Newly revised! For those of you who are new to this story, I'll give a little overview. Mu, Murrue, Kira, Lacus, Cagalli, Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak all end up stranded in the woods on their way to a war veteran celebration. While lost, they come face to face with a mysterious being. Is it there to help, or is it up to no good? You'll just have to read and find out ;) Trouble and bad language are assured, so sit back and enjoy this wild ride.

"Mu, aren't you ready yet? You've been in the shower for two hours! What the hell are you doing?!" Murrue yelled as loud as her voice would allow.

"I havn't been in the shower for 2 hours you know. You've just been talking to the bathroom door for the past hour and a half." Mu replied from behind Murrue playfully.

Murrue turned around, but unfortunately for her, had nothing to say. Instead she just looked up at Mu with the most confused look he had ever seen her make.

"When did you leave the bathroom?" She asked, clearly confused out of her mind.

"When you were turned the other way packing." Mu answered back trying not to laugh at her.

"B-but, you-you were in there, I know you were. The door was closed and everything." She sulked as Mu put his hands on her arms.

"That's because both of us have the habit of closing it when we're finished. It's out of instinct, probably from having so much privacy on the Archangel; see now what else that war has done to us? It's turned us into some kind of privacy freaks."

"And yet we sleep in the same bed together every night." Murrue sniggered and leaned in to kiss Mu lightly on the lips but ended in more of a passionate lovers kiss.

Murrue was so happy that she was with Mu. She sometimes cried when she thought about almost losing him back up at Yakin Due a few months ago. Mu would go into their room and find her curled up in a ball on their bed, tears streaming down her face, and he would know exactly why. He would go over and sit on the bed next to Murrue and rub her back telling her that it would be ok, that he was there, and whisper sweet nothings into her ear. She would eventually perk up enough to sit up and hug Mu tightly and cry into his arms to reassure herself that he was indeed there.

As soon as they broke out of their kiss Murrue looked up at Mu and brushed a few stray hairs out of his face.

"Where did you go for an hour and a half I wonder?" She said as she leaned her head on his strong frame and listened to his heartbeat as if to paint the sound of it on her memories. This was the heartbeat that stayed strong all throughout the war and even through the threat of death. This was her Mu's heartbeat.

"Are you ok?" Mu noticed her sudden solemn ness.

Murrue felt warm tears poke and tease the back of her eyelids. She couldn't hold them back anymore, so she let her suppressed sobs wrack her entire body as Mu held tightly to her. Just the mere thought of losing Mu used to make her miserable and depressed, but now all she ever does is cry when she sees the Dominions shot being fired at the bridge and the Strike blocking its path.

Whenever she closes her eyes at night she sees Mu and the Strike fading to dust, and hears Mu's final words; "Didn't I tell you I could make the impossible…possible?!"

So whenever she's too tired to keep her eyelids open, she slides over and clings to Mu like he's all she has left to grasp. She knew that he wasn't, because there was still Kira and the others, and the thought that they would be seeing everyone in a matter of hours cheered her up a bit. She knew that everyone would be there for her no matter what, and that's all she needed to be alive. Murrue finally calmed down when Mu hesitantly broke the pained silence.

"Are you alright now?" He asked as she looked up at him and he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Yes, thank you. We should probably get going now; we don't want to be late."

"Alright, let's go then." Mu answered back to her and wrapped an arm around her waist as they grabbed their luggage and walked down the stairs to get out to Murrue's car, Murrue's long strapless black dress trailing behind them.

"Oh my, I have no idea what I should wear tonight." Lacus Clyne sulked as she stared at the different variety of dresses in her hotel room closet.

The dresses ranged in colors from pink to green, and blue to orange. Hell, her whole closet looked like a rainbow of spaghetti straps and halters. Kira and Lacus both came from Lacus's mansion up in the PLANTS. After a little too much time at the orphanage with Cagalli, Athrun, Malchio, and the children, they both decided it was time for a break. The were both fortunate enough to find a hotel on such short notice, for as soon as they got back from the orphanage, Lacus received a call from Ezaria Jule stating that there was a enormous war veteran party in Resha, a city just south of Orb. They have about a 3 hour drive ahead of them, and their party started at 8:00 P.M. Unfortunately for Kira and Lacus, it was already 5:30 and Lacus still wasn't dressed.

"Lacus just pick one; they all look fine on you." Kira half urged half complimented his pink haired princess.

"But-

"No buts, we're already a half hour behind, and by the time you get dressed it will be god knows what time and that will cause us to lose even more time." Kira whined as Lacus finally grabbed a baby blue halter dress, revealing quite a bit of leg, stopping at her thigh and abruptly slanting down to her ankle. She also grabbed a matching shawl and a pair of baby blue lace-up shoes. She quickly allowed her towel that once hugged her slim figure to slide to the ground to reveal a tiny pair of boy shorts.

"Gah!" Kira blushed and quickly turned the other way.

Lacus giggled. "It's nothing you havn't seen before." Lacus said with a laugh, but she would never admit that she was red as an ember and her face kept getting brighter and brighter by the second.

Once she had her dress on she slipped into her shoes, tying up the lace straps, and hurriedly scuttled over to their dresser to tie her hair up in a blue ribbon and the infamous gold pin. Once her hair was up and she was satisfied, Lacus quickly tripped over to the bed where she had discarded her shawl and threw it over her shoulders as she and Kira, who grabbed both their bags, exited their hotel room.

Milly was accustomed in an orange strapless dress that came down to her knees. She had a pair of strap on orange shoes with quite an impressive heel. She was currently rummaging through her refrigerator looking for some sodas to bring along with them when Dearka snuck up behind him and tickled her side causing her to jump up in surprise and knock her head off the top of the fridge.

"Ouch, Dearka!" She shrieked as she tossed an apple from the counter at him hitting him square in

the back of the head.

"Bulls eye!" Milly shouted triumphantly.

"Ouch, that's not fair! You weren't supposed to hit me back!" He griped as Milly picked up the apple causing him to flinch, and washed it off in the sink before placing it back onto the counter. "Then maybe you shouldn't have tickled me in the first place. You know I'm not just gonna have you beat me up without payback right?" Milly asked slyly while approaching him.

"N-no." Dearka stammered for words as Milly backed him into the wall, but before she could do anything, Yzak walked in to the kitchen.

"Do I even want to know what's going on in here?" Yzak asked, eyes widening slightly.

"No, not really; can you guys help me find some sodas or water bottles to bring in the car with us? It's like a 3 hour drive to Resha and I know someone's gonna get thirsty and whine about it the whole way up." Milly emphasized as she stared Dearka down with that look of hers.

"Ehh, sure thing, Miriallia." Dearka replied nervously while scratching his head as he shuffled toward the basement door to check for any sodas downstairs.

Yzak waited until Dearka was downstairs to gesture to a 12 pack of Coke next to him.

"Never mind, Dearka!' Milly yelled down the stairs to a very frustrated Dearka.

"Ouch, dammit!" Dearka yelped as a box of seltzer water fell off a shelf and onto his foot.

"We'll be out in the car, dumb ass. Yzak called down to him with the usual insult causing Milly to snicker.

"Jerks," Dearka muttered and drug his feet up the stairs and out the door.

Cagalli stared in honest pain at the horrid thing. It was green, went down to her ankles, and had slits up to her thighs on two, not one, but two sides. It also had a pair of matching dress shoes that were pain stakingly high.

"Cagalli, what are you doing?" A familiar voice asked from the door way.

"Not going." She snapped causing the blue haired man behind her to wince and then sigh in frustration.

"Why not, Cagalli?" He asked her jadedly.

"Because, Athrun, you know how much I hate dresses!" She whined in despair.

"I know Cagalli but you have to wear one. This is a formal party and you wouldn't want to go their looking the way you usually do, especially since it's a war veteran party." He explained to her trying to convince her without an argument.

"What's that supposed to mean, Zala? Is there something wrong with the way I look now?" She asked fuming while backing him into a corner in Cagalli's bedroom. She then looked down at herself, only adorning a bath towel. She looked up to him, almost daring him to say something stupid.

"Well, actually…no," He muttered almost suggestively. Cagalli glared. He got nervous. "All's I'm saying is that you should at least make yourself look even better than you do already." He sighed inwardly; so much for not starting an argument.

"You're one lucky man, Athrun. If you didn't know how to save yourself here and out in that war, you'd be dead by now."

This is how things have been for Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Atha for the three months since the war ended. As soon as Lacus called them and told them about the party they both sped back to Cagalli's mansion to pack and dig formal outfits out of their closets. It was harder for some than others. They both decided that they would find a nice place to stay after the party was over with. Little did they know they wouldn't exactly find the kind of nice place they had in mind.

Mu and Murrue were driving up and over Mt. Rodney. They almost felt bad for the poor little Black Jetta, for it had an extremely high climb and they were getting low on gas.

"Says here that this mountain was named after a war veteran named Al Rodney. He died in the beginning of the war in a freak accident; seems to be the hero of the land. He supposedly helped to save Orb from destruction many times with his extraordinary skills. Guess he was a coordinator." Mu explained as he read from the guide he found in the pocket of the drivers side door.

"How many times do you hear that wherever you go?" Murrue asked seemingly unfazed by the article in the little brochure Mu was holding.

"Uh oh." Mu stated quietly.

"I don't like the sound of that." Murrue replied back at him touching his arm gently.

"We're almost out of gas. We better pull over and see if we can make it the rest of the way." Mu decided as he pulled the little car over to the edge of the road looking off of the mountain, a little too close to the edge to be safe.

Murrue pulled out a map form the passenger side door pocket and handed it to Mu. He looked it over as his lips twisted into a frown and his brow furrowed. Murrue had to stop herself from laughing at his face.

'He's so funny when he thinks.' She thought to herself.

"We're probably not gonna make it." Mu stated as he folded the map back up and set it on his lap.

Outside of the car the front left wheel was slowly inching its way off the edge of the road.

"What are we gonna do, Mu? Maybe we should just try to make it. It's better than sitting here and doing nothing." Murrue tried not to sound annoyed, but she was.

The car continued to slide unnoticed off of the road.

"Maybe you're right; it's better than-WOAH!" Just before Mu finished his sentence both him and Murrue jerked forward as the front end of the car slipped off of the edge.

"MU!" Murrue gasped as she grabbed onto Mu's arm.

Mu started up the car and tried to back up, but the front of the car was stuck on the ledge.

"I'm gonna open my side and crawl out, then im gonna pull you out, got that?" Mu asked Murrue as he pulled the keys out of the ignition.

Murrue nodded her head, not able to find her voice. Mu shifted in his seat causing the car to wobble dangerously. Murrue clenched her grip on Mu's arm. He tried to open the door but that just made it worse. The car screeched from their movements and grinded over the rocks on the edge of the mountain as it slipped. Murrue let out a terrified scream as the car plunged down the mountain through the trees and brush. Both she and Mu grabbed onto each other with one hand and held on to their car door with the other. Both of them were screaming ear splittingly loud as Murrue's little car swerved just barely missing some trees and side swiping others. It didn't take long until the car hit the road below the one they were just on, crashing abruptly into something as they did.

Dearka was driving Milly's blue Buick along Mt. Rodney peacefully with no fighting going on between Yzak and Dearka surprisingly. Each of them had a coke opened from Milly's house that they gave Dearka such a hard time over. Everything was fine until they heard screeching tires screams and saw a little black car flying down the mountain just ahead of them.

"Dearka!" Milly screamed as her car and Murrue's car crashed right into each other, sending the passengers in both cars flying forward into their dashboards.

Dearka looked over at Miriallia to make sure she was alright. She was still leaning forward into the dashboard with her hands over her eyes. There was a huge crack in the windshield, but lucky for them, it wasn't broken. As for Mu and Murrue, lady luck wasn't exactly on their side. Murrue was lunged forward into the windshield and Mu was thrown into the window. He was the first to come to.

"Gah, there is no way in hell I'm ever pulling that one again. Murrue are you alright? …Murrue?" Mu turned his head and saw Murrue twisted in the seatbelt that seemed to do more harm than good, with a steady stream of blood flowing down her forehead and dripping off of her nose.

He quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and rushed over to Murrue's aid. He shook her gently at first but then started getting frantic. He pulled her back into his arms and unbuckled her seatbelt as well.

"Come on Murrue I know you're gonna be just fine. Wake up now, would ya?" Mu pleaded with her insensible form.

Murrue slowly cracked her eyes open just enough so that the blood wouldn't drip into them.

"Thank god, I was starting to think I lost you." Mu explained relieved.

"W-what happened?" She asked confused as she sat up with Mu's help.

"We ran off the side of the mountain and crashed into another car I think." Mu stated forgetting all about the car they ran into.

Before they could get out of their car someone came up to their window.

"Mu La Flaga, Murrue Ramius, what the hell were you two thinking sliding down the mountain like that? You almost killed us all!" Dearka Elsman yelled wildly as he chewed them out.

"Sorry Dearka, we're not exactly used to running off of mountains, we'll make sure to watch where we're going next time." Mu stated sarcastically.

"Eh, sorry, you gave us a real scare there." Dearka implied apologetically.

"Us?" Mu repeated wondering who he could be with.

"Yeah, Yzak, Miri and myself were all headed to this war veteran party, but then we ran into you two, quite literally! Thanks so much for totaling our…rather Milly's car." Dearka laughed knowing that Mu wouldn't leave Murrue to beat the shit out of him.

"I should be saying the same to you. We were headed to the same party." Mu retorted as Dearka lost his cocky grin. "Anyway, could you help me out with Murrue, she hit her head pretty hard and I don't want to knock her out again." He asked as he slid out of the driver's side.

"Sure." Dearka answered as he too made his way over to the passenger side door.

The two of them worked together as they pulled Murrue out of the car and laid her on the ground. Mu investigated the cut on her forehead as Dearka watched him. Mu reached into his pocket and brought out a handkerchief to dab off the blood.

'It really isn't that bad of a cut, the smaller ones tend to bleed more anyway.' He thought to himself reassuringly.

After Mu was finished tending to Murrue's gash, he looked her over while she was in his arms, her head propped up against his forearm, to make sure their weren't any other injuries he had missed.

"Are you alright?" He asked Murrue while he shifted her around in his arms trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

Mu only got a moan in reply so he figured he wouldn't get a straight answer until she was fully conscious. Until then he decided to ask Dearka to help him hoist Murrue onto his back so it would be easier to carry her around seeing that neither of the two cars were going any where any time soon. Dearka and Mu looked over at Milly's car and watched as she helped Yzak out of the back seat. They noticed that he had a slight limp.

"What happened Yzak?" Dearka asked trying not to sound too concerned even though he was.

"My foot got caught under that damn seat when we swerved. I must've sprained it or something." He replied slightly annoyed at the thought.

"So now what?" Milly asked her companions.

"We'll see if our phones have service, that's what." Dearka insisted.

Everyone dug out their cell phones with at least a little bit of hope, but once they looked at their service bars, all hope was crushed.

"Awe man, well this sucks ass." Dearka whined.

"Does Murrue have a phone, Mu?" Milly asked her former superior officer.

"Yeah, it's in her purse in the car."

"Alright, I'll go get it and see if she had any luck with service, or a decent phone plan." She added acidly.

Everyone waited for Milly to pop her head out from the car. She emerged with a little silver flip phone and flipped it open. She examined it then frowned. The tiny screen read 'no service,' in bold black lettering. She held it up high above her head to see if it would help, but to no avail; same outcome, different phone.

Kira and Lacus were driving along Mt. Rodney as well and the sun was starting to set. So every now and then it would get dark where there were a lot of trees making it really hard to see. Well unfortunately for Kira and Lacus, the accident scene from before, was in one of those ever so strategically positioned dark spots.

Kira didn't know what to do when he saw the two totaled cars. He jammed his steering wheel to the right to avoid causing more damage to the wreckage. He didn't realize he was headed for a tree until he looked up and saw it for himself. The little red car smashed head on with the pine tree, jerking Lacus and Kira forward violently.

Lacus caught herself just before she plunged through the windshield. Kira, however, wasn't quite as lucky. His seatbelt didn't lock fast enough to stop him from sailing partway through the windshield.

"Oh my god!" Milly shouted as she watched the horrid scene play out in front of her eyes.

Murrue snapped back to reality once she heard the crash and shifted uncomfortably, unnoticed by Mu, who was too busy staring in disbelief. Murrue looked up just enough to see the pink haired songstress and the brunette teen shoved partway through the windshield.

"Jesus," she whispered under her breath as she eased herself from Mu's grasp and slid off his back while gripping his arm tightly in the process.

Dearka and Yzak allowed their mouths to gap unnoticed at the sight. Milly was the first to snap to attention and take action.

"Dearka, go get some ice from the cooler and find something to put it in. Mu, you go and make sure Lacus is ok. Yzak, you go find a tree branch big enough to break the rest of the windshield. I'll see if Kira's-if Kira's, s-still-still alive." Milly fumbled, never imagining she'd ever have to breathe those words again after the war.

Milly slowly worked her way over to the wreck. She carefully climbed on top of the hood and reached a shaky hand out to check for Kira's pulse. She released a heavy sigh of relief when she confirmed it was there.

"He's ok." She called out to her shaken group of friends.

Every one of them exhaled the breath they knew they were holding deeply. Glad to have that burden off their shoulders. Lacus also turned out to be just fine. Dearka returned with a makeshift ice pack made with half melted ice cubes and a zip lock bag, and Yzak with a tree branch.

"How is it that you escape that hell pit of an accident with not even a scratch, and your boyfriend gets thrown halfway through the windshield?" Dearka asked the pink haired pop star.

"Lucky day," Lacus suggested all the while worried for Kira's safety. The only thing she could do, however, was sit back and do nothing while Yzak tried to free the former Freedom pilot.

Yzak violently swung at the passenger side of the windshield with the over sized tree branch until it shattered. Mu and Dearka gently pulled Kira out of the glass and laid him on the ground. Milly went over to see what he looked like and if he needed immediate medical assistance, although she wasn't quite sure how she'd find that. It was then she noticed the weary look on Murrue's face.

"Murrue, are you alright? You don't look so good." Miriallia more stated than asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." She answered naturally. "Just tired is all." She lied with appalling certainty.

Milly wasn't convinced but decided not to press the matter. She walked over to where Kira lay and grabbed the ice pack from Dearka with more haste than she had intended to use. She held the ice pack on top of Kira's head where it went through the windshield, trying to relieve him of some of the pain that he would surly feel surging throughout his body when he woke up.

"Does anyone have a first aid kit?" Miriallia asked the bunch.

"I do, it's in my car." Murrue spoke up weakly.

Getting suspicious of Murrue's condition, Mu jumped up quickly.

"I'll get it, you stay put." Mu ran over to the crushed car and pulled the first aid kit out from underneath the passenger seat.

Once he made it back over to the accident scene, he surrendered the white box over to Mir.

Cagalli was on the passenger side of the car scowling at her green dress, all the while having the wind blowing constantly, sending her hair sailing in every direction, all because she let her boyfriend convince her to let him put the top down. She was too nice.

"What are you staring at?" Cagalli snapped at Athrun who had been alternating between driving and looking at the perturbed blonde sitting next to him.

"It's nothing." Athrun almost stuttered while returning his gaze to the road in front of them.

It was probably a good idea seeing that it was getting dark out and if he didn't keep close attention to the road he would end up like Kira, or worse. Cagalli who was now starting to get angry let out a frustrated sigh and tried to calmly speak to Athrun.

"Athrun, if you don't tell me what you were staring at, then I'll knock you out and drive this car off the mountain!" She screamed seemingly losing what little control she had left.

"It's just that I don't understand why you hate dresses so much if you look so good in them." Athrun smiled as he said this knowing he caught the princess off guard.

Cagalli blushed but then regained her usual composure.

"You're just saying that to make up for the comment you made back at the house.

"That was meant in a sentimental kind of way!" Athrun shouted almost letting go of the steering wheel to flail his arms about in a wild gesture.

Cagalli couldn't help herself; she had to laugh out loud. Athrun just laughed along with her as they continued driving alongside the mountain. Suddenly, the little car started to gradually lose speed.

"Athrun, what are you doing?" Cagalli asked nervously.

"Nothing, the car is stopping on its own!" Athrun panicked as he stomped down on the gas pedal.

The car kept getting slower and slower until it finally stopped. Athrun looked over the steering wheel at the dashboard while passing over the mileage and making sure the service light wasn't on. He then reached the very end and said the words that they were both surely dreading to hear.

"Out of gas?"

Cagalli screamed louder than she ever screamed her entire life, causing all the birds to fly out of the trees above them.

"Woah, did you guys hear that?" Dearka asked as a scream echoed off the trees surrounding them.

"Sounds like trouble." Mu answered Dearka's question for all of them.

"Should we check it out?" Milly asked while looking around trying to trace the scream back to its owner.

Lacus, seeing Milly was distracted, gently touched her hand so that she could hold the ice pack to Kira's head. Before anyone could make a move they heard two familiar voices. One belonged to a fuming blonde the other a cringing blunette.

"Cagalli, Athrun! What the hell is going on? We thought somebody died!" Dearka shouted, but failing to catch their attention.

"I can not believe you didn't fill the gas tank up, Athrun!"

"I did, the damn thing ran out of gas before we even got to Resha! It's not my fault!"

"Of course it is you jerk!"

"How is it my fault that no one has the decency to put in a gas station between Resha and this beast of a mountain?!"

"It just is, end of story!"

Athrun let out a frustrated yell. All eyes were on him when he looked up.

"WHAT?!"

"Kira!" Athrun heard Cagalli gasp as she ran to her downed brother.

'No.' He whispered under his breath as he too rushed to Kira's side.

Neither of them had to ask what happened once they saw Kira's, once close to perfect car. They were both reassured when they saw Lacus's calm face, however. It was then that they knew he would be just fine.

"So what now?" Mu popped the question that by now was floating around in everyone's head.

"Easy, we set up camp here." Yzak stated simply.

"Wait. Lacus, Athrun, and Cagalli, check your phones for service.

They all did as Milly told them; they brought out their phones with hope and one by one they all frowned.

"This damn piece of crap doesn't even have any battery left." Cagalli threw out a few colorful profanities under her breath and then kicked the ground in frustration, causing all of the dirt to blow into her face.

"Oh, this would have been a wonderful day to stay in bed!" She screamed, all the while coughing the dust out of her lungs.

"What of Kira's?" Athrun asked while watching his girlfriend hop around trying not to lose balance due to the shoes she was wearing.

She finally caught her balance and plopped down on a fallen tree. She wasn't there long of course because the tree she was sitting on eventually broke from the weight and the dryness of the tree itself. Cagalli landed on the ground with a loud 'OOF' and then fell backwards onto the ground.

"I think I'll just stay down here." She sighed as she relaxed on the forest floor.

Athrun sighed in amusement and turned back to Lacus, who was searching Kira's pockets.

There could have been hope if not for Kira's crushed cell phone.

"Must've been in the wrong place at the wrong time." Cagalli laughed while looking out the corner of her at Kira's completely totaled phone.

They all decided to go out and find a clearing in the woods before it got dark. Just as they started for the nearest path they heard a voice sound.

"Mu…"

Mu turned around just in time to see Murrue collapsing to the ground first by falling to her knees and then slowly toppling over. He was there fast enough to catch her before she hit her head again. The last thing she saw before succumbing into darkness was Mu's confused and concerned face. The face that you could love and hate at the same time.

"Damn, she must have suffered a pretty extreme concussion." Dearka stated the obvious as he kneeled down to have a closer look at Murrue.

"Yeah, I think maybe we should find a place to stay as quickly as possible." He said while looking at the sleeping beauty gathered up in his arms.

"Wait," a voice spoke up. The group recognized it as Athrun's.

"What is it, Athrun, something the matter?" Mu asked nervously, not liking the look on Athrun's face.

"Yes, actually there is a problem."

No one even breathed; they all just listened to what Athrun had to say. He walked over towards the side of the road where something had caught his eye when he and Cagalli were arguing. He leaned over and pulled up a broken sign that Mu and Murrue had most likely run over when they crashed head on with Dearka, Milly, and Yzak.

"Well?" Cagalli snapped, her patience running thin.

They all strained to hear Athrun's words, but once they heard them, they wished they hadn't.

"Warning, do not enter, unsafe Zone."

Well there it is; the first chapter of something that was supposed to be one shot at one point. I'll be going through and revising everything so that there are no errors. This is something I should've done a while ago but, oh well. Better late than never, right? XD