Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Athrun's Betryal ❯ In the Hands of the Enemy ( Chapter 5 )

Athrun's Betrayal

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: (crawls out of dark hole) I'm sorry for not updating for six months, more or less. I'm pathetic, huh? I lost my inspiration for this for the longest time. But then I found the episodes online so I can watch them for free and now I have my inspiration back. Don't kill me!!

 

Chapter 5 In the Hands of the Enemy

Dearka pounded on Nicol's door for what seemed like ages. He was worried; he hadn't been seen since he had gone to tell Athrun the news of Kira's execution and he wasn't answering his phone. He stepped back and waited as Le Creuset punched in the code that manually unlocked the door. It slid open with a mechanical hiss and he, Le Creuset, and Yzak hurried inside. The room was empty, but the bathroom door was locked.

“Nicol? Nicol are you all right?” Dearka demanded, pounding on the door. There was no answer.

“Stand back,” Le Creuset ordered. Dearka backed away and stood next to Yzak as Le Creuset kicked the door in. It fell down with a mighty crash and Le Creuset rushed in. Yzak and Dearka glanced at each other before following. They stopped dead in their tracks. The room stank of blood and it was everywhere. There was some streaked on the bathtub, walls, toilet, and even the mirror, but most of it was pooled around Nicol's pale, limp body. He was lying face down with his head pointed towards the bathtub, his standard-issue knife clutched tightly in his fist. Le Creuset, who had been squatting down next to him and had had two fingers on the boy's neck sighed softly and rose.

“He is dead,” he said with a shake of his head. “But why? Why would he do such a thing?” The words hit Dearka like a load of bricks. He swayed unsteadily on the sop, reaching for something, anything to keep him upright.

“Dearka!” Yzak cried softly. He reached out and grabbed Dearka's arm. His cry seemed to snap Le Creuset out of his musings. He turned around and saw Yzak supporting a collapsing Dearka.

“Get him out of here!” He snapped at Yzak, pointing to Dearka. Yzak nodded and half dragged Dearka out of the bathroom. They didn't stop until they had reached his own room. Yzak forced him to sit on the edge of his bed.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

Dearka nodded. “There was…so much blood. It was everywhere. And the smell…” he shivered lightly. “It's not like I haven't seen blood before--I've seen way too much of it. But with Nicol…” He shivered again.

“It's going to be okay,” Yzak murmured. “You're going to be okay.” Dearka shook his head, but couldn't find the words to say. A while later, Le Creuset came in to check on Dearka. He was trembling slightly.

“Commander Le Creuset, Athrun Zala has stolen the Gamow!” an officer ran into the room.

“What?!” Le Creuset turned around. Dearka and Yzak gasped softly.

“He took Strikes pilot and left with the Gamow. We're currently trying to find them, but it looks like they've gotten a pretty good head start on us.”
“I want you to calculate all possible routes for the Gamow and let me know what you find immediately.”
“Yes sir.” The soldier saluted and left.

“Athrun you bastard,” Yzak growled softly.

“I can't believe he'd do something like that,” Dearka said thoughtfully.

“I wonder…” Le Creuset murmured.

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The warning alarms on the Archangel rang loudly.

“What's going on?” Captain Ramius asked, coming onto the bridge.

“I'm not sure,” one of the officers answered.

“Attention Archangel. This is Athrun Zala, the pilot of the Aegis. I am bringing both the Strike and the Aegis to you. Please cut your engines,” a voice crackled over the radio.

“Athrun Zala, what about the pilot of the Strike?” Captain Ramius asked.

“Kira is here with me. He'll be returning to you as well.”
“What about yourself.”
“I surrender.”

“Captain, what should we do?” Ensign Bageruil asked.

“I don't know.'
“Captain Ramius, this is Kira Yamato.”
“Kira?!”
“You can trust Athrun. He means you no harm.”

“Very well. Lt. La Flaga will meet you in the Mobile Armor. You will hand Kira and the Strike over to Lt. La Flaga and then surrender yourself and be escorted to the Archangel. Is this all right?” There was a pause.
“I agree. Kira will come to you and then I will surrender. Please stand by.”
“Very well.” Captain Ramius turned to where Lt. La Flaga was waiting in the shadows. “Please board the Mobile Armor and escort the Aegis to the Archangel.”

“Yes ma'am,” Lt. La Flaga saluted and left.

“Are you sure you want to trust him?” Ensign Bageruil asked.

“For some reason, I have the feeling that we can trust him.” Ensign Bageruil growled softly under her breath but did not argue.

 

Lt. La Flaga launched the Mobile Armor and waited patiently in space. A few minutes later, he saw the Strike come into view. It had initially been badly damaged in the battle with the ZAFT soldiers, but it looked like it had been partially rebuilt.

“Kira? Is that you?” Lt. La Flaga asked.

“Yes it is. I'm all right,” Kira answered. The sound of Kira's voice made him smile.

“Good. See ya aboard the Archangel.”

“Yes sir.” The Strike passed the Mobile Armor and made its way back to the Archangel. Then the Aegis appeared. It slowed down as it approached the Mobile Armor.

“Athrun Zala I presume,” Lt. La Flaga said.

“Yes, that's right.”

“All right. You go first and I'll come behind you. Don't try anything funny. I'm warning you.”

“Don't worry. I have no intention of fighting you.” Lt. La Flaga was surprised at how calm the boy sounded.

“All right.” He escorted the Aegis back to the Archangel and immediately got out. The Strike was already emptied of its pilot and the said chocolate-haired boy was being surrounded by everyone in the hanger.

“I'm all right, really,” he was saying over and over again as Lt. La Flaga approached him.

“Hey kid,” Lt. La Flaga smiled. “I'm glad to see you're okay.” Kira smiled as well. Then, the smile quickly faded away as he turned towards the Aegis. As the door slowly lowered, guards with guns swarmed around it.

“Come out with your hands up behind your head or we'll shoot you!” One of them ordered.

“All right, all right I'm coming,” a voice said, annoyed. A figure dressed in a ZAFT flight suit appeared with his hands behind his head. As he jumped out of the cockpit and neatly landed on the ground, they could see that he was just a kid. Even though they already knew this, it was still quite a shock to see. He was rather handsome with long black hair and stunning emerald green eyes. His calm expression never faltered even though there were multiple guns pointed at him. The captain and other officers came down from the bridge.

“You are the pilot of the Aegis?” Captain Ramius asked.

“Yes ma'am I am he,” the boy answered.

“And you surrender?”

“Yes.”

“Very well.” Captain Ramius turned to the guards. “Escort him to the prison area.”

“Yes ma'am,” the guards saluted.

One poked Athrun in the back with the gun. “Let's go.”

“No, don't!” Kira protested running forward.

“It's all right, Kira,” the boy said softly. Kira stopped running and stared at the dark-haired boy in shock.

“Ath…run?” he breathed lightly. Their eyes locked and Athrun smiled.

“It's okay,” he repeated. He passively followed the guards away. As he passed Kira's friends who were near the door, one of the girls and one of the boys scowled. Athrun calmly gazed at them. Then, he was gone.

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“I told you for the last time that I'm fine!” Kira protested loudly as he sat the sick bay, a doctor trying to examine him.

“Stop being stubborn Kira and just let him examine you,” Tolle snapped. Kira rolled his eyes. He and the doctor vanished behind the curtain.

 

“Kuzzey, would you mind taking the prisoner his food today?” Sai asked as the two boys went up to the cafeteria later in the day.

“Uh…why?” Kuzzey asked.

Sai sighed softly. “Tolle was supposed to do it, but he's up in the sick bay with Kira and so is Mirallia and Flay won't go anywhere near him.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”
“Why can't you take him his food yourself?”
“I…uh…” Sai sighed softly again. “Look, just do it okay? Please?”

“All right,” Kuzzey nodded. After he had eaten, he grabbed the tray of food that was designated for Athrun and took it down to the prison area. He took a deep breath before approaching the cell where the boy was being held.

“Um…hello?” he asked, slowly stepping forward. “A…Athrun?”
“Yeah?” said a cool voice from the shadows.

“I brought you your lunch,” Kuzzey stepped forward again and slid the tray of food under the bars.

“Thanks,” the boy said. He slowly came out of the shadows.

“Hey um…can I ask you something?” Kuzzey asked.

“Sure.”

“You were Kira's friend?”
“Yes. He and I went to the same school on the moon. When we separated, he was supposed to follow me to the Plants, which is where…Coordinators lived, but then…the war broke out. The next time I met him, we were on opposite sides of the battlefield.”
“Oh. I see. Um…why…why did you bring him back?” Athrun's face darkened and he didn't say anything. Kuzzey started to leave.

“They were…” Athrun started to say. Kuzzey stopped and turned around. “They were…going to kill him for being a traitor. I had to do something. I couldn't let them kill him.” Kuzzey felt tears in his eyes. He couldn't think of anything else to say. Sighing softly, he left the pilot alone with his thoughts.

 

 

Up on the bridge, the officers were having a serious discussion.

“So what are we going to do?” Lt. La Flaga asked.

“Actually, I'm not sure,” Captain Ramius admitted. “It's a trick situation because he willingly surrendered to us without putting up a fight.”
“Hey, do you think that ZAFT would consider him a traitor now that he's gone and done this?” Lt. La Flaga asked.

“What do you mean?”
“Well, he brought us not only the Strike but the Aegis as well. Somehow, I get the feeling that he didn't have permission to do that.”

“But why? Why would he do such a thing?”

“I don't know. We have no idea of what went on while Kira was being held prisoner by ZAFT.”

“The name Zala rings a bell for some reason, though I can't think of why.”

“Yes, I agree. The name is familiar.”

“So what are we going to do with him?” Lt. La Flaga asked again.

“Right now, nothing. We'll have to get in touch with the proper authorities and go from there.”
“All right.” Most of the officers went back to their work.

“Captain, that name Zala is bugging me like crazy. I know I should remember where I heard it before, but I don't,” Lt. La Flaga said in a low voice.

“I know,” Captain Ramius smiled. “It's bugging me too. I've ordered a little research to be done to see if anything can be dug up about him.”

“Captain, I found the information you wanted on the boy,” an officer suddenly appeared, saluting.

“That was fast,” Captain Ramius said in surprise.

“It was not hard to find information at all. It's not good though.”
“What do you mean?”

“Apparently, Athrun Zala is the son of Chairman Patrick Zala.”

“He's what?!” Captain Ramius gasped.

“Oh shit,” Lt. La Flaga breathed. “So you're telling me that we have the kid of Patrick Zala on board?!”

“Yes, I know what that implies too,” Captain Ramius said sadly.

“Begging your pardon ma'am, but what does Patrick Zala have to do with any of this?” the officer who had brought the information asked.

Captain Ramius and Lt. La Flaga both stared at him in shock. “You mean you don't know who Patrick Zala is?”

“Uh…no,” the officer answered. “Should I?”
“Well, yes. Patrick Zala is the leader of ZAFT now. It was only a recent appointment but he is now in charge of ZAFT's forces,” Lt. La Flaga explained.
“Wow,” the officer breathed.

“Although Patrick Zala is Athrun's father, he made the personal decision to surrender to us,” Captain Ramius said.

“Yes, that's true.”

“Ma'am, there's something else you should know,” the officer said, sounding slightly nervous.

“What is it?” Captain Ramius asked.

“His mom died in the Junius Seven incident.”

“What?!”

“Oh man,” Lt. La Flaga said, shaking his head. “What are the chances of that?”

“Thank you,” Captain Ramius turned away. “He has all the reasons to hate the Earth Alliance but yet here he is willingly surrendering to us. It doesn't make sense,” she said more to herself than to the others.

Lt. La Flaga heard. “With all due respect captain, I think there is some sense we can make out of his actions.”
“Oh?” Captain Ramius raised her eyebrows.

“This pilot and Kira were friends once, right?”

“Well, that's what we heard.”
“So it would make sense if he would go to great lengths to protect his friend, right?”
“Well…”

“I think it makes sense that Athrun would return Kira to us, though I'm not quite sure of why he would surrender unless…” he quickly broke off.

“Unless what?”

Lt. La Flaga quickly glanced at her. “I'll be right back.” He quickly left.

“Lt. La Flaga wait!” Captain Ramius protested, but it was too late. Captain Ramius sighed softly and rubbed her temples. Meanwhile, Lt. La Flaga silently rushed down the corridors towards the prison area. He did not stop to think until he had reached his destination. Then, he proceeded cautiously into the prison area, which was thankfully deserted. He stopped outside the cell where the Aegis's pilot was being held, Athrun was his name.

“Hey, uh Athrun?” he asked.

“Yeah?” came the surprisingly calm voice from the shadows.

“I would like to talk to you. I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga,” Lt. La Flaga said, stepping forward.

“Okay…”
“I want to ask you something. Why did you surrender yourself? Is it because you can't go back to ZAFT because you'll be executed for being a traitor?” The boy gave an audible gasp.

“How did you…?” Lt. La Flaga didn't answer. “Is that all you wanted me to answer?”
“No, there's one other thing.”
“All right.”

“Do you love Kira?” Athrun was silent. “Well, do you?” Athrun was still silent. “Don't think I didn't see that look you gave him as you were being taken away.”

Athrun sighed softly. “Yes, I do love him.”
“So what's wrong? He doesn't feel the same way about you?”
“Yes! I mean…I don't know,” Athrun's voice rose slightly.

“So you told him.”
“Yes.”
“And he didn't say anything?”
“No. He didn't.”
“Well that might not be a bad thing.”
“Why are you asking me this anyway?”

“For a while now, I've had to listen to Kira muttering in his sleep and your name comes up.”
“It does?”
“Yeah. A lot. I was just wondering because somehow I have the feeling that he loves you.”
“Oh.”
“Well, I'd better get back before the captain bites my head off.” Without saying anything more, Lt. La Flaga left, leaving Athrun to his thoughts once more.

 

To be continued…

A/N: Again, I'm SO sorry for the long delay in updating. Don't kill me please (runs and hides)