AN: Okay, what is this you ask? It's something strange and random that my muse spat out at me, and made me write. I guess the whole inspiration for it came from chapter 7 of "Let Go" by athyra, and how Rau le Creuset would be arguing with Al da Flaga in Heaven. So one thing led to another and before you know it this popped out.
Originally, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got really really long as I kept on adding random scenes... so I'm dividing it into 2 or 3 parts. Also, I'm not good at doing descriptions of places okay, so forgive me...
Summary: For those who managed to survive the war (and the series), it was the end of an adventure. But for the dead, it had just begun…in a place called The Afterlife.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own SEED. And beware of total randomness, lame attempts at humour, and much character ooc. This fic is not to be taken seriously or made sense of, doing so may mess up your head. You have been warned.
ADVENTURES IN THE AFTERLIFE: PART I
by MapleRose
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September CE 71, the battle of Jachin Due had just ended, with heavy casualties on all sides. But with the destruction of the GENESIS, the long and terrible war has finally ended. For those who managed to survive, it was the end of an adventure. But for the dead, it had just begun…
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"Lieutenant Badgiruel! Didn't expect to see you here," a vaguely familiar voice called out.
Natarle turned around and found herself face to face with…What was his name again? The one that was last piloting Skygrasper 2?
"It's Lieutenant Commander Badgiruel," she corrected.
"Oh sorry." He didn't seem sorry at all.
She narrowed her eyes at the bottle of beer in his hand. "Aren't you too young to drink?"
"Nah," he took a swig from said bottle. "This is the Afterlife, there are no drinking age restrictions!"
Natarle's face twisted into an expression that was a cross between being amazed and disgusted.
"Come on in, there's plenty of room, don't be shy." Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her arm and towed her in, before she even had a chance to feel indignant.
By the time she collected her senses and was about to give the boy – whose name she still couldn't remember – a good, long lecture, he was gone. Suppressing her frustration and collecting her dignity, she looked around at her surroundings.
…a bar?...
That wasn't what she expected in the Afterlife. Not in the least.
The building that she entered through those gates didn't look all that big from the outside, but inside was much bigger than she'd expected; she looked around on all sides, and strangely, couldn't find any outer walls. There were bars in various places around the room where people sat and drank, and other places that had some fancy tables laid out, and people were eating what looked to be feasts, and then there were places that were cleared for dancing it seemed. To one side, she could see a small stage, where some teenagers were playing live music.
"W-What is this place?" a voice whined from behind her, and she almost jumped as someone grabbed her arm.
"F-Fllay Allster," she sighed in relief, getting over her shock. Then she paused and thought for a moment.
"Wait, you're not supposed to be here. Didn't I send you out in an escape pod?"
Fllay furrowed her eyebrows and pouted. "Kira didn't protect me well enough, so here I am."
"Oh."
Before they could talk more, that boy from before came up to them again.
"Fllay!" he exclaimed, just as Natarle was about to berate him for before.
"Tolle?" the red-haired girl sounded just as surprised.
Tolle, so that's his name. Natarle made a mental note to herself. She opened her mouth to speak again, but was once again interrupted.
"What are you doing here Fllay? Didn't Kira promise to protect you or something?"
"Yes, he was supposed to," Fllay growled.
That seemed to hit a sore spot, and Tolle regretted his question.
Uncomfortable silence followed.
Natarle wondered faintly if bringing up the lecture now would be a bad idea.
Tolle cleared his throat. "So. Now that you're here, might as well enjoy yourself, right? Come and have some fun," he grinned at Fllay, who was still scowling. Then he turned to Natarle, "You too Lieutenant Badgiruel."
"It's Lieutenant Commander," she corrected automatically. But he wasn't listening. He turned to Fllay and pulled her towards the other end of the crowd, leaving Natarle by herself.
But not for long.
She jumped when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She turned and almost jumped again when she saw who it was.
"Hello there Miss Captain."
She wanted to wipe that cocky grin off his face.
"What are you doing here, I thought you'd be rotting in Hell by now," she told him coldly.
He shrugged. "I thought so too. I guess there is no division between Heaven and Hell, it's just one place I guess."
"Or maybe this is Hell," she muttered.
He didn't hear her, as he looked around at the disco lights. "And a pretty nice place I might add. Want to dance?"
By the time he looked back at her, she was gone.
---
"Mwu la Flaga?" an arm stretched out from the bar, blocking the tall blond Lieutenant Commander's way.
"Yes?" he stared at the owner of the arm, trying to remember whether he knew this man or not. He drew up a blank. But then again, it seemed like a lot of people knew his name around here.
The other man put down his drink and stood up to face him eye to eye.
He just…stared. And Mwu was starting to feel very uncomfortable under his stare.
Just as he was about to ask the other man what was wrong, his fist flew out towards Mwu's face. Good thing Mwu has quick reflexes.
He caught the other man's hand and pushed it away from his face.
"What do you want?" he was started to get a bit irritated now.
"You irresponsible bastard! You left her to cry all by herself!"
"Her?" Mwu was getting more confused.
"Murrue Ramius."
At the mention of her name, Mwu stiffened. How did this guy know about him and Murrue?
Then it began to dawn on him.
"You, were you a mobile armour pilot?"
"Yeah. What of it?" he glared at the Hawk of Endymion. "You left her alone to cry by herself," he repeated.
Mwu sighed, irritated.
"Then would you rather have me send her here instead?"
The other man stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.
"I was sort of expecting her, but instead, you showed up."
"Well excuse me," Mwu's eye twitched. "This is the Afterlife, which means you had to die to get here," he reminded the other man pointedly.
He shrugged again and gestured around him. "Hey, there's free booze, who cares how you got here."
Mwu's fist twitched as well as his eye.
He never asked Murrue about this mobile armour pilot of hers. But looking at the man standing before him, he began to wonder what Murrue saw in him.
But before he could say or think of anything more, the other man grinned and patted him on the back.
"Ah well. We're here now, so might as well enjoy it, right?" He sat down and gestured to the seat beside him.
"Drink?"
The blond commander hesitated a moment, then shrugged.
If I'm gonna be stuck here for eternity, might as well get used to it.
---
On his way to the washroom, Rusty Mackenzie spotted his (former) commander, Rau le Creuset, sitting at the bar beside another man. The teen did a double take at the other man, whose hair was curiously the exact same shade and waviness as the commander's hair. Curious, he walked closer, wondering if the other man was Rau's brother, when he heard snippets of their conversation.
"I can't believe you wanted to do that!" the other man told Rau disapprovingly.
Rau gave a snort. "It was your fault in the first place."
"My fault?" he sounded offended for some reason. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even exist," he scoffed.
"I never asked to exist." Rau took a swig at his drink.
"Yeah yeah, that's what every emo kid says."
Rau growled low in his throat. Then he raised an eyebrow, "At least you could've made sure the process was perfected before you created me."
The other man waved his hand in dismissal, "I was in a hurry. And it was Hibiki's fault. If you wanna blame someone, blame him."
Rau looked thoughtful. Then he chuckled darkly. "Your plan to live forever backfired on you."
The other man took a swig at his drink and glared at him. "So did your plan to wipe out humanity."
Rusty was confused by what he heard. And it didn't help that some bits were slurred due to the alcohol. He wondered faintly if he should interrupt and ask. But he looked from his commander to the other man, and back to his commander, and they looked like they're both on the verge of wanting to jump at each other's throats.
And Rusty didn't want to be the catalyst. So he wisely backed away and went on his way.
---
"There there Patrick, you didn't lose. Think of it more like…it was a tie."
"But still! Those damn meddling kids!" Patrick Zala pounded his fist on the bar table.
"Er, Patrick, one of those 'meddling kids' is your son."
Zala glared at the man beside him in response.
Siegel Clyne cleared his throat. "Ahem, anyway. I know you hate to lose, but think of it this way: the Naturals didn't win either. The leader of Blue Cosmos, Azrael, was killed in the end too."
Zala's eyes suddenly lit up. He stood up, flames in his eyes, "That means he's here!! I'm gonna find him and—"
"Wait!" Clyne stood up and stopped his (former?) friend. "He probably isn't here. He's probably in that other place." And come to think of it, so should you.
Zala thought about this for a moment, then sat back down. "You're probably right. I'll just leave him to divine retribution," he grinned, and Clyne sighed mentally.
"You should give it up Patrick. It's over now, it doesn't matter anymore. This is the Afterlife, where we've all lost, and nobody can be killed anyway, so what's the point?" He gestured to the billiard table not far from them, where Captain Zelman, Captain Ades, Commander Morassim, Admiral Halberton, Captain Sutherland, and some officers from Artemis were playing a game of pool, laughing and joking together. "Might as well learn to get along, right?"
Zala looked to the game and made a disgusted face.
Clyne sighed. "Look, if I can forgive you for killing me, you should be able to forgive the Naturals."
Zala stiffened a bit at that. Clyne, seeing this, quickly decided to change the subject.
"I know, why don't you go see your wife? I'm sure she wants to see you."
"No!" he answered quickly, startling Clyne a bit. "I, I can't. She'll kill me for what I did to Athrun."
"Er, Patrick…" he was about it tell him that since they were in the Afterlife, thus dead already, one can't be killed again. But he didn't think that would help the situation any. "…Never mind."
A voice interrupted their conversation. The man sitting on the other side of Patrick Zala spoke up.
"Excuse me, but are you Patrick Zala?"
"Yeah, what of it?" he growled
"Ah I see. Nice to meet you then, looks like we might be in-laws one day."
Patrick Zala shot the other man a "WTF" look.
The other man cleared his throat, "It looks like your son Athrun and my daughter Cagalli are hooking up," he grinned, "You're Athrun's father, and I'm Cagalli's dad, so one day, we may become in-laws."
The look on Zala's face didn't change.
"Who the hell is 'Cagalli'?"
"Cagalli Yula Athha, you know, that blond girl who's stuck to Athrun's side?"
Athha? The leader of Orb Athha?
"Why you!" Patrick Zala suddenly jumped at the other man, and Clyne had to hold him back. "You! It's all your fault! You helped those meddling kids. If only you had joined ZAFT, we could've won this!"
Uzumi Nara Athha didn't seem the least bit fazed at this. He shrugged. "It's too late now Zala. We might as well get along 'cause we're gonna be family one day."
"Wait a minute…" Clyne looked as if he had just realized something. In-laws...that means Athrun might get married to this Cagalli girl one day…But wait, isn't Lacus Athrun's fiancée?
"My daughter Lacus was supposed to marry Athrun!" he exclaimed.
Zala rolled his eyes. "I cancelled their engagement when she became a traitor, remember? I can't have my son marry a traitor."
"A traitor!!" Clyne's face reddened with anger. "How dare you label my sweet innocent daughter Lacus as a traitor!!"
"Your 'sweet innocent daughter' stole the military's top secret mobile suit, the Freedom, and the warship Eternal, then lead that group of meddling kids!"
Ah, that's my Lacus. Clyne grinned inwardly. But outwardly, he kept his angry face. "But you allow Athrun to marry…the princess of Orb?!"
Princess? Zala's lips suddenly curled into a smile at that. If Athrun married the Princess, that means he will be the Prince, and King, er, Representative, one day. And that means…He began to wonder if he can control or possess people on Earth in his current state.
"Nice to meet you," he extended a hand out to Athha with a big smile on his face, and ignored the growl from Clyne.
"It's no use Clyne," a voice from behind them spoke, "Your daughter is in love with my son now."
The three turned to look at the newcomer. He had dark blond hair and wore a doctor's coat.
"Who are you?" Clyne narrowed his eyes, "And who is this son of yours?"
"My son," the other man walked closer and sat down beside Clyne, "Is the Ultimate Coordinator."
"The what?!" both Zala and Clyne raised their eyebrows. Athha on the other hand, widened his eyes and stared. Could it be?
"Yes. Kira Yamato, the Ultimate Coordinator. My son," the man grinned smugly.
"What?!?" Zala and Clyne exclaimed in surprise and disbelief. They had both heard of the Ultimate Coordinator project, but most of it was surrounded by rumours that neither really believed that the project succeeded.
Clyne remembered the brown-haired kid covered in injuries that Lacus brought in. He was too busy and distracted at the time to think more about it. The Ultimate Coordinator? Him? And Lacus is in love with him? What?!
Zala gritted his teeth at the name. He remembered hearing of a Kira Yamato from Rau le Creuset. Wasn't he that traitor Coordinator who piloted the Strike? And the Ultimate Coordinator? Oh well, not my problem now, Clyne is the one who would have to deal with it anyway.
"What do you want Yamato?" Zala asked the other man.
"Ah, it's Hibiki actually. Ulen Hibiki," he corrected. "And Zala, before you think that you have nothing to do with me, my son and your son are best friends."
"What?!"
"And," he pointed to Athha, "His daughter and my son are twins."
"What?!"
"Is that all you can say?" Hibiki ignored glares from the other men and sighed in exasperation. "Don't you guys ever watch what goes on on Earth?"
He turned on the TV sitting on the shelf that held the alcohol, and switched to channel 1695732. "See?"
On the TV screen, like a bad drama, the four kids hugged and cried, saying that it was over, it was finally over. Cagalli clung to Athrun, and both had tears streaming down their faces. Kira held out a ring to Lacus, who took it, and buried her face on his shoulder, sobbing. Suddenly, Cagalli threw her arms around the surprised Athrun and Kira.
"Aww look, isn't that cute, our children are all friends," cooed Hibiki, putting a hand on his heart.
Zala looked like he was about to barf. Athha looked at Hibiki as if he was crazy. Clyne stared at the monitor with his mouth hanging open.
"So," Hibiki cleared his throat, "That means we should be friends too, right?"
Silence. The other three men stared at him.
"Yeah sure whatever," they finally said, while they stood up and walked away in different directions, leaving Hibiki alone at the bar.
"Ah well," Hibiki shrugged and shifted over to his favourite seat. "Got my seat back."
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More randomness to follow...
(if you haven't realised it by now, there isn't much of a plot, just random scenes that my muse instructed me to write)