Special thanks to LIA, my beta reader!
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Author's Notes: THANK YOU to my reviewers: Komillia, mutsu, Warp Ligia Obscura, sugarbox, GodNo127, plushoo, lightyearsaway, White Shadow, Attharun, Forbidden Emotions, XxLilyNGxX, Kikyo, PiNkLeMiNaDe00123.
Here's a nice, long chapter for all of you! I hope you find it just as amusing as the previous chapters.
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Disclaimer: Nope. You're looking at the wrong person here.
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Chapter Four – Athrun and Yzak Sitting in a Tree…
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Athrun had to give their team credit. After one month in the academy, he and his teammates were still alive and kicking. He had to admit that he was half-expecting that by the end of their first week, they'd have torn each other's throats apart.
So far, each of them had endured empty death threats (presumably sent by either their own teammates or the other teams), inedible food from the cafeteria, more insults from their instructors, more of Miguel's arrogance, more skin-crawling love letters from girls, Nicol's perkiness in the morning, and, basically, cadet life in general.
He had learned a great deal about his teammates, too, whether he wanted to or not. He didn't really have much of a choice. No matter how hard he was trying to be so uncaring and detached, he knew he was bound to pick up certain things about his teammates.
Like for instance, he had grown used to Yzak claiming ownership to the bathroom every morning. They would wake up to the annoying sound of reveille and after the initial yawns and stretches, Yzak would snarl at them as he made his way towards the bathroom and then promptly slam the door on their faces. It wasn't that unusual, really. Yzak was always like that. What they found highly amusing (and highly disturbing) was his added morning routine of reaching underneath his bed for a pink basket.
Once, Rusty, with help from a very eager Dearka, tried to find out exactly what it was in there. Athrun had to admit that he was a little curious, too. Maybe it was one of the reasons why he covered-up for Dearka and Rusty's absence in the table while they were eating dinner that night. But thanks to their dumb luck – and Nicol's inability to lie – the mystery of Yzak's pink basket would have to remain a secret – for now.
And Yzak being a mommy's boy… well, -everyone- knew -that-.
Dearka had a dozen or so girlfriends and he would occasionally (read: ALWAYS!) ask for their letter-writing skills whenever he ran out of promises to tell the girls. After all, the whole 'I-love-you-and-I'll-marry-you-when-I-get-out-of-this-hell-hole' routine eventually gets really old.
And true to Miguel's prediction, Dearka never missed a single happy hour with their squad leader. One time, they all agreed to accompany Miguel to the 'hotspots' that he mentioned. Needless to say, Athrun felt like he was scarred for life. Even Yzak was blushing like an overripe tomato that night!
With Nicol, there were no surprises. What they saw was what they got. The green-haired lad wasn't pretentious. He was gentle, kind and possibly the nicest guy that ever walked on the face of the planet – or PLANT in their case. It was hard to imagine that he was training to be a soldier (and that he was male). Perhaps it came with his naturally calm demeanor (or maybe it was in his genes), but he was a very talented pianist. His skills with the piano were handy whenever one of them was feeling particularly insomniac.
Rusty was like Athrun and Yzak combined. No, it didn't mean that he was schizophrenic! It's just that one moment, he's blathering nonsense and snapping at anyone who dared come near him within a 20 kilometer radius; then he's all quiet and brooding the next. He also had a mischievous streak that could rival Dearka's. Athrun soon learned that despite Rusty's happy-go-lucky attitude though, he was really very sensitive.
Perhaps it came with the fact that he was in a team with people like Athrun, Yzak, Dearka and Nicol. Sometimes, he seems competitive (though not as much as Yzak when it comes to Athrun). They could all see that there was a desire in him to prove himself.
And lastly, Miguel. Miguel was an interesting character. He could be as arrogant as he wanted to, and just as annoying. He had an ego roughly the size of Jupiter and he had an uncanny ability of coming out on top even if he started out at the bottom.
He deemed happy hour as 'sacred' and won't let anything get in his way of having a good time. More often than not, he forgets what he is supposed to teach them and those incidences always end up with Athrun trying to fill in Miguel's spot.
But, he could be a good leader, too… if he wanted to, that is.
Athrun – he was surrounded by such an interesting bunch. What about him, then? Was he as interesting as them? Athrun felt slightly overwhelmed by how untroubled these people seemed to be. Was he that easygoing? Perhaps… But it seemed so long ago… That part of him that was still a teenager seemed to have gone on a permanent vacation.
He didn't find himself particularly interesting. He always heard the same things about him, 'son of Patrick Zala' and 'Lacus Clyne's fiancé.' Other than that, who was he really? Was this the result of losing his mother?
Maybe… the part of him that was happy, that was carefree, that was more than the 'son of Patrick Zala' or 'Lacus Clyne's fiancé' died along with Lenore Zala.
"Hey, Athrun!"
Apparently, his brain decided to take a little vacation as well.
He was jolted back to reality by Miguel knocking lightly (and rudely) on his forehead. Athrun blinked and he suddenly became aware of the fact that his entire team was looking weirdly at him.
They were on the field, standing in their line formation. They were supposed to be doing some drills, but judging from his teammates' comfortable and un-straight postures, it was clear that they haven't even begun yet. It was either Miguel was hung over or was feeling lazy. Either way, Miguel was still a superior officer and they were still in formation.
Athrun straightened his posture, cleared his throat, and said in a clear voice, "I apologize, sir."
Miguel's eyes twitched. "I told you to drop the 'sir'!" He smirked. "Anyway, glad to have you back in the realm of the living. I was just about to tell you five the bet that I made with Charlie-Two's squad leader."
"A bet… sir?" Athrun asked, his tone a little unsure.
"Yes, a bet," Miguel confirmed impatiently. "A bet: where one wagers something, like money for instance –"
Athrun felt his eyebrow twitch. "I am aware of what a bet is, sir."
"Argh! For the last time, STOP CALLING ME 'SIR'! IT'S MIGUEL!" the aforementioned person, then proceeded to glare at him.
Athrun raised his hand in a salute.
"You know, I'm not sure if he's mocking me or if he's really just like that."
Yzak sniggered. "Oh, are you asking us if Athrun is normally as robotic as that? If you are, then that would be a 'yes'."
'Robotic-as-his-mechanical-pets' Athrun glared at his silver-haired (gag) comrade.
Miguel gave Athrun an exasperated look and then sighed. "You know, you'd make the perfect soldier."
"Thank you, sir," Athrun answered promptly with, no surprises there, a salute.
"That wasn't a compliment, you idiot."
"Oh."
Miguel then steered the subject to more important matters like, say, the bet. "That prick from Charlie-Two has been my enemy since we were in diapers! He always makes it a point to make me look stupid! He's always competing with me!"
"I wonder, who does that remind me of?" Dearka asked dryly, looking pointedly at Yzak and Athrun, both of whom promptly glared at him.
Miguel didn't seem to notice the little exchange, or chose not to: he was on a roll. "He always steals the spotlight from me! He even stole my first ever girlfriend from me! He's the worst person that I have ever had the misfortune of meeting! Remember his name, but spit on it, nonetheless. His name is –" he paused for dramatic effect "– Mikhail Ayman."
Five pairs of eyes blinked at him.
Rusty gave their leader a skeptical look. "Ayman…? Are you, by chance, related to him?"
Miguel gave him an incredulous look. "Worse! We're -twins-! Haven't I told you he's been my rival since we were in diapers? Heck, I may not remember it, but we might have been enemies since we were in our mother's womb!"
Athrun didn't know what disturbed him more, Miguel having a twin or the image of Miguel and his twin, as fetuses, kicking each other in a cramped space that was a woman's womb. He fought the urge to wrinkle his nose and forced his face to remain as neutral as possible. 'Ugh. I did -not- just imagine that.'
"It must be fun, having a twin," Nicol commented cheerfully.
"Weren't you listening?" Miguel exclaimed. "He's my rival!"
Nicol smiled. "Well, yes, you mentioned that. But take Athrun and Yzak, for example. They are rivals but they don't hate each other," he explained matter-of-factly.
"Earth to Nicol," Rusty knocked on Nicol's forehead. "Haven't you seen the murderous glares that Yzak has been giving Athrun ever since our first day here? Haven't you seen how Athrun always gets a kick out of at raising Yzak's ire?"
Dearka turned to Athrun and Yzak with a look on his face that promised he was up to no good. "Or maybe the two of you are secret lovers or something?" He put on a mock upset face. "Aw, Yzak, I'm hurt. I thought I was your best friend, but Nicol learned about it first?"
Steam was practically coming out of Yzak's ears, while Athrun glowered at Dearka with not-so-veiled murderous intent. Since Dearka was between the two of them, he each received a kick from the shins.
"OW!"
"HEY!" Miguel yelled impatiently. "We were discussing -my- situation here!" Then he gave Athrun and Yzak each an impish grin. "But I think you're on to something here, Nicol. I never thought –"
"Permission to speak, sir."
"Permission granted." Miguel rolled his eyes.
Athrun stepped forward. "One more word, sir, and I'll personally go to your brother and do everything that I can to sabotage you." He sounded like he was reporting about something as trivial as the weather, but they all noted the very obvious threat in his words.
Miguel's sneer was wiped off his face. "You wouldn't."
"I think I definitely would, sir. And I'm sure that Jule here would be willing to set aside our differences for a brief moment to conspire against you."
Miguel looked at Yzak and the look on the latter's face told him that Yzak would definitely sabotage him, given the chance. Miguel then scowled. "I wasn't even the one who started it!"
"And what about me?" Dearka asked smugly. "You can't blackmail me."
Athrun turned his head slowly to look at Dearka. "No…blackmail wouldn't work for you. But if you want to continue dating with your face intact, I suggest you shut up and stop making fun of me."
"What do you say to torture, Dearka?" Yzak growled at him.
Dearka sulked. "You two can't take a joke."
Athrun wasn't finished. He seemed really upset about it proven by the fact that he had been talking more than usual. "That goes for the rest of you…yes, even you Nicol."
Nicol gave a little nervous laugh.
"That is all." Then he stepped back into their line formation.
"How do you freakin' do that?" Miguel asked in wonder. "You're threatening us and yet, you still sound so respectful!" He paused. "Wait. Don't answer that." Then he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "Okay, going back to business, Mikhail came to me last night and asked me about you guys. Well, I told him you guys would no doubt be the top of the class… how our team was better than his in comparison. I'm not sure what I said, but I might have mentioned something about his team biting the dust before we do." He frowned. "Didn't take it too well, I guess…"
"I wonder why," Rusty asked sardonically with a roll of his eyes.
"And I guess I might have told him about how you guys got along so well… about how you were like brothers and stuff… Then he challenged me to –"
"Wait… back up a little," Rusty interrupted with a dubious look on his face. "We…get along?"
"I know I was fudging the truth a little…"
He was met with five incredulous looks.
Yzak snorted. "Like brothers!"
"What a dysfunctional family this must be," Athrun muttered dryly.
"Okay, I fudged it -a lot-," he amended. "But with my brother, you can't help but exaggerate a little. Plus, he made fun of my 'non-existent' leadership skills and he told me how wonderful, organized and cooperative his team was. And then he challenged me to go head to head with his team in the drill exhibition two weeks from now."
Yzak snorted. "Drill exhibition? What the hell are we gonna show them? You getting hung-over and Mr. Know-It-All here commanding us? We'd be the butt of jokes of the whole ZAFT!"
"That's why we're going to practice! We have two weeks to wow them with how well we march and stuff!" Miguel explained optimistically.
"What's in it for us?" Rusty asked.
"Huh?"
"Without proper motivation, how do you expect us to do well?"
Miguel pondered on it for a minute. "Have you no pride? You want to lose to a bunch of wimps?" he roared.
The looks on their faces showed that they could care less. Athrun, however, didn't want to lose to said bunch of wimps. And he had pride… Lots of it. But did Miguel deserve their help? After all, it was his fault they were in some kind of mess… He maintained the placid expression on his face.
"Alright, already!" Miguel scowled. "Sheesh, if anything goes wrong with your military career, you'd make good businessmen. We'll split the earnings."
"Deal!" Rusty, Yzak (who went along with it to see Miguel grovel) and Dearka (who went along with it because he had spent all of his remaining allowance on their previous happy hour) answered simultaneously.
"But we better win! Or else…" Miguel left the threat hanging. "Anyway, we have a lot of catching up to do. Registration ended last week but I managed to pull some strings and we got in." He didn't mention, however, that he had managed to pull that strings only because of his high-profile cadets.
"With all due respect, sir," Athrun said in a monotone, "Even if there was no drill exhibition slash contest slash bet, we would still be very far behind."
Miguel waved a hand nonchalantly. "Oh, you'll catch up just fine! You're quick learners! And you already know the basic commands. You know, 'forward march' and all that."
"Yes, sir, but I doubt the other teams would spend their fifteen minutes just marching around the field," Athrun countered – his tone still respectful.
"I'll fix that! We'll think of something that'll blow them away. Sheesh! A little confidence in your superior would be nice!" Miguel crossed his arms over his chest. "But before that, rule number one of warfare is to 'know your enemy'," he said seriously.
Yzak rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess that's Miguel-speak for 'I want you to spy on them!'"
Miguel applauded him mockingly. "I knew you were a genius! And since you're so knowledgeable, -you- will be the one to spy on them!"
Yzak was quick to react. "What? No way!"
Miguel sneered. "Oh… Then I guess that means I'll just have to give your mom a little call." He pretended to speak to an invisible phone. "Hello, Representative Jule? Oh, this is Miguel Ayman, Yzak's commanding officer. Well, it's just that your baby here doesn't want to cooperate… Hmm? Oh? You're going here to give him a piece of your mind? Sure thing, Mrs. J. See you!"
"You fucking bastard! I never knew you were this low!" Yzak seethed.
Miguel flashed him his smuggest smile. "So, Zakie-boy… I take that as a 'yes'." He pointed to the west. "Charlie-Two's assigned area is in the C-sector."
Dearka and Rusty exchanged meaningful glances. Athrun saw this and he frowned. 'Since when did they become friends?' He groaned inwardly. They were clearly up to no good.
Dearka cleared his throat importantly. "Yzak might need help." He put on a mock thoughtful face. "Well, we all know I always tag along his escapades, but I'm not so sure this time. I'm not very good in doing surveillance work."
Rusty slapped his fist into his palm. "I know!" he exclaimed in a very fake cheerful voice. "Athrun's the perfect one!" He turned to Athrun, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "He's a very good spy!"
Miguel tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I said earlier that he'd make a great soldier…" He turned to Athrun and clapped him on the back. "Well, Athrun, you will be going with Yzak to spy on my friggin' twin brother!"
Athrun cursed his subservient nature and his knack for always following orders. He so wanted to give Miguel a piece of his mind (and maybe a piece of his fist). He was sure that Miguel was breaking a few rules in the rule book… But, something was stopping him from pointing this out. He gave Miguel a salute and walked towards the direction of sector C, with Yzak stomping angrily behind him.
"Good luck, you two!" Nicol called after them.
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"That bastard is going down."
"I still cannot believe he managed to make me do this!"
"I swear I'm going to kill him someday."
"Using my mother against me… I never knew he'd stoop so low."
"Bastard."
Athrun sighed. No, he wasn't conversing with Yzak. Actually, Yzak was conversing with -himself-, grumbling quite coherently and kicking whatever was in his path. Yzak was a loudmouth – that was for certain. Athrun wanted to tell Yzak to shut up, but without anyone to restrain them, they might end up killing each other. It wouldn't look very good on his record if he was charged with murder on his first month in the academy.
He trudged on and then, he saw Miguel.
He blinked. Wasn't Miguel with the other traitors?
He stopped abruptly and squinted. They were at the far end of the field and the sun was getting in his eyes. Yzak, too busy grumbling to himself, bumped into his back.
"Hey! Watch it!"
Athrun pointed to the Miguel-doppelganger. "You think that's Mikhail?"
"Not unless they're triplets," Yzak answered sarcastically.
Athrun surveyed their surroundings. There were a couple of buildings on the left and some trees on the right. He deduced that the tree would be their best bet. He turned to Yzak. "Let's watch them from the top of a tree."
Yzak rolled his eyes. "Wow, spy on them from a tree, how original." But he followed Athrun, nonetheless.
They went to the tree as inconspicuously as possible. They looked around before climbing the tree effortlessly and, then settling on its branches (separately, of course). They were hidden from view by the leaves but they could clearly see and hear what was going on.
"Now what do we do?" Yzak muttered.
"We watch," Athrun whispered back. He looked at Yzak and gave him a slight smile. "You should just think of this as a break time."
"Break time, yeah right. Nothing could be more comfortable than sitting on a dumb tree and watching a bunch of morons march around," Yzak mumbled sarcastically.
Athrun took that as a cue to leave Yzak alone. He wasn't really on the mood for a shouting match with Yzak. Not to mention, it wasn't the time or the place. He turned his attention to Miguel's twin brother.
Mikhail Ayman looked just like his brother. But he was nowhere near the unlikable man that Miguel described. In fact, on a totally unbiased point of view, it would seem that Mikhail was indeed doing his job more efficiently than his twin brother. He could see how Mikhail patiently corrected the other cadets' mistakes and how he took his job seriously. There was one thing missing though.
The other cadets were indeed cooperative. But there was something…off.
He continued to watch them and it hit him. The cadets didn't seem much acquainted with each other. Too formal around each other, too polite…
'Too perfect,' he thought. He remembered what Miguel said earlier, about him being a perfect soldier one day. Maybe this was what Miguel meant. Yes, respect was a military attitude. But they were still teenagers.
He shook his head ruefully. 'I never thought I'd see the day when I'd find my teammates' un-professionalism as 'normal'.
He looked back at the team of cadets below them. They certainly didn't give off the 'comradeship' and 'camaraderie' that Miguel was always blathering about.
'Maybe… I should really drop the 'sir'.'
"Miguel should take lessons from him," Yzak commented from the other branch.
Athrun thought back to their first meeting with Miguel. He smiled as he shook his head. "No, Miguel's doing fine."
"Yeah… doing a fine job of messing up, making fun of us, and generally making us look like a stupid bunch of morons."
"Well, would you rather that Mikhail and Miguel switch squads?"
Yzak gave him an 'Are-you-nuts?' look. "Hell, no!" he hissed. "I said Miguel should take lessons from him, not -be- him."
Athrun had to smile at that. 'Well, Yzak's not an idiot, after all.'
They sat there in silence. A soft breeze rustled the trees and they could hear Miguel's – or rather – Mikhail's authoritative voice. He looked at Yzak from the corner of his eye. There was one thing that he had wanted to ask Yzak since he learned about it from Dearka.
But how should he open up the topic? None of them were exactly the touchy-feely type. Plus, Yzak might take offense and pummel him to the ground…Not very appealing since they were up in a tree. But, he had to do it. He sighed and cleared his throat.
Then, a little awkwardly, "How's your mother?"
Yzak didn't look at him as he brought his knees up to his chest and leaned on the tree trunk. "She's okay… she's past the grieving stage."
"Sorry about your father."
"Sorry about your mother."
Silence.
Athrun swallowed hard. It was difficult… talking about his mother. "You already told me that… Remember? When we first met Rusty? I never got the chance to offer my condolences, though."
Yzak didn't answer him; the situation was awkward enough as it was.
Athrun took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He felt his lips curl up in a wry smile. Yzak wasn't an idiot, after all. "Well, now that that's off our chest, we can go back to hating each other's guts in peace."
Yzak snorted, but smiled, nonetheless. It was an unusual sight. "Gladly."
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Author's Notes: Yes, I killed off Yzak's dad. Never knew what happened to him so I assumed he died. Well, there's the OC, right there. He won't play a major role and he won't steal the limelight from the Le Creuset Team, so don't worry.
Now, please let me know what you think! I appreciate the ideas that you give me and I will try to incorporate them in the storyline. If reading this fic made you smile (even a quirk in your lips), then make -me- smile by REVIEWing!
