Chapter Two: Fate

The boy was now a man, observed Graham. Far from the scrawny child he had seen five years ago. He looked nervous, though he hid it well from the untrained eye. Graham no longer held any hatred towards him, yet he could not help but vindictively enjoy his captive's unease. Question was, what was he going to do with him? He was not ready to give him up to the Federation yet. He was on a three day break and he did not like the idea of leaving the young man at the hands of the government while not being able to monitor what was going on.

In truth, however, the main reason was due more out of honor. Graham owed him one. Just one. But despite that, Graham could not just let him go, not after years of chasing him. At the very least, he wanted to know who he had been fighting with.

At the moment, the only option was to take the young man to his beach house in Punta del Este. Most routes in Uruguay where scenic; it was a gorgeous if very small country. The splendor of the Atlantic to their left accompanied them throughout the entire journey down Claudio Williman Road. It was not far from where they fatefully bumped into each other once again.

Graham holstered his gun to park in front of a two story, white-washed rustic house that stood right across the street from a semi-private beach. The young man's large eyes scanned him warily. Graham had never seen him up close before and noticed the unique shade of maroon of his irises.

They're beautiful, thought Graham.

Without warning, the young man drew a handgun and pointed it at him but Graham was quick, had expected it, sensed it. He snatched his wrist and slammed it against the dashboard, making him drop it with a cry of pain. Graham then took hold of the other wrist and, lunging his weight forward, pinned the young man against his seat with his wrists on either side of his head.

"Are we gonna do this the hard way or the civil way? It's up to you, Celestial Being, and personally I don't want to get blood in my new car!"

Glaring up at him, the young man flared his nostrils angrily but grew lax in Graham's grip. "Why did you bring me here?"

"I'll be asking the questions," retorted Graham. "Why is Celestial Being in this country? It's always been a peaceful one."

Looking him straight in the eye, the young man answered firmly, "I'm not here on a mission."

Graham scoffed, "Can Celestial Being afford to take a break?"

The young man did not answer.

After a short pause, he asked with a more civil tone, "When we first met I introduced myself, but you never told me your name."

For a split second, the young man seemed to contemplate something before answering, "My name is Setsuna F. Seiei."

Considering that "Setsuna" did not look Japanese, Graham said, "That's not your real name, is it?"

Setsuna looked away without responding.

Deciding it was best to check him for more weapons before releasing him, Graham patted him down perfunctorily and found a small pistol strapped to his ankle. He took that and the handgun that had slid down the dashboard to rest against the windshield and stuffed them both into his pants, then withdrew back to his own seat.

After a tense moment, he wracked up the calm to speak again. "There is one thing that I always wanted to ask you, Setsuna. Why? Why did you become the pilot of a Gundam? You couldn't have been seriously trying to eradicate war through force. And you were too young to be piloting a war machine in the first place."

A pregnant pause ensued and just as Graham thought that Setsuna would not answer him, his large, maroon eyes pinned him with an intense stare. There was so much in them, despite the young man's control over his facial features. Poised yet passionate. Everything about him had always been a contradiction.

"Why do you need to know so badly," asked Setsuna softly.

Graham remembered everything; remembered their first encounter, Setsuna's adolescent jibes and his impulsive, all-or-nothing manner of fighting that was typical of a child-soldier; remembered his desperate determination during the momentous battle five years ago that had scarred Graham; and he remembered their final battle. What Graham had initially thought with disappointment was a weakened fighting spirit, had truly been Setsuna's hard-earned maturity. He had transformed, become a man at peace with himself. Even as Graham had found purpose in battle, had decided to live and die by the sword, Setsuna had taken the opposite path.

After that final defeat, Graham had felt an overwhelming desire to know what drove the young man he had obsessed over for so long—it was the only thing that had kept him from committing seppuku. How could he express all of that into words?

"Last time you said to me: fight to live. Ever since...I have only desired to understand what those words meant. You found an answer, a truth that only you understand. I thought I had found mine years ago but...now I don't know. I need to understand."

Much to Graham's surprise, Setsuna gave him a small smile and nodded as if his explanation had made perfect sense. His entire demeanor changed, body language more complacent. For some reason, Graham felt like that moment was the most important in his life—as if the path that Fate had pushed him towards was for this. This was his destination.

"Okay," said Setsuna, and he told Graham everything as if spilling his guts out to his enemy was the most natural thing to do. He talked about his life in Krugis and the man that kidnapped him, conditioned him under the extremist views of Wahhabist Islam. Of course, Graham thought. That was something that even in the twenty-fourth century still plagued the middle east: kidnapping and brainwashing small children into terrorism.

Until Celestial Being came. There had not been a single terrorist movement in years.

Graham was finally beginning to understand. He did not condone Setsuna's actions, but it was difficult to have a hard-line view of such a mitigated case.

Setsuna told him about the war that destroyed his home country, admitted his fear of suicide bombing and due to such insanity, how he gradually came to realize the deception and evil of religions and his conclusive disbelief in God. His eyes seemed to light up as he told Graham about the Gundam that had saved him, of how Aeola Shenberg's ideals revived him, gave him purpose.

It seemed to Graham that Setsuna had not fully killed God but exchanged one for another: the Gundam. His faith in the power of the Gundam combined with his own will were insurmountable.

"I knew only how to fight," said Setsuna. "I thought that was the only way I could bring about peace. And I so wanted it. I was angry all the time but that anger was subtle—I hadn't realize it was stitched so deeply in me. That anger...it was under everything I thought and felt, twisted me up inside. Because the world made little sense to me—it was twisted too and I wanted to tear that twistedness out."

Graham recalled their battle five years ago, how the boy had cried, "You've become twisted!" He had referred to Graham's hatred. A hatred Celestial Being had implanted in him. Graham had spit back, "You made me this way!"

In face of Setsuna's childhood story, Graham now understood the madness that had infected him back then, infected them both, pushing them into conflict. He saw the "twistedness" that Setsuna had so desperately tried to combat but only made worse.

"But instead," continued Setsuna, "we plunged the world into greater chaos—gave the governments an excuse to tighten their hold over people's lives and commit even worse atrocities. It was then that I understood that I could not reform the world as I was—as nothing more than the guerrilla fighter I was in Krugis, only with a Gundam. I needed to reform myself.

Imagine if everyone made that decision. To stop trying to control the world and what other people did and instead looked within themselves for change and for that dormant ability they have to understand others. If everyone evolved, we could truly begin to understand each other at a deeper level, mind to mind. And...the truth is: you cannot hate something you understand. Governments cannot manipulate their people into war if they cannot breed hate in them.

And the day we finally move out into deep space, it won't be as the war-infected, hate-mongering society we are now. If we learn to understand each other, we can learn to understand what is out there. I know now that, that cannot happen through force, not because a government or organization oppresses people into a false peace, or because religions manipulate the fears and avarice of a tormented people...it has to happen through our own will. Because each one of us decided to take that step, turn that seemingly impossible dream into a reality.

Perhaps that method is more hopeless than the eradication of war through armed force, but I believe that with my Gundam I can do it. Plant the seed of the future and make it grow and not through fighting. I have so much left to do. I haven't stopped reforming myself yet."

Setsuna turned his head to look outside his window where the sky glowed orange above the rooftops. The light of the setting sun lit his eyes, made them gleam nearly red. A fitting eye color for such a passionate youth, thought Graham.

He still remembered the unbearable humiliation and loathing that Celestial Being had roused from him in the past, and yet he could not even dredge up annoyance at that moment. After all, most child soldiers either did not live to see adulthood or they became the worst scum of the planet. This one somehow had a pure streak a mile wide. That in itself was a feat worth noting.

"So your goal is a "brotherhood of man". Isn't that from the Koran?" Graham laughed at the irony.

Turning to face him head on, Setsuna said, "Yeah. So?"

When Graham laughed harder, Setsuna's face split into a grin. He looked beautiful.

"You know," Graham started after he calmed down, "A man sometimes thinks he has another man figured out, but never does. The entire time I was changing myself, mind and body, to be purely skilled in war so that I could defeat you...you were reforming yourself to be skilled in making peace. No wonder I had thought you'd gone soft! But you hadn't. You'd become stronger. I was no match for you."

The way Setsuna looked at him made him look older than his years. It stirred something inside Graham's chest.

"I was a fool," he added.

"No," replied Setsuna softly. "You did what you had to. Would you understand any of this now if you hadn't made the choices you did?"

"You are too young to be so wise." Graham sighed and let his head fall back against the car seat.

One thing that the young man had said stuck with him: "You cannot hate what you understand."

How could he deliver the Gundam pilot to the Federation now, knowing what he did? A lesser soldier with no warrior will of his own would have, but a lesser soldier would not have asked Setsuna: "why?"

They sat in contemplative silence until he heard Setsuna mutter, "Graham Aker..."

"Yeah?"

"What was that about love you mentioned all those years ago?" The young man's voice sounded amused.

"What?"

"You had told me you came to hate the Gundams—that I can understand. But what did you mean about love?"

Graham chortled softly. "I was there at the AEU's testing exhibition when you made your first intervention. I witnessed the whole thing. What can I say? It was love at first sight."

Setsuna laughed, softly at first, then it grew, a youthful sound full of mirth. Even his laugh his fucking gorgeous, Graham thought, and suddenly realized that the kid was making him soft. "Shit!"

That seemed to sober Setsuna up. "What is it?"

"Nothing. What the hell am I going to do with you?"

"You're going to let me go."

Those words were like a gunshot to his stomach. Graham sat up and leaned in close to him. "What if I don't want to let you go," his whispered, his voice sounding far more intimate than he had intended.

Leaning away slightly, a delicate crease formed between Setsuna's eyes as he stared up at Graham. He opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it and looked down. Strangely, that show of coyness made Graham swallow hard. "I want to continue this conversation inside," he said. "It's getting dark."

Setsuna nodded.

"You're surprisingly compliant," observed Graham.

"Because...you said you want to understand me. I am willing to do the same with you. Someone once told me: that is the true path to peace. I didn't agree back then. But I want to take that step now."

Stymied, Graham realized that therein was the reason why he felt like this meeting, and the young man's cooperation, were so momentous. He nodded solemnly and led Setsuna into his vacation home. Graham turned on the light to reveal a large room with a high ceiling of dark wood beams, a red stone floor, white walls and tall windows framed with dark wood, overlooking a lush garden. Pale drapes hung delicately from them. It was a sitting room with modern but rustic furniture. A stairway curved down towards the entry hall and an archway seemed to lead to the kitchen.

"Beautiful home," said Setsuna.

"Thanks," Graham replied automatically, but his mind was elsewhere. He was growing concerned with the emotions that Setsuna's story roused in him. For once, he damned himself for being a Virgo.

"Can't believe I'm in the home of a Federation officer."

"Yeah, well, life is unpredictable."

"It sure is."

Graham turned to him. "What were you running from?"

Setsuna looked confused. "What?"

"When you ran in front of my car, you were running from something. That much is clear."

Having expected to be shrugged off, Graham did not expect Setsuna's eyes to widen as a fierce blush lit up his cheeks. The young man turned his face away to hide his reaction but Graham had already seen it.

Interesting, he thought. "What happened?"

"Nothing!"

"Oh, please, look at you! You were so calm and in control while telling me the horrors you witnessed as a child but now you suddenly lose it at the thought of whatever it is that made you run? Must be something big."

"It's none of your business!"

Such an emotional response only fueled Graham's fascination. This was the abrasive boy he had met during their first clash—as if something had caused him to regress to his old, defensive self. Once again, he simply could not get enough of him.

Graham grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him against the wall of the stairway. "Considering that I nearly killed you and was able to capture you because of it, I do think it's my business. Fate is at work here and I need to know."

Looking up, Setsuna raised an eyebrow at him. "First love, now fate? You're a strange one."

"Takes one to know one."

With a sigh, Setsuna closed his eyes and shook his head. "I..." he began, then thought better of it and sighed again. He looked away and whispered, "I ran from a girl."

"Come again?"

Setsuna turned to glare at him briefly before shyly looking away again. "I ran from a girl, okay!"

"You...ran from a girl?"

Setsuna nodded, ears bright red sticking out from his black, wavy locks. "Like I said: it's none of your business!"

"Now I have to hear this!"

"I said it's nothing!"

"Oh, it's something, all right. A bonefied Gundam pilot scared of women? This is rich!"

This earned him an intense glare from Setsuna, which made something in his stomach jump funnily. It was disconcerting that after everything Celestial Being made him go through, and after all that Setsuna told him of himself, that he would find himself growing attracted to the younger man. He had to put an end to this.

Clearing his throat, Graham let go of his shoulder and stepped back. "I won't hand you over to the Federation today, you have my word. Consider us even now."

Setsuna pulled himself away from the wall and walked further into the room, looking around. Graham watched him for a moment. He was dressed in a well tailored shirt and pair of jeans that hugged his lithe figure perfectly. He was a little on the short side, and Graham himself was not a tall man. Anyone on the outside would never guess this was the Gundam pilot for the white Gundam that had devastated armies.

From afar they would see a normal young man, probably a college student. Up close, however, they would see the intensity of his stare, the tiny, almost unnoticeable nicks and scars on his face. They would sense he was different, but civilians never thought beyond the superficial. Beyond a quiet and private individual, they would never guess at the extraordinary strength and passion that simmered just beneath the surface of Setsuna F. Seiei.

He was a rare gem, rarer than a hundred caret diamond. Graham felt it would be a shame to let him go, but let him go he must. In an alternate universe where the world was not so "twisted", Graham would have asked him out for coffee. And if Setsuna batted for Graham's team, he would have asked him out.

Such a shame, he thought. "I'll go make coffee," he said as he walked towards the kitchen. "Just make yourself at home."

"You're just going to turn your back on your enemy while he's standing in your home?"

"Are we enemies today?" Graham stopped but did not turn around.

"...I guess today we're not."

That's right. Today, we're only going to understand each other. Graham allowed himself a small smile and went into the kitchen. As he put a tea kettle to boil water and dropped coffee grains into a cloth filter he held over a mug, he remained attuned to Setsuna's movements. He could hear him walking around, stopping now and then to look at something that caught his interest.

Reason dictated he should drive Setsuna back to the city, not sit and have coffee with him. But he could not let him go just yet. Just a bit longer, he told himself. Who knew when they would meet again like this, if ever. The world was peaceful now, more than it has ever been, but things were still uncertain.

Returning with two mugs of steaming coffee which he placed on the thick, oaken coffee table, he sat on the plush, white couch and motioned Setsuna to sit next to him. The act seemed both unreal and natural. The young man settled rather close to him, and Graham doubted it was intentional, but it brought him the sudden urge to occupy his hands. He reached for his cup and took a sip.

"Thanks," muttered Setsuna, and brought his own cup to his lips.

Graham watched him from the corner of his eye. The kid had good features: straight nose, perfectly marked lips, angular jawline and large, expressive eyes. Stop it, he told himself. Besides he's like ten years your junior.

"Setsuna, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever been in a relationship?" When Setsuna did not answer, Graham added dryly, "That wasn't with your Gundam."

"Of course not. I never had the..." He seemed unable to finish and Graham winced at his own carelessness.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine."

"So why were you running from that girl?"

Setsuna sent him a vexed glance. "I thought we were done talking about it?"

"Does it have something to do with your inexperience with women?"

Sighing, Setsuna leaned forward and placed his mug rather hard on the table. When he threw himself back to sprawl on the couch he seemed resigned. His lips parted several times as if he was trying to find the words to say but none seem to fit. Finally, he said, "Every time a girl gets close to me...I see my mother. I still...I haven't gotten over what had happened."

Graham was rendered speechless. That was rather unexpected and hard to take.

"I think...I'm not right," continued Setsuna.

Shaking his head, Graham turned his body towards Setsuna to give him his full attention with an arm draped over the back of the couch and his knee coming to rest on the seat. "No. You're fine. What happened to you isn't something you just forget and pretend didn't happen. If you didn't have issues with it, then it would be worrisome. I'm just sorry that something like that has affected your social life."

He waited for a response and when Setsuna nodded, he continued, "However if you are on the path to reform yourself for the better, you need to face this. You're strong, stronger than most."

Setsuna rested his head over the back of the couch, seeming to contemplate Graham's words. "The girl, she was a hook up," he confessed quietly. "A friend said the same thing you did. But when she took her clothes off, I felt nothing for her. And when she pressed my hand to her breast, that's when I ran. And I felt bad for it, but I just don't know why I feel bad."

"So you feel nothing for a naked woman?"

Shaking his head, Setsuna answered, "I'm not misguided by extremist views anymore, but I think that deep in me those roots still have a firm hold over me. And I worked so hard to change the way I see things, but I can't seem to shake this."

The poor kid looked truly distraught at his own confusion and Graham wanted to comfort him. Perhaps Setsuna did not realize that Islamic extremists still felt lust for women, they simply considered it a weakness, but they did not, could not, completely suppress it. Graham suspected that his confusion stemmed from something other than his Islamic past. Something that might or might not freak the young man out. Something more in common with Graham's own lack of interest in women.

Setsuna was difficult to predict: so strong and willing to overcome every personal flaw, yet damaged and fragile, as well. Since Graham did not know when they would meet again, he thought it was now or never. But he had to tread carefully. It was a delicate matter.

"Setsuna, I think I know what your real issue is...but before I tell you, you must promise me you won't take it the wrong way, okay?"

Setsuna turned his face to blink at him. "Okay."

Graham cleared his throat. They were interrupted by a loud buzzard. Graham swore under his breath and got up to look through the small, arched window on the door. He swore again when he saw who it was.

"Billy!"

"What?"

Graham slew around just as he saw Setsuna stand up on alert. "You gotta hide!"

Eyes wide, Setsuna nodded and swiftly made his way upstairs. After waiting a few moments to give the young man time, he drew in a breath and turned to open the door. "Billy! What are you doing here?"

His friend shot him a tense smile. "Hey, Graham. Can I come in?"

"Of course!" Stepping aside to let Billy in, he asked, "What are you doing in Uruguay?"

His friend's grave demeanor told him that something was wrong. Billy made his way further in before turning around, his expression serious. "I came to see you. I thought you might be interested to know: Intel has located Celestial Being and they're right here, where you're vacationing. In your own words, my friend, it must be fate!"

A/N I apologize profusely for another cliff hanger. I promise it's not intentional. However, good news: you all won't be waiting years for the next update. I'm writing again!

I had good reason for not updating till now. If you're interested to know, here's the long and short of it: it's difficult to write when you're homeless and jobless. Three years ago I finally found a place, got my life together. I recently bought a laptop but even then I've been kept busy – I've got a disabled mother and a younger sister, and I'm the only income in our household.

Even so, I do hope I haven't lost too many of my readers! You guys seemed so enthused about this story and I felt like shit for having to disappoint so many of you. Now I hope I haven't disappointed with this latest chapter! :)

Feedback may not be a life source but, as with any red blooded laborer, it would improve my day ^_^ so drop a line...won't hurt none (wink).

More is coming soon. I promise. And thanks for the patience guys!