AN: And here we are again. It has been quite some time since I have written anything in the SEED fandom, but I couldn't resist this chance to try and fix that. DX and I have been talking about this for quite some time, and we both decided that I should take over this story. I view it as a challenge, and it lets DX focus on A Change of Fate. So thus, we have this, my version of Angel of Time.

I will get a couple of things out of the way up here before starting the chapter:

1. With DX's permission, I expanded the opening battle sequence, and am depositing Kira in a different part of the timeline (different episode). The place I chose works better for me so hopefully it will work better for the readers too.

2. This story, much like the original, will be Kira/Cagalli. Also like the original, there is NO twincest involved. Considering the 'OMG we're siblings' thing was only important for like a handful of episodes and never brought up again (aside from leaving Kira with Lacus and Cagalli with Athrun by default) taking that out doesn't really harm the story in any appreciable way (Rau can mess with Kira just as easily without Cagalli being his sister, and Cagalli doesn't need more angst after her father goes boom). Unless you are a diehard K/L or A/C shipper anyway.

3. No crossover shenanigans. All the MS in here will be either pure SEED models, or ones that could realistically be developed from the base models. I love the Double X as much as DX, but it just doesn't really...well...fit where I'm taking the story.

4. Mostly follows the canon, at least at first.

5. This one is going to be important considering I know what will happen. Flay. Flay. Flay. I know that she has an unusually (IMO) large following on here, and I know I will get people telling me variations on 'don't bash Flay' or 'can you do something with Flay?'. I will say right now...while I personally don't really like her, I will do my best to do something with her character. Just don't expect a paragon of goodness out of her...its an insult to the character to change her personality without some serious reworking of events. Even if I don't personally like her, I do respect what the writers did with her arc. So she will be a racist and manipulative character at first. Its how she was in the series, and there is no changing that at first. Later? Maybe, maybe not.

With that out of the way, we move on to the first chapter. Let me know what you think!

Jachin Due

L5

September 23, CE 71

Lights flashed in the night sky. New stars were born and just as quickly died. Beams flashed across the dark of space, illuminating the massive asteroid that housed Jachin Due. And through it all, men and women died for their cause. Whether Earth Alliance, ZAFT, or Three Ships Alliance, they all were united in their drive to fight, and in far too many cases, die, for their cause.

Against this backdrop, floated the wrecked corpses of hundreds of mobile suits, the detritus of battle. Flying through this graveyard, dodging bright emerald beams, was the angelic Freedom Gundam. The machines bright blue wings were spread wide as it banked through the debris, several of the larger pieces blowing up in brilliant pink explosions.

Chasing after the Freedom was the demonic slate grey bulk of the Providence Gundam. Flashing around the large Gundam were its mobile weapons, the DRAGOONs. It was these that had been firing on the Freedom, and blasting apart the rubble surrounding the two ZAFT machines. And the pods continued to try and box the maneuverable Gundam in, leaving it little room to fly.

"You can't run forever Kira Yamato!" the pilot of the Providence, Rau Le Creuset, yelled out at his target.

With that shout, the DRAGOONs shot forward and tried to envelop the Freedom again. The white Gundam managed to evade the beams again, but this time it lost one of its wings, damaging its thrusters.

As the machine shook from the impact, Kira Yamato was forced to put his machine into a spiral towards the wreck of an Agamemnon class carrier and use it for shelter from the Providence. While he had the small break, Kira flipped open his visor and swept the sweat from his face.

That machine is too powerful…but I can't let him kill anyone else, not after what he did to Flay… Kira thought, remembering how his former girlfriend had been killed by one of those pods.

That line of thought was cut off as the wrecked carrier detonated, throwing the Freedom forward, and knocking Kira's head into the console, leaving a large gash across his forehead. Quickly shaking the blood from his face, Kira spun his Gundam around and saw the Providence charging forward, beam saber ignited.

Quickly drawing his own pink blade, Kira charged himself, clashing with the much larger blade of his enemy. The Freedom pushed against the grey Gundam, but the larger Providence was slowly pushing Kira back with its more powerful thrusters.

"You can't defeat me Kira Yamato! You will die and so will all humanity!" Rau yelled, giving an extra push on his thrusters and tossing the Freedom into a wrecked Nazca.

Kira grunted and quickly realigned his machine, firing off a Full-Burst Mode barrage at the other Gundam.

"You're crazy! I won't let you're twisted logic win!" Kira shouted back, firing every weapon available to him.

Rau just laughed in return as he dodged the barrage, though he did lose a couple DRAGOONs.

"You were never meant to exist Yamato! You give a false hope to humanity…a hope that they can survive anything by becoming the 'Ultimate Coordinator'! Humanity will burn for its arrogance, but you will not live to see it!"

With that yell, the two machines went back to their deadly dance, green and red beams flying through space. All around the two Gundams, the battle raged on, though no one got near to the Gundams, for fear of being killed by the fiercely clashing pilots. Anyone unlucky enough to get in the battle was either disabled by Kira, or outright destroyed by Rau.

There was no middle-ground, no mercy given. Both Kira and Rau were determined to destroy the other, and God help anyone who got in their way.

After a particularly violent blow, Kira tried to get some answers out of his insane enemy, "Why are you doing this?! Mankind has the right to live! For every murderer there is a hero!"

Rau laughed again, "Only you would be delusional enough to believe that! Mankind has no future but endless war! They don't deserve to live!"

"Who are you to decide that?! You're just a heartless monster who wants to destroy everything!"

"Argue all you want Kira Yamato…it will change nothing! GENSIS will fire and the Earth will burn! The fires of war will never die down, until all of Mankind is dead! A glorious revelation, for such an undeserving race!"

"I won't let you win!"

With that, Kira shot forward again, pink blade bisecting a DRAGOON that tried to stop him. Rau quickly redirected another one in, blowing off one of the Freedom's legs. But Kira kept on moving, and took the Providences shield arm off.

The grey machine quickly backed up, and redirected its remaining weapons to attack Kira even more aggressively. Rau couldn't afford to play with his target anymore, and he knew it. Kira, lacking one of his main thrusters, was finding it extremely difficult to dodge the beams coming from every conceivable direction.

Damn it! He was playing with me the whole time! I can't keep up like this! Kira thought, nearly losing the Freedom's head to an angry green beam.

"This is why you can't win Yamato! You focus on the good in mankind and refuse to kill! You will never win that way!" Rau yelled, firing his massive beam rifle and taking one of the Freedom's arms.

Is he right? Is my refusal to kill him making me lose this battle? No…I won't stoop to his level! I'll win this even if it means killing him, but I refuse to become a killer again!

With that thought in his head, Kira charged forward once again, having tossed aside his shield and drawn his one remaining beam saber. He was going to defeat Rau, he had to. Otherwise the mad-man would kill Athrun, Cagalli, Lacus…everyone. All the people he cared about were at risk if the young Coordinator didn't win, and he was determined that he would!

"AHHH!" Kira shouted, driving his saber forward.

The brilliant pink blade drove itself into the Providence, only a last minute boost from Rau saving his machine. Nonetheless, both machines were starting to show the wear-and-tear of their long-running battle. The Freedom was missing a leg and a quarter of its wing thrusters, and the frame was creaking from the stress of all Kira's wild maneuvers.

The Providence was little better, missing its main (sans the DRAGOON pods) weapon after Kira cleaved off its shield along with its beam cannons and saber. Add on to the massive hole in its frame from the latest attack, and the demonic Gundam was limited to its DRAGOON's for effective attacks.

After pulling away from Rau, Kira panted as he wiped more blood from his face, How is that thing still going? Any other Mobile Suit would have fallen apart by now!

As Kira thought this, the Providence sent its remaining DRAGOON pods at the Freedom, enveloping the Gundam in a spider-web of green beams. Kira spun and dived around the beams, everywhere he looked flashing bright emerald as the beams flew by his machine. Despite all his skill and the power of the Freedom, Kira realized it was only a matter of time until Rau finally managed to corner him. There was just only so much he could do against a superior machine.

Realizing this, Kira charged forward again, spinning through the beam attacks, once again using his beam saber more like a beam lance. The plasma blade stabbed forward at the Providence, looking like it would impale the cockpit as Rau made no move to dodge. But it wasn't meant to be…a DRAGOON pulled next to the Freedom's outstretched arm, and fired a beam.

Kira watched as the beam slowly flew towards his machine, the adrenaline amplifying his already impressive senses to new heights. The young pilot attempted to move the Freedom's arm out of the way, to dodge the beam somehow. The beam was just too fast though, the green bolt cleaving through the Freedom's arm, the explosion pushing the machine back as Kira cried out in pain as a console overloaded, flinging shrapnel into his flight suit.

"I told you that you couldn't win Yamato…and now you shall see your precious Earth die," Rau said over the radio, as the damaged Providence floated up to the Freedom, took the machines saber, and dismembered what was left of the machine until all that remained was a crippled torso. The masked man was taking no chances of Kira shooting him in the back.

For his part Kira tried everything to get his machine to move, maybe raise his railcannons and blast the Providence at point-blank range as it cut up the Freedom. But nothing worked…the Gundam was dead, and it refused to wake up.

But the battle had attracted the attention of other pilots, as evidenced by a shout over the radio from a rapidly approaching red Gundam.

"KIRA!" Athrun's voice rang over the damaged systems in the Freedom.

"No...get away from here!" Kira shouted back, knowing that they didn't stand a chance against the Providence, "leave me and stop GENESIS!"

"Ah…Athrun and the Princess. Their deaths should show you how truly futile your fight was Kira Yamato," Rau said, a maniacal grin spreading over his face.

Kira's eyes widened, and he continued to shout into his radio for Athrun and Cagalli to run, but neither of the other pilots were willing to leave him. Athrun and Cagalli both had experienced the pain of losing Kira before…and neither were going to let that happen again. Even if they were outmatched…they wouldn't just leave Kira behind. They couldn't leave him behind.

"Come here you murdering bastard!" Cagalli shouted, firing her pink machines rifle at the Providence.

Rau merely smirked as he moved his damaged machine aside. Cagalli was far from a bad pilot, but she just wasn't at Rau or Kira's level yet. As Cagalli's beams flew harmlessly past the Providence, the grey machine sent its remaining weapon pods at the Strike Rouge. Much like they had done with Kira, the beams formed an umbrella of emerald fire, enveloping the wildly dodging Strike Rouge.

Despite the skill she had just started to develop, this was far too much for Cagalli. She dodged a lot of the beams, surprising Rau somewhat. Of course, it didn't help that the Justice had moved into the battle and began to fire on the Providence. Athrun was a far better pilot than Cagalli, and his beams came very close to hitting the already heavily damaged Providence.

"Don't let him get to you Cagalli!" the blue haired pilot shouted, "keep him busy while I finish him off!"

"Roger that!" Cagalli shouted back, raising her rifle to the Rouge's eye and firing at a DRAGOON that moved just slightly too slow.

The weapon pod flashed for a split second before cooling into a small field of debris. Rau cursed under his breath, dodging another shot from Athrun. The Justice and Strike Rouge moved in unison, both machines circling the Providence, dividing Rau's attention and weapons. Athrun and Cagalli individually were not on the same level as Kira and Rau, but together…they were one of the best teams in the Earth Sphere.

And it showed, as the red and pink machines took turns firing on the Providence and its DRAGOONs, leaving Rau on the defensive once again. Though this truly didn't bother the masked pilot. His plans would succeed if he lived or died…and keeping Athrun and the Princess busy, meant that there was no one to stop GENSIS from firing.

"Do you really believe you can win Athrun?" the insane man shouted, as a DRAGOON beam clipped the Justice's flight pack, and another blew through a thruster on the Rouge's Aile Pack.

"Of course I do!" Athrun shouted back, his own return fire blowing through the Providence's backpack, further wounding the mighty machine.

"Hell yeah we do you monster!" Cagalli added, adjusting the Rouge to compensate for the loss of engine power.

Rau grunted slightly as his machine shook from the repeated hits and near misses. He knew the Providence was powerful, but it wouldn't last forever. He may not have to live to win…but he wanted to see the look of defeat on Yamato's face. After all that boy's father had done, Rau deserved that much in his twisted mind.

Thus, he stopped firing on the Justice, and once again brought all his weapons to bear on the Strike Rouge. The pink machine wasn't able to dodge as effectively anymore due to the lost thruster, and just like with Kira before her, Cagalli would pay for that. Her machine took repeated hits from the DRAGOONs, blasting pieces of armor off before fully detaching the limbs of the newly built machine.

Cagalli screamed as her machine lost its only means of fighting back, before a DRAGOON floated in front of the cockpit. Much like before, Kira watched in slow motion as the beam fired, piercing the cockpit of the Strike Rouge, killing Cagalli in a flash of light as the machine's reactor went critical. The only sign that the fiery Princess had once been there was a field of broken Mobile Suit parts.

"NO! CAGALLI!" both Kira and Athrun shouted as they saw this happen.

Growling at Rau, Athrun shot the Justice at the Providence, dual bladed saber held up and prepared to impale the grey machine. Rau was unable to dodge, and once again the Providence took a beam saber hit. This time a leg was lost, as the Justice moved back and launched its flight pack to get another angle of attack.

The crimson Gundam and its flight pack then started to attack the Providence from opposite directions, trying to overwhelm Rau. But the Commander was used to fighting Mu, and had no problem adjusting to the new attack. The DRAGOONs once again split into two distinct groups, firing at both the Justice and its flight pack.

The less maneuverable pack took the first hits, as Athrun was forced to divide his attention between managing the Justice and its pack at the same time. And right as he realized this was a critical error on his part, the pack died in a fiery explosion.

"Damn it!"

Left with the slower Justice, Athrun continued to try and get an angle on the Providence. But on his own, and with a practically crippled machine, Athrun was at a severe disadvantage. No matter how much damage was done to the Providence itself (and make no mistake…Athrun was damaging the other machine) it seemingly did not matter. The Providence was unique in not needing to be completely intact to use its most effective weapon…the DRAGOONs would continue to function so long as the reactor of their parent machine was intact. And with this knowledge, Rau continued to fire on the Justice even as his machine was blasted apart around him.

"Athrun run!" Kira tried one last time, not wanting to lose Athrun like he had Cagalli and Flay.

"I won't leave you Kir…" Athrun began, before a beam from behind hit the Justice's cockpit.

Unlike the Rouge, the former ZAFT machine didn't explode. It just floated lifelessly, a crater in its torso all that remained of Kira's best friend.

"Athrun…no…no…no…NOOOO!" Kira yelled, his grief overpowering him.

His best friend…Cagalli….both of them were dead because he was too weak. For all his skills in a Gundam, for all his abilities as a Coordinator…as the Ultimate Coordinator…none of it mattered in the end. Because Kira had been unable to defeat Rau, he had gotten them killed. Flay, Athrun, Cagalli…he couldn't save them…

Tears were now running freely down Kira's face, along with the blood from his head wound. He didn't even bother to wipe it away. There wasn't anything he could do…not anymore. The Freedom was dead, the Justice and Rouge were gone…no one was left to stop GENESIS.

"Now you see Kira Yamato…now you see just how weak you truly are. And how weak Mankind is. And now you will die too."

Kira looked up as Rau raised a saber he had taken from the many destroyed units floating around the pair, and brought it down on the Freedom. But just as it was about to impact the machine, a massive explosion flared behind the two pilots. Rau spun around, seeing GENESIS exploding in a gigantic fireball. The Orb machines Athrun and Cagalli had left behind had succeeded in destroying the mighty laser from the inside, before it could fire on Earth.

"NOOOO!" Rau shouted, before he jerked as a jolt hit the Providence.

Turning the machines head around, Rau saw the Freedom latched onto the machine with what little remained of its arms and legs.

"Even if I die…I won't let a monster like you hurt anyone else!" Kira shouted, as he overloaded the Freedom's reactor, the explosion engulfing the Freedom, Providence, and the remains of the Justice.

Unknown Time

Unknown Location

Kira…Kira…Kira Yamato respond!

Kira groaned and opened his eyes as a voice rang through his ears. The voice seemed familiar…but he couldn't place it with the pounding in his head. Which he shouldn't even be feeling…he had sacrificed himself and the Freedom to stop Le Creuset…unless there was an afterlife, he shouldn't be feeling anything at all.

Am I dead? Or did the self-destruct fail? And why would Le Creuset leave me alive? Kira mused past the pounding in his head.

Looking at his surroundings, Kira realized two things fairly quick. First off…this wasn't the Freedom. It was a Mobile Suit cockpit, but it wasn't the machine Lacus had entrusted him with. And the second thing, was that he wasn't wounded any more. His head (aside from the unending pounding) was fine, and his flight suit wasn't punctured by shrapnel any more.

So…he plainly wasn't dead, and was no longer wounded either. And his machine was not the Freedom…just what was going on here?

"Kira Yamato respond! Are you okay Strike!"

There was that voice agai…wait…Strike?! Kira hadn't flown the Strike since he had gotten the Freedom…and it had been destroyed by the Dominion. So how could he be in what he now recognized as the Strike's cockpit? And the voice had gone from familiar, to scarily familiar…Natarle Badgiruel was the one trying to contact him. But she was just as dead as Kira himself should have been…what the hell was going on?

Ignoring the radio for the moment, Kira grabbed the familiar controls and started to turn the Strike around to get a sense of his surroundings. All around the Gundam was debris and shattered ships, but unlike what had surrounded the Freedom, there was no Mobile Suit wreckage, and all of the debris looked old. If anything it looked like the Debris Belt. A thought that was confirmed when Kira looked 'down' and saw the ruins of Junius 7 floating in space.

The Debris Belt...the Strike…Miss Badgiruel…Kira thought, the pounding in his head getting even worse, it's almost like I'm in the past…but how?

Somewhat naïve he may have been, but Kira was far from an idiot. Too many things were pointing in the direction of the impossible. Even in an age of technology like his Gundam, time travel was seemingly impossible. If anything, technological advances had made it less likely, as human knowledge moved beyond such flights of fancy. But yet…what other explanation was there? All the evidence said that Kira was in the past, however impossible it may have seemed at first glance.

"Come on Kid! What's going on!"

This time it was another ghost…Mu La Flaga. Kira felt a wave of sadness at that voice, having seen what was left of the Strike when he drove Le Creuset away from the Archangel. If his suspicions were true…how was he going to go back to living his life? Most of the people he had known were dead…seeing them alive would be so painful part of Kira refused to think about it. But Kira would have plenty of time, no pun intended, to sort through things. Right now, he had to figure out exactly wher…or rather, when he was. Turning the Strike again, Kira saw a wrecked shuttle in the background, with pieces of a GINN surrounding it.

So I haven't met Lacus yet…

Frowning at that, Kira spoke into his radio as he boosted the Strike to look for Lacus' pod, "Kira here. I'm fine, I just got spooked by a GINN."

"Be careful kid," Mu replied first, after a sigh of relief, "it might have a carrier around here."

"Roger," Kira replied, continuing his search for the pod.

It didn't take long to find the small green escape device, the pod floating amongst the wreckage with its red emergency lights flashing along the top. Kira boosted over to the pod, carefully picking it up in the Strike's arms. The pod looked tiny compared to the Mobile Suit, and Kira was very careful to not jostle it too much. The last thing he wanted was Lacus getting hurt because he was careless.

As Kira flew back to the Archangel, the Mobieus Zero pulled up along him. Kira looked out of the corner of his eye at the familiar Mobile Armor, smiling slightly despite the circumstances. It was a comforting sight to say the least.

"Picked up another pod Kid? You need to stop making a habit of this," Mu's joking voice came over the line.

"I'll keep that in mind Lieutenant," Kira replied, his smile growing slightly at the familiar banter.

Both pilots entered the expansive hangar of the Archangel, Kira setting the pod down before powering down the Strike itself. The young pilot, almost hesitantly, climbed out of the cockpit of his Gundam. Gathered around the pod were a myriad of familiar faces. His friends…Mir, Sai, Tolle, Kuzzey. Miss Murrue and Natarle. Mu in his signature purple flight suit. The Archangel's mechanics…everyone he had called a friend that he had met outside of ZAFT and the PLANTs. The only one missing was Cagalli, and he somehow got the feeling he wouldn't see her any sooner than 'last time'.

"Go ahead and change back into your uniforms," Murrue said, nodding at both Kira and Mu, "we need to scan the pod before we can open it."

Mu saluted while Kira nodded slightly. Both pilots moved back to the changing rooms, Mu trying to gossip, while Kira was lost in his thoughts. As well he should be…he was going to meet Lacus for the 'first time' soon. With that thought in mind, he changed as fast as possible, before heading back to the hangar in time for the opening of the pod.

He arrived just as Murdoch finished his scans of the pod, tapping away at the pad he was holding.

"Looks safe to open Captain," the head mechanic said.

"Go ahead Chief," Murrue replied.

Murdoch nodded and tapped some more buttons, before stepping out of the way as the pod's door extended up and down to open a large enough gap for its occupant to float out. The first thing to come out was a small pink ball, chirping 'Lacus' and 'Haro' repeatedly. While most of the crew just had dumbfounded looks, Kira smiled slightly. Lacus never went anywhere without Mr. Pink after all.

And speak of the pink-haired devil…

"Thank you for saving me," her soft voice came from the pod, right before Lacus herself floated out.

If the crew had looked dumbfounded before, their jaws had hit the metaphorical floor when they saw a pink-haired young woman floating out of the pod, her hair floating in waves down her back as the lack of gravity meant there was nothing holding it up. Lacus floated through the group, before Kira reached up to grab her. He pulled his friend down from her little flight through the hangar, eliciting a smile from her.

"Thank you," Lacus said, while Kira smiled back, not a sign of a blush on his face this time.

"You're welcome."

Lacus smiled again, before she noticed the patch on Kira's arm. Looking around, Lacus noticed the rest of the crew standing in the hangar, and quickly realized none of them were in the familiar red and green uniforms of ZAFT.

"Oh my, this isn't a ZAFT ship is it?"

If it were possible, the crew's jaws dropped even further. Both Natarle and Kira went so far as to facepalm, while Murrue confusedly said, "Pardon me?"

AN: And there we end the first chapter/episode. Let me know what you think, just don't (for the love of God) flame. Does no good, and is just a waste of time for both parties.