damned_institute | Day 39: Sun Room

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Day 39: Sun Room

That really hadn't been the breakfast she'd been expecting, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to complain. The kid made for good company, and was, if nothing else, pretty entertaining. She could've just done without the whole choking thing. That… That had been embarrassing. A bit. Okay, a lot. Yuffie was starting to get a feeling that this day was -- for once-- actually going to ping on her ‘interesting!’ meter.

Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

By the time she’d reached the Sun Room's bulletin board, a kitten on her shoulder and a pen twirling between her fingers, Yuffie was starting to put her finger on why she had that weird, nagging feeling. Though on second thought, it was less like putting her finger on it and more like it had jumped up and punched her right in the nose; the feeling wasn’t just about waffles, magicians, or tricky candy thieves. Sagara hadn't answered her bulletin post; he hadn't answered any bulletin posts. She hadn't seen that stupid, spiky head of his all morning. It was like radio silence without a radio.

Agai-- No, Yuffie cut herself off sharply, frowning. She was just jumping to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time, right? Right! And yet… instincts were instincts for a reason, and in a dump like this, who knew what could happen?

[for Okita?]

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"I've never heard of Sakuradite, sir. Is it some sort of fossil fuel?"

At the second question, the corners of Soma's mouth turned up very, very slightly. "I do. I used to, at any rate; the UN taskforce was disbanded six months ago, but I know I can still do it. It's not something one forgets easily. Are you a pilot, too?"

"I guess you could call it that." Suzaku shrugged a little sheepishly. "Like I said, I'm no scientist." If he was, he might ask about those solar drives, but he knew he probably wouldn't be able to retain much of anything she could explain. He suddenly realized that if their world used solar power, Japan would never have had to be taken over by Britannia. It was too late now, though, and even if Japan hadn't been taken over, there'd still have been war. He couldn't care just about his own country anymore.

"Yes, I'm a pilot, too," he responded, smiling a little wider. "It's probably what I do best. It'd be nice to see how you fight with your mobile suit sometime." It probably wouldn't happen, because if they managed to get out of here and back to their own times they'd definitely never see each other again. Still, he couldn't help being curious.

"I'd like that." If anything, that clinched it; Soma decided she liked Suzaku Kururugi. "If I had either of my old mobile suits here, escaping this place wouldn't be a problem in the slightest."

What she wouldn't give for her GN-X right now. Even the Taozi, outdated as it was; regardless of its age, it had been her first mobile suit, and she supposed she still had a soft spot for it.

"I'd like to see how you pilot, too. What's your Knightmare Frame like?"

"Same here. I wonder if they're holding them somewhere." That was an idea -- if they could find their respective humanoid robots, this place would hold little chance against them. Of course, the prisoners' weaponry wasn't necessarily kept on the premises. But it might be worth looking into.

"Hmm, the one I normally use is out of commission right now." Not to mention that he didn't have access to it, hiding out with Lelouch like he was. "But I have the updated model, the Lancelot Albion. It has a newer float system -- that's what lets it fly -- using energy wings, and its MVS swords are stronger. My Lancelot has always had VARIS particle rifles, and the usual Slash Harkens and energy shields. The last two models have had a Hadron Cannon -- that's an energy cannon -- and a Core Luminous Cone, which is a high-power, full-length shield. What about your mobile suits, what are those like?"

"I don't know how large the grounds are here; the maps of the institute I have don't really a give a good sense of size. There could very well be room for them for all I know."

It sounded as if Kururugi had a custom mobile suit; that wasn't at all surprising, given his rank. "My current mobile suit is a GN-X." She pronounced it Jinx. "It's a standard issue model, outfitted with a beam rifle, vulcans, two beam sabers, and a GN shield. Both it and its flight system are powered by a GN Tau Drive - they're relatively new technology. I'm not sure how they work precisely - as far as I know, they work like perpetual generators, though they have to be shut down every now and then to recharge. They're similar to those used by Celestial Being, except those don't have to recharge..."

She trailed off at that before shaking her head slightly. That was all in the past. "You mentioned Slash Harkens, sir. What are those?"

"Well, that's definitely something to investigate." Right up there with where Martin Landel hid out, and finding out how to transport people back to their own time. One thing he knew for certain now was that they couldn't just escape -- they'd have to stay here at least until they found out a solution to the time problem.

He listened fascinatedly at her description. Seemed like weaponry had an entirely different design and concept where she was from, but that shouldn't be a surprise. It also made sense that she wouldn't be familiar with the same terminology for weapons as he, even if Slash Harkens were such basic equipment. He should have thought to explain more thoroughly.

"Slash Harkens a little like rocket-powered grappling hooks. If I might ask, what's Celestial Being?"

Soma's face darkened noticeably at the question.

"They were a terrorist organization that emerged almost two years ago, claiming that they would bring about an end to warfare through 'armed interventions.' Instead, they killed pilots from all three power blocs indiscriminately with the use of highly advanced mobile suits, which they called 'Gundams.'

"The UN taskforce that I was in was formed to stop them, and we defeated them and destroyed their Gundams about six months ago. Only one of their pilots was killed and another was captured; the other two are still at large. I don't think any of them are here, but if they are..."

She fell silent, shaking her head. She wouldn't fail in her mission. Not this time.

Oh. "Seems like our worlds have quite a few things in common," Suzaku said quietly, not sure how else to address the subject just yet.

Celestial Being definitely struck a familiar chord with him, but there was no reason to think they were exactly like the Black Knights. There had been a lot of terrorist organizations in history, some of them relatively justified, some of them not. He had spent so much time refusing to think the Black Knights were right, but now he didn't know what to think. He could believe in their leader's ability to change the world, now that Lelouch was divorced from them, but what of the Black Knights themselves?

He'd finally realized that he couldn't win by using only peaceful methods, and he couldn't disagree with the Black Knights' goals. And there was no denying that they had accomplished a lot -- they had unified a large portion of the world, the first part of what Lelouch and he intended to accomplish. It hadn't been completely useless violence. Part of their ambitious goals had been achieved, and they might even have the strength to free Japan if allowed to continue on their own.

Yet. . . all the deaths that could have been prevented. Even the deaths Suzaku had caused, while he accepted responsibility for them, would never have happened if he hadn't been forced to fight the Black Knights. Nunnally wouldn't have had to die. Euphie wouldn't have had to die. Was it really worth it, in the end? He wondered if the case might have been the same with the terrorists Soma had fought. Probably not, if they had gone around indiscriminately killing people and hadn't been strong enough to avoid being crushed. But still, he wondered.

"Do you think peace was really their intention? Would it have been worth it if they'd achieved their goals? I mean," he added hastily, noticing her changed mood, "we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. It's just that I fought a group like that myself. I didn't agree with their methods either, but their intentions were true, and they've accomplished a lot for the world."

She'd heard comments like that before, half-serious discussions in the barracks and the mess hall. It hadn't been her place to join in; her role had always been to obey orders, not to question them.

"I don't know what their true intentions were. I just know that they killed many innocent people, and too many of my brothers and sisters." All of them, more like. "We weren't even at war with anyone before Celestial Being appeared. And the world united without them in the end, after we defeated them."

She'd never been good at thinking this sort of thing through - that had always been the colonel's job. But Suzaku's words did little to sway her resolve.

"Was your group similar then, sir? It sounds like you've had a lot of experience dealing with them."

That definitely resonated with him. Soma didn't seem too concerned with all the confusing ambiguity, but she reminded him a bit of his former self with her uncompromising stance against anything that caused innocent deaths. It wasn't that simple, though. It was never that simple.

"I understand that. I opposed the group I knew because of the innocent deaths they caused, but they actually helped unify parts of the world themselves. They are similar, but they changed the state of things in some areas for the better, even if it was for their own political gains. And. . ." he hesitated, "by opposing them, I killed a lot of people too. It can't be avoided when people go to war. Wouldn't it be better if there were a third way, a way to reconcile your group and the group rebelling?"

It was true that Celestial Being's actions had caused some parts of the world to lay down their arms. She knew that much. And as often as she'd sortied, she hadn't killed anyone yet (though not for lack of trying). But for all of the supposed good they had done, she couldn't see peace talks ever occurring between Celestial Being and the rest of the world, and she didn't want to see them, either.

"They killed innocents deliberately," she said slowly. "Factories full of workers in the Union. A building full of children in one of our space colonies. They speak of supposed peace, but there's no need for us to reconcile with them if they're all like that."

Suzaku frowned. "Children?" he asked, voice growing cold. That was different, Lelouch wouldn't -- but no, he had intentionally killed innocents. Or rather, he'd gotten Euphie to do it for him. Then again, there was more to Lelouch than that.

"It's hard to believe they were trying to do good if they acted like that, I agree. Still. . . if I learned anything by fighting people like that, it's not to judge too quickly who's right and who's wrong. I used to think I was right, but now I know that's not the case. I'm not even sure if there is a right."

There wasn't much he could tell her beyond that; she was obviously of a strong opinion and would just have to find out for herself. Besides, it wasn't his place to try and lecture her or anything. He was just saying what he thought, and maybe those people she had fought really were evil. At least, things would be much easier for her if they were.

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Day 39: Sun Room

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