Chapter 6: Preparations

Summary from last chapter: Miriallia found out the real reason why she was captured: her life is in danger by her old friend, Kuzzey Buzzkirk. Not wanting to live in hiding forever, she wants Dearka to teach her how to use a handgun. How will Dearka handle this newfound determination within Miriallia?

Stay Tuned and find out!

Review replies-

Aquamuse- actually, playing 'Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes' inspired me to think of Milly with a gun. One of the characters, Meryl Silverbough, actually looks like her.

Miriallia Elthman- I just thought, "What did Kuzzey do for four years?" Why not make him a killer? Besides, I don't like him.

PS: Mind if I use your name? It's kind of crucial to the story's epilogue.

XWHRobynx- Hmm...Tolle's Ghost eh? My gods, you inspired me again!

Mystique Rain- Fine, I'll do it in the beginning, like I am now!

DreamAnimeKitten- Hope you like this one

Princess Paine of Darkness- I think I'll mention some people that didn't get much recognition in SEED (e.g: Sai)

Lomiothiel- I mainly use Kuzzey cuz I not really good at making up characters, and because I don't like him. Mainly because I don't like him and he doesn't look like a killer, does he?

cheerful-pinkstar- I hope you're still in the Dearka/Miriallia mood!

On with the story...

-Introducing some characters-

Senator Ardel- 49 years old and part of the ZAFT Council. He's one of the last 3 Council members that were in during the war. He thinks highly of Senator Zala, whom was his friend before the war. Like Senator Zala, he is very anti-Natural and pro-Coordinator. He is disgusted at Dearka for going to Earth to protect Miriallia, who is a Natural.

-=War Room=-

Dearka's POV

What the hell is Milly thinking? She wants to learn on how to use a gun...

"So...Dearka, will you teach me how to use a gun?" asked Milly with big puppy dog eyes complete with a whimpering mouth.

I walked up to Milly while still looking at the ground.

"Dearka...what's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything? Dearka?"

When I came up to Milly, I reached for my hip holster and pulled out a handgun and placed it in her eagerly awaiting hands.

I then asked her to do one simple task.

"Milly...shoot me," said with my arms outstretched.

"Dearka, wh...what?" asked a shocked Milly, her hands trembling with the my gun.

"Do it. Right here, right now," said as I pulled the barrel of the gun towards the direction of my heart.

"Dearka..." said Milly with confusion and fear in her eyes.

"Do it," said as I pull the gun closer, as the barrel touched my uniform.

"No..." said Milly, trying to pull the gun away from my body.

"Do it," said as I pulled the gun closer.

"No, please...don't," said Milly with her eyes widen, with tears starting to form.

"DO IT!," yelled as I held the gun close to my heart.

With the yell startling her, she tensed up and unknowingly pulled the trigger...

Click.

Not knowing what happened, Milly looked up to my face, with tears freely flowing from her eyes.

"Why...why did you make me pull the trigger?" asked Milly in a frantic tone.

"I...I...dunno," said with a faint of...I could of killed you!" yelled Milly, dropping the gun on the floor and standing there, looking at the long neglected base grounds.

"Don't worry about it Milly," said as I went to place a hand on her shoulder.

But Milly backed away from my attempts to soothe her. As I tried again she backed away from me once again.

"What's wrong Milly? Are you scared or something?" said as I continued to go after her.

"You could of died because of me...and you're just acting calm? What is it with you?" said as she backed away, ultimately onto a wall.

Unable to back up any further, I walked up to her and lowered my head to see each other, eye to eye.

"I just don't want you using a gun. Just leave all the bad things to me, okay?" said as I leaned in for a kiss.

But Milly ducked that attempt and squirmed out of my reach. When I saw her face again, it was filled with innocence.

"Please...Dearka?" asked Milly with big puppy dog eyes and an obviously fake whimper.

"You still want to use a gun?"

Milly just nodded her head slowly.

"Okay...I guess. But I want one thing from you"

"What's that, Dearka?" asked a confused Milly.

Miriallia's POV

"This," said as he close his eyes and puckered his lips.

Oh no...not this again. But...I guess a peck on the lips wouldn't hurt.

My face rose slowly in order to meet his unsavory requirement. In one swift action, I kissed him for a brief second and immediately pulled my head back...only to realize that I was in between him and a hard wall, which the back of my head would soon meet.

If it wasn't for Dearka's hand, which cushioned the back of my head, preventing collision with the hard concrete wall.

I then saw his face coming closer and closer until we were again seeing each other eye to eye.

"Just because I'm not Tolle doesn't mean that you can leave kisses just for him," smirked Dearka as he slowly closed the distance from his face to mine, making me all tense.

Just as he was about to make contact with my lips, he tipped his head to the side and kissed my cheek.

Being confused, I opened my mouth to speak, but he silenced my opened mouth with his own.

It...felt pleasant. I didn't feel it the other times he kissed me because I didn't expect any of those, but this one felt good.

But still...it's uncomfortable whenever he does this.

After he was done with his kissing barrage, he rested his forehead on mine and looked at me in the eyes.

"How was that kiss?" asked Dearka with a big smile on his face.

"Please...please stop," was all I could say after all this, looking towards the ground.

"But I think you liked it," said Dearka, taking notice of my light blush around my cheeks.

"But still, please stop," said meekly.

"But you didn't deny that you like it," reminded Dearka.

"Okay...I...I liked it...a little. But please stop," pleaded with big puppy eyes.

"Oh okay...fine," complained Dearka as he stepped away from me, giving me some personal space.

"We...should get to the base level if you want to get started on handling a gun," said Dearka as he offered his hand in front of me.

"Whats...what's the hand for?" asked, as I was very suspicious of his actions at this point.

"What? I can't be a gentleman and escort you out of here?" smirked Dearka.

"I...guess so," said as I let him grab my hand and gently headed towards the elevator, ultimately leading up to the base level.

-=Shooting range=-

After an uncomfortable silence in the elevator, Dearka escorted me to one of the long neglected areas of the base, the shooting range.

Old bullet casings lay strewn across the ground. There were even remnants of what looked like handguns. Most of the range was dark, so I couldn't see what was in the room.

I saw Dearka grab what looked like an ammo clip from his pocket and inserted it into his gun. He then gave it to me and pointed towards an empty beer bottle, some 100 feet away from the both of us.

"See that bottle?" said Dearka as he pointed directly at it.

"Yes...want me to shoot it?" said eagerly

"Well...yes. Go ahead and shoot," said Dearka, stepping away from me.

I positioned my...well his gun so I can shoot at the bottle.

How hard exactly can this be?

Then I found out. As I shot for the very first time, the bullet did not make it to its destination.

"Wh...what? I aimed for the bottle and shot...what happened?" asked as I examined the gun.

"Uh...Milly. Just pointing it in the direction of the bottle isn't going to work. You have to actually aim at the bottle. Here, I'll help you," said Dearka as he walked towards me.

"No...no...I'm fine. I can learn this on my own," said nervously as I motioned lightly for Dearka to stay away from me.

Damn...I do need his help on this...but I sort of don't want him near me for the moment.

It's not that I don't like him...but whenever he gets near me...well, there's kissing involved that's for sure.

It's just uncomfortable that Dearka is kissing me...not Tolle.

Gathering my thoughts, I retried to shoot the bottle again.

I fired a shot...SUCCESS!

I got the bottle to burst with only 2 shots!

"I did it! Dearka, I did it!" said as I hugged him.

Wait a minute...why am I hugging him?

As I moved back to get some distance, I felt Dearka's hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" asked Dearka with a serious expression.

"I told you already Dearka, I want to do this," said as I looked at his gun, inscribed with his name on the barrel.

"Okay then, I'll make the training harder," said Dearka as he flipped some switches in the shooting range.

"Harder?"

I saw what he meant by harder. As he flipped a switch, the entire place lightened up, showing more bottles...but this time they were being moved by some mechanism.

"Shoot all those bottles,"

"Eh?"

"Shoot all of them,"

I fired at one bottle...missed.

I fired at another bottle...missed.

This kept going until I heard a very familiar sound.

Click. Click. Click.

I heard Dearka chuckle at my skills.

"Don't laugh because I can't shoot moving bottles," said, with a tongue sticking out in a snobbish manner.

He continued to chuckle while opening some boxes and throwing them to me. I looked at what he threw and noticed that these were spare bullets.

"Here...let me show you how to reload," said Dearka as he took his gun from my hand and showed me how to reload.

"There are some more bullets over in that crate. Just keep shooting until you get all the bottles," said Dearka as he was walking away.

"Dearka...where are you going?" said with a bit of nervousness.

Granted, I don't want him close to me, but I don't want to be all alone in this base.

"To make some breakfast...why, scared of being alone?" smirked Dearka as he continued walking.

"N...No. Just uh...get me something sweet,"

"Sweet? There's nothing that is even sweet in an abandoned military base," chuckled Dearka.

"Just...uh...get me whatever you're having," said as I continued shooting at the bottles.

After Dearka left the shooting range, I looked over his gun...with utter disgust.

Why am I even holding a gun?

Putting that thought aside, I continued shooting at those bottles.

Dearka's POV

45 minutes later

-=Kitchen=-

Some eggs here, some bacon there, some sausage everywhere and a hot cup of 'Desert Tiger' brand coffee, a good breakfast only a fool would disagree on.

And some fried rice on the side...a dish full of meat isn't very good if it doesn't have much of any other types of food.

After I made the final preparations to 'our' breakfast, I decided to let it cool for a little while and check up if any communications have been sent from Yzak or any of my soldiers.

-=Communications room=-

To my surprise, there was a message on one of the display consoles. It was marked "Urgent."

Oh...great. Another message from the council, I wonder what this could be?

"Commander Dearka...I trust you have had a good 6 months on Earth?" said some smart-ass from the council.

"Skip the geriatrics, I know why you called me, Senator Ardel" said with a venomous tone.

"Then you know why I'm calling," said the Senator in a serious tone.

"I know why you're calling, and no, I'm not giving up,"

"Oh puh-leaze, she's just a Natural. There are plenty of beautiful Coordinator girls up here in PLANT"

"I don't care, I'm still looking after her, regardless of what you say,"

"You're using ZAFT soldiers and equipment, that means I have full authority over what you do with them," smirked the senator, thinking he has made a point.

"Least I don't hate Naturals," said, eye to eye.

"And what's wrong with hating Naturals? They're weak, stupid, and they think they can do whatever they want with Coordinators. I'm doing you a favor by getting you with a Coordinator, not a pitiful Natural," said the Senator as he smoked a cigar

"The answer is and always will be: no," sternly said.

"...Oh well. I guess I can't get you out of it. But remember one thing: I have one of the highest authority in ZAFT. Don't think I won't forget this...or that pathetic girl of yours..." said as he closed communications.

Damn...knowing what he'll do, he'll send ZAFT after Milly too!

I left the communications room, got our breakfasts and headed for the shooting range, hoping Milly is still there.

"Milly...are you there? Milly?" said as I looked around.

There were empty boxes, as well as empty, but used, bullet casings. The bottles that were used for target practice were...all broken.

I guess Milly learns fast...but where is she?

As I walked around some more, I found my gun on the floor, out of ammo.

Where are you Milly? Hey, I see footprints!

I walked the way where the footprints indicated and found my way to a beach outside the military base, and found Milly, sitting on the sand, looking out to the open blue seas.

Having not noticing my presence yet, I stealthily made my steps toward her, holding our breakfast.

I took about 5 steps until she tensed up and looked at me.

Damn, some stealth skills eh?

I put aside my stealth skills and headed for her, handing her silver utensils and handing her a plate of my delicious breakfast.

"Th...thanks Dearka," said Milly as she slowly dug into my food, obviously enjoying it.

"You know, Tolle...oh I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about him," said Milly, chewing on a piece of sausage.

"Oh...go ahead. I like to hear what you have to say about Tolle," said as I chewed on my eggs.

"It's just that...Tolle never made food as good as this,"

"So...he was a bad cook?"

"He...wasn't bad. He wasn't a good one either, but whenever he made something, he always asked me if I wanted a taste of whatever he made. We always laughed when we tasted each others cooking," said Milly, letting out a small chuckle.

"Tolle must have meant a lot to you"

"When Tolle and I were dating, we both had dreams of having jobs that we wanted to become. Tolle wanted to be a doctor and I wanted to become a high school teacher. I guess when Tolle died, my dreams to be a teacher died with him," said Milly with a small tear running down her eye.

"So...Dearka, enough about me, I want to hear on how your life has been after the war," asked Milly, wiping away her tears.

"I uh...I just stayed in the military. Gained a few ranks, now have my own squadron, and just lived out here for the past 6 months," said, leaving out some details.

I can't let her know that after the war I have my own mansion in PLANT and own several business chains on various colonies and countries, Orb being one of them. Letting her know I had huge success would just depress her further.

After we finished our breakfast, I grabbed out plates and headed towards the kitchen to dispose of the plates, leaving Milly out on the beach, alone with her thoughts.

I headed to my quarters to gather my thought as well. As I sat on my bed, I grabbed the teddy bear I had for four years, and looked at Milly's locket that was around its neck.

I guess this bear is why I keep going for Milly.

-=Flashback=-

Four Years Ago

-=ArchAngel=-

"Milly?" yelled as I checked her quarters.

Not there.

"Milly?" yelled as I checked the observation deck.

Not there.

"Milly?" yelled as I checked the bridge.

Not there.

Where could she be? I have to leave ArchAngel soon; I even got her this teddy bear to remind her of me.

As I walked down one of many of ArchAngel's corridors, I spotted one of Milly's friends.

"It's...Sai, isn't it?" asked in an urgent tone.

"Yes, do you need something, Dakka?" asked Sai as he adjusted his glasses.

Damn, he still can't my name right. Oh well, I'll let it pass.

"Have you seen Miriallia? It's real important that I have to see her," said with utter importance.

"I guess I can do that before I leave ArchAngel," said Sai as he left, adjusting his glasses.

-45 minutes later-

Damn, I searched everywhere, just where could she be? Wait...is that crying I hear coming from the observation deck?

I moved closer and hid behind the archway leading to the observation deck.

I peeked a little, just to see Miriallia crying, looking out at the stars.

I dropped my teddy bear and slowly walked over to her.

Noticing my presence, she stood up and wiped away her tears.

"Hello...Dearka. Are you leaving soon?" asked Milly still with hints of tears.

"Yes...hey, why are you crying?" said as I walked over to her.

"It's just that everyone is leaving today and...I'm going to miss them," said Milly, her eyes retreating to the ground.

"I'll...miss you too,"

Not wanting to go away so fast, I raised my hand to give her my teddy bear...or at least I thought it was in my hand.

I must have dropped it somewhere on ArchAngel. I'll look for it later.

Not wanting to be embarrassed, I did something that I remembered I used to do when I was a child.

"Eh, Dearka? What is that?" asked Milly, looking ay my hand.

"It's a pinky swear. It's something I used to do when I was a child. Come on, you do the same thing," said, motioning her.

"O...Okay," said Milly as she made her hand into a fist, letting only the pinky out in a hook like grip.

"What now?" asked a confused Milly.

I then used my pinky to grab hers, effectively linking them together.

"I promise one day that I'll come back...so don't cry okay?"

"I promise I won't cry...so what next?"

I shook our pinkies up and down, effectively making our promises sealed.

"So...I guess this is it," said, still with our pinkies intertwined, letting them go.

"Good-bye, Dearka," said a smiling Milly, waving her hand.

"Good-bye, Milly," said as I walked out of the observation deck, noticing something.

So there's my teddy bear...I think I'll give it to her the next time we meet. I hope it's soon.

That was the last time I left ArchAngel, and headed for my home back on PLANT.

-=End Flashback=-

I looked at her locket and opened it; revealing a picture of Milly and some guy.

This must be Tolle. So this is the person that Milly has been fixated over. The person that I have to make Milly think I'm better at.

I looked at the picture again. She was happy when she took this picture...with him.

I looked over my teddy bear, careful that its 'special package' hasn't been found.

Good, it hasn't. If it was, I would have to explain to Milly about, which I don't want to...for now.

Looking at the locket made me think of Milly...oh no Milly!

I left her all alone on the beach!

So I ran to the back of the shooting range where the beach was.

There she is. Playing in the sand...next to the...

"Milly! Watch out!" yelled as I ran towards her.

Too late, one of the huge waves got to her, soaking her from head to toe, ruining her lovely dress.

I forgot to tell her about these, because they tend to happen around this time.

I ran up to her, placing my ZAFT jacket over her shivering body.

"Thanks...Dearka," said Milly as she held onto my jacket tightly, making it wet as well.

"Let's go back to my room to get you dried up," said as I grabbed Milly's hand and escorted to my quarters, where her remaining clothes were.

-20 minutes later-

After Milly took a shower and got dressed, I was shocked in awe, and blushing to the point my entire face was red.

She wore a light gray skirt that went just below the mid thigh and wore a light blue sleeveless vest.

"Dearka...are you okay?" asked Milly as she put on a fisherman's hat.

"Umm...no, I'm fine really. Did you plan to go somewhere when you were in Orb?" asked, trying to alleviate my blush with some conversation.

"You mean before I was "captured" by you?" said Milly as she did the quotes thing with her fingers.

"Y...yes, sorry about that Milly. I really am," said, nervously looking away from her eyes.

"Well, I did want to go to the Orb Emporium. I wanted to shop for things I liked," said Milly in a gleeful tone.

"I guess when we get to Orb, we can shop together," said as I walked to the bed.

"Wait a minute, 'we', since when do you come into the equation?" asked Milly with hands on her hips.

"I'll protect you when we are in Orb," said as I went into the bathroom with some clothes from my dresser.

"Oh...okay I guess, but no intimate touching okay?" asked a frantic Milly through the bathroom door.

"Okay...I won't do any of that while we're in Orb," said as I put on new pants.

Then I saw I door crack open a little as I saw her hand coming from the other side.

"Do you pinky swear on it?" asked Milly as she made her pinky into a hook.

"Okay, I swear. Now could you not open the door, I'm changing in here," said as I returned the gesture.

I finished changing into my outfit for Orb and stepped into the bedroom.

I wore a brown leather jacket with my white undershirt and black pants. Even though Orb is a very warm place, I like to dress like I'm in PLANT.

"I guess all we have to do it wait at the launch pad for our shuttle," said as I motioned her to leave my bedroom.

"Wait...I have to get something," said Milly as she grabbed the locket from my teddy bear and put it around her neck.

Damn...she still wants to wear the locket. Fine...but I'm taking my teddy bear with me. No way Tolle is going to get Milly over me!

-=Launch Pad=-

-2 hours later-

Finally! After (impatiently) waiting for a couple of hours, the shuttle finally came. I saw my soldiers come out and gave me the ZAFT salute.

"Sir, all of her belongings are on the shuttle. Would you like us to bring them to the base?" said one of the soldiers.

"No," meekly said Milly.

"I respond to the commander's ord..."

"You heard her. It's her stuff, let her have say over it," commanded as I interrupted my soldier.

"Yes, sir," said my soldiers as they looked over the shuttle.

"In fact...put everything that was on this base into the shuttle,"

"Sir?" asked one of the soldiers.

"We're not coming back here again, so we'll take everything and put in on my Orb base,"

"Yes sir!" yelled all of my soldiers as they ran to different parts of the base to gather anything to put on the shuttle.

I saw Yzak got off the shuttle, with a sleepy expression.

"Hey Dearka, we got everything you asked for, so what now?"

"We're heading to my base in Orb"

"...At least that place is better than this run down base," said Yzak as he got on the shuttle that he was sleeping in.

"What should I do?" asked Milly as she stood next to me.

"Ehh...just get on the shuttle. Get some sleep, Orb is about 4 hours away," said as I playfully ruffled with Milly's hair, letting out a small chuckle.

"Okay...just stop. It took me a long time to get my hair the way it is," said Milly as she got on the shuttle.

After 2 hours of my soldiers packing up whatever was left of this base, including my belongings, the shuttle left, headed for my base in Orb, where the next part of my, I mean our, adventure would begin.

After some handgun training and a breakfast down at the beach, Dearka and Milly heads for Orb, specifically his base. What will happen then? And what will Senator Ardel do?

Stay tuned and find out!

For the seventh chapter, the name of which I have yet to figure out