shani and Orga confused.

"Eh, better not. Neo said to avoid civilian casualties. And if we piss him off, he'll use the Pain." Sting held back a shiver. No extended liked the Pain. Even though Sting, Stella, and Auel were altered to be anti-coordinator-effective without taking regular doses of Gamma Gilphelyn, (they had a genetically engineered extra organ for that,) somehow they scientists were able to inflict the Pain.

Stella froze at her reflection. She turned to face the mirror. "Huh…" she spun, swirling her dress around herself. She looked down at herself. Yes! Dancing! She giggled and continued spinning.

"What is she doing back there?" Auel asked.

"Playing the part of a ditzy airhead?" Sting suggested.

"Huh? That's ridiculous!" Auel said.

"That'd be my guess." Sting said, shrugging.

# # #

Cagalli stepped into Durandal's office, trying not to scowl. Durandal turned.

"Princess! I'm so glad you could make it here on such short notice." He said.

"Thank you for fitting me into your busy schedule. I'm grateful you did." Durandal bowed humbly and gestured to a chair. Lacus entered.

"Miss Clyne." Durandal bowed again. Athrun and Kira walked in at the same time. Durandal froze, if only for a second, at the sight of Kira. "And you must be, Kira Hibiki." Durandal said, offering a hand. Kira froze. No one used that name. "I prefer Kira Yamato, actually." Kira said, smiling, and took the hand.

"Yes, well." Durandal said, waving it off. "I worked with your parents on the Fourth Generation Coordinator birth rate problem before they started their Ultimate Coordinator project. In fact, I donated some DNA to the cause, if memory serves. I still work on the birth rate problem in my spare time, however." Kira suddenly felt uncomfortable, even more so when he noticed that Durandal had the same colored eyes.

"Mr. Chairman?" Cagalli asked. Durandal looked back to Cagalli and Lacus.

"Oh, my apologies, Princess, Ms. Clyne. Just catching up on old times." He sat down across from the young women. "You wished to speak to me about the buildup of military assets in ZAFT. In all honesty, our mobile suit numbers have not gone up more than 2 percent. Simply the quality of the mobile suits has increased."

Kira suddenly had a very bad feeling…

# # #

Stella was flying. The feeling, the sun on her shoulders, the air whipping at her dress. Then she hit something. She began to fall. She was already moving, turning to put her face to the ground, hands out. The ground stopped moving, and she became aware of a pair of hands on her breasts. Sting? Auel? She looked over her shoulder.

'I'm afraid I can't believe that ZAFT's Mobile Suit Quantity has stayed so low, Mr. Chairman.'

Shinn Asuka smiled. "Y' okay?"

# # #

"Believe me, Princess, I've gone over the numbers myself. Would you care to have ORB do a full Mobile Suit count? Would that prove satisfactory, Ms. Clyne?" Durandal said.

"No, it would not!" Cagalli shouted, interrupting Lacus. "I would accept the disposal of 1 percent of ZAFT's assets!" Durandal's smile vanished to a frown.

"I'm afraid, Princess, that I cannot allow the disposal of such vital defense. I'm not sure if you have paid such close attention to the Earth Alliance, but the Atlantic Federation has not only produced more units than necessarily legal, they have rebuilt two mass drivers, and built three more above that."

Cagalli opened her mouth to speak. "Cagalli." Kira said, his voice loud. Cagalli looked, and Kira's eyes told, he was in SEED Mode.

"Mr. Durandal, if you could perhaps prove that your assets have not numerically increased past the treaty?" Lacus suggested. A Praetorian stepped forward.

"Ms. Clyne, even though you represent the Plant-based Clyne Faction, the ORB Union's Princess would present a Breach in protocol, and-"

"That would seem perfectly acceptable, Ms. Clyne." Durandal said.

# # #

"Is Stella…okay? Am I okay?" Stella asked. Then she realized that this boy was the enemy. Her passive face became a snarl and she pushed Shinn backwards and ran after Sting and Auel.

Shinn watched her run away, surprised. What was her problem?

"You grabbed her rack, didn't you?" Yolant suddenly asked. Shinn looked at his hands, terrified, then looked at Yolant. "You lucky pervert." He started walking towards the Minevra.

"I didn't mean to! Really!" Shinn called after Yolant. Yolant just waved him off.

# # #

Rey za Burrel smiled as Mayu and Lunamaria got off the jeep. Lunamaria just smiled and waved, Mayu avoided any eye contact with Rey. Rey grinned at Mayu and nodded to Lunamaria.

"We loading the Zakus into the Minevra?" Lunamaria asked. Rey nodded again.

"I already prepped mine for transfer. Oh, and Mayu? Happy Birthday." Rey nodded to a bright pink Zaku Warrior, the same color as Mayu's cell phone. Mayu looked at it and started jumping up and down, squealing. She threw herself onto Rey, wrapping her arms and legs around him, shouting "Thank you!" over and over, almost too fast for Rey to catch.

"Calm down!" Rey cried, startled.

# # #

Stella joined Sting and Auel at the hangar.

"'Bout time you got here." Sting said. His voice, once joking and peaceful, had become cold and deadly, like Sting's namesake. Stella reached into the duffel and pulled out a sheathed combat knife and a machine pistol. Sting was holding a pair of large SMGs, Auel holding a pair of Machine pistols, larger than Stella's.

# # #

"I'll admit, all this power is rather unsightly. I, personally, am a believer in science and order. Still, I suppose strength is necessary for power. Is that the reason Orb still has control of its full military assets?" Durandal said. Athrun looked and his eyes widened, his teeth grinding together. Bald head, no CIWS, a larger chest section, a shield attached to one shoulder, the other mounting a large spike. That was no GuAIZ R. That was a completely new unit.

"Still! Too much strength will only invite conflict!" Cagalli shouted, drawing everyone's attention. Durandal stared, surprised, but quickly regained composure.

"No, Princess. Strength is a necessity. There will always be conflict." Lacus suddenly spoke up.

"Where's Kira?" Athrun looked around.

# # #

The Extendeds charged, firing. ZAFT rounds cut through the guards. Stella jumped into a crowd of soldiers and slashed through a pair, shot one, and stabbed the last one, blood spraying across her face. Sting grinned at the display and cut down a whole hall of soldiers like weeds before the reaper's scythe.

Auel flipped into another crowd, one gun pointed to his left and his right, and let loose bullet after bullet, upside down. He landed and buried the muzzle of one pistol down the throat of another guard. Auel grinned and squeezed the trigger.

# # #

"Kira Yamato. Freedom, Launching!" Freedom shot forward, and left behind the magrails of the launch ramp. He flew through the harbor into the tube that led to the Factory. Strength was no necessity. Kira would protect the Plants. He was going to destroy every damn mobile suit in that place.

# # #

"What?! How can you believe that?" Cagalli asked, ignoring Kira's absence. Her twin brother would show up eventually. Durandal smiled.

"It is human nature to fight. Even in Eden there was conflict. And I assure you, there was conflict when your twin brother was created. Much conflict."

# # #

Sting grinned as the mobile suit he had chosen long months ago finally came alive at his finger tips. All the planning, the training, the times he'd received he Pain, it was all worth it in that single moment of elation. In that instant, he was a god. The mobile suit's radar detected three more soldiers taking cover under Chaos's cradle. He stomped the cradle into scrap metal and found the soldiers, cowering before him. He locked on with his CIWS.

"Worth it." He fired.

# # #

Auel felt elation when his new Abyss Gundam activated, but he was too giddy with the firepower now at his hands to enjoy the experience. And Stella was too cold and heartless, at least in combat, to really feel emotion. At least, that's what Neo suspected. He opened Abyss's shoulder shields and unfolded the Baileena Kai beam cannons.

"Time to blow stuff up!" He fired into the door.

# # #

Nine beams pierced through the heavy hangar door and blasted apart a pair of GuAIZ Rs sitting opposite that particular hangar. Lacus, Athrun, Cagalli, Durandal, and about everyone within eye or sensor range of the blast, turned to see the spectacle.

# # #

The array of that attack. That wasn't some GaZuoot or something. That had to be a single unit. But that many beams was impossible! Even Freedom didn't have that much firepower! Hell, Calamity hadn't had that much firepower!

Kira stared, horrified, as Abyss stepped out of the smoking rubble. He turned Freedom and unfolded its Baileena beam cannons and Xiphias Railcannons, and aimed Freedom's Lupus Beam rifle. He locked every weapon on that unit.

Abyss unfolded its shoulder shields and Baileena Kai cannons again, this time aiming at Freedom, though it couldn't lock on like Freedom. Auel grinned and fired first. Kira's eyes went wide, and he dodged.

"Oh, man! Not good!" Then Chaos and Gaia stepped out. "Three new gundams? Damn!" he hadn't taken on three gundams since the Bloody Valentine, and they hadn't had Nuclear Reactors! Then again, N-Jammer Cancellers were illegal, so maybe these units didn't have them. The three gundams suddenly went from grey to Blue, Green, and Black.

'If they run on battery,' Kira thought grimly, 'then they're probably damn good batteries.' This would be even worse than Forbidden, Calamity, and Raider. Kira flipped on a few buttons. He'd kept Freedom disconnected from the ZAFT FOF update system for a long time. The three Gundams were suddenly bracketed onto Freedom's target scanner central screen. He read the three names.

'Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss.' Freedom's radiation scanners, though not designed to scan other targets, picked up enough range to tell Kira that they weren't using fission.

# # #

"Let's blast it!" Auel cried, laughing as he fired at Freedom. The white suit dodged and weaved through Abyss's multiple beam cannon blasts.

'Stop wasting your ammo!' Sting snarled. 'Take out the mobile suits! Leave that white bastard to me!'

"Stella! You take the left!"

'Understood.' Gaia ran off, transforming into its Quadruped mode.

# # #

Chaos lunged at Freedom, blades of energy snapping from its feet and the beam saber in its hand. Kira set Freedom's Lupus on its back and drew a beam saber.

"Let's Go!" he shouted, charging.

# # #

"It's the new models! Someone's taking them!" a greencoat shouted.

"What?!" Durandal cried, horrified. Athrun was taken aback. What kind of new models? A beam cannon blast drew his attention, and Cagalli's to the answer.

Abyss blew apart A GuAIZ R with its Callidus.

"That's a…" he said, voice weak.

"A gundam!" Lacus finished for him.

"Ms. Clyne, Attha, please find safety." Durandal said. He nodded to a Praetorian. The guard stepped up to Lacus and Cagalli. Athrun looked to the pair. Freedom shot past.

"Kira!" Athrun shouted.

"This way!" The guard said, and led Cagalli and Lacus away. Athrun gritted his teeth and chased after them. He heard out the corner of his ear Durandal giving orders to call the Minevra for backup.

Ahead, Abyss stabbed a GuAIZ R's head unit, then kicked it over. The GuAIZ exploded, taking the guard with it. Athrun pulled Lacus and Cagalli out the fire's reach.

"Why is this happening?!" Cagalli shouted. A thunderous crash drew Athrun's attention. He looked to see that new unit he'd seen, on its back, its cockpit open.

"Come on." He ran to the open cockpit. Cagalli and Lacus followed him. "Get in." Lacus jumped atop the unit and dropped into the cockpit.

"Wait, we can't steal this machine!" Cagalli started. Athrun sweeped her up, bridal style, and jumped in.

# # #

Kira blocked the beam claws with Freedom's shield. These units were making Freedom look inept! He sighed and went into SEED Mode. He broke away from Chaos and flipped over it. Chaos flipped and folded into a mobile armor mode, firing a beam cannon. Kira dodged, surprised. Chaos fell back to the ground, folding open in Mobile Suit mode again. Kira dived at it, drawing a Lacerta back.

# # #

Athrun powered up the Zaku Warrior and raised it to its feet. Athrun looked around and saw Gaia turning towards him. Gaia raised its beam rifle and fired. Athrun dodged, firing the Zaku's boosters. He flipped the weapon selector to beam tomahawk. The Zaku pulled a weapon from its shoulder shield. Athrun charged and rammed the gundam, the Zaku's shoulder shield moving between the Zaku and Gaia. The black and red gundam dropped its beam rifle, and ground to a halt. Then it reached for its beam saber.

# # #

Kira felt a beam saber ignite and looked to the source. The black one was attacking a Zaku. Kira drew his beam rifle and fired. The Black one blocked and jumped away. He turned back just in time to block a beam cannon blast from the Chaos.

Kira was beginning to feel for the three Gundams' abilities. But they didn't even know Kira, or Freedom. He flipped and fired his beam cannons, blasting Chaos to the ground. Kira dodged the beam salvo from Abyss, locked on, and fired Full Burst. Abyss jumped out of the way, the blast catching the read end of its left shoulder shield, turning one ram cannon to slag.

Abyss was just an upgraded version of Calamity with too many beam cannons, and Chaos was just a wannabe Aegis with gunbarrels. He lunged at Gaia. Gaia slashed, and Kira boosted back, then charged again, when a beam salvo missed him by a hair. He turned to fire on Abyss, when Chaos fired its missiles at Freedom. Kira backpedaled and fired Freedom's machine guns and CIWS, detonating the missiles.

Gaia was suddenly charging Freedom, beam blades extended. The Zaku was between them, and it tackled Gaia aside.

# # #

'Core Splendor to main catapult. Opening Silhouette Hangar two, Sword Module selected.' A fighterjet on a platform was raised into a launch catapult. The pilot pushed the throttle full out, and the jet shot forward.

# # #

"What's wrong with me today? These punks should be no trouble!" Kira shouted at himself. He locked onto Chaos's head, Abyss's shoulder shields, and Gaia's beam blades. He fired. The gundams dodged Freedom's barrage and together aimed and fired at Freedom. Kira dodged.

# # #

Auel growled at Freedom's lack of courtesy to just keel over and DIE, then looked at the Zaku. He opened the shoulder shields and aimed. A missile shot right into Abyss's chest. Auel cried out as Abyss tripped, and looked around. He saw a blue and white blur shoot by.

# # #

Kira saw the four craft circle around Freedom and the three second stage gundams, then fly straight up. The jet and the slimmer large section connected by lasers and slid together, forming a gundam's lower half.

'Don't tell me…' Kira thought, surprised by the sudden turn of events. The other large section connected to the lower half and jet, then the fourth flier dropped a back pack that attached to the new mobile suit. It phase shifted to White and red, with gold antennae. Kira was suddenly reminded of the Strike, with the removable backpack, the shield.

His eyes went even wider. "No way!"

# # #

Shinn landed the ZGMF-X56S/beta Sword Impulse Gundam between Abyss and the Zaku, duel 'Excalibur' anti-ship swords in hand. He connected the sword and activated them, swinging the combined double-bladed anti-ship sword in a circle.

"Why is this happening? Do you want to create another one? Another war?!"

# # #

"No, princess, Strength is a necessity. There will always be conflict." Everyone in the Zaku's cockpit was staring, eyes wide. Cagalli's heart was racing. It was Athrun, however, who spoke. His terrified tone sent shivers down Cagalli's spine.

"Is that the Strike?"

# # #

Next: Those Who Call for War