Oh, how the times have changed.

Hello readers, both new and old, and welcome to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Awakening, the reboot for an old fanfic series of mine that was dubbed the "Divinity Saga." The original never saw total completion, for a variety of reasons, and ever since then, I've wanted to do this reboot. Two different reboots got started, but neither one made it very far. Clearly, I'm hoping third time's the charm.

Granted, I should probably have bigger concerns relating to the fact that I've practically fallen off the face of the earth. I've been attending college, and that plus the rest of my life has left me with little time for fanfiction. But after a breakdown a few months back, I resolved to return to my writing. Which leads me to this next bit I'm going to say before the story begins:

At the end of the day, I really am writing this for myself. I enjoy writing. It is my passion and my relief. While I sincerely hope that anyone reading will enjoy this, while I hope to deliver an excellent story for people to enjoy, and while I hope to avoid the pitfalls I've found so common to me... I won't stress over it. Doing so impedes my ability to write and both my physical and emotional health. If I write a Mary Sue, then I apologize for having done so. If that Mary Sue rips away your ability to enjoy the story, then I sincerely apologize for that as well. But I'm not going to tear myself up trying religiously to avoid doing so, and it is my hope that everyone can enjoy the good with the bad. But at the end of the day, if I can't enjoy writing this, then I shouldn't write in the first place.

That out of the way, let us move on to the first chapter, a prologue to the main story. I introduce characters here and setup changes within the setting and canon characters. The action begins next chapter.

And let me just say in advance that there is a scene in which two characters discuss sex; if you find this to be a terrible thing, then you should probably leave. The views expressed by the characters are pretty close to my own, and I apologize for that author tract, but at the end of the day, I take issue with the idea that graphic violence, blood and gore is somehow more acceptable for minors than half a second of minor nudity.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED or any of the associated characters or mecha. I claim ownership for the OCs in this chapter, as follows: Makoto Arata, Naomi Arata, Sora and Ayane Honda, Misako Miyamura (though these last three are expies of anime characters), and the "Imperial Family" characters.

Note: Dialogue that is underlined, "like this," is being spoken in a non-English language, usually (but not always) Japanese. In this chapter, characters are only speaking in English or Japanese.

PS: This was originally titled Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Divinity. I later changed it to a name I thought worked a bit better.

Heat was the most noticeable part of the experience. Not surprising, really. Even though they sat in machines with heat shielding encased in a pod with even better heat shielding, they were still making a semi-controlled descent into the atmosphere. At the velocity required to perform atmospheric interface, the friction was absolutely enormous even in the thinnest layer of the atmosphere, so of course there was a lot of heat as the bottom of the pod pierced the outer layers and started to wear away under the friction.

"First layer traversed," came a calm, female voice over the comm. line. The voice was young, but completely professional."Decelerate to mach four. Trajectory good. Twenty-eight seconds until termination of cooling stage. Commence aerodynamic control. All squadrons, report in."

"This is Alpha One. Confirming weapons loaded and ready to fire."

"Bravo Two."

"Charlie Three."

"Delta Four."

"Echo Two."

"Foxtrot Four."

"Golf One."

She tuned out the voices as the squadrons continued to call in. She was part of Foxtrot Squadron, and her most important duty was surviving the descent.

"Second layer traversed," said Alpha One. "We're about to deal a severe blow to those still clinging to the planet's surface." Her stomach twisted at that—if they let it become about vengeance, then they'd all lose sight of what was truly important.

"Can it Alpha One," came the voice of the controller. "This is about protecting our homeland, not revenge." The squad leader had no reply other than to continue transmitting back the descent force status.

"Last layer of turbulence… decelerating to mach zero point nine. Cooling stage ceased, altitude good. May fortune smile upon us. Activating program descent coordinates! Okay… here we go! For ZAFT!"

"For ZAFT!"

"For ZAFT!"

As one, the pods blew apart, releasing the mechanical giants within, four to each pod. The cyclopean camera eyes all lit at once as they prepared for battle.

In orbit, the fleet-wide flight control officer quietly removed her headset, no longer able to maintain contact with the forces now on Earth through the jamming interference. With everyone else focused on the display screens and tactical boards showing what data they could get on the battle below, none noticed the tears that floated from her eyes.

"Year 70 of the Cosmic Era: tensions were mounting between Earth and the ZAFT organization. Due to the Bloody Valentine Tragedy, these tensions suddenly escalated into a full-scale war. It seemed a foregone conclusion that the Earth Forces, with its superior numbers, would be victorious. But these initial assessments proved to be false. Almost eleven months have passed since the conflict began… with no end in sight."

First Phase: The Bonds of Childhood
January 6th, C.E. 71

Heliopolis, Colony of the Orb Union, Lagrange Point 3

Kira Yamato sighed slightly, staring skyward from his seat in the elecar. Not that there was an actual sky on a space colony like Heliopolis—just giant glass window strips through which a mirror would reflect sunlight and the stars were just barely visible. His mom, sitting in the driver's seat, gave him a brief glance before looking forward again.

Well, Caridad Yamato wasn't actually his mother, but his aunt. Kira's actual mother, Caridad's older sister Via, had died when he was just a baby and Caridad had raised him like her own. But she was his mother in every way that really mattered to them. Kira glanced at her, idly thinking to himself that she really was too young to be his birth-mother, being only thirty-one years old and looking it—fairly tall, with long dark hair and dark eyes, Caridad was a striking woman with a keen intellect.

Kira was only fifteen years old himself, a few months from turning sixteen. He was a bit short at five foot five, with a very slight frame and slender facial features that made him look even younger than he really was. He had short, messy brown hair and dark violet eyes.

Kira's idle thoughts about his immediate family history originated from the very reason they were in the elecar headed to the port—to pick up a visitor who would be spending about three weeks with them. He had a very vague memory of the person in question, a girl with whom he'd been playmates for a short while. Their parents had been friends since long before either of them had been born and something had happened recently that prompted her to take a vacation. With the war between the Earth Forces and ZAFT in full swing, however, that left only two real vacation spots away from the Orb mainland: the lunar city of Copernicus and Heliopolis. Since she actually knew someone, however distantly, on the latter, she'd contacted them and asked if she could stay with them for a few weeks.

With another small sigh, Kira leaned back in his seat slightly, running a hand through his hair in a futile effort to get it to stay in place despite the air rushing by as they drove, idly wishing there were elecars that weren't open-roofed.

Heliopolis Spaceport

Makoto Arata let out a faint sigh as she stood waiting in the pick-up area.

A young woman just a few months shy of sixteen, this was only the second time she'd ever left the Orb Homeland. Space travel was weird and even on the colony her balance felt off, conflicting with the vast majority of the training she'd undergone over the last six months or so. Even as part of her felt annoyed, another part appreciated it, since she'd come up here largely because of that training.

Despite her tender age, Makoto had just come out of half a year of military training. In Orb, legal adulthood and draft age were sixteen years. The country maintained a strong, but ultimately small military that they'd swell with pre-trained recruits in the event of war. Being a small island country with a purely defensive policy, a war would mean they were being invaded and didn't have time to train soldiers. Hence, military training was mandatory for a percentage of the population, usually started shortly after a potential recruit turned fifteen. After completing the rigorous basic boot camp, which could last anywhere from six months to two years, the trainee would be given leave from school to recover.

Having completed her training in only about seven months, Makoto was given two months and, wanting to get away for a little while, she'd elected to take a few weeks' vacation to Heliopolis, partially to visit space for the first time and partially to reconnect with the Yamatos.

Wanting to make a good impression, especially with her former playmate, she looked over herself again.

Makoto was a pretty girl, tall at five foot eight inches and still growing, with a curvy figure and prominent breasts (which she was rather proud of—who didn't love large, soft boobs after all?). Her straight, deep red hair fell to around mid-back, but her most striking feature was her eyes: Makoto was heterochromic, with a green left eye and a blue right eye, the only phenotypic hint of her Coordinator status, even if she was one of noticeably less ability than most others. She was dressed in a white summer dress with red frills on the knee-length skirt, wearing short heels with thigh-length black socks.

All in all, she thought she looked pretty good. Sure, the dress wasn't her preferred attire, but in this alien situation, she found herself falling back on the more conservative appearance it offered. With another small sigh, the teen looked skyward, towards the glass strips, desperately wishing for her nervousness to just up and vanish.

Right. She should be so lucky.

The sound of an approaching vehicle drew Makoto's attention back to the road just as an elecar pulled up. Sitting inside, she recognized Caridad Yamato from the picture her mother had shown her, though it had been from more than a decade ago. In the passenger seat was a brunet teenager who she guessed was Kira. Grabbing her bag, Makoto walked over to the car.

"Hello, Yamato-sensei," she said with a small bow. "I'm Arata Makoto. It's a pleasure to meet you." Caridad smiled at the girl.

"You really are Naomi's," she said softly. Makoto was a bit struck by the informality with which Caridad referred to her mother, but then again, Naomi Arata had spoken the same way of Caridad. "It's been so long Makoto-chan. You've really grown up." Makoto started slightly at the familiarity, but then gave a small smile before turning towards Kira and bowing slightly.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Arata," said Kira politely. The redhead started again, a bit jarred by him using English instead of Japanese. Caridad just shook her head and turned to Kira.

"Why don't you help Makoto-chan with her bags, Kira?" she asked, though it sounded more like a polite order to Kira, who obediently stepped out of the car.

"Thank you very much, Yamato-san," said Makoto formally with a small smile.

Yamato Residence
Half an hour later

The drive back home had been quiet, with Makoto looking absolutely exhausted and spending what little energy she had observing. Kira still wasn't sure what to make of her: she was a very pretty girl and unfailingly polite, but she was so formal that she seemed almost stiff to him.

"I thank you for your hospitality," said Makoto, focusing on Caridad as she slipped off her shoes and stepped out of the entryway.

"You're welcome," said Caridad with a kind smile. "You should be aware that people primarily use English up here. You may want to make the effort as well."

"Ah… yes… of… course…"

Now it was Kira's turn to start a bit, surprised by the sound of her voice in English, mostly because there was no hint of the accent he'd expect from someone speaking their second language.

"My apologies, Yamato-sensei," said Makoto, bowing once again. "I'm so used to everyone using Japanese, I'd forgotten that it wasn't the case on Heliopolis."

"That's quite alright," said Caridad. "Tell me, how is Naomi doing?"

"Mother?" Makoto blinked a bit. "She's doing well. She just recently got promoted to manager for Aizawa Yumiko-sama."

"The idol singer?" asked Kira. Makoto nodded.

"And how about yourself?" The redhead shrugged in response to Caridad's question.

"I'm okay," she said. "I just got out of basic."

"Oh… oh…" Now Kira understood why Makoto was here. The girl gave them a weak smile.

"It wasn't a pleasant experience," she said. "Be glad you don't ever have to deal with it." Kira glanced away. Caridad shook her head slightly.

"Make yourself at home," she said quietly. "Take your time."

"Thank you very much."

The next day

After Makoto had slept off her trip, Kira had agreed to show her around Heliopolis and introduce her to his friends. Caridad was grateful for it. She didn't have work that day, so she was now alone in her house, giving her time to think.

She'd been trying to avoid thinking ever since she'd been contacted by Naomi about Makoto coming up to visit. She was sure that her childhood friend had ulterior motives for recommending Makoto visit Heliopolis, but what those might be varied wildly with how much the girl knew about her own past. While it was blatantly obvious that she was adopted, Caridad had no idea if Naomi had told Makoto about the unusual circumstances of it.

If Makoto knew, then she was likely here as much to learn what Caridad knew of her biological family as anything. It was Caridad who'd brought an infant Makoto to Naomi, asking her childhood friend to take care of the girl as her own. Caridad would have her hands full just being a single mother for her nephew.

Besides, she'd thought it would be better if the two were at least somewhat separate from each other. Their parents had had a lot of enemies, after all. It was part of why Caridad opted to move away from Naomi and Makoto. While never one to really enjoy running, that part of her past was something she was determined to escape. She'd left her old career, her passion, in favor of running, escaping, making sure the past would never be able to catch up to her, to Kira, to Makoto…

But now that Makoto was here, she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She remembered—she remembered all-too-well that pivotal research Makoto had unknowingly been involved in. She knew what it might mean, for Kira and Makoto to be near each other.

She just hoped they'd all been complete fools who were wrong about everything, instead of mere fools who'd done something completely idiotic. Because if even half of the research had been correct, then Caridad was terrified for her son's future.

Meanwhile

There had been a bit of awkwardness in showing Makoto around. For one thing, Kira was a bit shy by nature, so he rarely spoke to those outside his normal circle of friends. For another, Makoto was feeling awkward in the alien environment, and would occasionally start at the relaxed and informal attitude of the people around her.

It didn't help that her intense red hair drew attention, or that her heterochromia made her standout even more to anyone who got close enough to see, as it was unusual even for Coordinators, though still much more common than among Naturals.

Still, things eventually improved. Makoto had finally begun to relax when Kira had become more comfortable, specifically when he introduced her to his friends, Sai Argyle and Kuzzey Buskirk. But it was only when the pair encountered Flay Allster that Kira got to really see a bit of who Makoto was.

"Hey, do you think that dress would look good on me?"

The voice drew Kira's attention to a trio of girls standing outside a clothing store in the shopping district. The one in the middle who'd asked about the dress they were staring at was a petite teenage girl, perhaps five foot four inches tall, with vibrant red hair and gray-blue eyes. Her appearance struck Makoto, particularly the red hair almost the same shade as her own because it was so unusual. She quickly processed the rest of the girl's appearance—generous bust and hip curves for her petite frame and likely long legs judging from where her skirt started. She was wearing a simple red t-shirt with a flowing, angle-length black skirt.

Makoto's eyes then quickly took in the girl's friends. One was a short brunette with her hair worn in pigtails who was even more petite than the redhead. Makoto just picked out her warm brown eyes, and she was wearing a white shirt and cutoff blue jeans. The other girl had short, messy black hair and was just slightly shorter than the redhead. Makoto observed large green eyes set in a fairly androgynous face, and she was wearing a black t-shirt with a frilled beige skirt.

Makoto glanced back and forth between Kira and the three girls before she followed Kira's gaze and frowned slightly, before a faint, mischievous smile formed on her lips as she looked back to the brunet.

"See something you like, Yamato-san?"

Kira started a bit at the question, a blush forming on his features.

"Ah, no, it's not like that!" he said insistently. Unfortunately, his voice drew the attention of the three girls. The brunette and black-haired girl spotted Kira, then suddenly squeaked slightly and stepped a bit behind the last girl.

The redhead, however, barely reacted other than to glance briefly at Makoto before offering a friendly smile to them.

"You're Sai's friend, right?" she said, focusing on the brunet. "Kira, right?"

"Ah, yes, that's right," he said, shifting uncomfortably. Makoto let out a sigh, shaking her head as she stared down at Kira. She glanced at the girls, and it occurred to her that she might seem a bit intimidating, despite her conservative attire, simply because of how much she towered over them.

Well, maybe not, thought Makoto as the black-haired girl stepped out from behind Flay, vaguely facing Kira but with her eyes down as she smiled shyly.

"Hi, Kira," she said softly.

"Um, hi…?"

Makoto could've slapped him for that response. It was obvious that the girl had a crush on him, the least he could do is be a bit more polite. Unless… she looked at Kira, suddenly wondering if he was so socially awkward that he didn't know.

Suddenly wanting to break the awkward atmosphere, she stepped forward a bit, extending her hand towards the girls.

"So, you know Yamato-san?" she said with a polite smile. "My name's Arata Makoto. I'm visiting from the homeland." The brunette stepped forward at that.

"Is that so? I'm Misha Kaga," she said, shaking Makoto's hand. The other two stepped closer.

"I'm Flay Allster," said the redhead, shaking her hand in turn.

"Jessica Bradford," added the black-haired girl when it was her turn. Makoto smiled at the three.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," she said. "I'm afraid Yamato-san is a terrible guide."

"Hey!" said Kira, looking annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sure you're a great guide Kira!" said Misha, turning to him with starry eyes. "Makoto, how can you say such a terrible thing?"

Makoto's smile grew a bit more strained at that. She was suddenly feeling twice as awkward with the familiar way Misha addressed her, and it certainly didn't help that these girls were obviously crushing on Kira. Flay, however, let out a small sigh and grabbed Makoto's hand. The taller redhead let out a tiny cry of shock as she was tugged forward.

"Don't mind them, Miss Arata," said Flay with a friendly smile. "They have no gift for subtlety. So, while they're bothering Kira, would you mind if I asked your opinion on that dress?"

Makoto managed a small giggle. She decided then and there that she liked Flay. She turned to the dress—a cute pink one-piece—and in her mind's eye, envisioned Flay in it. She then quickly stopped thinking when she started to mentally undress the girl, but not before forming an answer to the question.

"I think it would look good on you," she said honestly. The two spent a few minutes talking while Jessica and Misha harassed Kira several feet away, and Makoto was shocked to realize how easy talking to Flay was. She even let slip that her usual attire was much more bold than what she was currently wearing.

After a few minutes, the redheads took pity on Kira and pried Jessica and Misha away, allowing Flay to drag them into the store. Makoto shook her head at Kira's flustered appearance.

"Finally get a hint?" she asked with a mischevious smile.

"… girls are weird."

Makoto wanted to slap him again, but managed to refrain.

"So, Allster-san seems nice," she said, shifting the topic away from the girl's who were crushing on him and towards the girl he seemed to be crushing on, if his look at the start of this meeting was any indication.

"Yeah… Flay really is… nice…"

"Maybe you should ask her out?" suggested Makoto, enjoying Kira's sputtering, blushing reaction. "Nice and attractive teenage girl like that? Got to get all kinds of attention."

"She's got a boyfriend already," said Kira, perhaps a little too quickly. "Besides, she's not that old. I mean, I guess she's technically a teen, but…" Makoto froze.

"Wait… how old is she?" she asked slowly. When Kira gave her an answer, Makoto felt like her jaw was going to hit the ground. "She's only fourteen?! With that body?!"

One week later

Kira sat with Makoto, Sai and Kuzzey in a gazebo in the Heliopolis park, listening idly to Makoto's music player while Kira worked on one of his extra assignments from Professor Kato, listening idly to the others talking. In particular, Sai and Kuzzey were interested in learning more about what life was like in Orb from Makoto, and since Kira himself was interested in her history, she seemed plenty willing to share with them.

"My life's hardly been the model for normal down there," said Makoto with a playful wink. After a week on the colony, she'd become decidedly more relaxed, though still pretty formal. "I mean, even before becoming a big name in the idol industry, mother was rubbing shoulders with powerful people."

"Yeah, how's that?" asked Kuzzey. Makoto shrugged slightly as she reached for the music player.

"Well, it turns out she went to school with Princess Ami Meiou Himemiya…"

Sai spat out some of the soda he'd been drinking—thankfully, not at anyone or anything in the gazebo.

"You're kidding!" sputtered Sai. "Your mom went to school with an Orb princess?"

"Yeah," said Kira idly, looking up from his work. "I never brought it up before because I knew how you'd react, but my mom and Makoto's mom went to school with the younger sister of Empress Serenity."

"Of course, back then, Kōgō Heika was only a princess," said Makoto. She looked at Kira. "Mother said they attended middle and high school together. Yamato-sensei was there for all of it, right?" Kira nodded.

"That's what mom said."

"You're kidding," said Kuzzey with a groan. "And you seriously never thought to mention it to us?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal," said Kira. "That was a long time ago, and Princess Ami died before I was even born."

"Still, mother knows people," said Makoto, starting up a new song and setting down her music player. "I got to see the Imperial Family several times growing up, and I'm privileged to call members of two different noble houses my friends. Then there's this." She motioned towards the player, which was currently playing a song that none of the boys were familiar with.

"That's… beautiful," murmured Kira, taken aback a bit.

"Who's the singer?" asked Sai. "I don't recognize her voice."

"That's because she's not an Orb idol. Boys, you're listening to the debut song of Lacus Clyne of the PLANTs."

"Wait, what?!" cried Kuzzey as everyone stared at Makoto. She shrugged again.

"Years ago, Clyne-sama approached the Orb government about acting as a neutral ground for negotiation, back before the PLANTs initiated their embargo. I met Lacus-chan at that time, and we became good friends."

There was a faraway look in Makoto's eyes as she indulged in a moment of nostalgia.

"There were five of us… we were the best of friends, and Lacus-chan was coming to visit us whenever she could. But… well, eventually, things happened, and she couldn't come to visit anymore." Makoto shook her head suddenly. "Sorry, it was just a much happier time for me. I miss those days."

"It's fine," said Kira. "I'd like to hear some of the stories."

"If you insist, but first, I want to hear some stories about you three."

"Fair enough," said Kuzzey, smiling suddenly in a way that made Kira and Sai nervous. "I've got a pretty good one about Kira tripping up in the locker room…"

"Kuzzey, no!"

To his friend's mortification though, Kuzzey could not be dissuaded from regaling Makoto of the embarrassing incident filled with enough homoerotic subtext for a yaoi manga that Kira had experienced not even two years ago.

Several days later

"I'm fine mother," said Makoto, leaning on her elbows a little as she stared at her mother's image in the display screen. The teenager smiled. "It's been a fun few weeks, though I am looking forward to returning home." Naomi smiled in response.

Naomi Arata was a striking woman of almost pure Japanese descent. She was very tall at five foot ten inches, with sharp dark eyes and sharp facial features. She was a bit on the thin side with slightly below average breasts, but her whole body was toned from exercise and she moved with cat-like grace. On top of that, the woman's mind was incredibly sharp.

She was also kind, warm, protective and supportive. Makoto couldn't have asked for a better mother.

"What, no special attachment to Kira-chan?"

"Mother! Of course not!" said Makoto, looking mildly scandalized. "He's a good friend, sure, and it's been nice getting to know him, but I'm not interested! Honestly, he's more like a brother to me." Which wasn't particularly surprising, since they'd spent their formative years together, even if each possessed only faint memories of those times.

Nevertheless, an odd look passed over Naomi's face. It made Makoto wonder, not for the first time, if there wasn't something more to her relationship with Kira.

After all, Makoto did know everything her mother did about her adoption, and she did have at least some Japanese ancestry, even if her Caucasian ancestry was more readily apparent. Even still, their birthdays were about a month and a half apart. They couldn't possibly be siblings, though she'd often wondered if they might be cousins ever since she'd arrived on the colony.

Simultaneously, mother and daughter shook their heads to clear away the thoughts. They'd already agreed that Caridad's reasons for bringing Makoto to Naomi were long irrelevant.

"So, no other boys or girls?" asked Naomi, sounding a bit disappointed.

"None I'd want to try a long-distance relationship with," said Makoto. "One of Kira-san's friends is pretty cute and very smart, but it wouldn't work out. There's also a really cute redhead, but Kira-san clearly likes her, to say nothing of, oh right, her boyfriend."

Naomi shook her head slightly.

"Sorry, I just worry about you after the training. I know you're not even sixteen, and both Hikaru-kun and Arisa-chan were only a year ago, but…"

"Don't worry mother, I'm fine. Besides, things wouldn't have worked out between me and them. We all decided it was best to remain friends."

"I suppose. You're old enough to decide that sort of thing for yourself. At any rate, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, but I suppose I miss you as well."

"Mmm, what about you? How's managing Yumiko-sama?"

"About as exhausting as you'd expect…"

The two descended into idle chatter. Outside the room where they spoke, Kira leaned up against the wall, idly turning the conversation over in his head.

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop on them, but when he overheard Makoto calling Flay cute, it had brought him up short. Of course, Makoto had commented on Flay's attractiveness, even if she were surprised by Flay's actual age. But what he'd just overheard…

A few minutes later, Makoto disconnected the call with her mother, and turned around to see Kira entering the room with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Hmm? Something wrong, Kira-san?"

"Uh, not really… just, um… I overheard your conversation and…"

Makoto tilted her head slightly.

"You were curious about something?"

"Yeah…" said Kira, scratching the back of his head uncertainly. "The way you described Flay just now… Makoto, are you…?"

"Oh." Makoto smiled slightly, shaking her head in understanding. "I'm bisexual. I've had both a boyfriend and a girlfriend and, to be honest… no, not a virgin. I… well, I like to experience new things, and gender is no object. It's all about the person, after all."

Almost two weeks into her visit, Makoto was much more comfortable around Kira and his mother. She'd never been ashamed of her bisexuality, nor of her sexual experience at her young age—even without accounting for her legal adulthood in only a few months, Makoto had been raised to be unashamed of her body. While other parts of the world clung to old, conservative attitudes toward sex, Orb, the Atlantic Federation, the Oceania Union, and the Kingdom of Scandinavia took a much more liberal view towards it. In those nations, violence was treated as significantly more adult content than matters relating to sexuality, and each had extensive sex education systems, though absolutely none of them encouraged sex among minors. Regardless, Makoto knew what she was doing when she'd chosen to sleep with Hikaru about a year ago.

"What about you?" asked Makoto after Kira only hummed thoughtfully in response to her answer. "You certainly seem to have a thing for Allster-san, and don't think for a second I haven't noticed your chemistry with Argyle-san."

Kira had the decency to blush.

"Alright, alright," he said. "I'm also bisexual, and yeah, Sai's definitely attractive physically, but emotionally…" He shrugged. "He's my best friend. I'm not actually interested in anything more with him."

"Fair enough. Is it the same with Allster-san?"

"Kind of; I don't know Flay that well," said Kira, finally taking a seat near Makoto's. "But… she's cute, and sexy for her age. Plus, even though she can be a bit shallow some of the time, she's really pretty sweet and caring. I've also heard her talk about Hybrid rights." Makoto started at that. "She's a big supporter of it, though I get the feeling she doesn't care for Coordinators as much."

"Disapproving of Coordinators but supporting Hybrids?" muttered Makoto. "Wow, you see something new everyday." Not to say Makoto wasn't a supporter of Hybrid rights herself, but the people who blended Coordinator and Natural heritage tended to be a black sheep for the human race as a whole, even among those who accepted both of the larger groups. Not even Orb was immune to this, even if it was considered the nation most accepting of Hybrids.

"At any rate, I guess she's not the only one," said Kira softly. "This guy, back on Copernicus… well, not happening now, but I liked him for awhile. You liked those two for awhile too, right? You don't seem the sort to just have sex." Makoto shook her head.

"Not remotely," she said. "Hikaru-kun and Arisa-chan were both very close to me. We're still friends even now, but we all came to realize things wouldn't work out."

"I see," murmured Kira. He chuckled. "Funny. Somehow, this seems like a strange topic of conversation."

"Maybe up here," said Makoto with a shrug. "Down in the homeland? People talk about it all the time. We should never be ashamed of our bodies." She gave him a sad look. "After all, wouldn't that be the same as being ashamed of who we are?"

"You're right," said Kira. "I guess that explains how you can be so comfortable talking about it, even though you're usually so reserved. That being said… if you're so unashamed, why did you dress so conservatively at first?"

Makoto had the decency to blush in embarrassment at that.

"Um, well, it's not that I… I wasn't… I'm not ashamed of my body, I just…"

Kira leaned back in his seat slightly, basking in the satisfaction of turning the tables and leaving Makoto flustered instead of himself.

Heliopolis Technical College
The next day

Unfortunately, Kira couldn't spend all his time hanging out with his friends, new or old. Sometimes, he had to come into the lab to do more direct work for class and for Professor Kato.

On the upside, he wasn't working alone—two other Coordinator students from a lower level class were helping him as extracurricular study.

The students in question were fourteen-year-old twins, Sora and Ayane Honda. Sora was five foot, four inches, with a small, wiry body. He looked fairly young, in part because of his slightly effeminate facial features, but mostly because he just seemed so small. He had short, slightly messy black hair and dark blue eyes. He was dressed in denim shorts and a plain black shirt, and carried some kind of antique music player—Kira had never been able to figure out how old the thing was, but Sora seemed to carry it with him everywhere.

Ayane was an inch shorter than her brother, but somewhat ironically looked a bit older. Like Sora, she had a petite body, but even though their facial features were pretty close to identical, there was a maturity in Ayane's eyes that wasn't present in Sora's. The girl had long blue hair that fell past her waist, dark red eyes and her outfits always seemed to place a subtle emphasis on her feminity: her current outfit was a white blouse, knee-length grey skirt and a red necktie just above her small breasts.

The two of them, while not at Kira's level of education, were incredibly smart and had been extremely helpful to Kira's current research project.

The brunet let out a sigh, shaking his head as he reached up to the 2D holographic display and flicked his finger across it, causing the displayed exoskeleton to start spinning around.

"This will never work," muttered Kira.

"Why not?" asked Sora, tilting his head slightly as he looked between the display and the large pile of notes. "We're developing new exoskeleton frame designs and operating systems… don't we have a lot of room to play with?"

"Well sure, but not with some of Professor Kato's requirements," said Kira, leaning back in his seat slightly, frowning. "But it's not just that… Professor Kato gave me some specific requirements for the OS, but those requirements aren't compatible with the exoskeleton we're working with."

"How so?" asked Ayane, stepping over to them and leaning down on Kira's shoulder. He just managed to resist the urge to shift uncomfortably.

"This frame is a bit bulky, but it's still a man-sized exoskeleton," said Kira, pressing a few buttons and bringing up a second display, this time for the OS code, which started scrolling past. "It's somewhat slow and uses an external power source. An appropriate code would be something more like… this." His fingers flew across the keyboard, and a third display popped up of an entirely different OS code. Just to emphasize the difference, Kira overlapped the two OS code displays.

"Whoa…" muttered Sora. "Yeah, I can't make heads or tails of what they mean, but those codes certainly look very different."

"Um, Kira-senpai…" said Ayane uncertainly. "Did you just… design an OS for the exoskeleton from scratch in a few seconds?"

"Not from scratch, but pretty close," said Kira nonchalantly. "It's really not that complex." Despite his words, both twins gave him admiring looks. He shifted uncomfortably before discarding his created code. "Anyways, the problem is some of these requirements he wants. If it's just an exercise for school, then that's fine, but he seems to consider this a pretty important project."

"So… what sort of exoskeleton does he want?" asked Sora, straightening up a bit. With a sigh, Kira started typing again, and this time he started modifying the already displayed exoskeleton. As fast as his fingers could type, parts started changing on the display, flying off and new ones flying on, only to be quickly replaced. Soon, the exoskeleton frame was nearly unrecognizable.

When Kira finished, his companions both blinked in surprise.

The new exoskeleton was larger—seven meters tall to the two meters of the one they were working on. But it was less bulky as well, with a somewhat more humanoid design.

"That looks like… a mobile suit?" whispered Sora, shocked to the core.

"Actually, it's more like the exoskeletons George Glenn used during his Jupiter Mission," said Kira. Ayane finally stopped leaning on him, a worried look in her eyes.

"But… weren't those exoskeletons what ZAFT developed it's mobile suits from?" she whispered. Slowly, Kira nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Yeah," he said softly. "It's just a guess… but I think we're helping Morgenroete develop new mobile weapons."

Elsewhere

Makoto walked down the streets of Heliopolis alone, since not only was Kira busy with his extra work for Professor Kato, but Sai and Kuzzey had classes, Caridad had work, and the redhead had no idea how to get in touch with Flay, so with nothing else to do, she'd decided to wander a little.

It had been an enjoyable two weeks so far, with one more to go before her flight back to the homeland. While a part of her regretted that she wouldn't get the chance to know some of the people up here better, she was still looking forward to going home. Spending time with her mom, maybe take advantage of her mom's position to hang out with Yumiko, to say nothing of Makoto's friends from school or in high society.

Granted, that whole deal with Yumiko was really appealing, because Makoto herself dreamt of being an idol. That had only been driven to new heights by Lacus's singing career, as the two had promised to sing together on stage one day. In fact, Makoto had been getting ready to apply to some auditions when she'd received the letter informing her that she'd been drafted for the military reserve. The letter had surprised her, though in retrospect, it really shouldn't have—after all, she was a Coordinator. Practicality, if nothing else, demanded that they recruit as many Coordinators as they could to serve as mobile suit pilots.

With a sigh, Makoto brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes before suddenly becoming aware of where her feet had taken her. She stood outside a café near one of the glass strips that allowed sunlight into the colony. There was a vague feeling in her chest, and she found herself walking into the café, eyes wandering briefly before locking on a brunette sitting by herself.

She wasn't sure why this girl caught her attention, but Makoto studied her nonetheless. She was young—early teens, probably about Flay's age, though her chest was also well-developed, though not as pronounced. Her facial features had a sort of "young beauty" sense to them, nearly unblemished. She had long brown hair with two red hairclips that lifted her hair a little and bright blue eyes. She was wearing black jeans and a long-sleeved blue shirt.

It was the eyes, Makoto decided. There was something about the girl's eyes that drew her—she looked bored, maybe a little sad, but there was also fire and power in her eyes. It was something Makoto had noticed, sometimes—that she could look people in the eye and see so much deeper. So far, the only people she'd done it with had been a few of her childhood friends, Kira and Lacus among them. This was the first time it happened with a stranger.

For reasons she didn't fully understand, Makoto approached the brunette's table.

"Hello…?" she said, a bit uncertainly. The brunette looked up at her.

"Excuse me?" she replied, blinking. "Do I… know you?"

"Ah, no, it's just… well, I'm visiting a friend, and was wandering on my own today. I wound up here and… well, I saw you and just felt like talking… I'm sorry, I know I'm not making sense. I'll just leave you alone…"

"No, wait!" said the brunette, shooting to her feet as Makoto turned away. "It's fine, really! I was just a bit surprised. Only person I know of on Heliopolis with hair that color is Flay Allster and…" She shook her head. "Well, we don't exactly get along." She motioned towards the table. "I wouldn't mind some company right now though—my friends are busy with classes and I'm bored."

Makoto laughed slightly.

"I know what you mean—everyone I know on this colony is busy with classes or work, or I don't even know them enough to get in touch!" Smiling, Makoto sat down with the brunette and extended her hand. "I'm Arata Makoto, by the way."

"That name order… you're from the homeland?" Makoto nodded, then the brunette started slightly. "Oh, sorry, that was rude of me! I'm Misako. Misako Miyamura." She shook Makoto's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miyamura-san."

"And you as well… um, Arata-san?"

Makoto smiled and nodded, before the two fell into idle conversation, stopping only briefly for Makoto to order a bit of food and drink.

Yamato Residence
Two days later

"Yeah, I'm coming!" called Caridad, more for herself than anything. The home phone line, which was only used for calls to and from outside of Heliopolis, was ringing, and Caridad was home alone, as Kira was in class while Makoto had gone off to visit a recreation center with her new friend.

Caridad pressed the answer button, and an image flashed onto her screen. The black-haired woman's eyes went wide when she saw who was on the other side.

"Hello Caridad. It's been awhile." Caridad swallowed the lump in her throat before inclining her head in a small bow as she replied.

"It has, Heika," she said, her gut clenching a bit. What would lead the Empress of Orb to call her out of the blue like this? They hadn't spoken in nearly sixteen years… not since Caridad had informed her that Ami was killed in a Blue Cosmos strike on the research facility where Ami and Caridad had worked.

The Empress let out a small sigh.

"I know asking for informality is pointless with you, so I'll just cut straight to the point," she said. "Caridad, I'd like to ask you to move back to Orb."

"What?" gasped Caridad. Why…?

"I'm sorry, I know this is sudden," said the Empress. "But… well, listen, I know you probably won't like hearing this, but I've been keeping an eye out for information on yours and Ami's old co-workers." Caridad's gut clenched at that. "I've just learned that two of them were murdered in the PLANTs about six months before the war began." Caridad's eyes widened in terror.

It couldn't be… had Blue Cosmos found them?

"Caridad, you were one of Ami's best friends," said the Empress. "Please… come home. I need to know that you're safe."

Slowly, Caridad nodded. She'd wanted to keep Kira and Makoto separate, try to fly under the radar… but if Blue Cosmos had gotten any information on her, on them, then the safest place for them would likely be in Orb, under the protection of the Imperial Family.

Another, horrifying thought struck her though: was the day she'd dreaded and hoped to never see approaching?

Was it finally time for her to come clean… to Kira, to Makoto, to Naomi… to the Imperial Family? The truth behind that terrible incident, all those years ago?

Caridad's eyes squeezed shut.

No, she thought to herself. Not now. It's been sixteen years… it's over, it's in the past… why can't everyone else just let Divinity end…?

Author's Notes: So, what did everyone think?

The chapter title's a bit misleading, since I spent less time emphasizing the past between Kira and Makoto and more time on character introductions... which I suddenly realize I messed up for Sai and Kuzzey; they're the only two who weren't given any kind of description. Whoops? But I'm too lazy to go back and fix it, so let's talk about something more interesting!

Such as that scene with Kira and Makoto discussing their sexuality. I'm not too into the idea of Orb as the only "good" nation around, so even though I do tend to make use of them in such a role, I wanted to impress the idea that their "progressive" view on non-Coordinator matters weren't unique to them. Thus, several nations, including standard Cosmic Era patsy villain nation the Atlantic Federation (y'know, I suspect Fukuda might've had a thing against the U.S. But, you know, just a guess on my part) share Orb's stance on acknowledging sexuality instead of repressing it. Also, I've never made it clear enough that the majority of characters in my GS fics are bisexual, and I realized how easy it was to give the idea that only female characters are bisexual, which is absolutely horrible of me, and it's worse than any of the other BS I've done over the years. Hence, I not only stated outright that Kira was bisexual, but made it clear (sadly only by "telling" instead of "showing," but it's only the first chapter!) that he found at least two different men attractive. Take a wild guess who his crush on the moon was (oh god, could I have made it anymore obvious?! It's not like Kira and Athrun didn't have enough subtext in the show for this bit of fanon to be canon instead!).

... Um, moving on.

I apply a little alternative character interpretation to Flay; what's funny is that, in my initial drafts she and Makoto were going to absolutely despise one another, because it was obvious at a glance that Makoto was a Coordinator. Once I took that away and made it less visually obvious, the flow of the entire scene changed, and suddenly Makoto and Flay were actually getting along okay. Funny, isn't it, the impact a relatively minor detail like hair color can have on a story like this, hmm?

At any rate, I know you've all probably got like a million questions. "What's Divinity?" (assuming you aren't familiar with the original Divinity Saga... or you know, cheat and read one of them, even if only the last epilogue is still on FF). "What the hell?! Why does Orb have a royal family?! That's totally not canon!" Well, nope, it isn't, but Orb needs some serious overhaul from Fukuda's pet nation anyways, so why not? :D "Where's Haruma, Caridad's husband?" I think it's obvious that I simply didn't use him in this story; not needed. "Why does Kira know he's adopted?!" Because reasons! :P "Your OC is childhood friends with both Kira and Lacus?! MARY SUE ARHGAIHGFDSHI!" I debated that one for awhile, but in the end, I did have my reasons for having Makoto's past friendship with Lacus... reasons that won't even pan out entirely until the very end of the story, so I'm sure you've all now decided my OC has no backstory to justify anything and therefore she (and myself) must be burned at the stake. Fortunately, torches and pitchforks would only help me right now, as the flames would merely unbury my house from the snow that has conspired to imprison me!

"Is the author crazy? Why is the author still ranting with this irritatingly long A/N that no one will read anyways?" If anyone actually asked this, the answers are: not according to my therapist, but I think she's just waiting till my guard is down; and "because I'm crazy and ranty and love to hear myself talk. Why else would I do this?"

At any rate, the next chapter is intended to correspond to the first episode of SEED, so we'll get our introduction to ZAFT and the Alliance, plus action. Hopefully, now that I've determined myself to write again, the next chapter on this and my many waiting stories will not take too long.

Hope to see you soon, and I appreciate any thoughtful reviews I get, but I despise any reviews that are only flames or non-constructive criticism! Oh, and any anonymous reviewers (if my anon reviews are on), please keep in mind that I have no means to reply to any questions you ask!

Sayōnara!