7

Chapter 1

"There really won't be a war between PLANT and the earth," Asuran Zala explained looking at the ground, "I don't think there is reason to take refuge but…" Asuran averted his bright green eyes to his friends.

He looked at his two best friends, Kira Yamato and Alli Useka, with misty eyes. He reached into his backpack and took out a green and yellow robotic bird. "Kira, this is for you," he said. Kira held up his hands and the green bird hopped from Asuran's hands to Kira's.

Asuran looked at Kira and almost flinched as Kira met his gaze. Kira's face was tear-stained and his brown hair was in tangles. He was still in the school uniform even though it had been three hours since school let out. He was only twelve, but he had heavy bags under his worried violet eyes. Kira said nothing. He knew that if he did, he would just start crying again.

"I'm going to assume that your parents need you to move with them?" Alli said breaking the silence.

Alli knew that she might never see Asuran and his parents again. She wanted to go with her foster parents, but they refused to take an extra child that wasn't their own, which was the most painful thing of all. Alli never showed any of the pain she felt. She put a mask on to hide her despair. Her deep pink eye's had stars in them, her bright purple and blue clothes and her dazzling strawberry-blonde hair were well taken care of and she had a smile on, but a mask is just a mask in the end.

"Yes, my parents believe this argument is going to erupt into a war! Can you believe it? Were moving to the PLANT because my parents think it will be safer for us all," Asuran explained. "You'll meet me at PLANT sometime in the future right?" he asked directing the question at his two friends.

Once again Kira said nothing. Alli assured Asuran that they would indeed meet again, and even though she didn't believe it herself, Asuran believed her. Alli had that kind of effect on people. When they were worried or sick, all Alli would have to do is say something encouraging and they immediately felt better, even if there was no hope.

Asuran took a necklace out of his front pocket. It was a pink flower with a violet center and it was held on a green chain. He clipped it around Alli's neck and whispered, "Please take care of him and don't forget me. Okay?"

"Asuran," she whispered back, "You are one out of the two most amazing people I've ever met! How could I forget you?" She gave Asuran a sisterly hug and kissed him on the cheek. Asuran smiled, his raven black hair framing his face, and with a last goodbye, he was gone.

He didn't make a sound, but Alli knew Kira was crying. She put an arm around Kira's shoulders and walked him home. "Don't worry. Everything will turn out the way things are supposed to. You'll see," she said.

"How do you know? How can you be so happy when so many bad things have happened to you? How is it that you can smile at a time like this?" Kira asked trying not to cry.

Alli almost jumped at the sound of his voice. He hadn't said a word all day and she wasn't well prepared with an answer. She glanced at Kira and smiled. "Well, for one, you're being sad enough for the both of us," she started tweaking his nose. Kira smiled and looked down at himself, "And," Alli continued, "Someone has to keep their chin up during these awful times."

Her mask faded as she talked. Her deep pink eyes were filled with sadness and despair. Alli could barely remember her parents. She didn't look like either one of them, and that was probably why they left her. They were on PLANT now and every once in a while, she would get a letter. She was an orphan, but her parents were still alive. The Zala's never really adopted her, just took her in out of pity. They were gone so now what was going to happen to her?

Alli decided to let it go. Before Kira and Alli left the park, her mask had faded, and come back on. Alli knew something good would come of this life. It had to.

Four Years Later – Helio Polis

Kira and Alli sat under a white gazebo. It was after school and they were both enjoying the artificial sunlight. Helio Polis was a PLANT built artificial earth owned by a country called ORB.

PLANT and the Earth Alliance had been fighting a war for eleven months now. PLANT had an army they called ZAFT made of only coordinators, and the Earth Alliance was made up of only naturals. Kira Yamato moved up to ORB for collage along with Alli. ORB was the only safe place because the country was neutral. The government insisted that they would not help either side, nor would they go against any side.

Kira and Alli were looking at their lap-top's screen. They had both been assigned to work on something for their current professor at school. He asked because he knew they were both Coordinators from PLANT, and they were exceptional students.

"Kira, what are you doing? Are you even paying attention? You've made five mistakes and you're only half way done with this project! What are you thinking about?" Alli said, stopping Kira's hand. She looked up at him and a gust of wind uncovered his violet eyes. He was looking at the computer screen, but his eyes were distant. Alli knew that look. Kira was in the past.

Alli rolled her eyes and moved Kira's still typing hand on the table in front of him. She pulled the computer over to where she was, fixed the mistakes and started typing again. She typed very fast with one hand and with the other she took notes. Just in case the professor wanted to know how she and Kira did something, she had notes.

A green robotic bird landed on the top of the screen, and it screamed, "Tori!"

"Huh? What was that?" Kira said snapping back to reality. His hand was still typing.

"Are you back?" Alli asked.

"Back? Back from where?"

"From your memories! You've been gone for a long time! I had to fix five of your mistakes on this computer because you weren't paying attention!" Alli scolded.

"You're kidding. Five?" He looked at his hand and stopped it.

"Didn't I just say that?"

"KIRA!" someone shouted. A boy and a girl walked up to Alli and Kira.

"Hi Tolle, hi Miriallia, were you looking for us?" Alli asked. Alli was laughing inside. Kira had stopped his hand just in time.

"How did you know? We looked all over the place for you two lovebirds. Professor Kato was looking for you. He wants to see you right away!" the boy called Tolle said.

"What is it this time?" Miriallia asked. "Does he need your help with something again?"

"Damn! How am I supposed to finish one thing if he keeps handing me more and more?" Kira said looking over his paperwork.

"I only just finished the one he handed us yesterday. What does he think? Are we super-humans or something?" Alli added. Professor Kato was not the most reliable teacher, but he always came up with more projects for his students. "Oh yeah, Tolle if you call us lovebirds one more time I will inflict serious pain on you."

"You finished the project?" asked Kira as Tolle rubbed his nose remembering the last time Alli had threatened him, and followed through.

"Of course I finished. What do you think I was doing all this time?" Alli retorted.

"Come on you two. Professor Kato said that we should drag you in once we found you," Miriallia said. Alli put the completed program on a disk and pulled up the news.

"Something on the news?" Tolle asked coming around the table to see the computer screen.

"Yeah," Alli said.

"It's about Kaoshiung," Kira explained. The picture showed a ZAFT mobile suit shooting buildings and terrorizing the people in the city. Although the picture said it was a live report, it was probably from a week ago.

"If this is from a week ago, Kaoshiung has already fallen," Tolle said.

"Isn't Kaoshiung pretty close to us? Will we be alright?" Miriallia asked. Her bright blue eyes filled with worry.

"You shouldn't be such a worry wart Miriallia," Alli said.

"Yeah, Even though Kaoshiung is close, ORB is a neutral country. There is no chance we would get involved in the war," Tolle assured flicking his dark brown hair out of his gray eyes.

"Really? Its okay if that's the case then," Miriallia answered.

Tolle, Miriallia, and Alli looked over at Kira. His eyes were distant again. "Kira?" Tolle asked putting his face right up under Kira's nose.

"Ahh!" Kira screamed falling into Alli.

"What are you doing? Never mind, let's go," Tolle insisted.

"Okay," Kira said. Alli pushed Kira off of her and started gathering up her things. "Are you okay?" Kira asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine. What about you? You've been drifting off all day! And, you should be finishing those projects the professor has been assigning us," Alli said.

"Well, I've been thinking about… you know…" Kira's voice faded to a whisper, "Asuran," Alli looked up from her stuff at Kira.

"What?" she hissed. It had been three years since they had heard from Asuran. Alli carried his last letter with her everywhere. She fingered Asuran's necklace nervously.

"Come on you two lovebirds! By the time you are done I'll be an old man married to Miriallia here!" Tolle shouted.

"Tolle!" Miriallia said as he grabbed her waist and pulled her close. Tolle and Miriallia were really cute together. Tolle was lacking the necessary seriousness Miriallia had, and she was lacking in jokes. They completed each other.

"We're coming!" Kira said.

"I warned you Tolle. Now you're going to get it!" Alli yelled curling her hand into a fist.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Please don't hit me!" Tolle pleaded.

"I don't know, you asked for it," Alli said considering it, "But I suppose I could let it go, but only cause Miriallia is here and she would hit me right back."

Kira rolled his eyes and gathered the rest of his stuff up and the conversation about Asuran was forgotten. Alli held back a little as the group started walking towards the car station.

She looked at Kira with interest. He had on a black long sleeved shirt over a white collared shirt. He also had on his infamous green pants on. Something bad always happened when he wore those green pants. He had changed them up by putting red belts around his mid-calf, and his mid-thigh. Alli had told him to change them up. Maybe nothing bad would happen if he changed the appearance of the pants, and her method seemed to be working. It had been a whole twelve years without a single bad thing happening.

Alli was wearing a dark blue denim skirt that went down to her mid-thigh. Alli was almost the only one who wore denim now. That had gone way out of style in the Computer Era. Now in the Cosmic Era, very few people still had denim fabric, let alone clothing. She wore black boots that zipped up to her knee and she wore silver hoops in her ears. The only thing that was the same everyday was Asuran's necklace, because she never took it off. Her light blue halter-top didn't bring out her eyes as much as they could have, which is just the effect Alli wanted. Her eyes were so unique, everyone stared at her.

She smiled at the thought of her first humiliating time standing up in front of the class as she caught up to her friends. That day she had made the mistake of wearing a bright pink shirt that brought out her eyes. At the end of the presentation, when she asked for questions, someone had asked "Why do you have pink eyes?" Alli thought of how her eyes immediately closed as everyone leaned forward to get a better look.

"Alli, are you okay? You look distant," Kira observed. Alli brought herself from her memories and smiled.

"I'm fine. However, there is something I've been meaning to ask…" Alli began.

"That's why I said… it's not like that!" a girl ahead screamed. The group of friends had run into Flay Alster and two of her friends.

Flay Alster was the kind of girl who could get anything, or anyone, she wanted. If she asked for a skirt at her favorite store, she would have it within minutes, even if she didn't have any money. Alli was jealous of her red hair and normal grey eyes. She could wear anything, and she would look fabulous, even if it was the ugliest thing in the world. The pink dress she wore fit that description almost perfectly.

"You're lying!" one of her friends said.

"Come on 'fess up!" the other insisted.

"Oh Miriallia!" Flay said noticing the approaching group and avoiding her friends question at the same time.

"Hi!" Miriallia greeted.

"Hey Miriallia, you should know right?" a girl with brown hair asked.

"What?"

"Do you know Alli?" a girl with black hair asked.

"Know what?" Alli asked confused, she didn't even know these girls.

"She got a letter from Sai Arguille, but she won't tell us a thing!" the girl with black hair explained.

"That's enough you two!" Flay interjected. Alli saw Kira's eyes widen. He had a crush on Flay and everyone knew it. Except for Sai, but he was clueless to everything but computers.

"Ahem, Excuse me, but if you aren't going my we go first?" a lady with black hair and sunglasses asked.

"Sorry, please do," Tolle said while Kira and Alli moved aside. Alli watched the woman suspiciously. Alli knew almost everyone on Helio Polis and she was sure she had never seen this woman before.

The seven teenagers watched this woman and the two men that followed her go by in silence. Once the adults had gotten into the car, Flay returned to her original conversation, "Oh forget it! I'm going!"

"Wait for us!" her friends yelled after her.

"Wanna go to that place this evening?" one of them asked. Like magic the mysterious letter was forgotten.

"I wonder if it's still there…" the girl with brown hair said.

"Why not?" Flay asked. The trio left together.

Alli had always wondered what it would be like if she could just forget her problems, but with a letter in her pocket and a necklace around her neck, she didn't see how that could be possible.

Tolle waited until Flay's car was out of sight. He sighed and said, "A letter from Sai."

"What about it?" Kira asked.

"How surprising for Flay Alster," he continued sarcastically. "Sounds like a formidable enemy Kira Yamato-kun," he used the Japanese ending to emphasize Kira's childish crush.

"I don't really-"Kira started.

"In denial again? How silly of you. You of all people should know," Alli said cutting Kira off, "You're the one with the crush, not us," Miriallia giggled in response. Kira blushed and got into the car that had pulled up.

Tolle, Miriallia, and Alli got into the car, the girls in the back and the boys in the front. The drive to the school was almost silent, but when they stopped at the gate Tolle said, "It's alright, if you won't ask, I will."

"Enough already Tolle!" Kira said taking out his identification card.

"Yeah Tolle, give Kira a break," Alli said handing over her identification card with Miriallia's.

"Thank you!" Kira said sliding all for cards through the reader to open the gate.

"I'll ask him," she added.

"Alright Alli Useka!" Tolle exclaimed. Kira rolled his eyes and directed the car through the gate.

The four walked to the computer classroom through the white-washed hallway. "This is weird," Miriallia said. "Before we left these halls were buzzing with people. Where did they all go?"

"It's them," Tolle said pointing at Kira and Alli. "The lovebirds are in the building! Isn't that right All- ouch!" Tolle said falling to the floor. Alli had turned around and punched him just like she promised.

"I warned you Tolle. Don't mess with me," Alli said rubbing her fist.

Miriallia helped Tolle from the ground with a smile on her face. "You really ought to start learning from your mistakes. One of these days you're going to get in trouble and you won't walk away from it," Tolle's girlfriend scolded.

"You need to lighten up Miriallia. Alli knows it was just a joke, but the nose bleed was a little unnecessary," he said wiping his nose.

"I blame karma," Kira laughed, "You be mean, you pay the price."

The door to the computer classroom slid open. Miriallia announced "Kira and Alli are here just like you said Professor-"

"Uh… Where is the Professor?" Kira interrupted.

Sai Arguille pushed himself out of his cubicle his orange glasses hiding the color of his eyes. "You guys are finally here!" Sai said.

"Yeah we're here. What do you want?" Alli asked. She knew she was being arrogant, but how else do you talk to someone who talked of nothing but computers and programs.

"I'll get to you in a minute. I don't know what to do with this," Sai said holding up a disk, "But Kira is a specialist at this kind of stuff." Sai held up another disk. He got up out of the chair and walked over to Kira.

"Fine," Alli said. She danced over to Kuzi. He was awful with computers, but he was the professor's assistant.

"Who's that?" Tolle asked pointing to someone in the corner.

"Ahh, the professor's guest, he was told to wait here," Kuzi said.