Oh my god, this is so late I don't even know. So much has been happening in my life, not necessarily good, and so I have been very, very preoccupied. Also, I started university (which is a good thing lol) that has been basically MY LIFE. I've been sooooo busy. But I finally sat down and wrote this. I've been pretty excited to write this, as it introduces a character I've been dying to write, and the plot lines begin rolling. Please enjoy!

"It's the Archangel! We're under attack!"

Those were not the words I was hoping to be wakened with from an otherwise peaceful nap, but I immediately snapped awake. I looked over to see that Athrun was pulling his uniform coat on, striding over to the front of the small carrier, yelling for the pilot's attention.

I joined him, pulling my hair into the usual ponytail. This was bad, if the Archangel was tailing us. Still being under repair from the previous battle in space, the Aegis and Loyalty were being transported over to a ZAFT base in the Gulf of Mexico in this carrier, as the Vesalius had to tail the Archangel supposedly in the Pacific Ocean. Did that mean they failed? Where were they now?

The pilot frantically looked over at the two of us, ordering in panic, "Change into your pilot suits and get into your Gundams!"

"What do you mean," Athrun began, sounding angry, "our suits aren't even fixed yet, do you really expect us to fight-"

"No! Get in them, and escape!"

Athrun and I looked at each other, deliberating.

"Hey!"

We turned to see the pilot mentioning for us.

"I've got Captain LeCreuset on the line."

Leaning forward to be in the line of the camera, Athrun tilted the video screen so that I could see too. LeCreuset's masked face filled the screen, and I flinched when I heard his voice, more annoyed and angered then I could ever remember it being before.

"The Archangel tricked us into following a false path. We managed to figure it out before it got too far. I sent Dearka and Yzak. They'll be there soon. In the meantime, you and Lilia need to get off that carrier and secure the Gundams in a safe location. There are plenty of islands around here, find one!"

Before Athrun could even finish his "Yes, sir", LeCreuset cut off the link.

I took a deep breath, then rushed to the closet.

"Athrun!" I called, tossing him his pilot suit when he turned around. We quickly stripped off our uniforms and pulled on the pilot suits with experienced speed, finishing up just as an explosion rocked the carrier.

I fell over from the motion, landing heavily. Athrun quickly pulled me up, as I heard the pilot yell "Hurry!" once again. Pulling me forward with my hand in his, Athrun opened the door to the Gundam compartments and jumped, grabbing ahold of the wire lever dangling from the cockpit of the Aegis. Not trusting my agility in a location racked by explosions, I took the slow way with the stairs, running towards my Loyalty. Athrun waited for me to get in the cockpit before he closed his. The first thing that happened when I turned the Loyalty on was Athrun linking to me.

"Athrun, don't use the link signal, it'll make it easier for them to find-"

"I know," Athrun said. "I just wanted to say be careful. I'll see you soon, okay?"

He stared at me with a determined expression, and I nodded.

"Same to you…" I said softly, reaching forward to cut the link off.

The hatch to the Gundam compartment opened, and without anything to hold them up, the Loyalty and Aegis did a little free-fall out of the carrier. Taking a deep breath, I finally gathered my senses and took ahold of the clutch, my stomach turning as I swooped upward. I saw the Archangel in the distance, looming ominously. I turned to see the Aegis zoom off to the east, and taking Athrun's cue, revved up the engine as I sped the opposite way. The Archangel continued being in my line of sight to my annoyance, although that meant that it wasn't following Athrun. Did that mean Kira was…? Shaking my head, I evaded a blast from the side gun, cursing as it nicked the Loyalty's arm. With it still being in repair status, the Loyalty would not be able to go much farther. Looking down, I saw a small island in the distance, and a dark mass of gray and black near it. Gulping, I knew this was my only chance to shake off the Archangel. Checking my energy gauge one last time, I headed straight for the dark mass, knowing it was a storm. Rain soon consumed all 360-degree vision, and I could no longer see anything around me. A green blast out of nowhere missed the Loyalty by mere feet. I bit my lip in frustration. The Archangel was taking blind shots, now, huh? But they would never actually enter the storm. Assuming that, I proceeded forward for about ten minutes, until I came out to the other side. Finally free from all the rain and wind, I could see clearly, and saw that the island I had spotted earlier was looming right beneath me. One last check showed me that the Archangel was still on the other side of the storm. Feeling satisfied at my small success, I sped down towards the island, looking for a good place to station the Loyalty. Searching quickly, I soon found a location underneath a small cliff on the beach, and landed, turning off the Loyalty so as to conserve energy. I sighed and leaned back on my seat. What was I supposed to do now?

The waves of the ocean swept in and out in a monotonous motion, hypnotizing me as I stared blankly at it. I was still stuck on this damn island. Sighing heavily, I snapped myself out of my daze and reached over to tweak the radio satellite signal for the thousandth time, but like all my other attempts, the uninterrupted static sound continued blissfully as ever. Knowing that whatever happened, it was still too early to get truly pissed, I held my feelings in check and slipped out of the cockpit, landing softly on the damp sand underneath. How long would I be stuck here? I didn't have enough food in my pack to last me even two days.

"Damn-" I began, stopping abruptly mid-curse. I whipped my head towards the sound I had just heard. It was distinctively a rustle. All I could see were bushes and the forest that started a few feet away from the edge of the beach.

I wondered if I should venture forward to find out what it was, but then again, it could simply be an animal. It was an island, after all. However, my instinctive inner danger siren was going off. I stayed immobile in my spot, not knowing whether to move forward and investigate the noise or disregard it.

It all came very suddenly.

I took a tentative step forward, when a sudden mass of flesh sprang from behind the bushes, accompanied with a raw, strangled yell. Even with my Coordinator reflexes, I was unable to properly guard myself from the shocking attack, and before I could comprehend the situation, I was flat on my back with a stranger sitting on my stomach holding a raised knife that glinted in the distant sun. My mind finally clicked, and I swiftly kicked up my unrestrained legs, unbalancing the attacker for a mere second, giving me the chance to quickly roll away from him. Straightening up, I was finally able to get a good look at my attacker's face. As I had thought from the shape of the body from when he had sat on me moments before, it was a guy. He couldn't have been that much older than me, too. With his auburn hair and pale blue eyes, there wasn't much distinctive about him. Except for the look on his face that was full of nervousness, yet unmistakable look of hatred directed towards me, whilst the hands holding the knife trembled in front of him. As well as his uniform with the Earth Alliance emblem decorating it.

Once again, before I made the move, he pounced. I was ready this time, though. I caught him mid-lunge, each hand tight around his torso. Flinging him backward, he made a rough "Oomph!" as his back made contact with the sand. Twisting around so that I was the one sitting on top of him this time, I extended my left leg so that it was pinning down his left arm flat on the ground. Doing the same to his right arm with my other leg, I reached over to the hand clenching the knife. As soon as he saw what I was planning, he jerked in a sudden spasm, clamping his teeth together in an effort to throw me off. Thrown off balance from his gradually strengthening jerks, I jumped off him, trying to think of new ways to disarm him. When worst came to worst, I could always run back to the Loyalty…

Sweat pouring down his face, the boy slowly edged forward, brandishing the small knife almost desperately. He could at least try to not look that frightened. I almost felt pity for the guy. He obviously thought that he was no match for a Coordinator, even if it was a female. Well, time to prove him right.

Determined to not let him lead the fight, I made the first move this time, lunging forward in a blatant fashion. Getting close enough to hear his ragged breathing, I suddenly swerved to the right, a move too fast for a Natural to copy, and grabbed his right arm, the one holding the knife. Caught by surprise by the feint, he attempted to get ahold of me, but it was too late. In the second I had grabbed him, he had dropped the knife, and while he was still trying to recover from the shock, I had caught the knife as it fell. In a burst of energy, I kicked his legs back, and knocked him back down on the sand. In order to have better control of him this time, I laid my whole body against his, determined to not let him move an inch. I raised his knife high, ready to deliver the demise he was about to give me a few minutes earlier.

With the knife high above my head, I was about to bring it down on his neck, when I paused. The guy. His face. The moment he saw my arm muscles tense in order to bring down the weapon, he had closed his eyes, as if in acceptance of his fate. In the one second that had passed, he had given up on his life, and all the tremors I had felt previously coming from him stopped like a music player on pause. The only part that betrayed his human emotions were the silent tears that streamed down his cheeks from his closed lids. Faltering, with the knife still high above my head, I heard all the screams of the people I had killed in battle, all the screams begging for mercy, and from pain and terror. Almost as if on its own, my left hand slithered onto the boy's chest, stopping over his heart. As real as the world was, his heartbeat resonated against my palm; a proud, majestic rhythm that signified life. I looked at his face again, my eyes passing over his closed eyes, his pale skin, his pink lips, his pulsing neck, and I knew I couldn't do it. I slowly lowered the knife to my side.

Sensing that something was amiss, the boy opened his eyes, almost reluctantly, and stared at me, confused. I stared back, just as confused, and we stayed like that for a while, with me on top of him, eyes locked on each other like lovers.

Finally, he opened his mouth and I heard him talk for the first time. "Not gonna kill me?"

His voice sounded oddly soothing; not too low and not too high pitched.

I met his question with silence, continuing to stare at him.

Seeming to gain confidence from my passivity, he tried again in a louder voice, "Hey, do you understand what I'm saying? Do you know what language I'm speaking?"

With a fluid movement, I got up, a hand on his chest to push myself off his body. My movement seemed to frighten him; I felt him twitch as soon as I moved a single muscle. Continuing to ignore him, I turned my back to him, confident he wouldn't, or couldn't, attack me, and flung his knife as far as I could out into the sea.

When I turned around to face him once again, he was staring at me with a hard expression.

"If you're going to kill me, could you please do it now?" he said in an icy voice.

Holding back all the responses I could have given him, I kept silent, and instead turned by back on him, walking back towards my Gundam.

"Wait! Hey!" he called.

I continued walking.

"Fine, ignore me! But can you at least tell me why you spared me?"

I stopped.

Turning around, I looked him squarely in the eye and replied utterly honestly, "I looked at your face, and I couldn't."

Whatever he was expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Looking perplexed, he raised his eyebrows.

I was about to turn around once again, but I paused. What was I supposed to do with this guy? Even if he didn't have his knife, he would probably try to find a way to kill me. Despite my earlier confidence that he wouldn't attack me, I began doubting myself. Should I tie him up? He was still only a few feet away from me. If I jumped suddenly, I could probably do it…

Surprising me with his high perceptiveness, the boy said dryly, "If you think I'm going to kill you or something, I won't. I have no weapon."

When I stayed silent, he continued, "And you don't seem to have one, either. Weird."

I realized that he was commenting on the empty hand gun holder at my waist. I instinctively covered it with my hand. I had never carried my gun there. Athrun and the others did, but I had never felt the need to. Now I understood why.

"It's in my Gundam..." the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

I realized my mistake a split-second too late. Although it was only for a second, an unmistakable look of shock, resolve and determination crossed his features. He covered it immediately, placing back on his mask of impassiveness, but I didn't miss it. As soon as he knew a weapon was available, this guy would be ready to kill me. The crash of thunder stopped my train of thought, as I looked overhead. Almost as if in response, a thick sheet of rain began falling from the sky.

"Ugh…" I groaned, as the ridiculous amount of rain drenched me within seconds. A storm was brewing. And that meant it would now be impossible to catch any radio signal. I glanced over to the boy, who looked equally discouraged as I was at the rain and looking around for cover.

I didn't know why I called out to him, but I did. Maybe it was the fact that we weren't in all-out mobile suit battle that made me not care as much that he was a member of the enemy. Either way, I heard myself call out, "Hey! There's a cave over here!"

He whipped his head around, giving me a brief look of suspicion, before contorting it into a half-smile. We both figured out at the same time that two could play at this game. This game of pretend-ceasefire.

I waited for him to run up to me, and then we walked side-by-side towards the cave that was situated behind the Loyalty. I pretended not to notice the obvious look he gave the Loyalty, and even more so when his eyes smoldered in hate for a moment.

I started up a fire, shivering in my completely drenched pilot suit, then reluctantly went back out in the rain to climb into the cockpit of the Loyalty. I tweaked the dial absentmindedly, and expectedly, received no signal whatsoever. Sighing, I reached for my blanket and small pack of food and was about to leave when I saw my hand gun resting underneath my seat, half of it sticking out. The image of the boy's face when I had stupidly slipped out that a gun was in the Loyalty emerged in my mind. Shaking my head, I pushed the gun further in, so that it wasn't visible anymore.

I slid down to the ground with a splash and dashed into the cave, where the warm, welcome fire gave off lively snaps and crackles. The guy looked up as I came in, an unreadable expression on his face. He shivered as he inched closer to the fire. I tossed him the blanket that I kept in the cockpit.

He caught it by reflex, as he said in a surprised voice, "But what about you-"

"You're the one not wearing a shirt," I said, pointing out to his uniform shirt drying over the fire on a stick.

"I can't really take off this suit to dry," I continued, "and I don't want to get my only blanket wet by covering myself with it. So use it."

I pulled down the zipper in front of my suit as I talked, wanting to be relieved as much as I could by the tightness of it. The boy's cheeks turned beet red as I did so.

"Oh, please," I scoffed, lying down on one side and propping myself up on one arm, facing the boy.

He looked down, the color slowly ebbing away from his face. He eyed the food I had brought suspiciously.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not poisoned."

He looked at me. Then, without a second notice, delved in and began devouring the beef jerky and stale crackers at a rate only possible for male teens. I sighed. I guess that gender similarity didn't matter whether you were a Natural or a Coordinator.

He left half of it untouched, and I was mildly impressed at his willpower, as he definitely still looked hungry. He pushed the rest towards me. I responded with a slight upward curve of my lips. But I was growing tired, not hungry. A long moment of silence lasted between us. Finally, the boy spoke up, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This. Letting me live, giving me food, lending me your blanket, et cetera."

I stared at him, honestly perplexed.

"I…I really don't know," I finally answered, resigned. "In all honesty, I'm kind of confused myself. I'd advise you to shut your mouth soon, though, otherwise I might change my mind."

He narrowed his eyes at that, but looked otherwise unimpressed.

"I bet if I was in a mobile suit you wouldn't think twice before killing me," he said cynically, pointing backward towards the entrance of the cave, where my Loyalty was stationed.

"Probably not," I murmured softly.

The boy looked surprised. "So you're not going to even deny it?"

I felt pain in my chest and knew that it must be guilt clawing at my heart.

"No," I simply stated in a monotone.

He fell silent after that. I inched closer to the fire drowsily, my fatigue getting the better of me. My head continually slid off the hand it was propped up on as I nodded off, and I finally gave up and lied down, resting my cheek on the cold, stone floor of the cave. Shivering involuntarily, my eyelids fluttered close.

There was a sea. There was a storm. It was dark. It was windy. It was loud. It was wet. But more than anything, it was cold. The sheer bleakness of it all was overpowering. I was running from something, but what was it? My feet hurt. My head hurt. My stomach hurt. Everything hurt. The crash of waves was the sound of my death sentence; I had to hurry, or else! But where was I going? Where could I go? If I didn't hurry, the thing that would be waiting for me, was…The thought of it brought on intense nausea, and I had to stop to control my breathing. No! What was I doing? Keep going, get up, go! Go! GO! The pelting rain felt like bullets, creating a thick curtain that only made progress slower. Lightning struck, illuminating everything for a small moment. All I could see were the silhouettes of the surrounding trees, and the thin, pale, ghostly pair of legs covered in ghastly bruises that belonged to me, carrying me forward. Thunder immediately followed, the cracking and booming sounding like a grotesque fanfare. This was my death march. Even the weather was making light of me. It was unsympathetic and cruel. Tears ran down my face, causing more winces from the salty liquid seeping into the open injuries on my face. No, this wasn't a death march. To die was a blessing, a way out. What was waiting for me was not death, but more pain. More pain, darkness, and cold. I heard an earsplitting shriek, and jumped, before I realized it was myself. Blood poured from my lip as I bit down on it in an attempt to silence myself. They would find me now. Wait, they? Who is "they"? Who was I running from? I'm so confused. Help me. Please. I'm scared. Someone, save me from this hell. Someone! The sound of footsteps from behind signaled that the chase was over. I crumbled to the ground, sobbing for mercy. Lilia doesn't want this. Please, someone save Lilia. Lilia is scared. Lilia hurts. Lilia doesn't want to go back there. Because what's waiting for me there is…My lips quivered as I spoke for the first time "A-…". I felt rough arms grab me from behind. I arched back, howling out into the sky like a wolf:

"AZRAEL!"

I woke with a loud gasp, my eyes blinded by tears. I was covered in cold sweat, and my breathing was close to the point of hyperventilation. I had always had weird dreams, many of them creepy ones, but this one was on a whole new level. The sheer realness of it all was appalling. The sense of being chased and being utterly helpless…I suddenly realized I was shivering badly, and the tears were continually clouding my eyes. Without thought, I moved my lips, forming the name that I had awoken with screaming.

"Azrael…"

The name felt like a sting, and I felt a sudden, irrational urge to wash out my mouth. The name sounded so familiar, but where I had I heard it before? My heavy, sleep-ridden brain finally clicked as another crash of thunder sounded. I winced at the noise, the horrifying sequence in my dream coming back in a rush. Muruta Azrael. The leader of Blue Cosmos.

I took a slow, deep breath, trying to register everything. Master's ultimate enemy, Azrael. His name had always caused a reaction of disgust in myself, but this was the first time I had woken up from a dream screaming his name, for crying out loud. I shook my head, trying to control the shivering tremors of my body, when I finally realized why I was so cold. The cave was dark. The fire was out.

Gasping, I jumped up to my feet, rounding around to the other side of the fire pit. A lone, discarded blanket was abandoned in a heap near the wall. The boy was nowhere to be found. The horrifying realization hit me as I ran to the entrance of the cave, only to be confronted by the confirmation of my suspicions. I saw the boy emerge out of the cockpit of the Loyalty, jumping lithely to the ground. Although blurred by the pelting rain, I could clearly see my gun in his hands. I tried to move, but I couldn't. My muscles frozen, I could only watch as the boy walked closer and closer, until he finally saw me through the thick curtain of rain. Our eyes met for a long second, in which the boy paused. My jaw finally seemed to unstick, and I moved my mouth.

"What are you doing?"

The question was stupid. My voice sounded frail, weak.

The boy's eyes widened for a second, before narrowing and glaring at me. He advanced forward, pointing the gun at me.

"I'm going to kill you."

Of course. Why else would he sneak out into my Gundam to get my gun? Stupid, stupid Lilia. I slowly backed away with each step he took closer, my feet robotically moving backward. The boy's eyes never left mine, our gazes glued to each other as we slowly moved into the cave. I was forced to an abrupt stop when my back hit the far wall of the cave. Still feeling rather weak, my legs gave out at the impact and I fell to my knees. The boy continued advancing forward until he hovered right above me, the weapon aimed at my head.

"I'm going to kill you," he repeated softly.

I looked up at the boy, unable to tear my eyes away from his piercing gaze. All I could see in his eyes were hatred, and a wish for revenge. Seeming irked by my silence, the boy suddenly kicked me in the side, knocking me over. I gasped as I hit the cold floor, feeling helpless.

"I'm going to do what you can't do!"

I turned my head feebly upward to see him seething in anger, an almost crazed look clouding his features.

"You!" he spat, the gun shaking in his hands, "You're weak! A weak Coordinator who can't do shit unless they're on a mobile suit! You act all tough and mighty, but when it comes down to it, you see the face of the actual person you're killing and you can't fucking do it. Shielded by your mobile suit, all the time! How many people have you killed with your Gundam, huh?"

He prodded me with his foot roughly with the question, the gun inching closer to my face all the while.

"That's right, you can't answer! You don't know, do you? You're weak! Weak. Can't even handle the guilt of killing one damn person with your own hands!"

Breathing heavily, I slowly managed to sit up, holding my side where the boy had kicked me gingerly. I couldn't bear to even look at his face anymore, the truth paining me more than the bruise forming on my side. I heard a soft thump, and looked up to see the boy kneeled down in front of me, tears now pouring out of his eyes. He looked like an absolute madman right now. An absolute, psychotic madman who was speaking reason.

"It fucking kills me," he seethed, his hot tears falling on me as he leaned forward, "to think that my family was murdered just mindlessly by some heartless bastard controlling a machine. Because that's what you all Coordinators are! Heartless bastards!"

I cringed away, shutting my eyes reflexively as I saw him raise his hand with the gun towards me. He had not even given me enough time to accept my demise; my pathetic, stupid death at the hands of a crazy Natural. The thought had barely left my mind when I realized that no gunshot had sounded, and I opened my eyes, confused, to see the boy a few feet away, standing up. His crazed gaze was still directed at me, but the gun was not anymore. In horror, I saw him raise the gun slowly to his own head.

"I hope all Coordinators are exterminated," he breathed frighteningly.

In a panic, I tried to stand up, willing my frozen muscles to move.

The boy locked eyes on me once again, and whispered icily, "I'm going to do what you couldn't do."

Time seemed to move slowly, as the boy closed his eyes and tightened his finger around the trigger.

In a burst of energy, I lunged forward screaming, "NO!"

I felt a biting pain sear my right arm as the crack of the gunshot nearly deafened me. The fall seemed surreal; it only registered as real to me when I finally felt the impact of colliding with the floor.

I inched my tightly shut eyes open, only to find myself face to face with the boy. He was staring at me, his eyes widened in shock, tears still leaking out of them. For the third time that day, I was on top of him as we lay on the ground, soaked from the rain and sweat, breathing heavily. I felt an unknown, relieving surge of emotion course through me as I heard him take a ragged breath. We lay there, faces mere centimeters apart, staring at each other as if they were the only things the existed in the world. I saw a tear streak down his cheek, mixing with a small drop of blood that was there. I watched as the water mixed with the red, fascinated by the mixture of color. Without thinking, I reached my right hand up and gently stroked the droplet away from his face. The touch seemed to wake the boy up, as his facial expression snapped out of the shock and he sat up, pushing me roughly away from him. I grunted as I fell off of him, and quickly put my guard back up, staring at him cautiously.

The boy took a couple of breaths, before speaking.

"Why…did you do that…"

I could only give him a sad look, not trusting myself enough to speak. The adrenaline slowly drained out of my system, and I felt suddenly, very weak. If he tried to do anything funny now, I wouldn't be able to stop it.

"You could have died!" he yelled suddenly. "I don't understand! I don't understand…I don't…"

He trailed off, staring at me in disbelief and confusion. I sighed, squinting at the darkness outside. The storm was still raging. The wind flew into the cave, and my hair swirled around my face, hiding my vision. As I lifted my arm to move the hair out of my face, a searing pain coursed through me and I winced, dropping my arm heavily.

The boy twitched at my voice, and, looking shocked, said, "I hurt you…"

I glanced down at my left arm to see a small line cutting through the uniform.

"Not even," I stated simply, "it's just a graze."

The boy moved forward towards me, and when I looked up, I saw that his gaze was unclouded and clear once again. He knelt down in front of me, touching my arm as he said sincerely, "Let me take care of this, please."

One final, residual tear slipped out from his right eye, and I reached out to gently brush it away. He didn't flinch from my touch, his unwavering gaze still on me.

I lowered my hand, and lost in his eyes, slowly nodded.

He worked smoothly, quickly, and with gentle hands. He was obviously experienced, and I was mildly impressed as he finished up dressing the wound with a white cloth. Tying the cloth with a final knot, he looked up at me with an unreadable expression.

"Thank you…" I said softly.

The boy looked surprised at my words, and moving away from me slightly, nodded in acknowledgement. A long moment of silence passed between us, when he spoke up finally.

"I'm sorry."

Now it was my turn to be surprised.

"Why?" I asked tentatively.

"I turned all my blind rage against you. It's not like you were the one who hurt my family. I'm sorry."

I took in his words slowly, making sure I understood everything. I spoke again with caution.

"You said you were going to kill me," I said softly, "so why did you suddenly point the gun at yourself?"

The boy looked pained as I said my words.

"I was going to kill you…" he admitted after a moment, "but then I thought that killing myself in front of you would affect you more. You keep me alive, yet I just take your weapon and do the deed myself… It was to spite you."

I looked down, unable to respond.

"I wish," the boy began, "I just wish we weren't in a world where we're obligated to hate each other. You're just another human being with emotions like all the rest of us, right?" He looked at me, voice and expression heavy in a way that only tragic old men's should be.

When I didn't answer, he pressed again, "Do you hate all Naturals?"

The question struck me. Did I hate all Naturals? I recalled the moment on television forever imprinted on my mind, the one of Junius 7 exploding. I remembered the pain on Athrun's face and Master's incurable grief.

"Yes," I answered impassively.

The boy sighed as he looked down, hiding his most likely disappointed expression.

"…but," I continued, "I don't hate you."

The boy looked up once again at me. Despite the nature of the conversation and what had just happened between us, he burst out laughing. The absurdity of the situation was outrageous. Here we were, Natural and Coordinator previously just at each other's throats. And now here we were, him tending to my wound and laughing hysterically at the mention that I hated everyone in his race except him. Enticed by his wild laughter, I joined in, feeling oddly refreshed as I laughed my heart out.

Our laughter sounded doubly louder as I realized the rain had finally let up.

I woke up to a ray of sun shining through the entrance of the cave. Yawning, I slowly sat up, pushing the blanket off of me. Wait, blanket? Looking down, I gave a double take to see the boy lightly snoozing right next to me under the same blanket. I rubbed my head to recall the events yesterday. I vaguely remembered falling asleep, after the weird laughter attack, under the same blanket as the boy, under the consensus that we would die from cold if we didn't stick together, quite literally.

I stared at the boy, a feeling of wonder arising inside of myself. I didn't look away, even when I saw his eyes twitch and finally open. He locked his gaze on mine upon waking up, and smiling slightly, said "Good morning."

The normality of the greeting was amusing, and I smiled in return. The boy stood up suddenly to stretch, and with a look out the entrance of the cave ran outside.

"Hey!" he called, "It's beautiful out here today! No more storm!"

I folded up the blanket and stood up, stretching my muscles. No more storm, indeed. I walked outside as well, feeling the cool yet pleasant breeze brush my face.

"Ah!" I exclaimed suddenly. The boy looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"The radio signal, it should be working now!" I said, making a turn to climb up to the cockpit of the Loyalty.

"Hey, wait!"

I turned to see the boy looking at me with a sad smile. Confused by his expression, I let go of the wire lever and faced him fully.

"Um," he began, "so I got stranded on the other side of this island. If I get found, it'll be where I left my craft, on the other side."

"Oh," I said simply.

"So…I think I should go over there, now. My friends are going to be looking for me now that the storm is over."

"Oh," I stupidly repeated.

"So…" the boy started, looking equally uncomfortable, "…bye."

He turned around, heading towards the forest he had sprung out of when I first met him yesterday. Speechless, I saw him walk away, feeling like I should say something, anything. What would I say? Bye? Thank you? The realization that there really was nothing to say to him almost saddened me. This is how it should be. We were enemies. In fact, this whole incident would be a secret, a secret only to be known to the two of us forevermore. So I shouldn't have been relieved when he turned around, calling for me. But I was. The emotional tie that had been created between the two of us yesterday was real.

"Hey!" he yelled to me, skipping back to where I was. His expression was completely changed. He no longer looked awkward, but happy and cheerful. Hopeful, even. Warmth coursed through me as I realized he was doing this for me. Trying to answer back to his efforts, I smiled back, as warmly as I could.

He stuck his right hand at me. "My name is Alexander Dyno."

"…What?" I asked, surprised. I certainly was not expecting this.

"Alexander. Except I go by Alex. My name is Alex Dyno. What's yours?"

I softened my eyes, and grasped his right hand with mine firmly.

"Lilia. Just…Lilia."

For that moment, I didn't want to be affiliated with ZAFT or anything. I wanted to be me. Lilia. Just Lilia.

Alex shook my hand, beaming at me.

"Bye, Lilia!"

I let go of his hand as I said, "Bye, Alex."

With a final smile, he gently tucked a string of hair behind my ear, before turning around and taking off for the woods. I stared at his retreating back, missing the warmth of his hand. Ignoring the sting inside of my heart at the knowledge that I would never see him again, I turned towards the Loyalty and climbed up into the cockpit.

Getting into my seat, I tweaked the dial of the radio to the right, and immediately caught a bit of signal. Breathing a sigh of relief, I moved the dial, attempting to find the source, as all I could hear at the moment were bits of scratchy words. Working quickly, I soon found the right signal, and basked momentarily in the familiar voice yelling for me.

"Axelman! Axelman, answer! Are you dead? Damn woman, I'll kill you!"

My lips curved upward. Better answer quickly. Yzak was an impatient man.

I reached forward to contact to the Dual, and spoke.

"Lilia Axelman, reporting for duty."

Sup, guys.

Again, soooo sorry. I haven't been updating my other fic as well and I need to get my ass working on it. Life can be so mean sometimes...

Anyway, I purposely named Alex Dyno "Alex Dyno" and yes it is the same name that Athrun chooses for his alias in gundam seed destiny, but there is a reason for that so yeahhh. All will be revealed soooooooon. As always, please leave a review, they always make updating worth it and I love hearing from you guys!

Thank you to Kagome1230, BadCommunication, Guest, IgNighted, gOthiCkUrOcHo69, and Finalfan21 for reviewing!

Until the next chapter!