The thought that Cruze might have joined Orb, perhaps even become Xiao Ran's subordinate, filled Durandal with unrelenting worry and fear. He could already imagine that everything he had done, every single move he had made, had been calculated by Xiao Ran. The feeling in his heart made it hard for him to breathe.
Who understood Durandal best? Naturally, it was Cruze, the man who had once been closest to him. If Cruze was in Orb, Durandal was one hundred percent certain that, with Cruze's intelligence and understanding of him, he would undoubtedly connect the fall of Junius 7 to him.
Although Cruze had vanished, the connections he had left behind in ZAFT and PLANT still remained. Then there was the unfathomable Xiao Ran, and Lacus, whose influence over PLANT—and even the entire world—was terrifying. Durandal suddenly realized that the cards in his hand were utterly useless before such a combination.
Ray regarded Cruze as a father. If that man truly was Cruze, Durandal could imagine the day Ray would eventually betray him. And Shinn Asuka—the Orb native in whom he had placed such hopes, a pilot with the SEED ability—had he really just drifted to PLANT and joined ZAFT after joining the military?
Durandal did not know when Cruze had become involved with Xiao Ran, but that did not stop him from becoming suspicious of Shinn Asuka. Had Shinn truly come to PLANT because Orb had been destroyed and his family had died? Though there was nothing questionable about Shinn's background timeline, Durandal, a man who calculated several moves ahead with every step, could not help but worry about it.
As the United Forces descended into chaos and fragmentation, Orb's strength had rapidly swelled because most soldiers who left the United Forces had chosen Orb. Combined with the inexplicable,