This chapter is dedicated to a wonderful friend, Lia, who gave me back my confidence by saying that this chapter was great.

-

Author's Notes: Another BIG THANK YOU to those who reviewed: Attharun, lightyearsaway and Warp Ligia Obscura. Well, this chapter has more humor now. I got my mojo back!… I think…

Sorry for all the curse words, I try to keep it at a minimum, but… we all know how colorful Yzak's language is. I hope I'm not offending anyone.

Disclaimer: Must I keep repeating this? I don't own Gundam SEED. Happy?

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Chapter Three – NOT the Reveille!

-

They woke up the next morning to the sound of reveille.

"Fucking shit!"

"…Breakfast already?"

"We're under attack!"

"…"

"Good morning, everyone!"

Yzak, Dearka, Rusty and Athrun (yes, even him) glared at Nicol. The kid was too perky in the morning for their tastes. Nicol cleared his throat uneasily. "Er… who's up for some breakfast?"

He was met with different answers. Athrun grunted and then proceeded to cover his head with his blanket. Rusty, who was sitting up, stared blankly at him. Dearka blinked lazily and then stumbled out of his bed. Yzak, however, bolted upright and reached for something under his bed.

Nicol, already up and awake, was currently making his bed. "Well, the orientation yesterday told us that we should be assembled in the field at 0700 hours…and that's two hours away."

"You mean it's only five o'clock in the morning? I normally get up at eleven!" Rusty complained.

"You're in the military now, dork, not on vacation," Yzak grumbled. He was standing up now and a towel was slung over his shoulder. He was holding a little (PINK!) basket on one hand and his clothes on the other.

Rusty suddenly felt like his bladder was about to burst open. "Argh! I need to use the bathroom!" He brushed past Yzak and ran towards the bathroom at the other side of the room. Yzak, eyes growing wide at the realization that Rusty had just 'stolen' his bathroom time, went after Rusty…and got a face-full of door.

"Bastard!" he screamed as he pounded and kicked the poor door. "Open the goddamn door this instant!"

Dearka groaned and climbed back into his bed. He wasn't exactly a morning person. Nicol just settled on arranging the things that he will need for the day, humming slightly to himself. Athrun sat up, brushed his eyes and yawned.

After a few minutes of hellish pounding, the door flew open and out stepped an exasperated Rusty. "You're such an asshole. I needed to relieve myself."

Yzak snarled at him. "Do that again and I swear you won't live through graduation day."

"Ooh… I'm so scared I think I need to piss again!" Rusty mocked.

"Why you…"

"Be thankful I even bothered to come out!"

As they continued their bickering, Athrun grabbed the opportunity (along with his toiletries and clothes) and hastily went inside the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Yzak stared dumbfounded at the once-again closed door. Beside him, Rusty snickered. "He'd make a fine spy, don't you think? Sneak."

"AAAAAAAATHRUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

-

Approximately 500 meters from the residence hall, a blond head shot up from under the covers. Blood-shot amber eyes blinked and his vocal chords emitted a low groan. "First the reveille and now this. Can't a man get a decent sleep around here!"

Miguel Ayman threw his alarm clock on the wall and heard it smash into itsy-bitsy pieces. He buried his head on his pillows but he could still hear the inhuman scream coming from the direction of the residence halls. 'I thought it was my alarm clock…'

Another year, another bunch of idiots to look after. He briefly wondered whether his commanding officer assigned him here as punishment. He wasn't that bad of a subordinate now, was he? In his mind's eye, he could see a sneering masked man.

The scream was still on full blast. He had to give the, er, screamer, credit. Did he have strong lungs or what?

Yes. This -was- punishment.

"Argh! I'm already bloody awake!"

-

Yzak was still shooting daggers at him but he ignored it. Athrun was far too used to it to care. The mess hall was filled with bleary-eyed rookies, all of whom seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. But along with those half-awake were also those who were staring at them.

Males weren't really nosy by nature, but for some reason, he was getting a lot of stares than was usual. It would've been fine but stares with a murderous intent were not really his thing. Chills were running down his spine and he was quite sure that it wasn't just because of Yzak's daily dose of death glares.

And why did these males made it a point to shoot icy death glares at him? Apparently, (and honest to Lacus, he -did not- notice them) females were among the enlistees. Put Athrun Zala in a room with girls and what do you get? -These-.

"Is that Athrun Zala?"

"Yes, yes, that's him!"

"He's so dreamy!"

And it did not help that he was also with four other equally eligible guys.

"And that's Yzak Jule!"

"Ooh! Ooh! That's Dearka Elthman… so cute!"

"Nicol Amarfi! God!"

"Who's the red-head?"

"I don't know. Probably a nobody."

Make that -three-.

Athrun could practically see the vein throbbing in Rusty's temple. "Great. Just great. I'm reduced to 'nobody' status." He rolled his eyes. "I knew eating breakfast with you guys was a bad idea."

"Ditto here," Yzak muttered inaudibly.

Surprisingly, Dearka took no notice of the girls practically swooning at his feet. His head was buried in an empty cereal bowl and he was snoring lightly. He really wasn't a morning person. Any normal day and he would have hit on those girls immediately.

"Quit glaring at me, Yzak," Athrun muttered without looking up from his PDA. He was reading the daily newspaper through it. Things were getting worse and the war was escalating. 'Of course it's escalating! The damn Earth Alliance blasted one of the PLANTs to kingdom come!'

"Now why would I do that?" Yzak asked sarcastically through gritted teeth. "I was first to use the bathroom and you cut in!"

"I didn't 'cut in'. The bathroom was empty. I needed to take a bath. Logic states that what I did was rational."

"Don't talk shit with me! The next time you do that, I'm gonna kick a hole in the friggin' door!"

"Sure thing, Yzak. Just be sure that your mom's gonna pay the repairman's bills."

"What's my mom got to do with this?"

"Well, she was the one who spawned a demon-child like you, wasn't she?"

"Zala, you take that back!"

"How, pray tell?"

Rusty rolled his eyes as the two buttheads exchanged insults back and forth. Athrun wasn't even making an effort of stopping it. 'And I always thought he was the intelligent and rational one.' Tired of listening to the rapidly deteriorating conversation (Yzak had stooped to name-calling, "Chicken wuss!"), Rusty slammed his hand on top of the wooden table. "Oh, cut it out, you two! You can't even fight properly! All talk and no action! Geez, no wonder Elthman's been reduced to a walking zombie!"

"You tell 'em, Red," Dearka muttered sleepily, his face still buried in the empty cereal bowl.

"My name's -Rusty-, you asshole."

"On the contrary, I think we're lucky that words are the only things that they have exchanged and not punches," Nicol put in helpfully. He had been watching the whole scene with interest. It was his first time hearing fights like that, being an only child and his parents being as soft-spoken as he was.

Yzak was about to open his mouth when his cell phone rang. He took it out and snarled into the mouthpiece, "What!" And then his face paled. He immediately got up and exited the mess hall without a look (or death glare) back.

"What was that all about?" Rusty asked to no one in particular. Their 'bonding time' (read: fights) always seemed to always end that way: with Yzak running off somewhere and leaving them in anagrams.

"Probably his mother," Athrun mumbled.

"Oh, how nice. Yzak's really close to his mom, huh?" Nicol asked, attempting to make polite conversation.

Dearka, who finally pried his face of the bowl, snorted. "That's the understatement of the century."

"Huh?"

"Yzak's a momma's boy. Everyone knows that."

"Oh."

Silence.

And then Athrun, Dearka, and Rusty snickered. Dearka and Rusty soon erupted into hearty laughter. Nicol's mouth twitched, but he only allowed himself a tiny smile (even though he was dying to laugh out loud). He had to keep up his image of being the 'gentle one' after all.

After a few minutes, Yzak came back with (surprise, surprise) a scowl on his face. He sat down unceremoniously and slammed his fist on the table. "Alright, you shit-heads, who the hell told my mother about yesterday?"

"Probably one of the hundreds who witnessed your outburst, jackass," Rusty deduced sardonically. He smiled sweetly at Yzak. "Why? Mommy got mad at you? Too bad Zakie-boy, I guess that means no cookies for dinner."

Yzak turned red. "Shut up."

Sensing another fight about to start, Nicol the peacemaker grabbed his own PDA and tapped on it. "It says here we're going to meet our squad leader later on. They say that they usually become the team's senior pilot and assistant commander. I hope he's nice."

"Why wouldn't he be nice?" Rusty muttered sulkily. "You're the sons of VIPs. He's gonna suck up big time."

Oh, how very wrong they were.

-

"DELTA-ONE, FORM!"

"What the hell's he talking about?"

"He means us, dumbass."

The five of them immediately lined up in front of the one who screeched their squad name, a tall, blond young man, whose posture could make even the most seasoned soldiers gasp in horror. Athrun rolled his eyes at their squad name. 'Delta-One, how original.' He stood up as straight as he could.

"Alright, I'll cut the military bullshit," the blond man said in a volume meant for only them to hear, which was pretty much useless since the other squads were a good 500 meters away. "Introduce yourselves." He regarded them with bloodshot amber eyes.

The five of them exchanged puzzled looks. The man clearly looked hung over. When none of them made a move to comply, the blond man shot them a withered gaze. "Are you stiff or what? Come on! Drop the soldier act, no one's looking!" When he was still met with blank gazes, he sighed. "I'll do it first okay? Sheesh. My name is Miguel Ayman and you can call me Miguel."

"Er… aren't we supposed to call you 'sir'?"

"Only when other superior officers are looking."

"But… won't that be discourteous and informal?"

Miguel rolled his eyes. "That's the whole point. Calling each other by their first names or nicknames promotes camaraderie; it boosts team morale!"

Yzak snorted. "Or maybe, you're just so hung over, you forgot how this is supposed to be done."

Miguel stared at Yzak and Yzak stared back. Neither seemed willing to back down. A tense silence followed; all of them were waiting for their officer's reaction. They were just beginning to think that maybe Yzak was gonna get it when Miguel laughed.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! I told you, you don't have to be so formal around me and stuff." He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "Actually, I know all of you. You're pretty popular among the instructors." He glanced at Rusty. "Except Red over there."

Rusty rolled his eyes and huffed indignantly. "Why does everyone insist on calling me that? My name's Rusty! Rusty Mackenzie. R-U-S-T-Y!"

Miguel waved a hand nonchalantly. "Rusty, Red. Same difference." He turned to the other four. He looked at each and every one of them. Then, he sneered at Yzak. "Well, let's start with loudmouth here, shall we?"

Yzak snarled at that comment. "Who're you calling a loudmouth?" he hissed.

"You, of course." He smirked. Then, his face turned serious. "And let me just say that I don't care from which gene pool you originated from. We're all Coordinators here. I'll insult each and every one of you regardless of who your parents are. I'd be no different from those damn Naturals if I start discriminating now."

Then, that smug grin was back again.

"So, I already introduced myself. Rusty's finished. Who's next?" He gave them all an expectant look. There was some feet-shuffling and throat-clearing, but no one seemed willing to do the first move. Miguel sighed in frustration. "Oh for the love of – Don't tell me you're a bunch of cowards! All you have to do is step forward; say your name and then I insult you. How hard could that be?"

Athrun decided to step forward. "I'm Athrun Zala, sir."

"You gotta work on that 'sir' thing," Miguel commented in an exasperated voice.

Athrun nodded. "I will, sir."

Miguel rolled his eyes. "Next!"

"Yzak Jule," Yzak said in a low voice.

"And you, are you mocking me? I thought we already established that you're a loudmouth?"

Yzak shot him one of his patented death glares. But he didn't say anything; maybe the blond prick would realize that he wasn't always that loud. He stepped back and gave Nicol a look that clearly said, 'Hurry up and introduce yourself before I lose my temper.'

Nicol, as always, first smiled politely. "I'm Nicol Amarfi."

Miguel eyed him skeptically, focusing his attention on Nicol's chest. "Er… you're male, right?"

Nicol's eye twitched. Maybe it was just their imagination, but the whole team swore they saw it twitch. "Yes."

"Fair enough. Next!"

"Dearka Elthman. Chick magnet," the tan Coordinator introduced smugly. Well, if he was going to do that whole 'My-name-is' routine, he might as well get creative with it!

Miguel smirked. "Ah, a boy after my own heart. Finally! I have a companion during happy hour! I'll show you all the hot spots that I frequent!"

Athrun watched his squad leader closely. Miguel Ayman was an interesting character. He wasn't anything Athrun had imagined for a leader. He wasn't strict and he didn't care much for formalities. He was quite unpredictable: one minute he's spouting nonsense, the next he's being serious. He seemed like one who valued friendship above everything. But he also seemed to have a knack for not following rules… like the rest of his teammates. His approach might be different and unconventional, but all in all, Athrun thought he would make a great leader.

"Stick with me Nicol, and you -will- get laid!"

"Er… I don't think I'm ready for that."

"Of course you are! You too, Red!"

"I'm not interested!"

"Oh, you will be. Trust me, you -will- be!"

Or not.

-

Athrun learned later on that they would be meeting with Miguel every morning for the morning drills and exercises. Then after that, they have the normal classes in the typical classroom setting. Their weapons, combat skills and mobile suits training would be held in the afternoon. Miguel also explained that normally, the whole training lasted for about two years, but since they were in a war (and because Coordinators were quick learners), the whole program was shortened to just seven months. Things were not looking up (in the war) and ZAFT needed all the soldiers that they can get.

After their somewhat boring first class in Military Strategy, they were really looking forward to their 'hands-on' and 'practical' lessons in the afternoon. But unlike their mellow instructors during the day, those from their afternoon classes seemed downright scary.

"Not like that, you moron! Like this!"

"What were you expecting, a resort with a spa!"

"Go ahead! Run back to your mommy, you wuss!"

"Would you look at that? The little girl's about to cry!"

"Ooh… so are you gonna tell your daddy, huh? Well, go ahead; I ain't afraid of your daddy!"

They had never before suffered that much verbal abuse in their lifetime. And that was only one instructor, their weapons-handling instructor. By the end of the day, they all agreed that among the other three, he was easily the nicest and most lovable.

Dinner was a silent and uneventful affair. They were all too tired and drained to fight (not to mention humiliated). Upon reaching their dormitory, they all simultaneously crashed into their beds and called it a truce for the meantime.

Why fight when you can sleep? Anyway, there was still tomorrow.

-

The next morning, they were once again roused from their peaceful slumbers by the reveille. Athrun groaned and buried his head further in his pillows to block out the annoying sound. He concluded that if ever he met the one who invented the damn tune in hell someday, he would torture him slowly to death (how ironic).

And for the first time since they've had the misfortune of crossing each other's paths, all five of them shared the same sentiments.

-

Author's Notes: You know what's funny? I actually wake up to the sound of reveille every morning. My alarm clock carries the tune and despite how annoying I find it to be, it's very effective in waking me up. 'Reveille' is the standard military wake-up call. Please be noted that my knowledge of military organization is limited. I'm actually basing this on the articles that I've read in Encarta and my Citizen Army Training when I was in high school (which still isn't enough considering I rarely attended CAT sessions every Saturday).

Please review and let me know what you think! You can tell me what you liked/hated about the chapter or the story. Remember that writing is a two-way process!

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