Go Enlist

Four days later.

"Beep beep~"

"Whoosh~"

The hospital room door slowly opened, and Noer, who was packing his personal belongings, turned to look.

"I heard you're being discharged?" Cruze, dressed in a white uniform, walked in with two attendants.

"A white uniform?" Noer set down what he was holding and sized up the man before him. In just four days, he had changed into a white uniform, with a Nebula badge pinned to his chest.

"If you want, you can too." Cruze chuckled, his tone calm and unruffled.

The two attendants behind him could not help narrowing their eyes. They quietly turned their heads to look at Noer, dressed in cheap clothes.

They really wanted to see what this person Captain Cruze thought so highly of looked like.

Cruze's strength was among the best in all of Z.A.F.T. During the lunar war, he had shot down dozens of enemy aircraft. If those Naturals had not been so underhanded and directly detonated the Cyclops System, the outcome of the war would still have been uncertain.

"Heh, you really think highly of me." Noer shook his head with a smile, taking Cruze's words as a joke.

Piloting a Gundam—was that what it was called? In any case, that thing was simply not something Naturals could pilot. At least, not at this stage.

Without sufficient reflexes and computational ability, piloting a Gundam was no different from becoming a target.

"Where do you plan to go?" Cruze did not explain further. He merely lowered his gaze to the backpack in Noer's hands.

"If possible, I'd like to go back and take a look." Noer gazed out at the stars beyond the window.

In truth, he did not know what he should do now, or what he wanted to do.

He had considered revenge too, but who was he supposed to take revenge on?

Kill every Natural like Cruze?

Noer's heart might have turned cold as ice, but that did not mean he wanted to lose his mind.

But if he did not kill Naturals, then who should he kill?

He did not even know who had launched that nuclear missile. And even if he did know, what then? A soldier's duty was to obey orders.

He did not believe that the soldier who launched the nuclear missile had felt nothing inside, nor did he believe that soldier could have left the battlefield alive.

If he did not know who to avenge himself against, what was left?

Keep living? If it had been before, Noer could have kept using that excuse. His only purpose in living had been to create a better future for those who had taken him in.

But now, he was all alone, with no ties left behind. He was ill, and he belonged neither to Earth nor to PLANT...

Whenever Noer thought of this, he felt utterly lost.

Everyone had their own goal. Even someone like Cruze had the wish to destroy the world. It was twisted, but it was still a goal.

Unlike him...

"Do you know the meaning of strength?" Cruze saw through Noer's confusion and slowly walked over as he spoke.

"The meaning of strength?" Noer looked puzzled, unsure why Cruze had suddenly brought that up.

"I don't know about others, but to me, the meaning of strength is being able to use it to break through every obstacle and achieve my goals." Cruze put it simply.

Seeing that Noer remained unmoved, Cruze continued, "What about you? What is strength to you?"

"Strength..."

Hearing that, Noer suddenly thought of not long ago. If he had possessed enough strength back then, could he have stopped the nuclear missile himself?

It might sound absurd, but intercepting a nuclear missile was not impossible in the world of SEED.

But Noer dismissed the thought in an instant. In this world, either you were extraordinarily gifted, like Athrun and Lacus.

Or you underwent some kind of acquired mutation, like... there seemed to be several warriors who had been altered that way. Something called CPU, perhaps.

Other than those two paths, nearly every other route was useless. You would either become cannon fodder or an enemy medal of honor who could not last ten minutes in the sky.

Noer was not afraid of dying, but that did not mean he was willing to become that kind of idiot.

"Do you know Patrick Zala?" Cruze continued.

"What do you think?" Noer was speechless. How many people in all of PLANT did not know Patrick Zala? Especially now, when he enjoyed immense prestige as the Defense Committee Chairman.

"Then do you know Athrun Sarra?" Cruze asked again.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Noer shot back. He truly did not want too much contact with Cruze.

Noer really was not confident he could withstand the brainwashing tactics of someone like Cruze.

As someone whose life's mission was destroying the world—and who had nearly succeeded—his IQ had to be at least one hundred and eighty.

And Noer? In his previous life, his had capped out at one hundred and sixty. In this life... who knew how high it was.

"Go enlist." Cruze said it directly, without any preamble.

"What?" Noer looked at Cruze in disbelief. Enlist?

That was a pretty huge leap in topic.

"I can act as your sponsor and get you directly into the ZAFT Military Academy." Cruze continued.

"Why?" Noer narrowed his eyes and looked at Cruze suspiciously.

Even now, Noer could not figure out why Cruze valued him so highly. That was also why he did not want too much contact with Cruze.

"Right now, you have no choice but to join Z.A.F.T." Cruze explained.

"I don't understand what you mean." Noer frowned. What did he mean, he had no choice but to enter the ZAFT Military Academy?

"Do you know why Gene Potion No. 4 was developed?" Cruze asked.

"You know?" Noer really did not.

Although he had taken Gene Potion No. 4, no one had explained its effects to him even now.

Other than knowing the potion could be fatal, he knew nothing else. He had asked the researchers several times, but had never received an answer. Coupled with the recent blows he had suffered, Noer had put the matter out of his mind.

Now that Cruze had suddenly brought it up, Noer was genuinely interested.

At that, Cruze turned his head toward the attendants behind him.

Though the two attendants were puzzled, they still saluted and left the hospital room.

Watching the door slowly close, Noer felt that something was not right.

"It can modify a Coordinator's genes a second time. In other words, it can allow Coordinators to evolve a second time." At that moment, Cruze, standing beside Noer, said it without so much as a change in expression.

"Evolve a second time?" Noer was startled by Cruze's answer. A second evolution?

Wait, something like that existed in SEED? How come I don't remember this overpowered thing at all?

"You are the only person so far to have survived after taking Gene Potion No. 4." Cruze did not explain the second evolution. Or rather, there was no need to.

As long as Noer was not an idiot, he would understand what that meant.

"Why are you telling me this?" Noer's mind raced as he began considering the implications.

Cruze did not answer. He merely turned his head and glanced at Noer.

Noer frowned deeply, feeling that things were beginning to spiral in an uncontrollable direction.