Postscript: -rubs hands together with glee- Alright, this chapter contains some fluffy-super-light shounen-ai hints and therefore, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Oh, I wish...

Chapter 3: Broken Promises, Mending Hearts

Athrun's jaw gaped; Heliopolis was now in ruins. Thank God the video-communications were off otherwise Krueze would be questioning his pilots as to why, upon Heliopolis blowing up, they had a flabbergasted look on their faces. The Archangel make a quick getaway. Rusty swallowed as Krueze gave the signal to return. Oh boy...Kira was so going to hate them.

"Why did you destroy Heliopolis?!" Kira yelled. "You promised to try to avoid hitting it!" "It wasn't our fault!" Miguel yelled back. "It was the Commander's!" Kira realized Miguel was right; he had seen the Commander go out in a lethal looking mobile suit. Sure, these people were ZAFT, but they still had honour. Athrun rested a hand on Kira's uninjured shoulder. "Kira...I'm sorry." "Saying 'sorry' won't solve anything, Athrun," the brown-haired boy said icily. "Heliopolis – my home is gone...I don't know if my friends made it out or not..." Rusty decided that now was the time for physical action; he grabbed both Athrun and Miguel by the collars of their flight-suits and yanked them both outside. Thank God for zero-gravity. Rusty knew, if he had tried this elsewhere, he'd have lost half his teeth already.

Athrun was cursing. It was already well-past midnight and he still couldn't sleep. It was just the fact that Rusty's snores sounded worse than an old car; it was the fact that his Coordinator senses were hearing something else than the rattling snorting sounds issuing from Rusty's mouth. Athrun gingerly tiptoed out the door. Despite the fact Rusty snored like that, a minor sound was still apt to rouse him. Athrun poked his head out into the corridor and listened. It sounded like someone was crying. Making sure the door shut quietly, Athrun padded down the corridor and almost collided with the night-watch personnel, who was sleeping on duty, leaning on his rifle. Athrun rolled his eyes; this guy snored worse than Rusty!

He heard the crying go louder; he was headed in the right direction. He heard a door hissing open and his heart nearly froze in his chest when he saw Raww le Krueze exiting the bridge. He pressed himself into a dark corner and waited for him to float pass. To his utter dismay, Raww stopped. Oh please, just move on! Raww uttered a small, "Hmm," and finally moved on. Athrun let out his breath and double-checked that Krueze wasn't going to suddenly whip around.

The source of the crying was Kira's room. Athrun gingerly opened the door. "Kira?" he whispered into blackness, and his eyes slowly adjusted. Kira was huddled in a corner of his bed, sniffling. The boy had his knees drawn up and was staring blankly over them. "Kira?" Athrun tried again, louder. Kira's head came up with a startled snap. "A-Athrun?" he mumbled. He felt the creak of bedsprings as Athrun sat down beside him. "What's wrong?" "Everything," Kira snuffled lamely. Athrun blanched; he'd forgotten that Heliopolis had just been blasted to itty-bitty pieces by Raww le Krueze. (Damn him.) "Kira..." Athrun said softly, "I'm sure your friends made it out safe and sound." "How can you be so sure?" Kira snapped viciously. "You've...you've never even met them..." He was cut off when he felt arms encircling him in a hug. "Don't think about such things now, Kira," Athrun said. Kira relaxed in his friend's warmth; he snuggled closer and stopped crying gradually. Kira stifled a yawn. "But what am I going do now...?" "Hush," Athrun said, stroking Kira's hair. "Just go to sleep." Kira obeyed; he was rather sleepy. And when Athrun heard the soft, deep breathing that meant his best friend was asleep, he planted a kiss on Kira's cheek. "Sweet dreams..."

Rusty awoke rather early; at five thirty to be precise. He rolled over in bed. Thud. "Damn," he muttered, rubbing his back. "I've got to stop sleeping so close to the edge..." Then he noticed Athrun was missing. "Eh...where's that idiot gone..." Hauling himself off of the floor and throwing on something decent (he didn't want to get reprimanded again), he set off through the still-dark corridors in search of Athrun.

"Darn it...where is he?" Rusty was beating himself about the head mentally. He'd checked all the usual places, he'd asked Miguel and got a pillow to his face; he'd asked Yzak, Dearka and Nichol; the first two were less than civil to him but at least Nichol was able to give him a coherent answer without flinging a pillow or some other object at him. Something clicked in Rusty's mind; what about Kira? Floating down the corridor, he gently eased the door open. "Kir-" He hadn't even finished when he saw the scene in front of him. Rusty sighed happily and shut the door. Aww...that was so sweet. He decided to risk another pillow attack and tell Miguel what happened.

"Aww! Really?" Miguel stopped throwing pillows at Rusty. "Yes, really," Rusty said. "And don't you go in there and wake them up." "Heh...that's something to badger Athrun about later today," Miguel's eyes gleamed with a wicked scheme. "Don't you dare," Rusty warned. "Or I'll..." He stopped mid-sentence, and threw a pillow into Miguel's face.

Author's Note: Hmm, yay, Chapter 3 completed, I tried my best with the shounen-ai hints, hope they don't suck donkey balls, and I think the ending was just kinda bullshit. Oh well. Anybody have any idea what mobile suit I should make Kira-kun pilot?