The last chapter... insert finale music

Don't own Gundam Seed. MYTHs' are mine.

Rau Le Creuset entered the Caracas base and made his way to the infirmary.

At four o'clock in the morning, he wasn't surprised to see the doctor asleep at his desk. Cassandra's door creaked in protest as the commander opened it. He walked over to the shapeshifter's sleeping form. All was quiet until a computer beeped. He turned to investigate, and, finding it to be nothing but a dream beat he turned back to Cassandra- and stared down the barrel of a gun.

Cassandra growled. Le Creuset patted her head causing the little girl to scream.

"It's alright! I'm a friend of Yzak's," he whispered hastily. Cassandra unloaded the gun and allowed Rau to unhook her from the machines.

"There, There, this will only-" A light tap on his wrist drew his attention.

"Shut up," Cassandra tapped in Morse code. Rau was glad of the darkness, hiding her embarrassment.

"Even if there was light I wouldn't be able to see you goof up," the masked commander's jaw almost hit the floor. This child could read minds?

"No I can't," Cassandra continued. The commander picked Yzak's sister up, grabbed her duffel bad and walked quickly to his team's quarters.

First were Nicol, Athrun and Rusty. Nicol was humming a tune and it continued even as the pianist woke up and stumbled to the bathroom.

Next was Athrun. The young soldier was drenched in a cold sweat and was twitching.

"Athrun! Wake up!" Rau shook the boy awake. Athrun's emerald eyes flew open and he inhaled sharply. He stayed that way for a moment, eyes darting everywhere until her calmed down enough to follow Nicol to the tiny bathroom.

Finally was Rusty. Rau shook the eldest red once before receiving a sharp punch from the red-head as if he were silencing an alarm clock. Rau shook his again.

"Mo-om!" Rusty moaned, "Leave me alone. It's not time to wake up!"
"Gee Rusty. Your mom sure has a weird voice," Nicol commented.

"Yeah, you should really start taking those hormone replacements," Rusty yawned.

"Rusty wake up now!" Rau was getting annoyed. Rusty rolled over.

"Oh hey mom!" he frowned, "Since when did you dye your hair blond and start wearing a mask?" he asked Rau sleepily. Athrun threw a wet and cold face cloth on Rusty's face. The red sat up and throwing the face cloth away, got out of bed grumbling about youth rights and started getting ready.

Le Creuset went across the hall and entered the remaining Elite's room. He gave Yzak a gentle shake and found himself starring- for the second time in less than 10 minutes- down the barrel of a gun. Yzak's eyes cleared and he put the gun down as his commander set the sleeping baby down on her older brother's bed before waking Dearka.

It didn't work.

After two minutes of shaking, pinching and slapping the blond, Yzak put a strip of duct tape over Dearka's eyebrows and mouth. Smoothing the tape over his friend's forehead, Yzak made sure it was on tight before ripping it off, taking Dearka's eyebrows with it. The agonized blond sat bolt upright and screamed but it was muffled by the tape. Dearka scowled and Yzak smirked before the two started their day.

"Hey Commander. What happened to my mom?" Rusty asked.

"Rusty that was me," Rau explained tiredly. Rusty recoiled.

"Wah! You replaced my mom!" he said, horrified.

"What happened to your eyebrows Dearka?" Nicol asked. Seeing the duct tape on the elder's mouth, he chuckled. Yzak motioned ripping the tape off Dearka and Nicol nodded in understanding. Dearka glared at them and ripped the tape off his mouth. Tars filled his eyes and he curled into a little ball, nursing his burning mouth.

"Dearka get up. We don't have time for this," Rau snapped Everybody but Cassandra (who was still asleep in Yzak's arms) straightened to attention and hurried out of the base and into the waiting truck.

"What's the hurry?" Athrun asked. Rau was silent for a minute until a bright light filled the sky.

"That's why." A giant warship slowly pivoted and onto an upward angle where the base had been. Red, gold and black started running over the ship, painting the grey steel.

Suddenly it was gone. The car rocked as the shop roared overhead and into outer space.

"Holy shit."

Two Weeks later…

"Le Creuset team! Your mission is to capture the new Earth Alliance mobile weapons!" the said commander ordered. The nine soldiers saluted and left the bridge.

That was the Famine. See last chapter for details.

I'll be posting 'Warm Up' soon.