Chapter ONE

Athrun began to stir nearly ten hours after he had started sleeping. He found himself still in the treatment room, and at last he no longer felt pain.

He got up, yawned, rubbed his eyes, and pushed the curtain aside to let himself through. No one was there, not even the nurse. He went out without asking for permission (like he needed one), and walked along the hall that extended a hundred and fifty feet and led to the center room of the ship. He still felt tired, though, but he continued to walk.

When he had reached the center room, where most of the crew relaxed and ate their meals together, Athrun thought he heard noises outside. He didn't bother to find out and sat on one of the benches there, which wasn't a bench at all as it was made of metal and felt very cold to the touch. The pilot sighed, wondering if that injection he had received hours ago was really necessary. He had been fighting in space for a while now, and the precaution seemed a tad bit too late.

All of a sudden, the whole ship shook, and Athrun was sure there was a battle going on. Then again, Kreuze thought Athrun was their best bet, and he would never send the Gundams out without him. However, he had been asleep all that time, and the possibly of that to happen was…

"Sir!" Athrun exclaimed as he arrived in the main control room. He was panting and sweating tremendously. "What's going on? Are we fighting?"

Lieutenant Kreuze calmly turned and smiled. "What else could it be, Athrun? After all, that is what our Gundams are for: battle,"

"It's the Strike Gundam again, isn't it?"

"Why do you frown, Athrun my boy?" asked Kreuze. He floated towards Athrun, as the gravity wasn't that effective in the ship. "Don't you enjoy it when you see that Kira Yamato being destroyed? That's what you've been doing for the past few months, right?"

Athrun lowered his gaze. "Well, yes," he said in a rather soft tone. He looked at Kreuze's eyes through his white mask. "But you didn't send me out there. You could've had me woken up if you wanted to,"

"Oh no," said Kreuze, looking innocent. "You just had your medication. I wouldn't want to interfere your bodily processes. After all, you are my most priced pilot. No major harm should ever touch you, especially not in space,"

Athrun fell silent. He had to admit that Kreuze was right, but he still found the situation strange. He moved his gaze to the monitors surrounding the room. Three Gundams were there, two from ZAFT and the other from the Earth Alliance, whose pilot happened to be his old friend. The battle looked complicated, and if he butted in at that moment there might be some confusion.

"Are you willing to stay here and watch?" asked Kreuze. "I think we'll gain victory today, Athrun. You don't want to miss out on all the excitement,"

"Victory?" Athrun was puzzled. "How can we win with only two Gundams when even when there's three of us Strike still wins?"

"Oh, but Strike never wins," replied Kreuze. "Remember that he is also a Coordinator. He belongs to ZAFT by his whole being. Without his engineered body, he wouldn't be able to accomplish all these things. So clearly, all he's doing is displaying what our sciences can do,"

Sighing, Athrun went out of the control room. What was it about that day and victory? Did the lieutenant have something in mind?

He wanted to find out more, but a searing pain in his chest came out of nowhere.

Kira Yamato yelped in pain. Why were the ZAFT pilots being so violent all of a sudden? He couldn't understand it. And why was Aegis Gundam nowhere to be found? Had something happened to Athrun? Kira didn't have time to find answers because his enemies were beginning to attack again.

"Darn you!" he said as he lunged towards them to give each of them a hard blow. However, they evaded, and several small missiles hit Kira. "Aaaagggghhhhh!!!!" His back throbbed in pain, and he was soon out of breath. He regretted that he hadn't saved much energy for the battle. He thought that it would be the same old thing. Unfortunately, ZAFT seemed to be stronger at that point.

I don't believe this, he thought as he waited for his heartbeat to steady a bit. What's happened to them? They weren't like this before? Some kind of special training, perhaps? No. Something like that can't be done in a matter of days. It's only been a week since our last fight. And Athrun…

Even though he was one of the enemies, Athrun was still Kira's best friend, and the Earth Alliance pilot never forgot that fact. Kira was constantly worried about him besides his other friends, and he thought about his condition in the arms of ZAFT. Ever since they were separated, Athrun seemed to be so distant and passive, while Kira only hid his true feelings towards the other. No one should know about it, except for him, because it would be uncanny for pilots to still like each other despite the battles going on.

Another blow from the two ZAFT pilots and Kira swore he could feel his blood boiling, literally. He was slowly moving into fatigue, which wasn't a good thing, especially in the middle of a fight. He tried to steady himself, breathing as deeply as he could and concentrating solely on winning. He had to protect his friends, even if it wasn't all of them.

Athrun.