As Kira looked into the eyes of the other young man, he could sense a number of emotions being reflected in the gaze being sent at him. There were traces of anger, hints of hatred but at the same time there were also signs of curiosity. He also could have sworn that the other man's eyes reflected some sense of joy. "Who are you? How do you know who I am?"
"It wasn't hard to figure out who you were by the lady's loud exclamation of wanting to know all of Kira Yamato," said Canard with a light smirk. At this revelation, the young woman's cheeks turned bright red with embarrassment. She really hoped that nobody else had overheard the two of them in that room. Opting to preserve what's left of her dignity in front of this stranger, Lacus excused herself and headed through the corridors to get to the bridge with Haro bouncing along behind her. Canard's eyes idly followed her in amusement. "Quite a lucky fella to have someone like her enamoured with you."
There was something about the other man that just put Kira on edge. He couldn't put his finger on it. "Don't change the subject. The way you presumed that I am Kira Yamato, your tone implied that you know something about me that I'm not even aware of myself."
As fun as it was to play the cryptic bastard, Canard wanted to understand the mystery that is Kira Yamato. If he could insert certain topics during their conversation and see how the other young man reacted, he could identify behavioural traits and use them against him in case he chose to finish what he had started. Knowledge is power and knowing his enemy would be critical if he made the choice to fight him. "All I know about you is that during the war, you were practically a legend among Alliance soldiers. Your combat statistics far surpassed all of the elite mobile armour battalions combined. You must have been pretty proud of yourself to accomplish all of that while piloting one of the Alliance's advanced mobile suit prototypes at the time."
Kira felt an aching sensation in his chest as his mind brought up some of the deeds he had done in the war. His head lowered as painful memories began to surface. "Why would I be proud of killing others?"
"Would you rather be comfortable with the enemy slaughtering Alliance soldiers by the hundreds of thousands? Before you came along, the Alliance casualties were far higher than ZAFT's. You were able to allow sons, daughters, nieces and nephews to return to their families safely on Earth. To them, you made a difference and they're thankful for it. Can't say the same for the other side but that's how war is." Canard briefly pondered where all of this was coming from.
"So what? It's true that I have made a difference to some people. Unfortunately there were many other people that I couldn't save..." An image of the civilian shuttle that was attacked during the atmospheric battle came to mind along with the ship that held Flay's father. There was also his desperate attempt to ward off Tolle from his duel with Athrun and how could he forget the Dominion's escape shuttle which she had been on before Le Creuset mercilessly destroyed it with a DRAGOON bit? When he looked up again, Canard was startled by the haunted look that the other teenager had on his face. "... but that's how war is, right?" Drained from the conversation, he moved around Canard so that he could check the duty log. For some reason, performing maintenance work on the Freedom sounded really good to him right now.
It took a few minutes for Canard to snap out of his daze and head towards his original destination. 'So that's the real version of the Ultimate Coordinator? He's so... human. How was he raised? Did he have a loving family? And if I had that type of upbringing and been through what he had experienced... would I act the same way as he did?' Those thoughts would continue to plague Canard's mind for a while.
**********
The office of PLANT Council Member Gilbert Dullindal was dimly lit. In fact, the only source of light came from the man's desk and it was focused on the rather expensive looking chess set on the desk. There were two sets of pieces lined up perfectly for a game with one set being crystal and the other ebony. To anyone looking in, it would look like that the seated Gilbert is quietly contemplating something as he looks into his chess set. In reality, there was more going on in the Coordinator's head than one might imagine. "It's your move. By the way, how is Rey doing in the Academy?"
He mentally moved his Crystal King to a safer spot on the board. "He's doing well. He pointed out a few interesting cadets who could serve to be my players to help implement the Destiny Plan."
"Again with the Destiny Plan. You'll have to forgive me for not putting faith into the concept." There was a pause before the Ebony Queen was moved. "Check."
"The concept is sound. By creating proper roles for people to play, there will be no conflict. The guns can be laid to rest... permanently." Gilbert paused and then mentally moved his King again.
A dark chuckle came from Gilbert's opponent. "Do you honestly expect that they would welcome such a concept, old friend? If you ever do get to that point where you can show off what you have planned to the world, I suggest you prepare for a huge disappointment. Even if you somehow convince the world to follow through with this plan and create the peace you desire, someone else will pick up the gun in time. And when they give a good reason for pulling the trigger, more will follow. To put it simply, you cannot chain mankind's ambition. It won't allow itself to be restrained like that. Once it breaks free from your hold, your society will crumble and humanity will continue on the path to self-destruction." A shift of another black chess piece completed the trap. "Checkmate."
Gilbert let out a small snort of determination. "Say what you will, Rau. I will do everything in my power to prevent mankind from going on that path."
"A noble gesture but you can't do a thing about it as long as that ambition continues to rule the very core of their souls. Besides, if you can't even save someone like me... how can you save all of mankind?" Gilbert's image of Rau Le Creuset gave a cruel smile. "Well, it's not like I can influence what course of action you take so do as you wish. But don't be surprised when the result doesn't turn out to be what you expected..."
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(Posted Tue, 08 Aug 2006 07:19)
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