Gundam Seed/Recap/Ep 15 Respective Solitudes

The scenes of the battle during reentry replay themselves in Kira's head as nightmares while he sleeps in the Archangel's sick bay, arm hooked to an IV as the Archangel rests on the sand in an empty expanse of desert. Miri and Flay check on him, worrying that he's drenched in his own sweat, his fever refusing to go down.

Flashback to Kira in the cockpit during reentry, fighting against panic as he reorients the Strike to use its shield as a heat shield. Its thrusters aren't powerful enough to make it to the Archangel during reentry, so the Archangel adjusts its course to meet the Strike rather than becoming separated.

Mu talks to Murrue, explaining that they've landed in northern Africa, right in the middle of ZAFT-controlled territory. She says that it was their only choice if they didn't want to get separated from the Strike. Mu asks how she's been with Natarle, considering the disagreement they had over Kira's launching in the first place, but Murrue says it's alright. Mu decides that he's going to visit Kira and then get some sleep, and admonishes Murrue to get some sleep herself.

The Heliopolis students talk to the ship's doctor, who explains that although Kira has a high fever, there's no infection and no damage to his internal organs, so there's nothing they can do besides give him fluids and try to keep his temperature down. He says that as a Coordinator, Kira is much less at risk of catching a fatal illness than the rest of them are. The doctor says that the temperature of the Strike's cockpit was high enough that only a Coordinator could have survived, so a fever is nothing in comparison.

In space, Athrun remembers the encounter with Kira on Helipolis, Miguel's death, their first battle in space, and Kira releasing Lacus to him. Nichol finds him, and lets him know that Yzak and Dearka landed safely on Earth, and will be staying at ZAFT's Gibraltar base for a while. Nichol wonders whether the orders they've received to return to the PLANTs means they're going to be punished for failing to capture or destroy the Strike and the Archangel, but Athrun tells him not to worry, since Rau couldn't manage it either, and rumors say that the return order is because they're going to be assigned to a new operation.

Kira awakens to find Flay watching over him. She explains what happened to him, telling him that he was unconscious when he landed on the ship, which is why he can't remember. In the hanger, Mu complains about the Skygraspers that were delivered before reentry, saying that since the Skygrasper mounts striker packs, he's been reduced to a delivery boy. Murdoch laughs, saying that he'd guarantee any delivery made by Commander La Flaga. Mu says he's grateful to Admiral Halberton for arranging his promotion, but wonders what the point is if he can't spend the extra money anyway. Murdoch points out that he even gave the Heliopolis students promotions; Kira is an Ensign, and the rest are Crewman Second Class. Murdoch asks how Kira's doing, and Mu says that his fever has gone down, but asks if Murdoch knows why Kira keeps calling the Strike "Gundam". Murdoch says it's on the activation screen; General Unilateral Neuro-link... something. Murdoch thinks it's a better name than "G-Weapon", anyway.

The Heliopolis kids talk about how Kira's already getting better. Flay comes in the room, and lets them know that he's eating well, at least, though the doctor told him to stay in bed for the day. Sai says that maybe she should get some rest since she was up all night at Kira's side, but she says she's fine, since it's not like she has a job on the ship yet anyway. In fact, she's still a little worried, so she's going back to Kira's room. Sai tries to stop her, but she snaps at him. Then she tells him that since their relationship was arranged by her father and he's not around anymore, they shouldn't feel tied down to each other anymore. Sai tries to protest, but Flay just walks away. Flay remembers her father's death, and overhearing Sai say that Kira is friends with the Aegis' pilot. She tells herself that Kira is going to fight and fight and fight until he dies, because it's the only way she'll forgive him.

The daily routine on the continues on the Archangel; crew doing shifts on the bridge, mechanics doing maintenance on the Strike and Skygraspers. One finds an origami flower in the Strike's cockpit, and has Flay give it to Kira. Kira remembers the girl that gave it to him, and Yzak destroying the shuttle she was in. He takes the flower from Flay with a shaking hand. When Flay asks what's wrong, he starts crying, saying that he couldn't save the girl. Flay smiles evilly momentarily before comforting him. Kira cries on her shoulder for a minute, before Flay kisses him again.

In the desert, a group of locals watch the Archangel from a distance. A teenage blonde looks at it through a pair of binoculars; she says that although she's only seen pictures of it, she's certain that it's Earth Alliance's new assault ship built at Heliopolis, the Archangel. A teenage boy in the group receives a message from the radio in their jeep; "the Tiger" has left the Lesseps, heading toward the Archangel with five BuCUEs.

Tropes used in this episode:

 * Engrish: The formal name for the Earth Alliance military is OMNI Enforcer. On the Strike's boot-up screen, one of the random bits of text reads "OMNI Enfarcer". Ouch.
 * Flashback Nightmare: Kira has one, conveniently acting as the "Previously On..." recap to help bring viewers back up to speed after the previous episode being a Clip Show.
 * Foreshadowing: The "new operation" Athrun mentions will obviously amount to nothing.
 * Fun with Acronyms: We're reminded in this episode that "Gundam" stands for the General Unilateral Neuro-link Dispersive Automatic Maneuver synthesis system.
 * Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: The Archangel's position after the botched reentry.