Gundam Seed: Kira Reloaded c38

“Kira Yamato, I present you with the medal of Sun, the greatest Honour one can get in Orb’s Military.” Lord Uzumi pinned the golden sun medal on the Ultimate Coordinator’s uniform.

“It’s an honour, sir.” 

One thing any military weeb enjoyer loves is medals. Oh, hell yeah, he could do this all day and constantly get those!

Sadly, the war is over, and he only now realised he could get them…

“Think nothing of it. With this, you are promoted to Lieutenant Commander.” The Lion of Orb looked at his third stripe on the left side of the uniform.

“...Oh.”

‘So that's what it was.’

Kira realised what this was. He should double-check on Orb’s rankings.

“Indeed, we expect great things from you.”

The old man smiled slightly at Kira, but at that moment, the lion felt a dangerous gaze from a certain pinkette.

“Of course, in moderation, we don’t want you to burn yourself out.” He quickly expanded on what he meant.

“Thank you, sir.”

After more handshaking and small chit-chat, the Leader of Orb had to return to Earth. For now, Kira and Archangel are stationed in the station and waiting for further news from ZAFT and Earth Alliance.

However, by this point, everyone is certain that war will end, the militaries are in shambles, and everyone is simply exhausted.

Not to mention, some things are different from what Kira remembers.

There are no nukes. Rau died before the data could be given to the Earth Alliance. Second, Kira butchered most of the armies. Both sides have no mobile suits, and the majority of warships are disabled.

Kira hit harder than his counterpart would ever do. He might have killed more people, but the results were greater than one expected.

“Well, kid… you are the same rank as I am now.” Mu La Flaga walked over and placed his hand on Kira’s shoulder.

“Yeah. It appears so.” Kira loomed at his chest. He had a neat medal now.

“Anyway, go enjoy your well-earned promotion and relax. I believe we will have quite a bit of downtime now.” Mu smirked while saying that he could now enjoy a couple of weeks of beach holiday—with his captain, of course!

He can’t wait!

“...Ha. you wish. I do have a company to run and space elevators to build, and I am part of the military.” Kira shook his head.

“...Oh, right! Still, you need your holidays, kid.” He said seriously before looking at Lacus, who was standing just a couple of meters away.

“Take care of him. It would be a loss to the world if the entire nation couldn’t kill him, but overwork did.” The blonde Lieutenant joked, but Lacus didn’t find it funny at all. 

“I know.” She slightly pouted. Since the war had ended, she was the last guard against that! When she used to be in Archangel, Kira knew when he needed rest, but now? There are no battles waiting for him.

“Don’t look like that. It's not like I am not self-aware!” The moment Kira said that, everyone looked at him, especially Lacus.

“Kid, this is a battle you can’t win; even your Strike Freedom can’t help you.” The Lieutenant sagely said that he sounded like a senior who was giving his disciple a live lesson.

“...Right…” Kira looked at his Fiance, who looked extra serious.

~~~

After getting a short but cold treatment from his girlfriend, it was time for dinner, as Kira was hungry after not eating for close to 14 hours.

This time around, dinner was with only two of them as everyone had their food at different hours.

With food out of the way, Kira wanted to see how his machine was doing.

He didn’t expect another two damaged at the side of his Strike Freedom.

“Blitz and Duel… now that is something I didn’t expect to see.” Kira easily saw through these machines even if they were damaged.

For now, he just gazed at these two. He had all of the original GAT units! Well, Aegis had been stolen by Cagalli, and he had handed Buster to Lieutenant, but by all means, they were his!

“I was expecting to see you here.” 

Kira heard a familiar voice. He turned to the side and saw… Athrun in Orb’s military uniform!

“...Colour me surprised! I wasn’t expecting you in white and blue!” Strike Freedom’s pilot exclaimed in surprise after seeing the uniform on Athrun.

“I did defect after the last fight.” He walked over and stood next to him and gazed at Strike Freedom.

“...I see…”

“...”

“...”

“You are not going to ask for more details?” Athrun was slightly baffled at how easily Kira accepted all that.

“No. Why should I? Those are your choices.” Kira shrugged at him.

“I see. You were always someone who was focused on your goals.

Now that I think about it, it does make sense.

You never cared about your circumstances. You just did your thing. That is why you joined Earth Alliance at that time.” Athrun realised.

“Indeed. Why think about other things when you have bullets flying around.” Kira crossed his hands and kept on looking at his machine.

“If you focus on the task at hand, a complex world becomes mundane.

Our kin has made it overcomplex for no apparent reason.” The Strike Freedom pilot shrugged.

“...If only it were so easy.” Athrun sighed. He can’t see it happening.

“That is why you haven’t achieved Seed mode.” Kira pointed out.

“...what?” The blue-haired teen looked confused.

“The seed factor is something akin to a clear mind state, which a certain number of people can achieve through an array of factors; a single emotion, like pure rage, can overwhelm them.

However, in rage mode, it's a blurry business. The best approach is to achieve through sheer need when the goal is simple.” Kira explained what he experienced during his training and preparations.

“...What are you talking about?” Athrun sounded even more confused.

Kira sighed as he closed his eyes, opened them, and then looked at Athrun.

When Athrun saw Kira’s eyes, he took a step back. He couldn’t see his pupils at all! It was as if something had happened to him.

“This is Seed Mode.” Kira's voice was heavier and more serious. 

But then he dismissed this mode after closing his eyes and reopening them.

“I achieved this state years ago when I studied martial arts, which allows me to perform at borderline supernatural levels. One of the reasons why I had the upper hand in all of our fights was that, and of course, I had Legion to help me in other situations.” 

“...So… its like…snapping?” 

“Like a hyper adrenaline version.” Kira shrugged at him.

“First, you need to stop thinking about things you can’t do anything about. You can do something about the whole Coordinator-Natural business when you have a high rank in the military or the government or just be super rich.” He said with a small smile, and Kira hinted at something.

“...Wait… Cagalli said something…” Athrun realised that somehow Kira got super rich!

“Indeed, I have all those things now… now I can do something about it.”

“...But how many Coordinators had to die for that.” The blue-haired teen, for a second, got angry.

Sigh

“People die all the time, Athrun; that is not changeable. If I were with ZAFT, your father would have killed billions of people because he was angry.” Kira rolled his eyes. If he had been with ZAFT, he could have imagined that he would have become Patrick’s greatest asset and that he would have received ‘preferred’ treatment.

“...I know it now.” Athrun sighed, too.

“...So what now?” the blue-haired teen asked. He was interested in what this crazy guy would do. He had prepared for this war all his life and now won it. He had become rich in the process, and he had a high rank in the military. From the looks of it, he had Lord Uzumi’s ear, too. 

By all means, he became extremely successful.

“We prepare for war,” Kira said with a plain tone as his gaze didn’t leave the machine he was looking at.

“...Huh?”

“When in Peace, you prepare for War. When in War, you prepare for Peace.”

“Those two are not changeable. They will always happen.” He turned his gaze away from Strike Freedom and looked at Athrun.

“There are still elements in Earth Alliance that want war. Blue Cosmos won’t stop just because I killed their leader. Leaders can be replaced and will be replaced. “ 

Athrun looked surprised for a second, but then he got serious.

‘He is right! Wars are not that simple. Those radicals were able to weaponise entire continents against Coordinators. Just because their military got exhausted, they won’t stop.’

“...You are right. But when did you kill their leader?” The blue-haired teen looked curious.

“When they tried to take Orb after Alaska, by that point, you guys were on your way back to PLANTs,” Kira explained to him. He slightly got angry just remembering those fake Gundams!

“I see.”

“I avenged all those lives he took in the Junius Seven incident. I took everything from him, even destroyed his image along the way.” Kira said with a sharp tone. 

“...”

Athrun looked surprised when he heard that. He didn’t expect that!

“It was a mindless slaughter of a delusional individual. He needed to be stopped.” 

“Yeah, I agree. It still boggles my mind that terrorists have such access to the military of something like Earth Alliance.” Athrun agreed before mentioning something he had a hard time wrapping his head around.

“Indeed, that is why you should be prepared,” Kira said that as he had a smirk on his lips.

“That reminds me of your machine. Do you want me to check it out?” 

Athrun looked at him before recalling Aegis and what he did to Justice.

“That’s… I don’t mind… but it's military hardware, and there are things we need to check with first.” Athrun wasn’t sure. The war was over, and he had no idea where they would station him and stuff. He went with the flow to join Orb and… well, of course, for someone.

“Don’t worry, I doubt Lord Uzumi would mind,” Kira reassured him.

“...If you say so.”

~~~

After the conversation, Athrun was treated to a spectacle of Kira working on a mobile suit. 

The mechanics and engineers were like well-oiled machines. He broke apart Justice, which by normal standards is completely totalled and needs to be sent to the scrap yard. It quickly got its joints replaced, and before long, it was ready for actual deployment.

‘No wonder he could use something new each time we faced. He was constantly innovating.’

“Honestly, why does it need the backpack flight support for a close-range suit?” Kira asked Athrun, as the Ultimate Coordinator was holding his table and checking Justice's specs.

“No idea, but as far as I am aware, Freedom and Justice were supposed to be polar opposites when it comes to fighting styles.”

Athrun explained to him.

“If this was the case, then Freedom should had the backpack for shooting range boost.

Sigh

“Anyway, check what I designed for your Justice.” Kira moved the laptop and showed it to him.

“Since it's a melee-orientated machine, the rifle is a custom sword rifle, a physical sword with a rifle. Next are the hands and feet, which can transform into beam rifles. The shoulder pads are boomerangs. Lastly, the backpack will be completely replaced by a Mirage colloid float support based on the HIMAT I have.” 

Kira showed him a completely reworked machine, which made Athrun wonder when he had a chance for any of this!

“...That’s… impressive.” 

He inspected the design. Athrun never placed much emphasis on his machine; it was his weapon, and he never had much attachment to it. But Kira’s enthusiasm… a hobby—is rubbing off.

‘No wonder those two are like that.’

Athrun looked at Cagalli and Mu La Flaga, who were around their machines all the time.

“I guess I just finished drawing this, so this stuff was still fresh.” 

Kira shrugged as he was not certain. It was not the final setup, so he might add something more.

‘I still need to come up with better power flow. The reactor is not a bad option, but it generates energy slowly.’

The Ultimate Coordinator was not satisfied.